Post by simpleton on Jun 19, 2019 4:32:15 GMT
OTL
a) After trouncing Denmark at great cost in 1864, Bismarck rejected king Christian IX's proposal for Denmark becoming a member of the German League, provided Schleswig-Holstein was not severed from it, thus leaving a weak Denmark (without Schleswig-Holstein and with a small army) and a weak Prussia, without a navy and with a small coastline.
b) After trouncing Austria-Hungary at great cost in 1866, Bismarck did not unify Germany, including A-H (the largest and most populous member of the German League). Instead, he expelled A-H from the German League and forced it to cede Venetia to Italy (despite A-H trouncing the Italians by sea and land), leaving a weak German-League and a weak A-H.
c) During the Luxemburg crisis in 1867. when Prussian forces held excellent fortifications in Luxemburg (a member of the German League) and the French army had inferior muzzle-loading rifles and cannon. Bismarck backed down and wating until 1870 to start war with France by intrigue, forcing Moltke to invade France, when it had the Chasepot rifle, superior to the Dreyse rifle, which caused considerable German casualties.
ATL
A much smarter Bismarck interacts much more with brilliant Moltke and Roon and realizes that A-H (and hence the G-L) suffered a humiliating defeat by smaller forces under Napoleon III in Lombardy. Therefore, it is easy to prove that A-H is completely unsuitable to lead the G-L and Prussia is well suited to lead a mighty, unified Germany.
In 1863 Moltke and Roon inform Bismarck of the reports by military attaches and observers in the US, which mention mass production of rapid fire repeating rifles, pistols and Gattling guns, far superior to the Dreyse rifle, etc, Bismarck sends businessmen to secure licenses and contracts to build huge plants in Prussia to produce repeating rifles, pistols, the gattling gun, etc, and to buy large quantities of steel, arms, machinery, entire plants, etc, when the war approaches its end, which will result in companies going out of business or having to manufacture less profitable consumer goods, with high conversion costs and long down-time.
In 1864, when Denmark breaks the treaty and by its constitution, it officially incorporates Schleswig-Holstein (a G-L member) in its territory, Bismarck does not propose an alliance with A-H against Denmark, since the A-H army is poorly armed and led. Instead, Bismarck asks Moltke to plan and personally lead the invasion (old field marshal Wrangel is induced to retire, being completely out of tough with modern warfare) with all the necessary forces, so vistory is as fast and impressive as possible.
As usual, Moltke plans and executes brilliantly the invasion. Danish forces are rapidly overwhelmed and incur heavy casualties (mostly as POWs), geratly impressing the G-L and the Danes and causing a wave of German nationalism.
When Christian IX proposes that Denmark join the G-L and upon unification, the German Reich, Bismarck immediately accepts, realizing that the Danish navy and control of the Baltic will greatly boost the G-L.
The rapid invasion and addition of the Danish navy, merchant fleet, foreign trade, shipyards, coastline, population, Iceland, Greenland, teh Danish Virgin Islands, etc, greatly impress all German nations, none of which had any colonies, strong navy or foreign trade.
Bismarck creates a strong European Bank (E-B) to finance massive production of ships, steel, armament, RR engines and cars, etc, and makes brilliant use of Moltke's brilliant campaign, Denmark's assets, the fact that Prussia is producing huge plants to manufacture excellent repeating arms and metal cartridges for all the German nations and of the incompetent A-H military leadership which cost not only A-H, but also the G-L valuable Lombardy and prestige and boosted Napoleon III's prestige.
Taking advantage of the wave of nationalism, caused by Denmark's defeat and inclusion in the G-L, Bismarck prepares the unification-imperial coronation ceremonies for a truly formidable German Empire in 1865. Although the Bavarian king, the A-H emperor, etc, opposed unification, popular demand and Prussian propaganda and strength impose themselves, so the monarchs have to relent and elect the Prussian king as kaiser.
Moreover, Bismarck demands that the German empire redeem German prestige, by reinvading Lombardy from weak abnd incompetent Italy.
Napoleon III is terrified by the idea of such a German empire and issues an ultimatum to Prussia: suspend unification proceedings within 3 days, or be at war with France.
Both France and Prussia mobilize, but Moltke is much better prepared to do so and rapidly deploys massive forces in Luxemburg and in Venetia, while Bismarck publicshes the French ultimatum throughout the imminent German empire. All German nations rally to Prussia's aid. Bavaria, Hanover, etc, deploy troops along the eastern French border, while A-H deploys strong forces in Venetia, which is invaded before Italy is fully mobilized and with Prussian advisers, the large and excellent A-H cavalry sweeps aside the Italian forces, reclaims Lombardy and invades France, recoveing Nice and advancing to Marseille.
With strong forces invading Provence, Napoleon has to defeat Prussia rapidly, to heasd south, so the rushes into Luxemburg and incurs massive losses against holed-up Prussian forces with Dreyse rifles and Krupp cannon
aggressive. After repelling the French invasion fo Luxemburg, Moltke launches a massive counter offensive, which splits the french army. Simultaneiously, A-H forces seize Lyon, exacerbating panic among top French military.
3 weeks into the war, France is clearly untenable (completely unable to hold two distant fronts, against stronger German forces in both).
Bismarck proposes that Napoleon III request G-L memberships, so he can retain power of France, as a German province and so that an invincible Germany can invade Latin America, putting it again under European domination.
Napoleon III requests German annexation, avoding the humiliation of capitulation.
The annexation of France, makes Germany invincible and Switzerland (completely surrounded and blackadable), the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden are untenable, so when they receive an insistent invitation to join the G-L, all request membership piecemeal.
A truly massive German empire, including the Dutch, French and Spanish colonies (Cuba and the PI) unifies on 19 October, 1865.
Bismarck starts a massive program to build a hundred huge shipyards (including in Havana, Luzon, Surabaya, Suriname, Algeria, etc, a thousand 50,000 metric ton displacement cargo-passenger ships (300 of them, 12 mast sail ships, the rest screw, steam ships) and a million km of RR lines in present and to be acquired German territory. While Germany rapidly expands its steel production, it orders huge quantities from the US and Britain, for its construction projects.
With a massive Imperial navy and army, Bismarck issues a one month ultimatum to Mexico, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Thailand. Liberia and Portugal and proposes Britain joint invasion of the US, so that Britain can secure Canada (which the US has failed to conquer twice, but will probably succeed on the 3rd attempt) and reclaim it American colonies per 1768 borders), while Germany occupies the rest.
As large German forces start deploying in Cuba in large numbers, before the ultimatum expires, Mexico requests US help. The US is thriving with steel, grain, copper, lumber, lead. machinery and arms exports to Germany and is war weary after just finishing the civil war, with epic losses. So it refuses to assist Mexico. Mexico complies with the ultimatum. Mexico has no RR lines, so Bismarck orders immediate construction of a line on the Isthmus of Tehunatepec (to rapidly settle the sparsely populated Pacific coast of Mexico), from Veracruz to Puebla and Mexico City and from Acapulco to Mexico City. Large shipyard andcoke and steel plant construction start in Mexico.
More and more Latin American nations and Liberia, Portugal and Thailand follow Mexico's example.
Germany deploys forces in Mexico and recruits and trains forces in all German colonies. Moltke knows that multiple RR lines must be built all the way to the US border, before invading the US. He gets Bismarck to order construction of the RR lines Tampico-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo and Tampico-Reynosa.
Britain realizes that the US is completely untenable against the RN and the German army, so this is indeed an excellent opportunity to secure Canada and regain New England, Virginia, Ohio, etc, it signs the alliance proposed by Bismarck.
a) After trouncing Denmark at great cost in 1864, Bismarck rejected king Christian IX's proposal for Denmark becoming a member of the German League, provided Schleswig-Holstein was not severed from it, thus leaving a weak Denmark (without Schleswig-Holstein and with a small army) and a weak Prussia, without a navy and with a small coastline.
b) After trouncing Austria-Hungary at great cost in 1866, Bismarck did not unify Germany, including A-H (the largest and most populous member of the German League). Instead, he expelled A-H from the German League and forced it to cede Venetia to Italy (despite A-H trouncing the Italians by sea and land), leaving a weak German-League and a weak A-H.
c) During the Luxemburg crisis in 1867. when Prussian forces held excellent fortifications in Luxemburg (a member of the German League) and the French army had inferior muzzle-loading rifles and cannon. Bismarck backed down and wating until 1870 to start war with France by intrigue, forcing Moltke to invade France, when it had the Chasepot rifle, superior to the Dreyse rifle, which caused considerable German casualties.
ATL
A much smarter Bismarck interacts much more with brilliant Moltke and Roon and realizes that A-H (and hence the G-L) suffered a humiliating defeat by smaller forces under Napoleon III in Lombardy. Therefore, it is easy to prove that A-H is completely unsuitable to lead the G-L and Prussia is well suited to lead a mighty, unified Germany.
In 1863 Moltke and Roon inform Bismarck of the reports by military attaches and observers in the US, which mention mass production of rapid fire repeating rifles, pistols and Gattling guns, far superior to the Dreyse rifle, etc, Bismarck sends businessmen to secure licenses and contracts to build huge plants in Prussia to produce repeating rifles, pistols, the gattling gun, etc, and to buy large quantities of steel, arms, machinery, entire plants, etc, when the war approaches its end, which will result in companies going out of business or having to manufacture less profitable consumer goods, with high conversion costs and long down-time.
In 1864, when Denmark breaks the treaty and by its constitution, it officially incorporates Schleswig-Holstein (a G-L member) in its territory, Bismarck does not propose an alliance with A-H against Denmark, since the A-H army is poorly armed and led. Instead, Bismarck asks Moltke to plan and personally lead the invasion (old field marshal Wrangel is induced to retire, being completely out of tough with modern warfare) with all the necessary forces, so vistory is as fast and impressive as possible.
As usual, Moltke plans and executes brilliantly the invasion. Danish forces are rapidly overwhelmed and incur heavy casualties (mostly as POWs), geratly impressing the G-L and the Danes and causing a wave of German nationalism.
When Christian IX proposes that Denmark join the G-L and upon unification, the German Reich, Bismarck immediately accepts, realizing that the Danish navy and control of the Baltic will greatly boost the G-L.
The rapid invasion and addition of the Danish navy, merchant fleet, foreign trade, shipyards, coastline, population, Iceland, Greenland, teh Danish Virgin Islands, etc, greatly impress all German nations, none of which had any colonies, strong navy or foreign trade.
Bismarck creates a strong European Bank (E-B) to finance massive production of ships, steel, armament, RR engines and cars, etc, and makes brilliant use of Moltke's brilliant campaign, Denmark's assets, the fact that Prussia is producing huge plants to manufacture excellent repeating arms and metal cartridges for all the German nations and of the incompetent A-H military leadership which cost not only A-H, but also the G-L valuable Lombardy and prestige and boosted Napoleon III's prestige.
Taking advantage of the wave of nationalism, caused by Denmark's defeat and inclusion in the G-L, Bismarck prepares the unification-imperial coronation ceremonies for a truly formidable German Empire in 1865. Although the Bavarian king, the A-H emperor, etc, opposed unification, popular demand and Prussian propaganda and strength impose themselves, so the monarchs have to relent and elect the Prussian king as kaiser.
Moreover, Bismarck demands that the German empire redeem German prestige, by reinvading Lombardy from weak abnd incompetent Italy.
Napoleon III is terrified by the idea of such a German empire and issues an ultimatum to Prussia: suspend unification proceedings within 3 days, or be at war with France.
Both France and Prussia mobilize, but Moltke is much better prepared to do so and rapidly deploys massive forces in Luxemburg and in Venetia, while Bismarck publicshes the French ultimatum throughout the imminent German empire. All German nations rally to Prussia's aid. Bavaria, Hanover, etc, deploy troops along the eastern French border, while A-H deploys strong forces in Venetia, which is invaded before Italy is fully mobilized and with Prussian advisers, the large and excellent A-H cavalry sweeps aside the Italian forces, reclaims Lombardy and invades France, recoveing Nice and advancing to Marseille.
With strong forces invading Provence, Napoleon has to defeat Prussia rapidly, to heasd south, so the rushes into Luxemburg and incurs massive losses against holed-up Prussian forces with Dreyse rifles and Krupp cannon
aggressive. After repelling the French invasion fo Luxemburg, Moltke launches a massive counter offensive, which splits the french army. Simultaneiously, A-H forces seize Lyon, exacerbating panic among top French military.
3 weeks into the war, France is clearly untenable (completely unable to hold two distant fronts, against stronger German forces in both).
Bismarck proposes that Napoleon III request G-L memberships, so he can retain power of France, as a German province and so that an invincible Germany can invade Latin America, putting it again under European domination.
Napoleon III requests German annexation, avoding the humiliation of capitulation.
The annexation of France, makes Germany invincible and Switzerland (completely surrounded and blackadable), the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden are untenable, so when they receive an insistent invitation to join the G-L, all request membership piecemeal.
A truly massive German empire, including the Dutch, French and Spanish colonies (Cuba and the PI) unifies on 19 October, 1865.
Bismarck starts a massive program to build a hundred huge shipyards (including in Havana, Luzon, Surabaya, Suriname, Algeria, etc, a thousand 50,000 metric ton displacement cargo-passenger ships (300 of them, 12 mast sail ships, the rest screw, steam ships) and a million km of RR lines in present and to be acquired German territory. While Germany rapidly expands its steel production, it orders huge quantities from the US and Britain, for its construction projects.
With a massive Imperial navy and army, Bismarck issues a one month ultimatum to Mexico, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Thailand. Liberia and Portugal and proposes Britain joint invasion of the US, so that Britain can secure Canada (which the US has failed to conquer twice, but will probably succeed on the 3rd attempt) and reclaim it American colonies per 1768 borders), while Germany occupies the rest.
As large German forces start deploying in Cuba in large numbers, before the ultimatum expires, Mexico requests US help. The US is thriving with steel, grain, copper, lumber, lead. machinery and arms exports to Germany and is war weary after just finishing the civil war, with epic losses. So it refuses to assist Mexico. Mexico complies with the ultimatum. Mexico has no RR lines, so Bismarck orders immediate construction of a line on the Isthmus of Tehunatepec (to rapidly settle the sparsely populated Pacific coast of Mexico), from Veracruz to Puebla and Mexico City and from Acapulco to Mexico City. Large shipyard andcoke and steel plant construction start in Mexico.
More and more Latin American nations and Liberia, Portugal and Thailand follow Mexico's example.
Germany deploys forces in Mexico and recruits and trains forces in all German colonies. Moltke knows that multiple RR lines must be built all the way to the US border, before invading the US. He gets Bismarck to order construction of the RR lines Tampico-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo and Tampico-Reynosa.
Britain realizes that the US is completely untenable against the RN and the German army, so this is indeed an excellent opportunity to secure Canada and regain New England, Virginia, Ohio, etc, it signs the alliance proposed by Bismarck.
