The War to End All Wars

[Csargo]

Background Info:

With the Pan-Slavik movement in full swing and Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans waning it is not surprising what happened. On June 28, 1914 Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke of Austria-Hungary Franz Ferdinand the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo. An ultimatum was sent from Austria-Hungary to Serbia. Serbia's response, which agreed to some of the requests but not all, was sent and it mobilized for war on July 25th. On the 28th of July Austria-Hungary mobilized against Serbia and officially declared war. Within the next week general mobilizations were ordered by many of the great powers(Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, and Germany). As well as declarations of war from Germany to Russia and France. With the cards set in place how will the war to end all wars end up?

A look at the alliance structure of pre-WWI Europe:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Map of Europe 1914:


Colonies as of 1900:


Ottoman Empire 1914:

I hope that was somewhat informative for whoever reads it

Nations list:

Germany: kamikhaan
France: Caius
United Kingdom: Warluster
Austria-Hungary: scottishranger
Serbia: Shlin28
Russia: Count"I don't like the guy who runs this IH"Arach
Ottoman Empire: Tran
Bulgaria: Ravie
Romania: Sarathos
Italy: Lt. Pinard
United States: DemonArchangel

General Information:

This is going to start off as historically accurate as possible. Germany, A-H, and the Ottoman Empire will be at war with France, Russia, Serbia, and the UK. Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, and the US will be able to join either side of the conflict.

I would like you all to do some research on your own of the nation you choose. Army strength, Naval strength, leaders, policies, etc. and post it here. If you have trouble I'd be happy to help you find anything.

Turns:

Turns will last anywhere from one to two weeks. I'm undecided on whether to have you just write up your own turns or have like other IHs and have me give you a list of options. I think I'll let you all decide which one it is.

Diplomacy:

Diplomacy will be handled in the same way as in most other IHs, propaganda in the thread and correspondence between allies by PM or other means.

That's all I can think of at the moment feel free to ask questions about anything.

[CountArach]

I'll take Russia thanks.

[Warluster]

I'll take the UK thanks.

[Csargo]

I'm undecided on whether to have you just write up your own turns or have like other IHs and have me give you a list of options. I think I'll let you all decide which one it is.

If you would all give your opinions that'd be great.

[shlin28]

In as Sebia.

And multiple choices would be great

[Caius]

Give me France.

[Ravie]

Ill take Italy Please

SJ style works really well Ichigo we send you wat we want to do

[Tran]

Since no one pick Triple Alliance, I'll start by choosing Ottoman Empire.

Question:
1. Will there be naval and air combat involve?
2. Is the war limited in Europe or will it be worldwide?

[DemonArchangel]

The United States please. I have an order of battle for the American Expeditionary Force, although I'm having trouble finding an order of battle for the US Navy at around 1914. If somebody could please find one, I'd be most grateful.

[Tran]

Here's a good website about WW1


Ottoman Empire



Sultan of the Ottoman Empire : Mehmed V
Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman Army : İsmail Enver (a.k.a : Enver Pasha)

At the beginning of the 20th century a large area of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, was ruled by the Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II and his appointed Grand Vizier. However, the governors of the Empire's four provinces: Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Kurdistan and Arabia enjoyed a certain amount of autonomy.

A series of military defeats in the 19th century had compelled the Turks to grant zones of influence to European powers: Britain (Egypt), France (Syria and the Lebanon), Austria-Hungary (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Italy (Libya). Russia was interested in Armenia and Italy wanted parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

Abdul Hamid II was forced to summon a parliament in 1908 by the Young Turks movement. He attempted a counter revolution in April 1909, and when this failed he was deposed and exiled to Salonika. Enver Pasha, eventually emerged as the new leader of the country.

In 1914 the Ottoman Empire contained an estimated 25 million people. Although there were 14 million Turks, there was also large Arab, Assyrians, Armenian, Kurdish, Greek and Circassion minorities within the Empire. As a result, there existed nationalist, separatist movements in several areas of the territory under the control of the Turks.

The Turkish Army was made up of Anatolian Turks, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and Syrians. The army performed badly during the Balkan Wars (1912-13) and it was clear that there was great need for reform. In 1913 Turkish government invited the German Liman von Sanders to help modernize its army.

Under threat from within and outside its borders, the Turkish government sought a protective agreement from one of the two European power blocs: the Triple Alliance or the Triple Entente. As Turkey was mainly concerned about Russian expansion, it decided in July 1914, to sign a defensive alliance with Germany. This remained a secret agreement and Turkey continued to have talks with other European countries.

The Army

The Turkish Army was made up of Anatolian Turks, Arabs, Armenians, Kurds and Syrians. The army performed badly during the Balkan Wars (1912-13) and it was clear that there was great need for reform. In 1913 Turkish government invited the German Liman von Sanders to help modernize its army.

On the outbreak of the First World War, 36 divisions were organised into three armies. Each division had three infantry battalions (each of four companies), a machine gun detachment and 36 field guns. Although attempts were made to dramatically increase the size of the army, desertions meant that full strength was never above 43 divisions.

Enver Pasha, the War Minister, held overall control over the Turkish armed forces, but the influence of the German Army increased during the war. The army's greatest success was at Gallipoli but it was less successful fighting against the British Army on the Mespotamian Front.

The Turkish government did not keep accurate records of its wartime losses so estimates of battle deaths varies from 470,000 to 530,000. Another 770,000 were wounded and another 100,000 probably died from illness.

[seireikhaan]

Hmm...

Germany.

[DemonArchangel]

Army: http://www.newrivernotes.com/ww1/

I have roughly 97 divisions that can be assembled in a fairly short order of time, although I lack artillery, good airplanes and good tanks.

Navy: http://www.worldwar1atsea.net/WW1NavyUS.htm

Political Situation: Isolationist.

[shlin28]

http://www.vojska.net/eng/world-war-...nization/1914/

According to that, I have 65700 ox... can I wrap them in explosive or something and send them off to Austria?

[Csargo]

Since no one pick Triple Alliance, I'll start by choosing Ottoman Empire.

Question:
1. Will there be naval and air combat involve?
2. Is the war limited in Europe or will it be worldwide?

Yes, but probably won't be quite as important as land combat. I'll have to figure out how it will work out.

2. Well, it would be easier on me to just do Europe, but I'll let you all decide.

can I wrap them in explosive or somethig and send them off to Austria?

I doubt that'll end well for you.

[scottishranger]

I will be Austria-Hungary
http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/inforg1.html

One Battalion = 125 men
Company = 2 battalions
Regiment= 5 Companies


Army:
The soldier of this army was well armed with the Mannlicher rifle, Skoda machine guns and some of the most excellent artillery pieces in the world. Uniforms were relatively modern and followed closely to the German style of the time with the exception of the flamboyant Calvary regiments who insisted on starting the war in their garish 19th century costumes complete with braid and brass. The Austrian army however was lacking in modern communication and transport, having the fewest airplanes and motorized equipment of any of the 1914 armies. Austria-Hungary had 13 Flieger Kompagnie (Fliks) (flying companies), with a total of 48 operational aircraft, 85 pilots and observers, and ten balloons.

The strength of the active army during periods of peace was about 350,000 officers and men organized in 53 small divisions. In October 1912 the Minister of War asked for an extraordinary credit of £10,000,000 for war material and the rearmament of the artillery and to expand the intake of conscripts to provide for a larger army upon mobilization. On July 28th, when the Austrian artillery units began to bombard Belgrade in the opening shots of the war, the mobilized army had an approximate strength of 1,147,000. This was to face the bulk of a three million man Russian army, a 400,000 man Serbian force, as well as provide guards for the Rumanian and Italian borders in case of their entry into the war.

30 000 Officers
410 000 NCO's and troops
87 000 Horses (about - only uncertain information available)
1200 guns in the Field - Artillery units
After the war was declared, a total number of 3.35 million men (including the first call up of the reserves and the 1914 recruits) gathered for action.


The common Army (k.u.k. - kaiserlich und königlich) as at July 1914
16 Corps
49 Infantry Divisions - 76 Infantry Brigades - 14 Mountain Brigades
8 Cavalry Divisions - 16 Cavalry Brigades
102 Infantry Regiments (four Battalions each) - 4 Bosnisch-Hercegowinische (Bosnian-Herzegowian) Infantry Regiments (four Battalions each)
4 Imperial Tyrolian Rifles Regiments (Tiroler Kaiserjäger) (four Battalions each)
32 Rifles-Battalions (Feldjäger) - 1 Bosnian-Herzegowian Rifles Battalion (Bosnisch-Hercegowinisches Feldjäger Bataillon)
42 Field Artillery Regiments (Feldkanonen-Regimenter) - 14 Field Howitzer Regiments (Feldhaubitz-Regimenter)
11 Mounted Artillery Battalions (originally named Reitende Artillerie Division) - 14 Heavy Howitzer Battalions (originally named schwere Haubitz-Division)
11 Mountain Artillery Regiments (Gebirgsartillerie Regimenter)
6 Fortress Artillerie Regiments (Festungsartillerie Regimenter) - 8 independent Fortress Artillery Battalions (selbst. Festungsartillerie Bataillone)
15 Regiments of Dragoons (Dragoner) - 16 Regiments of Hussars (Husaren) - 11 Regiments of Lancers (Ulanen)

16 Transportation Battalions (Train)
23 Engineers Battalions (Sappeure/Pioniere) - 1 Bridge Construction Battalion (Brücken Bataillon) - 1 Railroad Regiment (Eisenbahn-Regiment) - 1 Signal Regiment (Telegraphen-Regiment)






Navy August 1914 Strength

Dreadnoughts 4

Semi-dreadnoughts 3

Battlecruisers - 0

Pre-dreadnought battleships 12

Coast defence ships 4

Armoured cruisers 3
Protected cruisers 2
Light/scout cruisers 8

Destroyers 25


Submarines 6

[Csargo]

We have enough people to start now since Bulgaria and Romania start out neutral, or we can wait. Once you guys post your info. I think I'll use Ravie's idea for turns where you just send me what you want to do.

[Ravie]

When i go to bed tonight ill have no.. *shit on my ass time* until monday so wont gather any info until then, so feel free to start when ever and ill jump in with my info when i have it

[Warluster]

Great BritainAt the beginning of the 20th century the British Empire covered more than 11,400,000 square miles of territory. This made it the largest empire the world had ever known. The foundations for the empire were laid between 1750 and 1850 during which Britain acquired India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, several islands in the West Indies and various colonies on the African coast. The late 19th century saw the acquisition of new territories in Africa and by 1900 the British king, Edward VII, reigned over 410 million people.


The British Empire was protected by a Royal Navy that included 18 modern dreadnoughts, 29 battleships (pre-dreadnought design), 10 battlecruisers, 20 town cruisers, 15 scout cruisers, 200 destroyers and 150 cruisers.

By 1914 Britain was no longer the dominant economic power in Europe. It still had the world's largest shipbuilding industry but in other areas such as coal, iron, chemicals and light engineering, Britain was out-performed by Germany.

In 1914 Britain was a constitutional monarchy under George V. The government was formed by the majority party of the House of Commons. Members of this parliament were elected by some 8 million registered male voters. The aristocratic House of Lords had limited power to veto legislation.

The Liberal Party had governed Britain since 1906. Senior members of the government included Herbert Asquith (Prime Minister), Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Secretary) and David Lloyd George (Chancellor of the Exchequer). Ramsay MacDonald (Labour Party) and Andrew Bonar Law (Conservative Party) led the main opposition parties in the House of Commons.

Since the later part of the 19th century the British government had considered Germany to be the main threat to its empire. This was reinforced by Germany's decision in 1882 to form the Triple Alliance. Under the terms of this military alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy agreed to support each other if attacked by either France or Russia.

France felt threatened by the Triple Alliance. Britain was also concerned by the growth in the German Navy and in 1904 the two countries signed the Entente Cordiale (friendly understanding). The objective of the alliance was to encourage co-operation against the perceived threat of Germany. Three years later, Russia, who also feared the growth in the German Army, joined Britain and France to form the Triple Entente.

By August 1914, Britain had 247,432 regular troops. About 120,000 of these were in the British Expeditionary Army and the rest were stationed abroad. There were soldiers in all Britain's overseas possessions except the white dominions of Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) had been established in May 1912. By 1914 the RFC had 110 aircraft (BE-2, Farman MF-7, Avro 504, Vickers FB5, Bristol Scout, F.E.2) and 6 airships.


A question Ichigo; will I also own the Colonies of Britain (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all those lands in Americas, Africa and Asia?)

[Csargo]

A question Ichigo; will I also own the Colonies of Britain (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all those lands in Americas, Africa and Asia?)

Yes, you may draw troops from those countries.

[Warluster]

Yes, you may draw troops from those countries.

Yay! Here come the ANZAC's! I look forward to the start!

[Csargo]

I've added two more maps one of the Colonies in 1900 and one of the entire Ottoman Empire of 1914.

[Sarathos]

Sign me up for Romania please, and I shall post the research later.

[CountArach]

Yay! Here come the ANZAC's! I look forward to the start!

Time to be slaughtered at Gallipoli!

The Imperial Russian Army of 1914

http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/...n_army_of_1914

With 14 million peasant drafts lead by an officer corps one percent of that size, the Russian army was short of every single thing except soldiers, bravery and enemies

The army was made up mainly of conscripted illiterate peasants lead by a very small (compared to other European forces) officer corps and an even smaller cadre of professional non commissioned officers. Western sources have given the tsarist officer corps a bad rap in the past eighty years-- painting it as a group of rich titled buffoons with no military skill. The fact is that it was a professional dedicated group that was mainly drawn from the tiny Russian middle class-nearly 40-percent of the officers in the Russian Army were of peasant origins.

officers made many recommendations during 1907-1910 to modernize the army and it was to their credit that the Russians could take to the field at all in 1914. These efforts produced at the time the worlds largest peacetime army of 1,423,000 men organized in 16 Guards, 16 Grenadier, 208 Infantry, 44 Siberian rifle, 20 Sharpshooter, 12 Finnish rifle, 8 Caucasian rifle, 22 Turkestan rifle regiments plus 64 regular cavalry regiments and no less than 52 regiments of Cossack auxiliary cavalry. When mobilized with reservists and fully fleshed out this army amounted to 3,115,000 men in the front lines when war was declared on August 3rd, 1914. A force of 22 million stood ready to answer the call to defend the motherland if total mobilzation was used. This huge 'steamroller' army was to oppose the German, Austrian and Turkish army along a front many times longer and much more brutal than anything seen in France or Belgium.

The arms and armaments of the Russian Army were some of the best in Europe. The excellent 1891 Mosin nagant rifle is still carried by many eastern European armies today as is the maxim heavy machinegun. The 76.2mm light field gun was well respected and considered by many to be one of the best light cannon of the modern era.

In 1914 the Russian Army actually had the highest ratio of machine guns to troops of any major power, 2.2 pieces per thousand men, at a time when the next best ratio was the Germany Army’s 1.3. The principal stumbling block to this was in the sheer scale of the need to arm millions with an overtaxed and backward industrial complex that struggled to produce thousands. Russia started the war deficient in quantities of every needed military store except men. Terrible logistical support was the final nail in the army's coffin, leaving the huge mass of men lacking of all basic supplies.

The Russian Military Air Fleet had about 244 aircraft, many already worn, in 30 aviaotryadiy (AOs) (aviation detachments) and eight fortress aviation detachments. There were 213 pilots, and 14 airships, only four of which were fit for wartime service. The Russian Amy had only 420 motorized transport vehicles (including two ambulances) and 259 passenger cars. In early 1914, European Russia had only two thirds of a mile of railroad track for each one hundred square versts (1 verst = 1.067 km) of territory, while Germany had more than ten times that amount of track.

Four years of world war saw 14,000,000 Russians of all backgrounds placed into the uniform of the tsar. The graves of the eastern, Caucasian, and western fronts kept an unknown number of these men, the ledger book being lost in the subsequent civil war. General Golovine calculated 1,300,000 men were killed in action; 4,200,000 wounded, of whom 350,000 later died; and 2,400,000 taken prisoner. This gives a total of 7,900,000, more than half of the total number of men mobilized between 1914 and 1917

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWinRussia.htm

In 1914 the Russian Navy had 4 battleships, 10 cruisers, 21 destroyers, 11 submarines and 50 torpedo boats.

[Lt. Pinard]

If there one left I'll take it. Bulgaria looks like its still open.

[scottishranger]

The Russian Army is incredibly scary to Austria....

[Lt. Pinard]

Bulgaria

Independent kingdom under Prince Ferdinand

Bulgaria's parliament had the power to veto royal legislation. The most powerful political group in parliament was the Nationalist Party. In 1913 Vasil Radoslavov became Bulgaria's prime minister.

Prince Ferdinand favoured an expansionist foreign policy

After the Balkan Wars (1912-13) the size of the army was increased to ten divisions. Each division of 24,000 men were supported by cavalry squadrons, machine-gun troops and field artillery.
(24,000*10=240,000)
With no major arms industry, the Bulgarian Army relied heavily on supplies of shells, bullets, artillery and machine guns from the German Army. The German Army Air Service also provided both personnel and aircraft.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Bulgarian troops were concentrated on the Balkan Front and took part in the invasion of Serbia in October 1915. They also kept guard over Allied troops in Salonika and protected the Thrace border against attack from Greece. About 1.2 million Bulgarians fought during the First World War

[shlin28]

http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/..._army_of_1914_

More evidence of Serbian awsomeness.

[Lt. Pinard]

LOL Serbian awesomeness!!
LMAO

The only awesomeness serbia has is the awesome asskicking that's coming its way.

[scottishranger]

http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/..._army_of_1914_

More evidence of Serbian awsomeness.

Staff Voyvoda (Field Marshall) Radomir Putnik has been arrested at the hospital he was residing at in Austria. He will not be released until the conclusion of the war and it has been seen to that Serbia will never threaten the Hapsburg Dynasty and the Dual Monarchy ever again.

[DemonArchangel]

The United States is beginning to mobilize its armaments industry should anybody be willing to purchase weaponry. Also, it sends out a formal notice that any party interdicting or attacking United States shipping shall be dealt with most severely. All goods shall of course, be sold at market price. The military is on standby at this moment, preparing to mobilize if need be.