Alfred Von Schlieffen, creator of the plans used in 1914, retires. Unlike in OTL, he is replaced by Erich Von Falkenhayen. Falkenhayen leaves the Schlieffen Plan unchanged.

1914

28 JUNE: Franz-Ferdinand is assasinated in Sarajevo. Over the next month, the various Powers deliver their ultimata and declare war on each other.

4 AUGUST: German troops enter Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Britain declares war on Germany at Midnight.

16 AUGUST: The Belgian fortress of Liege falls and German troops pass on into France.

5 SEPTEMBER: The unaltered Schlieffen Plan succeeds: because there are more troops for the invasion in the North, there is no "Miracle of the Marne", and German forces cross the Seine west of Paris, preparing to swing round and encircle it. French attacks towards Germany under Plan XVII fail.

The French Government flees to Bordeaux, while the BEF is evacuated from the Channel ports. Some British newspapers celebrate the success of this operation, though as First Lord of the Admiralty Churchill says: "Wars are not won by evacuations".

Italy senses the way things are going and enters the war on the side of the Central Powers when Germany promises it French North Africa. However, the French beat off the Italian advance towards Marseilles, causing the postponement of a planned attack on Egypt.

26-29 AUGUST: Ludendorff halts initial Russian advances into Germany at Tannenburg. By mid-September the Russians have been driven out of Germany altogether.

10 SEPTEMBER: The Germans begin their assault on Paris.

8-12 SEPTEMBER: The Russians defeat the Austro-Hungarian army at Lemburg.

18 SEPTEMBER: Paris falls to the Germans after a weeklong battle. French Government at Bordeaux sues for peace. As German forces prepare to attack Russia, Japan occupies the French colonies of Madagascar and Indochina to prevent them falling into German hands (They are willingly assisted by French Colonial officials who see the Japanese as a safeguard against German occupation). Bulgaria joins the stalled Austrian attack on Serbia.

9 OCTOBER: In imitation of his Grandfather, Wilhelm II takes the French surrender at the palace of Versailles. The main points of the Treaty of Versailles are:

• The French Monarchy is restored under Louis XVII, a cousin of the Spanish Bourbon King.
• French North Africa is given to Italy. The rest of the Empires of France, Holland and Belgium go to Germany (Although the USA invokes the Munroe Doctrine and takes charge of all the involved Carribean and South American territory).
• Luxembourg becomes a German Federal State.
• France, Holland and Belgium all become members of a "European Zollverein", an economic union designed to increase German power by securing the markets of member states for German exports and making them economically dependent on Germany.

15-17 OCTOBER: The British Mediterranean Fleet decisivly defeats the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Fleets in an engagement 100 miles West of Malta.

1 NOVEMBER: Turkey joins the Central Powers. The next day, Britain declares war.

22 NOVEMBER: British troops occupy Basra in Persia to guard the oilfields. Plans are drawn up to attack the Ottoman Empire.

30 NOVEMBER: The Japanese have now taken the German Concessions in China.

At the winter halt of the Central Powers advance East, the Russians have been pushed back to a line stretching from Riga in the Baltic to the Carpathian Mountains. During the Russian Campaign, a Prussian nobleman called Joachim Von Stamer uses his military knowledge acquired as an advisor in Mexico to ingratiate himself with Wilhelm II.

1915

JANUARY: British under General Allenby invade Palestine, assisted by Arab revolts incited by agents such as T.E. Lawrence. Indian troops march on Baghdad from Basra.

MARCH: Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph dies aged 85. His successor, Karl I, promises sweeping reforms in the Empire once victory is achieved. Karl then sacks the Prime Minister, Sturgkh, and his entire Cabinet, replacing them with a new PM, Prince Joseph von und zu Regnitz, a Professor of Law at the University of Vienna. The new Cabinet begins work on reforming Austria. British forces take Gaza. The Central Powers begin their advance in the East again.

APRIL: British take Jerusalem. Indians capture Baghdad.

JUNE: Bolshevik Revolution takes place in Russia, aided by the disastrous results of the war and food shortages in cities. Nicholas II and the Russian Royal Family flee to Germany, where Wilhelm offers to restore his cousin to the throne "on certain conditions".

JULY: Serbia and Montenegro, now totally overrun by German, Austrian, Italian and Bulgarian forces, surrender.

Indian troops moved to Baku in the Caspian , where they work with General Krasnov and the Don Cossacks to create the "Republic of Transcaucusus", a British protectorate, to guard the Caspian oilfields from the Central Powers.

SEPTEMBER: Arab forces enter Damascus. German troops reach St. Petersburg and Moscow, where they crush the Revolution. Trotsky and other major Bolsheviks are shot by the Germans, with Lenin remaining an obscure figure in swizerland. Nicholas II is restored to his throne before signing the Treaty of Moscow with Wilhelm. The main points of the Treaty are:

• Germany directly annexes Poland, Lithuania, and Courland as Grand Duchies of the Empire.
• Estonia, Livonia and the Ukraine are set up as German satellite states.
• A Kingdom of Finland is created, with Wilhelm's brother Henry on the throne.
• Russia will no longer back Serbia, which is absorbed into Bulgaria.
• Russia becomes a member of the "European Zollverien".

Emperor Karl I, in his victory proclamation, extends the Ausgleich to all the peoples of the Empire, effectively making it a Federation. Democratic elections will be held to a Federal Reichsrat and to local parliaments. The Empire is also divided up into new areas based on ethnicity:

• Austria (Austria, Carinthia, Styria)
• Hungary (Hungary, Transylvania)
• South Slavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia)
• Czechland (Bohemia, Moravia)
• Slovakia (Slovakia)
• Polonia (Galicia, Ruthenia, Bukowina)

OCTOBER: British and Arab troops capture Alleppo and prepare to attack Turkey itself. Faced with invasion, the Turks surrender. The Ottoman Empire collapses into new states under British guarantee: Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen. In Turkey, a coup overthrows the Sultan and makes Mustafa Kemal the President of a Turkish Republic.

1916

The military is now the pre-eminent group in German society, and support for the Right grows again amongst the electorate. Joachim Von Stamer founds a new political party, the "Tutonic Party". This is a militaristic Nationalist group building on the support for the Colonial and Navy Leagues.

MARCH: 15 Americans are killed by Pancho Villa's men in a raid on New Mexico. In response, the USA invades Mexico and installs General Pershing as Military Governor.

EASTER: Easter rising occurs in Ireland, backed by Germany.

JUNE: US President Woodrow Wilson manages to bring Britain and the Central Powers to the negotiating table. Realising it' s naval blockade is largely futile with Germany in command of Continental Europe, Britain agrees to a settlement. The main points of the Treaty of Stockholm are:

• The German and British navies are limited to 60 Battleships, 120 Cruisers, and 60 Submarines.
• Japan to keep the former German concessions in China.
• Germany will not demand any British colonies.
• Britain to recognise German and Italian rights to their new colonies.

AUGUST: Britain and Japan agree to treat South-East Asia as a joins "sphere of influence". This also allays British fears of German Naval expansion, as the Anglo-Japanese Fleet will be larger than that of Germany.

OCTOBER: Elections in the Austro-Hungarian Federation produce a centre-Left Government in the Reichsrat, and many centrist governments in the regions.

1917

FEBRUARY: Elections to the German Reichstag give the Tutonic Party a majority. Von Stamer, using this majority and Prussian influence in the Bundestag, alters the Constitution and Electoral Laws, making the Tutonic Party virtually impossible to beat in elections.

1919

APRIL: Enrico Pinamonte's popular Nationalist government is elected to power in Italy.

JULY: The last forces resisting the new Empires in Africa are defeated.

SEPTEMBER: Italy buys the areas of Trentino, Istria and Goritzia from Austria for £20,000,000.

1920

APRIL: Other European countries are "invited" to join the Zollverein: Austria-Hungary, Italy, Denmark, Sweeden, Norway, and Finland. The Scandanavian countries reluctantly agree. However, Austria-Hungary and Italy refuse and threaten to ally with Britain. The British Government declares that it will support them in their "bid for continued independence". Germany reluctantly shelves its "Mitteleuropa" plans.

SEPTEMBER: The UK instigates the Treaty of Baghdad, a grouping to protect the Middle East from German influence. Members of the Baghdad Pact are: The UK, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Persia.

1922

Irish Civil War ends. Ulster remains part of UK, south becomes Irish Free State. Germany begins to back Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang against the Japanese.

1923

Tsarevich Alexis dies at 19. Russian succession now passes to Nicholas II's brother, the Grand Duke Michael.

1924

MAY: Tutonic Party introduces a series of laws similar to those of Apartite in South Africa, designed to isolate Jews and other "undesirables".

1928

Italian Air Force officers Italo Balbo and Major Oreste di Carraciolo make the first Transatlantic flight, in a converted Fiat bomber.

1929

A minor economic downturn begins.

1931

Spanish General Francisco Franco attempts a military coup against the Government in an attempt to remove Spain from the European Zollverein. With German aid, the Nationalist coup is crushed after several months of fighting. Despite official British policy being to stay neutral in the civil war, there are some doubts about the "volunteer" status of the "Legion of St. George".

1933

Japanese invade Chinese province of Manchuria and declare a protectorate.

1935

Japanese now posses much of the East Coast of China.

1936

Nicholas II dies aged 68, and is replaced by his brother, Tsar Michael I. In the same year, Edward VII dies and is replaced as King of Britain by Edward VIII.

British and Cossacks defeat a German-backed revolt in the Republic of Transcaucusus. Rebel leader Josef Dzhugashvili is killed in the fighting.

More to come...

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