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The Great War broke out in 1914, spanning across the globe.
Background[]
The discovery of electroid and the sudden importance of eteroid ore changed the political landscape across the globe, and things unfolded differently than they might have without this new technology. With leviathans active in Africa, the attempted entente between France and the United Kingdom fell through, leaving those two nations still hostile to one another's interests.[2][3] British agents were blamed for the death of Czar Nicholas II and most of his family, leaving Anastasia Romanov as head of the Russian Empire.[4] Still stinging from their loss at the Battle of Tsushima leaving them the losers in the Russo-Japanese War, the Empire of Japan built up their own fleet of leviathans and, in a surprise attack, conquered Chile for its eteroid resources.[5] The United States of America protested, and proxy wars between the USA and Japan sprang up in South America.[6] Switzerland was found to have eteroid deposits and was divided up among four of the Great Powers, while Austria-Hungary sought to claim Serbia.[3] All around the world, tensions built during the opening years of the twentieth century.
Death of Ferdinand[]
In 1914, Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the dual crown of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated while on a trip to Bosnia. Austria-Hungary made heavy demands on Belgrade, and Belgrade, rather than refusing outright, offered compromise.[7]
War Declared[]
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, sending leviathans to bomb Belgrade. Serbia's ally Russia responded with a declaration of war against Austria, which brought the Germans into the war on Austria's side. France declared war against Germany in support of Russia. Japan, seeing that their old foe Russia might expand their holdings eastward, joined the Austrian alliance, with the United States joining France out of fear of Japanese ambitions.[7]
Great Britain and Italy were late to the fight. The British had no alliances or direct interests compelling them to join, even standing aside to allow Germany to take Belgium as a route into France. This neutrality held until Russia moved into Scandinavia. Seeing this as a challenge to their command of the North Sea, Great Britain sided with Germany and the others, and British and Russian leviathans battled over the skies of Sweden and Norway. Italy, meanwhile, wanted to expand its holdings to include all Italian-speaking peoples, and entertained offers from both France and Germany. When France offered them Corsica, they accepted and joined the war on their side. All of the Major Powers were committed.[8]
Two Sides[]
Note: Historically, they were called the Central Powers and the Entente Powers. The Anglo-French version of the Entente explicitly did not occur, and as of this writing no formal names have appeared in canon for either group.
"Last Flight of the Swan of the East" makes reference to these names, but that story has some continuity errors to the rest of the series, making the reference questionable.
Allied with Austria-Hungary[]
- Austro-Hungarian Empire
- British Empire
- German Empire
- Empire of Japan
- various minor powers
Allied with France[]
- French Republic
- Kingdom of Italy
- Russian Empire
- United States of America
- various minor powers
Historical Notes[]
This is the "Leviathans TimeLine" version of World War I, or "The Great War". Many things, from the events leading up to the war to alliances involved and when certain countries entered the war, are very different. For information on the historical conflict, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I is but a starting point.
References[]
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I using OTL date until otherwise canonized.
- ↑ Failure of the Entente
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "From Rychnowski to Ferdinand", https://monstersinthesky.com/index.php/2022/03/31/from-rychnowski-to-ferdinand/
- ↑ Czar Nicholas II Laid To Rest
- ↑ Midnight War
- ↑ "South America" (blog post), https://monstersinthesky.com/index.php/2022/05/23/south-america/
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Last Flight of the Swan of the East
- ↑ "Britain and Italy enter the war", https://monstersinthesky.com/index.php/britain-and-italy-enter-the-war/
Bibliography[]
- "Britain and Italy enter the war" (blog post)
- "From Rychnowski to Ferdinand" (blog post)
- Leviathans: Armored Skies (anthology)
- "South America" (blog post)
- Czar Nicholas II Laid To Rest
- Leviathans Core Rulebook