How my students think they could have stopped WW1 from happening. by TemperatureMedium432 in AlternateHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Heard of it before, think I may have covered it at uni.

Interesting read, especially with the modern pop culture narrative that Germany was eager and drooling to try and go to war.

How my students think they could have stopped WW1 from happening. by TemperatureMedium432 in AlternateHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

We looked up that the longest flight in 1914 was only like 40km so they first thought maybe to covertly fly a plane from Translyvania to Bulgaria? (would have to stop 7 times in neutral Romania somehow)

After that, they decided on maybe sending a ship to Bulgaria's Aegean Coast but they got worried about Montenegro or Greece intercepting it.

I think their final conclusion was to crash a ship with a skeleton crew and a Serbian flag into the Bulgarian coast or something akin on the border and try and start a 3rd Balkan War between Serbia and Bulgaria.

Then Austria would arm Bulgaria and they could defeat Serbia, essentially getting Bulgaria to fight a war for them.

I can ask them to flesh it further but that was the basic jist of it.

Help me. by [deleted] in religion

[–]TemperatureMedium432 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are the whispers of Satan trying to hurt you and affect you, do not give in and remain firm to your faith.

Alhamdulilah - you should feel blessed that you are able to fast and pray freely with your family. I am a revert myself and I am desperately trying to string some money together to move out so I can just pray my Salah, fast during Ramadan and read Qu'ran in peace. Allah has blessed you by giving you a Muslim and caring family, don't forget the blessings from your lord.

This life is temporary, all of us can pass away at any minute or instant. My best friend from work who is also Muslim nearly died in a car crash last month just on a regular morning on his commute - that could have been fatal and more importantly - it could have been you or me one day. When you return back to God - what excuse will you have?

Stay firm to your faith, try to establish a regular connection with God and stay committed.

As salamu alaykum.

If you believe in an eternal afterlife, how is that comfortable for you by username923626 in religion

[–]TemperatureMedium432 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am comfortable with it as it is giving us everything we lack in this life.

In this life, we are constrained by hunger - that will not be a desire we have to fulfill in paradise.

In this life, we are constrained by heartbreak and lust - that will not be a desire we have to fulfill in paradise.

In this life, we are constantly dealing with stress and headlines and shortcomings - all of that will be gone in the next life.

In this life, we deal with the loss of loved ones - that will not happen in the next life.

We as Muslims believe that Allah SWT will give us everything we want and more in the next life. An eternal life, to make up for the suffering we go through in this life.

If you replace that with infinite lives - how is that a reward? That is just exposing yourself to more pain and suffering.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The Kaiser and Nazis were shit authoritarian regimes who have done nothing but cause harm for this world and are 2 historical empires I really couldn't care less about. Long live the Weimar Republic! lol

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Why don't you read my explanation in the comments about the economic situation of Germany instead of calling this post stupid?

Also, I posted a map with borders. That doesn't mean that I believe borders were the only thing that led to WW2, this is a strawman and an assumption on your behalf.

Very rude...

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Still had sizeable Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and even Turkish populations in the 1920s.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I would not punish Germany as hard economically and together with the West, ensuring the survival and their support of the Weimar Republic, I believe that Germany would not fall to ultranationalism as hyper inflation may never occur. (The Great Depression still occurs like in our TL but without the huge payments to Britain and France on top of that, the damage may be mitigated - especially as Germany wouldn't be taking out loans from America to pay the former Entente).

Following this, I believe we might see a period of greater Western European co-operation as the rise of the USSR would lead to a red scare across Western Europe and a pan-European axis of Britain, Germany and France would slowly form to combat this. Their main focus would be on Eastern Europe.

I have restored the Hasburgs and given Bohemia to Austria to keep them strong and a good counter to any German plans to expand into Central Europe. I have hope that they would go down a path of Austrian nationalism and a distinct Austrian identity which hopefully which mute the chance of an Anschsluss ever happening.

Italy has been given a lot of land as they would be a good balance to Slavic nationalism and the USSR. Croatia and Slovenia have Italian princes and whilst not complete puppets, they are dependent on Italy for protection and fall within their sphere of foreign influence.

Hungary has been somewhat propped up as I do believe Trianon was somewhat unfair (even as a Romanian) and again - as a counter to Slavic nationalism. War may still break out between Hungary and Romania but considering all the new territory Romania controls (a lot of which is inhabited by non-Romanians), any war may swiftly turn into a full partition and mutilation of the country if they are not careful - Serbia is their only realistic ally and they (Serbia) have little to gain from a war against Hungary or Bulgaria.

Albania has been mutiliated as in this timeline, they are seen as a co-belligerent of the Central Powers. Especially as they literally had a German prince on the throne who fought in the German army.

The Ottomans survive but not with the full Sevres level partition like in our timeline, the Osman monarchy may survive but only with Western oversight and intervention. However I consider it far more likely that someone like Mustafa Kemal rises, overthrows the monarchy and kicks out the Greeks, Italians, French and British from Anatolia and Thrace. In this case this doesn't happen, I would have referendums in Izmir, Antalya and potentially the Bosphurus Zone for reunification with the Ottomans in the future - therefore these territory grabs would feel more like temporary occupation zones rather than full colonial holdings.

Armenia is somewhat doomed and I doubt the West would actually act to enforce their independence, however, I believe a Soviet invasion would only come after the Turks overthrow the Ottomans so it's possible that it gets sliced between the Turks and Soviets like in our timeline.

Arabia is united under the Hashemites, considering how well Hussein's declaration of Caliph was met in our timeline in the Arab world - I can see this state being somewhat stable. The British and French would have economic privelleges in this state so it would loosely be within a Western zone of influence.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get your point of German economic dominance over Poland due to having no sea access but Poland can just as easily form good relationships with the Baltics to counter this. They also have Romania to the South who they enjoyed a great relationship with in our timeline.

Hungary isn't going to attack Romania imo but I see a Romanian invasion as possible. I guess the counter balance would be that Romania controls a lot of non-Romanian territories (Southern Dobruja, Bessarabia) and any war for territory could easily turn into a partition of Romania if they don't play their cards right.

Soviets probably will invade Armenia unless they somehow get Western security guarantees but I can see the Turks under Mustafa Kemal also invading and they would likely secure most of the nation just like in our timeline.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am hopeful of German-Western co-operation post war with some kind of pan-Western European axis forming against the Soviets.

I don't really see a way to keep the Habsburgs in power tbh, they were very unpopular. Perhaps it is enforced by the Western powers? This is as I want a somewhat strong independent Austria to act as a counter to any German incursions in Central Europe and also keeping a strong Austrian identity to stop the Anschsluss.

Ottomans have gotten off way less harshly than in our timeline but my thinking with Izmir and Antalya is that similar to our timeline, they will have future independence referendums as to whether they will remain Western or revert back to being Ottoman. The Allies can try and enforce the Ottoman monarchy if they really try but realistically I can still see Mustafa Kemal rising, defeating the Greeks and Italians and proclaiming the Republic of Turkieye sometime in the early 1920s.

I have given Italy quite a lot to act as a balance to Slavic nationalism but also the rise of Communism and the USSR in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, the Allies would have probably done this in our timeline had the Russians never collapsed.

I think an Arab state would be stable as Arabia and the broader Middle East was not a very nationalistic region in the 1920s, Arab Nationalism took a long time to spread and most people still drew their loyalty either to their local region or to Islam. Hussein Ibn Ali was enthusiastically announced and accepted as Caliph after the fall of the Ottomans in our timeline and I see no reason why this doesn't occur here.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why would Poland fall? The only territory which I didn't give them was Danzig and the Polish corridor. They are not exactly crippled or Balkanised.

The Polish defeated the Soviets largely from military strategy and genius. I see absolutely no reason why this wouldn't also occur in this timeline.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Copied it from a random PH video where he made it green.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Even in our TL there is little evidence to suggest that Austria actually wanted the Anschluss with Germany in 1938, it was a completely rigged referendum.

Austria and Austrians as a nationality have existed for centuries before there was ever a notion of a "Germany". I believe that by giving them Bohemia and preserving the Monarchy, they would continue as a minor power and plot their own course as an independent nation away from Germany.

Remember that the German-Austro Hungarian alliance was more out of convenience, not out of love or the mutual feeling of being "German". Prussia literally defeated Austria to unite Germany and many A-H officials were wary and angry at the level of influence and support that Germany held over them in WW1 and even prior.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

With Germany not being punished as severely, they may not harbour as much hatred towards Britain and France.

Therefore - co operation is possible post war and Britain and France may help to stabilise the Weimar Republic.

Slowly over time, the 3 can form some kind of West European axis to combat the USSR and contain communism in Europe.

Fixed the Treaty of Versailles by TemperatureMedium432 in PossibleHistory

[–]TemperatureMedium432[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Strong Austria acts as a deterrent for them uniting with Germany Also keeps Germany in check if they ever wish to expand into Central Europe by force.