1904 – following overwhelming success in the Russo-Japanese War, the forces of Imperial Japan occupy the Korean peninsular.
1908 – in Tunguska, Siberia, a massive unexplained explosion destroys huge areas of forest. Reports emerge of citizens suffering bizarre headaches and visions. In some remote villages, many take to the streets as prophets claiming that the blast was a “sign from God”. Prominent amongst these is an unnaturally charismatic monk named Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin
August 1914 – The Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated by a Serbian Nationalist named Gavrilo Princip. In response, the Austro-Hungarian Empire delivers ultimatum to Serbia. Russia, through its alliance with the Serbs, warns Austria-Hungary to back down and begins mobilising its military. In response, Germany warns Russia not to threaten its Austrian ally and starts mobilising its own military.
France, through alliance with Russia and fearful of the powerful German presence on her borders, mobilises in turn. The UK, bound by an “Entente” or understanding but not a formal treaty, votes to pursue a policy of unrestricted naval warfare against Germany but NOT to send the British Expeditionary Force, as it is felt that the tiny British standing army may well be needed for home defence in the event of invasion or instability throughout the Empire, particularly with the continuing threat from Irish nationalists. On the continent, what will come to be known as The Six Months War breaks out in confused, bloody fighting.
September 1914 – In the West, the Germans break through French and Belgian defences on the Marne River, while in the East, they inflict a catastrophic defeat on Russia at the Battle Of Lake Tannenberg. Both 1st and 2nd Russian armies - over half a million men in all - are almost completely wiped out. The few survivors will eventually make there way back to the Russian interior to tell their tales.
December 1914 – German and Austrian forces reach and the French capital and begin to lay siege to it. In the ensuing Battle of Paris., losses are horrific - each side loses over a million men, many dying from wounds as the medical services are unable to cope. From its temporary home in Nice, the French government offers an armistice, while the UK offers its services to broker the deal. However Kaiser Wilhelm rejects their offer, declaring nothing save unconditional surrender to be acceptable. He orders army onward to take Paris “whatever the cost”.
Unable to watch the destruction of their army and an entire generation of young German men, the General Staff mount a military coup against the Kaiser, sending him into house arrest.
With the Kaiser incommunicado, General Falkenhayn assumes temporary power and accepts the British offer to broker a Franco-German ceasefire. Meanwhile Germany turns attention to the Russian front to bolster flagging Austrians. In truth, many senior German officers have long seen Russia as the real threat to European civilisation.
1915 – with the Western front quiet and the Entente powers engaged in reconstruction, Germany focuses her military power eastwards, inflicting massive defeats on Russian forces, careering through the Baltic states and laying siege to St Petersburg. With casualties spiralling out of control, food production and distribution in chaos, the populace erupts against the corrupt and incompetent rule that led them to this situation. The Tsar and his family are either killed or forced into exile and a temporary military government is established under Marshal Kerensky.
Kerensky knows the hopeless nature of Russia's military situation and knows that prolonging the war will mean only more suffering and death, with no hope of victory. Reluctantly he sues for peace and accepts the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Volgograd in the hope that peace will allow some measure of reconstruction, while Russia still has the means to do so.
Crucially, one of the tenets of the Treaty is “ a free and neutral Polish state” which Germany hopes to see as a buffer against Russian revanchism or expansionist ideas. Independence, or at least autonomy from Russian rule, is granted to the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and the Ukraine. The port of St. Petersburg is also to be declared an open city in the manner of the Vatican.
1916 – Extremist Bolshevik agitators begin to gain power and momentum, capturing the imaginations of a populace sickened by war, suffering and iniquity. In villages and amongst former servicemen, self governing collectivist communities known as “Soviets” are established. The Russian parliament - the Duma – is brought into being and many of these Soviets demand representation.
In the West, the governments of Europe found the League of European Nations at a conference in Strasbourg in the hope of ensuring that never again will Europe suffer any thing like the catastrophic destruction and bloodletting of the Six Months War. Across the continent, the cry is “Never again!”.
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