For the equivalent war in the Southern Victory series, see Great War (Southern Victory).
World War I | |||||||||
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Allies and Associated Powers
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George V of the United Kingdom David Lloyd George | Wilhelm II Franz Joseph† |
World War I, also known as the Great War and "The War To End All Wars," was a global military conflict which took place primarily in Europe between 1914 and 1918. More than nine million soldiers and civilians died. The conflict had a decisive impact on the history of the 20th century.
The Entente, led by France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and, from 1917, the United States, defeated the Central Powers, led by Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire.
The fighting that took place along the Western Front occurred along a system of trenches and fortifications separated by an area known as no man's land. These series of fortifications ran from the North Sea to Switzerland. This system of static trench warfare defined the war for many. On the Eastern Front, the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate. But the scale of the conflict was just as large. The Middle East and the Italian Front saw heavy fighting as well, with lighter fighting in Africa and the Pacific Islands. Hostilities also occurred at sea and, for the first time, in the air. Finally, the strain that fighting a total war imposed on the great powers created opportunities for disaffected segments of the population in places such as Russia, Arabia, Lithuania, Ireland, and, in the end, Germany itself, to rise to rebellion against their governments.
The war caused the disintegration of four empires: the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian. Germany lost its overseas empire and states such as Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Palestine, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Yugoslavia gained independence. The cost of waging the war set the stage for the breakup of the British Empire as well.
World War I marked the end of the old world order, which had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars. The Treaty of Versailles was designed to end the war, hobble Germany, and expand the power of the victors. Instead, it set the stage for World War II.
World War I in "Birdwitching"[]
The First Great Slaughter showed the destructiveness which magic weapons could unleash on the world.
Literary comment[]
The First Great Slaughter isn't specifically referenced, but the reference to a Second Great Slaughter implies the general nature and timeframe of the first.
World War I in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump[]
World War I | |||||||||
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Allies United Kingdom (presumed) Frankia Confederated Provinces Other allied states | Central Powers Alemania and allied states |
During the First Sorcerous War, the Empire of Aztecia nearly joined the war on the Alemanian side, which would have led to an attack on the Confederated Provinces. This was prevented when a coup d'etat led to the mass execution of the Aztecian cabinet, and a replacement government who kept the Empire neutral.[1]
The eastern part of Frankia suffered greatly during the war, with both sides' toxic spells lingering on the ground after three quarters of a century.[2]
Alemania lost the war, but would return as a major threat a few decades later in the Second Sorcerous War.
Alkahest was used in the First War, but was deemed too potent even for a weapon, so it was not used in the Second.[3]
World War I in Curious Notions[]
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In the alternate designated as 3477 by Crosstime Traffic, Europe saw a brief conflict in 1914. The Schlieffen Plan, Germany's plan for a two front war against France and Russia, proved quite successful in the fall of 1914, aided in part by the slow Russian offensive. Germany defeated its Entente enemies, and began its rise as a global power, eventually becoming master of the world.
World War I in The House of Daniel[]
The trauma of the War to end War was still fairly fresh in 1934.
World War I in "Ils ne passeront pas"[]
World War I was a bleak, ugly event in human history. The Battle of Verdun was such a terrible battle that when God attempted to pass judgment on Earth (as foretold in the Book of Revelation) at Verdun in March 1916, the French and German troops assumed that they'd been victims of some new weapon, and so viewed the affair with indifference.
World War I in "Last Flight of the Swan of the East"[]
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The discovery of electroid in the 1870s led to an arms-race to build leviathans, which in turn exacerbated old rivalries and birthed new ones among the world's powers. The situation was such that the murders of Austria-Hungarian crown prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife Duchess Sophie in Sarajevo in July 1914 triggered a global conflict that came to be called the Great War.
In response to the assassinations, the government of Franz Joseph issued a number of ultimata against the government of Serbia. Serbia, allied to Russia, accepted all but one of the ultimata. This rejection allowed Russia to maintain her support on the one hand, while Austria-Hungary could count on the support of the German Empire. Thus, Austria declared war on Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, and Russia's ally France declared war on Germany. Japan, still stewing over her defeat at Russia's hands in 1896 and wanting to check Russian ambitions in the Pacific, declared war on Russia, allying herself with Germany and Austria-Hungary. The United States, having recently developed a rivalry with Japan, and concerned about Japan's ambitions in the Pacific, allied herself with France. Of the "great powers", only the United Kingdom remained neutral, its relations with France being frosty, and its relations with Germany being only slightly better.[4]
The Teuto-Japanese alliance came to be called the Central Powers.[5] The Russo-Franco-American alliance were known as the Entente.[6]
For more information, see the Leviathans wiki.
World War I in The Man With the Iron Heart[]
Supporters of the continued American occupation of Germany harkened back to World War I to demonstrate what could happen if Germany was not totally defeated.
World War I in "Must and Shall"[]
Germany sought to prevent America's entry into World War I by fomenting the Thanksgiving Revolt among America's white Southern subjects. Contrary to expectations, the USA suppressed the Revolt, entered the war in Europe, and eventually shared in the victory.
World War I in "Shtetl Days"[]
The war that was once known as either the "Great War" or the "World War" came to be known as the War of Humiliation by the Third Reich, which "remedied" its defeat by winning the War of Retribution.
World War I in "Uncle Alf"[]
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Alfred von Schlieffen |
Germany triumphed over its enemies in the Great War in 1914, when Alfred von Schlieffen personally oversaw the implementation of his plan for a two-front war. It occupied Belgium and France after the war.[7] Britain was forced to capitulate, but was not occupied. Two years later, Germany helped Russia put down a communist revolution in 1916.[8]
World War I in Worldwar[]
The years following World War I were lean ones in Germany, and Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to exploit discontent over these conditions and rise to power. They promised Germany rearmament and revenge, and the victors of World War I failed to stop him. Germany launched World War II, which was interrupted by the arrival of the Race's Conquest Fleet.
After the Race defeated Germany in the Race-German War of 1965 and imposed its own harsh peace, the winners of World War I warned Fleetlord Atvar of their own difficulties enforcing the Treaty of Versailles. Atvar boasted that the Race was more thorough and patient than the human powers, but his successors fared little better than the British and French in enforcing their terms, and within a few decades Germany was once again able to threaten the Race.
Noteworthy World War I veterans who also fought the Race include Mutt Daniels of America, whose experience as a soldier earned him the rank of sergeant when the Race invaded U.S. soil, and; Heinrich Jäger of Germany, who saw the first British tanks and subsequently became a skilled German tank commander.
World War I in "Zigeuner"[]
Adolf Hitler served on the Eastern Front of World War I. During his rise to power in Germany, Hitler claimed that while his division was fighting the Russian Empire, they also had to contend with the Zigeuner people. Hitler claimed that the Zigeuner stole horses, boots and telegraph wire, helping to cause unnecessary German casualties.[9] At the same time, Hitler also saw how badly the Russians treated the Jews they found in the Austro-Hungarian provinces they overran. Hitler already hated the Russians, and their anti-Semitism left him sympathetic to the Jews.[10]
Upon his ascendancy, Hitler declared Zigeuner to be Untermenschen, along with Bolsheviks and homosexuals, and actively sought to eliminate these groups from Europe.[11]
See also[]
- Ecnarfish War, a vague analog of WWI in "Running of the Bulls."
- Great War (Disunited States), a stated analog of WWI in The Disunited States of America.
- Six Years' War, a fantasy analog of WWI in Darkness.
References[]
- ↑ The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, p. 340.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 12.
- ↑ Ibid., 20.
- ↑ Leviathans: Armored Skies, pgs. 292-299, loc. 4174-4290, ebook.
- ↑ Ibid. pg. 373, loc. 5421.
- ↑ Ibid. pg. 379, loc. 5520.
- ↑ See e.g.: Atlantis and Other Places, pgs. 341-342, HC.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 343-344.
- ↑ Asimov's Science Fiction, September/October, 2017, Vol. 41 Nos. 9 & 10, pg. 94-95.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 100.
- ↑ Ibid., pg. 99.
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