USA joins the Central Powers.

Strategos

Banned
When general war is declared that August, the US throws its lot in with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Several PODs occur for this but essentially, the US isnt going to back down from forcing a Canadian surrender and terms that are highly favorable to its new allies.


Basically, it joins the Central Powers war effort. No cherry tapping in regards to American morale runs out after the first major battles. Its a cop out and a poor one. :(
 

Jodmangel

The Central Powers win. The war was pretty much decided by the Americans (not just with soldiers in the later stages, but also with a lot of economic help) in OTL. Also, huge shiny Dreadnought-battles between the Royal Navy and combined forces of the USN and the German Imperial Navy!
 

Mathuen

Banned
Hmm, would it be possible for Japan to jump on the Central Powers bandwagon like it did with the Entente after it knew which way the war was going? It would be useful from a political and economic position, but it would mean that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance would be terminated early in the most... unfortunate of ways.
 

Elfwine

Assuming that somehow for some reason the US wants to join the Central Powers . . .

Economic weight (as of 1913), according to The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, is as follows.


Percentage of world manufacturing production: Germany+Austria-Hungary+US: 51.2% (vs. 27.9% for France/Russia/Britain)

Energy consumption in millions of metric tons of coal equivalent: 777.4 (vs. 311.8)

Steel production in millions of tons: 52 (vs. 17.1)

Total industrial potential (UK in 1900 = 100): 476.5 (vs. 261.1)

But military power? The US is going to take some time to build up any significant sized army (it has a laughable 164,000 men in 1914), and at sea the US naval tonnage is only a little larger than France - 985,000 tons vs. 900,000 tons, or a bit more than two thirds Germany and one third Britain. And building battleships and such takes some time - at least a year.

So sending troops "over there" or contributing to the war in Europe, despite the formidable economic power the US wields, and the problem Britain will face without US $$, is going to be quite a task.

I suppose you could say the PODs that lead to the US being pro-Central Powers also mean a stronger US military, but then we have to get into those PODs.
 

oudi14

I wonder how popular an alliance with the CP would be to the average American? In areas with a German majority population, like Wisconsin, it might sit quite well. But in other regions, would the populace be keen on their sons going over to fight the British and French? I don't know. Also, if the battlefront is anything like it was in OTL, they would have to disembark in places like Bremerhaven [Maybe they could use Antwerp] and that means sailing thru the Channel, and risking encounters with the RN, with all sorts of vulnerable troopships. Come to think of it, they could go north of Scotland, but still, the RN.
 

Shaby

I don't see anyone sailing anywhere. The fleets were too precious to be risked. Fleet in being was better than the fleet on the bottom of the sea.
 
Georgepatton

Georgepatton

First thing to do is to bash Canada over the head, right? Whether or not American troops will be landing in Germany can be decided after that, I'd think.
 
Aranfan

Aranfan

Elfwine said:
Britain had no problem actually using its navy. And the US has to use its navy if it wants to land anyone in Europe except diplomats.
Click to expand...

If it has to keep the German Navy penned in then it will have a problem using it's navy against the USA.
 

Elfwine

Aranfan said:
If it has to keep the German Navy penned in then it will have a problem using it's navy against the USA.
Click to expand...

Britain has a navy twice the size of the Germany navy and three times the size of the US navy (by total tonnage).

The US is the one with a naval problem.
 
Georgepatton

Georgepatton

Elfwine said:
Britain had no problem actually using its navy. And the US has to use its navy if it wants to land anyone in Europe except diplomats.
Click to expand...

Where in Europe would it make sense to land? Sailing around the British Isles to land in Germany to join up with existing front lines requires going around big parts of the RN, which sounds like a bad idea to me. Either the RN will need to be knocked out of contesting the issue, or they're going to have to land some where else.

If the idea is to put troops directly into France or the UK (a thrilling but very dubious prospect), you're going to need a base of operations to do it from, and I don't think the Azores are going to cut it.
 

Delta Force

Banned
I think Japan would throe in its lot with the Central Powers. It has the chance to acquire a number of French and British colonies in the region as well as permanently remove Russia's ability to influence the region. Once that happens the Japanese only have to worry about the United States, and it wouldn't change public perception and American relations with Japan too much compared to our timeline as they historically fought the Central Powers in the region anyways.
 

Elfwine

Georgepatton said:
Where in Europe would it make sense to land? Sailing around the British Isles to land in Germany to join up with existing front lines requires going around big parts of the RN, which sounds like a bad idea to me. Either the RN will need to be knocked out of contesting the issue, or they're going to have to land some where else.

If the idea is to put troops directly into France or the UK (a thrilling but various dubious prospect), you're going to need a base of operations to do it from, and I don't think the Azores are going to cut it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not sure there is anywhere that makes sense for the US to land in this scenario.

Spain is hardly going to welcome being used as a belligerent's base.
 
Georgepatton

Georgepatton

Elfwine said:
Yeah, I'm not sure there is anywhere that makes sense for the US to land in this scenario.

Spain is hardly going to welcome being used as a belligerent's base.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately for Portugal, they are Entente.

As a side question: if the US did manage to land any sizeable number of troops on the Atlantic (or even Med. Sea, if they went via North Africa) coast of France, where are the Allies going to borrow the troops from to oppose them?
 

Elfwine

Georgepatton said:
Unfortunately for Portugal, they are Entente.

As a side question: if the US did manage to land any sizeable number of troops on the Atlantic (or even Med. Sea, if they went via North Africa) coast of France, where are the Allies going to borrow the troops from to oppose them?
Click to expand...

Depends - I'm guessing Britain draws on India and/or the Dominions more.
 

Monty Burns

Why would the US have to land in europe anyway? IOTL the CP did rather well alone. ITTL there is no American credit for the entente, but American credit for the CP. That alone could win them the war. Now the Us will also build up their forces and therefore will bind more and more ressources from Britain. And I doubt that Canada would send any troops either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top