Ut Veniant Omnes

Part II

So far, the world has changed quite a bit since 1899. The Boers have a rather large Republic, combining the Orange Free State, Transvaal, and the Cape Colony north of the Orange River. The Boxer Rebellion started to blow up earlier, and went off a bit better. The siege of the Legation Quarter in Peking actually succeeded, resulting in the deaths of all inside, including Herbert Hoover. Both John Jellicoe and David Beatty are dead after serving on the relief column into the city. The Empress Dowager fled, but was captured by the Russians.

As the armies occupied various parts of China, the situation tensed up, and the Dual Alliance decided to test the weakening British giant. The French launched another invasion of North Africa, and the Russian and French troops weren’t so nice in China, shooting at everyone else.

Victoria died, and Edward VII went to Paris to try and work out an understanding with the French over Africa, after the Russians were forced to hand over the Empress Dowager. He was able to with the Anglophilic Theophile Delcassé. However, upon returning to the Channel coast of France, Edward and Alexandra were shot dead by a French lathe worker.

War quickly erupted between France and Great Britain, and Jackie Fisher and Lord Charles Beresford saw action. Russia joined the fray hoping to rip parts of China away from Great Britain and Japan, perhaps even dig at India.

Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Russian Black Sea Fleet forced the Straits, which had held it in for thirty years. The Russian mobilization in China and their annexation of the north brought in Japan against Russia. Turkey may be forced to enter the war, sucking in further contenders. But Austria and Russia will by no means ever be on the same side. The real threat to the British is the combined power of the Russian and French Fleets against Jackie Fisher.

Jackie Fisher faces a much more daunting task than Scott. At his command he has the battleships Bulwark, Venerable, Formidable, the armored cruisers Devonshire and Leviathan, and the protected cruisers Venus and Juno, and some twenty destroyers. Arrayed against them are the French battleships St Louis, Suffren, Iená, Charlemagne, Gaulois, Bouvet, the armored cruiser Marseillaise, the small cruisers Foudre, Galilee, as well as two submarines.

But chugging over the horizon comes Scott’s untouched ships, flying Nelson’s standard from Trafalgar. Quickly, they engage the French battleships and cruisers. Sandwiched between the two, the remainder of the French Fleet has no hope, and runs up the flags of surrender. Fisher signals to Scott to recognize all but one, that of the St. Louis. In an orgy of powder and steel, the British get their vengeance for the last few hours, and the French flagship is blow into the sky. The remainder is sent to Egypt under the watchful guns of Lord Beresford to be interred for the rest of the war.

The violation of Turkey’s Straits has led to a broader war. The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia on the 17^th of January 1901. Such a gross violation should be an instant casus belli, but the Ottomans were entertaining different offers and agreements from different governments, really those of Britain and Russia involving territorial incentives. Of course, Britain comes out on top, with the tantalizing offer of the return of those provinces lost during the war of 1878, as well as Caucasian provinces ceded to Russia in earlier days. The Black Sea Fleet, renamed the Russian Mediterranean Fleet, shells Constantinople and Smyrna before being scared back into the Black Sea by the threat of the entire might of the British falling upon them.

Unruly Ottoman troops are mobilized, though some in Thessalonica resist, among them Enver Pasha and the members of the CUP. They take to the hills, and attempt to turn into rebel bands, but are largely ignored by the Turkish government. They live like bandits.

Bulgaria and Greece use this as an excuse to declare war on the Ottoman Empire, and nearly drag in the rest of Europe with them. Germany, however, forces uncharacteristic restraint on Austria-Hungary. As Balkan armies go, they aren’t so bad, really. They’re not big, not too well trained, and none too modern. But they do the job. Unaided, the push the Ottomans out of Europe, and the armies together stand at the gates of Constantinople by late March, which is shelled by the Black Sea Fleet. The Ottoman government panics, and enters into negotiations with Bulgaria and Greece. With the added weight of the threat of a declaration of war from Great Britain, and British diplomatic pressure, the two nations fall all over each other to make peace with the Ottomans.

The treaty is drawn up and signed on April 15th, after two weeks of negotiations. In it, Greece is ceded the Dodecanese Islands and Crete, in return for pledging perpetual neutrality conflicts between the Russian and Ottoman Empires and may not allow its sovereign territory to be used to attack the Ottomans. Bulgaria is ceded all of European Turkey including the port of Salonika, but for the twenty miles short of the capital and a handful of islands in the Aegean. European Turkey must be unmiltarized, but will be entirely under Bulgarian control. The Ottoman Empire still controls the Straits entirely. Bulgaria must be perpetually neutral in all conflicts between the Russian and Ottoman Empires, and may not allow its sovereign territory to be used to attack the Ottomans.

The Russian Army and Fleet are forced to withdraw temporarily, and the British and Ottomans mine the Dardanelles, and reinforce the forts, to ensure the safety of the Ottoman Empire.

In the same May days that the treaty was drawn up ending the Balkan phase of the war, the British Home Fleet shells all along the French Channel coast. The British naval units based out of Hegioland manage to cut down the few blockade-runners from the outside world, further infuriating France. Lord Spencer's government implores, with rewards in mind, a German boycott of Dual Alliance goods, specifically aimed at France. The German government under von Bülow at first demurs. However, with the blunt suggestion of Morocco and the Gabon may be added to the German sphere, the Germans jump at the option, as they hope that they can gain these in addition to Portuguese concessions.

Uncharacteristic quiet is kept on the topic within the German government, not stating the reason for the boycott of French goods and French buyers, which irritates the French, who can find no recourse. With the loss of the Balkans as a viable and continued distraction to the British, the French begin to look elsewhere. Their embattled forces in Africa could use some assistance, and Madagascar is threatened by the British ships and soldiers nearby. Clemanceau sees, as many do not, that Mozambique is across the water from Madagascar. He carefully builds up small landing craft, and politely asks the Portuguese King and Premier to dinner in Paris.

They come, and though they are British allies, they feel snubbed, and accept the offer of troops from the French Foreign Legion to break the blockade and occupation of Lourenço-Marques. They land in Maputo on the 20th, and make their way Lourenço-Marques, and attack the blockade force.

Germany informs France that it opposes their intervention in Anglo-Portuguese affairs, due to the secret Anglo-German Convention. The French diplomat tells them where to get off, which inflames the Germans, of course.

A series of military mobilizations in Alsace-Lorraine and joint actions and practice between the High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy inflames French sensibilities to the worst point.

The French give Germany a two day Demarche: either they fully stand down all military forces within 75 kilometers of the Franco-German border, or face war. This is taken quite seriously by the German government and they are quite worried as they have yet to switch to full mobilization, which they do now. They face the threat of the full weight of a fully mobilized French Army, following Plan XVI into Alsace-Lorraine. They stall and worry and plan to compromise with the French government until the British landings in Brittany and in Lower Normandy

The BEF, twelve divisions under Lord Horatio H. Kitchner, land on the devastated shoreline under the watchful eye of the Royal Navy under Admiral Wilson. They land at Brest and Mortaix in Britanny, and Cherbourg and Avranches in Lower Normandy. They divisions are split so that there are six at each site, four infantry and two cavalry.

The exhausted and shaken French populace can do nothing but sit cowed in their houses as the English set up shop in their cities and then link up taking large parts of those territories before they entrench to defend against the French Army.

Von Bülow, considering the unpleasant concept of surrender to the French demands reconsiders his situation. With the English landed and invading France, the pressure is off him, and the situation likely more favorable. He receives the English ambassador, and briefly enquires as to England's interest in 'mutual assistance with the French problem.’ The ambassador states that England would find this favorable. The Demarche expires with the response from the Kaiser being "We have defeated France before on the field of battle, by the grace of God. If she now seeks to threaten our sovereignty, it is at her own expense." Germany declares war on France on the 23rd of May. The French attempt to gain a declaration of war from Russia against Germany. However, the Tsar demurs, and then specifically states that the problem is "extra-European" stemming from Mozambique, thus beyond the confines of the 1894 Treaty of Alliance with France.

The stalling that the German government has done allowed for the call up of most of German’s 74 divisions, as well as totally to mobilize along the frontier with France. The expected blow of French attack on their borders does not come, as the full weight of the French army is engaged to the north, holding the English beachheads, now trenches inland, at a standstill. So, it is the Germans who make the first offensive in this stage of the war.

Advocated by the C-in-C, Schlieffen, famous for his "subjugation" of China, the German army marches through neutral Belgium to attack France. Leopóld II protests, but both the British and the Germans tell him where he can stick it. The French, the remaining signatory to the 1839 treaty, declare for Belgium, and try to shift a few units East from the British beachheads in time to meet the invading army, but fail. The Germans swallow Belgium, and capture Amiens and Laon before being stopped by a desperate Sixth French Army, under the command of Joffre. The adept Schlieffen probes Joffre’s flanks, is repulsed, and finds no weak spot. The armies dig in, as they have in Normandy and Brittany.

With the British and German High Seas Fleets totally blockading France, Portugal, and Russia, almost all trade is cut off from the Quadruple Entente (France, Belgium, Russia, and Portugal), as well as Holland, Denmark, and Spain. Any and all ships headed for France and Belgium are stopped, their cargos seized. The ships heading for Denmark and Holland may keep their cargos, as long as they do not have goods to be sold to France or Belgium. The French begin to invest heavily in submarines, nicknamed Nautili, from the Jules Verne books. They hope to break the blockade if they can, or run it. However, their prototypes fail terribly during the summer of 1901, and the program flounders, though they attempt to continue. In Germany and England, under the tutelage of Graf von Zeppelin, dirigibles are being developed, first as scouts above the battlefield, and then slowly as weapons. Marconi’s wireless telegram is pressed into service by all sides.

In northern China, Japan and Russia are continuing to scuffle, with the more superiorly armed and trained Japanese troops pushing the Russians back kilometer by kilometer in the grueling Siberian summer. All of Manchuria is captured by Japan in September, pushing the Russians out into Mongolia and Siberia. The British and the Germans are pushing hard on the French, and are able to secure Normandy, Brittany, and the Somme department. The French government cowers in Bordeaux, and northern France is empty. Tremendous rain begins to fall in October and last for a month, making conditions in the trenches unbearable; the rats have grown fat and swollen from the corpses, despite the men becoming terribly emaciated from the shortages. There is no more grain, millet, or wheat. The wine production of France has dropped by 70% to supply the troops with potatoes, their basic food. Meat has become scarce, and nation is beginning to suffer more key shortages in civilian food, in heating oil, in bandages, and in iron ore. No more linen, or cotton. France is in terrible disarray.

When the rain finally lifts in November, the British and the Germans begin a combined offensive. Started within twenty minutes of each other, the British push out of Normandy into the bocage country, aiming for Paris. The Germans try to push across the Somme.

The French armies are caught and cannot recover. With no mobile reserves, the taxis of Paris are pushed into service, but to no avail. Every man is needed to stem the tide of invading armies. The Germans and the British break through the French lines, and mutinies erupt. Against the conditions, the privations, against the government. The armies turn tail, kill Joffre, and make for Paris.

When they get there, the military governor of Paris, Galleni, an aging veteran of the Franco-Prussian War, gives them what food and supplies he can. He then rallies them to a brief but spirited defense of the city against the fast-coming Alliance troops, who've outrun the range of their guns.

The mish-mash of corps fight valiantly, and push the Alliance back ten kilometers from Paris. Fearing that it will be the siege that he lived through in his youth, Galleni uses some aging civilians and a good chunk of his green colonial recruits to hold a corridor open to the south of Paris.

The fighting around the city is fierce and bloodily inconclusive. The Alliance guns pound the city to rubble, while the French Infantry, their artillery captured at the fronts in Normandy and Somme, are helpless to reply for two weeks, until a shipment of American guns come in.

But without enough shells, there is little hope. The Zeppelins slicing across the skies not only spot artillery, but also attack it. The Armeé Parisien, as it comes to be called, has no respite and little food. They peal the wallpaper from the walls, and eat the glue, if it is organic, and often when it is not. All the foliage--trees, bushes, even flowerbeds, become devoid of greenery and then bark towards the end of the month.

On the 25th, Schlieffen launches an operation on his left wing under Hindenburg, while Kitchner launches one from his right wing led by Ian Hamilton. The charges smash into the French corridor and destroy it. No quarter, no prisoner. All the Frenchmen were "killed in combat." The Seine and the Loire are bloated with blood and bodies--of men, of horses and pack mules.

Paris falls two days later, on the 27th, through the most atrocious fighting every seen in a century. Much of the male French population between 16-45 has been captured, and are sent to Red Cross camps far away from the lines.

Sir Ian Hamilton, Sir Curzon Drury-Lowe, Sir Badden-Powell, and Lutenant Luddendorff enter a destroyed shell of the city that they all once knew so happily. The Tour Eiffel is gone from the landscape, its wireless telegraphy station denied to the victors, the Figaro printing press wiped out. The bridges, including the Pont Neuf build by Louis XIV, are blow up, and the Ile-de-la-Cite proves to be the last bastion of French resistance. San Chapelle, Notre Dame, the musés, the Lovre, the Tuileries, Mt. Saint Cloud, not even Per la Chez is spared. All were dynamited in the last days; even the railways and sewers are gone. Monet is found dead in his garden, a victim of suicide.

The carnage, the ruin, the chaos, and the smoke take weeks to gain control of, some of the fires burning still at Christmas. Correspondents like Winston Churchill and Joseph Conrad tell the world what they have seen.

Peace is nearly come to the world again, in the west. Clemanceau, realizing the gravity of the situation, resigns, and passes the government over to Delcasse, to be forever tarred with defeat. Ragtag units of Algerians and Berbers fight on against the coming armies, but only in tiny pockets.

The governments of Portugal and Belgium-in-exile (Rotterdam) quickly sue for peace, but are told that they only have the option of surrender. Both initially reject, but considering the state of their ally, they quickly surrender. British Marines land in Lisbon, Porto, and Faro

The French come to terms at Versailles, which has escaped the torch, unlike her sisters in the city, though her façade is pocked with shell holes. With the Hall of Mirrors badly damaged, the representatives gather in the former Throne Room, which is scarred with burn marks.

The Treaty of Versailles—December 7, 1901

The hostilities between the Third Republic and the Kingdoms of Portugal and Belgium against the German and British Empires are ceased at this date at 12:00 GMT for one month, at which point terms may be renewed or revoked by any of the signatories. If they are renewed, then a treaty for an everlasting peace will be offered to the French government as soon as honorable terms may be write and accepted by all governments.

As the treaty stands currently, the blockade will not be lifted until the French Fleet has been interned, the remainder of the Mediterranean Fleet at the Grand Port at Malta and the Atlantic Fleet at Wilhelmshaven.

The armies of the Third Republic and the Kingdoms are to lay down their arms on this date and to discontinue fighting. All commissioned officers will be stripped of their rank. Any persons who resist either of the above stipulations will be summarily executed by military tribunal of one British and two German officers, or two British and one German officer.

Those officers who held above the rank of Colonel must turn themselves in to the British or German Military Police for court-martials for their actions in war.

All French research on the subject of the S-bateau or under sea boats is to be handed over to the Alliance governments, including the personages involved in these researches. Any person who resists the turn over of papers or men, or men who resist capture, will be summarily shot.

Though the British government under Lord Spencer shows no sign of it, it is greatly relieved that the war is over. As is the government of von Bülow, and Wilhelm is calling for a severe peace, much to the embarrassment of his chancellor.

Kitchner and Schleiffen wrap up offensive operations and plan for the continued occupation of northern France for the duration, delineating zones of occupation. Kitchner also drafts plans invade Russia, in concert with the "neutral" German Army and Navy. Landings such as those in Normandy and Brittany in the broad expanse of Russian ports on the Baltic and Black Sea, as well as a thrust north from Persia into Russian Central Asia, with troops drawn up from the colonies around the world.

The Seventh of December is denounced as a "black day" in France and Russia. The Russian government declares a day of "mourning and prayer." This works remarkably well, especially as the Russian Army under Grand Duke Mikhail faces continued difficulties taking Ezerum, and are suffering high casualties.

One priest in the city of Sevastopol has other plans for the day. As is proper, he laments the defeat of their great French allies, and grief for the families of the fallen soldiers of both nations. But then, instead of stopping, he invokes the name of God against the Tsar, which is carrying out an unjust war and is neglecting its people. The priest suggests that the Tsar should be moved fast by the hand of God to supply "Peace, bread, and land" for the Russian people.

And so, a rebellion breaks out, across the dry grass of South Russia, for general overthrow of the government which has suppressed peasants, crushed their dreams, is stricken with graft and corruption, and is murdering a generation of young men.

It begins with barricading the streets and resistance from the garrisons, but then the naval units join in, supporting of the rebels. Mutinies and defections follow in the army garrison in Sevastopol and surrounding cities. As the weeks pass, it looks as if Kitchner's invading armies are not needed, as the Japanese hold Siberia, the Turks manage to hold out just barely in Ezerum through Christmas.

Already faced with casualties higher than any colonial war, Kitchner would rather not load his troops onto boats. To avoid the blood split in invasion, Schlieffen suggests that Kitchner use extraordinary measures to meet this major challenge. Kitchner sends the British Consul in Genevé visit an exile named Vladimir Illyich Lenin. The republicans and Mensheviks are already up in arms in south Russia, receiving low-key aid from Austria-Hungary, Germany, and England. On January 5th, just short of the renewal of the Armistice in the west, Lenin is loaded into a German train routed across Galicia to the Ukraine, and then to Sevastopol, under the German flag.

The blood revolts in the Russian Empire are held to the area around Sevastopol and a handful of cities in the Ukraine. Far too many for the Tsar's taste. He retracts two army corps from the grinding and endless siege of Ezerum on the seventh, and sends them to crush Sevastopol and the insolent priest and his cohorts.

In France, the treaty of renewal is signed, though there continue to be pockets of resistance throughout the country, the most famous being the assassinations and ambushes set by the cadets of the Ecolé Militair, led by Charles de Gaulle. Winston Churchill is captured when he returns from the Riviera to Paris on the 6th to cover the renewal of the Armistice. The British are irritated, and vent their frustration in the new treaty, written at Le Petit Trianon, seen as more secure as Versailles, for it is smaller and less difficult to guard the dignitaries.

The government under Delcasse collapsed, and was replaced by the fiery socialist Jaurés, who makes no secret his support for the Russian rebellion. The British don't trust him as a true representative of France, but they have little choice.

Treaty of Versailles--Renewed Armistice, January 7, 1902

The governments of HMBM King George V, HM Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the government of the Third Republic hereby extend the armistice of December the 7th.

It is recognized that the French government was fully complacent in it's cessation of hostilities by the majority of its armies in the field, as well as the surrender of the Mediterranean Fleet to Admiral Sir Jonathan Fisher which has been scuttled, and the handing over of the research and researchers in the S-Bateau program.

However, the government of France has failed to comply in fully ceasing hostilities. The French Government under Jean Jacques Jaurés hereby denounces any and all French citizens who take up arms against the citizens of HM King George V or those of HM Kaiser Wilhelm II. Those who choose to do so are hereby subject to the judgment of the governments of Great Britain and the German Empire.

The French government also recognizes its failure to decommission the army and its officers, and give the latter over for court marital. The French government is hereby strongly urged to decommission those troops remaining in the field and apprehend those officers remaining at large.

Finally, the French Atlantic Fleet has failed to make its surrender at Wilhelmshaven, and remains at large, in clear violation of the previous armistice.

For the above violations, the absolute blockade of France will be continued by Germany and Great Britain.

The Kingdoms of Belgium and Portugal, however, have proven to be absolutely complacent in all respects to the treaty of December the 7th.Therefore, the blockade and boycott on those nations are removed, and those nations and their kings, as such are now to be welcomed back to the family of nations.

A conference for an official and permanent peace treaty will be held in The Hague beginning on February 1 of this year, which shall be attended by the France, Portugal, Belgium, the German Empire, Great Britain, the Empire of Japan, and the government of Holland as a neutral arbiter.

At the reception of this new treaty there is dismay in France and the Alliance nations. The Alliance nations simply want the war to end and their men to come home. The French know that they will face a crushing defeat at The Hague, and are furious at being forced to accept this. Jaurés crushes internal dissent with the aid of British and German troops.

By the 13th, the rebellion in the Ukraine seems to collapse as Lenin and Bukarin are captured and executed, along with the priest. The violence continues in southern Russia, but the dream of any real revolution and reformation sputters to a stop, at least temporarily.

Seeing this, Kitchner is infuriated, and activates his invasion plans. With the aid of the German Navy in the Baltic and the Turkish torpedo ships on the Black Sea, his invasion finally comes to head, prepared for amply. Thousands of men, horses, artillery, and food are packed up and shipped into Russia. Landings are made at Baku and Sevastopol on the Black Sea, Reval and Helsinki on the Baltic. ANZAC conscripts pour out of the boats and onto the shore.

Helsinki and Reval are almost unprotected and any troops landing there receive nearly no resistance, but for a spattering of angry citizens and a handful or so of green Russian conscripts. Beachheads are firmly established in each spot.

However, Sevastopol and Baku are a different story. Unlike the siege in the Crimean War, the British try to rush and take Sevastopol, which has seen heavy fighting in the past month, as the rebellion was put down. The British did not account for the fact that there would be a huge Russian Army garrison put there to maintain order. Gatling guns and artillery emplaced on the city's heights badly maul the landing troops, but their numbers are large enough to just barely lodge them on seashore. Fortunately, the British supply ships keep coming, allowing for troops, supplies, and materiel to build up for a breakout to take the city. Eventually a detachment from the Mediterranean Fleet comes along. Under Admiral Lord Beresford, they silence the artillery and put a few of the machine guns out of commission.

In Baku, the last supply link to Grand Duke Mikhail's army, the British landings are butchered, and the water flows red for weeks with a small British toehold on the edge of collapse for nearly a month when the British Indian Army, under Lord Dunsterville, cut through Persia and enter from the south.

As January of 1902 draws to a close, it looks as if the Alliance are on the advance everywhere, and the Russian Army at Ezerum has been forced to ignomious surrender, without Grand Duke Mikhail, called back to avoid the tar brush of defeat.

In the beachheads and areas that the British and token Turkish troops hold, there is covert acceptance of those minorities who have legitimate grievances against the Russians are to be given covert aid. Hardened and embittered minorities throughout the areas that Britain holds are quietly given guns and some training, as well as low-key suggestions of independence after the war. Thinking that they may not actually rise, Lord Spencer even allows a few officers to make promises of independence in exchange for a revolt.

In the west, the Peace Conference at The Hague is drawn up, with Great Britain, Germany, the Empire of Japan, and the Ottoman Empire representing the Alliance. France, Portugal, and Belgium represent the Entente powers. The governments of Holland, Sweden-Norway, and Spain, represented by Nicolaas Gerard Pierson, Baron Fredrik Wilhelm Otter, and Antonio Maura y Montaner are neutral arbiters. All participants in this conference recognize that it will take a great deal of time to work out a lasting peace treaty between the powers formerly at war.

However, Great Britain, the German Empire, and the Ottoman Empire draw up a list of initial demands. They are as follows:

We, the governments of Great Britain, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Empire of Japan are to here forth know as the Quadruple Alliance. Considering the rout of our foes Portugal, Belgium, and France, representing the Quadruple Entente we set these forth these points before any further proceedings be held for a just and eternal peace.

I. That Winston Churchill, any, and all other POWs are to be handed over with alacrity by the Entente government by which they are held.

II. That Georges Clemenceau and Theophile Delcassé and Generals Baratier, Galleni, Lanzerac are to be surrendered to British custody to be tried for the instigation of the attempt to overthrow the British Empire.

III. That King Leopold II of Belgium hereby does abdicate the throne of his nation in favor of his nephew Albert, and is offered The Hague to be but on trial by an international tribunal for Gross and Indecent Behavior towards the people of Le Etat Independant D'Congo.

IV. That all treaties and concessions made by the government of the Ottoman Empire to and with those of the Quadruple Entente are considered null and void. All possessions of the governments of those nations and of citizens of the Entente are given over to the Sublime Porte.

Jaurés despises the terms demanded, but, again, has little choice to but accept them. France is a starving mess, and can do little to resist. In exchange, the blockade and boycott are finally lifted, much to his relief. The food riots and banditry spreading throughout France don't cease, but there are no riots in response to the demands set by the Quadruple Alliance, and some of the major tensions ease. Clemenceau, Galleni, and Lazerac are trussed up like Christmas turkeys and gratefully handed over to British troops.

Delcassé escapes France for Algeria on the Spanish packet Hembra del Mar. Baratier likewise escapes deep into the hinterlands of French Equatorial Africa with the remainder of his forces. The French fully admit both cases to the Quadruple Alliance, and they find their enemies infuriated, but helpless to do anything, and they swallow this bitter pill. The remaining P.O.Ws are returned, but not Winston Churchill, who remains at large in the custody of forces unknown to the French government, much to their dismay. Again, the British are infuriated, but can do nothing for it

They simply resolve to find other ways to punish and humiliate the French at the peace conference. Foreseeing something like this, the French representatives begin to stall, and try to slow the conference down. For a month, due to sheer skill, they are able to freeze the conference and see their enemies vacilitate as the choose the precise phrasing for the opening of the Treaty of The Hague. The British are accepting this in hopes that Russia will be forced to the same conference as France, killing two birds with one stone.

And they are not far wrong, either. As March begins in the Russian Empire, the Alliance sees its fortunes on a rise. Japan advances again, pushing just outside of Siberia, before it is stopped by a major army under Brusilov. The army is green and under armed, and has only enough shells to fire 500 rounds a day, but is enough to hold off the Japanese masses, at least temporarily.

The British armies in the west push forwards unerringly, brushing aside all resistance, as the month allowed for a massive military build up in each of the beachheads. With the help of locals, Finland, the Baltic provinces, and the Caucasus region are secured for the Alliance. The Ukraine is threatened, and the Turkic peoples of Central Asia are rebelling against Russian rule, led by an enigmatic figure named Enver Pasha, preaching Muslim nationalism.

No amount of propaganda can keep the masses in the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow from realizing their fate. The Russian Empire seems doomed to destruction by foreigners, and every inch of it starts to come undone of its own volition. Wider and wider rebellion spread and there is little hope for the Tsarist forces.

So, on March 28^th, 1902, the Army of the Urals (Brusilov) surrenders to the Japanese at Krasnojarsk and the Army of Grand Duchy of Poland (Mikhail Romanov) surrender to the British forces after the battle of Malaja Višera, so that they may go and deal with internal difficulties. The British let them go, hoping to maintain the status quo ante.

After boarding the British ship Hampshire, the Russian representatives arrive in Holland on the first of May. Seeing that all of their foes are defeated in the field of battle, there is great Višerating in the streets of London and throughout the British Empire for nearly a week.

By the 20^th of July, a full and complete peace treaty is drafted at The Hague, through toil and sweat of Campbell-Bannerman from Great Britain, Bethmann-Hollweg from Germany, Duke Kimmochi Saionji from the Empire of Japan, Mehemd Ferid Pasha from the Sublime Porte, Émile-François Loubet from France, Jules de Trooz from Belgium, and Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral from Portugal.

Treaty of The Hague (Der Haag)

The 20^th of July, the Year of Our Lord One Thousand, Nine Hundred, and Two

We, the undersigned nations do hereby seek, in signing this treaty, an everlasting peace between our nations. Never in the field of human conflict has such a great undertaking been made at so great a cost. By the valor of their arms, the British Empire, the German Empire, and the Empire of Japan, the Quadruple Alliance has defeated the French Republic, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Russian Empire, and the Kingdom of Portugal, hereby notated at the Quadruple Entente.

The Quadruple Entente, specifically the nations of France and the Russian Empire, fully recognize their guilt in instigating an international conflict of grievous cost to the whole world, have agreed to the following terms

V. As power is primarily gained through control of not only a vast military and monetary domain, the Alliance seeks to greatly reduce the third key resource that the Entente nations possess. Colonies and the vast expanses of territory are to be shared out amongst the nations who fought valiantly to defend themselves against those who sought to loot them.

f. There will be no tariffs against the United States within these occupied territories.