Well, this is the big chapter we've been waiting for, and no, Bali makes no appearances—despite the story's title. This chapter will only last for five years—the duration of World War I.
Now, since most if not all of you are unfamiliar with Victoria II, let me explain the difference between a World War and regular was in-game. A regular war is usually fought between 2-7 countries over one or two things. In a regular war, a peace treaty can be signed where no one suffers in the end. In a World War, we're looking at 6-30 countries with many possible repercussions to losing and no possibility of a white peace—a faction has to lose. As one would probably imagine, the death toll of a World War is going to be colossal, so this is where we'll be seeing some serious depopulation as a result of warfare. Fortunately, Bali evaded entrance into World War I, but perhaps they'll play a role in World War II. I'm just going to say it now without spoiling much; World War II better stay away, or the world is seriously going to suffer the consequences. This World War had far too many casualties.
Before we begin, here's how actual World War I happened in history:
In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had been assassinated. As a result, tension flared between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Within a short period following the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. There was an unfortunate chain reaction, however. Austria-Hungary had an alliance with the German Empire (and at some point the Ottoman Empire). To honor this alliance, the German Empire entered the war. Taking side with Serbia, France and the Russian Empire joined in the war against Austria-Hungary and the German Empire; the United Kingdom later joined in with the Triple Entente as they fought the Central Powers. Sooner or later, more countries picked sides, mostly the Allies. The United States intervened on the Allies' side much later in the war after the German Empire attempted to get Mexico on their side with the promise of returning several U.S. states (former colonial states of Mexico). By the end of WWI, Kaiser Wilhelm II surrendered to the Allies. As a result, the Allies enforced harsh punishment on the Central Powers. Austria-Hungary was deconstructed and turned into many smaller countries (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, etc.), while the German Empire paid the price of unfairly high war reparations—where they'd need to routinely pay back the Allies for World War I. Along with this, the German Empire was converted into the 'Weimar Republic'. Due to the weak economy as a result of war reparations and other things, a rise of communism and fascism came into Germany. By 1933, as a result of World War I, Germany would rise back up from the ashes seeking revenge under a new Nazi government. Also, World War I brought about the revolution that led to the Soviet Union.
The moral of the story here is that World Wars cause very bad rises when it comes to ideological powers, mostly because of economic repercussions of war. Regardless of who wins the war, both sides suffer economically to a major extent.
In this chapter, who will be the contesting nations, what factions, what demands, and what repercussions? Will the defeat of an empire lead to a communist/fascist dictatorship in the future? Will any countries go through great depressions? Or might some countries, literally, lose most of their population to war? Rise of Bali has reached the peak of madness—World War I.
Chapter 6 – World War I
June 6th, 1895, war had been declared yet again on Germany by French president Félix Faure. Years ago the Franco-German War had been pressed by France for the exact same reason, to liberate Elsaß-Lothringen from Germany. This was a strip of land between Germany and France and would always serve as the first battleground between the two nations. Only a mad person would dare choose to live in this region and hope to live a peaceful life. Now war had come for this land yet again, nothing more. Respectively, this started out as the 2ndFranco-German War.
Initially, conflict grew as a personal war became more public. Rather than a classic game of Germany versus France, England and the Russian Empire joined the war as natural allies of France. This left Germany in a tight position, but fortunately, Kaiser Wilhelm II had Sweden, Denmark, Republican Spain, Brazil, and the newly restored Italian Republic, which was now located on a small island. Even so, these German allies didn't fully balance the conflict. However, quickly down the road, more great powers intervened; most notably Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and the Empire of Mexico. Likewise, Germany brought in the British Empire, Free Duchy of Austria, Morocco, and even the communist dictatorship of Hawaii. To finalize the deal, Japan, a new western nation, joined on the side of Germany. This caused the Chinese Empire to join in on France's side.
Before July of 1895, the entire world had become involved in what would go on to be seen as World War I, or the Great War.
The lines were drawn. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had formed the 'Central Powers', members comprising of: Germany, Brazil, the British Empire, the Italian Republic, the Free Duchy of Austria, Denmark, Morocco, Republican Spain, Japan, Sweden, and Hawaii. Though many of these nations were weak, each came with their unique contribution. Whether it be Germany's unnatural land based military, the British Empire's massive navy, Sweden's winter terrain, or Morocco's hot environment.
On the other side stood Félix Faure of France and his faction, the 'Iron Alliance', which was comprised of: France, the Russian Empire, the Empire of Mexico, Switzerland, the Ottoman Empire, England, the Chinese Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The most notable perk the Iron Alliance had was the benefit of a four front war. Germany serving as the main combatant would need to deal with France to the west, the Russian Empire to the east, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire to the south, and England to the north. This meant that the German military would need to separate their forces accordingly if they hoped to win.
The United States was easily viewed as the necessary key to victory, for this was a country that would be nearly impossible to invade, and of course, very difficult to beat. The current president of the United States was Grover Cleveland. Though he was interested in World War I, the United States still found itself under reconstruction after their most recent civil war. Economically and militarily, it was feared that the United States may be ill for battle, so they remained neutral. It was no secret, however, that if the United States were to pick a side, it would be the Central Powers. The U.S. government believed France, the original offender, to be in the wrong—inviting eight other countries into the war only further harmed their position as villains.
The Reichstag of Germany worked prominently in getting the U.S. government to see things their way, Wilhelm II had one major piece of support in doing so—Queen Victoria of the British Empire. Despite past conflict, Queen Victoria had grown much more favorable to the United States over the years and would likely reach an alliance in the coming years—if she could survive this conflict.
July 1st, 1895, marked the first day of combat—the point of no return in the field of peace. On this day a massive amount of 272,000+ German soldiers stormed into Russian controlled Poland well equipped for combat. The German troops came equipped with far superior equipment, thus making their initial entrance into Poland a nightmare for Tsar Nicholas II. Only small battles were fought in Poland, instead, the Russian military moved toward the city of Danzig and proceeded to occupy parts of East Prussia—the furthermost part of Germany. For the occupation, the Russian military milked out about 57,000 soldiers, threatening enough of a size to keep the Germans away for a time.
A surprising turn of events came with either a clever or foolish move on the German military's part. The Swiss had been surprised to find 133,000 German troops entering their small mountainous country, rather than France. The goal was likely to quickly occupy Switzerland, remove them from the war, then use the land as an additional way of getting into France. Switzerland was, in fact, the reason France had lost the Franco-German War, as the Swiss defeat led to many German troops flooding into France.
The Swiss did not let the Germans come in without a fight, though. Initially, 18,000+ Swiss soldiers banded together to fight 71,000+ Germans in the forests and mountains of their homeland. Naturally, the Swiss would lose, but they would take down about 9,000+ Germans by the end of the week.
The French, despite being the attackers, found themselves fighting off the German invaders with about 147,000 troops. Because of the heavy focus to the east and in Switzerland, Germany could only throw 105,000+ troops into France. This total amount was divided into four large German armies, two of which were fighting in the Rheinland, unsuccessfully, the other two occupied behind enemy lines.
Four days following these many conflicts, 66,000+ English soldiers marched straight into the Lowlands of Scotland, but were surprised for the first time as it was indeed the British Empire that came with an advantage. The 66,000+ army of England was surprised with Queen Victoria's 81,000+ army of combined Scottish and Irish troops. Along with bombardments from the shore, the English troops suffered Victoria's intensive wrath for sixteen days. On the 21st, the British armies would be faced with English reinforcements, and thus the success would be short lived. Now it would be 89,000+ English soldiers towering over 47,000+ British soldiers. This was a battle destined to end in defeat for the British Empire, and worst of all, this would inevitably lead to a successful invasion of Scotland.
All the way through July, Germany would continue to have fruitful experiences with Poland, eventually seizing Warsaw and moving toward Russian controlled Belarus. The Russian invasion force of East Prussia would ultimately be scared off and sent back to Russian controlled Lithuania. At this rate, the Russian Empire would fall defeated within the coming months. The Germans outnumbered them, had superior technology, and were employing brilliant invasion strategies.
July 26th, 1895, the Free Duchy of Austria would be occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops, and thus, this would be the first country to throw up the white flag and surrender. Kaiser Wilhelm II and his allies all condemned the Austrian duchy as a traitor, but ultimately, one could have expected such a small nation to fall in a war of this magnitude. Nevertheless, the Central Powers had lost their first member.
On this same day, the British armies in the Lowlands continued to perish under brutal English fighting. Many armies were left without supplies and morale, and thus, very little of the English fighting force was taking harm at this point. There was no doubting that the British Empire's European military was to be vanquished by the end of the month. On a brighter note, however, the British Empire had managed to sink every last naval warship of England—leaving the English kingdom completely blockaded and vulnerable to outside attacks.
The Central Powers had later been informed of the very first 'side dish' demand to go along with France's claim on Elsaß-Lothringen. England demanded control over the Lowlands, which would cut Scotland in half under English control. Queen Victoria knew this couldn't happen, she couldn't lose the war and allow for England to conquer half of Scotland. History was truly repeating itself, if England had its way by the end of World War I, then truly, the United Kingdom would one day return—but not under the British Crown.
A month later, August 22nd, it had become official that the British army had been completely vanquished. English soldiers quickly moved in to occupy all of Scotland, however, the British blockade on England made it impossible for the English to cross over into British Ireland—where Queen Victoria resided during times of war. Given the lacking navy of England, Victoria could sleep well knowing that she and the Irish people are safe. This went without saying, though, she was merely prolonging the inevitable if her allies couldn't rescue her.
More trouble came for the Central Powers as France successfully occupied the Rheinland from German control. This demonstrated that the German military was struggling to fight France, the leader, and this was almost certainly because of the German invasion to invest forces into Switzerland first. Still, German forces remained in mainland France and even managed to occupy land. It was only fair to consider the war between Germany and France as a stalemate. On the eastern front, Germany had occupied all of Poland and continued into Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The Russians, still, had yet to reveal any might like they used to against the North German Confederation. Surprisingly, the one nation to have remained untouched was Austria-Hungary. The Austro-Hungarians found themselves aiding Switzerland and the Russian Empire, while they could have been using the time to invade Middle Germany.
September 15th, 1895, Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh falls to the English, this leaves British Scotland under pressure of full occupation. Still, Ireland remains untouched due to an unbreakable blockade. To Victoria's credit, this was giving the British Empire enough time to muster up a fully Irish army.
It was on this same day that armies from Republican Spain came together and moved in to occupy France. This was to be expected, but not so early in the war. For the Iron Alliance, this was unfortunate timing, as the French had only just begun to succeed in their invasion of Germany. Because of Spain's appearance, the French would be forced to divide their fighting forces and send many down to fight on the Spanish border.
Five days after these events, citizens of south-west Germany gradually began to see an increase in French, Italian, Swiss, and Austro-Hungarian flags. The truth of the matter was that Baden and Bavaria had both begun to fall under control of the Iron Alliance, this was bad, for Bavaria served a serious role in both Germany's economy and military.
A month later brought more bad news to the Reichstag. In early October, a breach had finally been found within the German offensive wall near Belarus, and thus thousands of Russian troops managed to break the organization of their attackers. As a result, armies began to move around the place and the Russian armies finally made their debut into the war as fierce warriors. Belarus was as far as the German forces would go for now, as the Russians would go on to immediately push every German army straight back into eastern Poland. To help counter this situation, Wilhelm II signed the order to have over 100,000 German soldiers brought from France all the way to Poland, the remainder of the occupying forces were sent back into Germany to help liberate Baden and Bavaria. This officially marked the end of Germany's working invasion on France, and indeed, they now found themselves on the defensive—at least to the west.
November of 1895 brought about a reality where 80% of Scotland had fallen to the English, but on a brighter note, the Germans had sent the French away from the homeland and even found time to begin a full occupation of Switzerland. Lastly, the long lasting revolution of the Ottoman Empire had ended. For more than a year, the Ottomans fought against Iraqi and Bulgarian nationalists seeking independence. With the internal issues out of the way, the Ottoman Empire could finally lend what support they could to the Iron Alliance.
Through the winter of 1895, Scotland had been fully occupied, but the English government saw no possibility of entering Ireland with the blockade in progress. There was, however, luck in the English Channel, where French ships had managed to clear a path for the English. This opportunity was immediately taken up, and thus, over 75,000+ English soldiers landed in France to assist against Germany. This, naturally, left to a strain in relations between Kaiser Wilhelm II and Queen Victoria. There was no tear shed on Wilhelm II's face come the day where England added the demand to have the British Empire's military cut in half after the war. This would mean that half of the British armies would need to disarm, and half of their ships would need to be dismantled. This, of course, only applied under the circumstances that the Central Powers lose.
U.S. Grover Cleveland in the meantime drew out support within the national community for intervention into World War I. Congress remained questionable on the necessity of joining the Central Powers, given that the war would be painful to endure. Cleveland, however, argued that the Iron Alliance's decision to add war goals against the British Empire for a war they didn't start was a clear demonstration of imperialism in contrast to the Central Powers, whom wished nothing more than to see an end to the fighting. The fact that the Mexican Empire was a combatant for the Iron Alliance served as both a positive and negative factor in their decision to join the war. This was a tricky debate, but it was generally believed that the United States would soon find its way into the war—perhaps using the Mexican Empire as the key.
February of 1896 brought about the first mass protests of war. No one was winning World War I, necessarily, and already nearly a million French soldiers had died in war. This was a ridiculous amount and the public knew it. Sadly, there was no easy way of ending the civil unrest. World War I was on and couldn't be stopped, if this resulted in mass revolts, the French military would simply need to deal with it through violent means.
The winter of 1896 brought about a stalemate in fighting. The invasion of Switzerland had failed for a second time in this war, the French continued to fight the Germans to no progress, and the Russians fought the Germans to a similar result. Surprisingly, there were many combatants who still refused to fight. The Chinese Empire fought alongside the Iron Alliance against Japan, a Central Powers member, yet, neither nation fought. The same could be said for Hawaii, Sweden, and Denmark. As the death toll raised for both factions, France felt obliged to add a new demand to the war against Spain. The French government now demanded that Republican Spain cede the Congo to them—a region of Africa.
June 30, 1896, officially about one year since the start of World War I. Germany had finally decided to try and level out the battlefield by removing a weaker great power, respectively, Austria-Hungary fit this bill. On this day, Germany managed to muster out a new army to invade Austria-Hungary, a nation unprepared for an invasion. No one would have suspected Germany to invade Austria-Hungary considering the very specific situation of the war—but Wilhelm II found a way. The German army started by occupying Bohemia, a very easy target for them. It was this same time that quite possibly the tide changer had come at last. Officially, the German armies in Poland had broken into messy clusters. The Russians, massed together in the thousands, were ready to liberate Poland from German control—then make their way to Berlin.
Months later, on August 1st, many major events had unfolded. Firstly, the Austro-Hungarian Civil War had broken out of virtually nowhere. Thousands of communists decided to rise up and attack while the nation was weak. These rebels were fearsome enemies to both the Iron Alliance and Central Powers alike. Along with this revolution came a long list of demands prepared by the Iron Alliance.
The prepared list truly proved that it was the Iron Alliance who were the imperialistic warmongers, as to this day, the Central Powers still demanded nothing. The list of demands were very specific. France demanded the whole region of Catalonia from Republican Spain, which would officially incorporate a major part of Spain into France's borders. The other demands came from the Mexican Empire. The Mexicans demanded that the British Empire cede Guatemala to them, and also that Denmark gives independence to the state of 'Schleswig'. Germany, fuming with rage, finally retaliated with a single demand—1/4th of Russian Poland.
The Iron Alliance didn't know, but the Mexican Empire's decision to make such demands put the icing on the cake. In the middle of August, the United States officially viewed the Iron Alliance as a tyrannical alliance seeking the destabilization of many innocent nations, Spain and the British Empire, namely. Despite that Kaiser Wilhelm II had finally made an imperialistic demand, this didn't compare to the Iron Alliance's many greater demands. And so, beyond the knowledge of many, congress and President Cleveland came to a mutual understanding and greenlit the concept of intervention.
September brought good fortune back to the Central Powers, though, not in a moralistic way. By making it law that all males 18 and up had to serve in the German military, Germany managed to fully reinforce their armies in Poland and France while also continuing their invasion of Austria-Hungary. At this point, Germany added the demand to have all of Bohemia ceded—using the excuse that Bohemia contained many ethnic Germans.
War went on, but it would ultimately seem that the tide had finally turned in the Iron Alliance's favor. This was possibly to be short lived, however. For on October 5th, 1896, the United States officially entered the war as a Central Powers combatant.
Respectively and to be expected, mere days after declaring war on the Iron Alliance, thousands of American troops flushed into the Mexican Empire like a tsunami. Immediately, the United States added their two demands to the war effort, the demands that both Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire be forced to chop their armies in half.
The American entrance into the war caused havoc throughout the Iron Alliance, and it was England who suffered the most in Europe. With the announcement of the United States' entrance into the war, protests within England had gone violent. Thousands of civilians proceeded to rise up and take arms in an attempt to force England out of the war, but of course, they were met with resistance.
By February of 1897, the Mexicans learned of their wrongdoings the hard way. It was but months ago that the Mexican Empire was on top of the world, practically running the show against the British Empire in America; only to now find that 50% of the Mexican Empire lay under American occupation. The Mexican government wasn't going to play around with the United States. They couldn't be beaten, period. Rather than work to find ways around the United States, the Mexican government immediately sought out a resolution to exit the war without any repercussions.
Later that month, both the English and Austro-Hungarian revolutions had been put down at the cost of many much needed soldiers. Fortunately for them, the German military had been scared off by the rebels, thus leaving Austria-Hungary, yet again, completely unharmed in terms of territory.
April 20th of 1897 finally put a stabbing to the Iron Alliance, a painful stabbing. On this date, the Mexican Empire wrote up their terms of surrender and exited the war in defeat. This officially marked the first Iron Alliance member to lose the war—and it was a painful loss, as this left the Central Powers practically in full control of the Americas.
Be as it may, the United States was running out of time to act. For in this same month the Russian military had officially done what was initially thought to be impossible. Through blood, sweat, and sacrifice, Poland had been fully liberated, and so Russian boots came onto German soil. The road to Berlin had now begun, and this great city was only miles now from the Russian flood.
All of a sudden, World War I had completely taken a twist. No longer were the Germans focusing on France, now they were forced to send the majority to the east in a bid to hold off the Russians from reaching Berlin. Likewise, West Germany was taking heavy losses due to the French, Swiss, Italians, and Austro-Hungarians. This process was happening very quickly. A year ago, Germany had the Russian Empire on their knees, bleeding, vomiting, dying; now the tide had turned.
Many fights ensued those coming months. German soldiers fought with machine guns, rifles, and artillery; soldiers as young as 18 were now fighting a seemingly invincible Russian war machine. By July 19th, 1897, the Battle for Berlin had begun. The streets of Berlin were littered with rifle shells and craters from artillery, the Reichstag remained standing with massive war damage, and the Brandenburg Gate holed up by explosions. Kaiser Wilhelm II, to his misfortune, was trapped within the Reichstag, practically doomed to be captured by Russian forces.
Just as Germany had begun to fall, so did the British Empire. With the help of the French navy, the English were able to finally break into British controlled Ireland—where Queen Victoria. No time was wasted in taking the whole island by storm. Now the Battle for Dublin had begun, where likewise with Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria remained ready to be captured.
The United States had finally gotten their ships ready and were off to start an invasion in Italy, as Italy would be an unexpected target. Though the American presence in Europe would certainly make a difference, they were on the clock. Wilhelm II was in trouble, Victoria was in trouble, and even Sweden now found itself 80% occupied by a flooding Russian army.
September of 1897, Berlin was now encircled. The Russian army continued forward into Central Germany where they would start to meet French armies. By now the Reichstag understood that defeat was upon them, the question was whether or not the Americans could make a last minute appearance near Denmark. Unfortunately for the Germans, the Americans had chosen to attack Italy—unaware of the situation in Germany.
One month later, 12 American transport ships came near the shores of Sicily, however, were attacked by a much larger Italian fleet. This was a shocker to the Americans, as they presumed that the Italians would have left their guard down. As a result of this miscalculation, three American transports were lost, and thus they were forced to retreat into the Italian Republic—the small island nation of the Central Powers. This was a major setback for the United States and their allies, as now over 60,000+ soldiers were stranded on an island of little significance to the war effort.
November 1st, 1897, Germany's run had come to an end. Berlin was under full occupation by Russian forces and Kaiser Wilhelm II had been safely secured along with the rest of the Reichstag. Despite having been captured, the war in Germany would continue on to the bitter end, as the remaining German armies were without communication. On a brighter note for the Central Powers, 48,000+ American soldiers managed to sneak onto the shores of southern France, this was indeed the final shot at any victory. There was officially an invasion in place, now the question was whether or not the Americans could stop their allies from surrendering. It was also during this time that the Chinese, finally, made their contribution to the war by invading British India. Though by now this was hardly significant, given that Queen Victoria was about to be captured in Ireland.
By November 22nd, Denmark had been fully occupied by the Russians along with Sweden, which would result in an inevitable surrender by both nations. In December, the American war effort would gain momentum as they fortify the beaches of Provence to make basing easier. Now ships would be able to dock at the beach and drop off more soldiers.
1898 would prove to be the closer of World War I. On January 4th, 1898, Denmark would officially surrender to the Iron Alliance. This wasn't nearly the significant event within these months, though. For on February 13th, 1898, Germany, the leader, would finally surrender and cede Elsaß-Lothringen to France, in which would then be renamed 'Alsace Lorraine'. The United States would be outraged by this turn of events, but rather than folding and concluding the war, would willingly take over as leader of the Central Powers. On June 1st, Sweden would also surrender to the Iron Alliance.
Under new leadership, the United States had a far weaker faction to work with. At this moment, they only had: Brazil, the British Empire, the Italian Republic, Morocco, Republican Spain, Japan, and Hawaii. Of all these nations, only Japan remained strong enough to make an impact—but they refused to combat at this point. The United States was likely stronger than all these opponents combined, though, not in terms of naval strength.
August 24th, 1898, Ireland would become fully occupied by the English. Queen Victoria would be secured by English troops and returned to London for imprisonment for the remainder of the war. This officially left the British Empire with only their land in India, which was already being invaded by the Chinese. Ultimately, it was safe to say that the British Empire had been defeated and would accept unconditional surrender very soon.
Throughout August and October, the Russians, Italians, French, and Austro-Hungarians would combine forces and power through Republican Spain without a struggle. Though the Spanish would hold their grounds for as long as possible, they would soon find their government signing surrender with the Iron Alliance. This term of surrender gave the Congo to France in Africa, the Spanish region of Catalonia to France, and Al Rif to England—the land between Spain and Africa.
At long last, on February 5th, 1899, the British Empire would accept surrender and cede the Lowlands of Scotland to England and also to disarm half their army and navy. By now, following the recent surrendering nations, there was no doubting that World War I had been won by the Iron Alliance. Only the United States could still win the war if they so desired, but they'd likely be alone at this point.
The months of March and beyond led to the Russian invasion of Morocco, and immediately, the Russians demanded the full annexation of the African nation. August brought about doomsday for the American soldiers in France, as the 50,000+ fortified American troops were either arrested or completely butchered by French and Italian armies. Finally, in later August, Morocco accepted annexation to the Russian Empire and the Italian Republic surrendered to France without a fight—accepting French annexation. With the United States alone with Japan, Brazil, and Hawaii, the Russian Empire entered the demand for California's independence. This demand alone served as the finishing move.
September 1st, 1899, the United States accepted surrender on behalf of the Central Powers as a whole. In exchange for early surrender, the United States was allowed to keep possession of California, though Brazil was forced to cede much of their northern territory to France.
In the end, all nations that fought in the Central Powers were required to pay routine war reparations for the coming several years. Some nations, such as the United States, could afford to make monthly reparations. Other nations, like Denmark, Sweden, and the British Empire, would likely collapse from bankruptcy. Nations like Germany would only survive the reparations through hard work. German citizens would be required to make wooden clocks and sell them to France and her allies as punishment for World War I. This applied to countries like Japan and Hawaii as well. Many would go on to argue that the punishments put in place for the Central Powers were unfair, especially since France started the war in the first place. But history would ultimately be written by the winners, and thus, it would be the Central Powers who would go on to be the villains in popular culture throughout the coming centuries—not the Iron Alliance.
In the end, 39,553,588 soldiers died fighting World War I, about 14,000,000 civilians died from starvation and murder alike. In total, about 53,553,588 lives were lost in the first Great War. Members of the Iron Alliance gained new land, but in the very end, the question posed would be whether or not it's truly worth it. Over 50 million potential families, destroyed, due to government greed. All lives that would never see the future.
And so, the year 1900 would come. With the greatly damaged British Empire, Canada would threaten Queen Victoria with war if not given the fullest independence. A response was never given, Canada simply went on to become a fully independent nation in North America. Along with Canada, the Chinese eventually aided the Indians in revolution, and thus, the county of India had formed at last. This meant that, officially, the British Empire equaled only Ireland and half of Scotland.
For Bali, a major event had unfolded. The Netherlands had practically ceased to exist in Indonesia. Five new neighbors had been introduced in Indonesia for Bali, all potential enemies or friends. These new neighbors were: Java, Sumatra, Atjeh, Moluccas, and New Guinea. Surely, all five of these countries would serve a purpose in Bali's rise; either negatively or positively.
World War I was over, and one needn't doubt that World War II would be far away from happening. Bali hadn't taken part in this event, but surely, they'd play more of a role come World War II. But hopefully, World War II would refrain from occurring for quite some time. The dark clouds of Europe was over, for now. But alas, many graves would be built in the year 1900. The 20th century was here at last, and this would either bring about a century of more peaceful times, or simply more deadly. With technology advancing every day, a new World War would likely be more destructive.
To be continued...