The Great War
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The Great War (or the Great European War, often abbreviated as GW or GEW) was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 1935 to 1938. It was fought between the Tripartite Coalition (composed of France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austrian Empire) and their allies against the Cordial League, led by the United Kingdom and Russia. The war is sometimes considered as part of the Eurasian War.
The war led to the mobilization of more than 80 million military personnel, including 60 million European soldiers, making it the largest war in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated 9 million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war. Consequential atrocities and humanitarian crises caused an estimated 17–100 million deaths.
Context
Rising Anti-Anglo & Anti-Russian sentiment
Growing British influence in Europe
At the beginning of the 20th century, the threat of Russian and British influence over Europe loomed largely. The Venetian invasion of the Papal Adriatic in 1908, primarily sponsored by the British, angered France and Austria. France and Austria saw this as another act of Venetian and, by extension, British aggression. Both France and Austria issued diplomatic protests against the British to restore the papal holdings occupied by Venice, but nothing came out of it. Rising diplomatic tensions eventually led to the Alps War in 1911, when Austria declared war on Venice. Austria called on the French to join the war but refused due to the communard government's instability at the time. The war ended in a status quo ante bellum, and Austria was forced to recognize Venice's acquisition of territory in the Marche. This fueled even greater French and Austrian resentment against Britain.
Russo-Ottoman relations
Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire was undergoing a political modernization in the 20th century. The rise of the Orkhonist faction in the Ottoman Grand Congress began fueling a revanchist attitude towards Crimea, which was once part of the Ottoman Empire, annexed by Russia after the Russo-Ottoman War (1884-1885). The Ottoman Empire began supporting rebellions in Central Asia, eventually culminating the Turkistan's declaration of independence from Russia in 1924. This negatively impacted Russo-Ottoman relations in the 20th century.
Rise of Authoritarianism & the Tripartite Coalition
The ongoing political tensions drew the nations of France, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire towards authoritarian rule. On September 2, 1919, France's president was overthrown by Grand Marshal François Desmarais, who then abolished the position and ruled as a military dictator under his authoritarian-communard party, L'Avantgarde. After his death, his successor, Camille Laframboise (derogatively known in the Anglosphere as "General Raspberry") continued authoritarian rule and made diplomatic ties with the Ottomans and Austria.
In Austria, the authoritarian conservative Neostabilist faction rose as the dominant political force in Austria, after its leader, Emmerich Stefanov, became Austrian chancellor in 1914. At the threat of being diplomatic pariahs, Stefanov rekindled Austria's diplomatic relationship with the Ottoman Emprire. In the Ottoman Empire, the rule of the Orkhonists meant a heavy hand on political and diplomatic policies.
Later combined with the socio-economic pressures of the European Economic Crisis in 1922-1928, the three nations eventually signed the Treaty of Agreement in 1929 in Vienna, Austria, forming a military and economic alliance. This alliance would be known as the Tripartite Coalition.
Prelude
Events of the War
Early Stages
Northern European Front
