Spartacist Austria-Hungary

This deviation was created for MotF 136: Ferdinand's Gambit. It depicts a socialist Austria Hungary, which was created during the Austrian Revolution. And big thanks to Kuusinen for the tutorial on modern style maps which I used here.

The PoD for this scenario is that Kaiser Wilhelm II isn't such a meanie to Britain so they stay neutral in WWI. After implementing a different version of the Schlieffen Plan the Central Powers and Entente settle into a stalemate just as OTL. In this timeline the Central Powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Bulgaria while the Entente had Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, and France.

Without Britain's blockade of Germany the Central Powers are powerful enough to defeat Russia and then France after several years of grueling trench warfare in 1918. In the process Austria-Hungary fell as revolutionaries went on bread riots and troops mutinied against the incessant slaughter of trench warfare. With the Emperor deposed a temporary republic was established in October of 1918, however this government grew weak and soon became merely propped up by German troops. The German Spartacus League then took advantage of this weakness, proclaiming an end to WWI if they came to power in Austria-Hungary.

By January of 1919 the communists had a following of many peasants and urban workers all across the country so that is when they struck and stormed Schönbrunn Palace. Thus began a three year long civil war as the country exploded under ethnic tensions. In the end the Spartacist managed to become the dominant force in Austria-Hungary, though they did lose many peripheral territories to other nations and different nationalist groups.

Thus on March 1921 the Austro-Hungarian Union of Spartacist Republics was formed, with a total of six different republics for the six ethnic groups within its borders.