What would WW1 have looked like had the US joined the Central powers in 1917?

world war one the great war while it was not the war to end all wars as it was labeled by some at the time it was a very bloody conflict with eight to ten million soldiers dying between 1914 and 1918. over 2 million civilians died due to direct military action another 5 and a half million more died due to indirect causes such as malnutrition or disease germany was just done with russia by 1918 and focused on the western front where in the real timeline us soldiers poured in but how much would the war change if the us which entered the war in 1917 aided germany and central powers instead of the allies [Music] the us was a huge factor in world war one it changing sides might very well change history and you can change it yourself by playing supremacy 1914 which is sponsoring this video it's a free online pvp strategy game that means you fight alongside or against 500 other players in real time of course the strategic pace means actual matches play out over the course of weeks i like that it's not a clickfest you have to ponder your strategic decisions carefully as their results will sometimes show only hours later you can play with the same account on pc and mobile and if you click on the link in the description below you will get 15 000 gold and one month of premium subscription for free choose your country and win world war one on to our video what did the u.s bring to the war it mobilized around 4 million people in 1917 and 1918. that figure however pales when compared to other countries most of which began mobilizing in 1914. the russians french and the british mobilized far more soldiers smaller countries were there as well there was also the austro-hungarian empire whose attack on serbia after the assassination of archduke franz ferdinand in sarajevo started the war germany mobilized almost as many people as russia the ottoman empire and later bulgaria did their part as well belgium was overrun early by germany italy joined the allies in 1915. eventually portugal romania and greece joined the allies as well but here we need some further chronological context early in the war the germans won some major victories their swift offensives captured most of the french heavy industry however by late 1914 the western front became a quagmire with both sides remaining pretty much in place for several years meanwhile austria-hungary suffered setbacks against serbia after initial success russia lost a lot of territory over the course of 1915. even though italy joined the allies it didn't do much during the war due to the mountainous border with austria-hungary there were numerous other fronts as well considerable numbers of allied troops were positioned all over the world by the end of 1915 serbia montenegro and albania finally fell as bulgaria joined the central powers 1916 saw romania joining the allies only to be overrun by the central powers the us finally entered the war in april of 1917. in early 1917 the central powers undertook a successful push into northern italy and by the end of same year the october revolution began in russia several months later the country was out of the war by 1917 both sides were absolutely exhausted with low morale and lacking resources the british empire which was paying not only for its own war effort but also financially helping france italy and russia was at one point essentially out of money the real timeline saw the us loaning the british four billion dollars in 1917 value the us also loaned almost 4 billion dollars to the french during the war in our alternate timeline though none of that support would happen in 1915 alone the british government spent around 4 billion us dollars the following years saw even greater expenses while the u.s loans were a smaller figure they were crucial especially in 1917 in our alternate history timeline however the us sides with the central powers in 1917. how and why this happens isn't important anyone can make up a timeline of course such changes would have ripple effects through the centuries which is why we will simply say this in our version of 1914 the us still holds a grudge against britain as the war starts it sympathizes with germany it tries to remain neutral but doesn't offer any help to the allies other than regular trade at exorbitant prices even though some americans die like on the passenger ship lusitania torpedoed by german submarine the general public remains sympathetic towards germany at the time great britain imported all of its oil in 1917 the us supplied 85 percent of british oil needs in the new timeline that wouldn't happen in addition german and u.s attacks on allied cargo ships in the atlantic would strangle the influx of raw resources to britain even more still persian oil wells produced at least enough oil for the british navy and overall most of the british industry still ran on plentiful british coal canada probably wouldn't be able to continue sending troops to europe instead canada and the us might go to war the royal navy would still prevent the central powers from receiving any goods via the seas just as it did in the real timeline as early as 1915 a total blockade of germany caused food shortages its entire economy began to wither down under the strain of the massive war effort the problem of the royal navy being in the way would have to be addressed first by 1917 the us atlantic fleet had over 30 big warships in addition it had almost 100 cruisers and destroyers in the real timeline most british ships were stationed in the uk with much smaller naval squadrons elsewhere france and italy kept the mediterranean safe from austro-hungarian and ottoman navies in the pacific japan mostly kept to itself the russian fleets were stuck behind choke points in the baltic sea a much stronger german navy laid minefields forcing the russian fleet to play defense the russian arctic fleet was still only a small task force back then the ottoman fleet was small but the boss person dardanelle straits prevented the russian black sea fleet from joining their western allies since austria-hungary had a decent navy the french fleet was mostly helping the italians to contain it mediterranean trade routes had to be protected the german navy wasn't powerful enough to defeat the british as evident from the real timeline battle of jutland while the battle was a german tactical victory it didn't shake the british control of the atlantic but with the added threat of the us atlantic fleet even the mighty royal navy might find itself in a pinch however the us navy wouldn't have a lot of options going through a gibraltar would be impossible it's an easily defendable choke point going around africa in order to endanger british assets in the indian ocean wouldn't work either due to massive distances the allies had colonies to support their fleets unlike them by 1917 the central powers had practically no african ports anymore merely reaching scotland would be a 3 000 mile trip the u.s fleet would then either have to fight their way towards their german ports or harass the british instead the latter option would use a quarter of their fuel then the american fleet would have to steam all the way back to the united states to restock such incursions would be very inefficient also destroyers and other smaller warships wouldn't be able to travel so far theoretically if the german and u.s fleets managed to meet they would be roughly as strong as the british atlantic fleet but the british wouldn't allow that to happen knowing the u.s fleet couldn't spend its fuel to sail quickly the british would use their speed advantage to attack the americans first even if that meant letting the german navy attack the british coastline or using the french navy to slow down the germans while allowing austro-hungarians into the mediterranean the chances that the royal navy would get to fight on its own terms would be high but then again as the battle of jutland demonstrated in war nothing is certain even with the royal navy's numerical superiority but the us would have another problem too entering the war on the side of the central powers would mean the empire of japan would go to war against it by 1917 japan took control over german possessions in china as well as their island colonies the caroline mariana and marshall islands japan used the war to expand and in 1917 there would have been a big juicy prize on its doorstep one it could take 24 years earlier than in the real timeline the us colony of the philippines due to vast distances involved and fairly small american forces in the western pacific there would really be no way for the us to prevent japan from taking over the philippines the us did have a more powerful navy than japan but in order to defend guam wake and hawaii which are all far away from each other the us would have to have a considerably larger force in the pacific over half of its entire fleet would need to be redeployed to fight japan this would render any serious u.s involvement in the atlantic implausible with the possible exception of submarine raids on the other hand if the us would indeed send most of its navy towards britain all those u.s island territories would fall to japan and if the americans lose much of their naval force to britain in the atlantic they might not be able to take back all those pacific islands it would possibly take decades for the us to even consider that option therefore it is doubtful that the us would indeed go all in ascending its entire navy towards britain but without forcing the royal navy to remain close to the british coastline there would be no way for the us to send a significant number of ground troops to europe most european countries were either against the central powers or at the very least neutral the us would need friendly ports as points of entrance the allied navies would be preventing both those reinforcements and the goods arriving to central powers negotiating with a neutral country to accept u.s troops would probably yield a little result attacking them to secure ports would be implausible spain for example was between two allied countries and unlikely to go down without the fight and even if spain somehow allied with the us there would still be the issue of the british naval raids on u.s troop ships and the nearly impassable pyrenees mountains the us might also try invading the portuguese azore islands to help maintain control of the atlantic but even so getting the troops from there to germany or even opening up a big new front would be impossible as for landing troops somewhere in the french morocco this would likely be a waste since they would be so far from the main front lines basically the biggest effect the us could have would be by denying themselves to the allies and not just the 2 million troops americans sent to france the us could also deny some canadian troops crossing the atlantic even in the real timeline the americans needed time to actually mobilize train and send troops three months after the us entered the war it deployed just 14 000 soldiers in france by the fall of 1917 u.s numbers were still small finally by may 1918 1 million u.s soldiers were stationed in france but only around half of them were at the front lines it is really only from that point onward that the american reinforcements made a big impact in the overall number of allied troops here you can see rifle troops at the front line a mere part of the overall number of mobilized soldiers yet even so it's evident that within six months the allies went from having 20 fewer riflemen than germany to 25 percent more riflemen than their enemy but even without us troops directly helping central powers the allies would be dealt a huge blow in april of 1917 when the us would join germany this might even speed up the russian surrender with the americans on the side of germany greece might remain neutral instead of joining the allies as it had in the summer of 1917. the invasion of the balkan peninsula might not happen and bulgaria might remain in the war this in turn might help austria-hungary reinforce its northern front and keep its gains in italy but the real enemy of austria-hungary was the political descent within its borders the real timeline saw uprisings in 1918 czechs slovaks kratts slovenes and poles were tired of fighting for austrians and hungarians and their already backwards economies were collapsing ravaged by war and famine by the end of 1917 major naval battles would happen in the atlantic allied navies would likely get badly bruised but still come out victorious even if only barely the americans would not be able to send a large contingent of troops the us might however try to attack canada and take over some decently sized chunks of its territory the us would also have to send out troops to the pacific in order to hold on to hawaii and maybe wake in guam the philippines however would likely fall to japan u.s submarines could aid germany in its submarine war this would tie a large number of royal navy ships into protecting allied convoys while wreaking havoc on the allied economy in the real timeline german u-boats managed to squeeze britain only for a few months in 1915 and 1917. generally speaking the british economy managed to actually grow during the war but in this timeline that wouldn't be possible u.s goods and financial aid wouldn't arrive on the other hand german and austro-hungarian economies would still crumble as they did in the real timeline sooner than the british economy meanwhile the us economy boomed during the same period especially due to rapid industrialization brought on by the war effort so what else would happen in our alternate timeline the biggest issue for germany is that their big push on the western front which began in march 1918 couldn't start much sooner and in the real timeline that push stalled even before u.s forces had a major effort on the front during the march offensive germany lost many of its most experienced military units and the april offensive ground to halt due to logistics issues by may the germans would still be exhausted without the us help the allies likely wouldn't be able to launch a decisive counter-offensive but germany wouldn't be able to mount further attacks either this wouldn't be helped by the fact that the germans were seriously lagging behind in their use of airplanes and especially tanks and no 20 tanks is not a typo it's very likely there would be another period of trench warfare throughout 1918 as the germans would dig in their defenses exhausted and with very little fresh manpower germany could only hope britain would be in the same economic problems the french and the british would likely need every single soldier they could master so their combined offensive through palestine towards the ottoman empire that took place in the real timeline wouldn't happen here the ottomans might just hold on still germany and austria-hungary would be isolated the only plausible route for outside goods to arrive would be via russia but that country was already being torn apart by a civil war the us sending troops or goods to russia would be unlikely it's quite possible that the stalemate would last quite a long time though with germany and austria-hungary weakening quicker than the allies germany would still be lagging behind important technologies like tanks the americans would need years to build up their fleet and their european allies would not have the luxury of that much time it's still likely austria-hungary would fall apart perhaps after a bloody civil war even in the real timeline there were soldier mutinies even in france and germany with no end in sight these mutinies would probably continue this might even force the allies in germany into signing an armistice and then a peace treaty so they could restore order within their ranks and prevent full-scale revolutions the us would be foolish to keep fighting by itself especially since it would have already gained some territories during the war while it might have lost some of its specific territories the united states would have gained some canadian territories instead since it was not loaning so much money during the war it would not get all those interests back and overall economically all those goods and oil it exported during the real timeline would not find a buyer this would probably slow down its economy somewhat still it would be in a strong position in the 1920s japan would come from the war stronger than it was germany would also likely come out of it stronger than it was in the real timeline without war operations to pay and controlling at least some of the lands it conquered it would perhaps even take austria under its wing something it was not allowed to do in the real timeline the death count of world war 1 would be just as catastrophic allied powers lost between 5 and 6 million people in reality most of them before the us troops became a factor in the war indeed the us lost a less than 117 000 soldiers the central powers lost roughly 4 million troops and with the war lasting a year or so longer in our new timeline the final figures would likely rise possibly a million more dead the us however might have suffered fewer casualties than in the real timeline canada might not be as bloody of a fight as france was and whatever world war would come later on it would probably be much much bloodier this time around there would be much unfinished business even if the us was suddenly against germany in that future timeline before we wrap up a few more words on supremacy 1914 a free online pvp strategy game choose a real country and lead it during world war 1 do epic battles and hopefully take over the world see all these units so many to pick and equip your army with tanks planes cavalry artillery you name it world war one was famous for its alliances shaping the whole conflict in supremacy 1914 you can forge 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Channel: Binkov's Battlegrounds

Views: 413,852

Keywords: World war one, World war 1, WW1, WWI, 1917, 1914, 1918, landship, German Empire, British Empire, supremacy 1914

Id: H4xX8FgD25I

Length: 20min 35sec (1235 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021