World War One

Also known as The Great War, The War to end All Wars, or the European War (in the Americas until US intervention), World War One was the most deadly, devastating, and complex military conflicts in the history of mankind, only being surpassed by her bigger sister, World War Two.

Background

As the industrial revolution was about to end spreading across the globe, minor countries started to gain power while the giants would not let them take it, and ethnicities and countries started to compete with each other, a massive turmoil was being baked in Europe.
As the recently formed German empire started to heavily rival French and British overwhelming empire and politics, rivalry would start to become normal between the 3 majors, also competing with the expanding Russian and Qing Empires to the east, and the American commonwealth of United States to the west.
The conflict is said to have ben started by the Japanese invasion of the western neighbors, whose military and tactics proven absolutely deadly to the Russians, ending in a quick Russian surrender of the so called Ruso-Japanese war.
Later, the German threats against France would lead the two countries to a war between neighbors, a war in which the German industry and determinaron would overwhelm the French infantry lines in a devastating war for them. France would start a military revolution within their own army as a desperate attempt to reform their declining military and would ultimately manage to do it in a record time, revamping their military to match that of their enemies in less than a decade later.
To the south, the recently formed Italy battled a war of time with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottomans to be the new industrial country in Europe. They would all end up in a draw as ww1 came around the corner.

Yudonia during the conflict

If it had not been for her Majesty the Queen, I fear Yudonia would have sailed towards the Central Powers. Thank God the queen was present.

Because of very bad Yudo-British relations between 1908-12, the Isles almost fell on the Prussian side of European alliances, but the Empire managed to influence local politics and ultimately forced Yudonia to join their side. Despite many offerings of protection by France and local autonomy bein raised, locals would still be reluctant to join the economic effort against the Germans. Yudonians would later understand how close they had been to losing the biggest of the wars and it was then when they started to think positively about the British Empire.
As year 1912 arrived and London feared an imminent war in Europe, Yudonian military and industrial infrastructure would be completely revamped by the Empire, being converted as a base from which control the center and eastern Mediterranean Sea. Many Royal Navy Dockyards would be built, as well as small arms factories, many airfields and military bases still operating today, and roads and rail networks that would prove to be a valuable asset during the war.
During late 1914 and the war was starting, major powers were sill mobilizing when Yudonia overcame a massive mobilization campaign in which more than a million soldiers were recruited. The war itself would go on for almost 5 years, with trench warfare being a prevalent aspect during almost the entirety of the conflict, with the exception being the initial German offensive over northern France and the polish lands of the Russian Empire.

Notable battles

Overall, Yudonian troops would end up scattered across all of Europe, but they ended up concentrating in the Alpine front, where they provided vital support to the Italian units defending against the Habsburgs' attacks. Some other notable contributions to the war effort include 2 extraordinary defenses against organized landings on the islands by conjoined action of the Habsburgs and Ottomans, the and battles like the Battle of Verdun.

Consequences

Yudonia had direct consequences of the war within the Isles themselves, with millions of soldiers having been killed in Europe and many more wounded in action. Not only that, but a strong economic recession was about to start, with factories having to now resume former production chains with less employees than ever, soldiers coming back to their homes without jobs and therefore representing a larger population to feed locally, and a generalized lower quality of life amongst all population levels.
Yudonia, probably thanks to the massive industrialization started by the United Kingdom in 1912, started a a process of implementation of nationwide Autarky, with a booming construction sector and decaying imports, as there were basically none available from Mediterranean countries. In those times, big economic allies of Yudonia would end up being Brazil, Venezuela and the United States on the other side of the ocean, and the United Kingdom and Italy in Europe.
The need for resources during the war also lead to the investigation of possible undiscovered resources around the Isles, including iron, aluminum and coal. This geographic research would turn in favor of the Yudonian government, which would find out massive oil deposits in between the Isles and north Africa, probably originated by the ongoing collision of the two landmasses. The information about resources would be kept in secret to any other government, including the Crown, to ensure getting the maximum profit out of it on latter peace deals. In 1919 the Libyan-Yudonian border would be stablished, giving Yudonia complete access to all the lands with known oil fields underneath them to the moment, as well as more than 50km around the known boundaries of these resource spots to ensure no other country to ever exploit them.

Top image: WW1 French tank, by Towner 1705 in flickr

Conflict Type

War