The Spring Offensive against the Midlands began with auspicious signs, Wales was left wide open by British forces, so it was possible to bring the area behind the front and concentrate on Northern advance. The push North was interrupted in late June along the Liverpool-Hull line where 400.000 British soldiers had been preparing extensive trench systems. Harsh battles followed all the way through November, claiming the lives of around 75.000 Frenchmen with few gains to speak of. In early December it seemed as if it might be possible to break through into a poorly defended Liverpool. These hopes were soon dashed when a fully stocked division of 25.000 Irishmen landed in Wales and attempted to crush the Western side of the front. The French army was forced into a fighting retreat that culminated in the Second Battle of London where 250.000 Britons managed to capture or kill an entire field army of 100.000 and re-occupy their capital in January 1908. This finally broke the French line and forced them to abandon most of their positions and attempt a solid defense of their headquarters in Brighton.
French troops prepare their fortifications.
In March, terrible news came from the Russian front where the Japanese had managed to push past the Urals and had begun to lay siege to Kazan with an eye on Moscow. This forced Tsar Nicholas to begin a feverish correspondence with King Philippe in search of a solution to the conflict with the Tsar suggesting that the French Expeditionary Force be shipped to Russia to aid in the defense of Moscow.
This decision would have to wait as, in July, the term of the Montpensier government expired and an election campaign begun. The candidates for Prime Minster were Anatole de Montpensier running for re-election with Le Roi et le Pays, former Foreign Minister Gaston d'Albi as the new head of the Royaliste after Vannes' shift right, and Jean de Verdun who had succeeded as leader of the Royaliste Libéral party after the retirement of Lucien de Chartres.
The Marquis de Verdun was born in 1860 in a family of ancient privilege and grew up without pursuing any particular education but rather exploring the nooks and crannies of polite society. From around 1875 to 1883, he spent his time at the Royal court and did his best to attract the attention of King Henri and the Dauphin Philippe. These attempts did not end well, however, and, upon the succession, he was encouraged to return and manage his family's estates where he remained until 1907. In this year, with many nobles engaged in the War, he was chosen to serve as Governor of the Vendée where he managed supplies to the army until he took the reins of the Royaliste Libéral.
The candidates, from left to right: Verdun, Albi and Montpensier.
More than ever, the main theme of the election was the ongoing war and how it should be approached. Verdun, coherent with his party, requested the withdrawal of the Expeditionary Force back to France and an end to the war by allowing Japan to take what they would from Siberia while maintaining the status quo with the British. Albi seemed to broadly agree with the idea of peace with the acceptance of Russian losses, but he differed from Verdun in advocating for the necessity of holding onto Brighton to allow for a stronger negotiating position in the case of a total Russian collapse. Montpensier remained firmly on the side of war and replied to all proposals with outrage that so many Frenchmen should have died for nothing. He planned to take back London and destroy it to take the British out of the War and then aid Russia in pushing back the Japanese. In the days before the election, the King remained silent and met only with his generals to assess France's capabilities and the fate of the War.
The results of the election confirmed Montpensier's mandate with 40.6% of the vote but they also displayed a desire for peace with 37.5% supporting Albi and 21.9% for Verdun. King Philippe assigned the Prime Ministry to Montpensier but insisted that Albi be made Foreign Minister to ensure that the will of the people be truly done.
Electoral results for 1909.
In late August, it was decided that aiding Russia would not be practical before the British exit from the war and it was noted that a large army made up of soldiers from the Dominions had landed on British soil and was planning an attack to dislodge the French from the island. The Expeditionary Force prepared its defenses over the course of the next half year with summer preparations turning into those of winter until the enemy offence finally came. On the 24th of January 1909, a colossal force of 600.000 British and Dominion forces assaulted Brighton defended by a mere 250.000 Frenchmen. The battle lasted longer than anyone could have anticipated with defensive trenches shifting around the city like some monstrous snake recoiling when hit and striking when the smallest gap presented itself. In October, when both sides had been bled white and the fields had been sown with 250.000 British soldiers and 100.000 French, it was decided that the situation was untenable, and it was necessary to evacuate the survivors back to Normandy where the wounded could be taken care of and a new plan could be formulated. All throughout November, transports ferried men back to their Homeland while those who remained resisted valiantly but, in a night attack on the 26th, the British finally broke through and slaughtered the 50.000 men who had accepted to stay behind and protect the retreat of their brothers in arms.
The shaken and exhausted men who returned to Normandy were given ample time to rest and recover from the recent fighting before disastrous news plunged everyone into shock. On the 3rd of March 1910, the ambassadors of Germany and Italy handed a joint declaration of war to a stunned Albi. Fortresses on the Eastern border did their best to hold back the new enemies but one after the other they began to fall. Throughout the month, King Philippe requested a full report on the military capabilities of these new foes and received an estimate that Germany could deploy approximately 2.5 million soldiers while Italy could boast 1 million. Under these conditions, the King called a meeting with his cabinet and requested that Montpensier call for an armistice with all belligerents. The Prime Minister, however, refused to issue a surrender and chose to send the remaining French army to the new front with the intent of never surrendering as long as any Frenchman remained free. This proved to be too much for the King who directly contacted his royal counterparts across all fronts and managed to obtain a cessation to the conflict and the convening of a Peace Conference in Geneva to be held in April.
The Conference in Geneva prepares to attack France.
The Treaty of Geneva was negotiated between Lord Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister of Great Britain, Duke Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of the Shogunate of Japan, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire and Luigi Luzzatti, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy. King Philippe VIII of the Kingdom of France and Pyotr Stolypin, Prime Minister of the Russian Empire, were in attendance with the possibility to give their arguments but no final decisional power. Among the victors, Lord Asquith was the one most in favor of a harsh peace against France. He claimed that Great Britain had been the one most harmed in the War and that it deserved compensation for the lives lost and the devastation to its country. British demands included the dismantling of the French Colonial Empire with its African possessions being divided between Great Britain and Germany while its Eastern lands would be handed out to Japan. This aggressive attitude was not shared by the other three parties which claimed only the lands that contained their kinsmen and preferred to advocate for monetary reparations from France and Russia. In the spirit of national unification, Kaiser Wilhelm requested that France cease any opposition to German union with Austria. German envoys were already proceeding with a referendum and the results had come out overwhelmingly in favor of annexation. France accepted these terms and agreed to hand over Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, Nice and Savoy to Italy while Russia would lose Sakhalin to the Japanese. Furious negotiations continued for the rest of April on the fate of France's colonies, but a compromise was finally agreed upon: France would be able to keep her colonies upon the condition that she dismantle her standing army and maintain a quarter of its navy for the purpose of protecting shipping. Russia would be able to keep half of its remaining army and would not be allowed to have any new warships in the Pacific. Both of the defeated nations would have to distribute a quarter of their national income to the victors in a manner proportional to their war contribution. Early May was devoted to discussions upon the minor nations involved and it was decided that Hungary would need to cede its Croatian possessions to Yugoslavia and that Bukovina should be annexed into Romania while an independent Catalonia would be formed in the formerly French province of Roussillon under the protection of Great Britain.
On the 10th of May 1910, the Great War officially ended, after nearly seven years, with the signing of the Treaty of Geneva by the representatives of the six Great Powers.
A new European order is forged.
As the King returned to Paris, he could realize that the French people were devastated by the war and the recent peace treaty. This anger has begun to be harnessed by an individual who goes by the name of Citizen Babeuf but the State Police suspects this to be a pseudonym of a certain Clément Maret. The 41-year-old came from a respectable Blois family and it appears that he obtained forbidden Communist books during his education which led him to be imprisoned in 1890 while protesting the regrettable Vannes initiative. He managed to escape his death sentence and flee first to Algérie and then London where he attracted considerable local and international attention for his seditious writings. With riots breaking out in cities all over France and Tricoleurs being seen once again in Paris, it seems as if Maret wishes to take on the Monarchy itself and we can only hope that he will fail in his attempt.
