7/10/1918 New states begin to emerge from the ashes of German and Austro-Hungarian defeat

Germany has sent a request for an armistice to President Wilson. Austria-Hungary meanwhile is visibly on the brink of collapse. With defeat staring the Central Powers in the face, nationalists are seeking to establish new countries from the ruins of their empires. In Zagreb a council has proclaimed the independence of those parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire inhabited by Croats, Slovenes and Serbs; should they join with the inhabitants of now resurgent Serbia they will be able to establish Yugoslavia, land of the southern Slavs. Now in Warsaw the German-appointed Regency Council (an advisory body that has proved itself to have an unruly streak) declares an independent Poland, comprising both former Russian territory (still under German occupation) and Austro-Hungarian Galicia. In Prague Czech nationalists are also meeting, preparing both to declare their independence from Austria but also to detach Slovakia from Hungary and create a new…