Category:The Modern Nordic King of Britain

==&nbsp German Empire== '''The history of modern Germany can be said to begin with the defeat of Prussia and the other German states at the hands of the United Kingdom in the Schleswig War of 1848-1851. This defeat illuminated two main points: the United Kingdom was well prepared to defend its interests on the continent, and that the Prussian military was unprepared to match it. After a serious revamping of the army, it was Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck that proposed an invasion of Austrian Silesia, who had not learned from their faults in the Schleswig War. The short Austro-Prussian War showed the marked improvement of Prussia’s military prowess which they further showed in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. In the hall of Versailles, the German Empire was formed. To counter the Franco-Austrian Alliance, otherwise known as the Entente, Germany forged an alliance with the Russian Empire and the young Kingdom of Italy. A series of crisis in the Balkans and the French protectorate of Morocco created massive tension which exploded in 1914 when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. When Russia rushed to defend Serbia from Austro-Hungary, Germany and Italy joined in, drawing France into the war. Soon Spain, the Balkans, and the Ottomans were drawn into the conflict creating a great continental war. By the War’s end Germany, Russia, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Greece, Siam, and the Arabs lay on one side, while France, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Spain, Bulgaria, and Japan lay on the other. In 1917, beset on all sides, nationalist revolution struck various parts of Austria-Hungary and she surrendered. French soldiers mutinied, raising the red flag. However, the victors were not immune to populist discontent; Russia also experienced socialist revolt in which German troops ultimately put down in Moscow and Petrograd. However, occupation duty was unpopular at home and a populist revolt in 1920, more isolationist than socialist, put an end to Wilhelm II’s grand dreams of a Pan-European German Empire and he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Wilhelm III who did much to placate the people with democratic reform. Now Germany stands stronger than ever under Chancellor Hugo Eckener, who owes his popularity to his shrewd diplomacy, as much as to his zeppelins. However, it is an uneasy peace that rests in Europe with a rearming Austro-German Confederation to the south with claims over all of Germany, a proudly internationalist communist state, the European Commune to the West, and the extremely reactionary Holy Russian Empire to the East with only the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and Imperial Baltic Federation acting as buffer states. '''

Short Histories of Countries up tp 1936