Kingdom of Germany (Rex Francorum)

The Kingdom of Germany was a medieval and early modern nation in Central Europe that possessed a large colonial empire and the largest unified army in the world in 1780. The kingdom originated out of the eastern half of the Carolingian Empire. The early years of the kingdom were defined by near constant war with either the Vikings, Slavs, Magyars, or Franks. The greatest of these was the hundred years war, where Germany faced off against the Holy Roman Empire, which had unified with the Danish Empire and its possessions. This long war would result in a German Victory and the solidification of Germany as a power in Europe. After the discovery of the Americas by Castile, Germany engaged in the colonial race, settling colonies in Venezuela, Haiti, Georgia, and Newfoundland. These colonies would grow into German America. This newfound power would draw the Germans into colonial conflicts with Castile, Portugal, England, and the Netherlands that would bankrupt the German treasury. The Teutonic Church, the state controlled German Church that had split off from the catholics in 1530, was also extremely oppressive and, to many reformationists, was just as corrupt and sinful as the catholic church. This would spark the German Wars of Religion, a part of the Greater European Wars of Religion, in which proto-communist Anabaptist peasants as well as traditional catholics in Austria and Hussites in Czechia fought against the Teutonic Church. Frankish protestant states as well as the pope intervened in the wars several times. At the end of the wars, several reforms were made and Germany became a secular country, although the Teutonic Church still had heavy influence. The loss of German Colonial territories combined with crippling debt and the spread of liberal ideas led to the largely dissatisfied peasant base rising up against the German Monarchy and forcing a constitutional monarchy in 1791. In 1792, the radical left Freier Bauer club took power and hung the King Charles Frederick II in the city square of Weimar, the new capital of Deutscher Volkstaat or German People's State. After the European Revolutionary Wars, the German Monarchy was restored in the form of Louis IX, grandson of the previous King and head of the House of Baden. Louis IX's reign was turbulent, as he attempted to use nationalist sentiment and the teutonic church to hold on to power. Louis IX died in 1830 and was succeeded by Franz II of the Habsburger line. Franz II and his prime minister Alexander Bach were known for their policies of constitutional monarchy and an attempt to scale down the size of the army and be more peaceful. Franz was overthrown, ironically, in a coup of military officers who established the Empire of the Germans.