Die Sonne geht im Reich nie unter...

Points of Divergence

 * Germany secretly agrees to help the Irish independence movement if they agree to attack Britain. (1914)
 * Japanese militarism takes hold during the First World War (instead of during the 1930's), but Japan stays out of the war, seeking to build up its empire without drawing the attention and ire of any Western power.
 * The Germans are more careful (or lucky) with their submarine warfare. The Lusitania and other ships are never sunk.  The Zimmermann Telegram is never even considered, and therefore the US doesn’t enter the war
 * Germany achieves several decisive victories on the Western Front, among them a defeat of the British, Canadians, and Belgians in a massive gas attack at the Second Battle of Ypres.
 * In mid 1917, Germany realizes that it is a hairsbreadth from victory on the Western Front and needs an impetus to propel them to final victory. As a result, Germany offers Russia status quo ante bellum if Russia agrees to peace, and threatens to keep all Russian territory they currently possess, and any territory they may acquire in the future, if Russia refuses their offer.  Russia, taking note of German victories on the Western Front and realizing that they have more pressing matters brewing at home (the Revolution of 1917), accepts the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on May 15, 1917, thereby ending the war on the Eastern Front.  Both Germany and Russia are able to declare the treaty a victory, Germany having forced the Russians to accept the treaty and freed up more troops for use on the Western Front, and Russia having successfully driven Germany from Russian territory.

First World War

 * September 13, 1917: Britain, seeing that further fighting is futile and not wanting to have their troops suffer in the trenches through the winter of 1917, sues for peace. Realizing that the war cannot be won without the help of Britain, France and Belgium follow a few days afterward.

Aftermath of the First World War
Germany, eager to form a colonial empire, agrees to a peace treaty on the conditions that all German overseas territories will be returned immediately to German control, France, Britain, and Belgium will agree to give up their territories of Madagascar, French Equitorial Africa, Walvis Bay, and the Belgian Congo, Britain will immediately recognize Irish indepence, and all will pay large reparations to Germany and have the size of their respective militaries curtailed. In exchange, Germany will return all territory on the Western Front to prewar boundaries. Despite winning, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire teeter near collapse. At the behest of their respective governments, German soldiers are sent to reinforce the integrity of both countries. Troops are especially needed in the newly-annexed regions in the Balkans (Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece) where stiff resistance to German and Austrian occupation leads to the (3.7 million dead). At the request of the government of Austria and with the popular support of the German residents of the Empire, Austria-Hungary accedes to the German Reich on June 23, 1918. This causes consternation among the non-German peoples of the Empire, but the presence of German and Austrian soldiers on the streets, along with the rumors of the massacre in the Balkans, limits any signs of dissatisfaction. After a few months, the Ottoman government begins seeing their request for German help in maintaining power to be a mistake, but by that time the German military exerts far too much power in the Empire and over the Sultan. German influence slowly grows, until the Ottoman Empire also accedes (under pressure) to the German Empire on November 2, 1920.

Annexation of the Arabian Peninsula and the Creation of Turkey
Following the end of the First World War, Germany came to see the Arabian Peninsula as a vital source of oil for its military machine. With total control over the Ottoman Empire, it had the perfect base from which to launch a campaign to gain control over the entire region. The campaign was begun in the spring of 1921, and by the fall had been mostly accomplished, giving Germany control over the most important oil fields in the world. It was also during this year that the territories of the former Ottoman Empire, along with the newly conquered territories, would be divided into the regions of Turkey and Arabia.

Annexation of Persia and Afghanistan
In a continuation of their goal to control the oil fields of the Middle East, Germany launched a campaign against the territories of Persia and Afghanistan in hopes of gaining control of more of the region's oil fields, and to add territory to their fledgling empire. The campaign was launched in 1924 and was marked by extreme diplomatic strain with Great Britain, which was widely believed to be supplying rebels in those two countries with arms to resist the German advance without officially getting involved in the conflict.

Italian War
With control over the largest oil fields in the world accomplished in the Arabian Peninsula and Persia-Afghanistan campaigns, Germany still felt the drive to expand its territory. Souring relations with Italy, Germany's southern neighbor, came in 1927 to the Italian War. Although Germany had no major grievances against Italy, it used they lukewarm relations between the two countries as an excuse to annex the territories held by the Italians in Africa in hopes of consolidating its already dominant position on the African continent. For the first time since the First World War, Germany fought against a major European power. The war dragged on through mid 1928, when Germany's superior availability of manpower and natural resources gave them an edge in a prolonged conflict. Experience gleaned from this conflict would greatly help Germany in the coming Second World War.

The Clash between Nationalism and Socialism
From the end of the First World War and throughout the early 1920's, a major conflict was brewing underneath the surface between the Nationalist interests in the country, which sought to expand the German Empire and subjugate the non-German races of the world (as the former colonial powers had done), and between the Socialist interests, which strove for the institution of a socialist or communist system in Germany, and the integration of the newly conquered territories into the Empire. The two major players on both sides were the Nationalist Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP, formerly the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD)

Second World War
Although Germany and her allies had achieved a decisive victory over the Allies in the First World War, that didn't mean that the underlying hatred among the warring countries had been resolved. Contrarily, the loss of all of their territories in Africa to Germany by Britain, France, and Belgium in the First World War, and by Italy in the Italian War, along with the heavy reparations imposed upon them, made anti-German sentiment grow at an alarming rate. Britain was especially hard hit, losing not only her possessions in Africa, but also Ireland, and on top of that having to pay crippling reparations to Germany. Amid this disaster, an ultranationalist party called the skyrockets to prominence. With a virulently anti-German and anti-Celtic platform, the party calls for the abolition of the United Kingdom, with England alone exercising authority over the Celtic territories. It also calls for the immediate termination of reparation payments 1936-1939

Third World War
1986-1987