Germany (Differently)

German Empire Deutsches Kaiserreich Timeline: Differently
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  Gott mit uns "God with us"
Anthem:  Ich hab' mich ergeben Royal anthem:  Heil dir im Siegerkranz
Location of Germany (Differently) Location of Germany (green)
Capital (and largest city)		Berlin
Official languages		German • Teedish
Religion		82.6% Christianity -46.7% Protestant -33.5% Roman Catholic -2.4% other Christian 6.2% Vanatru 11.2% other/none
Government		Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
-	Monarch	Frederick V
-	Chancellor	Annalena Baerbock
Legislature		Bundesrat Reichstag
Establishment
-	Unification	17 January 1871
Area
-	Total	422,403 km2  163,091 sq mi
Population
-	Estimate	85,149,051 (18th)
Currency		Hitler (ђ) (HTL)
Drives on the		right

Germany (German: Deutschland), officially the German Empire (German: Deutsches Kaiserreich), is a country in Central Europe. It borders Denmark to the north, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and France to the west, Switzerland to the south, Danubia to the south and east and Poland to the east. Germany covers an area of 422,403 km² (163,091 sq mi), making it Europe's 7th- and the world's 62nd-largest country. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second-most populous country in Europe, and the 18th-most populous country in the world. Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital. Other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, and Stuttgart.

Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon invaded the Holy Roman Empire and established the Confederation of the Rhine and several other puppet states, although they would initially collapse after Napoleon's loss. However, the idea of German unity arose, and after two confederations and wars with Austria and France, the German Empire was formed in 1871.

After colonial expansions in the late 19th century, it was thrown against the Allied powers in the Great War, and ultimately lost, resulting in the foundation of a constitutional monarchy. In the 1920s, a financial crisis struck the country, and only worsened with the Great Depression in the early 1930s. Ultimately, the dissatisfaction with the government led to the election of Joseph Goebbels in 1937, leading to the outbreak of the Polish-German War in 1940. Following its loss in the conflict, Germany began a period of democraticisation as it sided with the Western bloc during the Cold War. Since the 1980s however, Germany has been autocraticising and moving away from the West and towards the Russian-led bloc.

Germany is a founding member of the League of Nations and the Germanic League.

History

Unification and early years (1870-1914)

Bismarck in 1890

Up until 1871, modern-day Germany was largely disunified, only being technically united under the Holy Roman Empire, which was a confederation of hundreds of smaller German states. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna established the Austro-Prussian dominated German Confederation, which existed until 1866, when the Austrian Empire left the Confederation after war with Prussia and transformed into the North German Confederation. Following a crisis regarding potential Hohenzollern succession to the Spanish throne, Prussia ended up at war with France. However, after the major French loss and proclamation of the French Second Republic, the war ended in a Prussian victory, and on 17 January 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed in Versailles with Prussian king Wilhelm I being crowned emperor.

A peace treaty with France was signed in February 1871, with the new French Republic recognising the new empire. Alsace-Lorraine was also transferred to Germany as a territorial concession, which angered the French populace. German chancellor Otto von Bismarck took Germany on a path of relative peace, sticking to a major policy of forming alliances with other powers to ensure the continuation of the European balence of power - in 1873, the League of the Three Emperors was formed between Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Holy Russian Empire, while the Dual Alliance was formed between Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879, later becoming the Triple Alliance in 1882 to include Italy and eventually including Rhomania in 1888 to form the Quadruple Alliance.

Bismarck also took Germany on a path of colonialism - in the early 1880s, upon the beginning of the Scramble for Africa, Germany laid claim to the territory of modern-day Namibia and named the colony 'German South West Africa'; Germany also colonised modern-day Tanzania, and established a protectorate over Madagascar to protect the kingdom from French interests.

Wilhelm II in 1888

In 1888, Wilhelm I died, and his son, Frederick became emperor, but died 99 days later from laryngeal cancer. As a result, Wilhelm II ascended to the throne. Compared to his liberal father, Wilhelm was a staunch conservative and expansionist who wanted to expand Germany's colonial empire to rival that of Britain's. In 1890, after disagreements over improving workers' conditions, Bismarck resigned, and Wilhelm successfully carried out reforms that improved workers' lives within Germany.

Politics

Political parties

Major

• Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands): Moderate left-wing party which promotes green energy and healthcare for all. They just lost the premiership.
• German Centre Party (Deutsche Zentrumspartei or just Zentrum): A party composed of not-too-left social democrats and not-right-enough Christian democrats, they currently hold the Secretary of State position.
• Christian Democratic Union of Germany (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands): A moderately conservative party which promotes parliamentary monarchy, they just took the Premiership.
• Hitlerist Unification Party (Hitleristische Vereinigungspartei): This is the radical right party which promotes Germanic unification around Germany. They had the Minister of Finance from 1966 until 1969.
• Communist Party of Germany (German: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands): This is the socialist party, which promotes anti-royalist sentiment and a more free state. They lost relevance in the 1950s and regained that relevance in the 2000s. They had the premiership from 1923 until 1928 and then again from 2001 until 2004.

Minor

• National Socialist German Workers' Party: A far-right fascist party. Banned in Bavaria.

States

The German Empire, as a federal state, consists of 20 partly sovereign federated states (German: Land (state), plural Länder (states); commonly informally Bundesland / federated state, plural Bundesländer / federated states, formerly known as Staaten), most with their own Monarchs. There are many different types of states, though the differences are mostly cosmetic. The current states were formed following the Polish-German War, as smaller states were merged, exclaves and enclaves were smoothed out, and Prussia was divided. Rulers of abolished states were allowed to keep their titles as members of the German Peerage.

Kingdoms

A Kingdom is, of course, a monarchy ruled by a king. The official names for the Kingdoms in German is Königland, a portmanteau of Königreich, the German word for Kingdom, and Land. The Kingdoms of Bavaria, Württemberg, and Saxony were largely unchanged, though Bavaria did lose the Circle of the Rhine. Hannover was a historical Kingdom annexed by Prussia in 1868, were it remained a province until 1943. It was decided to merge the province with the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and most of the Duchy of Brunswick (the rest were given to Anhalt). Since Ernst Agustus, the Duke of Brunswick was the Great-Grandson of the previous king, he was crowned King, overruling his renunciation of all claims to the throne.

Kingdom	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	Largest city	Monarch
/ Bavaria (Bayern)	13,124,737	70,550	Munich		Franz II
Hanover	5,537,390	42,240	Hanover		Ernst August IV
Prussia (Preußen)	2,520,198	29,479	Berlin		Frederick V
Saxony (Sachsen)	4,077,937	18,416	Dresden		Daniel I
Württemberg	2,437,574	19,508	Stuttgart		Wilhelm III

Grand Duchy

A Grand Duchy is a state run by a Grand Duke. The name used in the context of the Federal Grand Duchies is Großherzogland, a portmanteau of Großherzogtum and Land. The Grand Duchy of Baden managed to survive mostly intact, and Oldenburg largely just lost some exclaves. The Grand Duchy of Hesse was given land from the Province of Hesse-Nassau, and is thus often called Greater Hesse (German: Groß-Hessen). The Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz were merged which resulted in the rebirth of a unified Mecklenburg. The Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was merged with the duchies of Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the two principalities of Reuss Elder Line and Reuss Younger Line to create the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Thuringia. Michael, Grand Duke of Saxony-Thuringia had adopted his son in law, Hubertus Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha as his heir apparent to the throne of Saxony-Thuringia as he had no sons of his own and his daughter was married to Hubertus who like Michael and his wife, Princess Margarethe is a member of the Wettin Dynasty.

Grand Duchy	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	Largest city	Monarch
Baden	2,009,320	15,082	Karlsruhe		Bernhard I
Hesse (Hessen)	6,243,262	21,100	Wiesbaden		Georg IV
Mecklenburg	1,609,675	23,174	Schwerin	Rostock	Borwin I
Oldenburg	580,000	5,375	Oldenburg		Paul
Saxony-Thuringia (Sachsen-Thüringen)	2,136,752	16,171	Erfurt		Michael I

Duchy

A Duchy is a state run by a Duke. The name used in the context of the Federal Duchies is Herzogland, a portmanteau of Herzogtum and Land. Rheinland was formed from what remained of the Province of Rheinland, and the Bavarian Palatinate; it was given to the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ducal family. Rheinland is ruled by Andreas, Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha and the Bavarian Palatinate gained independence as

Duchy	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	Largest city	Monarch
Anhalt	2,208,321	20,451.58	Magdeburg	Halle (Saale)	Eduard II
Rhineland	1,000,675	19,854.21	Koblenz		Andreas

Principality

A Principality is a state run by a Sovereign Prince. The name used in the context of the federal Principalities is Fürstenland, a portmanteau of Fürstentum and Land. All of the old principalities were absorbed into other states, save for Lippe. It was merged with the Prussian Province of Westphalia and the northern part of Rhein province to create the Principality of Lippe-Westphalia. The Principality of Hohenzollern was created from the Prussian Province of the same name.

Principality	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	Largest city	Monarch
Hohenzollern	73,844	1,142	Sigmaringen		Karl
Lippe-Westphalia (Lippe-Westfalen)	17,912,134	34,084.13	Cologne		Stephan

Imperial Territory

Imperial Territory (Reichsland) was a term used for Alsace-Lorraine, though today it refers exclusively to Saar. Saar was a region of Germany occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, after which it was returned to Germany. It was originally governed by the federal government. It was given all the privileges of a regular state in 1949, albeit without a monarch.

Territory	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	Largest city
Saar	2,570	990,509	Saarbrücken

Free and Hanseatic Cities

A Free and Hanseatic City (Freie und Hansestadt) refers to two city states in Germany. They were organized as republics prior to German unification, and thus have no monarchs.

City	Population	Area (km²)
Bremen	681,032	419.38
Frankfurt	5,604,523	248.31
Hamburg	1,845,229	755.22

Imperial City

The term Imperial City is the official English translation for Kaiserstadt (Emperor's City would be a more literal translation) which refers to the capital city of Berlin, which has been its own state since the splitting of Prussia. Though the emperor is treated as the de-facto monarch of Berlin, the city officially doesn't have one.

City	Population	Area (km²)
Berlin	3,769,495	891.7

International sports

Olympic Games

Berlin was originally selected as host city for the 1916 Summer Olympics, which were later cancelled due to the Great War. This was the only cancelled edition of the Olympics to date.

In 1936, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (an Alpine ski town in southern Bavaria) hosted the Winter Olympics before Berlin hosted the Summer Olympics.

Association football (soccer)

Germany hosted the FIFA World Cups of 1975 (in which their team were champions) and 2015. Their team also won the 2005 tournament in Portugal and Spain.

Motorsports

Sebastian Vettel at the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix

Germany has had major successes in motorsports. Well known car brands like BMW and Mercedes are well known in motorsports. Porsche and Audi have won numerous Le Mans races in the past. Germany has produced three Formula One World champions with seven titles between them making Germany the third most winning nation in Formula One. Wolfgang von Trips is the only posthumous champion winning in 1961 while Michael Schumacher took the 2001 championship. Sebastian Vettel has the most titles with five and as of 2022 the last German F1 champion.