Great German Realm Großes deutsches Reich OT equivalent: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, German Belgium, German Switzerland |
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Motto: "Große Herrschaft des Ruhms" ("Great Dominion of Glory") |
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Royal anthem: "Der Kaiser, das Volk und die Staat'" ("The Kaiser, The People, and The Nation") |
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Capital | Berlin | ||||
Official languages | Standard German | ||||
Recognised regional languages | Certain German dialects | ||||
Demonym | German | ||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy | ||||
- | Emperor/Kaiser | George I | |||
- | Chancellor | Aelish von Boch | |||
Population | |||||
- | estimate | 80,320,000 | |||
GDP (nominal) | estimate | ||||
- | Total | DM13.5 trillion ($6.5 trillion USD OTL) | |||
Currency | Reichsmark |
The Great United German States (German: Großes Vereinigte Deutschlands) also known as Germany, the German Empire (German: Kaiserreich Deutschland), Fourth Reich and the Kaiserreich is a country in Central Europe. It borders Austria the south, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Poland to the east and Russia to the north, France to the west and Italy and Hungary to the south.
It was founded on 18 January 1871 when the south German states, except for Austria, joined the North German Confederation and the new constitution came into force on April 16, changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of German Emperor for Wilhelm I, King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern.
During World War I, it declared war against the Russian Empire, that eventually led to its downfall and disintegration in 1918.
After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was in turn transformed into the semi-presidential Weimar Republic. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, in 1949, Germany as a whole was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, generally known as West Germany, and the State of Prussia, known as Prussia or East Germany, while Berlin continued its de jure Four Power status. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union, while the State of Prussia was a monarchist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of communist led-government in East Germany, German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990—becoming a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
History[]
Interwar Period[]
First Nationalist Uprising - 1932[]
World War II[]
The German trajectory throughout the Interwar Period and World War II is the same, Hitler and an angered ultranationalist crowd still wage their uprising and goes to war against Russia. The key difference is the reasons behind it.
With Russia being ruled by tsars of Germanic descent, Hitler never really saw the need to kill off the Russian population, and during the Interwar Period, Germany, Russia and Japan had gotten very close due to their contempt for western foreign policy. However, with Russia attacking the Japanese in Nanjing in 1937, Hitler viewed as a Russian Jewish conspiracy theory, therefore, forcing him to target Russia.
Now both the German and Russian states are fighting two-front wars, for reluctant reasons. However, Hitler's forces are much-less successful in this alternate Russo-German war, and the invasion is pushed back all the way into Czechoslovakia. However, the Treaty of Bratislava ends the war between Germany and Russia, due to the fact that the both nations were beleaguered, and the Russians needed manpower and resources in their fight against Japan. General Rennenkampf never sees the need to push into Berlin.
Cold War 1945-1989[]
Germany is still defeated in this alternate World War II, however the exact nuances are different. Because the Treaty of Bratislava ends Russia's advance against the Axis in Czechoslovakia, the Nazi regime, as well as other conservatives opposed to the West, have East Germany or East Prussia to flee to. General Kurt von Tippelskirch disobeyed Adolf Hitler's orders to defend Berlin, and instead, move the "patriotic German government" into East Prussia, where the Patriotic Provisional Government was established. As he was one of the OTE generals to surrender to the Soviets, in this alternate timeline he is the one who ultimately makes an appeal to Procurator-General Alexander Kutepov to "save Prussia", even if under Russian alliance. The Russian leader agreed, however, this was kept secretive, and involved heavy use of Russia's Baltic Germans, as disclosure of it to the Russian public would cause domestic disorder. The Russian Army donated military vehicles, and when questioned, claimed they were captured Russian equipment.
Germany is still partitioned between the Federal Republic of Germany to the West, and the State of Prussia to the East, under the rule of a King from the House of Hohenzollern, and with Kurt von Tippelskirch as its Chancellor. But Russia gives limited support to Prussia, due to the fact that the two just got off fighting two world wars and often-not, understood Germany in the Potsdam Conference.
Via the Treaty of Königsberg, Prussia once-again, becomes allied with Russia. It is ultimate the Western powers finding out of Russia's support for the East German government that is one of the points of setting off the Cold War.
Russia also provides aid to war-torn areas in Germany as in our timeline. The fact that Russia had a large German-speaking population, including its own Procurator-General himself, drew Germany closer to the ire of Russia's influence. This began to cause real contention against the Western powers, whom General Rennenkampf hated with a passion. Many claim that his decision to relocate displaced German families, and give them jobs in Russia was a middle finger to the Western powers.
General Rennenkampf made it intentional to have wealthy nobles helping displaced Germans, as a political ploy to spread monarchism back into Germany, a ploy that worked and culminated in another nationalist revolution. In spite of Moscow claiming that it had no part to play in it, a number of Russian and Baltic German officers helped crown Wilhelm III as the new Kaiser of Germany and Russian weapons were found in the hands of German nationalists. Wilhelm II's body was flown back into Germany.
Germany, Austria and Hungary formed the Holy Central European Union, which alliance had high ties with Northern European League, consisting of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
This, Russian influence in Europe becomes a lot stronger in this timeline than in our OTL Soviet Union. The United Kingdom is at this point, the only monarchy to become allied with the United States, and even then, a Russia-friendly rhetoric developed in the United Kingdom.
Unlike our OTE East-West Germany, there is no Berlin Wall, there is never a "communism" to make the Western allies concerned. What is a high point of concern, and a huge point of contentions between the two states is the existence of Nazi remnants in East Germany, which the Russians claimed committed suicide, but these claims were not believed by Western military leaders.
However, what doesn't change to the increased amount of freedom and democracy in West Germany. While Prussia becomes economically wealthy, and its citizens have a mode of freedom (much more than OTE East Germany), anti-Semitism still remained a large part of Prussian politics, with every Prussian chancellor continuing Hitler's policy of closure of synagogues. Synagogue construction would remain illegal in Prussia up until the 1990s, and anybody suspected of being Jewish was turned back at the border.
West Germany however, was a Federal Republic, in an alliance with the United States, United Kingdom and France, and Jews had greater freedoms in West Germany.
Modern-day and reunification[]
In the 1980s, the Eastern Bloc was beginning to weaken. As democratic revolutions raged in Russia and the Warsaw Pact states, Prussia was no different, this also spearheaded with groups pushing for the re-unification of Germany. The Democratic Prussians (Demokratische Preußen) and the German Unity (Deutsche Einheit) were two groups in Prussia pushing to re-unify with West Germany, under different ideologies. The Democratic Prussians wanted to adopt a completely West German ideology, while the German Unity were monarchists, who wanted to bring back the German Empire under its full form, under the rule of the Kaiser.
In order to get this "united Germany" under its wing, President Ronald Reagan promised that the United States would recognize the Kaiser as the Head of State (in order to appease monarchist conservatives) but support its democratization (to appease liberals). In the 1990s, Russia's internal politics was in shambles, and Russian forces stationed in Prussia were called to withdraw and retreat back into Russia to quell the internal situation.
Afterwards, Prussia was soon integrated with the rest of Germany, with the Prussian Parliament voting heavily in-favor of the unification. The united German state was quickly recognized by most of the world's countries. As promised, the Kaiser was Germany's internationally-recognized Head of State, but his powers were only exercised in a constitutional form. Helmut Kohl would win the Parliamentary Elections of 1992 and lead Germany under a liberal and pro-Western government in the 1990s.
In the 21st century, Germany again, began to embark on a mission to expand its influence, by increasing its military size. In 2003, the German navy began conducting exercises and visits to some of its former territories, worrying the United States that a resurgent German Empire would instigate hostilities against it, German leaders however assured the world powers that no such thing was coming. This has been known to begin periods of cooling between Germany and the United States. In order to get the Western powers to stop complaining, the German government oficially outlowed Nazi culture and Nazi symbology, lifting Prussian-era persecution against the Jewish community, a law which had been in limbo ever since German reunification.
Economy[]
Germany has the world's fourth-largest GDP, at DM8.5 trillion ($5.5 trillion OTL USD). The German mark is the currency. Every major economic industry prevails in the German Reich, namely technology, defense, agriculture, tourism, mining. fashion and entertainment. Germany has one of the world's strongest automobile industry, and is one of the "automobile" superpowers of the world. It is also one of the largest defense exporters. Germany maintains heavy economic relations with every developed nation, with Russia, Japan, the United States, Sweden, and China being its heaviest trading partners.
However, Germany's strongest economic activity is technology and innovations as it continues to uphold the legacy of behind a science powerhouse. Germany's decreasing reliance on oil and petrol products has led demands for oil and natural gas to plummet, and use of electric automobiles is ever-increasing in Germany, as well as its allies.
Politics[]
Like most monarchies, Germany runs on a constitutional monarchy. The Emperor of all the German States, styled as the Kaiser, is the ultimate Head of State. The current ruling family in the German Empire is the House of Hohenzollern, from Prussia, as in the past. The Chancellor is the Head of Government, and is elected every 7 years.
Political Divisions[]
The German Empire is divided into numerous divisions, notably grand duchies, duchies, principalities and kingdoms (reichs).
Reichs[]
- Saxony
- Prussia
- Bavaria
- Austria-Switzerland
- Württemberg
Grand Duchies[]
- Baden
- Hesse
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- Oldenburg
- Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
- Luxembourg
Duchies[]
- Anhalt
- Brunswick
- Saxe-Altenburg
- Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
- Saxe-Meiningen
Principalities[]
- Liechtenstein
- Lippe
- Reuss-Gera
- Reuss-Greiz
- Schaumberg-Lippe
- Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
- Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
- Waldeck and Pyrmont
Noble titles and hierarchy[]
Emperor/Empress of all the German States[]
Georg Friedrich, current Emperor of all the German States
The Emperor is currently the highest in the entire German noble hierarchy, styled as His or Her Majesty, Emperor/Empress of all the German States. They are known as the Kaiser (Kaiserin for Empresses) in the German language. The current Emperor of Germany is Georg Friedrich, from the Prussian House of Hohenzollern. Although traditionally, the Emperor position is a male inheritance, and heirs are males, but there is an new option for current Emperors to sign the final decree.
Kings/Queens[]
Below the Emperors and Empresses, are rulers of the Lesser Reichs, Herzland or Austrian Reichs, kings and queens, or König and Königin respectively. They are the second-highest form of authority in the German Reich.
Dukes/Duchesses[]
They rule territories known as duchies, and are known herzog or herzogin in the German language.
Princes/Princesses[]
They rule principalities, to which several exist, namely Lietchenstain.
Counts/Countesses[]
These are often-not, the servants of the upper nobility. Within the German Empire, they are not normally rulers of their own territories. They are known as graf and grafin.
Barons/Baronesses[]
Perhaps the lowest titled rank within the German nobility, these are "noble servants" of all the others respectively. They are known as freiherr and freiherrin respectively.
Demographics[]
Ethnicity[]
German people make the majority of the population, as the country is fairly homogenous. Four sizeable groups of people are referred to as "national minorities" because their ancestors have lived in their respective regions for centuries: There is a Danish minority in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein; the Sorbs, a Slavic population, are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg; the Roma and Sinti live throughout the country; and the Frisians are concentrated in Schleswig-Holstein's western coast and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony.
Religion[]
Christianity forms 90.5% of Germany's population. Of the two, the overwhelming majority is Protestant, Lutheran to be specific - at 75%, while Roman Catholics form the rest. However, the Protestant group is a broad group, is consists of Lutherans, Mainline Protestants and Baptists.
After Christianity, Jews and Muslims form the rest, a large Jewish population exists in Germany, along with the United States, Canada, Russia and Poland, has one of the largest Jewish populations.
Military[]
The Great Imperial Forces (Große imperiale Streitkräfte) are the current armed wing of the German Empire. It is divided into the Imperial Army, Imperial Navy, Imperial Air Force, Imperial Royal Guards and Internal Guards. The Kaiser is considered the Commander-in-Chief.
Germany currently sits at #4 in global military rankings. The German military has a completely indigenous arms industry, and the achievements of the German military makes it a potential superpower. Germany is considered of the "major technology powers" of the world, and has the fourth-largest arms exports. Its current military spending is DM164.4 billion (₽91.4/$91.4 billion US OTL).