Messerschmidt's Revolution

Revolutionary forces during Operation Bushranger "blitzkrieging" to Berlin

Commanders and leaders| **Kaiser Friedrick Wilhelm IV of Germany*** **Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm III of Germany** (assassinated)

Strength| 650,300,000 troops* 865,000,000‬ naval units
* 150,000,000 aircraft
* 100 tanks (minimum)
* 150,000,000 aircraft
* 100 tanks (minimum)

Casualties and losses| Loyalists:* 55,500 dead
* 70 tanks
* 10 tanks
* 10 planes

**Messerschmidt's Revolution** is a civil war within German Empire starting on 15 January 2020, caused by General Otto von Messerschmidt's protest against Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm III's inaction against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

## Background

*Main article: Otto von Messerschmidt*
Messerschmidt is a skilled military officer from a long line of soldiers originating in from Konigsberg (which is currently under Polish administration), thus justifying his hate against the Polish. While he was not an active member of it, Messerschmidt supported the Day of Seven Swords, and when it failed he successfully defended a few of its perpetrators, most notably his friend Lieutenant General Matthaus Windischmann. After the D7S, he became extremely critical against the government and Kaiser, which culminated on 14 January 2020 when he made his opinions public.

The next day, he was arrested for it and charged with sedition and *lese majeste*, and further evidence added charges of conspiracy (for supporting the D7S) and bribery (for his subordinates' support). He was sentenced to death, to be executed the next day.

## The Revolution

### Operation Bushranger

In response to Messerschmidt's trial, Windischmann ordered his troops to rise up against the Kaiser and to take back the true German lands in Poland. All under Messerschmidt's command joined, along with half of the navy and air force; they consolidated in the north-west of the country. Windischmann officially declared himself Chancellor after much pressure, but he refused to be Kaiser, saying "Germany needs to be united again under a Kaiser, [and] I cannot accept that whole responsibility." This first stage of the war quickly became known as Operation Bushranger, as revolutionary soldiers were known to plunder and sometimes outright rob civilians.

Forces quickly moved east and south, taking Brunswick and Munster on the 17th, and Wolfsburg on the 19th. Up to this time, there were no very reliable reports on casualties; the most legitimate one suggests 100 dead revolutionaries and 200 dead civilians, but has no data on loyalist deaths. On the 20th, the Battle of Helmstedt occurred, in which the German Army attacked an unprepared revolutionary detachment; about 1,000 Loyalists and 10,000 Revolutionaries were reported dead. The revolutionaries then fought hard to keep Wolfsburg in the three-day long Battle of Wolfsburg, but ultimately lost it on the 23rd; 15,000 of their forces were reported dead, as well as 10 tanks, while only 2,000 more dead Loyalists were found. The Loyalists' also attempted to retake Munster, but the Battle of Beckum on the 24th prevented them from doing so - this time, the Revolutionaries had air superiority and lead to the death of 2,500 Loyalists along with 20 tanks, compared to their 500 casualties.

### The Three Fronts

On the 25th, Revolutionary troop movements abruptly shifted from a defensive stance near Brunswick to a more offensive stance. That day the town of Duisburg (near Essen) was taken, and the next day both Dusseldorf and Wuppertal fell; also that day advances were made near Schwerin, along the Baltic Sea, in exchange for some territorial loss near Brunswick.

By this point, it was clear that the war was focused on three fronts - the Western Front in which the Revolutionaries plowed through the Rhineland, the Central Front where the Battle of Brunswick took place starting on the 29th, and the Eastern Front where the two sides fought for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The first two were mainly static as the Revolutionaries faced no opposition in the former while the latter was a stalemate, but the last one had many developments. Rostock fell to the Revolutionaries on the 29th followed by the Island of Rugen on 2 February, and as a counterattack Loyalist forces attempted to encircle the invasion but were encircled themselves and on the 3rd escaped to the island of Fehrmarn and attacked the neighboring areas.

The stalemate in the Battle of Brunswick (and the battle itself) finally ended on the 4th with a large Loyalist push coupled with a strategic Revolutionary retreat. (There were 50,000 casualties on both sides, with 50 Loyalist tanks and 10 Revolutionary planes destroyed.) Loyalists also took Hanover on the same day but lost it immediately after with a large Revolutionary counter-strike; this became the Battle of Hanover, with the loyalists securing the city on the 7th. Meanwhile, the Battle of Pomerania began on the 5th with another Loyalist attack on the area (causing many attempted encirclements).

### "Peace of Hamburg" and Assassination of Friedrich Wilhelm III

*Main article: Assassination of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Germany*
On 8 February, Windischmann surprisingly emailed the Loyalist government and offered a truce, stating "We have lost enough soldiers." The Chancellor disagreed but the Kaiser insisted, and on the next day, for the first time since the start of the war, both sides met in the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. The terms agreed upon were that the Revolutionaries would regain control of the entirety of Pomerania in exchange for relinquishing control of the southern Rhineland.

On 10 February, a celebratory speech was made by Friedrich Wilhelm III congratulating the return of peace to the country; he was stressing better relations with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth when a lone gunman shot him in the chest three times and yelled "Long live Messerschmidt's Revolution!" Immediately a shootout took place in the Laeiszhalle between the two sides; the building was surrounded by Revolutionary guards and set on fire.

### The Gundam Project

Meanwhile, rumors since mid-2019 circulated about the German Army placing much of their military resources into constructing a large fighting robot, based upon the Phenex Gundam. After two consecutive military leaks, it was revealed that the Phenex Gundam was nearly completed, with heavy sponsorship from private military companies, and that its military capabilities overshadowed that of the revolutionaries.

## References

1. ↑ "Otto Messerschmitt to be executed for high treason!" by Germany222
2. ↑ "Fredrik Wilhelm III Assassinated!" by Germany222