German Empire

Flag of the German Empire

### Government type

Federation of kingdoms (1771-1935):Electoral monarchy (1771-1899) Constitutional electoral monarchy (1900-1935) Martial law (1935-1939)

### Alliances and Organizations

European Council, Anti-Communist Alliance

### Conflicts

First Great War, French Revolution, Chinese Civil War, Second Great War

### Years Active

1771-1939

The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich) was the government of Germany between 1750 and 1936 (unofficially continuing to exist until 1939). It was founded with the unification of the majority of the Holy Roman Empire members, then expanded to the rest (excluding Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium) by 1771. One of the most powerful European empires in history, it led the first iteration of the European Council and attempted to establish world peace before the Second Great War, though its true goal towards the turn of the 20th century was to create a massive ethnostate.

## History

### Background

Before the formation of the German Empire, the region known as Germany was the legal domain of the Holy Roman Empire. At its formation, it was incredibly powerful, even displacing the power of the Pope, but over time, the power of the Holy Roman Emperor was reduced, and by the Late Middle Ages, became negligible.

In the late 1500s, a conflict arose within the Empire between Catholic and Protestant kingdoms. Ultimately, Protestantism became dominant within the HRE, and the Papacy of Rome declared independence from it. From this point, the Holy Roman Emperor was no longer crowned by the Pope, but was rather elected by the constituent kingdoms and grand duchies.

By the 1700s, the most powerful kingdoms within the HRE were Brandenburg, Austria (specifically, the Austrian portion of the Austrian Empire), Bohemia (controlled by Austria), Bavaria, and the Netherlands (briefly controlled by Great Britain). Traditionally, Austria won the elections and its emperor became Holy Roman Emperor as well, but the elections began to change in Brandenburg's favor. This is due to a multitude of reasons, the most major of which being Austria's recent ascension into an Empire with the annexation of the Kingdom of Hungary; many within the HRE saw this as being contradictory with Austria's status as a member of the HRE, itself an empire. When Brandenburg won the election of 1758, it declared that the Kingdom of Austria no longer legitimately existed, and so Austria would therefore no longer be a member of the HRE. This sparked a war between the pro-Brandenburg and pro-Austrian members of the HRE, which ended in Brandenburg's favor, but severely delegitimized the existence of the HRE as a whole.

Following the Belgian Succession Crisis of 1770, which concluded in the French annexation of Belgium (at the time a member of the Empire) and a deal with Italy that granted it HRE territories, the legitimacy of the Holy Roman Empire came into serious question. Brandenburg responded by officially dissolving it, and replacing it with the German Empire, which would consist of all HRE territories that were controlled by a German state. This satisfied foreign leaders but made some within the Empire angry, as they were no longer seen as independent. To solve this, it was decided that the member kingdoms would be given the right to elect a German Emperor, just like in the HRE. In the long term, this decision did nothing, as Brandenburg always won the election anyways, though it did quelled short-term fears of complete annexation by Brandenburg.

### Modernization

Due to the fragmented state of the former Holy Roman Empire, the nation-wide infrastructure was rather lacking. The new Empire responded by focusing on improving said infrastructure to the level of other European countries, such as Britain and France. They also sought to modernize the military by expanding the navy and equipping its soldiers with updated weapons.

### Colonization

Germany had a minor role in the Second Colonial Wars, establishing a colony in South West Africa (modern day Andongo).

### First Great War

In 1812, Italy's monarchy was replaced by a radical military state (often described as the first fascist state) which had ambitious plans for a Mediterranean empire in the style of Ancient Rome. France and other neighboring countries of Italy formed an alliance against them, so Italy sought to form its own. Germany joined this alliance, as it wished to annex Belgium (which, as mentioned previously, was once a member of the HRE). The war ended in Italy's favor (later renaming to Rome), and Germany became part of the European Legion, an alliance of primarily European empires (though it included others such as Persia).

### European Council

The European Legion did not last long, as it was effectively dissolved following the Mediterranean War which pitted most of its members against their leader, Rome. Germany, who was neutral in this war, declared the formation of the European Council in its place, which would attempt to establish peace in Europe by opting for more diplomatic approaches to conflicts such as land disputes. Most of Europe became a member of this council; France and Rome would join following the French Revolution as part of an agreement to avoid further war involving the two countries.

### Transition to Constitutional Monarchy

In the later 1800s, German politicians and thinkers would become influenced by ideas of democracy and popular rule (as opposed to aristocracy and elite rule). This led to a movement to establish public-led governments within the kingdoms (but not to replace the kingdoms); these governments would largely replace the power of the nobility. Initially, the constituent kingdoms of Germany were hesitant to establish this, but as modernization efforts caused kings to be overwhelmed with national-level responsibilities, this idea became more popular. In 1890, it was decided by the Emperor that each of the kingdoms could decide how much power they would give their people; in addition, there would be a nationally-elected individual (referred to as a Chancellor) who would serve as an advisor to the Emperor, and a representative of all the common people of Germany. These changes were formalized in 1900.

### Increasing Ambitions

The world saw a period of relative peace between 1850 and 1890 (This peace ended with the French Revolution (1894-1898), though would resume for a short time after); whether or not this is attributable to Germany's actions is up for debate, however many around the world did credit Germany's position as leader of the European Council as the reason. This inspired Germany to increase the scope of the European Council to a global scale, which would come to importance when the Chinese Civil War began in 1917.

At the same time, not only was Germany influenced by democracy, but it was also influenced by a wave of thinking that stems from Social Darwinism; due to the prestigious position of the German nation, it was concluded that the German race was naturally superior, and that all Germanic peoples should unite under the German banner. There was plenty of debate as to what countries around the world could be considered "Germanic", though the Netherlands and Denmark were the most agreed upon, and thus were the most sought-after territories. When the Netherlands was discovered to be supporting France during the French Revolution, Germany used this support as an excuse to invade and annex them, though their true intentions were not revealed until much later.

### Second Great War and Downfall

In 1924, as the Chinese Civil War raged on and the communist faction gained support, Portugal and several other countries in Europe and Asia signed a declaration stating they would oppose the rapid spread of communism around the world, leading to an informal military alliance often referred to as the Anti-Communism Alliance. Germany was a member of this alliance, fearing the increasing support of republicanism in South Africa.

4 years later, total war would break out between this alliance and Independent-International, a council of pro-republican states that supported the communists. It was during this war that the German propaganda machine went into full force, popularizing the idea within the country of a German ethnostate.

By 1930, German officials were already aware that their chances at winning this war was slim. Thus, they began an operation in several non-Germanic countries, such as Poland and Finland, that spread the idea of ethnofascism; to this day, the results of this operation can be seen, though they are not significant enough to noticeably impact the modern politics of these countries.

Despite this projection, German soldiers advanced on all fronts until 1933, when the war began to turn in the Independent-International's favor. As defeat became inevitable, the nobility of Germany began to turn on the Emperor, some even seceding (Bavaria and Austria) or dissolving their kingdoms to give their people complete power (the Netherlands, now the Free States of Orange).

The Treaty of London (1936) declared the German Empire to be dissolved, and replaced with Danish-occupied West Germany and Russian-occupied East Germany. However, members of the Imperial Army still loyal to the Emperor attempted to continue fighting, similar to Spanish and Portuguese loyalists. This effort would be thwarted by 1939, marking the complete end of the Empire.