Empire of Texas

Flag of Texas

The **Empire of Texas**, commonly referred to as simply Texas, is a sovereign state and semi-constitutional monarchy in North America. The empire is composed of 5 constituent states, ruled by the Hohenzollern Dynasty. Texas is generally considered a secondary power in both political and military influence, compared to its Northern neighbor, the United States of America. The Texan Empire was proclaimed on March 1st, 1846 in Galveston, Old Texas upon the arrival of Prince William of Prussia.

Texas is bordered to the north by the United States of America, to the west by the Republic of California, to the east by the Confederate States of America, and to the south by the Empire of Mexico. Compared to Mexico, the C.S.A and the Republic of California, Texas serves as the most powerful country in the region besides the United States who dominates the Politics of the northern half of the region. Even though the U.S.A does dominate political, and military influence in the North, Texas has a huge political influence in the south and around the globe, mostly in Europe, trying to make itself as different and individual from its northern neighbor.

## History

### Finding a Prince

As the Government in the Republic of Texas grew unhappy with the United States political situation and plans to decrease Texas' size upon entrance into the U.S.A, the Republic began looking for other leadership. They found a Prussian prince, Prince Frederick Karl , cousin of the future Friedrich III, and nephew to Wilhelm I, first German Emperor. He was however not very supportive of the claim and thus handed it over to his brother, Wilhelm Karl. He was extremely enthusiastic and showed good qualities but he was young, only 15. The diplomats were sent back and Wilhelm Karl was left with no hope, but 5 months later on January 17th, they told Wilhelm Karl that he could be elected to the position, so long as once he arrived in Texas he was 16. Wilhelm Karl left Prussia through France on February 10th, and arrived in Texas 18 days later on the 1st of March, 12 days after his 16th birthday.

### Declaration

Wilhelm Karl's arrival at the Port in Galveston on the 1st of March, 1846 was a reason for celebration and pompous. He was immediately greeted by the acting President, Anson Jones and the former President and War leader, Samuel Houston. Standing on a podium, he took the oath of office and declared himself William I, Emperor of Texas and the Texans. He greeted his people in the city and pardoned several criminals, gave out free food and drink, met with other government officials, and saw over military marches. For the next week he stayed in Galveston before leaving north to Houston, and then Austin where he additionally continued celebrations.

### Treaty of the Rio Grande

The Treaty of the Rio Grande was signed on the 4th of June between the Empire of Texas and the Centralist Republic of Mexico which had long been suffering from several rebellions, including not only the Texan Revolution, but those in California, the Yucatan, Central America and several others. The Treaty recognized Texas' claim to not only the land it already had but additionally its claims to the western land it already semi-occupied. This treaty also guaranteed the independence of the Republic of California and Mexico's acknowledgement of both nations respective territory and existence. Within a week after signing the treaty, the Mexican government fell apart into intense fighting and a power coup took place, starting a military led regime however this was short lived, soon being replaced by the Second Federal Republic of Mexico

### War of American Aggression

*Main Article*: The War of American Aggression

5 months after the arrival of William I to Texas, and a exactly 1 month after the signing of the Treaty of the Rio Grande, the United States sent troops into Texas unprovoked and began slaughtering women and children in towns, and arresting dozens of men. The army was quickly called up and several battles took place. This included the first five battles at Sherman, Dalhart, Sulphur, Jefferson, and Beaumont. All were Texan victories against outstanding odds and the American army was pushed out far enough that proper defensive measures could be set up.

Another force of 51,000 American Troops marched south, reaching fort Bonham where the Battle of Bonham started. The battle took place 25 miles away from where the former battle as Sherman, the first in the whole war had been fought. The force protecting Bonham was a group of ~1000 cavalry and around 600 men guarding the fort. Realizing this they surrendered the fort after just 2 hours and the American army continued south. A few days later they reached a small settlement called McKinney, about 30 miles away from downtown Dallas. The Battle consisted of 43,500 Americans and 29,050 Texans led directly by the 16 year old Emperor William. The battle at McKinney lasted for 4 days and by the end the Americans suffered nearly 25,000 losses compared to the Texans 2000. The American army began a retreat north, and were quickly chased down by the Army and Cavalry. In early January, 6 months after the war started they had pushed the American troops back to their original line of defense and one more battle was fought.

The Battle of the Red River took place on February 5th, 1847 and served as a major turning point in Texan history. The battle carried on for 9 days and by the end, the original American force of 30,000 going against the outnumbered force of 24,000 Texans, lost. The American Commanders, General Winfield Scott and General Zachary Taylor surrendered their troops and were taken captive along with Generals Franklin Pierce, Joseph Lane, John Fremont, and William Worth.

The Treaty of the Red River, signed on March 1st 1847 declared the end of the War and America's recognition of Texan Independence and right to their land as signed in the Treaty of the Rio Grande the previous year.

The war, along with subsequent treaty would put Texas on the map and open up trade with other countries, especially those in Europe which would later massively boost the economy and help not only the nation prosper, but William I's popularity would skyrocket as well.

### Our Place in the Sun

With the winning of a war, and several vital treaties made within 1 year of the Nations creation, Europe began seeing Texas' political importance. William I welcomed foreign investors and ambassadors, setting up nearly 15 foreign embassy's in Austin by 1850. The United Kingdom and France served as primary trade partners with Spain, Portugal, Prussia, and Austria serving as smaller trade partners. William I began developing a proper navy and improving the army with support from his uncle in Prussia.

Using the Prussian Generals, William I helped make his men a proper fighting force that one would fear and not see as 'backwards' or behind. The French equipped them with proper uniforms and weapons, while the United Kingdom helped in setting up a navy for the nation to protect its sea borders. From 1847-1861, a period of nearly 15 years, William I built up both the army and navy, and Texas started trading with the outside world.

### The American Civil War

With the start of the American Civil War, America was left in chaos. President Abraham Lincoln actively tried to conserve the union and restrict the spread of slavery, while the southern dependent slave states tried to leave it unchanged. William I noticed this and not only placed his troops on the border, and navy at sea, but began welcoming investors and builders from the United Kingdom, France, Prussia, Spain and several other countries to began industrial devolopment.

Factories began being built in the larger cities, and railroads connected them. However in order to keep the people happy he left much of the countryside untouched. Along with this, the Slave trade had still continued in Texas, unlike Mexico and the United States, but it greatly slowed with fewer ships per month. Seeing his opportunity to please the Europeans, William I limited the transport of slaves to 2000 slaves or about 8 ships a month being sent or arriving in Texas. The number would slowly decrease by 250 every other year, the same amount of slaves a ship was supposed to carry.

By 1865, with support from not only the Texans, but the French and the British, the confederates guaranteed their independence, separating from the United States. Though they didn't gain as much land as they wanted, the confederated retracted the laws against the slave trade and began allowing hundreds of slave ships at a time. The American economy was hit greatly and weakened exponentially.

### Mexican Intervention

Shortly after the start of the Civil war to their east and north, the French intervened in Mexico for a second time in attempts to put Archduke Maximilian of Austria on the throne of Mexico. The French began their intervention, supported by several others and quickly took control of most of Mexico, establishing the Second Mexican Empire on the 10th of April, 1864. Emperor William, already close with the governments in France and Austria grew closer and became close friends with Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. They set up a shared retreat on the Rio Grande as a sign of friendship which still exists and is used by both Imperial Families.

Emperor William I also greatly helped the French and Mexicans in fighting off the Republicans who supported abolishing the Monarchy which only gave Texas a greater standpoint above its neighbors. By 1867, Mexico had won and Texas finally had a period of peace, without conflict surrounding them on both sides.

### Abolishing the Slave Trade

On August 6th, 1869 Emperor William I met with Queen Victoria, Emperor Napoleon III, King Wilhelm I, and Emperor Maximilian I and signed a document ending the slave trade in Texas. The majority were not angry but the extremely wealthy had a fuss about it for a few months seeing the dip in the economy however it quickly recovered. The slave trade had already been nearly non-existent so no one cared enough to stop the Emperor from Abolishing the Trade of Slaves, however the abolishment of Slavery was another discussion.

### Industrialization

With a slight dip in the economy from the abolishment of the slave trade, William I began building more industry in the larger cities, opening up the country to foreign investors, helping the economy flourish. Railways were built connecting Austin to Atlanta and Miami, and Houston of Mexico City and Los Angeles. By 1874, a co-project began to build a railway from Austin to San Francisco across the great Western deserts. Although Texas was connected to most of its neighbor's, it continued to oppose trade and any foreign talks with the United States. Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Galveston all saw enormous growths in profits with the expansion of Industry thanks to the Emperors new reforms hundreds of thousands across the nation jobs. Along with this, the Emperor began projects to slowly build railways, upgrade roads, shops, hotels, buildings, and other accommodations in smaller cities to make it more habitable for future industrialization and not so much dependence on Slavery.

### The Vote of the Black Man

On March 15th, 1877 the Emperor and Imperial Minister ordered the legislature to vote on 'Act XV' on the slow movement towards abolition of Slavery and deportation of the Black Man. The Act stated that it would intend by 1880, Slavery to be completly abolished and that all men, children, and women under 60 would be forced to leave the Empire's borders. They were given the options of free passage to the Republic of California, Empire of Mexico, Republic of Haiti, or the Confederate States of America.

There were 57 separate votes before on the 58th vote, the legislature passed the law by a margin of 52%. The vote passed on July 26th, 1877 and the Emperor and his cabinet immediately got to work with arranging the economy, plans on deportations, and the people's reactions to the passing of the vote. In bigger cities, where factories and railways were common place for nearly 20 years, little reaction or care was held but in the smaller country communities with little built up industry, it was a much bigger deal. The whole nation had mostly grown out of slavery as their primary source of income but in the country, they were dependent on it and were not sure how it would look without slavery. The Emperor began several reforms, again building railways and even larger factories, so no province, county, city, or person would be damaged and unstable, losing their primary source of income because of Act XV.

### Abolition of Slavery

On August 1st, 1880 the Texas Legislation met and passed Act XV, ending Slavery and temporarily freeing the black man. The vote passed with only 1 no from Legislature John H. Cheyenne. Then the discussion moved on to what to do with the 675,000 slaves across Texas. After 8 days of discussion, the Emperor, Imperial Minister and several legislatures came up with a plan on how to split them up into respective groups. 25,000 would be sent to the Republic of California, 25,000 would be sent to the Empire of Mexico, and 290,000 would be sent to Haiti. The remaining 335,000 would be sent to Liberia in Africa. All these groups would stay there permanently and not welcomed back into the Empire. Women over 60 were they only ones permitted to stay because they could not bear children but the vast majority were expected to leave to join there families in case they got split up. A choice was given to the oldest male in the family on whether he would determine if he along with his family wished to travel to Haiti, Liberia, Mexico, or California for permanent life. The vast majority flocked to Haiti and Liberia where they could live in peace in Black ruled republics but some had to go to the other options in California or Mexico.

### The Golden Age

After about 2 years of the Abolishment of Slavery, the Empire began recovering its economy and continuing its Industrial Plans. They continued their project with the Republic of California to build a railway between San Francisco and Austin, and the Emperor also continued building industrial yards, expanding mines, farming industries, and ship yards. These several fields would go on to strengthen the economy and even after giving up a core pillar of Texas' reason for Independence, the Emperor became more and more popular

As countries are rapidly developing, the Emperor is following them and using their ideas to improve the Nation.

## Politics

### Leadership

The Empire is governed by the Emperor and Imperial Minister Samuel H. Thompson of the Conservative Party

### Political System

Texas is a Semi-Constitutional Monarchy ruled by the Emperor of Texas and The Texans. According to the the Imperial Act I of 1846, it's Imperial Minister and government are appointed by - and answer only to - the Emperor, but legislation needs to be approved by the Imperial Congress, a chamber elected proportionally by universal male suffrage, and the Federal Congress, consisting of representatives from each of the states.

Despite its rather authoritarian nature, the Texan political system is very much designed in favor of multi-party coalitions, who secure a majority for the Emperor's Imperial Minister, thereby gaining a considerable amount of influence on the government's policies. The current coalition is composed out of the Texan-Conservative Party (CM) - as the central partner, Liberal Party (LP), and the Free Texan Party (FTP).

## Military

### Army

The Imperial Texan Army, commonly referred to as the Imperial Army is the second largest army in North America, behind the United States. It is extremely disciplined and a very professional force which some say, could be the best in all of North America, even over the United States. The Imperial Army hasn't suffered conflict since 1847 but is still seen as an impressive force by the old world.

Most of the active Texan Soldiers are found on the Mexican and American borders, in lines of defense created by William J. McKinley in the 1870's. The western and eastern borders with the California Republic and C.S.A are mostly made up of border guards, and small forts. The border guards are there to enforce Act XV and of course, protect their borders.

### Navy

The Imperial Texan Navy (ITN) is the largest, and arguably the most powerful navy in North America. The Historical navy was always outshined by its northern neighbor but following the Confederate victory in 1865, the U.S.A was kicked out of the Gulf of Mexico. William I had already been building ships but began ordering that ports build 3x more a year then they were already producing to help gain dominance over the Gulf of Mexico.

Although the navy is large and powerful, it is ranked behind those of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. However, the navy has a large fleet of battleships and dominates all trade, and ship movements in the Gulf of Mexico which has caused geopolitical tensions but nothing more has come of it.

## Foreign Relations

The Texan Empire is the most powerful country in North America behind the United States which gives it a good political standpoint among the rest of the world. Texas has especially good relations with the Republic of California and Empire of Mexico, and some relations with the C.S.A

The Texan Empire however still remains very opposed to all U.S actions, trade, relations, or travel and the border between the two is almost always closed for the people and any trade. The nations are semi-hostile towards each other and have been since the War of American aggression in 1850.

The Texan Empire is also close to the European Countries of the UK, France, Germany, and Spain. Texas often trades with them and the group of countries are all close in political and dynastic beliefs. With the Abolition of Slavery in 1880, Texas grew much closer to the UK, and France and is now seen as a primary trade partner

## Constituent States

*Main Article*: States of the Texan Empire

The Empire of Texas is made up of 5 primary states which all send representatives to the Federal Congress and, via single-member districts, the Imperial Congress. The 5 states are, Old Texas, Rio Grande, Roswell, Meade, and Aspen. The Emperor has the power to veto, pass, or intervene on votes, acts, succession, or the implementation of new heads of primary offices however the Emperor rarely uses his power.

Austin is home to the Palace of the Diet which holds both the Imperial and Federal Congresses. There is a State Address every 2 years on March 1st to welcome in a new government and additionally resolve issues. The Imperial Diet is also in charge of affairs between parties, the Emperor, the People, and all the states however the Imperial Minister, with support from the Emperor and the Emperor Alone can disband the Imperial Diet in case of emergency but this has never been done.

## Economy

The Texan Economy started out as poor, and in shambles which is why the former Republic began looking for other options. Joining with the United States was a popular idea but was ultimately rejected due to their plans to limit Texas' independence and right to secession. For the first 15 years following William I arrival, the countries economy solely depended on Slavery bit he knew that it was a failing system and needed a new pillar to hold it up

In the late 1850's and early 1860's, he began developing industry across the country and slowing down the import of slaves until 1869 when he abolished the trade of slaves, and then 11 years later slavery as a whole. By this point industry built up in the previous years was able to hold up the economy from falling apart and it quickly recovered. The standard of living in Texas is one of the highest in the world, with the average Texan man earning more than an average man would in the neighboring countries. Texas enjoys several countries great investments in their land, factories, and ship buildings which also helped the country recover and prosper following the abandonment of all slaves

Political Hegemony has brought on more liberal reforms, giving the people welfare programs, free healthcare, education and the willingness to have a job and work. The Texan Economy has steadily been growing and has saw little drops since 1880, with the last major collapse of the economy in 1847 following the American Invasion of Texas. Austin, Houston, and Dallas are all huge centers of industry, technology, and the arts. They serve as centers of culture and are huge trade centers

## Culture

### Women in Texas

While economic and social forces have ensured that women fill many jobs in the major cities, particularly in service industries and clerical work, the conservative state establishment has thus far prevented them from having a vote in Diet elections (although some of the more progressive states, such as Meade and Aspen, have permitted female voting in Regional Assemblies). However, the long presence of female politicians in public life, like Clara Johnson and Bertha Smith, have made Women's Suffrage a hot political issue.

### Literature

Texas' top author at the moment is Erich P. Remark, whose anti-American book 'America' (1911), followed by 'The Bloody Eagle' (1913) have become immensely popular, mostly thanks to support from the General Staff, militarists, and government officials. He is currently working on his third book, set after the war with the USA. Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann is a well-known admirer of the Emperor and has often been named a potential foreign minister due to his personal prestige. Kermit Hunter, who inaugurated the fashion of the "Civil diaries" (depictions of the civil war in the U.S.A from the point-of-view of the soldiers), is currently a high-ranking official in Roswell's local governments. Texan writers have also been involved in extreme politics: Bertolt Brecht, a German immigrant, plays barely avoided censorship due to their celebration of American values, although this has been diluted somewhat in those plays which he has made with his far more conservative collaborator Oswald Spengler, while Will Vesper's nationalist poems, novels and essays enjoy popularity amongst students and officers.

### Music

While Texan officially endorses country music - especially Wells, Smith, Michaels, Thompson, Grant and all Texan singers, it isn't quite as popular as it once was. Even the Emperor and Imperial Minister has begun worshipping Scott Joplin. Several members of government are well-known friends of contemporary musicians. Prestigious German composers amongst the likes of Siegfried Alkan, Bogislaw Hubermann, Elly Ney, and Herbert von Karajan are also often performing small concerts for the Emperor and the Imperial family at their palaces.

### Cinema

Du Pont studios, in Austin's suburbs, are the greatest in North America and rival even Paris and San Francisco in production, quality and number of films and plays. Texan cinema is slowly becoming a worldwide industry and the dream factory for the whole of North America, and Europe. Moreover, in large part due to the efforts of the now deceased Frederick Du Pont, it has managed to surpass its tentative roots as a mere government propaganda tool, and take a more artistic approach. Popular with the Texan public are the likes of William Albers and Marlene Fisher, and the renowned comics of Nelson Brown, though Fritz P. Arthur's works are often considered too dark and realistic for viewer's tastes.