German Empire

The German Empire is a nation that is one of the three most powerful nations in the world ever since it's rise to power and influence in Europe grew strong after the Blackout.

## History

### Before Blackout

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. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815. In 1871, Germany became a nation-state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the semi-presidential Weimar Republic. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, Germany was divided into the Federal Republic of Germany, generally known as West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, East Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of communism, German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990—becoming a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor.

### Blackout

The Blackout destroyed the German Government and as they did the Monarchists and the National Democratic Party of Germany took power and restored the monarchy. The Empire restored the titles of and kingdoms of the Constituent States of Germany to resurrect the old German Empire as they also created 100 Pendants to power technology.

### Post-Blackout

The Soviet Union also restored itself to power after communists took power and decided to recreate the Soviet Union. Germany sensing weakness in East Europe conquered Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Czech, Austria and Hungary to keep the Soviets in Russia proper and Belarus. The Empire turned the nations it conquered into Puppet States under German influence to be strengthened against the Soviet Union.

Germany's empire has become the most powerful economic powerhouses in Europe other than Hindustan Empire and the Empire of Japan.

## Government

Germany is a semi-federal semi-constitutional monarchy ruled by the German Kaiser (the king of Prussia in a permanent personal union). The Kaiser has domination over all institutions of the Empire such as the Armed forces, Schools, Religious institutions, the Imperial Family and all of the royal families of the Constituent States.

### Executive Branch

The Executive Branch of the Government is run by a Chancellor and his deputy with an Administrative cabinet running the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Treasury, Ministry of Armaments and Technological development, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Education. The Chancellor and his deputy are elected by the Kaiser who has the ultimate power within the Government. According to the Imperial Constitution of 1871, it's Chancellor and Government are appointed by - and answer only to - the Kaiser, but legislation needs to be approved by the Reichstag, a chamber elected proportionally by universal male suffrage, and the Bundesrat, consisting of representatives from each of the states.

Despite its rather authoritarian nature, the German political system is very much designed in favor of multi-party coalitions, who secure a majority for the Kaiser's Chancellor, thereby gaining a considerable amount of influence on the government's policies. The current coalition is composed out of the National Democratic Party of Germany and the Tradition und Leben Monarchist Party.

### Legislative Branch

Unlike many other European countries, the German Empire is a federation of de jure equal constituent states; De facto however, Prussia is by far the biggest and most influential German state. Due to the German constitution, the King of Prussia is allowed to call himself "German Emperor" (*Deutscher Kaiser*); However, he is not authorized to call himself "Emperor of Germany" (*Kaiser von Deutschland*), as that would deeply anger the other German states, which view themselves as souvereign nations, as well as Austria, which is still considered part of the cultural region of Germany.

Before unification, German territory (excluding Austria and Switzerland) was made up of 27 constituent states. These states consisted of kingdoms, grand duchies, duchies, principalities, free Hanseatic cities and one imperial territory. The free cities had and still have a republican form of government on the state level, even though most of the Empire is constituted as a monarchy.

Each component of the German Empire sends representatives to the Federal Council (*Bundesra*t) and, via single-member districts, the Imperial Diet (*Reichstag*). The extent to which the German Emperor can, for example, intervene on occasions of disputed or unclear succession is much debated on occasion—for example in the inheritance crisis of the Lippe-Detmold of 1895.

Unusually for a federation, the German states maintain limited autonomy over foreign affairs and continue to exchange ambassadors and other diplomats both with each other and directly with foreign nations. Shortly after the Empire was proclaimed, Bismarck implemented a convention in which his sovereign would only send and receive envoys to and from other German states as the King of Prussia, while envoys from Berlin sent to foreign nations always received credentials from the monarch in his capacity as German Emperor. In this way, the Prussian foreign ministry is largely tasked with managing relations with the other German states while the Imperial foreign ministry manage Germany's external relations.

## Military

### Army

The *Deutsches Heer* (German Army) is the second-largest army in the world, behind the Soviet Union and in front of the Hindustan Empire and the Empire of Japan. Most of Germany's ground forces are centralized in Europe as the currently mothballed Ludendorff Line in Elsass-Lothringen form the basis of defense in the west, while the many Eastern European satellites act as buffer states against Russia in the east. The German Army is commanded by the Inspector of the Army (*Inspekteur des Heeres*) based at the Army Command (*Kommando Heer*) in Strausberg near Berlin. The training centers are supervised by the Army Training Command in Leipzig.

The Army is equipped with guns, 5 tanks powered by the pendants and hordes of Humvees. Otherwise the German Army is somewhat like the old German Army in the Franco-Prussian War except it knows Gurella Tactics.

### Navy

The Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) is the largest and arguably the most powerful navy in the world. Despite this, it's supremacy compared to other contemporary navies is not of the same scale as that of the British Royal Navy before the Blackout. Boasting the largest, albeit dated, battleship fleet in the world, the *Kaiserliche Marine* is also one of the few navies in the world to possess aircraft carriers. In total, there are about 65 commissioned ships in the German Navy, including; 11 frigates, 5 corvettes, 2 minesweepers, 10 minehunters, 6 submarines, 11 replenishment ships and 20 miscellaneous auxiliary vessels. The displacement of the navy is 220,000 tonnes.

## Economy

Germany is one of the Empires who was able to prosper due to the fact they had ways of still using technology after the blackout and due to the fact that Germany is also an industrial economy. Electronics are only used for the Military as people have to unfortunately use horse carts, old cars powered by gas and bikes. The Empire perfers to have this be the case due to the fact the client states in the east need help in developing as countries after the blackout and the German-Soviet War. Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, a low level of corruption, and a high level of innovation. It is the world's third largest exporter and third largest importer of goods, and has the largest economy in Europe, which is also the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the fifth-largest by PPP. Its GDP per capita measured in purchasing power standards amounts to 121% of the EU27 average (100%).

## Culture

The **culture of Germany** has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically, Germany has been called *Das Land der Dichter und Denker* (the country of poets and thinkers).

There are a number of public holidays in Germany. The country is particularly known for its Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich, its carnival culture and globally influential Christmas customs known as Weihnachten. 3 October has been the national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the German Unity Day (*Tag der Deutschen Einheit*).

### Literature

German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The *Nibelungenlied*, whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the *Thidrekssaga*. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world.

Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the modern "High German" language.

Among the most admired German philosophers and authors are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine and Schmidt. Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in literature: Theodor Mommsen, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, and Herta Müller.

### Music

In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned classical composers of the world, including Bach and Beethoven, who marked the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. Also, Germans developed many Lutheran chorales and hymns.

Other composers of the Austro-German tradition who achieved international fame include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Brahms, Wagner, Haydn, Schubert, Händel, Schumann, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johann Strauss II, Bruckner, Mahler, Telemann, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Orff, and most recently, Henze, Lachenmann, and Stockhausen.

Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. It has exerted a strong influence on techno and rock music, and pioneered trance music. Artists such as Herbert Grönemeyer, Scorpions, Blind Guardian, Rammstein, Nena, Xavier Naidoo, Tokio Hotel and Modern Talking have enjoyed international fame. German musicians, and particularly the pioneering bands Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, have also contributed to the development of electronic music.

### Science

Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers, such as Johannes Gutenberg, who is credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger, the creator of the Geiger counter; and Konrad Zuse, who built the first computer. German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Zeppelin, Daimler, Diesel, Otto, Wankel, von Braun and Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology including the beginnings of space travel.

The work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck was crucial to the foundation of modern physics, which Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger developed further. They were preceded by such key physicists as Hermann von Helmholtz, Joseph von Fraunhofer, and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, among others. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, an accomplishment that earned him the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. The Walhalla temple for "laudable and distinguished Germans" features a number of scientists, and is located east of Regensburg, in Bavaria.

Germany is home to some of the finest academic centers in Europe. Some famous universities are those of Munich and Berlin, University of Tübingen, University of Göttingen, University of Marburg, University of Berlin, Mining Academy Freiberg and Freiburg University, among many others. Moreover, the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is one of the oldest universities in Europe.

### Religion

59.4% of the German population belongs to Christian denominations: 30% are Roman Catholic, and 29% are affiliated with Protestantism (the figures are known accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose a religious affiliation).

The north and east are predominantly Protestant, the south and west predominantly Catholic. Nowadays there is a non-religious majority in Hamburg and the former East German states. Germany was, at one point, almost in its entirety within the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire, but was also the source of Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther. During the Kulturkampf (from about 1872 to 1886) the government opposed the Catholic church.

Historically, Germany had a substantial Jewish population. Only a few thousand people of Jewish origin remained in Germany after the Holocaust, but the German Jewish community now has about 100,000 members, many from the former Soviet Union. Germany also has a substantial Muslim minority, most of whom are from Turkey.

German theologians include Luther, Melanchthon, Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, and Rudolf Otto. Germany was also the origin of many mystics, including Meister Eckhart, Rudolf Steiner, and Jakob Boehme; and of Pope Benedict XVI.