General Lore

May 29th, 1911

The Vieuxlonian Kaiserreich, under Kaiser Otto Frederick II von Feistenstauf, and the Zentrale Mächte emerged victorious from the Great War. Prior to her surrender, Great Britain found herself fighting alone again following the forced surrender of the the European Allies and the collapse of her global empire to the hands of the Empire of the Rising Sun and the United Syndicalist Workers’ Communes. On December 22nd, Nikola Tesla’s Teleforce Energiestrahlwaffe, a weapon of mass destruction―transported by an airship―envisioned by the inventor years prior, destroyed the town of Croydon in Southern London and the surrounding area. Alone and running low on supplies and manpower and facing mutinies in the army, along with the possibility of mass destruction from the Teleforce Energiestrahlwaffe, Parliament surrendered on December 23rd, 1888.

The European powers were now shadows of their former selves. Even the victors faced post-war difficulties, primarily famine, economic downturn, poverty, and the rise of the Syndicalist revolutions. In 1877, Mikhail Bakunin, previously exiled from Russia, returned a year after faking his death in Switzerland. His views of collectivist anarchism provided the basis of his new idealogue. He brought with him a reformed version of French Syndicalism that he called Bakunist Anarcho-Syndicalism and found popularity among the laboring class suffering from the wage systems. The Russo-Japanese War for Manchuria in 1882 proved to be a great disaster for the Russian Empire. Famine and poverty became increasingly widespread among the ill-treated lower classes, resulting in many protests and revolts across the country. During one protest, the Saint Petersburg Police fired upon the crowd, kick-starting the failed Russian Revolutions of 1885, when Bukanist was arrested and later executed in 1887. His death caused outrage among his supporters, sparking the February Movement and the more influential Spring Revolution of 1887, in which the Winter Palace was stormed and Tsar Alexander III was overthrown then executed, save his family which had fled in 1886 because of growing tensions and protests.

Revolution spread over Russia and the country came under control of the Bakunist Anarcho-Syndicalists and Marxists under the Union of the Russian Workers political party. In the already crippled and famine-stricken France, Napoleon V faced growing opposition by protestors and members of the rapidly growing Travailleurs Industriels du Monde party, which supported the Bakunist-Pougetist Syndicalism ideology created by Émile Pouget under the influence of Bakunin’s ideas. Already fearful of the rise of the Syndicalists in South America, Vieuxlon declared war on the newly founded Russian Commune and invaded Polish and Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation. At the same time, the Russian Civil War between the Russian Syndicalist Federation of Communes, the Marxist Socialist Russian Republic, and the Russian Democratic Federative Republic broke out.

Finally, the Great War ended in December of 1888, but the Russo-Vieux and Russo-Japanese wars continued to rage. Facing internal collapse between the Russian SFC, the Marxist SRR, and the Russian DFR, in March of 1889, delegates from Vieuxlon, Japan, and Russia met together and hastily signed the Treaty of Minskyiv. Under the treaty, Russia was forced to cede Manchuria to Japan and the territories of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic States to Vieuxlon, and recognize the independence of Finland. Furthermore, the Russian Democratic Federative Republic is to be recognized as a semi-autonomous state under Vieuxlonian authority, the Marxist SRR be absorbed into the Russian SFC under the pretext that Marxism be banned in the state, and restrictions be placed on the Russian SFC’s military, navy, and airforce. The fragile state of Russia and Europe prevented the established Syndicalist state from being abolished in fear of a far greater revolution if the Tsar’s unfavorable brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia come to power, and the threat that a democratic system poses from internal and external influence by Syndicalists. Thus, the Treaty of Minskyiv is viewed by many historians as a poor attempt to maintain European peace.

For now, the war in Europe was over, but attention turned to the Americas. A joint expedition among the former Allied and Central Powers was targeted at the growing Syndicalist threat in the Americas. Military aid was sent to the new but collapsing North American Federation, consisting of the former British dominions of the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of New England, the Southern Confederation of States, and the Federal Republic of Columbia, in addition to the Pacific Republic of Cascadia. In the summer of 1890, the combined and technologically superior forces of the N.F.A., the former Allies, and the Central Powers repelled another S.W.C. invasion in the Midwest and began a Syndicalist retreat into the Mexican Syndicate. A counter assault was launched and the Syndicalists, who were weakened after nine years of mostly fruitless but consistent invasions into the North American states, were pushed into Panama with ease. On July 7th, 1891, the Commonwealth of New England, Federal Republic of Columbia, and Southern Confederation of States declared independence from Great Britain and united to form the United States of America, a country long proposed since the successful American Revolution, the American loss in the War of 1812, and the Colonial American Civil War of 1833. On October 2nd, 1891, the S.W.C. states were forced to sign the Treaty of Cartago. The treaty enforced military and trade restrictions on member states of the S.W.C., as well as created the non-Syndicalist Second Federal Republic of Central America, the Republic of Sonora, and the United Mexican States. The N.A.F. was dissolved and relations between the United States of America, Dominion of Canada, and Pacific Republic of Cascadia worsened, as well as internal relations between the North and South.

The following decades were marked by a period of revolutions and Vieux hegemony over most of mainland Europe. Most of the former European countries of the Allies remain sovereign, although under military and trade regulations. Today in Great Britain, the failing economic situation of the country continues to worsen. After the Great War, Britain became a puppet state indirectly administered by Stahlkaiser Otto Frederick II, but retained its colonial empire. King George V, only over a year into his reign, is now facing political pressure from both his subjects and Parliament, less than two weeks before his coronation. Europe was already in a state of economic crisis following the end of the Treaty of Cartago, but in the spring of 1893, the Vienna Stock Exchange crashed. An economic shockwave spread throughout Europe and Vieux puppet states, particularly Great Britain. The economic situation of Britain declined significantly, and the London Stock Exchange crashed in January of 1894 after months of economic policies passed by Parliament in an effort to prevent it. Unemployment and inflation skyrocketed all over Europe and its colonial empires, spreading to Asia and the Americas. An economically deprived Vieuxlon pressed trade policies and regulations onto its puppet Great Britain in an effort to save the Vieux economy. The British economy faced even more strain as resources from its empire were diverted to helping revitalize the Vieux economy. The weak state of the British government and the Revolutions of 1898 in Europe and European colonies allowed for increased subject autonomy and federalization among the remaining dominions and commonwealths of the Empire. Without sufficient economic output towards Vieuxlon, some British colonial territory and assets in Africa and Asia were claimed and confiscated by the Zentrale Mächte, primarily Vieuxlon, to further improve the economic situation in mainland Europe. At the same time, Britain, along with France, had to begin paying war reparations to the Zentrale Mächte. In 1905, the economies of most European countries began to stabilize.

Vieuxlon, the new industrial powerhouse and economic center of Europe, continued to strengthen its economy at the expense of its subjects, primarily the British Empire. Its dominions grew divided as revolts began to spark in India. In a disastrous turn of events, British tariffs meant to stimulate the economy and aimed at imports from and exports to Vieuxlon were implemented by Parliament in an act of near treason. In response, Vieux trade focus shifted to other global markets via neutral, allied, and subject nations. Once again, the economy of Britain rapidly declined beginning in 1910, shortly after the ascension of George V to the throne. Many Britons blame George V and weakness of the Parliament for the high unemployment, taxes, and inflation of the country. Similarly to Russia and France, radical political parties and other alternative parties began to become increasingly supported in opposition to the Conservative (Tories), Labour, and Liberal parties. Many political activists and leaders, including some former Tories and former members of the Labour and Liberal parties, grew their support. What is left of the British aristocracy and nobility have funded a massive construction project, known as the Greater London Project, in order to not only rebuild London, but also to promote a renewed sense of British nationalism and allow for a way for the nobles to gain influential support for their generosity. Although generous and needed, the project further put a strain on the relations between the workers and nobility. Prince Arthur Frederick of Connaught, cousin to George V, is seen by many as a leader who can bring back economic stability and political sovereignty to the British Empire.

As a result of the economic crisis and reparations, unemployment and inflation grew in France over the previous two decades. Today, in the urban heartland of northern France, the social classes grow increasingly divided. Many of the poor laborers support Bakunist-Pougetist Syndicalism. Under Napoleon V’s government, the nobility was revived once again and the 2nd Estate was reintroduced. According to members of the middle class and upper 3rd Estate, the failure of France during the war and the resulting economic and political crisis is the fault of the revived nobility and Napoleon V’s reign. Furthermore, the rightful heir of Napoleon III, Napoleon IV, returned to France from exile, and gained the support of many of Napoleon V’s former supporters in the hopes of establishing a constitutional monarchy in France. As of today, France’s politics are now divided between the Impérialistes (supporters of Napoleon V), the Monarchistes Fédéraux (supporters of Napoleon IV), the Royalistes (supporters of Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans), the Syndicalist Assemblée Unioniste Nationale, the Neo-Montagnards, the Neo-Girondins, the Républicains, and the Neo-Jacobin movement. The threat of another, but more deadly French Revolution looms over France.

During the world war, emergency powers were given by parliament to Kaiser Otto Frederick II von Feistenstauf. His influence, power, and popularity following the war allowed for him to maintain complete control over Vieuxlon’s government. A new ideology, Vozählism, was developed and came to popularity in Vieuxlon, under the Stahlkaiser. A new wave of absolutist ideology, Conservative Authoritarian Nationalism, of which Vozählism is a radical form, spread across countries that had survived the Great War, becoming increasingly opposed to the rise of the Syndicalist ideas. Likewise, the rise of radical social-religious movements has become widespread in Europe and the Americas. In the Southern USA, the Second Klan has arisen from the film The Birth of a Nation, released in late 1909. In Europe, the Holy Vozählist Church in Vieuxlon has widely replaced the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in countries under Vieux influence. Similarly to the Second Klan, the Holy Vozählist order called the “Auftrag des Kaisers” (ADK) has been created to further enforce the Kaiser’s growingly radical ideals and authority. In the Northern USA, the Knights of the Flaming Circle has been created to combat the spread of the Second Klan, much like the creation of the “Ordo Custodes” (Order of the Guardians) in Florin and the Italian-controlled Papal States, which is meant to combat the ADK. For many, the word “religion” has come to be associated with the opposing social-religious groups of the Americas and Europe.

Influence and inspiration drawn from the Russians has led to the growth and spread of the Syndicalist movement over Western Europe. Britain and France have become the deciding factors of the successes of Socialism and Conservative Authoritarian Nationalism. Many European countries and other countries worldwide continue to face the repercussions of the recent economic depression. The world is held together by a shaky and fragile peace, which can erupt into a Second Global War at any given moment. A new age of revolution has begun. This is Steel Skies: Stahlreich.