1918 Formation of Mitteleuropa

The 'Formation of Mitteleuropa Decree', Signed on the 3rd of February, 1918, the Decree, passed unanimously by a puppet Reichstag officially formed *Mitteleuropa,*a united economic and military pact which now spread across most of Europe.

## Formation

The concept of 'Mitteleuropa' had existed since the 1848 attempted German revolution. Now, however, the dream would be fully put into practice, as a German-led alliance which could dominate Eastern and Central Europe.

### Congress for the Formation of Mitteleuropa

On the 12th of August, delegates were called to Berlin from Poland, the United Baltic Duchy, Bylerussia, Ukraine, the Tatar Republic, Azerbaijan, the Ottoman Empire, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Austria Hungary, the United Kingdom of Flanders-Wallonia, the Netherlands, and Italy, for the formation of an alliance that could dominate Europe.

The Congress was officially opened on the 15th, and negotiations began on the 16th.

In August, many of the states of Eastern Europe, carved out of Smolensk were still in much chaos and had yet to fully solidify. Ukraine, especially, was torn between Skoropadsky and the Free Territory of Ukraine without any real political authority. Bylerussia was ravaged by war and famine, and was gripped by a general anarchy. Finland was still fighting a brutal civil war against the nation's Bolshevik faction. The United Baltic Duchy was the only post-Russian state that could be described as stable, although it lacked any sort of domestic economy or army. While all these nations were hardly independent or fully formed, they were automatically entered into Mitteleuropa as Germany held sovreignty over these nations.

In the South, Italy was more than happy to bring itself closer to Germany, to further expand its rapidly growing Empire. Although the mostly-worthless colonies of Somalia and Eritrea were sold to Ethiopia, Italy gained Nice, Savoy, Corsica, Tunisia, Trentino, Trieste, and the Agean Islands after the war. The rapidly rising kingdom was happy to join. Germany was happy to intervene in the controversy surrounding Albania, as many of the neighboring states (Greece, Austria-Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria) wished to partition Albania between themselves.

Germany intervened in the Settlement of Albania, formally recognizing the political union of the Albania and Italy.

### Later Negotiations

Although Mitteleuropa was defined as 'central europe' the admission of Italy into the alliance made it abundantly clear that not just 'Eastern and Central' European nations could be admitted. The United Kingdom of Flanders-Wallonia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands were quickly admitted, despite the fact that the Netherlands had lost almost all political sovreignty and had descended into a pro-German and anti-German civil war.

Continued German support for Italy, beginning in the Venice Conference, and with German support for the Italian annexation of Albania continued to irritate Karl I.

Bulgaria offered support in the alliance, mostly out of a desire of protection from the Ottoman Empire, and economic support to the stagnant Bulgar economy.

### Controversy Surrounding the Ottoman Empire and the OPDA

The OPDA - Ottoman Public Debt Administration, beginning in 1881 was an independent tax agency within the Ottoman Empire that funneled taxes to European powers to which the Ottoman Empire was indebted. Although the Ottomans defaulted on their loans to France and Britain following the Ottoman entry into the war, massive loans from Germany further burdened the struggling Ottoman economy.

By the Sixteenth of November, 1917, Ottoman debt reached a staggering 160,000,000 pounds, roughly 90% of its 1917 GDP. The Arab regions were still devastated; first from the British advance from 1914-1916 and the German counteroffensive of 1917. Much of Palestine and Baghdad were devastated, and Ottoman authority in Arabia was nominal, at best, and many of the tribes which had participated in the Arab Revolt were still in open revolution against Ottoman authority.

The Ottoman Empire would offer their unconditional support in the Mitteleuropa alliance, and facilitate shipments of Azerbaijani oil from the Baku oil fields to Germany, as well as sponsor German military bases near the Suez Canal and Persian oil fields, if Germany forgave the debts to the OPDA.

Ludendorff was outraged by such a suggestion, and threatened the Ottoman Empire by reminding Envar Pasha of massive German and Bulgarian strength near Constantinople. Bulgaria did not want a full-scale war for Constantinople, and vacillated on German threats.

Eventually, the Ottoman Empire and Germany came to an agreement. The Ottoman Empire would sponsor military bases in the Sinai Peninsula, near Yemen, directly next to the Abadan oil fields of Persia, and in Northern Georgia and Azerbaijan. The Ottoman Empire would also ferry Azerbaijani oil shipments from Azerbaijan into Trieste, where it would be brought into Germany through Austria. The Ottoman Empire would also allow the MittelmeerGeschwader to base in Cyprus, the Levant and Anatolia. In response, Germany would send military missions to the Ottoman Empire, where Erich von Falkenhayn and Oskar von Hutier would advise the Ottoman Empire on Shock Troop (Shokktruppen) tactics and rapidly emerging tank warfare. Germany would also downsize the amount of tax siphoned from the Ottoman Tax Ministry by 15% every year, and flatly decrease the amount of tax owed to Germany by the Ottoman Empire by 5% a year. With this, within six years, the OPDA would be dissolved, and debt to Germany could be erased by 1937.

By the 19th of November, the Committee of Union and Progress formally signed off on Ottoman admission into Mitteleuropa.

### Swedish Entry Into Mitteleuropa

After German victory in the Great War, politicians in Sweden, such as Nils Eden, were pushing for full democratization in Sweden before Germany could re-assert the Old Order. Gustaf V, not wishing to abandon the last of his powers, offered Ludendorff Swedish entry into Mitteleuropa, on the condition that Germany would support Gustaf in the power struggle. Ludendorff eagerly accepted. When the 1917 General Election in Sweden was finished, A liberal and social-democratic government was formed, but Gustaf appointed a pro-monarchy government under Johan Widen instead. The new party demanded Gustaf surrender power to the democratic government, but Gustaf cited his legal right to appoint a government to Parliament.

Several thousand Reichsgendarmie were deployed in Sweden during the following weeks, surveying the cities. An agreement between the two governments created the Schweidische Gendarmie, a paramilitary German organization to 'oversee the containment of radical and illegal politicians and terrorists in the Kingdom of Sweden.

By 1919, when Ludendorff was deposed, the Schweidische Gendarmie was formally dissolved. By that point, however, Gustaf V's power in government was more or less solidified.

### Karl I Walks Out

With the turn of the new year, by Janruary 1918, the Congressmen were beginning to finalize the formation of the alliance. Austria-Hungary had yet to make any long-term commitments. Increasing German overlordship of Austro-Hungarian affairs, as well as German friendliness to Italy, a long-time enemy of Austria-Hungary, and a refusal to allow an Austrian monarch onto any of the states formed from Smolensk turned a simmering distrust of Germany to a total rage. Karl I did not want his nation to be brought further and further into the German sphere of influence. Ludendorff was committed to seeing Austria-Hungary join the alliance and finish the Berlin-Baghdad railway.

Karl I was more concerned with domestic affairs, pushing, to the ire of many noblemen of Austria and Hungary, a total federalization of Austria-Hungary, centralizing in things like Railway Gauges and a united army, naval, and air command, and decentralizing in affairs such as minority rights and local autonomy.

Ludendorff would not allow for this new isolationism, and demanded that Austria-Hungary join with Mitteleuropa, and accept various demands for Austro-Hungarian territory. Karl I refused, and Austrian diplomats formally exited the conference.

The next day, on the 3rd of February, Mitteleuropa was officially proclaimed.

A year later, Austria was declared a constituent state within the German Empire.