This Germany was the result of a
timeline I created, wherein the net result gives Gross-Deutschland a better chance of survival. The 1848 Frankfurt Congress still fails, but not as badly, and gives a lingering Pan-German sentiment, due to some intervention by some American adventurers (I forgot the guy's name, but he's in Big Tex's ASB timeline). By 1866, the Prussians manage to defeat Austria, annex it with Luxembourg, Bohema, and Moravia, and set up a Hapsburg dynasty on the Hungarian throne.
In 1871, this Germany takes Alsace-Lorraine, humiliating France, but completing its union. The Prussian-Austrian German Union is complete, and the country spends the next thirty years consolidating and working internal improvements. By 1914, there is an overall feeling of "Germany" not "Austrian" or "Prussian." Bismarck was a competent politician, and Kaiser Wilhelm II was not breech-born, and did not need to overcompensate. Through intermarriage, the German royal family acheived a degree of stability and competence, making them excellent diplomats well into 2008.
This Germany does not ally with Russia, rather with the UK, Hungary, Italy, and the US. France, Poland, and Russia counter with their own alliance, setting the stage for WW1.
In WW1, France sought to get back at Germany for taking Alsace-Lorraine, and with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (this guy can never catch a break!) drawing in France against Germany, WW1 began. They swiftly took Rheinprovinz, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg, but eventually got bogged down in trench warfare. After four years of fighting, President Teddy Roosevelt's heavy diplomacy, with Kaiser Frederick IV and the British monarch, the Allies defeated the Triple Entente powers. The Treaty of Versailles was heavily punitive on France, setting the stage for their entry into WW2. Germany demanded reparations, and land, but got only land and demilitarization of France.
In the runup to WW2, France began rearming in violation of Versailles, but no one did much to stop them. They re-annexed Alsace-Lorraine, and took Belgium. They began their own version of Blitzkrieg, taking Spain swiftly, then the Netherlands and Rheinprovinz, seeking a third Napoleonic Empire. It took a while, but the allies eventually defeated this revanchist France, but not before they, with their Polish allies, caused massive loss of life. Poland claimed everything to the Oder river, attempting to cleave Prussian Germany from the rest of the country. In the end, though, Germany was restored to its current borders, and all Polish-speakers were forcibly deported from Germany, mostly from Posen. Poland renounced all claims to any lands within Germany. France renounced its claim to Alsace-Lorraine, and all French speakers were deported from the land, which was elevated to a full Reichsland, just like the others.
Germany today, is a leading world economic power in science, technology, and diplomacy, on par with the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Nations (UK-led).
That's a very rough outline of this Germany. Basically, Germany gets a break from history, and France gets frakked. (putting it kindly).
*To Kaiser Kris or anyone else, for the Pflaz region and the Bavarian Enclave, would that be more logical to go to Saarland or Rheinprovinz?
Ampersand, if you wouldn't mind making a few changes on that map, I'd appreciate it! Perhaps a bit larger?
Thanks again!
James