I think it's literally just a reskinned congress with red hues, possibly elected via proportional representation - compared to the syndicalist route where there's a trade union congress (I think that's what the alternative is but I can't remember)
Kaiserreich: Legacy of the Weltkrieg
- Thread starter RiverDelta
- Start date
I think it's literally just a reskinned congress with red hues, possibly elected via proportional representation - compared to the syndicalist route where there's a trade union congress (I think that's what the alternative is but I can't remember)
the thing with Syndicalist America is that they basically say "this mostly worked, except for the capitalism, let's keep the democracy since that was unquestionably a good thing and just remove the blatant greed".
So is this just the Second American Civil War but in Brazil?
Anyway, the idea of a communist Brazil as a world power could be pretty cool and the BPS also sounds interesting, so I'm interested to see where this goes.
So, what is the worst possible ending for Kaiserreich without a nuclear war? And don't just say "Cold War between Totalists/Leninists v.s Savinkov's Russia/NatPop Japan" for in addition to "evil regimes everywhere", this ending should be incredibly unstable as well.
Collapsed Mittelafrika? Deadlocked American Civil War? A Third Weltkrieg swiftly after the Second? A successful Roman Von Ungern-Sternberg marching across Russia with a steppe horde? Nationalist South Africa?
A collection of some or all of those can make for some horrifying stuff, though Pelley likely matches the horrors of an unending American Civil War.
Savinkov and the Totalists partition Germany. In 1941 the Totalists invade the Russian State and are thrown back with horrific casualties. The Russians march to Lisbon and destroy Britain in nuclear fire; Edward returns to a wasteland. Meanwhile Kodoha Japan in a Eurasian Alliance conquers Asia and begins a brutal counterinsurgency against Syndicalist rebels backed by Bose's Bharatiya Commune. Meanwhile, Pelley comes to power in America, and America remains in a complete downward spiral ridden by plague and racewar. Mittelafrika collapses after Goering becomes dominant and the wars there still aren't over. Saudi Arabia sponsors Jihadist movements in the Middle East that plague both Egypt and Iran. South America is caught in a series of proxy wars between Carles's Argentina and Totalist Brazil. With the death of Savinkov, his Empire falls apart as his lieutenants struggle for power and the plunder economy of Ysupov finally collapses. Konstantin Rodzaevsky, leader of Savinkov's Combat Squads, wins the power struggle and begins his final solution against the Jews, Balts, Poles, and Muslims to "purify the Rodina for 1,000 years". Meanwhile in Europe, the Russian Generals in charge of the occupation armies of the former Internationale become the de-facto heads of the National Populist states in exchange for protecting Savinkov's puppets from the much more radical Rodzaevsky, ruling as warlords and brutally suppressing Syndicalist and Nationalist revolts. Rodzaevsky is prevented from bringing them back into the fold due to their nuclear stockpiles. Britain is too irradiated and National France to wracked with native revolts to liberate Europe, and so the status quo in Europe remains eternal totalitarianism and counterinsurgency.
Just played nicaragua radsoc with the end goal of making Centroamerica, but I ended up dropping it soon after forming the big red C because the Internationale was being fucked up.
I saw a Polish-Lithuanian Natpop Empire briefly, though. That was insane. And a National Unity Party US civil war.
Nicaragua was a lot of fun to play, I love the Sandinista mechanic where these idiots are going around being fanatical and a giant detriment to the cause. Central America in general, after playing Nicaragua and Honduras, is really just well-done in general. Kudos!
I saw a Polish-Lithuanian Natpop Empire briefly, though. That was insane. And a National Unity Party US civil war.
Nicaragua was a lot of fun to play, I love the Sandinista mechanic where these idiots are going around being fanatical and a giant detriment to the cause. Central America in general, after playing Nicaragua and Honduras, is really just well-done in general. Kudos!
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
I guess I know what run I'm going to attempt next, then after that I'll play the absolutely well-done Indochinese Union again and try to do a better job than my last game.
Play any of the 4 northern Central American nations. All of them are really fun. Forming any Central American union gives you something new and awesome to play, too.
I can't tell you how many times I've had the exact sequence of thoughts that goes "please don't go Totalist, please don't go Totalist, please don't go Totalist...fuck."
oh no, they were getting their butts torn back by the Reichspakt and Entente at the same time.
basically, my attaches let the CSA pull ahead of the National Unity Party USA and helped the CNT-FAI win, but then Portugal joined the Entente and they navally invaded Iberia, made puppet Spain for Canada, and the French were hammered from three sides as the Brits were navally invaded. Brits under Y Glais held out OK but the French were destroyed, and I was like "well Chile got beat by Carles and the Revolution is dying, that sucks".
My worst possible scenario would be a Cold War between an Entente led by Pelley's America and a Russian sphere led by Savinkov's Russia. The Mongols would have already conquered much of China, so an alternate Pacific War lasts well into the 1950s until Eastern Asia is partitioned between the Americans and Russians. While the Commonwealth of America and Russian State never collapse, they fund plenty of unstable regimes, with the Americans establishing warlord puppet regimes in Latin America, Asia, and even a regime in the former Mittelafrika. By the present day the "First World" is stable and powerful, but governed by ultratotalitarian and racist empires that would make George Orwell blush, while the "Third World" is a collection of unstable warring proxies, all of which are, to some extent, authoritarian. Workers' rights are not only seen as non-existent, but immoral after the defeat of the syndicalists, and democracy is viewed as a failed ideology that helped lead to the rise of syndicalism. Nuclear weapons are also used conventionally in proxy wars, and while technology is less advanced than OTL the Americans and Russians still have aircaft that can enter low-Earth orbit and deploy nuclear missiles from space.
Hello again, there has been another progress report for Red Flood, this time about nations in Asia including Japan.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedFloodMo...ncementred_flood_progress_report_8_old_world/
Once again if you have any questions, you can visit our discord where the link is here https://discord.gg/rZG3HC9
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedFloodMo...ncementred_flood_progress_report_8_old_world/
Once again if you have any questions, you can visit our discord where the link is here https://discord.gg/rZG3HC9
Here's a pretty good game I had as Germany in Kaiserreich for DH. Reddit post here.
It is the year 1942, and with the fall of the last resistance within the Netherlands and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kaiserreich has established nigh complete hegemony over the European continent. All of the Germanic people have been unified under the Imperial hand, too, finally fulfilling the Reichfuhrer's ambition.
The political, military and economic alliance known as Mitteleuropa - although at this point it may as well be called just "Europa" - stretches from the coasts of Brittany and Aquitaine in the west to the icy plains of Kamchatka in the far east. Though some of the organization's members, such as Denmark and Russia, joined on their own merit, the absolute majority of the organization's members are tightly controlled puppet regimes, drained for resources and manpower to power the Kaiserreich's unstoppable military might. Their leaders do not dare to even say a word against the direction in which the Germans lead them, be it sending their citizens to meaningless slaughter in the Lotharingian trenches or handing over their food production surplus to the Heer and leave them with a full belly while their farmers wither away.
Officially, the Second Weltkrieg is not yet over - the Syndicalist regime in the British Isles continues to decline any offers for a second Peace with Honour, and as their fleets have bombed much of the Reichsmarine to the bottom of the North Sea, this situation is set to persist at least until Germany can rebuild their navy and execute the operation to sweep away Syndicalism in the British Isles, Operation Sealion. Aside from the remnants of the Internationale and the Mitteleuropa, the continent also holds the the three Scandinavian democracies, the Balkan Pact, which has survived as a common anti-German alliance, and the Catholic Pact between Italy, Spain, Portugal and National France. None of them pose any direct threat to German pan-European hegemony, however, so they have been allowed to remain for the time being.
Any semblance of democracy in the German Empire has been swept away ever since the political and economic chaos of 1936 and the subsequent general elections of 1937 brought the Alldeutscher Verband and its famous, charismatic figurehead, Graf Anton von Arco-Valley, to power. The Empire's failure to contain syndicalism both outside and within its borders, the chaos of the aftermath of the Black Monday, instability within the "Grand Coalition" of the DKP, Zentrum and NLP, starting with the fall of Kuno von Westarp's government in early 1936, brought the AV to the national stage as one of the few political forces which were both fiercely anti-syndicalist and hadn't compromised themselves by being a party of "the establishment".
In 1937, after the Imperial general elections saw massive gains for the AV, while the nation's stability deteriorated to a record low, Kaiser Wilhelm II was faced with the choice of either letting the "extremist, idiotic loudmouths and demagogues", which he held no liking towards, form a government, or watch the Kaiserreich be ripped apart from the left and from the right at once. He chose the former. The Graf rose to the position of Reichskanzler, where the right-wing nationalist DVLP, led by Otto von Schleicher, helped provide the AV a necessary majority needed for transforming the German Empire into a National Populist state.
The belligerence of the Second Internationale, the reemergence of the FAUD and the assassination of the German ambassador to Austria at the hands of a French syndicalist granted Arco-Valley the green light to begin mass repressions against the syndicalist movement within the Empire - and not even limited to actual Syndicalists, with the repressions soon extending to many vocal members of the SPD, who protested the act - gaining the moniker of "White Terror". The ongoing economic crisis allowed the German government to take partial control over the nation's economy, implementing corporatist measures in militarizing the state and controlling the populace. The Halbstarke, teenagers terrorizing shops and homes for money and food out of desperation, were reorganized into a youth organization under the AV, and began releasing their pent-up energy and dissatisfaction at terrorizing the party's opponents. The beginning of the Second Weltkrieg, and the AV now gaining a complete majority in the Reichstag thanks to numerous vacated seats and several DVLP members changing party allegiance, allowed the Reichskanzler to dismiss the parliament and delay new elections for an unspecified timeframe, all of the power of the government now vested by a small wartime cabinet chaired by Arco-Valley.
The death of Wilhelm II marked the last stage in Germany's transformation to a totalitarian National Populist state. While Wilhelm II may have served as a moderating force thanks to his negative opinion of the Verband and powerful reserve powers, the new Emperor, Wilhelm III, was a close friend of the Reichskanzler and a member of the AV, which meant that the last possible limitation of his power had been taken off. As recognition for Arco-Valley's successful efforts in leading Germany out of crisis and commanding it during the Second Weltkrieg, Wilhelm III granted him the title "Reichsfuhrer", a German equivalent to the Romanian "Conducator", which his party had already been using to refer to him ever since his ascension to power.
Despite its totalitarian nature, AV-led Germany can be surprisingly tolerant and liberal as long as you are not declared an enemy of the state - which is, obviously, fairly easy to do. Most notably, as recognition for their effort in factories and often on the battlefield during the Second Weltkrieg, the German women have been theoretically granted the same voting rights as men - "theoretically" because neither they nor men have seen an election take place since 1937.
The Reichsfuhrer, Anton von Arco-Valley, is a highly interesting figure. An Austrian nobleman by birth, he moved to Bavaria during the first Weltkrieg, where he became a German citizen and served during the last years of the war in the Royal Bavarian Lifeguards. Arco-Valley returned from the front in France a different man, a radical pan-German nationalist, monarchist and anti-syndicalist, only to witness that his new home of Bavaria was in the process of being overrun by local Syndicalists, sympathizing with the French Revolution, in what is nowadays known as the November Insurrections. Without hesitation, Arco-Valley took matters to his own hands and, in the streets of Munich, gunned down Kurt Eisner, one of the most well known leaders of the German syndicalist movement. This act led to his arrest, but also to him becoming a national icon of anti-syndicalism, and inspiring many future members of the Alldeutscher Verband.
Obviously, as he was charged with first degree murder, Arco-Valley should have spent the rest of his life in prison - however, few people in his trial wished to see him incarcerated. After all, for many, he had become a hero of the German opposition to syndicalism. Hell, even the prosecutor did not lack compliments for him, stating that "if the whole German youth were imbued with such a glowing enthusiasm, we could face the future with confidence". The nobleman was sentenced to two years of house arrest, an act which was protested by syndicalists and social democrats, but was perfectly fine for Arco-Valley himself, and he spent those two years submitting articles to the Bayerisches Vaterland and Hugenberg's Die Gartenlaube, detailing his political beliefs, his desire to see all of the Germanic peoples unified under one banner and future of Germany's European hegemony.
After his release, Arco-Valley became involved with the AV, becoming one of its most prominent leaders, named as the successor of Heinrich Class as the leader of the movement in 1934 after his health worsened. At the helm of the party, the aristocrat rid the party of its most left-wing members such as the Strasser brothers and Ernst Rohm, while massively expanding its leadership through attracting former supporters of the DVLP and DKP. The party repaired its relations with Prussian Junkers and major industrialists and financiers, though the former remained highly suspicious of him regardless due to his Catholic noble upbringing. With most of the establishment parties compromising their chances through political struggles and mismanaging the recovery from Black Monday, and the rise of worldwide syndicalism threatening the German masses and elites, the AV swept into the Reichstag in the 1937 general elections, and the rest is history...
The Second Weltkrieg between Germany and the Internationale broke out in early 1939 during German military maneuvers in Alsace-Lorraine, and fighting on the continent continued until August 1941, when the last of the Communard forces were either destroyed or surrendered. The first phase of the war was reminiscent of the First Weltkrieg - two massive forces eyeing each other over trench systems in Lorraine and the Ardennes, neither side able to break through and each battle causing hundreds of thousands of losses. A war of attrition was something Germany was far more equipped to deal with than the French - with the Communard manpower reserves drained after six unsuccessful attempts to take Nancy, the freshly reinforced German forces, bolstered by amassed armored spearheads as devised by Heinz Guderian and his army modernizers, broke through the enemy lines first in Flanders-Wallonia and Picardy, then finally across the entire front.
Paris fell in spring of 1941, and by August, the entire nation was overrun. The nature of the conflict meant that despite its relatively short timeframe, it was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, causing almost 5 million military casualties alone, and only God knows how many civilian, including both during the German offensive and the subsequent mass terror to root out Syndicalism within the occupied nation. The Reichsfuhrer's orders for the fate of France were clear - three strikes and you're out, France must never become strong enough to challenge Germany for a fourth time.
The defeated nation was divided into four, each one with a king or grand duke of their own, and the nation's industrial installations are being swiftly dismantled and transported to Germany as a form of war reparations. Rumors are abound that this isn't even the final map of the region - some guess that once the wars in Europe are fully concluded and the situation stabilizes, the Reichfuhrer plans to see Burgundy, as an "ancestral Germanic land", be carved out of the rump Kingdom of France and attached to the Kaiserreich to be Germanized within a swift timeframe. Or perhaps even everything up to the Senne. Few people know at this point.
The Union of Britain, led by Congregationalists under Annie Kenney and Emmeline Pankhurst, alongside their puppet state of Ireland, continue to resist the German offers for a peace, and are content to stay barricaded in their island behind the wall that is the Republican Navy. There is little chance to starve the Syndicalists out through convoy raiding, what with their navy having grasped the new Wolfpack tactics of German U-Boats and reacting accordingly, so unless the Unionists change their mind, the only option for ending the conflict for good is an invasion of the British Isles, Operation Sealion.
German intelligence suggests that the British Army is small would have little chance against the battle-hardened German panzers, but getting them to set their tracks on the island without the Republican Navy bombing their transports and supply to bits is the real question. The Reichsmarine was mismanaged during the initial stages of the Second Weltkrieg, which led to significant losses for the German navy, and only now has the Kaiserreich found an opportunity to finally start rebuilding its navy.
Such an initiative would take many years, however, which would leave Britain a pain for the German Empire for all of that time.
After the fall of the Commune, the Kingdom of Italy took advantage of the German victory and began their invasion of the Socialist Republic of Italy in the south to achieve the second Risorgimento. Dominated by the Papacy, Italy is also the leader of a bloc of fellow reactionary Catholic monarchies, which includes Carlist Spain, Portugal and the Kingdom of France in Africa. As gratitude for France's entrance, and thus departure from the Entente, French-majority provinces in northern Italy were returned to the exiles to administrate. With the Italian syndicalists fortifying themselves in Sicily, however, the Italian civil war seems to be frozen for the time being.
After the invasion of Austria and the final reunification of the German people, the Kaiserreich took control of Veneto and Southern Tyrol, two territories which the Kingdom claims control over, and which have put a dent in the generally friendly relations of the two states. The National Populist regime has little desire to keep Veneto for the long term, thus negotiations are currently taking place on exchanging the province for the Catholic Bloc, or at least Italy and Iberia, joining Mitteleuropa. Such an idea has been fervently opposed by France-in-Africa, however, as it would pretty much mean the recognition of the German occupation of mainland France.
The American Civil War of 1936-1941, the deadiest conflict to ever take place in the Western Hemisphere, eventually ended with a victory for the Combined Syndicates of America, and after the death of the leader of the Revolution, John Reed, he was replaced by Earl Browder, who has taken the reunified nation towards a more authoritarian course. Alongside Mexico and Centroamerica, the CSA has become an anchor of Syndicalism in the Americas, putting it towards a direct collision course with the British exile led Canada to the north. The CSA also missed the majority of the Second Weltkrieg, but as the world enters a new page of history, it is bound to come into conflict with Arco-Valley's German Empire at some point in the future.
The request from the Russian Empire, one of the most liberal and democratic states on the planet, to join Mitteleuropa came as a great surprise to the diplomatic service of the Kaiserreich. All this time, they had assumed that they were on a collision course with the "Asiatic hordes" of the East for the domination of Europe, knowing that Russia was, historically, highly anti-German and Germany returned that favor - but no, one of the most powerful alliances in world history was formed.
However, as you might imagine, Russia completely doesn't fit in with the zeitgeist of the Mitteleuropa, which has already led to many observers labeling this alliance as a circumstantial anti-Syndicalist one. Nationalist forces in the Russian Duma call for the liberation of the Slavic peoples in Ukraine and White Ruthenia, while the Reichsfuhrer dreams about a mythologized idea of "Drang Nach Osten", a push to Slavic inhabited lands for colonization and the extraction of the resources of their lands. Already, both sides are secretly drawing up plans of both an offensive war and a defensive war against the other, while their diplomats continue to exchange nice words and call Germany and Russia "the two sentinels of Mitteleuropa" and "each other's greatest ally".
The late 1930s and early 1940s saw Asia consolidate under three giants - the Empire of Japan, the Dominion of India and the Republic of China, each one with stories to tell. The Empire of Japan is the oldest one of the three polities, reigning over a small, but still respectable "Co-Prosperity Sphere" in East Asia and declining Chinese offers of a Manchurian referendum of self-determination. The Dominion of India arose after the Indian civil wars of the 1930s and 1940s, both the Princely Federation and the Bhartiya Commune defeated by their forces and the subcontinent reunited under a federalized democracy. The Republic of China arose from the AOG in the Changsha Revolution, and reunified the previously shattered Chinese state through several expeditions against Yunnan, the Qing and Mongolia. Though officially a democracy, it has been starting to take the path of authoritarianism, with the powers of President Chen Jiongming growing almost every day.
Generally ignored by European powers until very recently, Asia is bound to play an important part in the future, especially if the rumored German-Russian War breaks out and, say, China or Japan take advantage to resolve their own territorial conflicts with the Russian Empire...
It is the year 1942, and with the fall of the last resistance within the Netherlands and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kaiserreich has established nigh complete hegemony over the European continent. All of the Germanic people have been unified under the Imperial hand, too, finally fulfilling the Reichfuhrer's ambition.
The political, military and economic alliance known as Mitteleuropa - although at this point it may as well be called just "Europa" - stretches from the coasts of Brittany and Aquitaine in the west to the icy plains of Kamchatka in the far east. Though some of the organization's members, such as Denmark and Russia, joined on their own merit, the absolute majority of the organization's members are tightly controlled puppet regimes, drained for resources and manpower to power the Kaiserreich's unstoppable military might. Their leaders do not dare to even say a word against the direction in which the Germans lead them, be it sending their citizens to meaningless slaughter in the Lotharingian trenches or handing over their food production surplus to the Heer and leave them with a full belly while their farmers wither away.
Officially, the Second Weltkrieg is not yet over - the Syndicalist regime in the British Isles continues to decline any offers for a second Peace with Honour, and as their fleets have bombed much of the Reichsmarine to the bottom of the North Sea, this situation is set to persist at least until Germany can rebuild their navy and execute the operation to sweep away Syndicalism in the British Isles, Operation Sealion. Aside from the remnants of the Internationale and the Mitteleuropa, the continent also holds the the three Scandinavian democracies, the Balkan Pact, which has survived as a common anti-German alliance, and the Catholic Pact between Italy, Spain, Portugal and National France. None of them pose any direct threat to German pan-European hegemony, however, so they have been allowed to remain for the time being.
Any semblance of democracy in the German Empire has been swept away ever since the political and economic chaos of 1936 and the subsequent general elections of 1937 brought the Alldeutscher Verband and its famous, charismatic figurehead, Graf Anton von Arco-Valley, to power. The Empire's failure to contain syndicalism both outside and within its borders, the chaos of the aftermath of the Black Monday, instability within the "Grand Coalition" of the DKP, Zentrum and NLP, starting with the fall of Kuno von Westarp's government in early 1936, brought the AV to the national stage as one of the few political forces which were both fiercely anti-syndicalist and hadn't compromised themselves by being a party of "the establishment".
In 1937, after the Imperial general elections saw massive gains for the AV, while the nation's stability deteriorated to a record low, Kaiser Wilhelm II was faced with the choice of either letting the "extremist, idiotic loudmouths and demagogues", which he held no liking towards, form a government, or watch the Kaiserreich be ripped apart from the left and from the right at once. He chose the former. The Graf rose to the position of Reichskanzler, where the right-wing nationalist DVLP, led by Otto von Schleicher, helped provide the AV a necessary majority needed for transforming the German Empire into a National Populist state.
The belligerence of the Second Internationale, the reemergence of the FAUD and the assassination of the German ambassador to Austria at the hands of a French syndicalist granted Arco-Valley the green light to begin mass repressions against the syndicalist movement within the Empire - and not even limited to actual Syndicalists, with the repressions soon extending to many vocal members of the SPD, who protested the act - gaining the moniker of "White Terror". The ongoing economic crisis allowed the German government to take partial control over the nation's economy, implementing corporatist measures in militarizing the state and controlling the populace. The Halbstarke, teenagers terrorizing shops and homes for money and food out of desperation, were reorganized into a youth organization under the AV, and began releasing their pent-up energy and dissatisfaction at terrorizing the party's opponents. The beginning of the Second Weltkrieg, and the AV now gaining a complete majority in the Reichstag thanks to numerous vacated seats and several DVLP members changing party allegiance, allowed the Reichskanzler to dismiss the parliament and delay new elections for an unspecified timeframe, all of the power of the government now vested by a small wartime cabinet chaired by Arco-Valley.
The death of Wilhelm II marked the last stage in Germany's transformation to a totalitarian National Populist state. While Wilhelm II may have served as a moderating force thanks to his negative opinion of the Verband and powerful reserve powers, the new Emperor, Wilhelm III, was a close friend of the Reichskanzler and a member of the AV, which meant that the last possible limitation of his power had been taken off. As recognition for Arco-Valley's successful efforts in leading Germany out of crisis and commanding it during the Second Weltkrieg, Wilhelm III granted him the title "Reichsfuhrer", a German equivalent to the Romanian "Conducator", which his party had already been using to refer to him ever since his ascension to power.
Despite its totalitarian nature, AV-led Germany can be surprisingly tolerant and liberal as long as you are not declared an enemy of the state - which is, obviously, fairly easy to do. Most notably, as recognition for their effort in factories and often on the battlefield during the Second Weltkrieg, the German women have been theoretically granted the same voting rights as men - "theoretically" because neither they nor men have seen an election take place since 1937.
The Reichsfuhrer, Anton von Arco-Valley, is a highly interesting figure. An Austrian nobleman by birth, he moved to Bavaria during the first Weltkrieg, where he became a German citizen and served during the last years of the war in the Royal Bavarian Lifeguards. Arco-Valley returned from the front in France a different man, a radical pan-German nationalist, monarchist and anti-syndicalist, only to witness that his new home of Bavaria was in the process of being overrun by local Syndicalists, sympathizing with the French Revolution, in what is nowadays known as the November Insurrections. Without hesitation, Arco-Valley took matters to his own hands and, in the streets of Munich, gunned down Kurt Eisner, one of the most well known leaders of the German syndicalist movement. This act led to his arrest, but also to him becoming a national icon of anti-syndicalism, and inspiring many future members of the Alldeutscher Verband.
Obviously, as he was charged with first degree murder, Arco-Valley should have spent the rest of his life in prison - however, few people in his trial wished to see him incarcerated. After all, for many, he had become a hero of the German opposition to syndicalism. Hell, even the prosecutor did not lack compliments for him, stating that "if the whole German youth were imbued with such a glowing enthusiasm, we could face the future with confidence". The nobleman was sentenced to two years of house arrest, an act which was protested by syndicalists and social democrats, but was perfectly fine for Arco-Valley himself, and he spent those two years submitting articles to the Bayerisches Vaterland and Hugenberg's Die Gartenlaube, detailing his political beliefs, his desire to see all of the Germanic peoples unified under one banner and future of Germany's European hegemony.
After his release, Arco-Valley became involved with the AV, becoming one of its most prominent leaders, named as the successor of Heinrich Class as the leader of the movement in 1934 after his health worsened. At the helm of the party, the aristocrat rid the party of its most left-wing members such as the Strasser brothers and Ernst Rohm, while massively expanding its leadership through attracting former supporters of the DVLP and DKP. The party repaired its relations with Prussian Junkers and major industrialists and financiers, though the former remained highly suspicious of him regardless due to his Catholic noble upbringing. With most of the establishment parties compromising their chances through political struggles and mismanaging the recovery from Black Monday, and the rise of worldwide syndicalism threatening the German masses and elites, the AV swept into the Reichstag in the 1937 general elections, and the rest is history...
The Second Weltkrieg between Germany and the Internationale broke out in early 1939 during German military maneuvers in Alsace-Lorraine, and fighting on the continent continued until August 1941, when the last of the Communard forces were either destroyed or surrendered. The first phase of the war was reminiscent of the First Weltkrieg - two massive forces eyeing each other over trench systems in Lorraine and the Ardennes, neither side able to break through and each battle causing hundreds of thousands of losses. A war of attrition was something Germany was far more equipped to deal with than the French - with the Communard manpower reserves drained after six unsuccessful attempts to take Nancy, the freshly reinforced German forces, bolstered by amassed armored spearheads as devised by Heinz Guderian and his army modernizers, broke through the enemy lines first in Flanders-Wallonia and Picardy, then finally across the entire front.
Paris fell in spring of 1941, and by August, the entire nation was overrun. The nature of the conflict meant that despite its relatively short timeframe, it was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, causing almost 5 million military casualties alone, and only God knows how many civilian, including both during the German offensive and the subsequent mass terror to root out Syndicalism within the occupied nation. The Reichsfuhrer's orders for the fate of France were clear - three strikes and you're out, France must never become strong enough to challenge Germany for a fourth time.
The defeated nation was divided into four, each one with a king or grand duke of their own, and the nation's industrial installations are being swiftly dismantled and transported to Germany as a form of war reparations. Rumors are abound that this isn't even the final map of the region - some guess that once the wars in Europe are fully concluded and the situation stabilizes, the Reichfuhrer plans to see Burgundy, as an "ancestral Germanic land", be carved out of the rump Kingdom of France and attached to the Kaiserreich to be Germanized within a swift timeframe. Or perhaps even everything up to the Senne. Few people know at this point.
The Union of Britain, led by Congregationalists under Annie Kenney and Emmeline Pankhurst, alongside their puppet state of Ireland, continue to resist the German offers for a peace, and are content to stay barricaded in their island behind the wall that is the Republican Navy. There is little chance to starve the Syndicalists out through convoy raiding, what with their navy having grasped the new Wolfpack tactics of German U-Boats and reacting accordingly, so unless the Unionists change their mind, the only option for ending the conflict for good is an invasion of the British Isles, Operation Sealion.
German intelligence suggests that the British Army is small would have little chance against the battle-hardened German panzers, but getting them to set their tracks on the island without the Republican Navy bombing their transports and supply to bits is the real question. The Reichsmarine was mismanaged during the initial stages of the Second Weltkrieg, which led to significant losses for the German navy, and only now has the Kaiserreich found an opportunity to finally start rebuilding its navy.
Such an initiative would take many years, however, which would leave Britain a pain for the German Empire for all of that time.
After the fall of the Commune, the Kingdom of Italy took advantage of the German victory and began their invasion of the Socialist Republic of Italy in the south to achieve the second Risorgimento. Dominated by the Papacy, Italy is also the leader of a bloc of fellow reactionary Catholic monarchies, which includes Carlist Spain, Portugal and the Kingdom of France in Africa. As gratitude for France's entrance, and thus departure from the Entente, French-majority provinces in northern Italy were returned to the exiles to administrate. With the Italian syndicalists fortifying themselves in Sicily, however, the Italian civil war seems to be frozen for the time being.
After the invasion of Austria and the final reunification of the German people, the Kaiserreich took control of Veneto and Southern Tyrol, two territories which the Kingdom claims control over, and which have put a dent in the generally friendly relations of the two states. The National Populist regime has little desire to keep Veneto for the long term, thus negotiations are currently taking place on exchanging the province for the Catholic Bloc, or at least Italy and Iberia, joining Mitteleuropa. Such an idea has been fervently opposed by France-in-Africa, however, as it would pretty much mean the recognition of the German occupation of mainland France.
The American Civil War of 1936-1941, the deadiest conflict to ever take place in the Western Hemisphere, eventually ended with a victory for the Combined Syndicates of America, and after the death of the leader of the Revolution, John Reed, he was replaced by Earl Browder, who has taken the reunified nation towards a more authoritarian course. Alongside Mexico and Centroamerica, the CSA has become an anchor of Syndicalism in the Americas, putting it towards a direct collision course with the British exile led Canada to the north. The CSA also missed the majority of the Second Weltkrieg, but as the world enters a new page of history, it is bound to come into conflict with Arco-Valley's German Empire at some point in the future.
The request from the Russian Empire, one of the most liberal and democratic states on the planet, to join Mitteleuropa came as a great surprise to the diplomatic service of the Kaiserreich. All this time, they had assumed that they were on a collision course with the "Asiatic hordes" of the East for the domination of Europe, knowing that Russia was, historically, highly anti-German and Germany returned that favor - but no, one of the most powerful alliances in world history was formed.
However, as you might imagine, Russia completely doesn't fit in with the zeitgeist of the Mitteleuropa, which has already led to many observers labeling this alliance as a circumstantial anti-Syndicalist one. Nationalist forces in the Russian Duma call for the liberation of the Slavic peoples in Ukraine and White Ruthenia, while the Reichsfuhrer dreams about a mythologized idea of "Drang Nach Osten", a push to Slavic inhabited lands for colonization and the extraction of the resources of their lands. Already, both sides are secretly drawing up plans of both an offensive war and a defensive war against the other, while their diplomats continue to exchange nice words and call Germany and Russia "the two sentinels of Mitteleuropa" and "each other's greatest ally".
The late 1930s and early 1940s saw Asia consolidate under three giants - the Empire of Japan, the Dominion of India and the Republic of China, each one with stories to tell. The Empire of Japan is the oldest one of the three polities, reigning over a small, but still respectable "Co-Prosperity Sphere" in East Asia and declining Chinese offers of a Manchurian referendum of self-determination. The Dominion of India arose after the Indian civil wars of the 1930s and 1940s, both the Princely Federation and the Bhartiya Commune defeated by their forces and the subcontinent reunited under a federalized democracy. The Republic of China arose from the AOG in the Changsha Revolution, and reunified the previously shattered Chinese state through several expeditions against Yunnan, the Qing and Mongolia. Though officially a democracy, it has been starting to take the path of authoritarianism, with the powers of President Chen Jiongming growing almost every day.
Generally ignored by European powers until very recently, Asia is bound to play an important part in the future, especially if the rumored German-Russian War breaks out and, say, China or Japan take advantage to resolve their own territorial conflicts with the Russian Empire...
Well that definitely isn't a dark timeline or anything...
That said, those tiny little Algiers-French enclaves on the mainland are an absolutely brilliant bit of historical accident that probably attract a lot of attention as quaint curiosities. All the more so since it is perfectly possible, especially if America joins the war on the side of Britain, that the French could be kicked out of their African holdings and left with just Grenoble, Nice and Corsica. And that is defenitely what you call a vestigial empire!
teg
That said, those tiny little Algiers-French enclaves on the mainland are an absolutely brilliant bit of historical accident that probably attract a lot of attention as quaint curiosities. All the more so since it is perfectly possible, especially if America joins the war on the side of Britain, that the French could be kicked out of their African holdings and left with just Grenoble, Nice and Corsica. And that is defenitely what you call a vestigial empire!
teg
Huh, I didn’t know you could still go Nat-Pop as Germany. Looks like I’ll have to look into the DH version of Kaiserreich.Here's a pretty good game I had as Germany in Kaiserreich for DH. Reddit post here.
It is the year 1942, and with the fall of the last resistance within the Netherlands and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kaiserreich has established nigh complete hegemony over the European continent. All of the Germanic people have been unified under the Imperial hand, too, finally fulfilling the Reichfuhrer's ambition.
The political, military and economic alliance known as Mitteleuropa - although at this point it may as well be called just "Europa" - stretches from the coasts of Brittany and Aquitaine in the west to the icy plains of Kamchatka in the far east. Though some of the organization's members, such as Denmark and Russia, joined on their own merit, the absolute majority of the organization's members are tightly controlled puppet regimes, drained for resources and manpower to power the Kaiserreich's unstoppable military might. Their leaders do not dare to even say a word against the direction in which the Germans lead them, be it sending their citizens to meaningless slaughter in the Lotharingian trenches or handing over their food production surplus to the Heer and leave them with a full belly while their farmers wither away.
Officially, the Second Weltkrieg is not yet over - the Syndicalist regime in the British Isles continues to decline any offers for a second Peace with Honour, and as their fleets have bombed much of the Reichsmarine to the bottom of the North Sea, this situation is set to persist at least until Germany can rebuild their navy and execute the operation to sweep away Syndicalism in the British Isles, Operation Sealion. Aside from the remnants of the Internationale and the Mitteleuropa, the continent also holds the the three Scandinavian democracies, the Balkan Pact, which has survived as a common anti-German alliance, and the Catholic Pact between Italy, Spain, Portugal and National France. None of them pose any direct threat to German pan-European hegemony, however, so they have been allowed to remain for the time being.
Any semblance of democracy in the German Empire has been swept away ever since the political and economic chaos of 1936 and the subsequent general elections of 1937 brought the Alldeutscher Verband and its famous, charismatic figurehead, Graf Anton von Arco-Valley, to power. The Empire's failure to contain syndicalism both outside and within its borders, the chaos of the aftermath of the Black Monday, instability within the "Grand Coalition" of the DKP, Zentrum and NLP, starting with the fall of Kuno von Westarp's government in early 1936, brought the AV to the national stage as one of the few political forces which were both fiercely anti-syndicalist and hadn't compromised themselves by being a party of "the establishment".
In 1937, after the Imperial general elections saw massive gains for the AV, while the nation's stability deteriorated to a record low, Kaiser Wilhelm II was faced with the choice of either letting the "extremist, idiotic loudmouths and demagogues", which he held no liking towards, form a government, or watch the Kaiserreich be ripped apart from the left and from the right at once. He chose the former. The Graf rose to the position of Reichskanzler, where the right-wing nationalist DVLP, led by Otto von Schleicher, helped provide the AV a necessary majority needed for transforming the German Empire into a National Populist state.
The belligerence of the Second Internationale, the reemergence of the FAUD and the assassination of the German ambassador to Austria at the hands of a French syndicalist granted Arco-Valley the green light to begin mass repressions against the syndicalist movement within the Empire - and not even limited to actual Syndicalists, with the repressions soon extending to many vocal members of the SPD, who protested the act - gaining the moniker of "White Terror". The ongoing economic crisis allowed the German government to take partial control over the nation's economy, implementing corporatist measures in militarizing the state and controlling the populace. The Halbstarke, teenagers terrorizing shops and homes for money and food out of desperation, were reorganized into a youth organization under the AV, and began releasing their pent-up energy and dissatisfaction at terrorizing the party's opponents. The beginning of the Second Weltkrieg, and the AV now gaining a complete majority in the Reichstag thanks to numerous vacated seats and several DVLP members changing party allegiance, allowed the Reichskanzler to dismiss the parliament and delay new elections for an unspecified timeframe, all of the power of the government now vested by a small wartime cabinet chaired by Arco-Valley.
The death of Wilhelm II marked the last stage in Germany's transformation to a totalitarian National Populist state. While Wilhelm II may have served as a moderating force thanks to his negative opinion of the Verband and powerful reserve powers, the new Emperor, Wilhelm III, was a close friend of the Reichskanzler and a member of the AV, which meant that the last possible limitation of his power had been taken off. As recognition for Arco-Valley's successful efforts in leading Germany out of crisis and commanding it during the Second Weltkrieg, Wilhelm III granted him the title "Reichsfuhrer", a German equivalent to the Romanian "Conducator", which his party had already been using to refer to him ever since his ascension to power.
Despite its totalitarian nature, AV-led Germany can be surprisingly tolerant and liberal as long as you are not declared an enemy of the state - which is, obviously, fairly easy to do. Most notably, as recognition for their effort in factories and often on the battlefield during the Second Weltkrieg, the German women have been theoretically granted the same voting rights as men - "theoretically" because neither they nor men have seen an election take place since 1937.
The Reichsfuhrer, Anton von Arco-Valley, is a highly interesting figure. An Austrian nobleman by birth, he moved to Bavaria during the first Weltkrieg, where he became a German citizen and served during the last years of the war in the Royal Bavarian Lifeguards. Arco-Valley returned from the front in France a different man, a radical pan-German nationalist, monarchist and anti-syndicalist, only to witness that his new home of Bavaria was in the process of being overrun by local Syndicalists, sympathizing with the French Revolution, in what is nowadays known as the November Insurrections. Without hesitation, Arco-Valley took matters to his own hands and, in the streets of Munich, gunned down Kurt Eisner, one of the most well known leaders of the German syndicalist movement. This act led to his arrest, but also to him becoming a national icon of anti-syndicalism, and inspiring many future members of the Alldeutscher Verband.
Obviously, as he was charged with first degree murder, Arco-Valley should have spent the rest of his life in prison - however, few people in his trial wished to see him incarcerated. After all, for many, he had become a hero of the German opposition to syndicalism. Hell, even the prosecutor did not lack compliments for him, stating that "if the whole German youth were imbued with such a glowing enthusiasm, we could face the future with confidence". The nobleman was sentenced to two years of house arrest, an act which was protested by syndicalists and social democrats, but was perfectly fine for Arco-Valley himself, and he spent those two years submitting articles to the Bayerisches Vaterland and Hugenberg's Die Gartenlaube, detailing his political beliefs, his desire to see all of the Germanic peoples unified under one banner and future of Germany's European hegemony.
After his release, Arco-Valley became involved with the AV, becoming one of its most prominent leaders, named as the successor of Heinrich Class as the leader of the movement in 1934 after his health worsened. At the helm of the party, the aristocrat rid the party of its most left-wing members such as the Strasser brothers and Ernst Rohm, while massively expanding its leadership through attracting former supporters of the DVLP and DKP. The party repaired its relations with Prussian Junkers and major industrialists and financiers, though the former remained highly suspicious of him regardless due to his Catholic noble upbringing. With most of the establishment parties compromising their chances through political struggles and mismanaging the recovery from Black Monday, and the rise of worldwide syndicalism threatening the German masses and elites, the AV swept into the Reichstag in the 1937 general elections, and the rest is history...
The Second Weltkrieg between Germany and the Internationale broke out in early 1939 during German military maneuvers in Alsace-Lorraine, and fighting on the continent continued until August 1941, when the last of the Communard forces were either destroyed or surrendered. The first phase of the war was reminiscent of the First Weltkrieg - two massive forces eyeing each other over trench systems in Lorraine and the Ardennes, neither side able to break through and each battle causing hundreds of thousands of losses. A war of attrition was something Germany was far more equipped to deal with than the French - with the Communard manpower reserves drained after six unsuccessful attempts to take Nancy, the freshly reinforced German forces, bolstered by amassed armored spearheads as devised by Heinz Guderian and his army modernizers, broke through the enemy lines first in Flanders-Wallonia and Picardy, then finally across the entire front.
Paris fell in spring of 1941, and by August, the entire nation was overrun. The nature of the conflict meant that despite its relatively short timeframe, it was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century, causing almost 5 million military casualties alone, and only God knows how many civilian, including both during the German offensive and the subsequent mass terror to root out Syndicalism within the occupied nation. The Reichsfuhrer's orders for the fate of France were clear - three strikes and you're out, France must never become strong enough to challenge Germany for a fourth time.
The defeated nation was divided into four, each one with a king or grand duke of their own, and the nation's industrial installations are being swiftly dismantled and transported to Germany as a form of war reparations. Rumors are abound that this isn't even the final map of the region - some guess that once the wars in Europe are fully concluded and the situation stabilizes, the Reichfuhrer plans to see Burgundy, as an "ancestral Germanic land", be carved out of the rump Kingdom of France and attached to the Kaiserreich to be Germanized within a swift timeframe. Or perhaps even everything up to the Senne. Few people know at this point.
The Union of Britain, led by Congregationalists under Annie Kenney and Emmeline Pankhurst, alongside their puppet state of Ireland, continue to resist the German offers for a peace, and are content to stay barricaded in their island behind the wall that is the Republican Navy. There is little chance to starve the Syndicalists out through convoy raiding, what with their navy having grasped the new Wolfpack tactics of German U-Boats and reacting accordingly, so unless the Unionists change their mind, the only option for ending the conflict for good is an invasion of the British Isles, Operation Sealion.
German intelligence suggests that the British Army is small would have little chance against the battle-hardened German panzers, but getting them to set their tracks on the island without the Republican Navy bombing their transports and supply to bits is the real question. The Reichsmarine was mismanaged during the initial stages of the Second Weltkrieg, which led to significant losses for the German navy, and only now has the Kaiserreich found an opportunity to finally start rebuilding its navy.
Such an initiative would take many years, however, which would leave Britain a pain for the German Empire for all of that time.
After the fall of the Commune, the Kingdom of Italy took advantage of the German victory and began their invasion of the Socialist Republic of Italy in the south to achieve the second Risorgimento. Dominated by the Papacy, Italy is also the leader of a bloc of fellow reactionary Catholic monarchies, which includes Carlist Spain, Portugal and the Kingdom of France in Africa. As gratitude for France's entrance, and thus departure from the Entente, French-majority provinces in northern Italy were returned to the exiles to administrate. With the Italian syndicalists fortifying themselves in Sicily, however, the Italian civil war seems to be frozen for the time being.
After the invasion of Austria and the final reunification of the German people, the Kaiserreich took control of Veneto and Southern Tyrol, two territories which the Kingdom claims control over, and which have put a dent in the generally friendly relations of the two states. The National Populist regime has little desire to keep Veneto for the long term, thus negotiations are currently taking place on exchanging the province for the Catholic Bloc, or at least Italy and Iberia, joining Mitteleuropa. Such an idea has been fervently opposed by France-in-Africa, however, as it would pretty much mean the recognition of the German occupation of mainland France.
The American Civil War of 1936-1941, the deadiest conflict to ever take place in the Western Hemisphere, eventually ended with a victory for the Combined Syndicates of America, and after the death of the leader of the Revolution, John Reed, he was replaced by Earl Browder, who has taken the reunified nation towards a more authoritarian course. Alongside Mexico and Centroamerica, the CSA has become an anchor of Syndicalism in the Americas, putting it towards a direct collision course with the British exile led Canada to the north. The CSA also missed the majority of the Second Weltkrieg, but as the world enters a new page of history, it is bound to come into conflict with Arco-Valley's German Empire at some point in the future.
The request from the Russian Empire, one of the most liberal and democratic states on the planet, to join Mitteleuropa came as a great surprise to the diplomatic service of the Kaiserreich. All this time, they had assumed that they were on a collision course with the "Asiatic hordes" of the East for the domination of Europe, knowing that Russia was, historically, highly anti-German and Germany returned that favor - but no, one of the most powerful alliances in world history was formed.
However, as you might imagine, Russia completely doesn't fit in with the zeitgeist of the Mitteleuropa, which has already led to many observers labeling this alliance as a circumstantial anti-Syndicalist one. Nationalist forces in the Russian Duma call for the liberation of the Slavic peoples in Ukraine and White Ruthenia, while the Reichsfuhrer dreams about a mythologized idea of "Drang Nach Osten", a push to Slavic inhabited lands for colonization and the extraction of the resources of their lands. Already, both sides are secretly drawing up plans of both an offensive war and a defensive war against the other, while their diplomats continue to exchange nice words and call Germany and Russia "the two sentinels of Mitteleuropa" and "each other's greatest ally".
The late 1930s and early 1940s saw Asia consolidate under three giants - the Empire of Japan, the Dominion of India and the Republic of China, each one with stories to tell. The Empire of Japan is the oldest one of the three polities, reigning over a small, but still respectable "Co-Prosperity Sphere" in East Asia and declining Chinese offers of a Manchurian referendum of self-determination. The Dominion of India arose after the Indian civil wars of the 1930s and 1940s, both the Princely Federation and the Bhartiya Commune defeated by their forces and the subcontinent reunited under a federalized democracy. The Republic of China arose from the AOG in the Changsha Revolution, and reunified the previously shattered Chinese state through several expeditions against Yunnan, the Qing and Mongolia. Though officially a democracy, it has been starting to take the path of authoritarianism, with the powers of President Chen Jiongming growing almost every day.
Generally ignored by European powers until very recently, Asia is bound to play an important part in the future, especially if the rumored German-Russian War breaks out and, say, China or Japan take advantage to resolve their own territorial conflicts with the Russian Empire...
There is no option which puts you as NatPop automatically - however, if you choose the AV-DVLP coalition in the 1937 elections, it puts you at the slider level where if you pick "Round up some left wing agitators" after the Second Internationale (which gives 1 Political Right), it changes you to National Populist. Then you can use the yearly slider changes to add more Authoritarian and Political Right (I maxed out Hawk Lobby fairly early, so I didn't have much else to spend it on, because full Central Planning doesn't excite me).
Being either National Populist or one of the three radical left ideologies makes German election events no longer fire, too, which is some good roleplaying if you're into that.
It's why I like playing Kaiserreich on DH more, because the ideologies are a lot more malleable. It only it wasn't pretty much abandoned and got updated to the current lore, though...
I assume your Head of Government is modded in though?
Also KRDH isn't abandoned, its just the team is very small and given that most of the people I spoke to there during my (very very) short time as a dev had signed up to add new things rather than meekly accept some of the KR4 changes and ideas that the team there had they were all relatively demoralised.
I know I personally kind of lost my enthusiasm for doing much when I saw the crazy changes to Italy that still annoy me.
EDIT: I shoudl clarify that this isn't me moaning about KR4, I can do that elsewhere, but more that the direction of KR4 and some of the massive changes being made over there meant that it felt to me that I had no idea where to start helping and that somehow the only guides for how to do things were for KR4 with no real KRDH style guide (at the time, this may have changed since).