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The World in a New Century, Section VI: Central Europe
Published by the McNally Corporation in Chicago, 1901.

Germany:
Besides France, the other major power on the European continent is the German Empire. The German Empire is currently led by Emperor Frederick III. The emperor is the ultimate authority in the German government, but the German parliament or Reichstag plays the main role in proposing laws. The members of the Reichstag are elected giving the people some representation in their government, but voting is restricted primarily to the landed or wealthy. On the level of the provinces of Germany, the electoral franchise is more varied. In some provinces like Austria, there is universal suffrage and a large workers' presence in local government. However, in other provinces, the voting franchise is restricted to the ruling aristocracy. This is particularly present in Bavaria and Hanover, which have a special autonomous status within the German Empire.

Germany owes much of its industrial and military prowess to the vast riches of coal and iron that lie within its borders. The coal fields of the Rhineland and Silesia have been mined for much of the century and are the main driver behind German industrial growth. As such, it is easy to see why most German industry is concentrated in the valley of the Rhine and in eastern Germany around Saxony and Silesia. Recently with the incorporation of some former Habsburg lands into Germany, industrial growth has shifted from northeastern Germany around Berlin to Bohemia. The industry has propelled the German railway network to be one of the most extensive in Europe, with over 25,000 miles of railway in the country at the present time.

In the past decades since its unification, the German Empire has continued to expand. At first, German expansion was primarily in the form of acquiring colonies. German efforts to gain footholds in eastern Africa bore fruit first in Zanzibar and Mogadischu. In the past decade, the German colonial efforts have blossomed to cover a large portion of the east African coast, the island of Madagaskar, and a section of the Arabian Peninsula. However, in the past years German has also pursued territorial acquisition on the European continent. With the annexation of Moravia and the Workers' Republic of Austria, the German Empire seems to have shifted its hunger for land to along its own borders. This is undoubtedly spurred on by the country's aristocracy including the remnants of the Habsburg dynasty, itching to return to their former glory. Nonetheless, the German Empire appears to be slowly rejecting the influence of the nobility and may become a republic given enough time.


The Low Countries:
Centered around the mouth of the Rhine, the countries of Belgium and the Netherlands were home to large centers of shipping in the past. However, with the coming of industrialization this century, they have declined in relative importance. Both countries are monarchies. The leader of the Netherlands holds several titles: king of the Netherlands, Duke of Limburg, and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Both countries are relatively backward politically, with their monarchs holding almost absolute rule over the affairs of their respective countries. While the Netherlands has a constitution that grants the various provinces some power in local affairs, the people have little say in the governing of the country at a national level.

Both the Netherlands and Belgium possess vast colonial empires in Asia and the East Indies. These are primarily remnants of the Dutch Empire at its height, as the colonies in the East Indies were divided after Belgium won its independence in the 1830s. The Dutch control the islands of Sumatra, Java, the Moluccas, part of New Guinea, and several other islands in the East Indian archipelago. Belgium controls the island of Borneo, but has also gained part of Indochina and small ports along the African coast. These colonies still bring in several exotic goods, making the cities in these two countries still somewhat rich despite the countries' declining economic importance.


Baden and Switzerland:
To the south west of Germany are the two smaller nations of Baden and Switzerland. Baden is ruled by a grand duke, and has made little attempts to reform toward a constitutional form of government. While there has been more movement toward a republican system than either of the Low Countries, much of the reform took place in the aftermath of the Mid-Century Revolutions. Baden still allows voting only for the wealthy in the country's Congress and the grand duke retains supreme authority over Baden's laws. Baden itself lies primarily on the left bank of the Rhine, and so is largely an agricultural nation. Unlike the other nations of the German Confederation, Baden refused to join the German Empire in the 1860s and has maintained its neutrality ever since.

Switzerland lies south of Baden in the highest peaks of the Alps. For the past century, the small federal republic has remained for the most part unbothered by its neighbors. The Swiss government operates similar to our Congress, but on a much more direct level of operation. The smaller divisions in Switzerland allow for a more direction participation by the people in the lawmaking process. While an overall federal council was formally established after a short civil war in the 1850s, the individual cantons, as the Swiss administrative divisions are called, still retain a largely autonomous status within the country.

Both of these countries are perceived in international relations as guaranteed neutral states within the European system. This has led to international conferences often being hosted in these two countries. The most prestigious of these in recent decades was the meeting in Rastatt, Baden in 1877 that established the International Olympic Committee.