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Hello! I have a timeline for more successful 1848 revolutions fully fleshed out in my head, but due to very limited writing time, I will never be able to put it on paper. I will post several parts of what I concocted as a starting and end points over time and give you, dear readers, the opportunity to add to the timeline so one day it will be completed as a collective work.

The first post is about one of the main PoDs covering Germany in 1848 and the beginning (part 1) of a TTL Germany gazetteer in 2010. Hope you enjoy it!

From Heinrich Pleticha´s “Deutsche Geschichte” (German History), fourth updated edition:

“Volume 11 covers the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna and it´s aftermath in detail, but the main focus will lie on the years between 1848-1854 or as that timeframe has become known often in common parlance: “The Revolutions Years and Unifications”

With 160 years hindsight, it´s easy to say that two interconnected events from that time had an impact on Germany´s history which can still be felt today; the liberal Revolution of 1848 and the Rise of Otto von Bismarck. It is another mark on the well-filled scoreboard for strange happenings in german history that a conservative politician, deeply opposed to the Revolution, would become the man to make it successful and creating a style of politics known today as ‘Realpolitik’.

In 1848 the old order of Europe was shaken to the foundations. Inspired by ideas from nationalism and liberalism, the people rose up for more freedom, more power and to end the time of the Mini-principalities dividing Europe.
At that time, Bismarck, the later ‘Iron Chancellor’, was in hard opposition against this uprising. He had no overly high position in Prussia´s political sphere, but was well connected to the inner circle around the king and a rising star, respected even by his enemies. When in the summer of 1848 the situation became state-threatening, Prussia, along with other german states, decided to send a delegation to the revolutionaries´s ‘Paulskirche-Parliament’ in Frankfurt. Bismarck was one of the delegation members. At first, his stance did not change. Some of the ideas these Rebels had were good and had merit, like e.g. giving the emperor´s crown to Prussia, but the rest… Prussia just had to wait until the rebellion ran out of steam.

Then it became clear to him that, if properly ‘modified’ the Paulskirche movement might be the vehicle to wrest alpha position in Germany from Austria. During the Prussians stay in Frankfurt, the situation all over Europe became worse, the Danube Monarchy one of those hit hardest. Bismarck sensed the beginning of an opportunity. In what might well be his first recorded spark of political genius, the later chancellor mustered all influence he could get and lobbied for his idea before the inner circle and the King.
With Prussia earnestly thinking about the Paulskirche proposal, it unintendedly stabilised or started several movements in other states and nations (the revolutionaries saw that even Great Powers could come under enough pressure) and gave the Parliament clout enough to solve the Danish crisis halfway well. In the end, Bismarck succeeded. With Austria and other powers bound by internal uprisings and affairs sweeping over the whole continent, Prussia took the opportunity. The negotiations in Frankfurt took quite some time, but on second May 1851 a new Germany was born. Bismarck, who had a swim or sink crash course in high politics from the gruelling negotiations, became the first chancellor, thanks to his impact on the whole process. Many thought the young chancellor was sitting on a hot seat and it would only be some time until an ersatz came into power, but the Prussian was a lucky draw for Germany. Only a handful other chancellors in the following one and a half centuries would be of comparable calibre. To this day, Otto Eduard von Bismarck-Schönhausen, is the chancellor with the longest tenure at the chancellory in Berlin´s Wilhelmstraße.

As he had promised the King (now Emperor), the constitution of Germany was modified quite a bit away from the most radical intentions. Despite Bismarck´s and other conservatives negotiating it was, especially for the time, a very liberal constitution (with some conservative influx). And even several reforms later, today Germany´s state order is still based on the compromise found in Frankfurt back then.
This 1851 Reich had not the form of the Germany we live in today. Several german states declined, even with strong nationalistic pressure clamouring for unification, to accede, mainly those close to Austria. But the talks with these states never stopped, since during the rest of 1851 and 1852 it became clear that Austrian power was fading, sapped from the internal strife after Metternich´s system failed in 48. One after the other, they sought and found entry into Germany.
During that time all major and medium European Powers were occupied with internal matters, the fallout of or even enduring revolutions. The revolutions kept the tensions with France over german unification from becoming “hot”. In several nations it was a close race between the revolutionaries and the old order.
During 1852 the situation in the Danube Monarchy became critical. In February, Bavaria, as the last German Federation state beside Austria outside new Germany, became part of the German Empire. The Habsburg multi-ethnic Empire began to come apart at the seams when german Austrians close to the revolutionary cause sent a delegation to Berlin for a request to mediating in the conflict. For a time it seemed a war between Germany and Austria was near, but it did not come. To clarify, Austria was no pushover, it was still a Great Power and had the potential might to put down the uprisings. But there were so many fires burning, her allies gone over to Germany or with problems to solve themselves and now with many german Austrians wanting unification, the Habsburgs looked for a way out without the Empire totally disintegrating. In July 1852, with a heavy heart, the young emperor Franz Josef met a german delegation under Bismarck in Salzburg to open negotiations about what to do. Austrian forces were stretched to the limit when Savoy with French goodwill tried to unify Italy, bringing the whole peninsular in uproar. The Habsburgs had quite a part of northern Italy in possession, but most of the army was busy keeping the other parts of the Empire quiet. This had been the last straw and the main reason for the meeting with the “upstarts”.

Bismarck favoured the “Kleindeutsche Lösung” (Germany without Austria) since it left Prussia stronger in Germany, but an Austria with limited power in Germany would be a power multiplier for the whole nation and still no threat to Prussia´s top position. Under normal circumstances such an outcome was unlikely in the extreme, given Austria´s might, but the years since 1848 were anything, just not normal and it would be still some years to “normal”.
Bismarck´s nose for opportunity in foreign matters and his feeling for what is possible laid the foundation once more. The negotiations took until March 1853, with breaks, but the “Großdeutsche Lösung” (Germany with Austria) became reality. On the second birthday of the Second German Empire, the western parts of the Austrian Empire became officially part of Germany.


Excerpts from a 2010 Dossier for embassy personal working in Germany:


The German Empire, most often just called by both citizens and foreigners alike, “Deutschland” (Germany) or “Das Reich“(lit. the Realm aka the Empire), is a state in Central Europe and one of the “Big Four” Great Powers. As you, dear reader, certainly know the Big Four label is to differentiate between Great Powers with continuous space presence and those without.

Regions
Germany (metropolitan): At the heights of her colonial Empire, Germany had holdings on 5 continents, but back then and to this day the core of Germany is the central-european heartland. The German Empire´s easternmost point lies near the town of Schirwindt in East Prussia, the northernmost point is at the border to Lithuania near Nimmersatt in Memelland, the northern part of East Prussia. Germany´s westernmost point lies at the border between Toul on the French side of the Mosel and Dommartin on the German side. The border follows the Mosel river between Noveant and Bussang. The southern tip of the Kaiserreich lies at Cape Kamenjak on Istria. (for more information, see the chapter about Germany proper on page 42ff.) (TTL Germany is the 1871 Empire + Luxemburg + all of the eastern bank of the Mosel river + Austria + Bohemia-Moravia + all of South Tyrol and the Trentino + around 1/3 of the Venetia region + Carniola and Küstenland, except for some islands)

Deutsch-Kanada (German Canada): Germany came to her first colony like the proverbial virgin to a child. The British Empire, wanting to preserve her position as Great Power Number One, was wary about the german Unifications, but in the turmoil of the revolution years Britain had no chance of intervention. The time for intervention seemed to come when the 2. German-Danish War erupted 1864 after Denmark tried to absorb Holstein fully. The decision to back the Danes on short notice and the aftermath was much lamented for years and the nickname of then Premier Viscount Henry Palmerston, “Lord Firebrand” became a curse in England.
While on sea England had no problems, on land the british army, thrown into the fight with too much haste and after a string of mistakes in the gathering, experienced the most severe loss of the 19th. Century. The scale of the disaster at Flensburg surprised even the commanding german Generals von Moltke and von Wrangel, who beat the british-danish forces most masterfully. The fighting ended soon after, only some small battles were fought until armistice.
In the case of Denmark the proceedings were fast. The Danes lost all of Schleswig and Holstein, they could keep their colonies, but had to accept after the peace negotiations with Great Britain some “rest stops” on Iceland and Greenland for german ships on the Canada route.
At the conference with England the problem was how to proceed. Germany had clearly won on land, but had no way to reach England with enough forces, so a negotiated and rather tame peace was a must. On the other hand Britain had lost the land war so miserably a white peace was not in the cards, the public would not allow it. Both sides knew it would be a pain to find a solution the 2 nations could live with.
It was one of those sentences only having impact at a special specific time in history, which brought Rupert´s Land into the “haggling”. Britain, in the hope that Germany would soon tire of this “conquest” and would be able to get it back from the “Jerries”, literally pushed the undeveloped, far away region into Germany´s lap. It would be a cheap way to peace for Britain. In the eyes of the public England would have her “lecture”, while it was not really the case. First, Rupert´s Land was more or less company owned, so while looking like Britain lost territory, it was nothing truly important. Second, Germany would have problems with the region considering the travel circumstances. Third, with so much land, no matter it was practically wilderness doted with some outposts, changing hands, Britain would escape costly reparations, because for the public eye it was enough.

Bismarck knew what the British tried to do, but the situation was a mess. According to his biographer, the Chancellor once said during a four eyes talk: “The Brits are a clever bunch. They give us an undeveloped, nearly empty backwater with partly hostile climate and Indians on the other side of the Atlantic, hoping that we tire of it and sell it back to them after some years. True, it´s a lot of land and seems to be potentially rich in resources, but we will face a mountain of difficulties. Britain has experience with far away colonies, we do not. So it will come to learning by doing.
I´d like to decline Rupert´s Land, not only because of the problems we get, but because the “Limeys” try to circumvent the lecture for interfering in affairs they should not, by giving us something most of Britain will not miss. It´s their right to try for the least hurting treaty, but I don´t think Britain will learn the lesson if they get away with this.
Unfortunately, I see no choice but to accept. I don´t want to punish Britain, just a slap on the hand; we don´t need or want to alienate such a potent power. Other proposals might be “better”, but carry the risk in making Britain an enemy. Let London slap it´s own back for being more cunning than us Germans; two can play this game. They might believe Germany is unable to rise to the challenge, but we will never give back what we get now. Even if I have to visit the wilderness every year.”

It was tough for Germany, especially in the early years of the Colony, but she never sold Rupert´s Land back to Britain. One could even say Germany´s colony in the Americas did much for the development of Air Travel. While the Empire did build a capable Fleet out of necessity to defend her colonies, Berlin always wanted to reduce the dependency on the british and american dominated High Seas. So Germany became a leader in the skies first with Zeppelin technology, later airplanes and then striking in the space age.

Today, after wars gone by, deals, treaties and exchanges with the native Indians and the Canadian Federation, the German Empire still holds a large chunk of former Rupert´s Land and some additional parts gotten by several exchange treaties. Unlike in the 19th or the early 20th Century, German Kanada is not a colony any longer, but 5 German “Länder”(States). During Decolonisation German Kanada voted to stay part of Germany. German Kanada´s eastern border is a line from Schreiber, around 70 km northeast of Donnersbucht (Thunder Bay) at Lake Superior (Oberer See), north to the meeting point of Winisk River and Hudson Bay. The southern border follows the 49th parallel, the western border follows the form of Canadian Federation member British Columbia. The northern border runs the old Rupert´s Land border on the mainland, except in the northwestern area were it makes a bow to the south and a bow upward northwest, meeting the border to BC at around the 58th parallel and in the northwest reaching the Yukon. Several Islands have been given over fully to the native Inuit and two were given to Denmark in 1952.

TBC...
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