DB Challenge: Prevent the Volksrepublik

Here's a challenge for you: Prevent the rise of the Volksrepublic. POD no earlier than 1900, and bonus points if it is democratic in the present day. It can be split up as much as you like ;).
 
Hm- perhaps if Austria was integrated into the short-lived post-War Republic, that would be enough? Austria, especially at this time, is very Catholic and was very conservative leaning, so that would provide a strong base for the reactionary forces within the Republic to prevent radical change. But the Republic is rather unstable- I doubt it could last. You'd probably have some sort of Kaiser restoration at some point if leftist forces don't come to prominence. (But would Austrian conservatives support restoring the Hohenzollerns?)
 
Hugo Gernsback was an engineer with an interest in science and scientific speculation. If he had emigrated to America, and gotten involved in the publishing industry, that might have jump-started America's involvement with science fiction. There might be far more American science fiction novels, movies and TV shows, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Some of the ones in OTL are fairly good.

One possibility is that he might have had even more influence on the development of twentieth-century European literature. That would be an interesting alternate timeline. But as it was, he met and fell in love with a one of the "minor" Austrian royals, giving him a start in European politics. This could not possibly have happened if he had gone to America.

Hugo Gernsback thus combined three important influences in himself: Politics, literature and technology. When Franz Ferdinand decided to visit Sarajevo in 1914, Gernsback was part of the team which made the preparations, making sure everything was secure.

Gernsback quickly became aware of the revolutionary societies growing in the Balkans, and met Gustav Princip on several occasions. He persuaded Princip that antagonizing the Austrians would be among the worst things anybody in the Balkans could possibly do. He introduced Princip and his friends to the novels of Upton Sinclair, H.G. Welles, and others. (I'm just mentioning the more familiar examples.)

Well, to make a long story short, the Great War happened anyway, because of the standoff between Russia and the Ottomans. But as the casualties mounted and the true cost of the war was becoming more apparent, Gernsback and his political allies persuaded the powers that be, that there was no point in prolonging the war. The Great War might have lasted until 1918!

If the US had entered the war, there were some Americans--in addition to French and British--who might have pushed for retribution against the Germans, which might have caused economic and social problems, leaving Central Europe ripe for some mad dictator to try to provoke a second Great War.

The Hohenzollerns and Habsburgs did lose their thrones, but that was pretty inevitable in any timeline involving a Great War like the one which broke out in 1914. But without Gernsback, the Volksrepublic might have been a far different, weaker, poorer state, with a capital at someplace like Weimar.

Gernsback's literary and political influence expanded throughout Europe for decades, because of what he accomplished during and after the Great War.

And all because he stayed in Europe and married a minor Austrian noblewoman.

:)
 
Gernsback's real name was Hugo Gernsbacher - he used an anglicised pen name for when his books were released in America & Britain because people might not have bought books written by a dirty Jerry. :D
 
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