JJohnson
Banned
I'm placing this here since its beginnings are in pre-1900, but the focus is the 20th century.
I'll post a very brief history here relevant to German-speaking countries, but hopefully I'll get some grace here without shouts of "ASB! ASB!"
Brief History:
16th century: Protestant Reformation is more successful. Poland is now majority Lutheran (about 80%, 20% Catholic, and a smattering of Calvinist and Baptists). HRE is now majority Protestant, with Venedig being about 70/30 Catholic, Tirol/Trient being about 80/20 Lutheran, Bohemia/Moravia being majority Hussite, the Kingdom of Hungary being majority Calvinist, and the Swiss cantons turning majority Zwinglian. Bavaria, Salzburg, Jülich, Paderborn, Köln, Westfalen Münster stay Lutheran, spreading the new form of faith in the neighboring territories. The wars of religion fail to reconvert the Germanic people back, and only steel their resolve in Protestantism, and urge their further reform. France has Protestants in the eastern portions, including Artois, Franche Comte, Lorraine, Picardy; Belgium is about 85/15 Calvinist. Ireland becomes 'Anglican' (or Irish Protestant), with five dioceses based on the old five kingdoms. The Bible is translated at least twenty years earlier and helps form the basis of the modern Irish language, much like the King James Bible does for English; a Scots Gaelic Bible translation and a Scots translation are also made for Scotland.
16th Century: The 3rd Duke of Alba dies overseas, and the Spanish fail to take Brussels, which remains under Protestantism.
17th Century: Dutch take and colonize Formosa.
19th Century: After the Napoleonic Wars, the German Confederation is formed from the remains of the Holy Roman Empire. The lands are secularized, and many places are raised to Kingdoms. Many German people and rulers reject French innovations like the new calendar, and new measurement system. Traditional measurements throughout the confederation are regularized, though.
1848: Rhineland and Westphalia become Republics and remain separated from Prussia; Prussia gains a more liberal constitution with its new Kaiser.
1866: Austrian-Prussian War: Prussia wins through its higher industrialization; Austria created a triple monarchy with Bohemia/Moravia, under the agreement for the German majority lands to be separated from Bohemia and Moravia. Two new provinces are created: German Bohemia, Sudetenland; southern districts are added on to Upper and Lower Austria. Prussia leads the creation of the North German Confederation, when southern German states decide not to join them.
1871: French-Prussian War: France attacks the Rhineland, which Prussia uses to stir up patriotic fervor; after a decisive war, the French are defeated, and under Frederick III, the German Empire is formed. Alsace-Lorraine is annexed, but he is crowned in Aachen, not Paris, and turns to the UK as an example, and begins a modernization program.
1870s: Leonine City is the remnant of the Papal States.
1891: Frederick III dies, and William I (OTL William II), a non-breech-birth, is made Kaiser. He was raised in England for a good portion of his life, and isn't as much a diplomatic problem in this timeline.
20th Century:
1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated; later it is found that Nedeljko's group had funding in France and from England. Austria-Hungary declares war, Germany drags its feet. France declares war on both A-H and Germany. Germany asks the UK to join on its side, and after several weeks, joins on France's side. The war goes well for Germany initially, but soon stagnates with trench warfare.
1919: November 11: Armistice reached, and a very different US President argues for 'ethnic self-determination' in Europe. France is very obstinate and gets Alsace-Lorraine, but doesn't get Germany broken up or its economy broken. Poland is reformed, and gains port rights in Danzig and a small portion of Silesia. Denmark gains Nordschleswig. German Austria is formed from the German-majority provinces of Austria-Hungary, plus a new province - Burgenland - which includes Preßburg, Weiselburg, Ödenburg, St Gotthard. War reparations are nowhere near as heavy as France wants, but coal shipments are part of reparations (15% of the German output to France, England, and Netherlands). Due to the Armenian Genocide, the Ottomans lose more territory, and a 'greater Greece' is recreated, with its capital at Constantinople. Greater Armenia and Kurdistan are created, as are Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia are created out of the aftermath of Austria-Hungary's collapse. The Russian Royal family escapes to England, in exile, from the communist uprising in Russia. William I abdicates in the Treaty of Versailles in favor of Heinrich I, who vows to modernize Germany.
1920s: Germany experiences a post-war sadness, but a boom in industry, with returning soldiers working in factories and elsewhere; the new Kaiser gives many in Germany a feeling of continuity, stability, and a look to the future. Socialists and Communists try uprisings, but they are put down by the governments in the various German states. French politics becomes dominated by various extreme parties, angry at Germany's lenient treatment by the other powers. The Croix de Feu party begins gaining more and more power in the French legislature. Heinrich believed the European-based 'League of Nations,' proposed, but not joined, by the US, would mitigate any dangers of France attacking again. His advocacy of German industry and patriotism, and the power of the League of Nations, in hindsight, lulled Germany into a self-focused false sense of security, preventing them from re-arming and seeing the threat. A new constitution liberalizes the empire more, and even grants the Reichstag the power to
1931: France's Croix-de-Feu finally gains a majority in the Parliament, and its programs begin turning the French economy around.
1933: France undergoes a false-flag called 'Night of Fire' where a number of so-called 'protestant attacks' against a number of French monuments lead to a further consolidation of power by the CDF. The German ambassador to the League of Nations, Reinhard Kohl, urges the LoN do something, while French Protestants flee into the UKNL and Germany seeking haven. The borders are closed in 1935.
1930s:
-Kaiser Heinrich I is impressed with Wilhelm Adenaur HaFraBa road between Köln and Bonn, and by 1933, during the worldwide depression, legislation is passed wherein funding is granted for a number of such roads to encourage tourism in and into Germany. Several 'model roads' are paved as two-lane controlled-access highways, straight as possible, with a landscaped median and overpass/underpass construction. The first 'Reichsautobahn' later called the A 1, is build from Duisburg, through Düsseldorf, Köln, and on to Bonn, then the A 2 from Potsdam to Berlin, Frankfurt an der Oder, and to Posen, and the A 3 from Munich to Nuremberg, and the A 4 from Lübeck to Hamburg and Bremen. Other routes are built by Mr Adenauer on as north/south and as east/west as possible, leading to a nearly grid-like crossing of the country by the Autobahns. Most are simply two-lane, as funding began to be an issue in the late 30s. Further Autobahn routes are planned, but not completed before the outbreak of the second world war.
-By 1937, the military warns of France's growing military strength, as does the Kaiser, while the Reichstag goes slowly on the warnings. Austria falls to a fascist government also, causing Bavaria and Saxony to begin pushing for rearmament. A secret treaty with Józef Piłsudski to give them Prussia's eastern provinces in exchange for help in taking Berlin and creating a German client state is published after the war, but the UK dithers, with Neville Chamberlain holding up an agreement with the French President to the newspapers, claiming 'peace in our time.'
-In 1939, France begins its invasion through the former Alsace-Lorraine, sparking the European beginning of WW2. The French blitz through Rhineland, Westphalia, Hessen, and Hanover; the Polish through East and West Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Posen; Austria joins in the fight with materials and gains Bavaria by French dictate. Germany finally gets British aid in 1940 after Churchill becomes Prime Minister, who warned the British of a new Napoleon on the Continent. France declares war on the UK in 1940. Air raids over the southern UK go on for 18 months till France turns its attention to Germany and the USSR; faulty intelligence by the French that the British were close to capitulation led them to spend resources on the attacks that could've gone to Germany or Russia.
1941: US enters WW2 on the side of the UK and Germany, and against Japan, who allies with France. France sets up a puppet government in Bonn; with the Polish and French bearing down on Berlin, a prize for the French, the royal family takes a train to escape; they are captured by the French and publicly executed; film is shown across France to cheering crowds. Berlin Falls. Prussia is broken up.
1942: Allies plan their attack on France in Iceland. French is introduced as the language of government in former Germany. The metric system is forced on the people. Tales of the German resistance movement encourage the people to resist the French occupation.
1943: USSR joins the Allies; Italy's Mussolini falls; South Italy freed from the fascists.
1944: Allies push into Italy, and Spain falls. Portugal freed from Spain. Spanish atrocities are revealed in newspapers around the Allied Nations. Operation Overlord is a success but a large number of casualties. Fighting slogs through the north and south of France, closing in on Paris. Through Denmark, the allies (UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Holland, the Dutch in exile, and others) invade and free Lübeck, then Hamburg, and curve in to Berlin; the Soviets also make their way west; the allies try to make it before the Russians, and succeed. The so-called Monuments Men ensure the preservation of Charlottenburg Palace, and several churches in Hamburg and Berlin that could've been bombed out. By October 3, Berlin is recaptured, and is celebrated as German Freedom Day to this day. Magdeburg is freed November 19, and the Allies run west, forcing the French out of Germany.
1945: French leader, Philippe Pétain, commits suicide on April 30; Charles de Gaul, who had been the effective leader of the new French Third Empire for three years, continues fighting till his surrender on May 7, with Paris surrounded. The fall of the French Empire is celebrated by the allies. Berlin holds a parade on May 9. The postwar order is put into effect: Treaty of Paris 1945 is signed by the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, USSR, and Spain, and other allied powers.
-France cedes Alsace Lorraine in perpetuity to Germany, along with the districts of Briege (Briey) and Belfort. All French-speakers must leave within 45 days who do not wish to be German-citizens.
-France cedes the former County of Artois and the area around Lille to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands; Calais is ceded to the United Kingdom
-France cedes Corsica, Savoy, Haute Savoy, and Nice to Italy.
-Brittany and Normandy are separated from France; Roussillon is given to Spain
-Basque country is separated from France and Spain as its own neutral country
-Switzerland gains the district of Gex, and the three eastern districts of St Claude in Jura.
-Poland gets divided between the USSR and the Allies, forming an east/west division; it loses its portion of Silesia, and cannot object, being occupied. Wilno is divided between the satellites Belarus and Lithuania. The Soviet quarter of Poland becomes East Poland in 1946 (Nowogrod, Bialystok, Polonie, and parts of Warsaw and Lublin provinces).
-Austria is divided into its provinces and based on wide plebescites, joins Germany.
1946: Germany begins reconstituting itself, and with the loss of its royal family, forms a republic similar to its former constitutions and with inspiration from the US and UK. Ludwig Earhardt, Wilhelm Kohl, and Johannes Hubner are the main architects and are considered the 'founding fathers' of the modern German republic. Prussia's provinces, for the most part, form a number of states of this new Germany. The first President, Willhelm Honecker, navigates the early years well with his National Liberal Party holding the majority in the Reichstag for about 18 years (after his two six-year terms). The war experience leads many Germans to believe that holding firearms saved many lives and should be a natural right, that of self-defense.
1949: East Poland is established; Red Scare in Germany of a 'Polish Soviet Socialist Republic' lead to a purge and outlawing of the small German Communist Party (KPD). NATO is formed, with the UK, UKNL, USA, Germany, being the four founding countries, soon followed by Brittany, Normandy, and Luxemburg.
1952: East Poland forms its own separated country after the proposal to reunite Poland as a neutral country is rejected. France joins NATO
1948-1952: East Asian War: Communists in China and in Korea attempt a takeover of those countries. the Allies, mainly the US, UK, Germany, and Canada and Australia, fight against the communists to the aid of the Chinese and Korean nationalists. By 1952, the Korean peninsula is united, and freed from communists, who flee to what becomes North China; China is divided in two, with a large border wall zone keeping the two divided to this day. Shanghai becomes the Republic of China's capital, while Beijing becomes the Peoples' Republic of China capital. The attempts to capture Dutch Formosa and eliminate the foreign concessions fail and are agreed to by the Republic of China in compensation for the Allies' role in stopping the communists, in addition to free trade agreements with the RoC.
Let's avoid arguing the above, just use it as a rough background for this version of Germany.
Time Zones (1894):
Early (Germany):
Early on, the railways were the driving force behind a standardized time zone for Germany. Prussian railways agreed on using Berlin Time, which, starting in 1842, was generally about 2 hours ahead of London Time. Vienna used Prague as its meridian, so its time was slightly off from its northern neighbors till 1904.
1894:
At the Congress of Vienna (1894), leaders from the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, and several other European nations took part in the Treaty of Vienna (1894), of which the Rail Time Unification clause is of particular note. Europe was divided into several different time zones, where France, Spain, and Portugal would be under GMT; the Germanic nations would be in Central European Time (1 hour ahead), along with Italy, and everything east would be under Eastern European Time, 2 hours ahead. With minor changes, this would continue to today.
Modern:
IST (-1): Iceland, Azores, Cape Verde
GMT(+0): UK, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxemburg, United Kingdom of the Netherlands
CET(+1): Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro
EET(+2): Finland, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia
Measurements:
Length:
Meile: 3280 Fuß (1821), in 1912, the long Mile, or 'British' mile, was made legal (5280 ft)
Rute: 16 Füße
Lachter: 1 meter, 6 feet (exact), 2 Ellen
Elle: 3 Fuß
Fuß: 12 Zoll (various inches were debated for a while till finally, Duke Charles Frederick of Baden, having recently returned from a visit in London, argued and won a 12 inch foot); after WW2, the Meter was redefined as 3 Füße/1 Elle
Zoll: 1 inch
Weight:
Pfund: 16 oz; after WW2, the Kg was redefined as 2 Pfund
Unze: 28.35 g
Stein: 22 Pfund (rather than British 14 lb)
Zentner: 100 Pfund
Tonne: 192 Pfund (1821), but in 1866 the NGC changed it to a long ton (2000 Pfund) and short ton (200 Pfund). Today, the long ton is usually meant when people say 'Tonne'
Volume:
Unze: 1/16 Pinte
Pinte: 16 oz
quart/Viertel: 2 pint
gallon: 4 quarts/Viertel, 8 pt; after WW2, the Liter was redefined as exactly 4 gallons.
Etc.
I'll post a very brief history here relevant to German-speaking countries, but hopefully I'll get some grace here without shouts of "ASB! ASB!"
Brief History:
16th century: Protestant Reformation is more successful. Poland is now majority Lutheran (about 80%, 20% Catholic, and a smattering of Calvinist and Baptists). HRE is now majority Protestant, with Venedig being about 70/30 Catholic, Tirol/Trient being about 80/20 Lutheran, Bohemia/Moravia being majority Hussite, the Kingdom of Hungary being majority Calvinist, and the Swiss cantons turning majority Zwinglian. Bavaria, Salzburg, Jülich, Paderborn, Köln, Westfalen Münster stay Lutheran, spreading the new form of faith in the neighboring territories. The wars of religion fail to reconvert the Germanic people back, and only steel their resolve in Protestantism, and urge their further reform. France has Protestants in the eastern portions, including Artois, Franche Comte, Lorraine, Picardy; Belgium is about 85/15 Calvinist. Ireland becomes 'Anglican' (or Irish Protestant), with five dioceses based on the old five kingdoms. The Bible is translated at least twenty years earlier and helps form the basis of the modern Irish language, much like the King James Bible does for English; a Scots Gaelic Bible translation and a Scots translation are also made for Scotland.
16th Century: The 3rd Duke of Alba dies overseas, and the Spanish fail to take Brussels, which remains under Protestantism.
17th Century: Dutch take and colonize Formosa.
19th Century: After the Napoleonic Wars, the German Confederation is formed from the remains of the Holy Roman Empire. The lands are secularized, and many places are raised to Kingdoms. Many German people and rulers reject French innovations like the new calendar, and new measurement system. Traditional measurements throughout the confederation are regularized, though.
1848: Rhineland and Westphalia become Republics and remain separated from Prussia; Prussia gains a more liberal constitution with its new Kaiser.
1866: Austrian-Prussian War: Prussia wins through its higher industrialization; Austria created a triple monarchy with Bohemia/Moravia, under the agreement for the German majority lands to be separated from Bohemia and Moravia. Two new provinces are created: German Bohemia, Sudetenland; southern districts are added on to Upper and Lower Austria. Prussia leads the creation of the North German Confederation, when southern German states decide not to join them.
1871: French-Prussian War: France attacks the Rhineland, which Prussia uses to stir up patriotic fervor; after a decisive war, the French are defeated, and under Frederick III, the German Empire is formed. Alsace-Lorraine is annexed, but he is crowned in Aachen, not Paris, and turns to the UK as an example, and begins a modernization program.
1870s: Leonine City is the remnant of the Papal States.
1891: Frederick III dies, and William I (OTL William II), a non-breech-birth, is made Kaiser. He was raised in England for a good portion of his life, and isn't as much a diplomatic problem in this timeline.
20th Century:
1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated; later it is found that Nedeljko's group had funding in France and from England. Austria-Hungary declares war, Germany drags its feet. France declares war on both A-H and Germany. Germany asks the UK to join on its side, and after several weeks, joins on France's side. The war goes well for Germany initially, but soon stagnates with trench warfare.
1919: November 11: Armistice reached, and a very different US President argues for 'ethnic self-determination' in Europe. France is very obstinate and gets Alsace-Lorraine, but doesn't get Germany broken up or its economy broken. Poland is reformed, and gains port rights in Danzig and a small portion of Silesia. Denmark gains Nordschleswig. German Austria is formed from the German-majority provinces of Austria-Hungary, plus a new province - Burgenland - which includes Preßburg, Weiselburg, Ödenburg, St Gotthard. War reparations are nowhere near as heavy as France wants, but coal shipments are part of reparations (15% of the German output to France, England, and Netherlands). Due to the Armenian Genocide, the Ottomans lose more territory, and a 'greater Greece' is recreated, with its capital at Constantinople. Greater Armenia and Kurdistan are created, as are Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia are created out of the aftermath of Austria-Hungary's collapse. The Russian Royal family escapes to England, in exile, from the communist uprising in Russia. William I abdicates in the Treaty of Versailles in favor of Heinrich I, who vows to modernize Germany.
1920s: Germany experiences a post-war sadness, but a boom in industry, with returning soldiers working in factories and elsewhere; the new Kaiser gives many in Germany a feeling of continuity, stability, and a look to the future. Socialists and Communists try uprisings, but they are put down by the governments in the various German states. French politics becomes dominated by various extreme parties, angry at Germany's lenient treatment by the other powers. The Croix de Feu party begins gaining more and more power in the French legislature. Heinrich believed the European-based 'League of Nations,' proposed, but not joined, by the US, would mitigate any dangers of France attacking again. His advocacy of German industry and patriotism, and the power of the League of Nations, in hindsight, lulled Germany into a self-focused false sense of security, preventing them from re-arming and seeing the threat. A new constitution liberalizes the empire more, and even grants the Reichstag the power to
1931: France's Croix-de-Feu finally gains a majority in the Parliament, and its programs begin turning the French economy around.
1933: France undergoes a false-flag called 'Night of Fire' where a number of so-called 'protestant attacks' against a number of French monuments lead to a further consolidation of power by the CDF. The German ambassador to the League of Nations, Reinhard Kohl, urges the LoN do something, while French Protestants flee into the UKNL and Germany seeking haven. The borders are closed in 1935.
1930s:
-Kaiser Heinrich I is impressed with Wilhelm Adenaur HaFraBa road between Köln and Bonn, and by 1933, during the worldwide depression, legislation is passed wherein funding is granted for a number of such roads to encourage tourism in and into Germany. Several 'model roads' are paved as two-lane controlled-access highways, straight as possible, with a landscaped median and overpass/underpass construction. The first 'Reichsautobahn' later called the A 1, is build from Duisburg, through Düsseldorf, Köln, and on to Bonn, then the A 2 from Potsdam to Berlin, Frankfurt an der Oder, and to Posen, and the A 3 from Munich to Nuremberg, and the A 4 from Lübeck to Hamburg and Bremen. Other routes are built by Mr Adenauer on as north/south and as east/west as possible, leading to a nearly grid-like crossing of the country by the Autobahns. Most are simply two-lane, as funding began to be an issue in the late 30s. Further Autobahn routes are planned, but not completed before the outbreak of the second world war.
-By 1937, the military warns of France's growing military strength, as does the Kaiser, while the Reichstag goes slowly on the warnings. Austria falls to a fascist government also, causing Bavaria and Saxony to begin pushing for rearmament. A secret treaty with Józef Piłsudski to give them Prussia's eastern provinces in exchange for help in taking Berlin and creating a German client state is published after the war, but the UK dithers, with Neville Chamberlain holding up an agreement with the French President to the newspapers, claiming 'peace in our time.'
-In 1939, France begins its invasion through the former Alsace-Lorraine, sparking the European beginning of WW2. The French blitz through Rhineland, Westphalia, Hessen, and Hanover; the Polish through East and West Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Posen; Austria joins in the fight with materials and gains Bavaria by French dictate. Germany finally gets British aid in 1940 after Churchill becomes Prime Minister, who warned the British of a new Napoleon on the Continent. France declares war on the UK in 1940. Air raids over the southern UK go on for 18 months till France turns its attention to Germany and the USSR; faulty intelligence by the French that the British were close to capitulation led them to spend resources on the attacks that could've gone to Germany or Russia.
1941: US enters WW2 on the side of the UK and Germany, and against Japan, who allies with France. France sets up a puppet government in Bonn; with the Polish and French bearing down on Berlin, a prize for the French, the royal family takes a train to escape; they are captured by the French and publicly executed; film is shown across France to cheering crowds. Berlin Falls. Prussia is broken up.
1942: Allies plan their attack on France in Iceland. French is introduced as the language of government in former Germany. The metric system is forced on the people. Tales of the German resistance movement encourage the people to resist the French occupation.
1943: USSR joins the Allies; Italy's Mussolini falls; South Italy freed from the fascists.
1944: Allies push into Italy, and Spain falls. Portugal freed from Spain. Spanish atrocities are revealed in newspapers around the Allied Nations. Operation Overlord is a success but a large number of casualties. Fighting slogs through the north and south of France, closing in on Paris. Through Denmark, the allies (UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Holland, the Dutch in exile, and others) invade and free Lübeck, then Hamburg, and curve in to Berlin; the Soviets also make their way west; the allies try to make it before the Russians, and succeed. The so-called Monuments Men ensure the preservation of Charlottenburg Palace, and several churches in Hamburg and Berlin that could've been bombed out. By October 3, Berlin is recaptured, and is celebrated as German Freedom Day to this day. Magdeburg is freed November 19, and the Allies run west, forcing the French out of Germany.
1945: French leader, Philippe Pétain, commits suicide on April 30; Charles de Gaul, who had been the effective leader of the new French Third Empire for three years, continues fighting till his surrender on May 7, with Paris surrounded. The fall of the French Empire is celebrated by the allies. Berlin holds a parade on May 9. The postwar order is put into effect: Treaty of Paris 1945 is signed by the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, USSR, and Spain, and other allied powers.
-France cedes Alsace Lorraine in perpetuity to Germany, along with the districts of Briege (Briey) and Belfort. All French-speakers must leave within 45 days who do not wish to be German-citizens.
-France cedes the former County of Artois and the area around Lille to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands; Calais is ceded to the United Kingdom
-France cedes Corsica, Savoy, Haute Savoy, and Nice to Italy.
-Brittany and Normandy are separated from France; Roussillon is given to Spain
-Basque country is separated from France and Spain as its own neutral country
-Switzerland gains the district of Gex, and the three eastern districts of St Claude in Jura.
-Poland gets divided between the USSR and the Allies, forming an east/west division; it loses its portion of Silesia, and cannot object, being occupied. Wilno is divided between the satellites Belarus and Lithuania. The Soviet quarter of Poland becomes East Poland in 1946 (Nowogrod, Bialystok, Polonie, and parts of Warsaw and Lublin provinces).
-Austria is divided into its provinces and based on wide plebescites, joins Germany.
1946: Germany begins reconstituting itself, and with the loss of its royal family, forms a republic similar to its former constitutions and with inspiration from the US and UK. Ludwig Earhardt, Wilhelm Kohl, and Johannes Hubner are the main architects and are considered the 'founding fathers' of the modern German republic. Prussia's provinces, for the most part, form a number of states of this new Germany. The first President, Willhelm Honecker, navigates the early years well with his National Liberal Party holding the majority in the Reichstag for about 18 years (after his two six-year terms). The war experience leads many Germans to believe that holding firearms saved many lives and should be a natural right, that of self-defense.
1949: East Poland is established; Red Scare in Germany of a 'Polish Soviet Socialist Republic' lead to a purge and outlawing of the small German Communist Party (KPD). NATO is formed, with the UK, UKNL, USA, Germany, being the four founding countries, soon followed by Brittany, Normandy, and Luxemburg.
1952: East Poland forms its own separated country after the proposal to reunite Poland as a neutral country is rejected. France joins NATO
1948-1952: East Asian War: Communists in China and in Korea attempt a takeover of those countries. the Allies, mainly the US, UK, Germany, and Canada and Australia, fight against the communists to the aid of the Chinese and Korean nationalists. By 1952, the Korean peninsula is united, and freed from communists, who flee to what becomes North China; China is divided in two, with a large border wall zone keeping the two divided to this day. Shanghai becomes the Republic of China's capital, while Beijing becomes the Peoples' Republic of China capital. The attempts to capture Dutch Formosa and eliminate the foreign concessions fail and are agreed to by the Republic of China in compensation for the Allies' role in stopping the communists, in addition to free trade agreements with the RoC.
Let's avoid arguing the above, just use it as a rough background for this version of Germany.
Time Zones (1894):
Early (Germany):
Early on, the railways were the driving force behind a standardized time zone for Germany. Prussian railways agreed on using Berlin Time, which, starting in 1842, was generally about 2 hours ahead of London Time. Vienna used Prague as its meridian, so its time was slightly off from its northern neighbors till 1904.
1894:
At the Congress of Vienna (1894), leaders from the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, and several other European nations took part in the Treaty of Vienna (1894), of which the Rail Time Unification clause is of particular note. Europe was divided into several different time zones, where France, Spain, and Portugal would be under GMT; the Germanic nations would be in Central European Time (1 hour ahead), along with Italy, and everything east would be under Eastern European Time, 2 hours ahead. With minor changes, this would continue to today.
Modern:
IST (-1): Iceland, Azores, Cape Verde
GMT(+0): UK, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxemburg, United Kingdom of the Netherlands
CET(+1): Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro
EET(+2): Finland, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia
Measurements:
Length:
Meile: 3280 Fuß (1821), in 1912, the long Mile, or 'British' mile, was made legal (5280 ft)
Rute: 16 Füße
Lachter: 1 meter, 6 feet (exact), 2 Ellen
Elle: 3 Fuß
Fuß: 12 Zoll (various inches were debated for a while till finally, Duke Charles Frederick of Baden, having recently returned from a visit in London, argued and won a 12 inch foot); after WW2, the Meter was redefined as 3 Füße/1 Elle
Zoll: 1 inch
Weight:
Pfund: 16 oz; after WW2, the Kg was redefined as 2 Pfund
Unze: 28.35 g
Stein: 22 Pfund (rather than British 14 lb)
Zentner: 100 Pfund
Tonne: 192 Pfund (1821), but in 1866 the NGC changed it to a long ton (2000 Pfund) and short ton (200 Pfund). Today, the long ton is usually meant when people say 'Tonne'
Volume:
Unze: 1/16 Pinte
Pinte: 16 oz
quart/Viertel: 2 pint
gallon: 4 quarts/Viertel, 8 pt; after WW2, the Liter was redefined as exactly 4 gallons.
Etc.