Yes, and a government in Exile. A bit weird with the Netherlands also having annexed part of Germany. A bit like the Palestinian Exile Government in the Jordan occupied Westbank.
Things like that happen.
But maybe it should move, but where to? The Kingdom of Tongo might take them. ;-)
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU) [14]
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU) [14]
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU) [14]
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enourmous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU) [14]
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enourmous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU) [14]
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enourmous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. Internationally, there was a surge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU) [14]
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enourmous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. Internationally, there was a surge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enourmous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
....
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938 position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
....
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
....
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
....
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
....
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
...
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
....
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms.
(Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag)
While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained nutral, most members figured out that they preffered a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff.
The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completly underestimated the change of succes.
Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only).
To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the elctorate.
Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natrual order.
No other monarchs were restored, Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involded in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalised communist bby the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it ver mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II. Returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[12] But the Soviet Union was not to keep to the agreements of neutrality... when, in Silesia and East Prussia, German nationalist resistance to the occupation popped up, it was - surprisingly - the Soviet Union which came to the rebels' assistance. This started yet another war in which the Entente, to little avail, tried to contain the USSR's ambitions of establishing a communist German nationalist state. The Entente powers proved exhausted and, except for some resistance along the Czechoslovakian border and a successful attempt to retain Saxony and Thuringia, not much else could be done to stop the USSR.
After this second part of the war, Germany is completely divided. The Netherlands put Bakker-Schut plan B into action (see map). Luxembourg gains the Saarland and some areas around OTL Trier, with Belgium also gaining a few areas. All other areas west of the Rhine are annexed into the Rhine-Main Republic, together with OTL Hessen. Westphalia, under US occupation, is spun off as its own state. To the south, France and Austria jointly proclaim a Rhine-Danube Republic in order not to foster Bavarian or any other nationalism. Saxony becomes a liberal republic following the Czechoslovakian system.
The Hanseatic Union includes all areas of Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt west of the Elbe, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg. All these nations shall have their own militaries, with unifications between these states a fringe opinion. United German democracy is commonly seen as having failed, thus, a united Germany is believed to only be possible under authoritarianism. The Hanseatic Union and Westphalia are based on a Westminster-type system, while the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Danube Republics use a French-type semi-presidential system with two-round voting. Saxony-Thuringia on the other hand uses MMP. The final armistice was signed on August 27, 1937, but it was clear that the occupations need to end very soon. Thus, by Spring 1938, all occupations were lifted and states proclaimed. Except in the Soviet zone - where Thälmann was selected as Secretary General of the one and only legal party, the VAPD, free and fair elections were held.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was suceeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectional movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II. the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speach the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condems the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] It is now the year of 1945, and both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy...
In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enourmous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
Last edited:
Hey, you forgot 2 minor edits in Westphalia and the Hanseatic Union 😉.
Whoops, fixed that. Your update came while I still had the older version copied...
By the way, does anyone know how you can directly copy previous posts in the right colour format? I'm always copying it from the inserted quote, which is a bit messy.
👇I'm not sure if it really helps you but I do this, then when I have acces to the quote's code, I just delete the first and last line, and then I click back on the square brackets 👇
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
Leaders of Successor States to German Empire (1938 -
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
1951: Crown Prince Louis Ferdinard [19]
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
1951: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1948: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1950: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
1951: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST)
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
1951: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
1950: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M)
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was succeeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectionist movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speech the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condemns the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] By 1945 both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy... In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] Following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enormous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
[19] While widely reported and met with both despair and jubilation across Europe, it was the relative lack of interest shown at the death of Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen in 1951 that illustrated just how far the separate parts of the former Empire had grown. Most states had stabilized their governmental organisations and elections (of varying levels of "free-ness and fairness") were being regularly carried out. A few fringe organisations within each country pushed for greater cooperation but for the most part, the individual states either looked to the West or the East for their guidance and support.
Last edited:
Deleted member 117308
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
Leaders of Successor States to German Empire (1938 -
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
1951: Crown Prince Louis Ferdinard [19]
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
1951: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1948: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1950: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
1951: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST)
1952: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [19]
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
1951: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
1950: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M)
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was succeeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectionist movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speech the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condemns the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] By 1945 both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy... In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] Following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enormous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
[19] While widely reported and met with both despair and jubilation across Europe, it was the relative lack of interest shown at the death of Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen in 1951 that illustrated just how far the separate parts of the former Empire had grown. Most states had stabilized their governmental organisations and elections (of varying levels of "free-ness and fairness") were being regularly carried out. A few fringe organisations within each country pushed for greater cooperation but for the most part, the individual states either looked to the West or the East for their guidance and support.
[20] After a Soviet backed coup in Saxony-Thuringia, the new socialist state officially joins the DSR. The western powers respond with the creation of a defence pact, called the Pact of Paris. It includes every other German state and even France, Britain, Beldium and the Netherlands. On the other side of the globe tensions are rising as well. In east Asia a third Sino-Japanese war becomes more likely every day.
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/attachments/divided-germany-png.602255/
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
1951: Crown Prince Louis Ferdinard [19]
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
1951: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
1954: Franz Meyers (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1948: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1953: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1950: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1954: Hinrich Kopf (Arbeiterpartei)
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
1951: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST)
1952: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [20]
1953: Position abolished [21]
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
1951: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1955: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
1950: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M)
1955: Peter Altmeier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was succeeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectionist movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speech the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condemns the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] By 1945 both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy... In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] Following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enormous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
[19] While widely reported and met with both despair and jubilation across Europe, it was the relative lack of interest shown at the death of Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen in 1951 that illustrated just how far the separate parts of the former Empire had grown. Most states had stabilized their governmental organisations and elections (of varying levels of "free-ness and fairness") were being regularly carried out. A few fringe organisations within each country pushed for greater cooperation but for the most part, the individual states either looked to the West or the East for their guidance and support.
[20] After a Soviet backed coup in Saxony-Thuringia, the new socialist state officially joins the DSR. The western powers respond with the creation of a defence pact, called the Pact of Paris. It includes every other German state and even France, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. On the other side of the globe tensions are rising as well. In east Asia a third Sino-Japanese war becomes more likely every day.
[21] Tensions rise and fall; Then war breaks out in Asia, While Germany waits.
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/attachments/divided-germany-png.602255/
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
1951: Crown Prince Louis Ferdinard [19]
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
1951: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
1954: Franz Meyers (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1948: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1953: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1956: Peter Altmeier (Demokratische Union-DU) [22]
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1950: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1954: Hinrich Kopf (Arbeiterpartei)
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
1951: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST)
1952: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [20]
1953: Position abolished [21]
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
1951: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1955: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
1950: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M)
1955: Peter Altmeier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was succeeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectionist movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speech the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condemns the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] By 1945 both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy... In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] Following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enormous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
[19] While widely reported and met with both despair and jubilation across Europe, it was the relative lack of interest shown at the death of Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen in 1951 that illustrated just how far the separate parts of the former Empire had grown. Most states had stabilized their governmental organisations and elections (of varying levels of "free-ness and fairness") were being regularly carried out. A few fringe organisations within each country pushed for greater cooperation but for the most part, the individual states either looked to the West or the East for their guidance and support.
[20] After a Soviet backed coup in Saxony-Thuringia, the new socialist state officially joins the DSR. The western powers respond with the creation of a defence pact, called the Pact of Paris. It includes every other German state and even France, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. On the other side of the globe tensions are rising as well. In east Asia a third Sino-Japanese war becomes more likely every day.
[21] Tensions rise and fall; Then war breaks out in Asia, While Germany waits.
[22] The resignation of Konrad Adenauer in the autumn of 1955 after 17 years of reign marked a new turning point. The man who had been nicknamed the "Rheinbaron" was the last survivor of the first generation of new leaders of West German democracies. The war is intensifying in Asia, a Chinese landing took place on the island of Kyushu. The news of mutual massacres worries the international community without any actual outside reaction. The United States seems to have returned to a form of isolationism, Western Europe is too busy fighting decolonisation and strengthening its collective security to get involved in the Japan-China conflict. In addition to the Treaty of Paris, the European Defence Community has been created, the military staffs are learning to act in a coordinated way. Austria joined as an associate minor partner. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, is waiting for its moment. The 1956 New Year celebrations have a very gloomy atmosphere in European capitals.
Reichskanzler:
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
1918: Friedrich Ebert (SPD) [1]
1919: Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (SPD) [2]
1920 (March): Wolfgang Kapp (military junta/Nationale Vereinigungsregierung) [3]
1920 (September): Wolfgang Kapp (DNVP) [4]
1922: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [5]
1925: Walther von Lüttwitz (DNVP) [6]
1929: Edgar Julius Jung (DVP) [8]
1935 position abolished
1935: Heinrich Brüning (Zentrum) , since 1936 Heinrich von Brüning (non-partisan) (in Exile) [11] [14]
Reichspräsident (1919-1928):
1919: Reichspräsident: Friedrich Ebert (SPD)
1920 (March): Erich Ludendorff
1920 (September): Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1925: Erich Ludendorff (DNVP)
1928 position abolished
Regent (1929-1935):
1929: Hermann Ehrhardt (military rule) [8]
1931: Theodor von der Pfordten (military rule) [9]
1935 position abolished
Co-ordinator of Military Occupation Administrations (1935-1938)
1935: Maurice Gamelin [10]
1938: position abolished
Monarch (1928-:
1928: Kaiser Wilhelm II. (2nd reign) [7]
In Exile since 1935
1941: vacant Throne [14]
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/attachments/divided-germany-png.602255/
German Head of State (in Exile) (1941 - )
1941: Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen [14]
1951: Crown Prince Louis Ferdinard [19]
Chancellor of Westphalia:
1938: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1943: Rudolf Amelunxen (Liberalchristliche Partei - LCP)
1947: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP) [17]
1951: Fritz Steinhoff (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
1954: Franz Meyers (Sozialistische Partei - SP)
1957: Position Abolished [23]
President of the Rhein-Main-Republik (Rhine-Main Republic):
1938: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1943: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1948: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1953: Konrad Adenauer (Demokratische Union - DU)
1956: Peter Altmeier (Demokratische Union-DU) [22]
Prime Minister of the Hanseatic Union:
1938: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1942: Max Brauer (Arbeiterpartei)
1946: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1950: Georg Diederichs (Arbeiterpartei)
1954: Hinrich Kopf (Arbeiterpartei)
Chancellor of the Republic of Saxony and Thuringia:
1938: Max Heldt (SP-DP coalition)
1943: Leonhard Moog (DP-SP coalition) [15]
1948: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [18]
1951: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST)
1952: Paul Böttcher (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Sachsen-Thüringen - VAPST) [20]
1953: Position abolished [21]
Secretary General Central Committee of the VAPD (=Secretary General of the German Socialist Republic):
1938: Ernst Thälmann (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1947: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD) [16]
1951: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
1955: Ruth Fischer (Vereinigte Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands - VAPD)
President of the Rhein-Donau-Republik (Rhine-Danube Republic):
1938: Reinhold Maier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
1940: Hans Ehard (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD) [13]
1945: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M) [14]
1950: Viktor Renner (Mitte - Demokratische Partei M)
1955: Peter Altmeier (Christliche Freidemokraten CFD)
[1] Max von Baden hands over power ( as in OTL)
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[2] After a new constitution constitution has been adopted, Germany becomes a democracy. Friedrich Ebert becomes Germany´s first democratically elected head of the state, while Scheidemann becomes Reichskanzler.
[3] Communist uprisings are still ongoing as of March 1920. In these difficult times, a coup d'état takes place - but the "Conqueror of Cities" Georg Maercker this time follows through with the orders to arrest Ebert, Scheidemann (who is frequently personally blamed for at least tacitly supporting the communists) and all other members of the government. The only one not arrested is Karl Trimborn. A general strike is called, however, the KPD's idea of using this chance to start a revolution alienates the SPD and much of the population and so what should have become a general strike remains some communist uprisings in major cities of the Ruhr Area, Bremen and Hamburg. Within days, all of Germany is under control and Scheidemann and other social democrats find themselves facing court-martial. Martial law is imposed across Germany, and communist revolts are soon crushed. The once-enigmatic Waldemar Pabst becomes Minister of Interior Security and Order.
Fearing that Germany was about to re-militarize, France, Belgium and Luxembourg occupy the Rhineland and the newly independent Poland becomes more wary by the day, too...
[4] Against a backdrop of rising tensions and military activity, fresh elections are called. With limited suffrage and close scrutiny from the government, many people claim that the elections do not give the coup leaders the legitimacy they need. Of course, those people keep those thoughts to themselves, lest an official wants to have a meeting with them to hear more about their concerns.
[5]Kapp's declining health forced him to give way to General Von Lüttwitz. The latter reinforces the army's control over the institutions while trying to strengthen the legitimacy of the regime with the Western powers by insisting on the danger of communism. A hidden conflict of influence is beginning to emerge between the army and Pabst's Insichor.
[6] Joint federal and presidential elections are held. In exchange for the withdrawal of the last French/Benelux troops from the Rhineland, some suffrage restrictions will be lifted, although most left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, remain excluded from participation. Almost as soon as the electoral victory is announced, the fighting within the government will resume, with a series of different new constitutional drafts proposed, as well as a debate between Lüttwitz, who wants to form a large coalition of right-wing parties and Kuno von Westarp (leader of the "moderate faction"), who want to leave the appearance of a loyal opposition.
[7] With the DNVP orriginally being a monarchist party, there had been a call fpr bringing back the Kaiser for years. Obviously, President Ludendorff wasn't interested in that. Finally in 1927 members of the DNVP and DVP, with backing from lot's of nobles and few monarchists within the Zentrum and BVP started gathering signatures for a referendum to reestablich the monarchy, based on the 1918 October reforms - Kaiser as nominal head of state, chancellor need approval of the Reichstag. While the last remaining left party, the SPD and the Zentrum officially remained neutral, most members figured out that they preferred a weak Kaiser Wilhelm to a strong President Ludendorff. The Regime could not stop the referendum without alienating its base, but also completely underestimated the change of success. Assuming a huge opposition against the monarchy within the working class, Ludendorff even restored full universal franchise (for this referendum only). To everybodies surprise, the referendum was succesful, with 62,4% yes votes, making up 50,4% of the electorate. Kaiser Wilhelm II, accepted, claiming in his memoirs, that he was still Kaiser by the Grace of God ( and not by the Grace of the people), and that the people only had proven the wisdom to restore the natural order. No other monarchs were restored; Prussia remained a Freistaat (Republic).
[8] With French troops being deployed among the Maginot line after the proclamation of the Kaiser, tensions among nationalist circles started to rise again. Unhappy with the newly formed monarchy being too sluggish, a group of younger Freikorps veterans based around Hermann Ehrhardt decided to take swift action. Ehrhardt, already involved in the military junta rule of 1920, acted against his former patron Lüttwitz and proclaimed himself as the "Regent". This position was inspired by Admiral Horthy's rule in Hungary and officially designed to mediate between the government and the Kaiser, but de facto carrying out his own dictatorship as Wilhelm II. was increasingly seen as being incapable of making decisions. A politician more "in line" with those views was installed as Chancellor, Edgar Julius Jung. The emerging conflict between the DNVP, the nobility and the Kaiser on one side, and the DVP and nationalist-minded bourgeois intellectuals wasn't so much about politics, but a conflict of generations. More importantly, this conflict was also fought out among the army, where ego clashes between Pabst and Ehrhardt led to each of them forming their own factions.
[9] Hermann Ehrhardt was assassinated by a young, radicalized communist by the name of Erich Mielke. However, the military/nationalist cabal around Ludendorff, Pabst et al. are able to find an even more radically nationalist regent in Theodor von der Pfordten. Communists are once again getting "uppity" to put it very mildly, and by now, France and quite a few powers in Eastern Europe have formed a non-aggression pact which treats any German aggression against one of them as an act of war against all. War is becoming more likely by the day, but nobody knows what role the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will play in it. The same can be said of the still-existing nation of Austria, where civil war between democrats, socialists/communists, Austrofascists and pro-German Anschluss fascists (National Socialists/"Heimkehrer") breaks out by late 1931.
[10] The snows of the winter of 1931-1932 had barely melted when the war broke out. It was justified on the pretext of German interference in the Austrian Civil War. The first months were a traumatic re-enactment of the beginning of the Great War, when Germany attacked Belgium to invade France from its north-eastern field and a conflict of position began to unfold. This time, however, Germany was truly alone in this struggle, as Soviet neutrality had been bought at a high price by the Entente. The eastern front was more mobile but without ever allowing either side to intervene decisively. It was therefore a long struggle and German isolation that allowed the western front lines to advance towards Berlin after years of increasing famine. The war in the spring of 1935 was therefore a long advance without too much resistance from the coalition forces towards Berlin. The mistake made by the Allies during the Great War of not symbolically bringing Germany to its knees was thus avoided. We are in May 1935, the capitulation has been signed and a military occupying authority has been established. Germany's future now only depends on the will of the victors.
[11] Kaiser Wilhelm II returns to Doorn and proclaims a government in Exile. The government does not have a Regent. Brüning is raised to nobility, first person since 1918. At special request of the Kaiser, von Brüning officially leaves the Zentrum for the time of Exile to leave party politics out of the Exile Government.
[13] The next 4 years were one of appeasement and consolidation. The late German people aspired to this. The Austrian Chancellor and the 5 leaders of the new democracies in Western Germany were nicknamed the "Gang of Six" in their effort to harmoniously build separate destinies and bring dignity to their peoples in peace and democracy. The death of Wilhelm II in 1941 was seen as closing a chapter in history. President Maier was assassinated by a Bavarian sovereignist in 1940, but the country's institutions enabled it to hold firm as he was succeeded by his justice minister in the thus provoked presidential election. In the west, the spring of 1942 marked the triumphant re-election of Prime Minister Brauer while in the East, criticism of the Berlin regime was becoming increasingly and noticeably rare. Not because the situation was pleasant, but because the Soviet totalitarian machine had a new giant playing field at its disposal. The recent workers' insurrectionist movements in Saxony left no doubt that the new democracies were not yet fully protected, but the age of time was leading to a preference for voluntarily ignoring who was hiding behind them.
[14] After the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II the throne is left vacant. In his famous "Doorn is not Versailles" speech the Crown Prince declares that while it was possible to hold a Kaiser proclamation on foreign soil at the head of the victorious army, it would not be prudent to do so in Exile. He condemns the existing German States as puppets of foreign powers and expresses his certainty that Germany will once again be free and united under the rightful monarch, and that than will be the time and place to proclaim a new Kaiser. However, he will serve as German Head of State (in Exile). Since the provisional government does not know term limits for the chancellor and the new Head of State does not fire Heinrich von Brüning, he remains chancellor (in Exile).
[15] By 1945 both the former Entente and USSR are increasingly coming into conflict - but the absence of direct confrontation zones in Germany (like West Berlin) and the earlier death of Iosib Bessarionis dze Dzugashvili in 1941 and Lavrentiy Beria in 1942, both succeeded by war hero Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky (who was never purged) significantly defuse the "normal" tensions. Never do the two big blocs come to a point where nuclear war threatens to annihilate both of them. On the other hand, proxy wars can more easily ignite without the real threat of MAD. An example is the Czechoslovak Civil War which has led to the Czech side becoming communist while the Slovak part of the nation and a part of eastern Czechia, despite being surrounded on most sides by communists, was propped up from the South. The Treaty of Prague officially divided the nation - and the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic promptly awarded the Sudetenland Germans with linguistic and even a bit of governmental autonomy... In the western successor states of Germany, by now even more closely cooperating with the Entente - which also entails the differences becoming bigger in some areas, e.g. the successor states of Germany start to "take in" the rivalry between Britain and France - start to regain many regional identities. By now, the young generation views themselves as a Bavarian, Badenser or Rhinelander more than as a German. Politically, most successor states continue on a centrist or centre-left course.
[16] Following the death of Ernst Thälmann there is a short power struggle within the VAPD, but eventually Ruth Fischer is elected as new General Secretary (Due to the enormous pressure by the Ludendorff Regime the ideological differences with Thälmann ( and Stalin) aren't that significant, so she never goes to Moscow and does not brake with the KPD)
[17] The rest of 1947 was relatively calm, apart from a first alternation of power in Westphalia. I nternationally, there was an upsurge in tension during the winter when a misinterpreted power cut in Czechia led the western HQs to believe for a few hours that a massive assault was imminent. While this incident, which had not yet leaked out, was not based on anything, it made European democracies aware of the imminent risk on their doorsteps. A common defence pact for Western Europe is mentioned privately in embassies at the very beginning of 1948.
[18] Partially affected by the neighboring civil war and the establishment of the Czech Workers' Socialist Republic (CDSR), the late 1940s in central Germany saw huge workers' strikes and eventual uprisings in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Jena, Erfurt and Zwickau. In the 1948 election, the VAPST, a sister party of the VAPD, emerged to victory, with possible meddling by both the CDSR and the DSR. Although the new chancellor Böttcher managed to sideline the more radical elements around Walther Ulbricht, there were serious doubts about the new Saxonian-Thuringian government. Especially the Hanseatic Union was now the leading pusher for a Western European defence pact, as the strikes soon spilled over to the industrial regions around Halle.
[19] While widely reported and met with both despair and jubilation across Europe, it was the relative lack of interest shown at the death of Crown Prince Wilhelm von Preußen in 1951 that illustrated just how far the separate parts of the former Empire had grown. Most states had stabilized their governmental organisations and elections (of varying levels of "free-ness and fairness") were being regularly carried out. A few fringe organisations within each country pushed for greater cooperation but for the most part, the individual states either looked to the West or the East for their guidance and support.
[20] After a Soviet backed coup in Saxony-Thuringia, the new socialist state officially joins the DSR. The western powers respond with the creation of a defence pact, called the Pact of Paris. It includes every other German state and even France, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. On the other side of the globe tensions are rising as well. In east Asia a third Sino-Japanese war becomes more likely every day.
[21] Tensions rise and fall; Then war breaks out in Asia, While Germany waits.
[22] The resignation of Konrad Adenauer in the autumn of 1955 after 17 years of reign marked a new turning point. The man who had been nicknamed the "Rheinbaron" was the last survivor of the first generation of new leaders of West German democracies. The war is intensifying in Asia, a Chinese landing took place on the island of Kyushu. The news of mutual massacres worries the international community without any actual outside reaction. The United States seems to have returned to a form of isolationism, Western Europe is too busy fighting decolonisation and strengthening its collective security to get involved in the Japan-China conflict. In addition to the Treaty of Paris, the European Defence Community has been created, the military staffs are learning to act in a coordinated way. Austria joined as an associate minor partner. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, is waiting for its moment. The 1956 New Year celebrations have a very gloomy atmosphere in European capitals.
[23] Hanseatic Union has always been a left wing nation and so has Westphalia for the last decade. The Socialist Party led government has held a referendum to join the Hanseatic Union. With a 64% vote in favor on a turnout of 87% Wesphalia joins the Union as its 7th state.
I already had Peter Altmeier as President of the Rhine-Danube Republic, but I wasn't 100% confident about it, so feel free to keep him as President of Rhine-Main and swap in someone better
Thing is, we don't know what von der Pfordten was like, and what little is known about the OTL guy suggests he might have been bad. Like, Himmler levels of bad.
In particular, his views seem to have been the main inspiration for the Boxheim Document, a leaked Nazi policy paper from 1931 which was mostly noted for the mass executions back at the time. But that's only because a 1931 commenters could not imagine what the proposed agricultural policies would look like in practice. We OTOH can imagine, because it's roughly how the Khmer Rouge went about it.
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