Reunification exactly 100 years after the end of WWII and a new chancellor for the United country was a fitting end.
TL #6 Hitlers Rheinfall
I might do so later, but for now, I'll start a new timeline. No divided Germany...
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
The United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht.
But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London.
1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany.
But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
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TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall (my proposal for a name)
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
The United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht.
But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London.
1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany.
But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyones surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and on Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighted the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
The United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht.
But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London.
1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany.
But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyones surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and on Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighted the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
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I have yet another plan - just looking for a good successor candidate...
TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall (my proposal for a name)
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
The United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht.
But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London.
1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany.
But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyones surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighted the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought woud already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition.
As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years.
And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS.
A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi.
Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP.
By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
The United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland.
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht.
But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London.
1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany.
But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyones surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighted the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought woud already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition.
As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years.
And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS.
A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi.
Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP.
By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
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TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen. Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen. Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen. Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen. Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
1960: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD) [6}
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
[6] And this was to be the first government of the "Second Weimar Republic" (called that because the constitutional convention of 1937 had once again been held in Weimar) to not last the entire term. However, transition of power went rather smoothly.
A scandal over armament deals with the far-right military-led government of Turkey and dubious flows of money between officials, magnates of the budding tourism industry and real estate magnates (or "property sharks") - tourism to the southern coast of Turkey was booming in a way that this region was beginning to be called 34. Bundesland ("the thirty-fourth state"), aggravated by hefty debates over liberalisation of morally laden criminal laws - notably, the liberalisation of the 1920s had, not stifled by twelve years of totalitarian insane dictatorship, picked up again by the mid-1950s - led the DDP (ironically, elements of this party were against decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, procuration, most forms of blasphemy, against decriminalisation of first-trimester abortion etc.) to withdraw their ministers from the cabinet. Fritz Ebert, after not being able to agree to a coalition with CNU or SAPD, had President Konrad Adenauer dissolve the Bundestag. New elections were called.
And everyone expected Germany to once again elect a right-wing government. CNU, DVP, NLP or even DNVP were expected to make the most gains. And although it indeed was the DVP which made the highest gains in percentage points, SAPD and SPD reached an absolute majority of seats. Minister of Labour and interim Minister of Justice and Postal Services, Robert Bialek, thus became the first chancellor of the SAPD.
In 1962, many came to celebrate Bialek as, after (formal) consent by the Entente powers (as they were still often called) and a referendum yielding 61,9 % approval, Austria joined Germany as another four Bundesländer (one encompassing Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg; the second one Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Burgenland, and the third Carinthia and Styria - now once again including Lower Styria as Yugoslavia had been defeated, and Vienna was spun-off as a city-state like Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig).
However, quite a few also feared the trend of liberalisation and, completely bogus as this claim was, a few ultraconservatives and reactionaries feared a communist takeover of Germany. Some protests and demonstrations against Bialek were seen towards the end of his term, but most were very happy with Bialek's legacy and the new liberty that came with the reformed criminal code, now just called StGB. Many even actively campaigned for him as he ran for reelection in 1965.
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
1960: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD) [6}
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
[6] And this was to be the first government of the "Second Weimar Republic" (called that because the constitutional convention of 1937 had once again been held in Weimar) to not last the entire term. However, transition of power went rather smoothly.
A scandal over armament deals with the far-right military-led government of Turkey and dubious flows of money between officials, magnates of the budding tourism industry and real estate magnates (or "property sharks") - tourism to the southern coast of Turkey was booming in a way that this region was beginning to be called 34. Bundesland ("the thirty-fourth state"), aggravated by hefty debates over liberalisation of morally laden criminal laws - notably, the liberalisation of the 1920s had, not stifled by twelve years of totalitarian insane dictatorship, picked up again by the mid-1950s - led the DDP (ironically, elements of this party were against decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, procuration, most forms of blasphemy, against decriminalisation of first-trimester abortion etc.) to withdraw their ministers from the cabinet. Fritz Ebert, after not being able to agree to a coalition with CNU or SAPD, had President Konrad Adenauer dissolve the Bundestag. New elections were called.
And everyone expected Germany to once again elect a right-wing government. CNU, DVP, NLP or even DNVP were expected to make the most gains. And although it indeed was the DVP which made the highest gains in percentage points, SAPD and SPD reached an absolute majority of seats. Minister of Labour and interim Minister of Justice and Postal Services, Robert Bialek, thus became the first chancellor of the SAPD.
In 1962, many came to celebrate Bialek as, after (formal) consent by the Entente powers (as they were still often called) and a referendum yielding 61,9 % approval, Austria joined Germany as another four Bundesländer (one encompassing Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg; the second one Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Burgenland, and the third Carinthia and Styria - now once again including Lower Styria as Yugoslavia had been defeated, and Vienna was spun-off as a city-state like Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig).
However, quite a few also feared the trend of liberalisation and, completely bogus as this claim was, a few ultraconservatives and reactionaries feared a communist takeover of Germany. Some protests and demonstrations against Bialek were seen towards the end of his term, but most were very happy with Bialek's legacy and the new liberty that came with the reformed criminal code, now just called StGB. Many even actively campaigned for him as he ran for reelection in 1965.
@Gilbert4000
@Erinthecute
@Ingsoc.dmnt
@Lautréamont
@Harry_Z_Trumen
@oberdada
@altamiro
@Jotun
@Anja
@kaiidth
@DerGreif
@Vnix
@kato
@Grand Prince Paul II.
@Leander
@Zurirach Adankar
Anybody interested to continue or start participating in this?
@Erinthecute
@Ingsoc.dmnt
@Lautréamont
@Harry_Z_Trumen
@oberdada
@altamiro
@Jotun
@Anja
@kaiidth
@DerGreif
@Vnix
@kato
@Grand Prince Paul II.
@Leander
@Zurirach Adankar
Anybody interested to continue or start participating in this?
TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
1960: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD) [6]
1965: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
1968: Annemarie Renger (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
[6] And this was to be the first government of the "Second Weimar Republic" (called that because the constitutional convention of 1937 had once again been held in Weimar) to not last the entire term. However, transition of power went rather smoothly.
A scandal over armament deals with the far-right military-led government of Turkey and dubious flows of money between officials, magnates of the budding tourism industry and real estate magnates (or "property sharks") - tourism to the southern coast of Turkey was booming in a way that this region was beginning to be called 34. Bundesland ("the thirty-fourth state"), aggravated by hefty debates over liberalisation of morally laden criminal laws - notably, the liberalisation of the 1920s had, not stifled by twelve years of totalitarian insane dictatorship, picked up again by the mid-1950s - led the DDP (ironically, elements of this party were against decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, procuration, most forms of blasphemy, against decriminalisation of first-trimester abortion etc.) to withdraw their ministers from the cabinet. Fritz Ebert, after not being able to agree to a coalition with CNU or SAPD, had President Konrad Adenauer dissolve the Bundestag. New elections were called.
And everyone expected Germany to once again elect a right-wing government. CNU, DVP, NLP or even DNVP were expected to make the most gains. And although it indeed was the DVP which made the highest gains in percentage points, SAPD and SPD reached an absolute majority of seats. Minister of Labour and interim Minister of Justice and Postal Services, Robert Bialek, thus became the first chancellor of the SAPD.
In 1962, many came to celebrate Bialek as, after (formal) consent by the Entente powers (as they were still often called) and a referendum yielding 61,9 % approval, Austria joined Germany as another four Bundesländer (one encompassing Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg; the second one Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Burgenland, and the third Carinthia and Styria - now once again including Lower Styria as Yugoslavia had been defeated, and Vienna was spun-off as a city-state like Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig).
However, quite a few also feared the trend of liberalisation and, completely bogus as this claim was, a few ultraconservatives and reactionaries feared a communist takeover of Germany. Some protests and demonstrations against Bialek were seen towards the end of his term, but most were very happy with Bialek's legacy and the new liberty that came with the reformed criminal code, now just called StGB. Many even actively campaigned for him as he ran for reelection in 1965.
[7] Bialek's broad popularity saw the SAPD consolidate its lead over the SPD, though with the new Austrian states, the two parties fell short of a combined majority. The Socialist Party of Austria, which had strongly supported unification and cultivated close ties to both the SAPD and SPD, triumphed in the new states. The governing parties were more than happy to bring the SPÖ into the fold, both for ideological reasons and as a show of national unity. While this result satisfied the greater public, the strengthened position of the socialist forces alarmed the right-wing. They now counted among their ranks two new Austrian parties: the clericalist Catholics, the bulk of whom had opposed unification, and the "Großdeutsche" pan-nationalists, who had enthusiastically supported it. Though more diverse than ever, the conservative opposition all shared a vehement anti-socialism, and spoke with one voice against the Bialek government. Though initially out of step with the public mood, they found themselves vindicated when the economic situation took a turn for the worse. This was exacerbated by difficulties in properly integrating Austria, which lagged behind the rest of the country in economic development and investment. The conservatives hit hard on the Bialek government, attributing the downturn to socialist mismanagement and accusing Bialek of ignoring the health of the economy in favour of pandering to "gays, feminists, and criminals." The public became increasingly dissatisfied, and the situation was not helped by reports that the first Bialek government had sent bribes over the border to entice the Austrian government to pursue unification - Bialek himself had reportedly boasted privately that it would "guarantee a socialist government, not only in the Bundestag but the states too, for 20 years or more."
The government's popularity floundered throughout the winter of 1967-8, and the coalition became increasingly dissatisfied with their situation. With the opposition polling well and Bialek's reputation tarnished, there were rumblings that he had to go. One morning in early March, the Chancellor received a delegation of party powerbrokers in his office. Several hours later, the meeting concluded, and Bialek held a press conference to announce his resignation. He stated that he was no longer the best person to lead the government, but failed to endorse a successor. Speculation ran rampant about who could be next, or whether the SAPD would even remain at the helm of government. In recent years, it seemed that the party had become almost synonymous with Bialek himself. Three frenzied days and sleepless nights later, the governing parties jointly nominated Social Democratic Party whip Annemarie Renger to become the next Chancellor. She was confirmed by a motion of confidence in the Bundestag. Amidst a recession and a slew of scandals, and with an election on the horizon, the first woman to lead Germany was not in an enviable position.
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
1960: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD) [6]
1965: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
1968: Annemarie Renger (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
[6] And this was to be the first government of the "Second Weimar Republic" (called that because the constitutional convention of 1937 had once again been held in Weimar) to not last the entire term. However, transition of power went rather smoothly.
A scandal over armament deals with the far-right military-led government of Turkey and dubious flows of money between officials, magnates of the budding tourism industry and real estate magnates (or "property sharks") - tourism to the southern coast of Turkey was booming in a way that this region was beginning to be called 34. Bundesland ("the thirty-fourth state"), aggravated by hefty debates over liberalisation of morally laden criminal laws - notably, the liberalisation of the 1920s had, not stifled by twelve years of totalitarian insane dictatorship, picked up again by the mid-1950s - led the DDP (ironically, elements of this party were against decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, procuration, most forms of blasphemy, against decriminalisation of first-trimester abortion etc.) to withdraw their ministers from the cabinet. Fritz Ebert, after not being able to agree to a coalition with CNU or SAPD, had President Konrad Adenauer dissolve the Bundestag. New elections were called.
And everyone expected Germany to once again elect a right-wing government. CNU, DVP, NLP or even DNVP were expected to make the most gains. And although it indeed was the DVP which made the highest gains in percentage points, SAPD and SPD reached an absolute majority of seats. Minister of Labour and interim Minister of Justice and Postal Services, Robert Bialek, thus became the first chancellor of the SAPD.
In 1962, many came to celebrate Bialek as, after (formal) consent by the Entente powers (as they were still often called) and a referendum yielding 61,9 % approval, Austria joined Germany as another four Bundesländer (one encompassing Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg; the second one Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Burgenland, and the third Carinthia and Styria - now once again including Lower Styria as Yugoslavia had been defeated, and Vienna was spun-off as a city-state like Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig).
However, quite a few also feared the trend of liberalisation and, completely bogus as this claim was, a few ultraconservatives and reactionaries feared a communist takeover of Germany. Some protests and demonstrations against Bialek were seen towards the end of his term, but most were very happy with Bialek's legacy and the new liberty that came with the reformed criminal code, now just called StGB. Many even actively campaigned for him as he ran for reelection in 1965.
[7] Bialek's broad popularity saw the SAPD consolidate its lead over the SPD, though with the new Austrian states, the two parties fell short of a combined majority. The Socialist Party of Austria, which had strongly supported unification and cultivated close ties to both the SAPD and SPD, triumphed in the new states. The governing parties were more than happy to bring the SPÖ into the fold, both for ideological reasons and as a show of national unity. While this result satisfied the greater public, the strengthened position of the socialist forces alarmed the right-wing. They now counted among their ranks two new Austrian parties: the clericalist Catholics, the bulk of whom had opposed unification, and the "Großdeutsche" pan-nationalists, who had enthusiastically supported it. Though more diverse than ever, the conservative opposition all shared a vehement anti-socialism, and spoke with one voice against the Bialek government. Though initially out of step with the public mood, they found themselves vindicated when the economic situation took a turn for the worse. This was exacerbated by difficulties in properly integrating Austria, which lagged behind the rest of the country in economic development and investment. The conservatives hit hard on the Bialek government, attributing the downturn to socialist mismanagement and accusing Bialek of ignoring the health of the economy in favour of pandering to "gays, feminists, and criminals." The public became increasingly dissatisfied, and the situation was not helped by reports that the first Bialek government had sent bribes over the border to entice the Austrian government to pursue unification - Bialek himself had reportedly boasted privately that it would "guarantee a socialist government, not only in the Bundestag but the states too, for 20 years or more."
The government's popularity floundered throughout the winter of 1967-8, and the coalition became increasingly dissatisfied with their situation. With the opposition polling well and Bialek's reputation tarnished, there were rumblings that he had to go. One morning in early March, the Chancellor received a delegation of party powerbrokers in his office. Several hours later, the meeting concluded, and Bialek held a press conference to announce his resignation. He stated that he was no longer the best person to lead the government, but failed to endorse a successor. Speculation ran rampant about who could be next, or whether the SAPD would even remain at the helm of government. In recent years, it seemed that the party had become almost synonymous with Bialek himself. Three frenzied days and sleepless nights later, the governing parties jointly nominated Social Democratic Party whip Annemarie Renger to become the next Chancellor. She was confirmed by a motion of confidence in the Bundestag. Amidst a recession and a slew of scandals, and with an election on the horizon, the first woman to lead Germany was not in an enviable position.
Last edited:
TL #6 - Hitlers Rheinfall
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
1960: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD) [6]
1965: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
1968: Annemarie Renger (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
1969: Otto von Habsburg independent ( CNU -DÖVP - DDP - DVP - SVWM ) [8]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
[6] And this was to be the first government of the "Second Weimar Republic" (called that because the constitutional convention of 1937 had once again been held in Weimar) to not last the entire term. However, transition of power went rather smoothly.
A scandal over armament deals with the far-right military-led government of Turkey and dubious flows of money between officials, magnates of the budding tourism industry and real estate magnates (or "property sharks") - tourism to the southern coast of Turkey was booming in a way that this region was beginning to be called 34. Bundesland ("the thirty-fourth state"), aggravated by hefty debates over liberalisation of morally laden criminal laws - notably, the liberalisation of the 1920s had, not stifled by twelve years of totalitarian insane dictatorship, picked up again by the mid-1950s - led the DDP (ironically, elements of this party were against decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, procuration, most forms of blasphemy, against decriminalisation of first-trimester abortion etc.) to withdraw their ministers from the cabinet. Fritz Ebert, after not being able to agree to a coalition with CNU or SAPD, had President Konrad Adenauer dissolve the Bundestag. New elections were called.
And everyone expected Germany to once again elect a right-wing government. CNU, DVP, NLP or even DNVP were expected to make the most gains. And although it indeed was the DVP which made the highest gains in percentage points, SAPD and SPD reached an absolute majority of seats. Minister of Labour and interim Minister of Justice and Postal Services, Robert Bialek, thus became the first chancellor of the SAPD.
In 1962, many came to celebrate Bialek as, after (formal) consent by the Entente powers (as they were still often called) and a referendum yielding 61,9 % approval, Austria joined Germany as another four Bundesländer (one encompassing Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg; the second one Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Burgenland, and the third Carinthia and Styria - now once again including Lower Styria as Yugoslavia had been defeated, and Vienna was spun-off as a city-state like Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig).
However, quite a few also feared the trend of liberalisation and, completely bogus as this claim was, a few ultraconservatives and reactionaries feared a communist takeover of Germany. Some protests and demonstrations against Bialek were seen towards the end of his term, but most were very happy with Bialek's legacy and the new liberty that came with the reformed criminal code, now just called StGB. Many even actively campaigned for him as he ran for reelection in 1965.
[7] Bialek's broad popularity saw the SAPD consolidate its lead over the SPD, though with the new Austrian states, the two parties fell short of a combined majority. The Socialist Party of Austria, which had strongly supported unification and cultivated close ties to both the SAPD and SPD, triumphed in the new states. The governing parties were more than happy to bring the SPÖ into the fold, both for ideological reasons and as a show of national unity. While this result satisfied the greater public, the strengthened position of the socialist forces alarmed the right-wing. They now counted among their ranks two new Austrian parties: the clericalist Catholics, the bulk of whom had opposed unification, and the "Großdeutsche" pan-nationalists, who had enthusiastically supported it. Though more diverse than ever, the conservative opposition all shared a vehement anti-socialism, and spoke with one voice against the Bialek government. Though initially out of step with the public mood, they found themselves vindicated when the economic situation took a turn for the worse. This was exacerbated by difficulties in properly integrating Austria, which lagged behind the rest of the country in economic development and investment. The conservatives hit hard on the Bialek government, attributing the downturn to socialist mismanagement and accusing Bialek of ignoring the health of the economy in favour of pandering to "gays, feminists, and criminals." The public became increasingly dissatisfied, and the situation was not helped by reports that the first Bialek government had sent bribes over the border to entice the Austrian government to pursue unification - Bialek himself had reportedly boasted privately that it would "guarantee a socialist government, not only in the Bundestag but the states too, for 20 years or more."
The government's popularity floundered throughout the winter of 1967-8, and the coalition became increasingly dissatisfied with their situation. With the opposition polling well and Bialek's reputation tarnished, there were rumblings that he had to go. One morning in early March, the Chancellor received a delegation of party powerbrokers in his office. Several hours later, the meeting concluded, and Bialek held a press conference to announce his resignation. He stated that he was no longer the best person to lead the government, but failed to endorse a successor. Speculation ran rampant about who could be next, or whether the SAPD would even remain at the helm of government. In recent years, it seemed that the party had become almost synonymous with Bialek himself. Three frenzied days and sleepless nights later, the governing parties jointly nominated Social Democratic Party whip Annemarie Renger to become the next Chancellor. She was confirmed by a motion of confidence in the Bundestag. Amidst a recession and a slew of scandals, and with an election on the horizon, the first woman to lead Germany was not in an enviable position.
[8] Annemarie Renger had little fortune. On the one hand, there was a demand for change, on the other she had not been long enough in office to get any boost from being the incumbent. And while it had always been her aim to show that a woman can do the job just as well, this time she simply did not have the time. Forming a new government after the election was complicated. While no liberal or conservative party was willing to work under Renger (SPD was still the strongest party) they also had trouble to decide among themselves which party would get the chancellorship.
Eventually and to almost everybodies surprise, they settled on von Habsburg. The German-Austrian unification had gotten rid of the limitations on political engagement for the Habsburg family. Whether deliberatly or by accident is still a popular topic for historical debate today. As an Independent, he not also got the Deutsch-Östereichische-Volkspartei ( German-Austrian-Peoples-Party), but also the tiny Sozialistische Volksbewegung zur Wiedereinführung der Monarchie ( with 2 seats) ( Peoples Movement for the Reintroduction of the Monarchy to back his government.
EDIT: @Harry_Z_Trumen came up with the idea of a Socialist Monarchist party so I thought, ok, let's do that. "Volksbewegung zur Wiedereinführung der Monarchie" is of course a refference to the Andreas Eschbach Novel 'Ein König für Deutschland'
What if the United Kingdom and France, with Italo-Austrian support, go to war against Nazi Germany over remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
List of Chancellors of the German Republic
1933: Adolf Hitler (NSDAP)
1937: Otto Braun (SPD-DDP) [1]
1941: Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD-DDP-BVP) [2]
1950: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [3]
1954: Hermann Pünder (CNU-DVP) [4]
1958: Fritz Ebert (SPD-DDP-SAPD) [5]
1960: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD) [6]
1965: Robert Bialek (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
1968: Annemarie Renger (SAPD-SPD-SPÖ) [7]
1969: Otto von Habsburg independent ( CNU -DÖVP - DDP - DVP - SVWM ) [8]
[1] France - fearing a far-right/nationalist or a far-left/communist victory in the upcoming election - called upon the United Kingdom for support in a war against Germany, and London agreed that the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was indeed enough to invoke the alliance (Bündnisfall). And, against the only very recently rebuilt Wehrmacht and the as-of-yet meager Luftwaffe, it was a quick war. It was the following (short) civil war against both fanaticised SS units and communist resistance which actually led to more fatalities than the fight against the Wehrmacht. But thanks to Austrian, Polish and even Italian assistance, by 1937, a second constitutional convention had been called. While France advocated a more presidential system, it was an Anglo-Polish-Czech-German proposal of strengthening the role of the Chancellor, more clearly delineating an emergency according to art. 48, limiting the power of the President to rule by such Art. 48 emergency decrees to one year at most, banning changes to the constitution via emergency decrees, clarifying basic human and civil rights, and - most importantly - fundamentally reforming the electoral system to a Westminster system, which was accepted. Contrary to the UK, Germany's diversity of parties meant that coalitions were not quite as unlikely in Berlin as in London. 1937 saw the first free and fair elections held under the new system, and while many expected a rather right-wing Franz von Papen chancellorship, it was Otto Braun's SPD who won the election. Both KPD and NSDAP had been banned by a newly created institution, the Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court) in Bremen.
Also, a referendum in Danzig had been held in August 1937, yielding 79,4 % support for rejoining the German Republic. A similar result of 72,5 % was obtained in Memelland, and thus, both once split-off parts rejoined Germany. But a major threat to this new order of Europe was arising, not from Berlin, but from Moscow as Stalin tried to incite communist dissidents and parts of the radicalised working class to rise up across Eastern Europe, especially the Baltics and Poland... Britain and even France saw themselves forced to de facto ally with the new democratic Germany (de jure, they only - relatively quickly - lifted restrictions on the armed forces which, as 1933-36 had shown, were barely enforceable anyway and relaxed on reparations).
[2] To everyone's surprise, the coalition held for the whole 4 year term, but failed to get a majority in the next election, though barely. Otto Braun decided to retire. SPD and DDP where willing to continue governing, but needed a third partner. Eventually they settled on the Bavarian Peoples Party, and Bavarian Social Democrat Hoegner as new chancellor. The advantages of having a fellow Bavarian as chancellor outweighed the downside of him being a Social Democrat. ;-)
[3] The war that everyone thought would already break out in Braun's term (and which might well have torn the new system asunder) broke out in early 1942 when, after the USSR had been able to erect a communist puppet regime under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Japan incited counter-revolutionaries in Mongolia and the Russian Far East. After an episode of war in Mongolia and Tannu-Tuva, where it became evident that the British and French (at least) had come to support Japan, Stalin attacked the Baltic nations and Finland on April 28, 1942. Wilhelm Hoegner took the opposition of CNU (a merger of Zentrum and the more nationalist parts of the DVP, together with some small Christian/conservative splinter parties, to represent all Christian denominations), DVP and even the DNVP into an all-party coalition. As the war was raging on throughout Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most parts of Asia, the 1945 election was - as was allowed in "case of war or another national emergency, to be confirmed every year by the Bundestag" - postponed for four years. And the allies (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, but also Japan and later on the USA) won the war against the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, and quite a few revolutionary collaborators decisively. The Baltics and Finland were kept free, and Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Mongolia, Tannu-Tuva, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were liberated. After the war, the USSR was limited to territory east of the Urals and west of the Lena River and some of Central Asia (namely Kazakhstan and parts of Uzbekistan). To the west of the Urals, on the backs of anti-communist rebels/freedom fighters, the Russian Empire was restored under the closest available relative of the Romanovs, while the Far-Eastern Republic was a member of the - unstable - GEACPS. A new type of weapon was also developed, called - even officially - Atombombe, but the test of this device on September 5, 1949 in the remote northern reaches of Finland impressed the USSR into accepting the unconditional surrender and the Treaty of T'bilisi. Hoegner only called elections when the war was over, and at this point, Germany was once again a great power, but a great power within a framework of European allies and newly liberated nations. But, to many people's surprise and even shock, Hoegner and his coalition lost to the candidacy of Hermann Pünder of the CNU, who entered a coalition with the DVP. By the time Pünder was inaugurated as Chancellor, Japan had to retreat from the Far-Eastern Republic, but their occupational duties were taken up by the US soon after, so that the FER was likely to be remodeled on the American system...
[4] Pünder's doctrines of free trade and movement, equal opportunity and economic pragmatism helped establish the conventions of the post-war Parliament and unite (to an extent) the disparate groups which it represented. Even so, the CNU-DVP coalition barely managed to maintain a slim majority in their re-election, . This election also saw the formation and merging of a number of parties including the first socialist-monarchist party to participate in a general election (running in three seats - none would win).
[5] By the end of the 50s, the Germans have become used to the democratic system and to governments lasting for the entire term. Also the Early years of Weimar where seen in a more positive light. This includes most of the politicians of that time. But the CNU and the DVP showed fatigue in governing, it was time for a change. The new government was led by the son of the former Reichspräsident in a coalition iwth the left liberal DDP and the 1931 formed SDAP that had soaked up most of the former KDP electorate.
[6] And this was to be the first government of the "Second Weimar Republic" (called that because the constitutional convention of 1937 had once again been held in Weimar) to not last the entire term. However, transition of power went rather smoothly.
A scandal over armament deals with the far-right military-led government of Turkey and dubious flows of money between officials, magnates of the budding tourism industry and real estate magnates (or "property sharks") - tourism to the southern coast of Turkey was booming in a way that this region was beginning to be called 34. Bundesland ("the thirty-fourth state"), aggravated by hefty debates over liberalisation of morally laden criminal laws - notably, the liberalisation of the 1920s had, not stifled by twelve years of totalitarian insane dictatorship, picked up again by the mid-1950s - led the DDP (ironically, elements of this party were against decriminalisation of homosexuality, adultery, procuration, most forms of blasphemy, against decriminalisation of first-trimester abortion etc.) to withdraw their ministers from the cabinet. Fritz Ebert, after not being able to agree to a coalition with CNU or SAPD, had President Konrad Adenauer dissolve the Bundestag. New elections were called.
And everyone expected Germany to once again elect a right-wing government. CNU, DVP, NLP or even DNVP were expected to make the most gains. And although it indeed was the DVP which made the highest gains in percentage points, SAPD and SPD reached an absolute majority of seats. Minister of Labour and interim Minister of Justice and Postal Services, Robert Bialek, thus became the first chancellor of the SAPD.
In 1962, many came to celebrate Bialek as, after (formal) consent by the Entente powers (as they were still often called) and a referendum yielding 61,9 % approval, Austria joined Germany as another four Bundesländer (one encompassing Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg; the second one Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich and Burgenland, and the third Carinthia and Styria - now once again including Lower Styria as Yugoslavia had been defeated, and Vienna was spun-off as a city-state like Hamburg, Bremen and Danzig).
However, quite a few also feared the trend of liberalisation and, completely bogus as this claim was, a few ultraconservatives and reactionaries feared a communist takeover of Germany. Some protests and demonstrations against Bialek were seen towards the end of his term, but most were very happy with Bialek's legacy and the new liberty that came with the reformed criminal code, now just called StGB. Many even actively campaigned for him as he ran for reelection in 1965.
[7] Bialek's broad popularity saw the SAPD consolidate its lead over the SPD, though with the new Austrian states, the two parties fell short of a combined majority. The Socialist Party of Austria, which had strongly supported unification and cultivated close ties to both the SAPD and SPD, triumphed in the new states. The governing parties were more than happy to bring the SPÖ into the fold, both for ideological reasons and as a show of national unity. While this result satisfied the greater public, the strengthened position of the socialist forces alarmed the right-wing. They now counted among their ranks two new Austrian parties: the clericalist Catholics, the bulk of whom had opposed unification, and the "Großdeutsche" pan-nationalists, who had enthusiastically supported it. Though more diverse than ever, the conservative opposition all shared a vehement anti-socialism, and spoke with one voice against the Bialek government. Though initially out of step with the public mood, they found themselves vindicated when the economic situation took a turn for the worse. This was exacerbated by difficulties in properly integrating Austria, which lagged behind the rest of the country in economic development and investment. The conservatives hit hard on the Bialek government, attributing the downturn to socialist mismanagement and accusing Bialek of ignoring the health of the economy in favour of pandering to "gays, feminists, and criminals." The public became increasingly dissatisfied, and the situation was not helped by reports that the first Bialek government had sent bribes over the border to entice the Austrian government to pursue unification - Bialek himself had reportedly boasted privately that it would "guarantee a socialist government, not only in the Bundestag but the states too, for 20 years or more."
The government's popularity floundered throughout the winter of 1967-8, and the coalition became increasingly dissatisfied with their situation. With the opposition polling well and Bialek's reputation tarnished, there were rumblings that he had to go. One morning in early March, the Chancellor received a delegation of party powerbrokers in his office. Several hours later, the meeting concluded, and Bialek held a press conference to announce his resignation. He stated that he was no longer the best person to lead the government, but failed to endorse a successor. Speculation ran rampant about who could be next, or whether the SAPD would even remain at the helm of government. In recent years, it seemed that the party had become almost synonymous with Bialek himself. Three frenzied days and sleepless nights later, the governing parties jointly nominated Social Democratic Party whip Annemarie Renger to become the next Chancellor. She was confirmed by a motion of confidence in the Bundestag. Amidst a recession and a slew of scandals, and with an election on the horizon, the first woman to lead Germany was not in an enviable position.
[8] Annemarie Renger had little fortune. On the one hand, there was a demand for change, on the other she had not been long enough in office to get any boost from being the incumbent. And while it had always been her aim to show that a woman can do the job just as well, this time she simply did not have the time. Forming a new government after the election was complicated. While no liberal or conservative party was willing to work under Renger (SPD was still the strongest party) they also had trouble to decide among themselves which party would get the chancellorship.
Eventually and to almost everybodies surprise, they settled on von Habsburg. The German-Austrian unification had gotten rid of the limitations on political engagement for the Habsburg family. Whether deliberatly or by accident is still a popular topic for historical debate today. As an Independent, he not also got the Deutsch-Östereichische-Volkspartei ( German-Austrian-Peoples-Party), but also the tiny Sozialistische Volksbewegung zur Wiedereinführung der Monarchie ( with 2 seats) ( Peoples Movement for the Reintroduction of the Monarchy to back his government.
EDIT: @Harry_Z_Trumen came up with the idea of a Socialist Monarchist party so I thought, ok, let's do that. "Volksbewegung zur Wiedereinführung der Monarchie" is of course a refference to the Andreas Eschbach Novel 'Ein König für Deutschland'
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