Cross-posting from the Map of the Month contest
This map was inspired by
this post earlier in the Map Thread depicting an Austrian-unified Germany:
View attachment 419505
I colored parts of a map I did, with Austria beating Prussia and being crowned Emperor of Germans (Deutschesvolk Kaiser) by acclamation in the Frankfurt Parliament. Dark Green states are either Part of Austria or ruled by a Hapbsurg or Hapsburg-something ruler.
---
Stille Nacht
One of the most remarked upon aspects of the Christmas Armistice of 1919 was its sudden appearance. Seemingly all at once across the trenches of Silesia, Prussians and Germans spontaneously put down their arms and crossed no man’s land, embracing each other as brothers despite the fact that they were shooting at each other not hours earlier, forcing their governments to come to the table for peace. Of course, in actuality, this process was not quite so simple.
Mutterings of all sorts are recorded between the enlisted men of both armies in the weeks and months leading up to the truce as fighting grew bloodier and bloodier while the trench lines remained essentially unchanged. By late 1919, most soldiers on both sides decried the conflict. Most did so from a nationalist perspective; after all, this war was really only about France’s annexation of Belgium, a matter of no concern to the Germans or Prussians - why should fellow German-speaking people fight and kill one another to solidify France’s territorial ambitions (as in the case of the Germans themselves) or for the sake of Britain’s geopolitical obsession with maintaining Belgium’s sovereignty (as in the case of the Prussians)? Of course there were also socialist and communist agitators who decried the war, but they cast opposition to the conflict in class rather then national terms.
Surviving records from both Berlin and Vienna show acute awareness of these trends, and divided opinion as to what actions should be undertaken. In Prussia such defeatist talk was readily punished until it became clear in November that more men were entertaining such defeatist ideas then there would be to carry out punishments. The Germans, while not quite so draconian as the Prussians, ran into similar problems.
Both governments had begun to ratchet down the number of offensives in December if only to keep their men from mutinying. The Prussians noted this trend, and thought that Christmas would be the ideal time to launch an offensive that could finally break the Silesian stalemate, as the Germans would not expect it. When the Prussians attempted to order their men over the top on Christmas Eve, however, they were met with plain refusal. One soldier is famously quoted as telling his commander officer that “I would sooner shoot King Wilhelm than another Bavarian”. Officers who attempted to force their men were met with actual mutiny.
The truce itself can perhaps be laid at the feet of one man, Commander Helmut Maschka, an officer who joined his men in mutiny. At the stroke of midnight, Maschka led his men across the field singing “Silent Night”. The Germans were at first confused and unsure what to do. Officers ordered their men to shoot, but the order was flatly ignored. One soldier, Adolf Hiedler, threw down his weapon and leapt over the top, joining the Prussians in their song. Within minutes, hundreds of Germans were walking across No man’s Land to meet their opponents. News of this event (and other spontaneous actions like it) quickly spread up and down the Prussian and German lines. Soon, a general truce was declared by the soldiers.
When news of the mutiny reached Berlin and Vienna, both governments were deeply terrified that their own militaries would turn around and attack them, and rightly so; millions of troops on what was formerly the bloodiest battlefield in the Globe War were now poised to strike at the hearts of their own empires. While both governments contemplated how to contend with the growing mutiny, Prussian and German pro-truce officers met in Breslau where they signed the Breslau Declaration demanding an immediate end to Prussian and German participation in the Globe War. In support of the truce, Socialist agitators in Prussia and Germany called a general strike until the Breslau Declaration was adopted. Both governments were in little position to disagree. An armistice was reluctantly signed, ending fighting between Prussia and Germany.
Within weeks, the French and the English were forced to the peace table with their most important allies simply refusing to fight. This of course would lead into the French "Stabbed in the back" myth and the coming Revolutionary Wave...
(Below is a period map of the German Empire and Kingdom of Prussia right before the Globe War)
Bundesstaaten Deutsches Reich:
01. Kronländer
a. Erzherzogtum Österreich (Ober und Nieder)
b. Königreich Böhmen
c. Markgrafschaft Mähren
d. Herzogtum Schlesien
e. Herzogtum Salzburg
f. Herzogtum Steiermark
g. Herzogtum Kärnten
h. Herzogtum Krain
i. Herzogtum Magdeburg
j. Herzogtum Holstein
k. Herzogtum Schleswig
l. Grafschaft Tirol
m. Küstenland
n. Vorarlberg
02. Königreich Bayern
03. Königreich Hannover
04. Königreich Sachsen
05. Königreich Württemberg
06. Kurfürstentum Hessen
07. Großherzogtum Baden
08. Großherzogtum Hessen
09. Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin
10. Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Strelitz
11. Großherzogtum Niederrhein
12. Großherzogtum Oldenburg
13. Großherzogtum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach
14. Großherzogtum Westfalen
15. Herzogtum Anhalt
16. Herzogtum Nassau
17. Herzogtum Sachsen-Altenburg
18. Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha
19. Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen
20. Fürstentum Liechtenstein
21. Fürstentum Lippe
22. Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie
23. Fürstentum Reuß jüngere Linie
24. Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe
25. Fürstentum Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
26. Fürstentum Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
27. Fürstentum Waldeck und Pyrmont
28. Freie und Hansestadt Bremen
29. Freie Stadt Frankfurt
30. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
31. Freie und Hansestadt Lübeck
--. Neutral-Moresnet (Kondominium gemeinsam vom Belgien und Deutschen Reich)
---
(Due to image host issues, the full-sized map can be found here)
Enjoy!
