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offtopic:germany

Germany

A Central European country/nation, bordered by France and Poland.

Germany's origins lie in the Treaty of Verdun from 843 AD, which divided Charlemagne's Empire. Out of the Eastern Frankish Realm, the German Kingdom and later the (Holy) Roman Empire (and yet later “of German Nation”) developed. Said Empire had its central authority weakened more and more over the centuries, resulting in a myriad of de facto independent states. Due to Napoleon's pressure, it ended in 1806, and the Congress of Vienna did not restore it, instead creating the Germanic Confederation as mainly an alliance to combat nationalist-democratic elements in the own population. It finally reunited under Prussian lead in 1871, was divided into four occupation zones and later two countries in 1945, and reunited again in 1990. Germany was the main antagonist to the Allies in both World Wars, and because those wars tend to be focused on in AH, so is Germany. Because of its long and influential history, Germany is the focus of many an AH.


Bundesländer and Regions of Germany

AH.commers

In AH.com Culture

Our German members are best known for being capable of having endless political debates over issues and minutiae that no-one else has ever heard of. We are also known for having a surprising number of eurosceptic Germans, although of course they have violent political disagreements about the reason to be eurosceptic.

Generally, those arguments are mostly seen as a diversion from the fact that all AH.com Germans, or all Germans period, form a hivemind, a notion that gained new evidence when Susano and Steffen met at Heidelberg but conveniently “both” “forgot” to bring a photo camera. Generally, Susano supports the Hivemind theory, while Steffen and Kabraloth ardently insist on not being Susano most of the time. Besides that, there have been attempts to expand the Hivemind beyond just the Germans - Zyzzyva for example joined just so he could argue with Susano.

As we all know from our favourite banned Polish trolls HurganPL and Molobo, Germany - together with Russia - will invade Poland any time now.


In AH.com Fiction

The senior German members of the board were used as a template for The Germans of the AH.com The Series.


German alternate history literature

Stereotypically, Germany seems to be better place for AH to take place, then for creating AH itself. Nevertheless, there are a few German authors who have not only managed to write AH, but also to get it published like:

Carl Amery

An den Feuern der Leyermark (a bunch of ACW veterans with modern guns help Austria + Bavaria win the battle of Königgrätz [ITTL called Schandau])
Das Königsprojekt (the Catholic church owns a time machine, built by Leonardo da Vinci)
Der Untergang der Stadt Passau (FH) (After the End, some people try to rebuild civilization in Passau)

Otto Basil

Wenn das der Führer wüsste! (Hitler wins WW2 and rules over the whole world, except for Japan's East Asian sphere)

Christian von Ditfurth

(who also happens to be the author of “German History for Dummies” - he calls his AH “Geschichtsverbiegungen” (bent [Hi]Stories) or “Lügengeschichten” ([Hi]Stories with/made of lies), BTW)

Die Mauer steht am Rhein: Deutschland nach dem Sieg des Sozialismus (Gorbachev is toppled in 1988, the FRG forced to join the GDR. And many westerners incl. politicians become willing collaborators.)
Der 21. Juli (Stauffenberg manages to kill Hitler - and the conspirators manage to take power by allying with Himmler and Göring, of all people. Then, Germany starts to work on nuclear weapons…)
Der Consul (The NSDAP loses the elections of November 1932 - but why is Hitler battered to death soon afterwards, and why do Goebbels, Röhm and Strasser die as well? Then, a civil war breaks out…)
Das Luxemburg-Komplott (Yes, the Communist revolution in Germany of 1919 is successful. And Lenin meddles too. And what is the Reichswehr doing?)

Wolfgang Jeschke

Das Cusanus Spiel [sic] / The Cusanus Game (Cusanus founds the Accademia Romana - later called “Sapienza” - with support by pope Pius II, which is later lead by scientists like da Vinci, Giordano Bruno, and Kepler. Science and technology develop much faster than IOTL, so does the European unification - but some things go majorly wrong, and the biologist Domenica Ligrina has to join a secret time travelling project…)

Prof. Alexander Demandt

Yes, a proper professor of history has written about our hobby, in a positive way to boot: Ungeschehene Geschichte (Discussion Thread)

Andreas Eschbach

NSA - Nationales Sicherheits-Amt (Computers have been around since Charles Babbage, so the Weimar Republic establishes the titular NSA to watch the Weltnetz, the new computer network. But the nazis abuse the new technology…)

Timur Vermes

Er ist wieder da (Adolf Hitler awakes on August 30th 2011 in Berlin.)

Thomas Ziegler

Die Stimmen der Nacht (The US deploy nukes earlier, i.e. on Berlin while the war is going on. The Morgenthau plan is implemented, 20 million Germans emigrate to South America… eventually taking over the whole continent.)

Hannes Stein

Der Komet (After the first bomb was thrown on Franz Ferdinand of A-H in Sarajevo, he decides “I'm not a fool, I'll go home again”, World War I is cancelled. Monarchs reign everywhere in Europe, even the Ottoman Empire hasn't fallen. The US stay a backward country full of cowboys, gold diggers, and rednecks - Vienna is the center of the world, full of Jews, psychoanalysts, and irony. Here, in the 21st century, protagonist Alexei starts a liaison with a society lady - Barbara Gottlieb, despite the name Sephardic - whose husband is very far away, but sending uncalming news. Part of the novel are also set on the Moon, of all places.)

Simon Urban

Plan D (The GDR survives until the present of 2011. An eastern German policeman and his western colleague have to solve a complicated case involving politics.)

Siegfried Langer

Alles bleibt anders: A man who lost his memory (named Frank Miller) finds himself in Berlin of the year 2008 – but it's a very old-timey Berlin where both World Wars never seemed to have happened.

Dirk van den Boom

Kaiserkrieger: Shortly before WW1 will break out, the light cruiser “Saarbrücken” (Bremen class) of the Kriegsmarine is ISoTed back to the year 378 – when the Goths are attacking what's left of the Roman Empire. The men decide to help the western Roman emperor…

Jens Bühler

Der letzte Wohnsitz Gottes: A German nuke destroys Moscow in winter 1943. Hitler died in 1944, and the war ends. A Cold War follows. But in 1981, the SS officer Lenzer has to keep a dangerous secret.

Oliver Henkel

Im Jahre Ragnarök: After Hitler lost WW2, Germany was divided in a different way (because of Stalin's death in February 1945) – the Rhineland became the Rhenish republic, a French satellite under president Adenauer. OTL GDR is divided between Britain and the US. A Morgenthau plan was implemented in Germany. The Soviet Union broke down, warlords fight each other on its former territory. Even in 1962, India is still British. Chiang Kai-shek is holding out in China, although he has barely more than the coast under control. Many Brits hate their “rich uncle”, the US.

Kaisertag: Franz Ferdinand wasn't shot in Sarajevo, A-H is reformed, WW1 doesn't happen. In 1988, private detective Friedrich Prieß has to solve the case of a murder of a colonel of the powerful RMA secret service.

Die Zeitmaschine Karls des Großen: The Western Romans under a Rufus Scorpio defeat the Ostrogoths under Odoacer and Theoderich, the Western Roman Empire survives, although Gallia is lost to the Franks. But more than three centuries later, a Frankish king named Charles declares himself emperor…

Wechselwelten: Seven journeys into worlds, which almost could have existed.

  • “Ein neunter Oktober” deals with the revolution in Eastern Germany 1989. Erich Mielke orders shooting the peaceful demonstrators.
  • “Der Adler ist gelandet” researches the question what'd have happened if Christopher Columbus hadn't sailed to America under the Spanish flag. A merchant from Lübeck meets Columbus…
  • In “…auf dass er die Menschen erlöse” we meet Jesus and Pontius Pilate. There's a surprise witness for the defense.
  • “Kalifornia Dreaming” has a connection of Goebbels and Walt Disney: It's about a Disney theme park in the Greater German Reich.
  • In “Mr. Lincoln fährt nach Friedrichsburg”, the lawyer Abraham Lincoln takes over a new case. He travels to Prussia – without having to leave America.
  • “Die Unsterblichkeit des Harold Strait” deals with the possibility of time travel and the consequences thereof, if you try to influence history.
  • “Aus den Symposien des Nikandros von Athen Dialog XIV, auch bekannt als 'Zweites Gastmahl des Sophronios'”: Alexander the Great doesn't die as a young man, but wants to conquer other parts of the known world, including Rome.
  • “Do you speak English?”

Wenn Hitler den Krieg gewonnen hätte (1989) by Ralph Giordano is non-fiction, but gets a honorable mention. It is a must read for anyone wanting to write a Nazi victory timeline. Mostly based on history books by Andreas Hillgruber and Klaus Hildebrand.


Alternate history clichés involving this country

Disunited Germany

German Techwank

Operation Sealion

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (in this case, it extends to Germany's African colonies)

Uber Brandenburg

In most cases of cliché-ridden AH, Germany is either disunited, or an Europe-spanning Nazi Empire.


See Also

offtopic/germany.txt · Last modified: 2022/09/13 23:25 by max_sinister

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