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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 independant 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
Some of the board members who live there:
Unfortunately, some didn't behave well and eventually got banned :
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
Das Königsprojekt
Der Untergang der Stadt Passau (FH)
Otto Basil
Wenn das der Führer wüsste
Christian von Ditfurth
Die Mauer steht am Rhein.Deutschland nach dem Sieg des Sozialismus.
Der 21. Juli
Der Consul
Das Luxemburg-Komplott
Alternate history clichés involving this country
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (in this case, it extends to Germany's African colonies)
In most cases of cliché-ridden AH, Germany is either disunited, or an Europe-spanning Nazi Empire.
See Also
German Timelines and Scenarios
Useful Resources about Germany
German Day - Running gag concerning the AH.com calendar.