Shyri

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

@Pepperm1nts
The crown prince of Germany is named Friederich. The legacy shall live on.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

@duck55223


Along with Japan, Crimea, and Central America, I believe. (Though I might have missed/be forgetting 1 or 2.)

EDIT: For clarity, on that map, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg are marked as grey just to clarify borders, but are NPC's. Then Poland and Lithuania are available, but are German puppets.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

The German Empire

Map:

Hider

Leader: Wilhelm IV

History:

Hider

The German Empire was one of very few to make it through the Great War having gained something. The Russian Surrender in 1917 saw Eastern Poland and the Baltic shift into German control, and allowed Germany to throw everything at the Western front. However, nearly 6 months later, Austria started to lose traction, and Kaiser Wilhelm feared they would capitulate if something wasn't done. 1/3 of the German Army in Belgium was redirected South, to aid the Austrian army, and provide them with proper leadership. The strain on the Western front caused by the shift in the army eventually led to the French managing a successful push into Belgium in 1918, where the trenches would sit until the end of the war. Many Germans blamed the weak Austrian army for their failure to win the war, which is a sentiment that many still hold to this day.

Once the war was over, Germany was in shambles. The only thing that kept it's economy from collapsing in on itself was the sale of stockpiled military equipment and lease of mercenary forces to the White Army in Russia, to aid them in their civil war.

Back at home, soldiers had returned to their homes, only to be drafted into work at factories, farms, and construction. The state promised that once the economy stabilized, all veterans would be compensated for everything they went through in the last years of the war. That promise was enough motivation to keep them all hard at work for a good while, while the state frantically tried to find a way to keep their promise. Around this time, revolts started to appear in the larger German colonies due to lack of support from home. The most notable was that of Paul von Letow-Vorbeck in Tanganyika, who, with nearly the whole of the colonial army at his back, overthrew the colonial governor and titled himself “The Kaiser in Africa.”

The German state tried it's best to keep news of Vorbeck turning traitor out of the public eye, but it, of course, eventually made it's way to them. At nearly the same time, the mercenaries from Russia returned home, refusing to keep dying for another country. They also brought word with them that their side was losing, and the Russian money was no longer coming in. The flood of all this information at once led the populace to the same conclusion: Nobody was getting their compensation. They fought, died, and were now slaving away for nothing. The state lied. The Kaiser lied. At this point, they turned to a man who was speaking out against the state, and who had never failed them during the war. August von Mackensen. As more and more people rallied behind him, the Kaiser feared the worst, and ordered the assassination of von Mackensen in 1931. The assassin failed, however, and was captured. After a brief interrogation, he outed the Kaiser. The following year, the Kaiser was found dead in his office, rifle wound in his back, and the window shattered. Despite never finding the shooter, Mackensen was blamed, and, two days later, the German Civil War began.

Many regard the German Civil War as being even more horrendous than the Great War, as it pitted Germans who were tired of fighting against each other. It was a necessary war, that forced men to do many, many unnecessary things. To make matters worse, about four months in, the Poles and Lithuanians rebelled, demanding independence from the broken German state. The Empire nearly buckled, but a successful guerrilla operation in Bavaria lead by Wilhelm IV resulted in the death of von Mackensen. The Prince was captured, but managed to escape a couple months later during a raid staged by his brother. With their figurehead dead, and their last chance at victory at the negotiating table freed, the disorganized rebels quickly fell apart and surrendered, ending the Civil War on October 1935. The Germans took back Poland the following Summer, but found they reached their limit and had to stop their advance before they got around to the Baltic. Poland was designated a protectorate of the Empire, allowed mostly full autonomy so as to prevent another rebellion form emerging.

Between 1937 and 1956, Germany was focused solely on recovering from nearly 20 years of devastation. It holed up, and shut itself away from the world for the most part, only really interacting with essential trade partners, and it's neighbors. It wasn't until the death of Wilhelm III, and the ascension of Wilhelm IV that the empire truly saw life breathed into it again.

In 1957, on the 20th anniversary of the German Recovery period, Wilhelm marched German troops into Lithuania, aiming to reassert German hegemony over the territory. The Lithuanians fell within a week, and the Kaiser ordered the troops to continue North until they found the coast, taking Kurland from a broken Latvia as well. With his show of force accomplished, Wilhelm named the Baltic State a client state of the Empire. New flags were drawn up for both the Baltic and Poland, representing both their subservience to the German Empire, and their autonomous nature.

The fall of Russia has reigned in a whole new set of problems for Germany. Large amounts of Russian nationals enter Poland and the Baltic every day, searching for refuge and stability away from the horrors of their home. The visage of order that is the German state serves as a stark contrast to the lawless waste sitting at it's Eastern border. That same visage, however, also draws in a variety of criminals who simply want to take from the German territories, before escaping back home and disappearing into the lawless wastes. Because of this, Wilhelm IV has started plotting ways to bring order back to the East, however long it may take, for the security, and prosperity, of the German people.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

<Snipped quote by Shyri>

Western Belarus is Polish, you mean.

That being said, Aaron's suggestion is probably most accurate considering the post-Russian chaos.

@Mihndar

I mean, it's the territory Poland held between 1922 and 1939. Without WW2, it's understandable it would still hold those territories, regarded as "Eastern Poland" throughout this period of history. Especially since it existed as an entity before the Russian-explosion. With no Russia invading it to take that land, either, in 1960 it would thoroughly be a Polish territory. Even if it's had to deal with a refugee crisis for 5 years. Russia exploding doesn't suddenly make it no longer Poland's border.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

<Snipped quote by ethanjory>

But I refuse. Someone needs to stand up to the Germans. Look at him, he's already made part of what I had claimed as western Ukraine as part of Poland, and that's not even his darn country.

East Poland is Polish. *gasps*

Anyways, it makes little sense that a 5 year old government can maintain control over most of their core territories, half of Belarus, and all of Eastern Poland. Especially when the same government doesn't even have full control of the Ukrainian population. In comparison, Poland as a state has existed long enough to actually hold it's cultural territory.

If you really want to get into it.

That said, I had been talking over the details of Germany over the last couple days with Aaron and Vilage. I didn't just look at what you put down, take a paintbrush to it, and scribble over what you have.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

New, improved and finalized map of The German Empire, with it's two protectorates/puppets/clients/whateveryouwannacallem. (Done in HoI4's map for accuracy.) History following shortly.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

<Snipped quote by Shyri>

The standing position is that the colonies, or at least most of them, broke off. Brits might keep some, but otherwise we want to avoid large chunks of the world being treated as useless tertiary territories.

@Vilageidiotx

No problem. I assumed so at first, but when I skimmed through your sheet last night and saw mention of German Africa, I thought otherwise. Reading it completely now, though... There's definitely room in the timeline for it to break away.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

What's guaranteed of German Africa.


Edit: It's just a few provinces from Cameroon and Togo.

Edit edit: But, yeah. Like I said. If you wanna go ahead and say that the Dutch purchased Togo and the German Pacific to help us pay off that war debt, that sounds good by me. That lands you with Togo, N. New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Caroline, Marianas, and the Marshall Islands.

Precipice of War: The Reboot Bugaloo

Some of the African territory dips into German Central Africa territory. However, I'll happily part with the German Pacific Islands (and Togo) if you wanna say the Netherlands purchased them from the Germans. (Especially since our economy would have been in the gutter post-war.)