Fire Warms the Northern Lands -- A Prussian AAR

From The Eagle Rising: The Story of Prussia's Arrival On the World Stage, pub. 1989 by Professor Reinicke Herz

Two things impelled the German Unification effort during the spring of 1884 – a desire among North German Federation states for power and influence as partners with Prussia, and a fear of communists which had built since the takeover in Paris from a year prior.

While Prussian hegemony over continental Europe had been established during the 1860s, it had also been contested. The war with Great Britain had proved its dominance to be shaky and unreliable. During the 1870s, a period of relative peace allowed no demonstrations that would prove to the disparate German statelets any necessity for closer alliance with Prussia. In fact, the increasing independence of France from her former master suggested that Prussian influence in that decade, if anything, was waning.

In 1884, under Kaiser Friedrich III, Prussia reasserted its ascendancy over continental Europe by shattering France’s impressive façade of strength in only three months. Prussian arms responded decisively to the threat of communism and unrest in Paris, and the outcome was obvious. It also helped that, just prior, Prussia had rattled sabers with the mighty British Empire, over a sphere of influence in Abu Dhabi, and the weak Gladstone government had chosen to concede in the test of wills.

Photographs and newspaper reports of the Kaiser leading victorious Prussian soldiers through the streets of Paris invoked a German pride which Foreign Minister van Rensselaer used to his advantage. He convinced friendly journalists to push for unification in the small Federation member states. Popular pressure, added to real political considerations at the higher levels of government, forced their princes and ministers to agree to join formally with the Prussian-German Empire under a new, merged, flag, and a new federal system of government.



Unification instantly changed the geopolitical dynamic. Not only had Prussia risen to be the second most prominent power on Earth (second only to the vast British Empire), but her industrial and exporting power had increased by more than half. Germany’s new economic strength was bolstered by the fact that Kaiser Friedrich’s austerity program had paid down more than five percent of Prussia’s peak public debt.

And though Prussia would struggle over the next few decades to counteract the infrastructural deficits of the Federation states, it improved internal communication and trade drastically when the customs barriers and bureaucratic differences that had lined central Germany were suddenly eliminated.

Europe – and the world – had changed dramatically. As events moved forward, it was to change yet again, soon after.

The face of Europe, following the First Franco-Prussian War and German Unification:

Yes, as many of you had predicted, the Fall of Paris event triggered during this war, which set off the German Unification events.

I chose, rather than accept the German flag and the gray color, and to keep a modified Prussian flag.

The modded changes include:

German Unification is triggered, which is what was supposed to happen. The NGF becomes part of Prussia/Germany (remains blue, retains flag, although it can be assumed Prussia is often referred to as Germany, and it can also be assumed that the Prussian and NGF flags in real life would be combined – a black Prussian eagle on a black, white and red field).

South German is added as a primary core to Prussia/Germany. Total population is up to 80 million.

Prussia acquires 1/2 of the NGF’s prestige, which would be reflective of the combination of two of the most powerful countries in the world. Prussia’s prestige goes up 50 from the treaty with France (recovering only 50 of the 100 it spent declaring war), but adds 500 of the NGF’s 1050 prestige. That 500 may sound like a lot from just one event, but consider that the 2nd ranked power in the world just combined with the 5th ranked power in the world. I felt it was a reasonable approximation of the merged power and prestige that would result.

Lastly, and very, very important, Prussia assumes any technologies in which the NGF was more advanced than Prussia. This is key, as the NGF had two major economic techs which lowered Prussia’s interest rates from 15% to 12%. The daily interest goes down from about 300 to 230 due to this change and a total debt load which had been reduced to 206 million reichsmarks by Kaiser Friedrich’s austerity plan.

Coz, Stnylan, Rocketman, Draco, Ghostwriter, BBBD and Prussiablue… thank you all for reading and commenting!

Yes, the UK and Russia are #1 and #2 military powers

Here you can see the population breakdown of Prussia/Germany as of their almost total unification (yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t mod Munich into the new Germany… it would have made things SOO much easier!)



So South Germans are actually more populous than Northerners (30% to 25%), so you can imagine the economic impact of integrating them.

Holding me back, economically, is the 9% clerks figure. Haven’t had much spare cash to devote to upgrading pops… Or perhaps that’s just an excuse.

One additional item I will point out is that there are virtually no Poles left in the Empire – a statistically insignificant number. That’s 100% because of all those revolts over years and decades. Which we will go into later… The only state (3 provinces) that retains a Polish majority is Posen.

Renss

anonymous4401 said:

Preußen über Alles!

39 pages and going strong! You have the longest AAR in the Vicky AAR forum, Rensslaer my friend! May I suggest having some sort of index of all your updates, in chronological order? It may be a bit daunting for a new reader to face 40+ pages! I, for one, have a lot of catching up to do!

Well, at least I know I'll enjoy it. You're a fantastic writer.

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Anonymous, Wow! I really value your generous praise!

Actually, I have started an index (it's linked to from the first page/post), but it's very incomplete... just covering about the first few pages and not covering every post, just my favorites. However, I plan to add to it as I go along. It should have been done already, but as I've noted in my other AAR, I'm back to being distracted by a job search.

The home school publisher offered me a job, I accepted it (and, naturally, stopped looking for a job then, and let all my prospects drop!), and then a day before I was to start work they told me they were "eliminating the position" and I needed to find a job again! Unbelievably unprofessional! So anyway, please pray for me -- I have a 3rd interview for one good job on Friday -- but otherwise I'm back to square one in the job search. Missed the closing date for another good job because, well... I HAD a good job... why would I apply for another! Anyway.... Upward an onward!

Rensslaer

Draco Rexus said:

So, back to be selfish, any possibility of an update between job interviews?

Click to expand...

Well, I would say yes, but...

For one, there is just WAY too much going on in the year 1884! It is taking a while to get a grasp on it all, and decide how to describe it all, etc. I've decided that the next scene will be a pastoral setting, introducing some new minor characters. But that will take a bit of time to set up. Soon.

And for another, tonight I had to edit a paper my wife is writing for a medical ethics class, on a subject on which she is entirely too emotional! She's a good writer, normally, but you can just sense the seething anger she's putting into this paper. They're going to have to pour water on her when she gets to class! How an editor undoes this, I haven't a clue.

Thanks for all your fine wishes, everybody. As I mentioned in the other AAR, the 3rd interview went well, status is uncertain, but I'm thinking I'll have to be inflicted by a 4th interview before all is said and done. It's a good job, though, and should pay very well.

Renss

Pavel Skiedweza was forty, and looked fifty. In his woolen peasant sweater, his vest, and his brown cap, he looked like just about anyone else in this northwestern extremity of the Carpathian Mountains. He goaded one of his sheep, so it wouldn’t wander off the dirt track they followed through the grass. It bleated in protest, but hopped back into the procession, as his shepherd had wished.

There was a chill in the air. It was time, now, to begin bringing the flock out of the highlands and into the lower elevations for the winter. The trail led over hill and dale, but Pavel could always hear the faint burble of the Vistula River, which pulsed with vitality even this close to its headwaters. That familiar sound would lead him to his destination – his brother’s pastures, near the town of Skoczow.

The passage of the seasons, and the regular journey from forage to pasture, were the gentle changes Pavel enjoyed. They made up the consonance of his life. It was the unnatural changes that grated at him. Less now, than in his tempestuous youth. But still, he remembered.

Once he had been a rebel. A resistance fighter against the Prussians for the future of his Polish homeland. When he was a child, Prussia had taken over administration of his family’s ancestral homestead, near Cieszyn. The Prussian yoke had chafed on his people even more than the Austrians’ had. A series of revolts, decade after decade, had left him and his fellow Poles with nothing to show for their struggle but a diminishing population of young men.

Pavel knew that the Poles were born to be stubborn. It was in their blood. They were a proud people, from the days when Polish kings ruled most of eastern Europe, and they always would be. The Prussian yoke hadn’t rested easily on their shoulders. They had shrugged and struggled, over and over.

But ultimately, it was acceptance of the inevitable that had forced his family to migrate. Fifteen years ago, after yet another revolt against a Prussia weakened by war, Pavel and Ewa had buried their beloved Andrzej at their farm. And then they had moved, fleeing across the border into Austria.

Austria-Hungary, actually, as it had been known since the Hungarians successfully gained their own autonomy. Pavel’s jealousy extended bitterness even against them. Poles deserved freedom more than Huns! But were they ever to have it? Under anyone’s administration? Even, perhaps, their own?

Now Pavel was, he admitted only to himself, a beaten but unsettled adult. Briefly, he pictured himself as a sheep, but quickly put it out of his mind.

He had grown accustomed to the relatively cosmopolitan atmosphere of Habsburg rule. It was foreign, still, but never so much as the Prussian Empire had been. His remaining son, Krysz, was forced to serve in the Austrian Army, but he would be home in due time. Perhaps even a Pole could be content, eh? Perhaps.

From the heights of the Carpathians, Pavel could still see Cieszyn. Not from where he was, but since it was on his mind he looked in that direction anyway. He saw the land – his home. These trees, these few cottages on these mountainsides. This wasn’t meant to be Austria, or Prussia. This was Poland!

Pavel grimaced, and prodded another sheep back onto the path. It wasn’t far to their destination. The sun was falling from its peak, overhead.

In time, they arrived. “What is news, Patryck?” he shouted, when his younger brother was near enough to hear.

It turned out, there was news. Such information was easier to come by, here, nearer to the Prussian border, and nearer the river’s connecting waterways. “Kaiser Friedrich is talking about democracy. Allowing citizens to vote. Property owners, anyway. Maybe more. There is discussion in the Breslau paper.”

“Democracy?” Pavel scoffed. “Democracy.” Pavel tried out the word, and pondered. “Would he allow us to vote, if we moved back home?” he asked, then answered his own question. “I suppose he would, wouldn’t he? Friedrich has been better to the Poles than his father.”

“Except when he comes on a charger!” Patryck noted, angrily. “With hundreds of sabers, to cut us down.” He spat. “That’s what I say to his democracy. I, brother, will stay here, and make way for a new Poland.”

As much as he wanted to see a free Poland, Pavel knew that freedom wouldn’t last long. Not when they stood at the confluence of three hostile powers. He ignored his younger brother’s boasting. “Perhaps that is our future, Patryck. We can move back to our homestead, and work for autonomy from the Prussian democrats.”

“What does Prussian democracy mean to us, Pavel, when our thirty closest neighbors would all be Germans? Can you imagine how long that would take to change? To make western Poland Polish again?” They had not been alone, in migration. He shook his head, glowering at the ground. Pavel said nothing. “No,” Patryck declared. “Our voice cannot be heard in Prussia. Our future is here. The Habsburgs are weak. We will rise up and proclaim our King. The time will be right, soon.”

“Ach,” Pavel waved his brother away with a dismissive hand. “You young whelp! You are always so eager to challenge with a sword, when the soldiers carry guns. It has killed our people, Patryck! We are dying. That is why we have no home in Prussia today. Young Poles are unwilling to accept what they cannot change. I would love to have a free Poland, myself.” He shook his head in frustration. He did! He did want a free Poland! But would they ever get it from the Habsburgs? Or would it be better to work toward it under a Prussian democracy? “If it happens, Patryck, I will go. I will take Ewa and we will move home. You stay here if you wish, and get yourself… and your Aniela, killed. You can die at the hands of a Slovak conscript, instead of a German.”

Patryck frowned, miserably. But they had had this argument before. And they were still brothers. And it had been a decade since either of them had convinced the other of anything. There was time to wait, and see what might happen.