Forty Years… After
The student in the third row raised his hand and Professor Doctor Johan Eschbach stifled a sigh. He could see the earnest puzzlement on their thick Deutsch faces, the blank incomprehension that a teacher would actually ask students to do their own research. So many students were here at New Gottingen University because their families wished their sons to sport a prestigious university degree; so few possessed the spark that every good teacher longed to see. For the most part the students came to the University ill-prepared and left it ill-informed, the unbeautiful result of years of hammering from frustrated professors. Still… one had to try, especially if one wished to continue to draw the stipend that made life that tiniest bit more than merely endurable.
“Yes, Wencelaus?”
“I do not understand, Herr Doctor. You ask us to research the fall of the Empire, and yet… the Empire is still there!”
Eschbach did sigh, and half the class ducked their heads. They had seen the oh-so-terrible results of the Professor’s oh-so-quiet fits of irritated pique and they knew what followed: homework, research papers, quizzes, tests! This time he succeeded in surprising them.
“Since we are supposedly in a Political History and Theoretics Class, can someone tell me what day this is? Jules?”
Jules Fremont looked blank for half a second and then stuttered, “Martyrs Day, Monsieur Doctor!”
“Yes. I had, I believed, covered this material in depth sufficient to allow you to derive – with some independent work – some conclusions in regard to our recent history. I see I am mistaken. For the sake of the Martyrs I will – for today only – recapitulate a few of the major points. Do see if you can follow along this time, please.” He settled himself on the corner of the massive, solid and hideously ugly desk. A few eyes went wide: the Herr Doctor never, ever relaxed from his militarily rigid posture.
“Germany grew from roots in Brandenburg and Prussia, absorbing the Hapsburg domains of Austria and spreading over most of central Europe. As with the Roman Empire before it, the Holy Roman Empire – which later became the Empire of Germany – grew in part by force of arms and in part by persuasion. By the end of the 18th Century the writ of the Kaiser ran from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, and from the Rhinelands to Poland and south to Constantinople. It was the mightiest empire on Earth and the Kaiser was the unquestioned heir to the mantle of the Caesars – hence Kaiser, which means Caesar.
“I will now elucidate – again – some reasons why the Empire was not as strong as it appeared. Some of these factors are mutually interdependent in their effects.
“First, the Empire appeared to be a solid political bloc but, as with its Roman predecessor, it was not. The Kaisers had long allowed subject peoples to retain their own culture, language and in most cases their own different churches. This reduced internal unrest, but it enormously complicated the bureaucracy and made any effort at change a complicated and difficult process. The multiplicity of ethnicities also complicated the task of the military. In most cases units were officered by men who had small grasp of their soldiers’ tongues, and stationed in areas foreign to men and officers alike. This reduced efficiency, as was shown in the last great Dynastic Wars with Burgundy and France. The Empire was able to win victories but at a terrible, disproportionate cost in dead and wounded soldiers.
“Secondly, the Empire demanded little from its subject people save some small services and the payment of the Reich Tax. Nationalism – when it did develop – tended to encourage local loyalties, not promote sacrifice for the Imperial throne.
“Third, we can see the Kaisers were always careful to limit their active enemies to certain regions. Greater Lithuania, for one example, was cultivated as a dependable friend and ally. Several Emperors forewent opportunities to meddle in the internal problems of Lithuania, and in return the Empire need maintain no forces in the East. That of course changed with the onset of the Great Troubles in those lands, and meant the Empire must vastly expand its armed forces, construct and improve fortifications along the border, and keep a watchful eye on developments in the East. All of these efforts meant the Empire needed to raise unprecedented amounts of money, and tax rates soared.
“Fourth let us not underestimate the great strain that these developments imposed. The Imperial bureaucracy was accustomed to responding over years with plans that might require decades to develop. Sudden, rapid change made effective response difficult, and the collapse of order in Lithuania deeply frightened the Imperials who knew how similar was their own situation. To speed up response time to local crises, Minister Rudolph Deneke promoted increasing the power of regional governors. These new ‘kinglets’ were not always willing to sacrifice the good of their own regions for the needs of the Imperium.
“Fifth, we should consider our position as colonies. Imperial Germany had acquired a colonial empire almost by accident, certainly not as a result of some grand central scheme. Most of the colonies were promoted by entrepreneurs with a liberal charter granted by the Kaiser, who wanted neither the cost or responsibility of administering such risky enterprises. As a result the Imperial machinery was never able to squeeze much Reich Tax from its colonial possessions, satisfying itself with duties on shipping and agricultural produce from the colonies.
“This period of benign neglect came sharply to an end at the close of the 18th Century just as the other stresses and strains were beginning to tell upon the Empire. Imperial ministers began to realize the colonies were fairly on their way to becoming as populous as the Rhinelands, yet this vast pool was almost untapped for taxes or military manpower. To make matters worse, many of the colonies were founded in large part by religious dissenters, sectarians, political free-thinkers, convicts and radicals of all sorts.
“The history of the Greek city states convinced the Imperial ministers that sufficiently populous colonies would inevitably break with the homeland. To forestall this, and to reinforce loyalties in the welter of cultures that made up the European Imperium, the Kaiser and his ministers began a deliberate program of enforced conformity. Restrictions were tightened: schools were prohibited from teaching any language but German, and all administrative functions were mandated to be carried out in German. Churches across the Empire were ordered closed if they deviated from strict interpretation of Catholic liturgy; priests were exiled, or transferred, monasteries were shut down. An edict was promulgated to require all cultural events to be licensed, and only those deemed properly ‘Imperial’ could pass the bar. This sparked what has been called the 'Second Reformation'.
“Here in New Germany the restrictions were all the more onerous for being imposed so rapidly on a people who had previously known great freedom of thought. Equally hateful were the new imposts, duties and taxes exacted as payment for garrisons of new regiments of troops. Supposedly the depredations of French troops in the last Dynastic War had wakened the Imperial desire to garrison the colonies, but inescapably the colonials could see that soldiers sent for defense could also be used to suppress dissent.
“I shall pass over the events of the Glorious Revolution as we will be covering that in more detail in weeks to come. Suffice it to say that the Massacre of the Martyrs in New Bremen – the Massacre we commemorate on Martyrs Day – sparked the actual onset of hostilities. Soon the Imperial governors realized they could depend not upon the restive colonial, who cited their charters as authority to block every measure intended to tighten Imperial control. Nor, in their extremity, could the governors depend on the scarce, polyglot regiments of the Imperial Army to maintain order without use of deadly force. The colonial militia, it goes without saying, were more a part of the problem than a means of solution.
“Most texts – including yours – will cite the historic meeting of George Waschenburg and Thomas Gottfriedson at Brudersburg as the true beginning of the Revolution. As narrow a victory as was finally won it seems justifiable to say the united effort of the French and Imperial colonies was essential to the victory. Let us also note the generous contributions of the English, without whose loans, powder and – finally – troops, the colonies would certainly have gone down to defeat. They could not have forseen that successful rebellion in New Germany would sweep the English colonies along into the new Union. Nor could anyone have seen what the seeds of rebellion in New Germany would foster when transplanted to Europe!
“Therefore, Wencelaus, I beg to correct your statement. I did not assert the German Empire is entirely gone, only much reduced from its former pre-eminent position. I wish you therefore to fasten upon one of the causes of its decline and elaborate to, oh, let us say twenty pages or so, due next Thursday.” Suppressed groans met this pronouncement. “Come now, I have given you numerous leads. But write small, or I shall reduce your mark!”
He stood and motioned at the brilliant sunshine beyond the open windows. “To show you I am not entirely made of stone I shall dismiss you now. Be certain you all visit the Martyrs’ statue in the grove, to show respect…
“What! You are still here! Begone!” And in a clattering of feet, they went.
Still you did win in the end. 
