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Hello its new chapter time...

Chapter 13 (Jul-Dec 1924)
In Germany little had changed since the end of the war but there were definitely signs of recovery from the dark days of the Weimar Republic. Hopefully this recovery will continue for the foreseeable future.

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Soon the Kaiser appointed Hjalmar Shacht as head of the Imperial Bank. Shacht had served as President of the Reichsbank in the Weimar Republic days and under his guidance it was hoped that the Kaiserreich would see further economic and industrial growth as well as a way to further soften the hated reparations imposed by the Allies.

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The following month, the first elections took place in Germany since the end of the Civil War. The KPD had been banned by this point but other Anti-Imperial parties such as the Social Democrats and Nazis were allowed to take part. It mattered very little as neither party performed very well outside of certain small areas, although the Social Democrats remained the most popular party in several states in Northern Germany as well as Saxony. However, the election ended with the Right-Wing DKP becoming the largest party in the Reichstag and not long after the Kaiser appointed Kurt von Schleicher as the new Chancellor.

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Meanwhile to the West now that France had a loyal German puppet state on their Eastern border they saw no further need to resume their occupation of the former German territory of Saarbrucken, which was therefore transferred to the control of the German Republic.

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In Arabia, the Emirate of Nejd continued their expansionism in the region by declaring war on the Kingdom of Hejaz, the last obstacle to the House of Saud dominating the Arabian Peninsula.

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Back in Germany, on the 3rd of September there was a momentous occasion as the former Kaiser, Wilhelm II, returned to Germany having spent the last six years in exile following his abdication in November 1918. He arrived in Potsdam where he was greeted by his son, the current Kaiser, as well as many ministers and Great War veterans. It was a proud day for Germany to see their former Monarch who had been driven from his country by the Weimar traitors return to much fanfare. The former Kaiser announced his intentions to refrain from returning to politics and would retire to the local Cecilienhof Palace which he had ordered built during the Great War and would now serve as his and his families' home.

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Around the same time both the Kaiserreich and the so-called German Republic began fortifying their shared border as they had both slowly been doing since the Republic had been officially declared earlier in the year. There was nothing in the Treaty of Versailles that prohibited Imperial Troops from being stationed on the Republic's border. However, there were occasional border skirmishes and the 5th of December saw the biggest one yet and this skirmish saw the death of 6 Imperial troops and 12 Republican Soldiers. For now this incident did not escalate into further violence but this is unlikely to be the last such skirmish along this increasingly militarised border.

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Not long after his return to Germany former Kaiser Wilhelm II and his family visited Austria. While officially his visit was just a holiday and not one of statehood he was due to meet with Karl I while in Austria and it was hoped the former Kaiser would promote improved relations between the former allies on his visit. Meanwhile the Austrians ended their occupation of Serbia and restored the old Principality under a prince loyal to the Habsburg state.

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In October the German Government approved a new program to reverse the declining birth rate in the Empire. This new program, known as 'Lebensborn' was a long-term project which hoped to see a major boost in the German population by the middle of the 1930's.

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In China, the rivalries between the various warlord cliques continued and the increasingly expansionist Japanese were beginning to become more involved in the frequent conflicts. In Late October Japan backed a Coup in Beijing against Cao Kun, the current President of China and leader of the powerful Zhili Clique who were currently fighting the Pro-Japanese Fengtian Clique. The Coup was successful and Cao Kun was removed from power in what would prove to be a vital turning point in the Zhili-Fengtian War and only increased Japanese influence in mainland China.

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Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union it seemed that the power struggle that followed the death of Vladimir Lenin had not been concluded as Joseph Stalin, who by now had lost most of his influence in the Communist Party, gathered his remaining loyalists and staged a Coup in December against Nikolai Bukharin. The Coup proved to be a complete failure as Stalin failed to gain the support of the Red Army and would later be arrested along with his followers. The failure of this 'Winter Plot' ended the last serious opposition to the rule of Bukharin.

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As 1924 came to an end the internal situation in Germany was continuing to greatly improve. However, the result of the 1924 Elections show that there is still some serious opposition to the restored Kaiserreich within Germany that may need to be dealt with before they become more troublesome. Still it would seem for the most part that 1925 could be an even better year for Germany!

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Author's Note

So this is going to be the last update before christmas as I have some busy days ahead and can't guarantee I'll have the time to put out another chapter until after christmas. This seems like a pretty good place to leave things for the moment anyway.

I'd just like to say thanks to you all for reading up to this point and I've greatly enjoyed all your comments as I continue my journey to becoming a half-decent AAR writer. I look forward to continuing this AAR after christmas is over and seeing where this extremely enjoyable playthrough takes me :)

For now, enjoy this chapter and Happy insert-reason-for-day-off-work-here to you all!!

 
Uniting with the Rhine territories again is going to be tricky if the French are watchful. Hopefully they shall slumber.
 
Subscribed.

Thanks very much :)

Uniting with the Rhine territories again is going to be tricky if the French are watchful. Hopefully they shall slumber.

No matter what happens it will be a fight to regain the Rhineland, just have to see how watchful France and the other Allies still are by the time we enter the 1930's
 
Fantastic AAR! Subbed!

Shouldn't the Weimar remnant by now become a hotbed of leftism and radical republicanism? With the Inter-German confrontation as it is, all the communists and neojacobin die hard anti monarchists would naturally flock west, away from the Imperial state, and be warmly welcomed by the Rhenish-republican leaders, wouldn't they? So the Rhenish state could drift away from democracy and towards left radicalism.
 
Subbed ! Great AAR !

Thanks very much!!

Fantastic AAR! Subbed!

Shouldn't the Weimar remnant by now become a hotbed of leftism and radical republicanism? With the Inter-German confrontation as it is, all the communists and neojacobin die hard anti monarchists would naturally flock west, away from the Imperial state, and be warmly welcomed by the Rhenish-republican leaders, wouldn't they? So the Rhenish state could drift away from democracy and towards left radicalism.

Thanks. Yeah I think there's a good chance something like this could happen in the Rhenish Republic which is why I mentioned an exodus of Anti-Monarchist types across the Rhine near the end of the Civil War. It seems though for the time being there aren't any events for political change in the Rhenish Republic for this mod but I definitely think there should be, you could maybe suggest this on the PwV mod page and it could happen in the future.
 
Nice. Love to see another different Interbellum.

I'd suggest event for major German uprising in Poland, combined with rebellions of it's puppet states. Or to send death squad to assassinate entire Rhenish cabinet :)
Entente is probably deep within 'WTF' phase, as world they made is falling apart before dust even settled.
 
Nice. Love to see another different Interbellum.

I'd suggest event for major German uprising in Poland, combined with rebellions of it's puppet states. Or to send death squad to assassinate entire Rhenish cabinet :)
Entente is probably deep within 'WTF' phase, as world they made is falling apart before dust even settled.

Thanks, yeah the Interbellum Period has always fascinated me which is why this mod is probably my fave one for DH

As for German Uprisings in Poland yeah I could definitely imagine something like that happening especially in East Prussia & Danzig as well as possibly Greater Poland. Also yeah it could also lead to rebellions in the puppets especially with how troublesome Ukraine has been for the Intermarium. It would also be fun trying to destabilise the Rhenish Republic since there's bound to be some Pan-German Nationalist/Anti-French groups within the Republic who the Kaiserreich could support. These are also things that could be suggested on the mod page.

Considering how both the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires were restored within 6 years of the Great War ending I would say that the Entente nations are definitely in a deep state of WTF-ness at the moment haha...
 
Fantastic AAR! Subbed!

Shouldn't the Weimar remnant by now become a hotbed of leftism and radical republicanism? With the Inter-German confrontation as it is, all the communists and neojacobin die hard anti monarchists would naturally flock west, away from the Imperial state, and be warmly welcomed by the Rhenish-republican leaders, wouldn't they? So the Rhenish state could drift away from democracy and towards left radicalism.

In a coming future Weimar Republic will have alternatives about creation of independent GDR and WR will have opportunity to save Republic and unites with France and UK against Russia/ USSR
 
aaaaand we're back...time for the next chapter

Chapter 14 (Jan-Apr 1925)
As 1925 begun Germany was slowly becoming stronger but they remained surrounded by more powerful nations who held onto land that was rightfully German. But someday soon the Kaiserreich will be strong enough to challenge them again.

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In the USSR, after the failure of his 'Winter Plot' against Chairman Nikolai Bukharin at the end of the previous year, former General Secretary Joseph Stalin was executed along with his leading co-conspirators. The power struggles amongst the Bolshevik leadership was at an end and Bukharin could now pursue his vision of what the USSR should be without opposition.

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In Germany, development soon began on more modern Tanks. These machines proved their worth in the Great War and will undoubtedly play a big role in future warfare. The Allies will of course be building more modern tanks themselves so the Germans must not only keep up but seek to gain an advantage over their old foes in the increasingly important field of Mechanised Warfare.

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Later in the month, a Treaty was signed between Japan and the Soviet Union that saw Japan recognise the USSR and also normalise relations between the two countries. It remains to be seen how long these improved relations will last as territorial disputes remain between the two nations in East Asia.

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The Soviets continued improving relations with East Asian powers as not long after their treaty with Japan they officially announced the opening of the Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. This University would act as a training ground for Chinese Revolutionaries from both the Kuomintang and the growing Chinese Communist Party.

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Meanwhile further West the Intermarium puppet state of Ukraine continued to be troublesome as support for Nationalist movements such as the Ukrainian Military Organisation (UVO) began to rise dramatically. The UVO incited several riots in Central Ukraine in Early 1925 and would likely remain a thorn in the side of the Intermarium's influence over Ukraine for the forseeable future.

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Back in Germany, the Government with the approval of the Kaiser began a massive new programme against the unemployment problem, which has remained almost as high in Early 1925 as it had in the last months of the Weimar Republic. This problem was going to end now with this new programme referred to as the 'Battle against Unemployment' which aimed to eradicate unemployment and poverty in the German Empire.

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Not long after the issue of the Nazi Party was finally settled as Chancellor Von Schleicher passed the Anti-Nazi law banning the NSDAP as well as other parties that shared similar Far-Right beliefs. Hitler & Rohm were both soon arrested in Bayreuth and their party offices were shut down by Soldiers as local police were still considered unreliable. Hitler & Rohm would not be treated anywhere near as leniently as the Bavarian Government did in November 1923, they would both be going to prison for a long time.

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In China, there was a tragedy was Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-Sen died from liver cancer. The death of the popular revolutionary split the Kuomintang as a power struggle began between Wang Jingwei and Sun's protege Chiang Kai-Shek. Relations also became strained between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, bringing the Chinese Republic seemingly to the brink of Civil War.

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Back in Europe, the Austro-Hungarian Empire began to reorganise their Balkan territories into a series of loyal duchies. The Principality of Serbia was reformed into the Duchy of Raska while the new duchies of Dalmatia & Bosnia were established. Hopefully the Habsburg Monarchy can do a better job of pacifying the Balkans than they did in 1914.

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In Early April the Austrians approached Germany about signing a Pact about greater Economic cooperation between the two Empires. Berlin agreed to this Pact as improved relations between Germany & Austria-Hungary can only be a good thing.

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Not long after, the German Government announced the end of the Free-State system, seeing it as the last remnant of the Weimar Republic. Coincidentally, these Free-States are were support for the Social Democrats remained strong and clearly these states thought they could continue on as if the change in Government had never happened. Well now that other internal problems have been dealt with the Kaiserreich is ready to end this corrupt system. Soon the end of the Free-State system was announced by Chancellor Von Schleicher which led to protests in Northern Germany & Saxony.

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Throughout April these protests continued and soon escalated into full-scale rioting and skirmishes with police. This continued until the 22nd of April when the National Council's of both Hansa & Saxony decided to declare their region's Independence from Germany. Most police units in these territories quickly declared alliegance to their new state and since no Imperial Troops had been stationed in either territory it proved easy for both of these new states to secure control over most of their claimed territory. It would appear that Germany is heading for yet another Civil War. This Civil War soon came as both the Republic of Saxony and Hanseatic State declared war on the Imperial Government.

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So it seems Civil War has returned to Germany. This conflict will be necessary as the last vestiges of Weimar rule must at last be removed from Germany. These Free States have been tolerated for far too long and if they want to fight to keep their ill-deserved autonomy then so be it, the Kaiserreich is stronger now and more than capable of dealing with whatever armed rabble the Free-States can raise to fight them. This will be a short Civil War indeed.
 
Well, given that historically the Depression only impacted Germany as badly as it did due to Stresemann's idiotic policies of borrowing from the US, hopefully here the Empire won't be as devastated by the 1929 crash.
 
Well, given that historically the Depression only impacted Germany as badly as it did due to Stresemann's idiotic policies of borrowing from the US, hopefully here the Empire won't be as devastated by the 1929 crash.

Can't actually remember if there's any difference between how the Depression affects the German Empire and how it affects the Weimar Republic in this mod but I could definitely imagine the US not being as inclined to help Germany with loans if the Kaiserreich's been restored.

WOW! Yet another civil war just after the civil war? And what about the Bawaria?

Yep, turns out the Weimar Government's influence wasn't defeated in its entirety before. Well the Civil War 1.5 has only just begun so Bavaria's yet to respond, but we'll see soon enough if they choose to get involved or remain neutral.
 
Bavaria has the option to join in with the rebel states. In the long run, this would be the better option, because you can only regain Bavaria in 1938 if they descide to keep out of the conflict
 
Crikey Germany has it hard in this timeline.