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The 1905 elections are here and the political landscape is yet again open for drastic change. Meet the parties who will represent the people of Germany:
National Liberal Party (NLP)
National Liberal Party (NLP)
Nationalliberale Partei
Current Leader: Wilhelm Braun
Founding Year: 1848
Ideology type: Liberal
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free Trade
Economic Policy: Interventionist
Religious Policy: Secularism
Citizenship Policy: Limited Citizenship
War Policy: Pro Military
Welfare: Welfare state
Description:
Formed In 1848 after the March Revolution from Many liberal Philosophers and economists wanting to start their own Party . It wishes to Pass liberal and Democratic Reforms to modernize Germany and is able to reach a compromise with the conservative elements within the Landtag and the royal court.
Speech: Braun stands on a Platform in Berlin giving a speech to the masses of Berlin.
“People of Germany, once again it is time to choose our future, NLP will once again stand to let you choose Liberalism, Liberty and Prosperity, something we will stand to give the People always and will never fray away from, The NLP will always defend the people’s Liberty, Freedom and Prosperity, something we all have fought hard for. Once again we Ask you to vote to defend your freedoms from the Far-right and Extremist from both ends of the political spectrum, The NLP will defend your freedoms and Defend German Prosperity from all who would wish to end it! We will once again stand for a Reformist government to bring about the changes Germany still needs! Vote NLP! Liberty, Prosperity, Freedom!"
Propaganda:
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Current Party Leader: Konstantin Brenner
Founding Date: 14th of June 1860
Ideology: Socialist
Motto: "Einigkeit macht stark"
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free Trade
Economic Policy: State Capitalism
Religious Policy: Secularism
Citizenship Policy: Full Citizenship
War Policy: Pro-Military
Welfare Policy: Welfare State
Description:
The Social Democratic Party of Germany was created by Lutz von Sommer with the help of Gustav Schwarzmann and Benedict Eichwald to help move Germany towards a brighter, more equal future with its main goals being giving more power to the Reichstag and gaining reforms especially when it comes to voting rights for women and poorer men.
Speech: Brenner is once again on a podium, a sea of red in front of him as men an women have come waving red banners. A confident smile,reminiscent of a certain dashing politician, forms on his face as he begins his speech.
“Friends and supporters, what a time for us to be alive! We have accomplished so much in our lifetimes. All of us together dragged Germany from its ancient roots into the modern era through sheer force of will and dedication! While the counter blocks of reactionary politicians and insidious scheming tried to prevent us from achieving the equality and safety we all desired we did not give in! We as one pulled on the great chain of progress, one reform at a time! And it is this great chain that the SPD will keep pulling forward! But our fight is not an easy one brothers and sisters! Lest we fall back into the dark icy waters of exploitation and servitude we must keep struggling! I and my colleagues are but a small group, dedicated but in need of aid…of your aid! Therefor I ask you once again to lend me and all of the SPD your strong arms and fighting spirits! Once we ballots are open we hope you will all stand behind us, all of you grabbing on to promise of reform we have always preached and delivered! As one help us pull the chain! As one vote for the SPD!”
Propaganda:
German National People's Party (DNVP)
German National People’s Party (DNVP)
Deutschnationale Volkspartei
Current Party Leader: Volker von Geishof
Founding Date: 1900
Ideology: Conservative/Völkisch
Motto: “Deutsches Reich, Deutsches Blut” (“German Reich, German Blood”)
Description:
In 1900, the DKP reformed their party into the DNVP, adopting the fledgling Völkisch Ideology, and reworking their party platform to fit Germany’s modern political landscape.
German Center Party (DZP)
German Center Party (DZP)
Deutsche Zentrumspartei
Current Leader: Adalwolf von Märchenlied
Ideology: Conservative
Founded: October 31st, 1875
Motto: “Deus lo vult”
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free Trade
Economic Policy: Interventionism
Religious Policy: Moralism
Citizenship Policy: Limited Citizenship
War Policy: Pro-Military
Welfare Policy: Welfare state
Description:
The DZP is a christian, centrist party that aims to bring stability back to the Empire. The Center party aims to be pragmatic and moderate. Both of the extremes are against the interest of Germany and her people, the Socialists want a godless state, and the reactionaries want a feudal state unfit for the modern world. The center party aims to keep Germany great by not letting it fall to extremism.
Speech: Adalwolf give a speech simply saying.
"Dear citizens, it is time again for me to ask for your votes, a job that I have never found easy, unlike many other parties I don't find it easy to simply say that voting for us will make all your problems go away, because that's simply not how life works, but what your vote will do will give you an ally, a voice in the upcoming government who will fight for the people, the silent majority who does not wish for our nation to fall to absolutism or communism. That's why I ask you all once again, the people, to give the DZP a chance to do good for our empire. Vote DZP and let your voice be heard."
Christian Social Party (CSP)
Christian Social Party (CSP)
Christlich Soziale Partei
Current Leader: Joseph von Klopp.
Founding Date: 1897
Ideology: Conservative
Description:
The Christian Social Party was founded in 1897 by conservatives who found themselves identifying with conservative values, but they did not align with either the increasingly reactionary Deutschkonservative Partei or the increasingly liberal Zentrum. They seek to uphold the social order and the monarchy, however they also believe that it is the right of the people to be represented in the government and thus believe in political reform to grant greater government power to the people; they believe wholeheartedly in social reform and intend to pass great social programs to benefit Germans.
Speech: Joseph delivers a speech leading up to the elections.
“People of Germany, as we enter into the second election of this century, I ask of you to vote for the party which has delivered on our promise, which has delivered on the wishes of our constituents, and which has sought to serve Germany and Germans in the most democratic, most representative manner possible. While other parties fought to pass social changes which were not demanded by the people in the name of socialist fantasies, we have sought to further the freedoms of Germans who call out to be represented in government. This election shall be the first in the history of our empire to represent the votes of ALL Germans, to represent all parties no matter how small because every German voice must be heard in government! This shall be the first election in the history of our empire where every German can be assured that their ballot shall be kept safe, secret, and they may vote with the confidence that their vote shall not be infringed upon. We shall ensure that democracy in this empire is upheld! And, the program of the CSP is not yet fulfilled. We shall continue to fight in the Reichstag for a strong chancellor, one who shall not let the tragedies of our system continue. We shall fight for greater political freedoms. We shall fight for a stronger Constitution. We shall fight for the social programs that you wish to see enacted, and we shall ensure that the welfare of Germans is protected.”
The Elections are now open and will remain so until Saturday August 15th 8:00 PM CEST
The 1905 elections were the first elections to be held according to the principle of proportional representation. As a result, smaller parties gained the courage to stand in districts where they previously wouldn't have had any chance to compete for seats. Even independents now had a real chance of making it into the Reichstag. When the final results were revealed, it had become clear that one party in particular had profitted from this change: the German Centre Party (DZP). In addition, Herr Friedrich von Anthau-Kirstenberg was the first and only independent to be elected into the Reichstag.
1905 Reichstag: SPD (143 seats), NLP (70 seats), DZP (77 seats), CSP (52 seats), DNVP (157 seats), Independents (1 seat: Friedrich von Anthau-Kirstenberg).
After the results were made public, the parties of the Reichstag went into negotiation mode almost immediately. The big question, as always, was whether or not the previous coalition would continue their cooperation and who would lead them as Chancellor. The SPD, NLP and DZP met and discussed their future cooperation. There was some tension with the SPD's Konstantin Brenner, who felt he was being used by the DZP. Unsurprisingly, the DNVP met with the NLP, SPD, CSP and DZP in separate meetings to sway them away from each other and form a new coalition. In the end, the NLP, SPD and DZP stuck to each other and chose to elect the DZP's Adalwolf von Märchenlied, brother of the late Chancellor Ludwig von Märchenlied who had died recently. And so, Adalwolf was elected and became Chancellor, despite a last minute attempt by the CSP's Joseph von Klopp to divide the coalition by voting for the SPD's Konstantin Brenner.
Chancellor Adalwolf von Märchenlied (DZP).
The next step in forming a government was consulting with the Kaiser to appoint the Cabinet of Ministers. For both the Chancellor and the Kaiser, this was their first time doing this, so many expectations arose on all sides of the political spectrum over this event. People on the left hoped that Kaiser Heinrich was more open to liberal ministers, while conservatives on the right hoped that Heinrich would continue the long standing habit of the Kaisers of ignoring the Chancellor and appointing a conservative cabinet. In the end, both groups got partly what they wanted. While the Kaiser did listen to most of Adalwolf's recommendations, he still appointed a conservative to the Ministry of the Interior. The final cabinet looked as following:
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Christian Alexander von Berg (NLP)
Minister of the Interior: Adolf von Hoth (DNVP)
Minister of War: Richard Guttmann (NLP)
Minister of the Treasury: Wilhelm Braun (NLP)
Minister of Justice: Konstantin Brenner (SPD)
Minister of Education: Edel Mühlhausen (DZP)
Minister of the Chancellorship: Maximilian von Schillig (CSP)
To many people's surprise, the SPD, the biggest party in the coalition, only got one ministry, while the NLP, the smallest party in the coalition, got the most.
Nonetheless, 1905 began with much optimism about the new government and its relation with the Kaiser, as in the 1905 Reichstag session, a bill was able to pass which recognized the university degrees of German women, without opposition from the Kaiser. This optimism was carried further when Adolf von Baeyer, a German chemist, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic system.
Furthermore, the Arab Revolt which had been plaguing German Sudan came to an end as the ringleaders were finally arrested and a new colonial governor negotiated a ceasefire with the local population.
But the optimism surrounding the first few months of 1905 quickly came to an end in early April of that year, when the Japanese had declared war on Russia and requested Germany's aid in their war. There was no doubt that Germany could easily win such a war, but as the pacifist movement had grown within the country since the beginning of the 20th century, the Kaiser had grown sympathetic to their endeavour to keep Germany out of needless wars. Still, an ally requesting Germany's help could not be ignored in order to cement the image of Germany as a reliable ally. And so Kaiser Heinrich had no other choice but to accept the Japanese call to war.
In the early stages of the war, the German fleet was sent out into the Baltic Sea to prevent Russian ships from blockading German ports and raiding German trade convoys. At one point, it was rumoured that the Russian fleet was paranoid of a joint Japanese-German invasion of Petrograd through the Baltic, but for now the German war effort at sea limited itself to sinking the Russian fleet to assert dominance over the Baltic Sea. In two consequent battles, the entire Russian Baltic fleet was sunk.
As the German navy moved in to blockade Petrograd, the German army crossed the border into Russian occupied Lithuania. At this moment in the war, the Kaiser called a meeting with the Chancellor and his Minister of War to discuss what Germany should try to get from this war. The Kaiser was hesitant to set any war goals that would unnecessarily prolong the war effort. While the Minister of War was set on pushing the Kaiser to liberate all of Eastern Europe by dismantling the Russian Republic, the Chancellor was much more moderate and suggested to give some more land to the Kingdom of Poland to strengthen them. The Kaiser himself did not like the jingoism displayed by his Minister of War, as it would upset the balance of power in Europe and certainly lead to an intervention against Germany. In addition, such a war goal would lengthen the war by several months, possibly even years, most likely costing the German Empire thousands upon thousands of lives. Heinrich himself was more in favour of liberating a friendly Lithuania, as he had heard stories about the local population's hospitality towards the German forces. In the end, the meeting was ended without a clear compromise and the Kaiser was left with the question of what this war should accomplish for Germany. The Kaiser had ordered Minister Guttmann, who also commanded the German fleet, to allow food and medicine through the blockade in Petrograd to prevent the Russian people from suffering from their government's stupidity. Not long after, the Kaiser personally went to the front in Lithuania to spent time with the soldiers, even spending a couple of days with them in the trenches. When he returned to Berlin, he was more adamant than ever to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
German Kaiser Heinrich I. visiting the troops in Lithuania during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.
By July of 1905, the German army had made considerable gains in Lithuania, while the Japanese had occupied the port of Vladivostok and most of the surrounding region. But while the previous months had seen no major confrontations between the Germans and the Russians, more and more mobilized Russians started pouring into the region, resulting in a surprise attack on the Germans in Jelgava.
The element of surprise however did not last long for the Russians as German reinforcements from Ostpreußen quickly arrived to strengthen the ranks. By August 10, General Martin von Labiau was able to turn back the Russian conscripts. In the end, almost 30 000 German lives were lost, something which the Kaiser had wished to avoid.
By August 16, the Russians realized that they could not win a two front war against the Germans and the Japanese without any real help from the outside world, and so they sued for peace. And thus, in the end the debates between the Kaiser, the Chancellor and the Minister of War did not really matter, as the Japanese did not consider any German demands at the peace table. The Russian Republic was left with an immense blow to their moral and to their prestige. They had just been defeated by a nation from Asia, a region often associated with the non-civilized world at the time. Several voices within the Duma started doubting the efficiency of the republican system in the Russian context, as it had clearly failed to mobilize its population against an incoming invasion. In the aftermath of the war, the Kaiser also visited the graves that marked the sacrifices of the thousands of soldiers who died in the war.
By October, Germany's influence across Europe extended further into Romania, as Russian influence was dissapearing almost completely from the Balkans. The oil fields of Romania would prove vital for German industry in the near future.
In March of 1906, a demonstration in Berlin by countless suffragettes was coined the Mud March, as rainy weather turned the streets into pools of mud. Despite the weather, their enthousiasm and strength filled the streets of the capital to the point where even the Kaiser could hear their chants from his office in the Berliner Stadschloß.
By August, Germany had included another European country in its ever growing sphere of influence: Portugal. With Portugal at Germany's side, France was further encircled by hostile nations. Only the Netherlands resisted German influence and remained deeply invested in their alliance with the French.
In November of 1906, the Kazakhs invaded neighbouring Kokand and Afghanistan and requested German assistance. Because of the nature of this attack and the distance from Germany and its colonial holdings, Kaiser Heinrich decided not to join the war. As Kazakh was in the German sphere of influence, they could afford to ignore their request.
And so 1907 was at the doorstep and the optimism which had began in 1905 had somewhat returned. With the ever increasing rights for women and a continuing prosperity for the German economy, it was expected that Germany would soon be the number one power in the world.
1907 began peacefully as all sorts of new goods arrived to Germany from its colonies. In February a real banana frenzy took over the country as these weird yellow curved fruits found their way into the German kitchen. More importantly, the Reichstag had passed an amendment that gave the vote to women. Being the first major country in Europe, and in fact in most of the rest of the world to do so.
In July, the first signs of trouble started brewing in Europe when Romania approached Germany with a request to aid them in their endeavour to take their core lands from Austria-Hungary. Germany, which considered the Habsburg Empire to be a relic of the medieval era, gladly accepted and promised the Romanian government that it would pressure the Austrians into making concessions to Romanian citizens in Transylvania.
By October of 1907, the recent change in legislation which allowed for convicts to be sent to the colonies resulted in the establishment of a penal colony in German East Africa. With German colonization of Africa now at the point where hundreds of Germans emigrated to Africa, there were already areas with a considerable concentration of German settlers. With convicts now adding to those numbers, the German language and culture was almost omnipresent on the continent.
In January of 1908, the German colonial administration in Egypt was faced with a rebellion. The revolt had started after a local imam in Cairo was killed by German soldiers, an event which sparked outrage against the foreign occupation. Soon, thousands of Egyptians rose up to claim back their independence from the Germans. The V. Kolonial Korps was quickly redirected from Sudan and travelled up the Nile to crush the rebellions in Egypt.
By April of 1908, the Egyptian independence movement had been crushed and law and order returned to the colony. In August, the Royal Geographic Society announced that it would grant a reward to whoever reached the South Pole first. Excited by this challenge, German Kaiser Heinrich I put together a team of explorers, led by Nicolas Schmidt, an officer of the Imperial Navy. On August 20th, they set off from Hamburg to race to the South Pole.
In December of 1908, an international crisis began brewing in the far away lands of the Ottoman Empire. While this crisis drew little attention when it initially arose, it would eventually lead to one of the bloodiest conflicts in European history. The Armenians had risen up against the Ottomans and demanded their independence. Prominent Armenian leaders approached the German Kaiser and spoke of terrible acts of violence committed by the Ottomans against their people. Convinced by their plea, Heinrich I officially backed their claim to independence. In the meantime, the Austrians had chosen to back their Ottoman allies.
As the crisis grew, both the Germans and the Austrians started their diplomatic strategies to bring more great powers to their side. First of all, the German ambassador in London tried to get the United Kingdom to Germany's side. When pleading to their conscience didn't work, despite the stories of atrocities by the Ottomans, the German ambassador was left with only one option: making a promise so that the British would get something out of this crisis. And so a clause was agreed upon to cut down Austria-Hungary's size.
As a reaction to the Anglo-German alliance, the French joined Austria-Hungary's side in the crisis. With the danger of a two front war now almost a reality, the German diplomatic machinery starting going in overdrive, sending a mission to Rome to convince the Italians to join their side. With the promise of their long desired Venice back, they easily joined the Anglo-German Axis. The Austrians, on the other hand, convinced the Dutch to join their side. The lines were drawn and the crisis further escalated, most of Europe now involved in some way or another.
With the crisis further evolving, one of the government's most vocal pacifists, Konstantin Brenner, addressed the Reichstag with a long speech declaring his intention, and that of the government, to de-escalate the crisis and resolve it by diplomatic means. His speech was hailed with support from both sides, as Germany had always managed to resolve crises in a peaceful manner. Hope that a large scale European war could still be prevented almost grew simultaneously with anti-French and anti-Austrian sentiment.
That hope almost completely disappeared on May 11 1909 when the German ambassador to the Ottoman Empire attended a summit while drunk. His jingoist language further escalated the situation and undid every effort of the German government to resolve the crisis by peaceful means. The Ottoman Sultan, personally attending the summit, was enraged and immediately signed the order to seize all German owned infrastructure throughout his empire, including the Constantinople-Baghdad railroad.
In response, the German government sent an ultimatum to the Ottomans, demanding compensation for the seized assets. Insulted once again, the Sultan ignored the ultimatum and declared war on Germany on May 31, citing the recent revolt in Egypt as a reason to rid the Middle East of German imperialism. Austria-Hungary quickly joined and so did France, to take advantage of German confusion. As their armies mobilized, the mechanism of the Anglo-German alliance and the German-Italian alliance drew more European powers into the war. By June, most of Europe was at war with each other and the Great War had begun. Notably, the United States and Russia both chose to remain outside of the conflict.
When the war began, all sides were optimistic. Leaders promised their countrymen and soldiers their wives and children that the war would be over by Christmas. They had no reason to believe the war was going to last any longer, after all, the last European conflict to last several years were the Napoleonic wars. The early weeks of the war, however, saw a brutal and large scale invasion of Belgium by the French. The Belgians, having foreseen the possibility of an invasion by the French, had a system of defences aimed at slowing down any French invasion. When news reports came in that French troops had taken Nieuwpoort on the North Sea, a detachment of Belgian soldiers went behind enemy lines in the middle of the night to open the sluice complex known as the Ganzepoort. When the high tide came in, the Yser river that flowed through the region overflowed, inundating most of the Yser valley, effectively halting the French advancement in West-Flanders. While it did spare the historical city of Bruges from advancing French troops, it did not prevent the French from invading through Hainaut in the south.
The inundation of the Yser river flooded a large area of West-Flanders.
In the meantime, two German army detachments were tasked with the invasion of the Netherlands. The Rhine was expected to be a natural barrier that could prove vital in halting the incoming French armies. However, the Dutch mounted a stiff resistance and mobilized their population, outnumbering the German forces. While Danish and Norwegian forces came to Germany's aid, the Dutch mounted an invasion into Cleves, on the German side of the border. The small force, however, was caught by surprise when a superior German force drove them away.
By the end of June, the German fleet had been tasked with blockading the Dutch ports to prevent French supplies from reaching the relatively isolated country. There, they encountered the Dutch fleet and a small battle erupted. Admiral Guttmann was able to sink some Dutch transports, while losing a transport himself, before the Dutch eventually retreated to repair their fleet. The German fleet soon did the same, leaving the blockade to the British.
By July 2 1909, the French had broken through in Tournai, Hainaut, while engaging with the Belgian army in Zeeland, the Netherlands. Dutch troops had moved south into Belgian Limburg while French armies were at the doorstep of Brussels. The German army held position at the fort belt of Liège, anxiously waiting for the inevitable French attack.
At Munster, a small Dutch force consisting of mobilized forces was caught off guard and defeated. While Friesland was being occupied by the Danish and Norwegians, another minor Dutch force was defeated at Arnhem, the first German victory on the Western front on foreign soil. But while the Germans were toying with the Dutch, the French threat continued to advance through Belgium.
In an effort to relieve the Belgian army at Brussels, the Germans launched an attack into Namur, which also had considerable fortifications which could provide the German army with an easily defendable position on the Meuse river. On July 14, General Hermann zu Muskau successfully took Namur and drove the French back.
On July 21, the Germans suffered a humiliating defeat at Cleves at the hands of the Dutch army. It was the first time a German army was defeated on German soil since the Napoleonic wars. As a large Dutch force moved into Germany, it became clear how much they had been underestimated by their eastern neighbours.
In the meantime, the French were pressing their advantage in Belgium by attacking the German defence lines on several places, including Namur and Arlon. In Arlon, they failed as reinforcements were able to lead General Adelbert von Moltke's forces to a victory. However, as troops were pulled back from other places on the French front, most notably from the southern Ardennes and Elzaß-Lothringen, French forces invaded the region. August 4, the French advance at Namur was halted by General Adelbert von Moltke, who reinforced the local garrison. Bad news arrived from Kaiserslautern, however, as French conscripts mutinied against their German general.
The Germans were quick to respond to the French invasion of the southern Ardennes and drove them back at Verdun, taking advantage of French sloppiness when they left behind a minor force while advancing further up north through Belgium.
On August 29 the French once again attacked the Belgian forts at Namur, where the Germans were stationed, forcing reinforcements from Liège to abandon their post and allowing the French through. As the continued battles with the French occurred, it became more and more clear that this war wouldn't be over by Christmas. As trenches were being dug and forts were being blasted to pieces. more and more battles saw only a few hundred meters gained or lost.
The continued French assaults and German losses numbering to the thousands, eventually led to the German retreat from Belgium in September of 1909. The situation did not look good for Germany. Many of its army detachments were lacking their usual strength. Combined with the growing French presence in Belgium and on the border with Germany, this eventually led to the order of mobilization on October 7 1909, four months into the war.
By Christmas 1909, the French had occupied all of Belgium. The Christian holiday did not provoke comradery between the opposing armies on the Western front, instead one of the bloodiest battles of the early war was fought at Épinal in the Ardennes. News of the victory on Christmas Eve inspired many Germans, who hoped that this victory marked the first step in the push back against the French.
On January 1 1910, this hope was further inspired by the German victory at Straßburg, where the occupation was finally lifted.
So far, the Great War had already made many casualties. With each battle, the number of hospitalized young men increased. With the order to mobilize, most civilians were someway or another involved in the war. As men left their workplaces for the front, their places were being taken by women, refugees from Belgium and Poland and anyone who found themselves able and willing to work. In the first few months of the war, the Western Front was characterized by a quick French advance through Belgium, despite the brave attempts of the Belgians and the Germans to keep them at bay. In the meantime, the Dutch were more conservative with their attacks, but were still able to keep Germany and its allies busy enough to keep them from giving their full attention to the French. One thing was sure, the Great War was not a 19th century conflict anymore, but a 20th century massacre driven by the forces of industry and perpetuated by the failure of politics and diplomacy.
The Great War for Germany first and foremost began on its eastern border with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first battle of the Great War that saw German action was at Troppau in Bohemia. The tested invasion tactic of rushing for Prague and then moving down to Vienna was once again initiated and saw almost no real Austrian opposition.
But while the Germans were cautiously invading Bohemia, the Austrians were putting the majority of their forces on the front with Poland. As Germany was more interested in obtaining a quick capitulation from the Austrians, the Polish were mostly left on their own, with an occassional reinforcement from the German troops in Silesia when the opportunity presented itself. As a result, however, many Polish refugees flooded Silesia, Brandenburg and Ostpreussen, looking for a safe haven far away from the terrors of war.
When a small Austro-Hungarian force invaded Bavaria, in Landhut, the German defences in the region quickly acted and during a brief battle on July 31, they were utterly destroyed.
On August 9, the German army entered Prague and defeated a local garrison. As the German attack, led by General Martin von Labiau, advanced further into the Habsburg Empire, Poland was faced with both an Austro-Hungarian invasion force and a militant socialist revolt. As Warsaw was under siege, the situation looked bad for Germany's ally in the east.
As a result, a German army contingent from Silesia was sent to Poland to aid Polish general Emil Soltyk defeat the Austrians. The German reinforcements came not a second too late as the Polish suffered a great number of casualties.
While casualties on the Western Front continued to rise, the Eastern Front saw way less losses compared to the damage the German armies inflicted. In late September, two more victories were added to the growing list of battles on the Eastern Front. At Plzen, General von Wettin almost completely destroyed an Austrian force, while at Aussig General von Labiau managed what von Wettin could not.
In October, two more major battles occurred which for the first time saw a large amount of casualties on the German side in the Eastern campaign. At Munich, the Austrians tried to invade but were repelled, while at Waldenburg reinforcements arrived just in time to defeat the opposing forces.
At the same time, the German reinforcements in Poland defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Lodz. But as the casualties grew, the order to mobilize was signed. The Germans had made little advancements in Bohemia, with only Prague as a major point of occupation in the region.
As the war continued through October and November, the Austrians sent small forces consisting of 6000 men at most through the German lines, all of them failing to launch a major offensive against the advancing superior forces.
On November 13, the Great War expanded when Bulgaria took advantage of Serbian weakness and invaded the Balkan country to "liberate" Northern Macedonia, thus entering the side of the Paris-Vienna Axis and declaring war against Germany.
At Olomouc, in Bohemia, the German army inflicted another defeat on the Austrians, continuing the advance towards Vienna. While the Western Front was marked by retreating German forces in the face of a French invasion force, the Eastern front saw German success after success. But in both cases, a German ally was almost completely overrun by enemy forces.
On December 14 1909, General Martin von Labiau defeated an entire Austrian army at the Battle of Troppau. The decorated general was soon given a promotion to Generalfeldmarschall and tasked with leading the Eastern Campaign.
By the end of 1909, the Great War had escalated to the point that almost all of Europe was a battlefield. The French had advanced through Belgium like a knife cutting through butter. In the meantime, the Danish and Norwegians had been able to occupy Amsterdam. In Northern Spain, the French were defeating Spanish and Portuguese forces, occupying all of Catalonia. In the Balkans, Romania and Serbia, stuck in between the Ottomans and the Austrians, had been overrun and were under military occupation from the two powers. In Northern Italy, a fierce struggle occurred between Italian forces and the French. While the Italians were invading France now, the French still held strong in some areas behind the Italian lines. And while Poland had been almost completely occupied, the Germans were coming closer and closer to Vienna by the day.
1910 began with relative optimism as successful lobbying from the German government and of pro-intervention president-elect Theodore Roosevelt convinced the US government to join the Great War on Germany's side. On January 15 1910, the US entered the war on Germany's side, possibly turning the tide as US troops would undoubtedly reinvigorate the German war effort on the Western Front.
With this optimism, the war entered a new stage, driven by a General Staff meeting held in early January of that year. The consensus on the Western Front made by the Kaiser, the leader Generals and the Minister of War, Richard Guttmann, basically entailed the liberation of Belgium as a stepping stone to an eventual push towards Paris. In the meantime, mobilized troops would reinforce the entire front and prevent any further French advancements through gaps in the frontline. This new doctrine was put to the test on January 17 when the French attacked the city of Luxembourg, where a large German force laid waiting for them, led by the extravagant General Friedrich Brommy. The French did not expect such a strong resistance and were faced with a major defeat, casualties almost reaching 5/6th of their attack force.
The next day, the Guttmann Plan to liberate Belgium took effect as a German force led by General Wolfgang von Halkett pushed the French out of Aachen by completely annihilating their invasion force. Four days later, a similar attack was made in Nancy, resulting in an encirclement of French forces at Metz.
However, a minor setback occurred at Cleves when the Dutch and French managed to defeat and utterly destroy the army led by General Hermann zu Muskau. The general himself managed to flee the grasp of the French, but his soldiers were either captured, wounded or killed.
In the meantime, the war had also reached the German colony in Morocco as French forces invaded from Algeria. A costly victory in Spanish Melilla resulted in a French defeat, but essentially demoralized any German attempt to invade Algeria. Soon after the battle, a follow-up battle resulted in a less costly victory for the German Kolonial Korps in the region.
In March of 1910, the French attempted to breach through in Épinal but failed as they encountered opposition from General Ludwig von Märchenlied, son of former Chancellor Ludwig von Märchenlied and nephew to the current Chancellor. The day after, a similar attempt at Liège failed to the heroic actions of Germans alongside their Swedish and Italian allies.
After the French offensive, the Germans once again pushed through to get the French out of Germany itself and eventually out of Belgium as well. Their first attack was focussed on Arlon in Belgium and resulted in a minor battle where a small French force of less than 10 000 mobilized Frenchmen were defeated. The second, more important attack occurred at the Battle of Verdun where General Adelbert von Moltke managed to defeat French general Gustave Bonaparte, a descendant of Louis Napoleon. The morale boost this gave to the German conscripts was enough to get them through another month of horrible warfare.
At the end of the month, bad news arrived from the African front as the French had managed to ambush a German force in the Sahara desert and completely destroyed the unit.
As the German offensive continued, the trenches in Belgium slowed down the German advancement on that front, while a steady advance mostly occurred on French soil itself. At the Battle of Charleville, Adelbert von Moltke added another victory to his repertoire, while at the Battle of Besançon, General von Märchenlied held his ground against a French attack.
By the end of April 1910, the situation on the Western Front looked a lot better than at the beginning of the year. In just a couple of months, the German army had managed to push the French and Dutch out of Germany itself, while now also liberating Belgium and invading both the Netherlands and France. In the meantime, the British had started a blockade along the entire coast of France, preventing vital goods from arriving to France.
As a major battle was going on in Chaumont, France, the Germans now started experimenting with a new weapon of war. For the first time in history, chemical warfare on an industrial scale became a part of war between nations. Artillery shells filled with poisonous gas were fired towards the French and devestated their ranks. However, in some areas along the front, the wind turned, driving the gas towards the Germans themselves. While still in an experimental phase, gas attacks managed to shift the balance of power in battles within seconds. Unsurprisingly, the Battle of Chaumont turned into a German victory, albeit a costly one.
However, on June 22, one day after the victory at Chaumont, the Germans lost at the Battle of Eindhoven. The battle was the most costly defeat for the Germans so far, as more than a 100 000 casualties were made, mostly consisting of conscripted men.
As French troops had completely retreated from Belgium, except for a few local occupying forces, the main thrust of the German offensive shifted towards Paris. At the Battle of Chalons, a German attack led by General Jürgen Droste managed to overwhelm the French with superior forces.
In the meantime, the attack against the Netherlands was proving a little difficult as the Dutch professional armies inflicted heavy casualties on the German armies mostly consisting of conscripts. Still, at the Battle of Middelburg in Zeeland, a combined German-Italian-Swedish force drove the Dutch back to Rotterdam.
As the war continued throughout August and saw two more successful German attacks, at Charleville and at Chalons, the German High Command ordered ten brigades of experimental landships to hopefully be deployed within a year in the field against the French. The speed at which the Germans had been advancing meant that trench warfare could be avoided. This meant that experimenting with all sorts of vehicles was easier than in the muddy terrain often associated with trenches.
At the end of August, German defences once again proved very capable at holding their ground when the French attacked at Orléans in a desperate attempt to halt the German advance towards Paris. However, their attempt was futile as the French capital was already under siege from German forces.
In September of 1910, most of Northern France was occupied by the Germans and only a few French holdouts existed in Normandie and Western Belgium. The Dutch still proved very combattant as they attacked the Germans in Eindhoven in an attempt to break the German invasion of their home country.
After the costly victory in Eindhoven, the Germans pursued their enemies and once again defeated them in Middelburg. Time was running out for the Dutch as they were now completely cut off from their French allies due to the continued naval blockades by the British.
A clear sign of the nearing Dutch defeat was the German victory at Amsterdam, the Dutch capital.
As the war continued and more of France was occupied by the Germans, the French grew more and more desperate. On November 6, they attacked the Germans once again at Blois, but suffered a humiliating defeat as for every 1 German casualty, there were 3 French ones. The pain was only slightly alleviated at the Battle of Tours where they managed to inflict a considerable amount of casualties on the Germans, but still lost the battle.
On December 13, the Dutch lost at Rotterdam, but still cost the Germans some manpower.
By the end of January 1911, most of Northern France had been occupied while the important parts of the Netherlands were now also under German control. The only front on which the French excelled was in Spain, where they had essentially steamrolled the Spanish and Portuguese defence forces. In Northern Italy, they had made some ground but as their focus shifted from attack into Italy to defence of France, they would soon lose their advantage.
By now it was clear that the Great War was nearing its end. Rumours of an armistice came every now and then, but it would take a couple more battles to convince the French that they had lost the war. Most notably, three battles in three different areas were needed to show them that the war was essentially over. On February 27, at the Battle of Valence, the French forces recognized that their connection to the Italian front had been severed. On March 19, the Battle of Clermont-Ferrand proved that mainland France was completely overrun by the Germans. And finally, on April 25, the German victory at Granada, Spain, made the French afraid that what little forces they had left in Spain would be slaughtered by incoming hordes of German soldiers.
Eventually, on May 1 1911, the armistice with the French government was signed in a trainwagon just outside of Marseilles. By that time, almost all of France was under German control while the Germans were even liberating Northern Spain and Northern Italy.
The Eastern Front at the beginning of 1910 looked more favorable for Germany than the Western Front. While Poland was indeed almost completely occupied, the Germans had managed to occupy Prague and were well on their way to arrive in Vienna by the end of the year. In addition, casualties also remained relatively low compared to the front against the French and the Dutch. Nonetheless, the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Poland opened a gap in the German defence lines and now threated the Prussian heartland itself. The successes on the Eastern Front were once again confirmed on January 7 at the Battle of Prague.
However, the Austro-Hungarians managed to mobilize more of their population and surprised the Germans with overwhelming numbers. This threatened to undo the advance towards Vienna, if it were not for the fact that the Eastern Front saw many more professional German armies compared to mobilized conscripts. At the Battle of Olomouc, an attack by the Habsburg armies was thwarted as General Martin von Labiau taught the Austrians a lesson of their own.
At the Battles of Hradec Králové and Gniezno, the Germans further pushed back against the incoming hordes of Habsburgs forces. At the Battle of Augsburg, the Austrians failed to mount an attack into German territory itself, yet the Germans still suffered heavy casualties.
On February 20 1910, Martin von Labiau added another victory to his long list of military achievements as his superior force almost managed to completely wipe out an Austrian force at Troppau. Eight days later, General von Oldenburg managed to do the same at the Battle of Budejovice.
On March 4, General von Labiau would still get his decisive victory as a force of more than 20 000 Austro-Hungarians were defeated at Kattowitz in German Silesia.
By April of 1910, the Germans war effort in the east also shifted some resources to liberating Poland as Austrians started using the region as a way to invade and pillage East Prussia. On April 1, this contributed to a German victory at Allenstein, where an isolated Habsburg force was lured into a trap.
That same day, a successful attack at Augsburg once again obliterated the Austrians.
In the meantime, the British were busy with invading the Ottoman Empire through the Tigris and Eufrate rivers in Iraq and through their colonial holdings in the Holy Land. As they encountered some pushback from the Ottomans, the Germans continued to defend the Suez Canal and prevented any Ottoman, French or Dutch ships from going through.
On April 15, the Germans won a costly victory at Prague, where a sneaky Austrian army had managed to bypass the German defensive lines and tried to liberate the city. In the meantime, the Germans were liberating Poland and won at the Battle of Warsaw against a small force the Austrians had left behind.
At the Battle of Budejovice, the Germans managed to take the Habsburg armies by surprise, winning them a victory. At Olomouc, a more costly attack was made to prevent the Austrians from invading Silesia.
In May of 1910, the Germans scored several more victories, including at Krems and at Brno.
On June 14, the Ottomans tried a bold invasion of Silesia but were utterly devestated by the superior technologies of the German army. Only 60 Ottoman soldiers escaped unscathed from that infamous day at Kattowitz.
By July 11, the Germans had begun to siege Vienna and were briefly challenged by a defending Austrian force. General Ludendorff was able to drive them away by setting an example and completely annihilating a small Austrian defence force.
As almost all of Bohemia and large parts of Austria itself were now under German occupation, the Germans racked in victory after victory. Even French reinforcements to the region could not halt the ever growing German presence in the heart of the Habsburg Empire. On November 1, almost 16 000 Austrian casualties were made at the Battle of Nitra.
On November 15, a costly victory in Linz was successful in taking yet another important Austrian city from the Habsburgs. At the same time, a small French force was defeated at Olomouc.
At Przemysl, yet another French force, this time a bit larger, was defeated. At Sankt Pölten, German dominance came at a heavy cost as almost 20 000 casualties were suffered against only 6 700 Austro-Hungarian casualties.
By the end of January of 1911, the Germans had made it all the way into Venezia, which was promised as a war goal to the Italians. At the Battle of Verona, German reinforcements prevented an Italian army from being destroyed by French attackers. Six days later, the Germans made a bolt and costly attack on Graz, another major Austrian city.
On February 12, the Germans assisted in an Italian attack at Padova, one of the last major battles of the Great War. Several more small skirmishes occurred throughout February to April in both Northern Italia and the Balkans, but as both the Habsburgs and the French were on their last legs, the end of the war was near.
In late April of 1911, several rebellions arose throughout the Habsburg Empire, ranging from nationalist movements trying to liberate regions of the multi-ethnic state, to socialist and communist movements trying to overthrow the government. Eventually, this extra pressure resulted in the signing of an armistice on May 1 1911, ending the Great War. And as the Great War ended, the order to demobilize was signed and elections were prepared to be held in two weeks time, while the forces of diplomacy kicked into action to decide upon the fate of Europe.
The Great War is at an end and with that, new elections have been called to renew the democratic mandate of the Reichstag. As women may now vote, these elections are expected to be a game changer for Germany. Meet the parties who will represent the people of Germany:
National Liberal Party (NLP)
National Liberal Party (NLP) Nationalliberale Partei
Current Leader: Rolf Hoffman
Founding Year: 1848
Ideology type: Liberal
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free Trade
Economic Policy: Interventionist
Religious Policy: Secularism
Citizenship Policy: Limited Citizenship
War Policy: Pro Military
Welfare: Welfare state
Description:
Formed In 1848 after the March Revolution from Many liberal Philosophers and economists wanting to start their own Party . It wishes to Pass liberal and Democratic Reforms to modernize Germany and is able to reach a compromise with the conservative elements within the Landtag and the royal court.
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Current Party Leader: Konstantin Brenner
Founding Date: 14th of June 1860
Ideology: Socialist
Motto: "Einigkeit macht stark"
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free Trade
Economic Policy: State Capitalism
Religious Policy: Secularism
Citizenship Policy: Full Citizenship
War Policy: Pro-Military
Welfare Policy: Welfare State
Description:
The Social Democratic Party of Germany was created by Lutz von Sommer with the help of Gustav Schwarzmann and Benedict Eichwald to help move Germany towards a brighter, more equal future with its main goals being giving more power to the Reichstag and gaining reforms especially when it comes to voting rights for women and poorer men.
German National People's Party (DNVP)
German National People’s Party (DNVP) Deutschnationale Volkspartei
Current Party Leader: Adolf von Hoth
Founding Date: 1900
Ideology: Conservative/Völkisch
Motto: “Deutsches Reich, Deutsches Blut” (“German Reich, German Blood”)
Description:
In 1900, the DKP reformed their party into the DNVP, adopting the fledgling Völkisch Ideology, and reworking their party platform to fit Germany’s modern political landscape.
German Center Party (DZP)
German Center Party (DZP) Deutsche Zentrumspartei
Current Leader: Adalwolf von Märchenlied
Ideology: Conservative
Founded: October 31st, 1875
Motto: “Deus lo vult”
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free Trade
Economic Policy: Interventionism
Religious Policy: Moralism
Citizenship Policy: Limited Citizenship
War Policy: Pro-Military
Welfare Policy: Welfare state
Description:
The DZP is a christian, centrist party that aims to bring stability back to the Empire. The Center party aims to be pragmatic and moderate. Both of the extremes are against the interest of Germany and her people, the Socialists want a godless state, and the reactionaries want a feudal state unfit for the modern world. The center party aims to keep Germany great by not letting it fall to extremism.
General German Women's Association (ADFV)
General German Women's Association (ADFV)
Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein Current Party Leader: Elinor von Marchenlied
Current Party Vice Leader: Emilie von Marchenlied
Founding Date: December 23rd 1840, as a party March 27th 1907
Ideology: Feminist/Anarcho-Liberal
Ethics:
Trade Policy: Free trade
Economic Policy: Interventionism
Religious Policy: Secular
Citizenship Policy: Full citizenship
War Policy: Pacifism
Welfare policy: Welfare state
Description:
The ADFV officially turned into a political party to bring their voice to the Reichstag and further women's rights.
The Elections are now open and will remain so until Saturday August 29th 8:00 PM CEST
The end of the Great War was widely celebrated in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain and the United States, while unrest erupted in the losing countries such as France, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. When the last fighting in the Balkans finally ceased, the Great Powers of the world met in London to redraw the map of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas to reflect the new balance of power. In the meantime, a mutiny had erupted in France and in Brittany, Communist forces had declared independence. In Austria-Hungary, nationalist independence movements were also rising up against the Habsburgs, while in the Ottoman Empire, a civil war was brewing. In the meantime, the Great Powers met in London and discussed the future of the world. The occasion was so important that German Kaiser Heinrich I personally went to London by airplane, one of the innovations that had been implemented by the army near the end of the war.
German Kaiser Heinrich I arriving by airplane in London for the peace talks in 1911.
Treaty of Greenwich between the Allied Powers and France
The first and perhaps most important of the Treaties of London was the one negotiated in Greenwich with the French government. Since the end of the war, the monarchy in France had been overthrown and a new Republican constitution was adopted in Troyes, hence the Troyes Republic. The provisional government sent delegates to Greenwich to negotiate the treaty with the Allied Powers, but from the very beginning, it was clear that the victors would set the tone. There were several differing opinions among the victors of how France should be treated. The United States, led by President Theodore Roosevelt, couldn’t care less about harsh reparations for France as they themselves had not been affected as much by the war as the other powers. President Roosevelt, however, saw an opportunity for the States in the shape of the French colonies in the Caribbean. The United Kingdom’s interests were mainly concentrated around the Channel and the French colonies and Africa, while some voices in government also wanted to keep a balance of power between the UK and Germany, not strengthening either too much and keeping France a relatively strong neutral state in between both. The Germans were mainly interested in war reparations from the French and guaranteeing that the French wouldn’t be able invade Germany and ally Belgium so easily as they had in 1909. Belgium, Italy and Spain mostly brought territorial interests to the table.
In regards to mainland France, German aims were simple. They were not interested in large territorial expanse, as they already owned both Elzaß-Lothringen and the Ardennes. The German government did however lobby strongly for Belgian territorial expansion in Northern France, primarily in the region of French Flanders which had historical connections to the Flemish. In addition, the Germans demanded a demilitarized zone in Northern France along the Belgian border to guarantee that 1909 would not be repeated so easily in the future. In addition, war reparations summing up to 10 billion German marks were demanded. Should the French government fail to pay those, the German and Belgian armies reserve the right to occupy the demilitarized zone in the north. The French delegation could do nothing but swallow these demands.
The British demands in regards to mainland France remained fairly limited, but had a large impact. They demanded that Calais be turned into a Free City under a primarily British mandate. Protected within the demilitarized zone, the Free City of Calais would be an independent city state with far-going privileges and influence for the British government. Spain and Italy both were able to get their territorial claims. Italy got Nice, Savoy and Corsica, while Spain got Roussillon.
Demilitarized zone outlined in red, Breton Soviet Republic in light green.
In regards to the French territories in Africa, the general consensus was to divide the spoils between the various victors. However, with the French colonial empire in Africa lacking in size, the few spoils were mostly territories in the Sahara desert. Tunisia and Libya were given to Italy. Senegal was given to the British. Mauritania was given to Spain and Madagascar to Portugal. Algeria was a more difficult case as it was regarded by the French government as an integral part of metropolitan France. Thus the Great Powers decided to let France keep Northern Algeria, while the rest was divided between Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
In regards to the French possessions in the Americas, the negotiations were a bit more tense. President Roosevelt held a strict Monroe doctrine in mind during the peace talks and was not giving any ground to British ambitions in the Caribbean. The British eyed French Guyana, just as they eyed Dutch Suriname. In the meantime, President Roosevelt wanted to keep British expansion in South America and the Caribbean as limited as possible, while also lobbying for an American protectorate in the region. Negotiations between the two turned sour, President Roosevelt even referencing the 1664 agreement between the Dutch and the English which saw New Amsterdam being traded for Suriname. In the end, it took German mediation to solve the impasse. Britain would receive the French possessions in the Caribbean, while the US would gain a protectorate in Guyana and Suriname, to be confirmed in the Treaty of Lambeth with the Netherlands.
American Guyana depicted with its flag.
In Asia, there was another player to keep in mind; Japan. Japan fought on the side of the Allied Powers and had pulled off a successful invasion of French Indochina. It was logical to assume that they wanted some territorial expansion in return. And so they were granted most of French Indochina, only Cambodia going to the United Kingdom. Indochina was now a patchwork consisting of an independent Vietnam in the north, a Japanese Protectorate from north to south, an independent Champassak in the center and a British Protectorate in Cambodia.
Treaty of Hampstead between the Allied Powers and Austria-Hungary
In the Treaty of Hampstead, the Austro-Hungarian delegation was faced with a bitter situation. Practically all victors were convinced that the Habsburg Empire of old needed to be dismantled into individual nation states. As a result, several delegations from nationalist movements within the Empire were also present, most notably from Bohemia, Hungary and Illyria. As Germany had gained minimal advantages from the Treaty of Greenwich, the Treaty of Hampstead was where German diplomats wanted to expand German influence the most. In addition, various surrounding nations wanted a piece of the Habsburg pie. Italy was granted Venice, as promised in the beginning of the war, and was also given South Tirol and Trieste. Serbia was granted control over most of Illyria, with only Slovenia becoming an independent country and Montenegro getting more control over its coastline. Bohemia and Hungary gained independence, both as constitutional monarchies, with Hungary also gaining control over Slovakia. Poland was granted Galicia-Lodomeria and Romania got Transylvania. In addition, Ruthenia was established as an independent Republic. In Austria itself, the Habsburgs would be ousted and replaced by a von Hohenzollern in a constitutional monarchy. With the newly gained territory, Serbia reformed itself into Greater Serbia.
Additionally, a clause was agreed upon by the Great Powers that Germany would be allowed to found Mitteleuropa, a political and economic organization which would oversee most of the newly created nations’ economy. At its creation in the Treaty of Hampstead, member states of Mitteleuropa included Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Ruthenia and Slovenia with Greater Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, Belgium and the Nordic countries holding observer status.
Treaty of Shoreditch between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire
The Treaty of Shoreditch oversaw the dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire into new nation states, similar to how the Habsburg Empire was dismantled. During the war, the British and the Germans had made a secret agreement to divide the Middle East, known as the Sykes-von Berg Agreement, named after the Minister of Foreign Affairs of both countries. In the agreement, Britain would receive Syria and Kuwait as protectorates, while Germany received Iraq. And so the Ottomans lost their holdings in the Middle East. All Armenian cores were granted to the provisional Armenian government. Bulgaria, while an ally of the Ottomans and thus an enemy of the Allied Powers, was the last stronghold of the Central Powers and had not signed the ceasefire. To get them to the peace table, the Allied Powers offered them their core lands in Ottoman territory instead of the Serbian land they were after. Bulgaria agreed. Greece received its cores and so did Greater Serbia. In addition, Albania was given independence. Italy gained Ottoman Libya and a foothold in southern Anatolia centered around Rhodes. Most importantly, the Treaty of Shoreditch established an internationally controlled Zone of the Straits around the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus. The Zone of the Straits was under joint British, German and Italian administration, much to the dismay of the Russian Republic.
Treaty of Lambeth between the Allied Powers and the Netherlands
The final treaty of London was the Treaty of Lambeth which dealt with the Netherlands, a minor power in the Central Powers, but one with considerable colonial territory. In addition, in Europe it held a considerable influence over the estuaries of both the Scheldt and Rhine rivers, vital for trade through both Belgium and Germany. Belgian and German lobbying for control of those rivers faced a vehement British opposition, but concessions in regards to the Dutch East Indies were able to convince the British of giving the Germans what they wanted. And so most of Dutch Zeeland, Brabant and Limburg were given to Belgium, ending Dutch control over the Scheldt estuary and diminishing their influence over the Meuse and Rhine estuaries.
The Dutch East Indies in turn were divided between the United Kingdom, Portugal and Japan. As per the agreement between the UK and Germany, the UK received Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java, while Japan received the Celebes, the Moluccas and West-Papua. Portugal was granted West Timor and the remaining islands in between Java and Timor.
Finally, Dutch Suriname was added to the American Protectorate of Guyana, while the Dutch Caribbean went to the UK.
As the treaties were signed, unrest in Europe continued however, most notably in France, where mutinies, strikes and insurrections brought the country on the brink of Civil War. In the Ottoman Empire, a Turkish nationalist by the name of Mustafa Kemal Pasja was leading a rebellion against the Sultan to establish a Republic and reclaim the glory that was lost at the Treaty of Shoreditch. But also in Germany, as soldiers returned home from the war, the upcoming elections resulted in tensions between the left and the right.
Europe after the Treaties of London (1911).
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An update will follow soon about the 1911 elections and their aftermath.
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1911 Election Results, the Government Formation and its Aftermath
1911 Election Results, the Government Formation and its Aftermath
When the last troops returned from Spain, Italy and the Balkans, elections were officially called and the German population, both men and women went to the voting stations on June 15. A new party had stepped up to the fray: the ADFV, a loose coalition of feminists, liberals, and all sorts of left-leaning individuals. When the results came in, it came as an absolute surprise that the ADFV was able to pull in so many votes.
Initial responses were double. No one had expected the suffragette movement to go this far in their political endeavors and thus no one suspected how far they were willing to go to achieve their goals. The NLP, SPD and DZP initially had hoped to get the ADFV, led by Elinor von Märchenlied and Emilie von Krieger, on board with their leftist coalition. Tension however arose when opposing interests became clear between the SPD and the ADFV. As part of the previous government agreement, Konstantin Brenner of the SPD had been promised the Chancellorship in the next elections, yet now Elinor von Märchenlied demanded the Chancellorship for herself. The coalition talks broke down and the ADFV was approached by the DNVP led by Adolf von Hoth. The two parties agreed to form a coalition, led by von Märchenlied as Chancellor. In addition, the DNVP would tone down its radical ideas and drop Volkism as an ideology. When it came to voting in a new Cabinet of Ministers, the following list was agreed upon:
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Wilhelm Hartwig von Röhm (DNVP)
Minister of the Interior: Adolf von Hoth (DNVP)
Minister of War: Hermann zu Muskau (DNVP)
Minister of the Treasury: Wilhelm Braun (NLP)
Minister of Justice: Hans Lauda (DNVP)
Minister of the Chancellorship: Konstantin Brenner (SPD)
Minister of Education: Emilie von Krieger (ADFV)
As the cabinet was voted in on June 25 of 1911, unrest in the army erupted. Not everyone took the idea of a female Chancellor as willingly as the governing coalition, certainly not the superior Generals such as Martin von Labiau. Some even say that Minister of War, Hermann zu Muskau, purposefully ignited anti-Chancellor feelings among his generals and officers, as he himself did not agree to the move of his party to vote in a female Chancellor. The division further continued when the DNVP split into several factions. The Loyalists, led by Adolf von Hoth, stood behind the government agreement and controlled about two fifths of the DNVP’s seats. The Conservatives, led by Hermann zu Muskau, vehemently opposed the agreement and wanted to cede from the coalition. They also controlled about two fifths of the DNVP’s seats. Lastly, there were the Radicals led by Hans Lauda who re-embraced Volkism but were open to cooperation with either the Loyalists and the Conservatives. They controlled about one fifth of the DNVP’s seats.
From left to right: Adolf von Hoth (Loyalists), Hermann zu Muskau (Conservatives), Hans Lauda (Radicals)
On July 3rd, the Radicals led by Lauda split from the party to found the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP), relying on 33 seats in the Reichstag. In the remaining DNVP, a power struggle now erupted between zu Muskau and von Hoth over leadership of the party. In the meantime, the General Staff also made its move. A joint letter made its way to Kaiser Heinrich I, urging him to act in this crisis and call for the Chancellor’s resignation. Heinrich I was reluctant to get involved, but was also wary that a military hostile to its own government could turn sour really quickly. And so Heinrich I did what he absolutely wished to avoid from the moment he took on the mantle as Kaiser; political meddling in the Reichstag. The Kaiser invited Konstantin Brenner from the SPD, Christian Alexander von Berg of the NLP and Hermann zu Muskau of the DNVP. He urged the three men to consider the options. The army was on the verge of trying to coup the government, half the population was on the streets protesting against the Chancellor, the other half supporting her. Some speculated that civil war was imminent. Heinrich I thus made his preference clear, a government of national unity centered around the three major ideologies: social democracy, liberalism and conservatism. Only through national unity could the army be kept in line and the constitution protected. Brenner was reluctant to go behind the back of the ADFV in this manner and said that it was not up to him to decide, but up to the German people. The meeting did not succeed and the four men were left without an agreement.
The Reichstag after the DVFP split from the DNVP.
Things further escalated in July of 1911 when the DVFP of Hans Lauda submitted a motion of no-confidence to the Reichstag. Needing 2/3rds to pass, the motion was almost doomed to fail, but as news spread that the motion had been submitted, the army made its next move. On the night of the 7th to the 8th of July, the I. Korps in Berlin, led by Martin von Labiau, positioned itself around the Imperial Palace, seemingly occupying it. The Kaiser was virtually isolated, General von Labiau assuring Heinrich I that this was for his own safety, inventing a fake story about a communist revolt on the streets of Berlin. In the II. Korps in Breslau, led by Adolf von Hoth, the leader of the Loyalists, army officers put von Hoth under house arrest, preventing him from returning to Berlin and essentially cutting him off from the happenings in the DNVP. In the DNVP, the power grab of the Conservatives now fully grabbed hold as Hermann zu Muskau triggered a leadership vote and ushered his followers to vote for Volker von Geishof Junior, who returned to politics to prevent the DNVP from shattering completely into factions. Volker subsequently easily won the leadership elections.
The Stadtschloss in Berlin, residence of Kaiser Heinrich I.
As the Conservatives now held almost complete control over the DNVP, the party was reformed to represent its values and the DNVP once again became the Deutschkonservative Partei (DkP). Volker von Geishof’s next step was to get Adolf von Hoth to resign as Minister of Interior and assume the position himself. Von Geishof contacted the II. Korps and asked them to pressure von Hoth. On July 10 1911, Adolf’s formal letter of resignation reached the office of the Chancellor. The Chancellor then met with the DkP’s leadership to discuss the future of the coalition. Volker von Geishof, in many ways more moderate and pragmatic than Hermann zu Muskau, could agree to continue the current coalition as long as he would become the next Minister of the Interior. And so on July 11, von Geishof was confirmed by the Reichstag as Minister of the Interior.
Volker von Geishof in 1911.
The next step taken by the army was to ensure that it had popular backing, and so it spread rumors of communist infiltration into the ADFV, pointing to figures such as Isabella von Furstatte. By reporting about the horrors of the Breton Soviet Republic, the press further contributed to the Red Scare that would soon engulf the country. However, as the army was more and more present in the streets of Germany, the communist movement entered the stage as another contender for power. Led by Josua von Felsenbaum, a new party called the Kommunistische Opposition (KO), took onto the streets in protest against the increasing power of the German army. As street violence increased between supporters of the conservative military and supporters of the KO, Kaiser Heinrich I was kept under house arrest, von Labiau’s lie now having turned into reality.
A citizen’s militia led by an officer from the military, marching through the streets of Berlin to deter communists from protesting.
Violence continued and the Reichstag stood by, watching as Germany was following France on the path of political chaos and civil war. Who would’ve thought that a global power as prominent as the German Kaiserreich would fall so easily to civil unrest, military meddling in politics and infighting. On July 20, the Kaiser finally re-entered the stage when Konstantin Brenner of the SPD managed to inform him by letter of the current situation. Infuriated, Heinrich I summoned von Labiau and ordered him to stand down in Berlin. Heinrich I then summoned Konstantin Brenner, the Chancellor and Volker von Geishof. It was time to end the chaos.
In the meeting that followed, Heinrich I made it clear that he was disappointed in the Reichstag. They had failed Germany and its Kaiser. Instead of providing a political solution to the army’s growing power, they had fallen into partisan power plays themselves instead of forming a united front against men such as von Labiau and zu Muskau. Heinrich I had no other choice but to call for elections. The members of the Reichstag were not thrilled by this new development. Disbanding the Reichstag, in their mind, would allow the army to move against them during the power vacuum. But the Kaiser ensured them, von Labiau and zu Muskau would both be dismissed and loyalty would return to the army as they recognized what sort of chaos they had caused under the influence of power-hungry generals.
And so on July 22 1911, just over a month after the previous elections, the Reichstag was dissolved and new elections were organized. Generals Martin von Labiau and Hermann zu Muskau were forced into retirement. Adolf von Hoth resigned from public life, his son, Ernst von Hoth, taking his place in the DkP. Heinrich von Klopp, member of the infamous von Klopp family, entered politics as a member of the DVFP. Political violence on the streets settled down as the Kommunistische Opposition was allowed to run in the elections. On July 22, more parties were on the ballot than ever before. The KO led by von Felsenbaum represented the far left, the SPD led by Konstantin Brenner represented the social democrats, the ADFV led by former Chancellor Elinor von Märchenlied represented the political suffragette movement, the NLP led by Rolf Hoffman represented traditional national-liberalism, the DZP led by Adalwolf von Märchenlied represented centrists, the DkP led by Volker von Geishof Junior represented the main conservatist movement in Germany, and finally the DVFP led by Hans Lauda represented the far right Volkist movement. Whatever the outcome, everyone hoped that peace and quietness would soon return to Germany, and Europe in general.
While Japan was invading China, Europe went further down the path towards war. By May of 1936, Mussolini’s Italy was victorious in Ethiopia, annexing the African country and exiling its leader, Haile Selassie. Selassie was invited to speak at the German Reichstag, where he gave a thunderous speech, warning that if Europe did not act against Italian aggression, it would find itself at war again. Despite applause from most of the Reichstag, the DVFP being a notable exception, the German government would do little against Italy but threaten them with sanctions that never came. And as the Italians felt emboldened by this impunity, Mussolini and Bonaparte grew closer together.
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie speaking in the Reichstag in Berlin.
Under normal circumstances, Mussolini’s Italy and Bonaparte’s France would be natural sworn enemies. One a victor of the Great War, the other a loser. Italy had “stolen” French land and colonies and was competing with France as a Mediterranean power. Had it not been for a common enemy to unite the two, war would likely have broken out between them. As it would happen, the Mediterranean ambitions of both France and Italy stumbled against the Anglo-German alliance which was set on keeping a dominant presence in the region. And so on October 25 1936, France and Italy signed a secret treaty of cooperation, ironing out some tensions between the two in the process. Savoy and Nice would be given back to France, while Italy was allowed to keep Corsica. In addition, a sphere of influence was drawn up where France would control the Western Mediterranean and Italy the Eastern Mediterranean. On November 1, the Paris-Rome Axis was formally announced to the world. As the government in Berlin feared another conflict on the horizon, the British government was more concerned with domestic affairs and continued their policy of appeasement. Not long after, the Japanese ambassador in Paris signed an agreement, aligning Japanese interests in the Pacific with the French ambitions in Europe.
Benito Mussolini (left) and Adolphe Bonaparte (right) in Rome, November 1 1936.
The rise of Italy continued in 1938 as they annexed Albania, beginning their rivalry with the Germans for control over the Balkans. In the meantime, the civil war in Russia had anything but calmed down. Military loyalists had pushed back the Republicans to the Urals, while a communist revolt in the Baltics was threatening their flank. In September of 1938, the Treaty of Munich was signed as a last effort to appease the French and keep Europe from going to war. The Treaty, signed by Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France, redrew the French-Spanish border and gave Roussillon back to France. While the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, saw the Treaty of Munich as a sign of peace for our time, trouble began brewing for the German government in Berlin.
British PM Neville Chamberlain declaring “Peace for Our Time”.
In a final effort to stop the rise of France and Italy, German Chancellor von Roosfeld issued a Mitteleuropa-wide oil embargo on the two countries. Severely overestimating German influence within Mitteleuropa, Romania promptly left the organization and announced its alignment with the Paris-Rome Axis. In Berlin, the DkP called for von Roosfeld’s dismissal as Chancellor, but it was the DFVP under Hans Lauda who submitted the motion of no confidence in November of ’38. The nation was taken by surprise when on November 20 1938, Franz von Roosfeld took the honor upon himself and officially resigned as Chancellor of Germany. He was replaced by Hermann Braun (NLP). The first few days of Braun’s Chancellorship were hard to say the least. Braun lacked the popular support that von Roosfeld had enjoyed with many Germans. Moreover, his idealism often lacked in pragmatic solutions to geopolitical problems. This became evident in March of 1939, when France more openly “attacked” Germany’s ally, Spain.
German Chancellor Hermann Braun.
On March 14 1939, Catalonia, a region of Spain, declared independence under French pressure. Within days, French troops crossed the border into Catalonia and occupied the region, officially “to protect the independence of the Republic of Catalonia”. Unofficially, they had annexed Catalonia as a département of France. In Germany, the General Staff of the army urged the Kaiserin to declare war on France, but Viktoria I was reluctant. Ever since the 1911 failed army coup, the army had been neglected by the government. Its equipment was outdated, its leadership lacking and most importantly, Viktoria I was certain that the British would not join them in this war. The only thing the Germans had going for them right now was a row of fortifications in the Ardennes known as the Kaiser Heinrich-linie. More oil was added to the fire in early April of ’39, when the Italians invaded and annexed Montenegro.
Situation in Europe in April of 1939.
On August 25 1939, the British government received an ultimatum from President Bonaparte. Summarized in three words, the ultimatum was simple: Calais or war. Seeing this as a sign of French arrogance, the British finally abandoned the policy of appeasement and took a more belligerent stance. Ignoring the ultimatum, they countered it with their own: the French were to retreat from Catalonia or Britain would intervene. On September 1 1939, French troops took Calais without warning while thousands of troops crossed the border into Spain. War had begun.
French troops carrying the Bonapartist Standard in Paris.
On September 3, the German government honored their agreement with Spain and Britain and declared war on France. On September 17, Italy declared war on Germany and invaded Austria. In the meantime, French Guerre éclair, or Lightning War, caught Spain by surprise. On September 27, the Spanish government capitulated. The Spanish Royal family and remnants of the government fled into exile through Portugal. The next few months were characterized by the so called Phoney War. While Germany and Britain were still mobilizing and setting up their defences, little skirmishes occurred on the Franco-German border. In the meantime, Italian Alpini troops managed to make way into the Austrian Alps, threatening to be within reach of Vienna in a matter of weeks.
The situation in Europe by the end of September 1939.
On April 9 1940, France declared war on and invaded Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium lasted just four days, the Netherlands eighteen. French troops were now pouring into Germany through Belgium and the Netherlands in a repeat of the initial months of the Great War. However this time, there was no strong German army to push them back. The German army was retreating on all sides. By June 22, French troops had advanced into Germany all the way up to Hamburg and Leipzig. Chancellor Hermann Braun was under severe pressure from the Reichstag to sign an armistice and prevent the total occupation of Germany. Braun refused and was determined to continue the fight.
The French invasion of Germany and the Low Countries, April-June 1940.
Meanwhile, on June 10 1940 Romania joined the war on the side of the Axis Powers and invaded Slovenia and Greater Serbia with Italy. An intense air war erupted between France and Britain as the French airforce tried to obliterate British defences in a preparation of an invasion of the British Isles. By the end of August, Germany’s armies were shattered and in full retreat, the French were on the doorstep of Berlin and pressure was mounting on the Chancellor to capitulate. On August 27, Berlin was attacked by the French. Chancellor Braun was forced to flee. Held captive by the French, Kaiser Viktoria I signed the order to demobilize and capitulated to the French. A French puppet state was set up in Prussia, led by Hans Lauda of the DVFP. The German government went into exile, being led by Hermann Braun, Maximilian von Schillig and Elinor von Märchenlied from London. In September of 1940, Italian forces invaded German Egypt and one month later, Mussolini declared war on and invaded Greece.
The situation in September of 1940.
By this point, the situation for the Allied Powers was not looking too good. With Germany capitulating, only Britain was left as a last standing fortress against fascism in Europe. The civil war in Russia still remained undecided, but should the military win, Napoleon would most likely find himself another ally. The United States under President Hartmann stayed neutral, but supplied Britain and Germany with monetary and military aid, while also sending volunteers to the Republicans in Russia. Throughout 1940 and 1941, the French and Italians were strengthened further by Bulgaria and Hungary joining the Axis Powers. Any sense of loyalty to Mitteleuropa was completely gone as opportunism drove more and more countries to President Bonaparte and his Italian friend Mussolini. By early June of 1941, Greece finally capitulated. In November of 1941, Finland joined the Axis and invaded Sweden, meanwhile French forces invaded Denmark and crossed over into Sweden to aid their Finnish allies. By this point, the French had been beaten by the British Air Force in the Battle of Britain. Thus, any chances of a successful French invasion of the British Isles were gone.
Finnish soldiers invading Sweden, November 1941.
On December 7 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack. US President Hartmann subsequently declared war on Japan, France and Italy and officially joined the side of the Allies in the war. Recovering quickly from their loss, the United States focussed on the Pacific Theater in an intense campaign of island hopping against the Japanese. The first sign of Allied victories came in October and November of 1942, in a series of victories against the French and Italians in Northern Africa. On October 24, the British and German armies in Egypt stopped the Italian advance at El Alamein, sending them in a chaotic retreat across Libya and eventually all the way to Tunisia. On November 8, US and British troops landed in Morocco, which had been occupied by the French and the Prussian puppet state. The failure of local Prussian forces to defend, combined with rampant desertion to the Allied ranks, led to a swift advance, allowing the Allies to meet in Tunisia by May of ’43. On May 13, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.
The situation in May of 1943.
German General Erwin Rommel led the Allied offensive from Egypt, gaining him the nickname “The Desert Fox”.
On July 10, British, German and American forces landed in Sicily and Southern Spain, by August they controlled the entire island of Sicily and had advanced up into Granada. As the Italian government was panicking, they deposed Benito Mussolini and replaced him by Italian Marshall Pietro Badoglio. In the meantime, the German population grew tired of French occupation and several resistance movements ramped up their activities. Of these resistance movements, two gained major traction: communist partisans led by Josua von Felsenbaum, and monarchists led by Matthias von Anthau-Kirstenberg, a prominent German naval officer. The two would often compete for resources from the government in exile. On September 5 1943, former Chancellor Elinor von Märchenlied addressed the nation by radio in a now famous speech, in which she called upon the German nation to defy French occupation, calling Lauda’s puppet regime in Prussia cowards for giving in to the French and denouncing their ideology. Von Märchenlied’s speech was received in Germany with a renewed nationalism which further strengthened the resistance against the French.
Former Chancellor Elinor von Märchenlied addressing the German nation from exile in London.
As the Allied advance into Italy and Spain continued, plans were drawn to liberate Germany. Head of the German Air Force, Henry von Hesse-Dassau, coordinated with prominent members of the navy, including Paul von Guttmann, and resistance leader Matthias von Anthau-Kirstenberg about candidates for possible landing grounds. On June 4 1944, Allied troops captured Rome, only two days later British, US, Canadian and German troops landed in Ost-Friesland, Germany, starting the liberation of the homeland and the race towards Paris.
In mere days, an artificial harbor was built on the landing grounds in Ost-Friesland to fuel the Allied liberation of Germany with troops and supplies.
On July 5 1944, the Russian civil war finally came to an end with a victory for the military dictatorship. Republican forces held a last stronghold in Crimea but were finally evacuated on July 15. Despite fears that Russia would now join the side of Napoleon, the country pledged its neutrality and instead focussed on rebuilding itself. On August 1, the non-communist underground Home Army led by von Anthau-Kirstenberg rose up all across Eastern Germany. The Home Army managed to take Berlin back, but found an empty Imperial Palace. The French had taken Kaiserin Viktoria to the French Alps, where she was kept isolated but enjoyed a relatively luxurious lifestyle.
Throughout August of 1944, Allied forces rapidly moved towards Florence, where the Italian government had set up a temporary headquarters. On August 25, the Italian government capitulated, but in a last ditch effort to keep the Allies from advancing into Southern France, Bonaparte set up a puppet regime led by Benito Mussolini in Turin. The puppet regime lasted for three weeks and ended in Mussolini’s public execution by the Italians themselves. As the situation was looking worse and worse for the French, the Finnish concluded an armistice with Sweden on September 12, leaving the Axis Powers in the process. By the end of September of 1944, practically all of Denmark, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands had been liberated. The invasion of France began, target: Paris.
The situation in Europe in September of 1944.
On December 14, the French launched a final offensive into the Belgian Ardennes in hopes of breaking through the Allied lines. By January 1 1945, the French are in retreat. By April 16, the Germans, British and Americans surrounded Paris, where Bonaparte and his most loyal troops held out for several more days. On April 30, Bonaparte committed suicide as Paris was taken by the Allies. Fighting continued for several more days in Southern France until the French government finally capitulated on May 7 1945. The war in the West was over. In the Balkans, the War would end by July 1945. The War with Japan would last until September 2 1945, when Emperor Hirohito surrendered after two American atom bombs had devastated his country. The 1945 Conference at Potsdam redrew the map of Europe once again as the world transitioned from the Second Great War to the Cold War Era.
Allied leaders at the Conference of Potsdam, from left to right: Matthias von Anthau-Kirstenberg (Germany), President Harry Hartmann (USA), Chancellor Hermann Braun (Germany) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill (United Kingdom). President Hartmann would die shortly thereafter as a result of polio.
