Europe - 1836 AD
Germany - The Ancient Superpower
Of all of the nations dominating western Europe in the 19th century, none had a lineage as long or as storied as the German Empire. Although the actual political entity properly known as "The German Empire" was not formed until the 17th century, the kingdom itself traces back to the Carolingian Empire formed in the 8th century under Karl Karling, who came to be known by the name Charlemagne.
The Carolingian Empire collapsed rapidly after Karl's death, as his heir, Gualtari, was an unpopular drunkard who was denied a proper coronation by Pope Gregory IV, leading to the beginning of the empire's rapid disintegration. France and Holland quickly broke from the crown, and Byzantine Emperor Christophoros II -- Charlemagne's grandson on his mother's side -- invaded and incorporated what remained of Gualtari's crumbling empire into Byzantium. This would last for nearly half a century, until a widespread rebellion and militant uprising led to East Francia and Italy breaking free and forming independent kingdoms. Not long after Karl had united nearly all of Europe under one crown, the continent was divided into a multitude of local powers once again. Located in the heart of Europe, East Francia managed to remain safe from both the Mongol and Aztec invasions, allowing the kingdom to gradually expand and increase its power while clashing with its perennial medieval rival, France.
East Francia kept its name, which hearkened to its ancient Karling heritage, all the way until the 17th century, when Walther IV von Erbach invaded Holland, ruled by another arm of the powerful von Erbach family, which had long been an ally to East Francia. On November 24 of 1662, Walther proclaimed himself Emperor of Germany, declaring his intention to unite all ethnic Germans under the rule of a single great empire. This German Empire gradually consumed nearly every nation around it, taking land from France, Holland, and even the crumbling Byzantine Empire.
While France had been the principle nemesis of East Francia in the middle ages, its greatest rival throughout the early modern period was the alliance of Estonia and Italy. That alliance was first forged by Tietaja Taimi I, who secured Estonia's first alliance with a non-Suomenusko power. Neither country could compete with Germany on equal footing -- the German army was long known for its exceptional technology, discipline, and skill, frequently defeating armies twice as large in open combat. But the combined power of this alliance, which later expanded to include the Arabian Empire, was often enough to prevent Germany's efforts to expand into any of these three nations.
The sole great exception was the landmark War of Persian Succession, a massive global conflict that briefly overturned the entire balance of power worldwide.
In 1759, the long-running Pezhman dynasty of the Persian Empire came to an end with the death of its last ruler, and the throne of Persia passed to Gustav von Erbach -- a cousin to the very same dynasty ruling in Germany. Gustav was crowned Goshtasp IV of Persia and ruled until 1776, when he died heirless. Upon his death, his cousin, Kaiserin Gortrun I, asserted her claim to the succession as the next most suitable member of the dynasty. She was quickly opposed, however, by the 17 year-old Arabian Emperor Jahan IV, who argued that Persia should be ruled by an Orthodox Christian and not a Catholic, nominating himself for the role.
This succession dispute quickly erupted into a major war which saw Germany-Persia, Andalusia, and Finland pitted against Estonia and Arabia to determine the future of the Persian crown. The war took place as Estonia's simmering revolution was coming closer to an outright boil, and the army was weary from years of putting down rebel elements within the country. Germany-Persia, with only marginal assistance from allied forces, was able to defeat both Estonia and Arabia, forcing both empires to not only acknowledge the dual monarchy, but also to surrender land to the German Empire. Most famously, the peace terms saw Constantinople, the venerable capital of Orthodox Christianity, handed over to Germany and ruled, for the first time, by a Catholic power.
Unfortunately for Germany and fortunately for the rest of the world, this union of the German and Persian crowns would last less than a century. In 1821, a Persian pretender secured the aid of Estonia, now a thriving republic, in waging a war of independence to separate from Germany and create a new ruling dynasty. Around the same time, Arabia and Italy joined forces to wage their own war to try and reclaim Constantinople from Germany.
Over the course of a bloody three-year conflict, Germany succeeded in pushing back Arabia and Italy, but were eventually overrun by zealous Persian rebels and ultimately defeated. In 1824 AD, Anushiruvan Zand was crowned the new Emperor of Persia, restoring the empire to Orthodox rule once again.
Roughly a decade later in 1836, the German army had only slowly begun to recover from the massive loss of life sustained during the Persian War of Independence. The country was large, stretching from France in the west to Constantinople in the east and housing the fourth largest population in the world, and it had the budding industrial wealth of a small number of factories to help it prepare for its journey through the upcoming period of industrialization. Army and industry were Germany's leading technological strengths, but the nation was surrounded on three sides by powerful enemies: Italy to the south, Arabia to the east, and Estonia and its daughter republics to the north. To make matters worse, these countries remained faithful to their generations-long alliance while Germany had no allies in 1836, meaning that if the Kaiser wished to engage any of these three great world powers, he would likely have to fight all three at once -- and do it by himself.
Andalusia - The Iberian Melting Pot
Andalusia, more than perhaps any other region of the world, represented the most dramatic intersection of various cultures, religions, and peoples in 19th century Europe.
During the early Medieval period, multiple incursions into the Iberian peninsula from foreign powers led to the region being divided between as many as a dozen different realms at any given time. The western end was largely controlled by Portugues duchies, but in central and eastern Iberia, land was claimed by French invasions, Viking raids, and other efforts from the outside to claim a portion of the peninsula as the Reconquista raged on. But no invasion was more significant than the arrival of the Aztec Empire in 1005 AD.
With its fierce warriors and overwhelming numbers, the Aztec Empire quickly subdued every major power in Iberia before moving on to capture some three quarters of Italy and parts of France and Aquitaine. For over 150 years, the people of Iberia were subject to the harsh rule of the Aztecs, with dissenters being sacrificed to their bloodthirsty pagan gods in retribution. Several generations of Iberian natives knew nothing but Aztec rule, and that would continue until the Aracen Rebellion in the late 12th century.
Under the leadership of the legendary hero Adfuns Aracen, Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim Iberians joined forces and defeated what remained of the Empire, eventually driving Aztec rule out of Europe entirely. Adfuns' successful rebellion led to the creation of Andalusia, a state which survived and thrived from the 12th century all the way through to the 19th.
Andalusia took control of substantial portions of France during the excommunication wars that eventually set the stage for that kingdom's disappearance from the world stage entirely, and also built multiple sizable colonies in northern Africa, South America, and Indonesia. The South American colonies were eventually conquered by the Inca with assistance from Estonia, but the African and Indonesian colonies remained under Andalusian control into the 19th century.
Andalusia boasted one of Europe's most diverse populations, from native groups like the Portuguese and Basque to Occitans and French and even a minority of Nahua (5.6% of the national population), ethnic descendants from the Aztec Empire who had converted and assimilated into Andalusian society, congregating in the south around Granada. With its back to the Atlantic Ocean, Andalusia had ample opportunity to seek prosperity over the seas. However, neighboring significant world powers like Italy, Germany, and the Celtic Empire meant that increasing its power base in Europe would be a steep challenge.