Welcome, readers, both old and new as we go on this crazy adventure once more. This is the first chapter, so don't expect much, as this will only be a brief overview of the events in one of my campaigns that will serve as the basis of the story. Mind you, I will assume that you are familiar with Kaiserreich world, and how events from 1936 onwards in the game can generally go down. If not, I recommend you check out AlternateHistoryHub's video of the Kaiserreich world. Also, I will have to come up with some of the dates, as I did not bother to note them down before the campaign was finished and I decided on writing this story :P
So, without further ado, let's begin!
Europe: On the 20th of January, 1936, the Berlin Stock Market collapsed, causing widespread economic shock in Germany's worlwide sphere of influence and alliances. Conflicts in Asia and South America quickly flared up as the German Empire was too busy with internal socio-economical matters that sprung up as a result of the sudden economic crisis. The reigning Zentrum government resigned, and the Kaiser appointed Kurt von Schleicher as Chancellor. His tenure, however proved to be a brief one, as the SPD-led Demokratische Union ousted von Schleicher in a vote of no-confidence and the Kaiser reluctantly appointed the leader of the SPD, Hermann Müller as Chancellor, heading a coalition government of the SPD, Liberals, Agrarians and the Minority Bloc. The first SPD-led government in the history of the German Empire adopted Walther von Rothenau's 'Neue Wirtschaft', New Economy plan, and by 1938, Germany had recovered from the economic depression.
Seeing the Democratic Union's ascendancy to power, other democratic movements sprung up in Germany's client states in Europe, and thanks in part to the Empire being preoccupied with it's internal matters, and in part because of the support of the SPD-led government that these movements, demanding free elections and greater autonomy within Mitteleuropa and the Reichspakt were successful. In Poland, Ukraine, the Baltics and in Flanders-Wallonia, the new European democratic order emerged and was solidified. Meanwhile, the revanchist powers of the Commune of France, Union of Britain and Russia, extreme far-left and far-right factions took power; the Jacobins in France, the Maximists in Britain and Boris Savinkov's Motherland Party. The new German-led European republics and constitutional monarchies were faced with a two-front war once again, and tensions were escalating between the great powers, especially as formerly neutral nations, such as Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Switzerland either fell to revolution, as was the case in Norway, or sought German protection from what they saw was a totalitarian takeover, as was the case in Sweden following the revolution in Norway, in Switzerland following the Haute-Savoie crisis. They were proven right in 1938, after Finland had overthrown it's monarchy and left the Mitteleuropa block, Savinkov's newly emergent Russian State invaded Finnland. After months of heavy winter warfare along the borders, Russia finally broke through the frontlines and Finnland was forced to capitulate. A new collaborationist regime was installed in Helsinki, with it's ultimate goal being the Finnish people's russification, with even more forceful methods than it occured under the Tsar decades earlier. The so-called 'Winter War' served as a strong example in Eastern Europe; it was better to be independent under the German Eagle's wings, than to be at the mercy of Savinkov. In the same year, the Italian Civil War resumed and a new civil war broke out in Spain. The Reichspakt offered significant support to the loyalists of the monarchy in Spain, to the Italian Republican remnant in Lombardy and Venice and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, against syndicalist factions in both countries, resulting in victory for the German-supported factions in Italy and Spain. The Kingdom of Spain declared itself neutral, though offered tacit support to the Reichspakt, while Italy, united under the Republic pledged itself to Germany, effectively cornering the Commune of France.
However, a faint glimmer of hope for peace on the Old Continent appeared in January of 1939, when the leaders of the Reichspakt and Third Internationale agreed to meet in Copenhagen and reduce tensions. An agreement was made with Austrian mediation that Germany would stop further cooperation with the Entente, and in return, the Internationale would stop supporting elements of the far left in Germany and her sphere of influence, particulary in the Ruhr, where riots and strikes by disgruntled workers became commonplace. The agreement at the time was viewed as a success, and later in March, when the German village of Elfringen was mistakenly attacked by the Communard military during an exercise, the Commune issued an official apology and agreed to pay compensations to Germany. However, whatever optimism Europe had at avoiding war was dashed to pieces on the 25th of September, 1940. The Russian State declared war on Germany, and began it's conquest of Germany's eastern allies. The Third Internationale soon followed suit in the West. Germany was once again having to wage war on two fronts. The situation for Germany worsened even further when the Japanese Empire declared war on Germany, and began it's conquest of Germany's and the Netherlands' East Asian colonies. Five days later, on the 30th of September, the Entente decided to intervene against the Third Internationale. The Second Welkrieg had begun.
Despite what many military theorists predicted, the war on the western front in the early years was a standstill, reminiscent of the previous Weltkrieg, as opposed to rapid breakthroughs thanks to the use of armored formations employed by both sides. However the border between the Commune, Flanders-Wallonia and Germany became heavily fortified since the First Weltkrieg, and neither side was able to break through aside from minor gains, similarly to how the war progressed in Scandinavia. In addition, despite it's naval superiority, the Union of Britain remained unable to make a successful naval invasion of the Low Countries. In the East, however things were much more dire for the Reichspakt, as the Russian State's overwhelming numbers forced the Reichspakt back, especially in Ukraine and the United Baltic Dutchy. The frontline reached both Kyiv and Riga, and disaster was narrowly avoided by German forces in the Baltics when the Russians managed to drive a wedge into the front as they reached the Gulf of Riga, seperating dozens of divisions in Estonia. However, the German divisions and other allied expeditionary forces managed to stabilise the Estonian front, and successfully held off further Russian attacks thanks to supplies delivered via sea and air. Atrocities committed by the Savinkovist Okhrana against the non-Russian peoples in occupied territories steeled the resolve of Germany's eastern allies and remained steadfastly loyal to the Empire, especially as Germany promised them full independence once the Reichspakt was victorious.
In December of that year, the Entente and the Reichspakt agreed to meet in Halifax to discuss the matter of mutual assistance in the war against the Third Internationale. In exchange for Germany promising to help restore the United Kingdom and the French Republic following the end of the war, the French exiles agreed to renounce her claims on Alsace-Lorraine and join the Mitteleuropan economic bloc lead by Germany, while the British government in exile agreed to recognise Northern Ireland as part of the Irish Republic, a German ally, and renounced their claims on their former colonies, now controlled by Germany. Following the agreement, French Republican forces reinforced the Reichspakt's Western front, though most of the Entente was preoccupied in the New World, as Mexico joined the Third Internationale in 1937, and was threatening the Entente's supply lines. Nevertheless, in 1940, German armored and motorised divisions supported by French reinforcements achieved a breakthrough in Flanders, capturing Paris in a historic moment, as the German and French flags were raised on the Eiffel Tower side-by-side by the Allied troops, and in a few weeks, the entirety of the Commune's Northern coastline was liberated. Even with Paris in the hands of the Allies and surrounded on all sides, the Jacobin-led Commune refused to surrender and managed to stabilise the front, even executing successful counterattacks that threatened to retake Paris. The frontline once again became static for a year, until the Entente was victorious in Mexico. Now with Canada and New England free to support the European front against the Third Internationale, the Allies once again broke through the Communard lines, and by the beginning of 1942, the majority of the Metropole was liberated by the Allies, forcing the Commune to capitulate. Germany made good on her promises to the Entente, and areas occupied by the German Military were soon handed over to the French Republicans, who proclaimed the Fourth French Republic on the ashes of the Commune. The Union of Britain, now without it's major ally on the mainland, and with the Norwegian Socialist Republic crumbling under the pressure of the Allies, Oswald Mosley was forced to look for a way to relieve some of the pressure on his nation. He got it from the Reichspakt, who were holding off the Russian State in the East, but only barely and was in desparate need of the manpower in the West. Thus, in 1943 Germany and the Union of Britain signed what historians would later call 'The Second Peace With Honor', effectively an armistice between the Union and Germany themselves, Norway and Mexico came under the control of the Reichspakt and the Entente respectively. The monarchy was restored in Norway and a new democratic republic was created in Mexico. The Entente still vowed to continue the fight against the Union of Britain to retake the British Isles, however, without German support, their odds were bleak as the Isles were turned into one enormous fortress and the fanatic defenders repulsed landing attempt after landing attempt in the South and West of the country. Nevertheless, both Germany and the Union of Britain were of the understanding that they would be at war again soon. History, however had other plans.
In stark contrast, Germany enjoyed much success in the East. With the experienced and battle-hardened divisions from the Western front now transferred over to the East, Savinkov's gains were undone in a matter of months. The Reichspakt wasted no time and began wide-front operations into Russia proper, and in the next year captured St. Petersburg, Tsaritsyn and finally, Moscow. Savinkov himself was killed shortly after the fall of Moscow, as he was attempting to relocate to a new headquarters, his staff car was hit by a German artillery shell, ending the life of the "Vozhd". The news in the Reichspakt was welcomed with elated celebration, while in Russia it was met with despair. Pyotr Wrangel took control of the country as the Vozhd's successor, and negotiated Russia's surrender. The treaty of Moscow was another humiliating blow among the many that Russia faced in the 20th Century so far. The Azov Sea became a Ukrainian lake, as Russia had to cede Rostov and Yekaterinodar Oblasts to Ukraine. Smolensk and Vitebsk Oblasts were ceded to the Belarussian People's Republic, and the region of Dvinsk was ceded to the United Baltic Dutchy. Finnland, which was liberated and came under Germany's protection, received the entirety of Karelia and Murmanks Oblast. Russia's military was reduced significantly and became forbidden from enacting consciption. In addition, Russia had to pay large amounts of indemnities to Germany and her eastern allies, Russian heavy industry was crippled as a large section of it came under German control, and the nation had to "de-Savinkovise", which was carefully observed by the Reichspakt. The Second Weltkrieg in Europe finally ended for Germany in 1944.
America: Following the outbreak of The Second American Civil War in 1937, the Combined Syndicates made significant gains on the East Coast at the expense of the Federal government and the Longists. Seeing the Syndicalist advance and the possibility of a Syndicalist America right on the Entente's leading country, the Dominion of Canada's border, the Entente decided to intervene in support of the Federal government led by Douglas MacArthur. Even with the Entente opening a new front in the Syndicates' North, it was not enough to save the American Union State in the Southern US from collapsing. Now, having taken much of the East Coast, breaking the Syndicates became a much harder task, and it took until 1939 for the Syndicates to be defeated by the Entente and the Federal US Government. After crushing both the Syndicates and the rebelling democratic states beyond the Rocky Mountains, MacArthur declared his victory in the Second American Civil War. However, cracks began to almost immediately appear in the friendship between the Entente and the United States, as MacArthur refused to give up his wartime emergency powers granted to him by the U.S. Congress. The Entente became distrustful of what they saw as a dictatorship, and New England, a democratic American breakaway state formed by Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont in the first days of the Civil War with Canadian support and protection outright refused to be re-integrated into the Federal US, and with the country in ruins and in no position to fight another war with the Entente, MacArthur had to give in, and bide his time.
The US busied itself during the first half of the Second Weltkrieg rebuilding the country and reforming the military in the wake of the Civil War, a process which also involved MacArthur securing his position as a kind of "President-General for life". It was in 1942, that MacArthur made his first moves on the international stage. He demanded that the Kingdom of Hawaii, which broke away from the US at the beginning of the Civil War and subsequently requested Germany and the Reichspakt's protection, be handed over to the US. Germany, in desparate need for naval bases in the Pacific thanks to it's war with Japan, refused. MacArthur declared war in response, and invaded German-aligned Cuba, the Dutch islands of Saint-Martin and Curacao, as well as Dutch Guiana. Fearing that MacArthur would ally with Japan, in 1943 Germany gave in to MacArthur's demands and sued for peace, with the US keeping the island of Cuba and Dutch Caribbean territories it conquered. With his victory in the Caribbean against the Reichspakt, MacArthur turned his attention to the Entente and New England; which had the majority of it's forces deployed in Europe as they attempted to take the British Isles. MacArthur saw the time was right, and launched a massive offensive. The newly liberated Mexico, New England and the Dominion of Canada itself fell within months, with the Entente-aligned Central American Federation following suit. The British royal family was forced to flee Canada to Australasia, and the Entente, now bereft of it's North American stronghold and facing a war with the US it could not win, had to give up on reclaiming Britain and was forced to sign an armistice with both the US and the Union of Britain in 1945. Germany, seeing the Entente crumble and her own military in no position to invade the British Isles, reluctantly had to abide by the armistice it had signed with the Union of Britain.
The abruptly quick end of the war interestingly left the French Republic as both a close German partner via it's membership in Mitteleuropa, and as the leader of what remained of the Entente; Portugal, Australasia, and the British African colonies of Natal and Southern Rhodesia. A nominally independent Québec was established while the rest of Canada was annexed by the US. MacArthur created the League of American States, an organisation that binded the US and it's puppet states in North and Central America and the Caribbean together. Following his victory over the Entente, MacArthur is now seeking to expand his grip over the rest of Central and South America, while the two alliances of the Buenos Aires-Lima Axis and the Montevideo Treaty, led by Argentina and Brazil respectively attempt to put up a united front against MacArthur's "Rebuilt Monroe Doctrine". Meanwhile, Britain isolated itself from the rest of the world, with Oswald Mosley turning the Union of Britain into one of the world's most oppressive totalitarian one-party states, with total state control over virtually all forms of social, cultural and economic life.
Asia: Following the Economic shock of Black Monday, China, under the nominal rule of the Quing Empire, fell into civil war once again. Emerging from the various warlord cliques and revolutionary movements was the German-supported Nanjing Clique, which managed to unify the country as a Republic under General Qui Xieyuan. In the fractured India, however, peace triumphed. In the Dominion, the Home Rule Party won the election in the 1936, while in the Bharatiya Commune, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was elected. The two sides met in the Lucknow Summit, and the two countries were united as the Republic of India, with an interim government led by Gandhi until later elections were called. The Republic, though declaring independence from Britain and leaving the Entente was able to easily defeat the Princely States to the South. Meanwhile, with the outbreak of war in the US, the Philippines fell to a Syndicalist revolution. This new revolutionary state however was isolated in the far East, and soon fell victim to the Japanese Empire.
In contrast to the mostly peaceful unification of India, in China, war continued to rage on against the Republic, as in 1939 the Japanese-supported Fengtian Government in Manchuria started the Fifth Zhili-Fengtian War. After initial successes by Fengtian, the Republic, with German material support and German advisors, was able to push Fengtian back and even captured the Fengtian capital of Shenyang, prompting Japan to intervene, grinding the front down to a standstill. Following the outbreak of war in Europe in 1940, the Japanese Empire declared war on Germany, and with the help of allied Asian nations of Siam and Burma, took on German East Asia and the Dutch East Indies. Bitter fighting raged on for most of the war in Europe on both sea, air and in the jungles of the East Indies, Papua-New Guinea and Malaysia, where miraculously the colonial forces of Germany and the Netherlands were able to hold off the Japanese onslaught, but were slowly losing ground. The Legation Cities sought the protection of the Entente as the war raged on in the Far East, however it did not spare them from Japanese aggression, as in 1942 Japan invaded the Treaty Ports, drawing the Entente into the Pacific Theater of the Weltkrieg. The surprise attack caught the Entente off-guard and most of the Legation Cities, as well as Portuguese Macao fell, opening the Japanese Army's way into China. Nanjing was soon captured, where a horrific slaughter of the population took place. The Japanese massacres in China galvanized the beleagured population, and Nanjing was soon taken back.
After the conclusion of the war against the Russian State, Germany shifted it's focus back to it's besieged colonies in the Far East. Mittelafrikan colonial divisions successfully landed in Burma, forcing it's capitulation and opening the way for the Siamese capital, Bangkok, which was soon captured and the Kingdom of Siam sought a conditional surrender from the Reichspakt and the Entente, paying war reparations and cedeing Cambodia to Germany, which formed a new Cambodian nation, and soon the forces of the Reichspakt made landflall in the Philippines, but became bogged down in their southern beachheads of the island nation. With the way for reinforcements opened by the capture of Burma, and a deal struck with the Republic of China, the German Army was transported through the Suez Canal, occupied Burma and China to it's main battlefront in Manchuria, as well as other fronts against the Japanese landings in the Legation Cities. The experienced German armored and mechanised divisions easily swept the hopelessly outmatched Japanese Army out of Manchuria and Korea, which prompted Japan to seek a separate peace with the Republic of China in 1945, offering them all of Manchuria and Korea in exchange for peace, and China expelling the German land forces threatening the Japanese-occupied Legation Cities.
Following the peace between China and Japan, the war became a stalemate, as Japan was unable to make further landings in the theater, and could just about hold on to Eastern New Guinea it had captured, while Germany and the Entente, the latter of which soon becoming crippled by the loss of Canada, was unable to break the Japanese Navy. Germany resolved to conduct a massive strategic bombing campaign against the Japanese Home Islands from the still German-controlled Chinese cities of Tsingtau and Weihawei. Brand-new weapons of war, like jet-powered fighters and bombers, as well as long-range Aggregat-10 missiles launched from German bases in Ceylon and Madagascar gave Germany a decisive edge in the air war. Nevertheless, Japan resisted with tooth-and nail and the Japanese Navy continued to elude the German bombers. After a year of the stalemate, both sides became tired of fighting and signed an armistice in 1946, officially ending the Second Weltkrieg on the 8th of March, 1946.
The Philippines became divided between the Japanese-supported government in the North and Center of the nation, and Reichspakt and Entente occupation zones in the South. Japan retained the Treaty Ports with the exception of Tsingtau and Weihawei, which remained in German hands, and Portuguese Macao, as well as the majority of the Pacific islands it had captured from Germany at the beginning of it's offensive. Papua-New Guinea saw a similar fate to the Philippines, as a Japanese occupation zone was created in the North-East of the island. The war, which was supposed to end with the fulfillment of Japan's "divine destiny" of controlling the Asia-Pacific region, resulted in Japan gaining only a few Chinese port cities, tiny islands in the Pacific and part of New Guinea, which led to nationwide outrage against Germany and the Entente, and the Empire was fully intent on resuming the war in a few years. That was, until Germany detonated the world's first nuclear bomb off the coast of Madagascar in April. Later on in July, a Japanese fleet was sent to the Philippines as a standoff insued between Japanese and Australian-German troops. A flight of German bombers under heavy escort were sent ahead of the Japanese fleet. Before their carriers could scramble their fighters, another nuclear bomb was detonated above the sea right in the path of the Japanese ships. Three minutes later, a German telegram arrived in Tokyo, and the Japanese squadron was ordered to return home. Germany had sent a clear warning to Japan and by extension, the world; anyone who dares to threaten Germany or her allies again, would face unimaginable destruction. A new kind of war had descended on the world; a "cold war", the Kalterkrieg.
Germany, for her part spent the post-war years rebuilding Europe, fully democratizing the Empire, turning it into a constitutional monarchy, with political power now effectively solely in the hands of the democratically-elected members of Reichstag. Germany also began reforming the now vastly enlarged Mitteleuropa into a proper economic union, with a single market, common trade and travel area, a central bank, which issues the new 'Europamark' -a currency used in Mitteleuropa for international trade- and it's own Parliament in Berlin. In the post-war years, the SPD-led coalition government, which saw the country through the Weltkrieg to victory, easily won the elections in 1946, and began creating a proper social democratic welfare state, fostering a significant post-war economic and population growth. German technology, like computers or nuclear power now saw wide-scale civilian use, as a large portion of the computers were donated to universities, and large-scale nuclear reactor contruction programmes were initiated in virtually every federal state of the Empire. German colonies, meanwhile, saw the first steps of a long process of gradual de-colonization in Africa and East-Asia.
The final event, that solidifed Germany's complete importance in the post-war world was the creation of the Union of Nations in 1947, following the Munich Conference. The diplomatic organization, with it's headquarters in Munich was created with the aim of resolving disagreements between nations, and preventing wars in a peaceful manner across the whole world. Many nations across Europe, Africa, America and Asia joined the Union of Nations, even the MacArthur-led United States had joined. Only a few extremist nations like the Union of Britain or the Empire of Japan refused to join.
Many historians, however consider the most important date of the Post-Second Weltkrieg period to be the 12th of April, 1948. The date when the Gate opened in Berlin. In the heart of the Kaiserreich.
Aaaaand roll main theme (whatever music you prefer for this alternate world, lol)
I'll try to update this story as much as I can, in-between college and work stuff. I hope you found this little exposition blurb to be interesting and not too much of a random world salad. If you, Dear Reader have any questions about how the history of other parts of the world went down that I did not touch upon, like the Austrian and Ottoman Empires, for example, I'll gladly answer at the start of the next chapter. I'll see you all there, and take care until then.