Overview
Due to a combination of factors, the 1848 revolution succeeds in western and southern Germany, allowing for the formation of a German republic. Over the next 30 years, the Republic weathers multiple crises, both internal and external, while confronting and defeating its rivals for control over Germany. Its struggles culminate in a grueling multi-year civil war in which the lingering vestiges of monarchism and reaction are vanquished on the field of battle, and from the ashes of conflict arises the Second Republic: a Republic of Workers, Farmers, and Soldiers.
Unfortunately, all is not well in Europe. The Imperial League of Russia and Austria eyes the radical republic with profound unease; having supported the losing side in the civil war, they now fear retribution, as well as a renewed wave of revolutions. Britain and France have joined together in the Western Entente to serve as a constitutionalist counterweight to the rising tides of radicalism and absolutism in the east. The Kingdom of Italy, once a stalwart ally of the Republic, now hovers indecisively between the three poles of European power. And as for the Second Republic's friends, the Spanish Republic and the United States, they are far away and not likely to come to her aid any time soon.
Questers are asked to lend their support to the various factions vying for control of the German National Assembly and thus chart the course of Europe's most radical state. The quest begins in the summer of 1881.
This is a parliamentary quest, wherein the ballot is divided into two parts: the faction being supported and the manifesto they put forward. The manifesto is to be written by the player about how the faction should pursue its goals over the two-year legislative term.
Faction votes will be allocated towards the group as a whole, and even the faction with the least votes will still receive some representation in the Assembly. On the other hand, manifesto votes will be judged against each other, and each manifesto that gets votes will be assumed to be representative of a faction's internal clique; the manifesto with the most votes within that faction becomes the official platform. Final results will be determined through comparative levels of support, QM fiat, and the occasional flip of the coin.
While the average update period will typically encompass a two-year legislative term, there may be additional crisis updates depending on the consequences of faction manifestos, foreign events, and anything else that might crop up. These will typically require additional votes that do not adhere to the usual system.
There is no final end-goal for this quest. Germany will progress as far as the questers want it to go, and as far as I can manage to write it. Ideally, that will extend through the Great War equivalent in this universe. For sure, this time.
The system for the original incarnation of this quest was based on DanBaque's excellent Paix Française, which was in turn based off of Dadarian's A Little Trouble in Big China. It is now somewhat unrecognizable as a kludge of my own making. The background for this quest is derived from the original Springtime of Nations quest, which I encourage people to read if they have the time and enjoy a good laugh at my expense.
Timeline
1848 - France falls to revolution. Substantial uprisings in Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary, as well as their own heartlands, entirely absorb the collective attention of Austria, Prussia, and Russia for several years, allowing events in Italy and Germany to proceed largely unhindered. Waves of noble 48er refugees flee to eastern Germany.
1849 - Having failed in offering the crown to both of the pre-eminent German sovereigns, and under siege from radical crowds, the Frankfurt Parliament declares the formation of the German Republic. The Parliament is soon split three ways, between the radical-democratic and proto-socialist Reds, the liberal and bourgeois Golds, and the bitter counter-revolutionary Blacks. In response to the declaration of the Republic, the Prussian government attempts to call up the Landwehr in the Prussian Rhineland -- most of its members instead defect en masse to the Frankfurt government.
1850 - The Black Uprising begins. Counter-revolutionaries, monarchists, and reactionary officers attempt to overthrow the increasingly radical Frankfurt Parliament. What follows is a bloody period of civil war and terror, in which the respectable Gold faction decisively throws its support to the Reds, paving the way for a radical-liberal victory. In the wake of the Red-Gold victory, the Constitution of 1850 is promulgated -- this is a majority classical-liberal document, albeit with numerous stunningly radical provisions. Those Blacks who have yet to emigrate do so. Karl Marx is killed in the final days of the Uprising.
1851 - Georg Wolfsegen is officially inaugurated as President after two years as Provisional Executive. His Bergwald Club, consisting of most of the Red politicians as well as the more reformist Golds, proceeds to dominate German politics for the next two years. Austria and Prussia, having largely quelled their minority regions, launch an expedition to pacify the "rebellious areas," only to be met with a brutal campaign of attrition by the Republican Landwehr. Unable to call up their own conscripts for fear of mutiny, the Austro-Prussian forces retreat.
1852 - Austria, Prussia, and the Republic sign the Hamburg Accord. This document does not grant formal recognition to the Republic, but instead acknowledges the existence of a 'frontier' beyond which the Republic has sole legal and sovereign authority. This agreement is little more than a cease-fire, but even tacit acknowledgement of the Republic allows for nations like France and Britain to formally recognize the German state. The German Revolution is officially over.
1853 - Two years into his six-year term, President Wolfsegen is forced to resign amidst a political scandal, shattering the Bergwald Club and its control over German politics. Interim President Markus Wittelsbegen, a Gold of no strong political inclinations, is selected to serve as caretaker for the remainder of the presidential term, and the Assembly is dissolved. This paves the way for a realignment in the political system and a truly consequential election in the fall.
1854-1863 - A period of consolidation within the Republic. Multiple shifting coalitions assume power during the course of the decade and some semblance of peace and order returns to Germany. The Republic throws its indirect support behind the United States during the American Civil War but otherwise stays out of foreign conflicts.
1864 - A pro-unification revolution in Hamburg sparks a general conflict between the Republic on one side and the German Confederation on the other. In a stunning upset, the Republic's armies trounce the Austro-Prussian coalition on the battlefield in a little over a month and force them to accept a humiliating peace settlement in which much of Germany is annexed into the Republic proper. The German Confederation is thus dissolved and Prussia reduced to a shell of its former self. During this time, separate negotiations with Denmark, France, and the Netherlands settle Germany's outstanding territorial claims, though the issue of Schleswig and Holstein is not resolved to most German nationalists' satisfaction, as German-plurality South Schleswig remains in Danish hands.
1865-1867 - The Grand Center, a coalition of centrist parties built to exclude radical and monarchist groups, reigns over the post-war era. Their agenda is a series of extensive compromises within the coalition and much of their focus is on maintaining the status quo, but they largely succeed at bringing the peace economy back online.
1868 - The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, resulting in the mobilization of Russian and Austrian forces to put down the nationalist rebels. In a bitterly contentious vote, the Republic opts to merely seize all of Prussia's Confederal lands, leaving a rump Baltic state, and declines to aid the Poles in their efforts. Russia thereafter crushes the uprising and annexes the whole of Poland and rump Prussia into its imperial territory. This event contributes substantially to the radicalization of the leftist and republican parties.
1869-1871 - Grand Center governance continues, albeit with a diminished majority, as radical and revolutionary groups grow in size and zeal. Reconstruction in the former Confederal territories is truncated in favor of speedy integration, which swells the ranks of right-wing parties and further alienates the left.
1872-1873 - The socialist-radical Red-Gold Coalition achieves victory over the Grand Center and immediately attempts to ban monarchist parties, an initiative which fails due to constitutional roadblocks and right-wing opposition. A similar effort to institute women's suffrage runs into widespread patriarchial opposition from across the political spectrum, as entrenched male interests refuse to give up their privileged place in society.
1874-1875 - The Panic of 1872 reaches Germany and the Austrian economy collapses, forcing the imperial government to suspend reparations. Despite calls for renewed war with Austria, there is no national appetite for further conflict, and the crisis is negotiated peacefully under a new Grand Center government with more lenient repayment terms.
1876 - The cultural-linguistic tensions within southern Schleswig come to a head during the Carnival Crisis, when a national holiday devolves into a German nationalist uprising, leading to both Denmark and Germany mobilizing their armed forces. Diplomatic pressure is put on Denmark to hold a referendum in Schleswig, and the subsequent result sees the southern half of the territory annexed into German Holstein. This is met with jubilation within Germany but permanently embitters the Scandinavian states in the process.
1877 - The Left Coalition assumes power and carries out an agenda of economic strengthening in the face of global recession. Despite their efforts to keep the country on track, the constant intensification of political polarization has left the Republic riven by internal divides, and the coalition is short-lived.
1878-1880 - Due to a combination of factors, the German Civil War breaks out between the socialist United Front in the west, the radical Republican Alliance in the north, the National Government in the center, and the Imperial Coalition in the east. Foreign powers provide indirect support to the government and monarchist forces in the hopes of extinguishing German radicalism once and for all, but the United Front and Republican Alliance successfully join forces to defeat their opposition and cement control over the Republic. After three years of civil war amid some of the worst winters on record, the country is devastated and in the throes of a major economic downturn.
1881 - The Second Constitutional Convention convenes to produce a new German constitution. The resulting document is intensely radical in nature, abolishing separation of powers in favor of a single unicameral legislature with over a thousand seats. The Constitution of 1880 commits the Republic to caring for all its citizens, to protecting their cultural and linguistic rights, and to accepting their judgment in the form of both recalls and referenda. A new wave of revolutionary zeal overtakes the Second Republic, and the thrones of Europe tremble before the might of the people unchained.
The Government of the Republic
The German Republic is a parliamentary republic in its purest form: a single unicameral National Assembly holds all political power save those rights and privileges constitutionally delegated to the districts. Representatives are known as delegates and are elected by all adult residents of their district to the National Assembly for a two-year term, subject to majority recall by the voters. Districts are designed to be roughly equal in population, leading to many tiny districts in major cities and fewer larger districts in the countryside, and are periodically reorganized by the National Assembly after each census.
The National Assembly is internally divided into commissions, which oversee various areas of governance such as the army, the legal system, and industrial affairs. The Steering Commission is the guiding force of the Assembly and is empowered by the majority to direct debate and oversee the other commissions. The leader of the Steering Commission is the High Commissioner of the Republic and serves as the head of government. The deputy leader is the Chief Representative of the Republic and carries out the diplomatic and ceremonial roles typically fulfilled by the head of state.
The Leutewehr, or People's Armed Forces, is the unified military of the Republic, divided into land and sea branches: the Landwehr and the Marinewehr, respectively. The Landwehr and Marinewehr consist of professional cores of career volunteers that direct and train the conscripts which make up the bulk of their forces. Officers in the Leutewehr are elected by their subordinates and serve two-year terms, just like Assembly delegates. In order to stand for military office, an individual must have fulfilled their mandatory conscription term, as well as various other criteria relating to length of service and completed training.
In addition to laying out the political structure of Germany, the Constitution of 1880 also guarantees personal, cultural, economic, and political rights, which may only be infringed upon to ensure the security of the Republic and its democracy. Notably absent among these rights is the right to accumulate wealth or private property; the means of production are owned collectively by the workers and farmers operating them, and no individual is permitted to hold any non-personal property.
The State of the World
Europe
The European continent has stood paralyzed for almost a decade, gripped by the twin specters of economic depression and political revolution. The prospect of a recovery fueled by the steady output of German industry collapsed with the advent of the civil war, and continental economies have languished amidst trade wars and bank failures. Several formerly prominent banks in Britain, having lent recklessly to the German government among others, have since folded in the face of dramatic uncertainty, further reducing available credit.
The heavy-handed intervention into the German Civil War by Austria and Russia has realigned continental politics once again. The two eastern empires are now firmly allied by reactionary fear and the prospect of post-revolutionary reprisals, while Britain and France have mended fences and resumed their prior amity in order to serve as a counterweight against absolutism. Only Spain stands as a reliable ally of the German Republic, its government much like Germany's in party composition if not structure. Italy keeps to its part of the Triple Alliance, if only out of trepidation at French designs on Savoy, but the radical nature of the German socialist revolution makes such a cession more and more palatable as time goes on.
Polarization has likewise set in among the lesser nations of Europe. Portugal and the Low Countries have aligned themselves with the Anglo-French alliance, while Denmark and Sweden have all but thrown their lots in with the Austro-Russian league, more out of fear of Germany than any other shared ideals.
Further south, the Ottoman Empire leans heavily on Western support against further Russian incursions, having declared bankruptcy only half a decade previously, and is in no shape to throw its weight behind anyone. Their loss in the most recent war led to the highly punitive Treaty of San Stefano, in which Russia and Austria pried Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and a vast new Bulgarian state loose from Ottoman Europe. Efforts by Britain and France to intervene went unheeded, and only the sale of Cyprus to the British government has kept Ottoman finances from total oblivion.
Perhaps the most unexpected outcome of the last decade has been rumblings within Russia of a territorial reorganization. Rumors have filtered in from St. Petersburg of the prospect of a new western Grand Duchy to serve as a buffer against Germany. Should it be structured similarly to the accommodation in Finland, this could well mean some form of Polish autonomy within the Russian Empire, if only to reorient its people against the western foe.
The Americas
As the United States painstakingly staggers its way out of the Great Depression, it remains at odds with an expansionist British regime. American dollars and rifles continue to prop up the Mexican resistance forces led by General Porfirio Diaz against the British-backed Iturbide regime; as the financial crisis has moved forward, British investment in Mexico has declined, giving Diaz the upper hand against the flagging Empire. Many international observers consider the puppet government's fall to be merely a matter of time.
In a contentious and highly disputed election, Representative James G. Blaine triumphs over Governor Samuel Tilden in 1876, inaugurating the rise of the so-called "Half-Breed" faction of moderate Republicans. Having thoroughly broken planter power in the American South, the United States now moves to fully reintegrate its formerly rebellious areas through less coercive means, potentially signaling a broader shift toward reconciliation.
Under the leadership of reformist Guatemalan President Justo Rufino Barrios, and in response to the grinding depression that has caused a plummet in export prices, the nations of Central America establish the Union of Central American States in the late 1870s. While the Iturbide regime is decisively against a united Central American government, it is far too busy with the Diaz rebels in the north to contemplate intervention.
Asia
In Japan, the imperial government successfully puts down a samurai revolt in the province of Satsuma, ending the power of the feudal nobility and paving the way for further reforms. Japan's growing financial needs and interest in naval reform steadily eclipse Italy's ability to support them, resulting in a turn toward British aid. This further strengthens the Japanese democratic movement, which calls for a constitutional monarchy.
Absent German support, Qing China languishes. A diplomatic incident that resulted in the death of a British explorer leads to further concessions made and treaty ports opened. Unrest against foreign colonialism and Qing capitulation grows.
Anglo-Japanese diplomatic pressure forces the French to make several concessions regarding its Korean protectorate, opening the territory up to foreign investment and exploitation. Though Japan is temporarily satisfied by the arrangement, its growing external interests are quickly becoming apparent.
