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Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest

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The German Republic in 1897
  • Informational

    • The German Republic in 1897​

    Government
    Government Type: Parliamentary Republic
    Governing Document: Constitution of 1880
    Head of Government: High Commissioner Elisabeth Strauss (Communist)
    Head of State: Chief Representative Leon Orlowski (Cooperativist)
    Legislative Majority: Red-Green Coalition

    Demographics
    Population: 62.77 million (48.96 million eligible voters)
    Population Growth: 1.4%
    Cultures: German, Polish, Danish, Sorbian, Ruthenian, Other
    Religions: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism, None

    Social Reforms
    Ongoing Programs
    Base Income: Adequate
    Minimum Wage: Adequate
    Work Safety: Adequate
    Work Hours: 40-Hour Week
    Healthcare: High
    Pensions: Adequate
    Unemployment: Adequate
    Childcare: High
    Retirement: Adequate
    Holidays: Adequate
    Child Labor: Banned

    Reforms in Progress
    Community Depots: Minimal
    Labor Recognition: Medium
    Labor Vouchers: Low
    National Autonomy: Low
    Progressive Education: Minimal

    Foreign Affairs
    Treaties and Agreements
    War and Peace: N/A
    Alliances: Italy, Spain
    Defensive Pacts: N/A
    Military Exchanges: United States, Italy, Japan, Korea, Ottoman Empire, Spain
    Naval Agreements: United Kingdom, United States
    Trade Treaties: Argentina, United States, United Kingdom, Centroamerica, China, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Low Countries, Mexico, Ottoman Empire, Persia, Peru-Bolivia, Portugal-Brazil, Romania, Serbia, Siam, Spain

    Diplomatic Relations
    Overall: Adequate
    Italy: Ideal
    Spain: Ideal
    USA: High
    Britain: Adequate
    France: Adequate
    Austria: Low
    Russia: Low

    External Relations
    USA-Britain: Adequate
    China-Japan: Low
    France-China: Low
    France-Japan: Low

    War
    Landwehr (Standing)
    Type: Professional Army
    Training: High
    Quantity: Large
    Equipment: High
    Morale: High

    Landwehr (Reserves)
    Type: Conscript Reserve
    Training: Adequate
    Quantity: Huge
    Equipment: Adequate
    Morale: High

    National Gendarmerie
    Type: National Guard
    Training: High
    Quantity: Medium
    Equipment: High
    Morale: High

    Marinewehr
    Type: Brown-Water Navy
    Training: Adequate
    Quantity: Medium
    Equipment: Adequate
    Morale: High

    Infrastructure
    Arsenal Quality: High
    Arsenal Quantity: High
    Fort Quality: Adequate
    Fort Quantity: Adequate
    Seaport Quality: High
    Seaport Quantity: High
    Shipyard Quality: Adequate
    Shipyard Quantity: High

    Interior
    National Stability: High
    Police Quality: Medium
    Police Quantity: Large

    Finance
    Treasury: Low
    Debt Ratio: Low
    Credit Ratio: High
    Tax Income: High
    Tariff Income: High
    Principal Creditors: Britain (Medium), Domestic (Medium), Other (Tiny)
    Principal Debtors: Domestic (Large), United States (Large), Spain (Medium), Italy (Medium), Other (Medium)

    Commerce
    Economic Output: Ideal
    Economic Growth: Medium
    Economic Activity: Agriculture (High), Industry (High), Trade (High), Finance (High), Services (Medium)
    Economic Ownership: Co-Operative (Large), Single-Family (Medium), Public (Medium)
    Commercial Output: High
    Commercial Growth: Low
    Trade Partners: America [mixed] (Medium), Italy [exports] (Medium), Spain [exports] (Medium), Britain [mixed] (Medium), Other [exports] (Medium), France [mixed] (Low)

    Public Works
    Roads and Canals: High
    Railroads: High
    Communications: Adequate
    Public Utilities: Adequate
    Power Generation: Adequate
    Power Proliferation: Adequate

    Education
    Primary Quality: Adequate
    Secondary Quality: High
    Tertiary Quality: High

    Stats
    [None/Critical/Tiny/Minimal] / [Low/Small/High] / [Adequate/Medium] / [High/Large/Low] / [Ideal/Huge/Booming/Maximum]
    Stats in bold are improving, stats in italics are declining.
     
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  • Informational
    • Etranger said:
    ​

    Less publicly trumpeted are the Republic's covert efforts on behalf of the Donghak revolutionaries, as German-made arms are spirited across the Sea of Japan on swift blockade runners and "just happen to wash up" on Donghak-held beaches in Korea. The new German representative to Korea, along with his numerous staff that consists largely of military aides, arrives in Jeonju using a more direct method: his ship just sails up. While the French openly fume about this, they are unwilling to be seen to breach the custom of diplomatic immunity, and the ambassador's ship carries no actual contraband.
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    >sails up and disembarks with full diplomatic attaché, refuses to elaborate
     
    We need to reach out to the UK that our Naval expansion is not about them but about the Russians. Also it is interesting to see the US grant some autonomy to the Native Americans.
     
    notbirdofprey said:
    My plan for next round:

    Promise anyone who will revolt against the Tsar and the Franz Joseph our full support.
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    Belligerence of this nature may actually provoke an entente intervention, but we're about as ready for a war in the east as we'll ever be. Our position will only weaken from here.

    We need to address our agricultural deficit. Start stockpiling nonperishables, push for research into artificial fertilizers, and so forth.
     
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    TheArcanist said:
    Belligerence of this nature may actually provoke an entente intervention, but we're about as ready for a war in the east as we'll ever be. Our position will only weaken from here.

    We need to address our agricultural deficit. Start stockpiling nonperishables, push for research into artificial synthesizers, and so forth.
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    All we need to do is wait for the Austrian or Russians to do something really stupid. I agree we must work on food security and also trade with our allies in Latin America and other places for food and raw materials.
     
    Etranger said:
    Having harnessed the wave of internationalist sentiment presently engulfing Germany and by extension most of Europe, the Communists make a strong showing and seize a commanding plurality, with the Cooperativists coming second and the now-divided Federationists and Radicals competing for third place. However, party leader Elisabeth Strauss shocks the Assembly when she elects to enter coalition talks not with the Radicals, the Communists' usual partners, but the Cooperativists. According to Strauss, her desire to achieve a strong working majority outweighs any differences between the centralists and the devolutionists, and the two parties' platforms are indeed quite harmonious.
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    WHAT. Oh wow, Red & Gold divided for the first time in the 2nd Republic.

    Etranger said:
    Power demand is met by increasing numbers of coal-fired generating plants, which are fueled by the ever-growing mines of the Ruhr and Silesia, each subject to targeted subsidies to encourage their extractive industries in pursuit of modern infrastructure.
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    Yikes all that pollution, but sadly needs must & we lack viable alternatives at the moment.

    Etranger said:
    Prior to this, officer education had been done either in borrowed Landwehr facilities or aboard ship, largely on an ad-hoc basis, but now instructors from Spain and Italy are brought in to teach officer candidates the nautical arts and sciences.
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    OOF, kinda shameful that we only just have a proper naval academy as a militaristic republic 😔

    Etranger said:
    The first and most radical program is the introduction of a community goods depot, in which high-value or uncommon items are designated as shared community property and freely loaned out to individuals. While rural communities see the most tangible use out of these depots by sharing tractors and other heavy farm equipment, especially between yeoman farms, urban areas also see distribution of household tools, ladders, and other bulky items.
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    The "revolution is when tractors" meme lives on 🚜

    Etranger said:
    The second program is the establishment of an experimental progressive school, in which non-hierarchical and alternative methods of education are tested using classes of student volunteers.
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    Beautiful, was always hoping the education reform - revolution, even - plank could eventually be realized.

    Etranger said:
    In late 1897, the National Academy of Sciences adds a new College of Agriculture to its sprawling campus.
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    At least their findings could really help potential any agrarian-focused allies of Germany, and thus indirectly help the republic's peoples, since I don't think we'll ever really be "self-sufficient" food-wise and only stopping or slowing the widening food deficit.

    Etranger said:
    This regrettable state of affairs is cemented with the subsequent election of President McKinley, whose signature tariff bill imposes stiff penalties on foreign investment. Fortunately, the election which brings McKinley in also brings in about a dozen or so Populist governors, several of whom are willing to accept German no-interest bailout loans in exchange for passing pro-cooperative legislation.
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    Welp, at least we still grew the amount of worker enterprises in America and (unintentionally) sharpened political contradictions between established liberals against social radical Populists. Now it depends on GOP's radicals allying with the APP.

    Etranger said:
    Less publicly trumpeted are the Republic's covert efforts on behalf of the Donghak revolutionaries, as German-made arms are spirited across the Sea of Japan on swift blockade runners and "just happen to wash up" on Donghak-held beaches in Korea. The new German representative to Korea, along with his numerous staff that consists largely of military aides, arrives in Jeonju using a more direct method: his ship just sails up.
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    This blatant move is dedicated to the brave republicans of Korea 🫡

    Etranger said:
    Much progress is made in Czech, Norwegian, and Polish communities, each of which have their own ax to grind regarding their imperial overlords.
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    Norwegian grievances huh, very interesting to learn. Getting Bohemia to rebel will be big in curbing grinding war against mountainous Austria, & it's good to see further progress in Poland.

    Etranger said:
    Despite McKinley's national victory, Populist candidates achieve notable success in Congressional races, particularly in former Radical Republican strongholds, and are poised to contest control of the legislature in the upcoming midterms.
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    Hey, I've seen this one before.

    Etranger said:
    In response to naval buildup by European powers and the United States, the British Parliament passes a second Naval Defense Act, laying out an ambitious five-year build program intended to decisively push the Royal Navy past any two other nations' fleets.
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    ...oh shit, we didn't even build up to even Green Water level but the Brits are already antsy. Guess recognizing Korea motivated this urgency.

    Etranger said:
    The first modern Olympic Games open in Athens in the summer of 1896.
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    Ah, reminded me that we did have a plank for starting the Olympics as an Alliance-focused event that failed to pass.

    Etranger said:
    In late 1896, during the lame duck Congress, U.S. President Ames signs the Sequoyah Treaty, officially recognizing the Republic of Sequoyah as an internal protectorate of the United States.
    *snip*
    The Nadowessi Republic in the Black Hills is acknowledged and organized similarly under a subsequent treaty, and both are ratified by the Radical-dominated Senate.
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    H o l y
    S h i t

    APP and Radical GOP, Ily both.

    Etranger said:
    The Scientific Humanitarian Institute, a subsidiary of the International Revolutionary Alliance, opens its doors in Hamburg in 1897. Led by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld...
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    Yooo a super-Institute of Sexology - now an international institution. It's great that IRA's been doing good work autonomously as we hoped.

    Etranger said:
    La Fronde, France's first feminist newspaper with an all-female staff, begins circulation in 1897. Its publisher, Marguerite Durand, is a former Boulangist who became radicalized by attending the IRA-sponsored International Feminist Congress, and her paper receives funds from sources as disparate as the Rothschilds and the International Development Bank
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    Shrewd to diversify her funding in case Imperial inspectors sniff out La Fronde's IDB connections.
     
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    CRISIS: The Heligoland Incident of 1897
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    • CRISIS: The Heligoland Incident of 1897​

    September 19: While cruising the River Inn, the Marinewehr river monitor Heligoland enters into a verbal dispute over right-of-way with the Austrian Imperial Navy monitor Prince Windisch-Grätz. After several acrimonious exchanges, the Heligoland continues on its way, shadowed by the Prince Windisch-Grätz. This incident, considered fairly routine for interactions between the two river navies, is duly reported back to Combined Staff headquarters in Frankfurt via telegraph.

    September 20: The Heligoland explodes on the German side of the River Inn while docked at the town of Simbach, just across from the Austrian town of Braunau, where the Prince Windisch-Grätz is docked. 74 of the 92 crew perish in the explosion and subsequent fires, with another 9 grievously injured. No one from the Austrian side of the river attempts to assist with recovery efforts.

    September 21: "MARINEWEHR SAILORS MURDERED BY AUSTRIAN PIRATES" appears as the top headline in the Frankfurt Red Star, alleging that the Heligoland was sunk by an Austrian naval torpedo (also known as a mine). There is an immediate clamor in the National Assembly for punitive measures levied against the Austrians, and some even call for war.

    September 22: The Austrian Imperial Foreign Ministry issues a statement denying responsibility for the Heligoland's loss and suggests that faulty maintenance of the ship's magazine may be at issue. This does little to improve the public's mood.

    What is to be done?

    [] Leave the saber in its scabbard.
    This is a highly ambiguous situation and should not necessarily result in some sort of conflict. A thorough, careful investigation can better determine just what happened with the Heligoland.

    EFFECT: Crisis averted. Diplomatic resolution with Austria. Moderate penalty to national stability. Moderate boost to international relations.

    [] Rattle the saber.
    The Austrians clearly aren't taking us seriously. Formally demand that they cooperate in our investigation, open up the town of Braunau, and hand over all relevant witnesses and evidence. That will make them come to the table, especially if it comes with a threat of further action if they don't cooperate.

    EFFECT: Crisis continues. Austria may or may not agree. Further decisions will become available. No net change to national stability.

    [] Draw the saber and strike first.
    This is a clear act of sabotage by an untrustworthy, cowardly foe. We must respond with all the force at our disposal!

    EFFECT: Crisis concludes. War with Austria and the Imperial League. Moderate boost to national stability. Moderate penalty to international relations.


    There will be a 24-hour voting period unless a consensus emerges sooner. If for some reason one of the top two options doesn't secure a convincing plurality, I'll do a run-off. Keep it civil.
     
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