- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest
- Thread starter Etranger
- Start date
- Original Alt. History
1886-1887 in the German Republic
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
1886-1887 in the German Republic
The third election of the Second Republic is notable for being highly contentious but not actually acrimonious. Instead, an unprecedented amount of harmony seems to have arisen between the candidates and the electorate, as a wave of radical enthusiasm sweeps across Germany. This enthusiasm coalesces in the form of both economic experimentation, as optimistic voters seek new forms of growth and innovation, and fundamental social change, as the increasingly self-confident female half of the electorate continues to assert itself in national politics.
What would have been the most polarizing issue two decades previous, under the prior Republic, is now one of the most popular: the classification of domestic labor, popularly known as "women's work," as actual labor, to be regulated, unionized, and most importantly, compensated. This is nothing less than a head-on assault on the traditional concept of the non-working housewife, which has generally left the average adult woman dependent on her husband and unable to exercise economic or political power. Now, with full adult suffrage and financial independence, these women move decisively to ensure that they will never be imprisoned in the home ever again.
It is therefore unsurprising that while overall turnout is down from the prior election, turnout among women is through the roof, and they end up being over sixty percent of the electorate for 1885. Many, if not most of them, throw their support behind the Vanguard Communists' radical feminist platform, ensuring that party's legislative primacy. Meanwhile, other parties shape their own manifestos to draft off the upsurge in support for the Vanguards, thus creating a surprisingly synchronized set of proposals. This conscious intent in creating a working coalition, rather than aiming for a narrow majority and excluding as many voters as possible, is good news for Germany and, as it later turns out, terrible news for the party system.
The Vanguards therefore successfully reforge the Sunrise Coalition with their usual partners, as well as a left-leaning bloc of Progressive Independents, and supply and confidence from a group of compromise-minded Anarcho-Syndicalists who want to see their priorities enacted on the local level. Combined with the virtual desolation visited upon the handful of Moderate Democrat candidates, a national consensus seems to emerge, centered around new ideas, new innovations, and new methods of cooperation.
The actual implementation of "Labor is Labor," as the Vanguard slogan goes, is not as straightforward as simply speaking the idea and having it materialize into being. It requires nothing less than a fundamental reorganization of German society and the national economy, a process which will take a great deal of time and effort. To implement the new policies required, a Commission on Equality is established, fully-staffed and funded to begin putting the necessary programs in place.
The first program is simple: a modest expansion of the national ration to include a basic stipend for household workers, the part-time employed, and students. Along with mandatory compensation guidelines for family-venture workers, this serves as a vital first step, though not a wholesale implementation of the principle, toward shifting the balance of power in the home away from the single-breadwinner model. Anecdotally, this results in a rather significant uptick in interpersonal tension in households that were previously rather more tranquil, as debates about the family budget move out into the open.
In order to allow more women into a German workforce starved for capable adult hands, the Commission on Equality mandates a broad expansion in state childcare capacity and subsidies for those who make use of daycare, freeing up more time and income for part-time and full-time female workers.
While domestic labor reform is the most prominent priority of the second Sunrise Coalition, the majority of the Assembly's time is taken up with a comprehensive overhaul of the education system. Secondary schooling is set to become mandatory for all minor children until the age of 16 within the next several years, nearly doubling the length of each child's educational period, with the intention of preparing them for an increasingly industrial and technical world. Construction begins on a wave of new public secondary schools, along with major recruitment campaigns for new teachers. In order to help fulfill the demand, retired educators who specialize in high-demand fields like mathematics and engineering are incentivized to return for a limited period to teach at several new normal schools.
Germany's limited pool of skilled labor is further strained by a wide-ranging initiative to expand medical education and basic care, and transcripts of the Commissioner for Public Health's acrimonious verbal sparring matches with the Commissioner for Education over their respective shares of the national budget become sought-after reading. Rather than divide up the nation's doctors between teaching hospitals and public clinics, the Health Commission instead elects to emphasize the teaching of nurses and medical aides, as well as offering credentials to those who served in field hospitals during the civil war. This prevents any major gaps in coverage, but the expansion in capacity remains limited by the need for years of lead time.
The coalition's focus on gender equality in all fields ensures that one area in which there is no shortfall is extending medical care to women. Reproductive health, once believed to be the province of midwives and folk medicine, is brought forward as a new scientific medical discipline, with women's health clinics opening or set to open in every major German city. These clinics distribute contraceptives, perform prenatal checkups, handle abortions, and otherwise take up a long-neglected burden in public health.
As these social programs are both somewhat costly and personnel-intensive, with noticeable benefits at least a few years away, there are those who fret about the budget and Germany's overall economic capacity handling the increased load. What manages to put many of them at ease is a set of planning instructions and targeted subsidies for the expansion of the German chemical industry, particularly in the field of pharmaceuticals. The chemical industry is the unsung hero of the economic recovery, as factories dedicated to a variety of medicines, dyes, and other useful compounds spring up across the country, both fulfilling domestic demand and providing explosive growth for the export economy. As more and more workers flock to chemical factories, the field's capacity for expansion seems limited only by the rate at which its physical accommodations can be built.
Efforts by the combined Radical bloc to begin a comprehensive propaganda and infiltration program directed against the Imperial League powers run headfirst into determined opposition from the Anarcho-Syndicalists specifically and the German public more generally. The people of the Republic are entranced with the rapidly changing social fabric of the nation and the great strides being taken in economic growth and reform. What they are not entranced with is the prospect of a grueling eastern conflict less than a decade after the civil war ravaged the nation. When a group of Radical delegates attempt to put forward legislation publicly categorizing Russia and Austria as national enemies, they are unseated in recall campaigns and replaced with more temperate politicians.
Instead, militarist efforts are redirected toward the ever-popular field of preparedness. The Civil War Report, as it is known to the public, is implemented in full along with an attendant increase in funding for Landwehr training and equipment. Notably, this marks the first military budget expansion where expenditures on shovels and other engineering tools outpace those on rifles and cannons. The envisioned Landwehr of the future is not just a mobile fighting force, but also a well-supplied force that digs into a battlefield and simply cannot be dislodged.
As German trade goes from a regional affair to a global one, there is growing desire to see civilian shipping protected from potential depredations on the high seas. Moreover, the ever-present threat of the modernizing Russian navy in the Baltic seems to demand a vigorous response that the Marinewehr simply is not equipped to give, and whose absence could see the desolation of German coastal settlements.
As such, funding is earmarked for several phases of construction on a new generation of warships. Consisting principally of armored cruisers, these medium-sized vessels are considered sufficient to contest Russian control of the Baltic without threatening the Royal Navy's complement of ocean-going ironclads. Additional funds are earmarked for several squadrons of river monitors, which when complete should be capable of defending the Rhine and, perhaps, fighting for the Danube.
The National Police cease to exist in 1887 when they are formally reincorporated into the Landwehr and renamed the National Gendarmerie. Aside from an increase in funding and a redesigned uniform, this change is largely nominal, though it does serve to expand the Commission for War's power at the expense of Interior's.
The more impactful change in German law enforcement is on the local level, as police powers are fully devolved to localities, with limits placed on national intervention or oversight. The Gendarmes are forbidden from involving themselves in local matters unless invited, except in cases of insurrection or invasion, and policing shifts from preserving order to serving the needs of the community.
While plans for open hostilities against the imperial powers of Europe have been temporarily shelved, there is a much more insidious campaign being waged against them: one of demographics. Starting in early 1886, a raft of legal reforms go through the Commission for the Interior and the Commission for Foreign Affairs, dramatically simplifying and even incentivizing foreign immigration into the German Republic. While Germany lacks the prospect of setting up an agricultural homestead, its factories, schools, hospitals, and other modern institutions are voracious for trained and skilled personnel, or even willing students.
As such, immigration from Austria, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries explodes over the course of the next two years, as political refugees, ethnic minorities, practitioners of marginalized religions, dissident intellectuals, and those who are simply tired of rigid classism and lack of opportunity all flood through the ports and border checkpoints. This is mirrored by similar, albeit much less pronounced trends with other European countries. Combined with a moderate baby boom, this presages the growth of the Republic as not just a more populous country, but a multi-ethnic, multi-religious modern state.
The labor voucher pilot program in the Ruhr concludes and analysis immediately begins on the results. The assembled panel of social scientists and economists engage in one of the first comprehensive studies of social dynamics in German history as they work out the various implications, unforeseen issues, and unexpected benefits of the voucher system. In short, while the issue of currency hoarding is not entirely eliminated, due largely to a pragmatic desire on the part of participants to set aside funds for unexpected expenses or major purchases, the overall tendency to accumulate vouchers is much less pronounced than with standard paper marks. Trading or stockpiling currency for financial purposes is, naturally, largely eliminated. Numerous small flaws in the system regarding the mass printing of voucher books, watermarks, and other defects are targeted for improvement, overhaul, or removal.
In general, the scientific committee endorses the principle of introducing labor vouchers but recommends a gradual implementation along with educational campaigns to ensure that public confidence, that most elusive of resources, is not accidentally squandered or misused. They also warn that replacing currency with labor vouchers may lead to a loss in international confidence in the gold mark due to the continued primacy of capitalist modes of exchange in the rest of the world. Despite these caveats, the overall recommendation is a positive one, and the accumulated research and analysis lay the groundwork for future efforts.
Amidst the social upheaval within Germany and the organized chaos on the borders, the Frankfurt-Darmstadt Capital District police host an international conference on community policing practices, inviting officials from America, Spain, and even as far away as Japan. After a heated debate amongst the police force, the members hold a vote which narrowly approves the inclusion of officials from the Entente, and invitations are extended to police forces in France and Britain.
During the spring of 1887, while in the capital for the conference, a French Alsatian police inspector named Wilhelm Schnäbele is arrested by the National Gendarmerie on suspicion of espionage.
[Continued in "The Schnäbele Affair"]
World Events in 1886-1887
Karl Benz begins construction on the Benz Motorwagen Cooperative Factory in 1886, which when complete will produce his signature gasoline-powered motorwagen design. In order to enlist support from the National Assembly, he drives the test model up to the parliament building, to the astonishment of the assembled crowd and the press.
The German Republic becomes the first European nation to legalize homosexuality in late 1886. While it has been widely decriminalized in most continental states since the introduction of the Napoleonic Code, homosexuals were discouraged from publicly identifying as such and were not extended legal protections or benefits. This legalization effort by the Republic further strengthens the tide of immigration from neighboring European countries.
The Scandinavian Union is inaugurated by mutual treaty between King Christian IX of Denmark and Oscar II of Sweden and Norway as a binding economic and defensive pact. Heralded as "a new Kalmar," the joint kingship is largely a formality, as Denmark is relegated to a lesser role by virtue of Sweden-Norway's larger size and military. International observers note that the Russian-ruled Grand Duchy of Finland's inclusion in the Union will functionally serve as a permanent Russian veto in Scandinavia's future affairs.
A labor dispute in Chicago over the Three Eights that threatens to turn violent is defused when the US Marshals intervene on orders of President Butler. Subsequent national legislation enshrines the eight-hour workday into law.
British forces depose King Kalākaua of Hawai'i and dissolve the legislature, thereby transforming the former island protectorate into a crown colony and disenfranchising the residents.
A draft treaty between France and Italy is leaked to the Italian newspapers in early 1887. Its terms outline the cession of Savoy and Nice to the French Empire in exchange for the annexation of Rome, a substantial cash payment, military aid, and admission into the Western Entente. The draft is met with notable public disapproval, which deepens into growing unrest as news filters back about Italian expeditionary troops suffering a humiliating loss in Eritrea. When the king requests a huge sum to reinforce and rebuild the colonial army later that year, he is rebuffed by the Italian parliament and the bill is narrowly defeated by a coalition of socialists and republicans.
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The German Republic in 1887
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
The German Republic in 1887
Government
Government Type: Parliamentary Republic
Governing Document: Constitution of 1880
Head of Government: High Commissioner Erich Mueller (Vanguard Communists)
Head of State: Chief Representative Viktor Schmidt (Social Radicals)
Legislative Majority: Sunrise Coalition (VC-SR-AS-CS-PI-RR)
Demographics
Population: 48.31 million (39.61 million eligible voters)
Population Growth: 3.1%
Cultures: German, Polish, Danish, Sorbian, Ruthenian, Other
Religions: Protestantism, Catholicism, Judaism
Social Reforms
Basic Income: Minimal
Minimum Wage: Adequate
Work Safety: Adequate
Work Hours: 40-Hour Week
Healthcare: Adequate
Pensions: Adequate
Unemployment: Adequate
Childcare: Adequate
Retirement: Adequate
Child Labor: Banned
Foreign Affairs
War and Peace: N/A
Alliances: Spain
Defensive Pacts: N/A
Military Agreements: Japan, the Ottoman Empire, Spain
Naval Agreements: United Kingdom
Trade Agreements: United States, China, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, Serbia, Romania, Greece, Persia, Siam, Mexico, Central America, Argentina, Peru-Bolivia
War
Landwehr
Type: Combined Army
Training: Adequate
Quantity: Medium
Equipment: Adequate
Morale: Adequate
National Gendarmerie
Type: National Guard
Training: High
Quantity: Small
Equipment: High
Morale: High
Marinewehr
Type: Brown-Water Navy
Training: Low
Quantity: Tiny
Equipment: Low
Morale: Adequate
Infrastructure
Fort Quality: Low
Fort Quantity: Low
Seaport Quality: Adequate
Seaport Quantity: Large
Interior
National Stability: Medium
Police Quality: Low
Police Quantity: Medium
Finance
Treasury: Low
Debt Ratio: Low
Credit Ratio: Medium
Tax Income: High
Tariff Income: High
Principal Creditors: Britain (Large), Domestic (Large), Other (Tiny)
Principal Debtors: Domestic (Huge)
Commerce
Economic Output: High
Economic Growth: Booming
Economic Activity: Agriculture (High), Industry (High), Trade (Medium), Finance (Medium), Services (Medium)
Economic Ownership: Co-Operative (High), Single-Family (Medium), Public (Low)
Commercial Output: High
Commercial Growth: Booming
Trade Partners: America [mixed] (High), Other [exports] (Medium), Britain [mixed] (Low), France [mixed] (Low)
Public Works
Roads and Canals: Adequate
Railroads: Adequate
Public Utilities: Adequate
Education
Literacy Rate: 83%
Literacy Growth: Adequate
Education Quality: Adequate
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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Ambit
Help me
- Location
- Third Circle of Hell
New voting system on the horizon?
Oh boy we have weaken italy
Regency
PFP by vanathema (previously yubishines)
- Location
- Morioh Town, Mt. Ebbot
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Is this the "abolition of family" those AnSynd & VanCom theorists tout
Fascinating how openly German citizens can see the workings of government - obviously natsec-focused transcripts aren't revealed but this is still a positive. Most people probably cared to read for juicy gossip, lol
Oof for the SocRads and RadReps. At least military build-up continues apace and now benefits the Marinewehr.
Ohhhh dear
Yooo! Trucks for the workers and soldiers! Tractors for the farm workers and yeomen! Public buses for the cities! Microbuses for the countryside! and as a testbed for automotive development...MOTORSPORTS!
GIGABASED
So dumb of em, but I guess Sweden-Norway decided to be permanently hostile to us by uniting with Denmark - who has beef over our annexation of Schleswig-Holstein.
Damn, Butler's smart enough to know how to sap radicalism
One day, after the Imperial League is dealt with, you will be freed Hawai'i!
But the US would then try to make em their economic colony...
We do need a closer republican ally...👀
IamtooSleepy
I came here to be an ant
Regardless of anything else, moving toward a more consensus system than just partisan majority bond well for our future political stability. Although it might be too unwilling to enact a more radical measure.
Did you know this is litereally the first time Anarchist got mentioned in the turn post update? I feel so happy.
Also, that coalition is like, our entire parliament except the Moderate Democrats. I wonder how long this coalition will last...
Hmm, the police reform go smoother than expect. I am not exactly all that thrill about National Gendarmerie, but at least we made local policing a thing.
Our population did growth by almost 3 millions from 45.47 millions in the last turn to 48.31 millions. Good thing too that we start expanding schooling now since this population boom actually did put the literacy rate down from 85 % to 83 %.
Hmmm, maybe Italy will come back to us after all..
One thing I notice in status post update, but what happens in Latin America? We apparently no longer has trade treaties with Mexico, Central America, Argentina, and Peru-Bolivia.
Edit: apparently the trade treaties is just a mistake, see below.
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Theaxofwar
Definitely not a Bunny Cat in disguise.
- Location
- Standing right behind you
I really appreciate how much more collaborative the legislature feels this game. Feels like a much healthier political environment.
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
Hey are we the center of most trades nations again like last time before the civil war
- Pronouns
- She/They
Critical support for Ethiopia and Napoleonic Imperialism embarrassing the Italian monarchy until they have a republican revolution.
CRISIS: The Schnäbele Affair of 1887
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
CRISIS: The Schnäbele Affair of 1887
The following is an account of events provided to the National Assembly by the Frankfurt-Darmstadt Police, the National Gendarmerie, and the Commission for External Relations. These events are related from the perspective of the participants and may be inaccurate, incomplete, or biased.
April 13: Wilhelm Schnäbele, inspector of police for the Bas-Rhin department of Alsace, arrives in Luxemburg via the Luxemburg-Metz railway. The purpose of his stay in Germany is to attend the International Conference on Policing held in Frankfurt-Darmstadt. Rather than proceed directly to Frankfurt, he arrives early, with intended stops in Luxemburg and Saarbrücken.
April 15: The National Gendarmerie detachment in Luxemburg observes Schnäbele meeting with members of the local Landwehr, some of whom are under suspicion of cross-border smuggling. Schnäbele is placed under surveillance. Later reports indicate that these soldiers are distant relatives of Schnäbele's.
April 16: Schnäbele arrives in Saarbrücken. He spends the day touring the city and meeting with friends.
April 17: Schnäbele arrives in Frankfurt and registers for the conference. En route to his hotel, he is detained by members of the National Gendarmerie. He declines to be interviewed and is held in secure quarters.
April 18: The scheduled start date of the police conference.
April 21: French newspapers publish a report that a French police inspector has been detained while in Germany on official business. The French government sends an official communique to the Commission for External Relations requesting information, clarification, and the release of their official.
April 22: French Minister of War Georges Ernest Boulanger puts forward a bill in the Senate authorizing the Emperor to take all appropriate measures, including a declaration of war, if Schnäbele is not promptly released. This bill passes, but the subsequent bill to endorse the mobilization of several army corps does not. Napoleon IV does not take immediate action, instead waiting on further diplomacy.
April 23: The Commission for External Relations transmits details of the accusations against Schnäbele to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs but does not indicate its intentions regarding Schnäbele's disposition. The Quai d'Orsay reiterates its request that Schnäbele be released.
April 24: The National Gendarmerie concludes its investigation and transmits its report to the National Assembly. They allege that Schnäbele was engaged in a clandestine operation designed to assess German border fortifications and military readiness, as well as make contact with corrupt soldiers of the Landwehr, in preparation for future Entente military action. They recommend that he be hanged as a spy.
Later that day, Boulanger makes a speech before the Senate calling upon the Emperor to declare war, thereby avenging the slight to France, repairing the wound caused by the theft of Luxembourg, and putting paid to the German threat once and for all. This demand is echoed by calls in the French popular press, where Boulanger is dubbed both a hero and an avenger of France's besmirched honor.
What is to be done?
[] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.
The implicit agreement between nations is that foreign nationals traveling to other countries on official business are granted diplomatic protections. Regardless of the circumstances, if that unwritten tradition is to be honored, he must be released and offered an apology.
EFFECT: Crisis averted. Minor negative impact on national stability. France will likely be mollified and its war-hawks defanged. Relations with France and the Entente will improve.
[] Release Schnäbele, but insist upon his guilt.
While diplomatic niceties must be respected, there's no reason to be timid about it. Indicate that the release is purely for reasons of state, ban him from re-entering the country, and impose additional scrutiny on any future visits by French officials.
EFFECT: Crisis averted. Minor positive impact on national stability. France will likely swallow the insult, but its war-hawks will be moderately strengthened. Relations with France and the Entente mostly unaffected.
[] Hold Schnäbele pending further discussions.
There is clearly tension between the Emperor and his Minister of War, and that tension could be useful. Delay a final decision on Schnäbele to allow the government to formulate a set of demands, or even just to let France's internal pressures continue to develop.
EFFECT: Crisis continues. Minor negative impact on national stability. France may or may not declare war and the French war-hawks will be greatly strengthened. Relations with the Entente will decline. Unpredictable further potential consequences with the Entente.
[] Hang Schnäbele as a spy.
The Gendarmerie's evidence is compelling and not even a diplomatic cover is grounds for ignoring blatant acts of espionage. Try him, hang him, and be damned to France, its hawks, and its Emperor.
EFFECT: Crisis continues. Unpredictable impact on national stability. France will almost certainly declare war and the French war-hawks will be in the ascendant. The rest of the Entente may or may not intercede.
Voting will begin immediately and end in 24 hours. Please vote for ONE option. If a single option fails to secure a majority of the vote, we will move to a run-off between the top two choices. If there's any ambiguity in which choices are to be selected, I will favor those options which are least provocative.
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Astra Myst
Do you want a wish?
- Location
- Milky Way Galaxy
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.
Open and shut.
Open and shut.
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Hold Schnäbele pending further discussions.
This man is a spy! France is transparently bluffing! I'm not arguing for hanging him, as a concession to moderation, but we MUST not release him.
This man is a spy! France is transparently bluffing! I'm not arguing for hanging him, as a concession to moderation, but we MUST not release him.
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Hold Schnäbele pending further discussions.
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Cassiemouse
Market Atheist
[X] Hold Schnäbele pending further discussions.
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Spylobster
Centrist-Malenyevist
[X] Release Schnäbele, but insist upon his guilt.
- Location
- Reno
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Release Schnäbele, but insist upon his guilt.
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.
Oh dear.
He might be innocent, and in that case we'd be starting what could very well be a two-front war, and a world war to boot, over the wrongful killing of an innocent man.
Even if he was spying, this doesn't seem to be too much of a deal; this sort of thing was kind of expected to happen.
In all cases, it's well worth it if we can get closer to the Entente.
Oh dear.
He might be innocent, and in that case we'd be starting what could very well be a two-front war, and a world war to boot, over the wrongful killing of an innocent man.
Even if he was spying, this doesn't seem to be too much of a deal; this sort of thing was kind of expected to happen.
In all cases, it's well worth it if we can get closer to the Entente.
