Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), is a capitalist state in Central Europe currently led by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). A NATO member state, a de-facto US vassal, the country functions as a fascistic social democracy. It is currently fighting an open war against Russia, intervening militarily in the Russo-Ukrainian War to support neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine.

The contemporary FRG was born in 1990 after the Autumn of Nations successfully triggered a color revolution that overthrew the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR), effectively ending the Cold War in Germany. Since then, the ex-GDR territories have become increasingly impoverished and degrown by the fascist bourgeoisie. In response to the degrowth of the former GDR and the war against Russia, an increasingly large anti-war movement of Ostalgie ("East Nostalgia"), socialist nostalgia for the GDR, has been gaining more influence in Germany.

History

First World War

Outbreak

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by Young Bosnia and the Black Hand, two military organizations funded by Serbia. Austria-Hungary responded by sending an ultimatum of ten demands to Serbia, of which Serbia only accepted nine. German Emperor Wilhelm II initially supported Austro-Hungarian retaliation against Serbia, however retracted his support after hearing that Serbia accepted 90% of the ultimatum. The Austro-Hungarian government viewed the Serbian response as unacceptable, declaring war on July 28, 1914. The Russian Empire and France intervened in favor of Serbia, forcing the German Empire to intervene in favor of Austria-Hungary, thereby starting the First World War.

Communist involvement

The Bolsheviks, a Russian Communist movement led by Vladimir Lenin, endorsed the German war effort, enacting a policy of revolutionary defeatism to weaken the feudalist order in Russia through a German victory. Lenin himself wrote that:

"During a reactionary war a revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government. [...] Russia's defeat means desiring the victory of Germany."

The German government likewise endorsed the Bolsheviks as a revolutionary movement with potentional to weaken their Russian enemy. Marxist leaders like Alexander Helphand within the Social Democratic Party, the ruling party of Germany at the time, openly promoted the idea that:

"The interests of the German government are identical to those of the Russian revolutionaries."

However, the German Communists of the Spartacist League took the principle of revolutionary defeatism in reverse, fighting against the German war effort and German imperialism. Rose Luxemburg, the leader of the Spartacist League, consistently wrote against the German war machine, even criticizing fellow socialists within the SPD for supporting it. The Spartacists instead forged an alliance with the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), a democratic socialist movement formed in 1917 to oppose the perceived pro-war position of the SPD.

Military effort

From 1914-1917, the German Empire seemed to be winning the war. Germany successfully invaded Luxembourg and Belgium, then moving swiftly to occupy northeastern France. However, the United Kingdom (UK) responded to the German offensive of 1914 by joining the war on the side of France. A coalition of British and French soldiers, aided by the remnants of Belgium, managed to mount a successful defense of Paris. After Germany's failure to take the French capital of Paris, the Germans retreated further north and entrenched themselves. For the remainder of the war, Western Europe saw tens of millions die in brutal trench warfare. Eastern Europe saw major German advances against Russia until the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, which effectively ended Russian involvement in World War I as the country devolved into the Russian Civil War between the Communist Bolsheviks, anarchists, and the White Movement. German positions in Africa and Asia were quickly overrun by the British Empire and the Empire of Japan, the two empires having had an alliance since 1902.

However, in 1917, the Zimmermann Telegram was intercepted by the UK and forwarded to the United States (US). The telegram proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico to launch a surprise invasion of the US. The American government responded by declaring war on Germany, sending four million soldiers to fight in Europe alongside the French and British. The American intervention eliminated the possibility of further German gains against the French. The Americans even aided in a counteroffensive that pushed the Germans back.

November Revolution

By 1918, the German economy was crippled by four years of warfare, the German people were generally tired of the war, and the German military was demoralized after suffering in the trenches for four years only to start losing ground. Many Germans were putting pressure on Wilhelm II to end the war, especially German Communists who felt that the war shouldn't have even started to begin with. The German government refused to give in, however, ordering the German military to launch a last-ditch suicide run against the French and British. German sailors were furious at the command, refusing to obey it. The Kiel Mutiny began on November 3, 1918, when the sailors officially took up arms against the German government to demand the end of the First World War and the abdication of Wilhelm II. When the German Empire attempted to crackdown on the mutiny, it erupted into the November Revolution as the Spartacists, SPD, and USPD rallied behind the sailors in a national uprising. The adbication of Wilhelm II was announced on November 9, shortly followed by the surrender of Germany to Britain, France, Japan, and the United States on November 11. The First World War came to an end, but fighting in Germany continued as the SPD established the capitalist Weimar Republic, turned on the Spartacists and the USPD, and massacred Communists on the streets. The SPD murdered Rosa Luxemburg on January 15, 1919, weaponizing the proto-fascist Freikorps to attack Communists on the streets.

Interwar Period

Direct aftermath of the First World War

On April 7, 1919, Bavarian Communists from the Spartacist League, SPD, and USPD seceded from Germany in opposition to the Weimar government, founding the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Many veterans of the First World War who lived in Bavaria, including Adolf Hitler, sided with the Bavarian secessionists in defense of their homes. Max Levien emerged as a leading figure of the Bavarian rebels, however he was tortured and beaten to death after the Freikorps invaded and occupied Bavaria on May 1. The dream of an independent Bavaria under socialism died with him, and Bavaria was annexed back into Germany. Similar socialist attempts to secede from Germany also occurred Saxony with the Saxon Soviet Republic and in Bremen with the Bremen Soviet Republic. The November Revolution had effectively died with Rosa Luxemburg, however the failure of Communist insurgents in Bavaria, Saxony, and Breme effectively ended the revolution permanently.

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany with Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hejaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Yugoslavia, Thailand, Czechoslovakia, and Uruguay. The treaty stripped Germany of large swaths of territory, granting land to a newly created Polish state, Denmark, France, and Belgium. Germany's territories in Africa and Asia were annexed into the British, Japanese, and French empires. The German economy was terribly crippled and in debt, being forced to pay millions of dollars in reparations to Britain and France. The nation was demilitarized, throwing millions of Germans who previously saw service in the First World War into poverty and unemployment. Furthermore, the German people were left feeling bitterly humilated.

Political realignment

After the Treaty of Versailles, the people of Germany were left with much frustration over the degrowth of their nation by the British, French, and Americans. The remnants of the Spartacist League reorganized into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) under the principles of Communism and later Marxism-Leninism, which was officially synthesized by Joseph Stalin in 1923. However, the mass murder of Communists during the November Revolution by the SPD and the Freikorps made it difficult for the KPD to effectively organize. Meanwhile, the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (Nazi Party) was founded in 1920 as a movement astroturfed by the British Empire. Despite the socialist rhetoric used by the Nazis, they followed a German interpretation of fascism they called "National Socialism." Adolf Hitler rose through the ranks of the Nazi Party by blaming the Communists and the Jews for the downfall of Germany in the First World War, promoting the idea of "Judeo-Bolshevism."

On November 8, 1923, the Nazis attempted a coup in the Beer Hall Putsch, however it was put down by German police officers. Hitler was temporarily arrested, 16 Nazis were killed, and a dozen Nazis were injured. While imprisoned, Hitler published the book Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), lying out the ideological principles of National Socialist German fascism. The book became a national bestseller in Germany, enabling the Nazi Party to rise from an isolated extremist group in Bavaria to a major political party. The KPD responded by trying to organize a popular front against the Nazis, but the Weimar government of the SPD refused to work with Communists. Instead, the SPD increasingly became aligned with anarchists and, covertly, the Nazis in the "Iron Front" against Communism.