Germany

Germany (formerly known as the German Empire and later Nazi Germany) was one of the largest countries in mainland Europe and also the main enemy of the US, the UK, France and Russia in both World War 1 and 2.

Background[]

Collapse of the Empire and Birth of the Republic[]

The German Empire (Deutches Kaiserreich) was a monarchy born after the aftermath of the Northern-German war of unification. After being defeated in World War 1, the German Republic was born. Although there where internal problems at first, to wich it includes a Communist revolution that died at the very apex of it because the left couldn't agree on what to do next and a failed coup made by nostalgic monarchist elements in the army, the Republic later entered into a state of relative stabilty thanks to Prime Minister Gustav Stresemann, to wich his reforms brought Germany into a golden era (Goldene Zwazinger in German) for the rest of the decade, either it was the economy or a remarkable cultural renaissance when it came to art or cinema. (For example: Film director Fritz Lang making the 1927 German expressionist epic science-fiction drama Cult-Classic "Metropolis". This famous film is iconic for its advanced special effects and depiction of technological and scientific themes) Then, the golden age ended the moment the Great Depression hit the US. Hyperinflation struck the country so hard that the Reichsmark's use was limited to being a replacement for fire when winter came.

Rise of the Third Reich[]

Using this instability at his advantage, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party took power in 1933. In just a couple of years, the German 3rd Reich returned to the glory days of the German Empire. And with that, Hitler began to claim Europe and then turned his eyes to the East as he then invaded the Soviet Union so that, once the "Bolshevik treat" was dealt with, he would finally archieve his mad dream of Pan-Germanism.

Point of divergence of the Timeline[]

In the Freedom Fighters Universe, the history of Germany is the exact same as ours in our timeline until it's capital, Berlin, was destroyed by the Soviets in 1945 by the first ever nuclear weapon in history, thus ending the second world war in Europe. After the war, Germany was divided by the allies into four occupation zones. However, most of the people saw Germany being separated into two nations, the democratic West and the communist East. This symbolizes the beginning of the Cold War. By 1953 however, because of things that the allies couldn't control and after the Berlin revolt of that year got soffucated in blood, Germany reformed with the rest of the occupied territories into a Communist puppet state, officially joining the USSR's Communist Block (The Warsaw Pact) and became the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

The German Democratic Republic[]

In the years following the war and the revolt of 53, the reconstruction of Berlin was fully completed in 1959, although the effects of the atomic bomb continued up untill 1963. To note that most of Berlin was rebuild by the Soviets with their own mix of architecture, and in the following years, Berlin would get the nickname of "Little Moscow".

Despite this, the Soviet Union and the GDR both agreed to make the country look like an indipendent nation even though it was under the Soviet sphere of influence. This was done for the purpose of calming the opinions of the German people which, in secret, hated the Soviets for a lot of reasons. (The major one is the Nuclear Bombing of Berlin)

This could be seen in the now reformed German army, the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA), wich looked very similar to the former Nazi German army. (The Wehrmacht) The German government didn't want it's army to look like a German clone of the Soviet Red Army like it's former predecessor from the occupation days, the Barrack People's Police. As a matter of fact, most of the uniforms, helmets and other things from World War 2 at the beginning were recicled by the new regime into something uniquely German. And this proved to be the right call as the citizens of the GDR liked the NVA's Wehrmacht inspired-look as they had mixed fellings towards the Soviet Union and didn't want their armed forces to look like the Red Army.

This decision certainly helped reinforce the idea that the GDR was an indipendent state and perhaps, most importantly, an indipendent German state with it's own history and culture. Although it never went into combat before 2001, many have claimed that the GDR's Nationale Volksarmee was one of the best trained and most motivated forces on either side of the cold war. Infact, the GDR was also involved in "Spreading the revolution" by becoming allies with Socialist African countries and black African movements. So much so, that during the 1960s and '70s thousands of NVA Army troops were sent to Africa to help train national armies and black liberation guerrilla groups, earning the nickname "Africa Korps". Of course, with a good part of Africa ruled by the communists, this made their job easier.

In the long run, before the 1980s, the GDR had the best economy in the Soviet sphere of influence. Mostly because of the GDR's spy agency, the Stasi, wich has been working on taking care of the subvursives in the German society in secret while making sure that there wouldn't be another mass riot like in 1953. Another reason was that Germany always has been a prosperous nation in the long run. So much so that Karl Marx actually hoped that Germany was the one to take the role that the Soviet Union had of "the head of the world revolution". Germany had the resources to be something like that, even before Marx's time. The Soviet Union however, before it began to industrialize itself, was a country that went against any of Marx's ideas since, long before World War 1, it was a massive agrarian nation that didn't had the necessary equipments to meet those of the once know Kaiserreich.

Just like the rest of Europe at the end of the 80s, Germany was in the middle of the protests that wanted an end of Communist/Soviet rule and a push for more Democratic reforms. However, after the coup d'etat in Moscow by the hardliners in 1989 and after that the Red Army aided the Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) in the Tienamen Square Massacre of the 4th and 5th of July, the protests had their days numbered. In particular, the GDR General Secretary at the time, Erich Honecker expressed enthusiasm for the "Chinese Solution" method to be used as a way to end the protests in Europe.

And so it did.

From orders from the Kremlin, a crackdown is carried out in cities all across Europe, Germany included. The actions of the security forces however, succed only in provoking further confrontations. All the while the GDR ruling party, using the situation at their advantage, started to purge some members of their own party that they where deemed as "Subvursive". (For example: Egon Krenz, once thought to be the likely successor to Erich Honecker, dissapeared withouth a trace as the official story was that he went for Moscow for an unspecified medical surgery. Another Example: Hans Modrow, the local party chief of Dresden, also misteriously dissapeared and his official story is that he was appointed ambassador of Mongolia, although there is no proof of that)

In the end, the protests continued and on the 29th of November of that year, the so called Chinese solution is finally carried out in Europe. Frightened and inexperienced and with the order of aiding the local army of the country that they were sent to, the Soviet troops who are ordered onto the streets resort to a level of brutality that shocks even their own commanders. Amauter video tapes of the European massacre are smuggled out of the continent and then broadcast to milllions around the world.

2 days after the killings in Leipzig, a desperate crowd moves towards the Volksammer for a peaceful protest. Just like the Soviet counterparts, the German security forces are uneasy. Then, more people arrive at the end and chant for the end of the violence and also ask for the German Security Forces to join the peaceful protest while shouting "You're Germans too!". Both Soviet and German soldiers have no idea of what to do at that moment. Then, the breaking point. The Commanders of both armies give the order to fire. And fire they will. In the shoot out, 23 people will die and hundreds if not thousands, will be hospitalized. This marks the end of the protests in Europe as in the following day, scenes like these will constantly repeat in Europe from the 1st to the 3rd of December. The last reports of the final crackdown in Europe comes from Romania on the 25th of December as the Romanian Revolution fails when the Soviet Troops quickly move to restore law and order, alongside the Romanian army, against armed citizens that tried to end the bloody rule of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

With the protests ending in blood, so does end the peacuful talks for the WTO and the Warsaw Pact as this moment was the proof that the old school back in Moscow won the battle and that the Cold War has once again restarted.

National instablity and the rise of Neo-nazism[]

The years passed and at the end of 2003, when the Soviet North American invasion turned against the reds, the riots against communism in the communist world also reached Germany. On one side, the underground Neo-Nazi terrorist group known as the National Socialist Underground (NSU) and the Reichsbürgerbewegung ("Reich's citizens movement") or Reichsbürger ("Reich Citizen's") have joined forces to use the instability of the country for their own gains. In their Revanchist manifesto they promise to "Restablish the German borders of 1914", "cleanse the country of the Jews, the Gipsies and the Communists" "unite Europe against the Bolshevik menace", "finish what the Führer has started and annihilate the Soviet Union of the face of the Earth" and to also "Start a revolution of the white people worldwide in order to also fight and end what remains of the Free France states, the Unites States of America and the English-led dictatorship of the decadent English crown as they are blamed entirely for almost 50 years of Soviet dominance worldwide". On the other side, most of the German protesters are the one who seen for themselves the Crackdown of 89' and are now ready to fight back if they must in order to be free of this Soviet-Sponsored dictatorship and finally turn the country in a democratic beacon of Europe. Either way, all it takes is just one spark to make Germany implode into civil-war.

Trivia[]

According to the riots against the communist regime in Germany after 2003, although this possibility can't be confirmed, there is a strong possibility that Germany could revert back to a Nazi state and start a new war against the USSR and it's allies, because of the popularity of the Neo-Nazi ideology among Germans. Luckily, there is a slim majority of Germans who would rather have a democratic government than another dictatorship. (Especially the one that got them at this point to begin with because of the beliefs of a failed artist turned dictatorial madman)

Germany

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