I'm from a reality where Frederick the Great was a girl, AMA

[genyodectes]

Interesting how in this world Frederica the Great was born a man and basically changed European (and World History) because of that. I mean, she did the same here. Convergence, I assume.

Anyways, feel free to ask me anything of my reality. Five Questions a post is preferrable.

[stevep]

Aug 28, 2019 17:41:39 GMT genyodectes said:

Interesting how in this world Frederica the Great was born a man and basically changed European (and World History) because of that. I mean, she did the same here. Convergence, I assume.

Anyways, feel free to ask me anything of my reality. Five Questions a post is preferrable.

 a)  Is there a united German state and if so how was it unified?

 b)  Which is the dominant state in Europe in your world.

 c)  Similarly what is the most powerful state in N America?

 d)  Being British I'm interested in the state of the UK?  Does it still exist and if so how is it doing please?

  e)  Was is the dominant economic power in the world?

[genyodectes]

Aug 29, 2019 14:47:27 GMT stevep said:

Aug 28, 2019 17:41:39 GMT genyodectes said:

Interesting how in this world Frederica the Great was born a man and basically changed European (and World History) because of that. I mean, she did the same here. Convergence, I assume.

Anyways, feel free to ask me anything of my reality. Five Questions a post is preferrable.

 a)  Is there a united German state and if so how was it unified?

 b)  Which is the dominant state in Europe in your world.

 c)  Similarly what is the most powerful state in N America?

 d)  Being British I'm interested in the state of the UK?  Does it still exist and if so how is it doing please?

  e)  Was is the dominant economic power in the world?

A) There is such a nation : The Kingdom of Greater Germany. It was formed in the 1810s, after Kaiser Augustus II von Hohenzollern-Hapsburg, Grandson of Queen Frederica I of Prussia and Archduke/Emperor Karl VII of Austria, who married in Personal union. The Union came about after the Great Western War that saw the Alliances of Democratic Iberia, France, and Italy facing the British, the Germans, and the Dutch. During said war, several german princes vowed allegiance to the French and so the Kaiser stripped them of their rights before declaring a federal state of Germany. By the 1900s, however, only the Hohenzollern monarchy remained in Germany, with all the other families becoming private citizens.

B) It is indeed the Kingdom of Greater Germany. It became that way ever since the Great Western War.

C) That would be the Empire of California, which stretches from the bering strait to the Rio Grande and Great Plains, though a close second and third are the Kingdoms of Texas and Republic of Florida.

D) The Republic of England is currently a failed state, having gone through many dictators since the 1930s. The Union was forcefully split up into Scotland, Ireland, and England following the Grand European War from 1906-1917. Scotland is doing alright, though it is having a constitutional crisis as the Current President refuses to step down for his successor. Ireland, however, is doing really well ever since the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy in the 1950s following the Death of Dictator Mark O'Dolan, who died in 1953, declaring that he wanted a monarch and parliament to succeed him. They've been a key ally of Germany ever since.

E) That would be The Union der deutschen Gebiete, which encompasses the KoGG, Mittelafrika, Südarabien, Egypt, India, Kleinasien, Südchina, the Philippinen, and Klein Venedig. This union, both an economic and political union, has been relatively stable ever since its formation in the 1970s and thus, this allows the state to virtually remain unchallenged on the world stage on all levels.

[genyodectes]

If I may do so, I would like to ask my own questions of your reality :

A) How was Prussia and Germany like with a male Frederick the Great?

B) What are these World Wars you discuss and write about? Seem mighty destructive.

C) Why does the United States exist as one nation and not in multiple pieces? Did something happen during the 1873-1897 dictatorship?

D) What is it like being in a world that is more dominated by the USA than Germany?

E) Who is the man who became the "President of the United States"? He seems like a big populist figure.

[stevep]

Aug 29, 2019 15:14:17 GMT genyodectes said:

If I may do so, I would like to ask my own questions of your reality :

A) How was Prussia and Germany like with a male Frederick the Great?

B) What are these World Wars you discuss and write about? Seem mighty destructive.

C) Why does the United States exist as one nation and not in multiple pieces? Did something happen during the 1873-1897 dictatorship?

D) What is it like being in a world that is more dominated by the USA than Germany?

E) Who is the man who became the "President of the United States"? He seems like a big populist figure.

  a)  Prussia challenged Austria in the 1740's successfully taking Silesia and then retaining it in the 7 years war 1756-63, although that was a close run thing with a big issue of luck on the Prussian side.  As such it emerged as the 2nd power in Germany and became highly militarised.  It did less fighting against France in the Revolutionary and then Napoleonic wars - which saw the French monarch replaced by an expansionist republic and then a military dictator and gained extensive territory in the final settlement of the conflict.  It then modernised while Austria declined and in a series of wars unified Germany under its control and became the most powerful military state in Europe, followed by rapid industrialisation.

  b)  German preeminence in Europe was unstable, and its high level of militarisation meant that when it was challenged it relied too heavily on a military response, building up a powerful alliance against it that eventually included France, Russia, Britain and the US along with a host of other powers.  With a few allies but a good military it took four years of very destructive war to defeat it and its allies in WWI.

  Unfortunately while many were war weary and despaired of another such conflict while political events meant the US was isolationist and Russia was effectively removed from the balance of power, hard line militarists in Germany were unhappy with their defeat while division between the victorious allies meant they didn't establish a realistic check on German power.  As such lead by a evil demagogue the militarists gained power in Germany and aided by the reluctance of other powers to oppose them steadily expanded their position until eventually their nature became clear.  At that point Britain and France stood up to them but in an ineffective manner that eventually resulted in France being conquered and Britain exposed from the continent.  The war expanded further by Germany attacking the similar brutal dictatorship that had taken over the Russian empire - which had previously been a de-facto ally - inflicting huge human and territorial loses on it but not defeating it.  Italy had also joined Germany in those conflict.  Finally the empire of Japan which had established a military dictatorship and overrun much of China attacked both the weakened European colonies in SE Asia and the US which brought that country reluctantly into the war.

  It then took another 3 1/2 years of conflict before the allies defeated Germany and Japan, with massive destruction and loss of life.  The communist dictatorship that ruled Russia under the name the Soviet Union eventually ended up not only secured but controlling most of eastern Europe including a large chunk of Germany, which was partitioned for nearly 50 years.  Britain was left free but exhausted and the US was left greatly strengthened and by far the most powerful state in the western democratic world.

c)  Good question.  It defeated one attempt at secession and steadily conquered its way across the continent to the Pacific, although an attempt to conquer Canada was defeated.  Its creators, having won a war with Britain aided by most of western Europe established a constitution that proved pretty stable while it had no external threats so was able to settle a lot of rich land and build up a sizeable population and huge industrial base.  The one serious attempt by some states to break away was defeated after what was known as the US Civil War and established a precedent for denying any state or region the right to break away.  Also technology developed fast enough that it was able to improve communications and transport fast enough to stay as a coherent society.

d)  Well since the unified Germany of OTL was for its early history a militarised autocratic state and then ruled by a deranged political group that killed millions of people simply because of their ethnic background and wanted to rule the entire world having the US dominant sounds much better for us.  Could be different for you depending on how your greater Germany developed.  The US is rather immature diplomatically and sometimes irresponsible and arrogant but is a lot better a neighbour for most of the world than the German empire we know.

e)  The current President is a demagogue who has played on a deeply divided culture in the US to gain widespread support and won a narrow victory in the 2016 election, although losing the popular vote.  He has serious personality defects being extremely narcissistic and egotistic and this makes him very erratic but unfortunately he has gained a large measure of support among people dissatisfied with the current political system - despite himself having benefited from it greatly - and from powerful vested interest who want to prevent some popular political movements.  Especially for economic and technological reform.

[genyodectes]

very interesting information.

stevep, feel free to askme five more questions.

[Zyobot]

This thread looks to be off to a good start so far. Alright, I'll play.

A) What was Frederica the Great able to achieve during her lifetime IYTL?

B) Who leads the Kingdom of Greater Germany nowadays, and what has their administration been like?

C) How did this "Empire of California" you referred to come about?

D) Are there any powers that look primed to challenge Germany on the world stage anytime soon?

E) What, if any, wars have taken place IYTL? Since you comment on OTL World Wars seeming "highly destructive", I'm curious to know the magnitude of conflicts that your world has experienced.

Thank you in advance,
Zyobot

[genyodectes]

Zyobot ,

A) She was able to pass successful reforms for the Holy Roman Empire that centralized it and formed a Parliament with elections every 8 years, as well as forming a constitution that gave the people more freedom within the realm, even with her husband's reluctance at these reforms. She was able to form an Alliance between the German states, Russia, and Britain called the Verdreifachen Pact that would last until the 1880s. SHe was able to bring France to kneel, even if it eventually led to The Great Western War. Finally, she was able to institute soft reforms for Women at the behest of the pope, who lost quite a bit of power and legitimacy in the Austro-Prussian realm and Holy Roman Empire as she was popular all around.

B) The Current King is King Karl Augustus Spencer Wilhelm I, though we call him Kaiser Karl Spencer I. The current party in control of the Parliament is the Deutschland und Gebiete Traditioneller Volksbund, a Conservative Party that is across the Empire, and it has the same values as the Republican Party of your reality. As for their administration, Karl Spencer got the Crown only a few weeks ago after his father, Ludwig Arnold III, died, so I can't give proper details on his administration. As for the DuGTV, their party has been in control of Greater Germany and the Union der deutschen Gebiete since the 80s and they have been practically very popular. They have beliefs in Tariffs on Dictatorships in order to stifle an economic stimulus they might have without it. They've also banned abortion unless in severe circumstances and have basically enforced Right-to-Work laws across the empire.

C) The Empire of California was founded in 1879 and has remained its own nation following the rise of Dictator Jim Doolittle, who took power following the War of American Brothers from 1862-1868. A Madman named Jackson was crowned as Emperor Jackson I, though he was given little to no power to the Congress of the Pacific. They split after the Dictator attempted to undo some of the reforms of the last President of the United States, Andrew Phillips, including the light reintroduction of Slavery into the Midwest. The Californian Revolution of 1879-1882 was a bloody fight but eventually, they won and that would be the catalyst to the Wars of American Independence that rocked the US from 1879-1902 that saw the US be split into several different nations.

D) There are at least two powers looking to challenge Germany in the present. In the Past, from the 1810s-the 1880s, the Boogeyman was France, but following France's fifth defeat in the War of Iberian Succession from 1877-1883. From 1883-1895, the main threat was Britain, but that was replaced by the bigger threat of Russia, who they severely feared about being overrun by. This continued even after the Grand European War, which saw Britain and France completely neutered and Russia losing Baku, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic to Germany and Finland and Karlia to Sweden, while Armenia and Azerbaijan was given to Byzantine Suzerainty.

Even after that war, Russia was still a threat as after the Russian Revolution of 1914-1916 and Russian Civil Wars (1919-1922;1925-1928), the Nation was under the leadership of Premier Nikolai Makron, the son of French immigrants who was very patriotic about Russia and fought in the GEW. From 1920-1948, he ruled the Union of Greater Russian Republics. The Great Global War from 1938-1952 led to Russia's final defeat and breakup into several states in order to make sure they were never a threat again.

Currently, the only powers looking to challenge the German Empire's dominance in the world seems to be the Republic of China and Union of Central America, which have grealy westernized and became more powerful ever since the 1880s.

E) Out most destructive wars were certainly the Grand European War and Great Global War. They never reached the level of devastation that your wars did, but combined, there was effectively an economic cost of 983 billion in Reichmarks (The value being every US Dollar is multiplied by 9.54) and 96,530,230 casualties. Again, not as destructive as your wars, but still pretty bad.

Here's some five more of my own

A) How is Iberia in this reality? Is it still the powerful Second to Germany in the Grand European Alliance?

B) How did American reconstruction go? In my reality, it led to a dictatorship and the breakup of the US but obviously it didn't in this one.

c) How is the Restored Byzantine Empire doing? Does it still hold rule over the Balkans and the Middle East or did the Ottomans be able to beat back the German War machine?

D) What was the Soviet Union and how did it come to be?

E) Why is China a left-wing dictatorship? Did the Qing reforms of 1797 and 1881 go horribly wrong or something?

Feel free to ask another five after answering these.

[stevep]

Aug 29, 2019 23:32:18 GMT genyodectes said:

Zyobot ,

A) She was able to pass successful reforms for the Holy Roman Empire that centralized it and formed a Parliament with elections every 8 years, as well as forming a constitution that gave the people more freedom within the realm, even with her husband's reluctance at these reforms. She was able to form an Alliance between the German states, Russia, and Britain called the Verdreifachen Pact that would last until the 1880s. SHe was able to bring France to kneel, even if it eventually led to The Great Western War. Finally, she was able to institute soft reforms for Women at the behest of the pope, who lost quite a bit of power and legitimacy in the Austro-Prussian realm and Holy Roman Empire as she was popular all around.

B) The Current King is King Karl Augustus Spencer Wilhelm I, though we call him Kaiser Karl Spencer I. The current party in control of the Parliament is the Deutschland und Gebiete Traditioneller Volksbund, a Conservative Party that is across the Empire, and it has the same values as the Republican Party of your reality. As for their administration, Karl Spencer got the Crown only a few weeks ago after his father, Ludwig Arnold III, died, so I can't give proper details on his administration. As for the DuGTV, their party has been in control of Greater Germany and the Union der deutschen Gebiete since the 80s and they have been practically very popular. They have beliefs in Tariffs on Dictatorships in order to stifle an economic stimulus they might have without it. They've also banned abortion unless in severe circumstances and have basically enforced Right-to-Work laws across the empire.

C) The Empire of California was founded in 1879 and has remained its own nation following the rise of Dictator Jim Doolittle, who took power following the War of American Brothers from 1862-1868. A Madman named Jackson was crowned as Emperor Jackson I, though he was given little to no power to the Congress of the Pacific. They split after the Dictator attempted to undo some of the reforms of the last President of the United States, Andrew Phillips, including the light reintroduction of Slavery into the Midwest. The Californian Revolution of 1879-1882 was a bloody fight but eventually, they won and that would be the catalyst to the Wars of American Independence that rocked the US from 1879-1902 that saw the US be split into several different nations.

D) There are at least two powers looking to challenge Germany in the present. In the Past, from the 1810s-the 1880s, the Boogeyman was France, but following France's fifth defeat in the War of Iberian Succession from 1877-1883. From 1883-1895, the main threat was Britain, but that was replaced by the bigger threat of Russia, who they severely feared about being overrun by. This continued even after the Grand European War, which saw Britain and France completely neutered and Russia losing Baku, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic to Germany and Finland and Karlia to Sweden, while Armenia and Azerbaijan was given to Byzantine Suzerainty.

Even after that war, Russia was still a threat as after the Russian Revolution of 1914-1916 and Russian Civil Wars (1919-1922;1925-1928), the Nation was under the leadership of Premier Nikolai Makron, the son of French immigrants who was very patriotic about Russia and fought in the GEW. From 1920-1948, he ruled the Union of Greater Russian Republics. The Great Global War from 1938-1952 led to Russia's final defeat and breakup into several states in order to make sure they were never a threat again.

Currently, the only powers looking to challenge the German Empire's dominance in the world seems to be the Republic of China and Union of Central America, which have grealy westernized and became more powerful ever since the 1880s.

E) Out most destructive wars were certainly the Grand European War and Great Global War. They never reached the level of devastation that your wars did, but combined, there was effectively an economic cost of 983 billion in Reichmarks (The value being every US Dollar is multiplied by 9.54) and 96,530,230 casualties. Again, not as destructive as your wars, but still pretty bad.

Here's some five more of my own

A) How is Iberia in this reality? Is it still the powerful Second to Germany in the Grand European Alliance?

B) How did American reconstruction go? In my reality, it led to a dictatorship and the breakup of the US but obviously it didn't in this one.

c) How is the Restored Byzantine Empire doing? Does it still hold rule over the Balkans and the Middle East or did the Ottomans be able to beat back the German War machine?

D) What was the Soviet Union and how did it come to be?

E) Why is China a left-wing dictatorship? Did the Qing reforms of 1797 and 1881 go horribly wrong or something?

Feel free to ask another five after answering these.

genyodectes,

  Damn did start replying to this but then something came up and I logged off without thinking so rushing this a bit to catch up.  First replying to your points:

a)  I think the POD must be some time before Frederica birth.  For one thing there was no male Hapsburg emperor during OTL Frederick's adulthood.  More important the level of reforms and progressive legislation would have been utterly impossible for the most powerful male ruler, let alone a female consort in that time period. There were many attempts to reform the HRE for various reasons and all failed because the assorted regional rulers didn't want to give up their power - plus opposition from the Papacy to either liberal reform or anything which would give greater power to the ruling family.  OTL France got much of that for a while but only by a bloody revolution and that ended in another autocratic state.

  Also the last bit about the pope sounds a bit odd.  It suggests that she introduced reforms for women on behave of the pope but not only would that be unlikely given the OTL popes but then you say the Papacy lost support because she was so popular, which suggests that the two were in opposition?

b)  It does sound strange that in a democratic system a single party would be in control continuously for ~40 years.  Also what do you mean by "Tariffs on Dictatorships in order to stifle an economic stimulus they might have without it."  Is this basic a trade barrier to undemocratic states, in which case it would only work if such states were relatively few and/or there are other powerful states who act in agreement with Germany.  By the right to work does this give workers rights or I have heard the term used in some societies to restrict trade union power, which depending on the circumstances can be a good or a bad thing.

d)  It does sound like your TL has been bloodier than yours with a lot more wars.  France has been defeated and crushed several times, Britain and Russia also and some nasty wars in N America regardless of what's happened elsewhere.  You say that Germany has removed threats by defeating all those powers but were they actual real threats, i.e. attacks or potential ones?  I find it strange that Britain would change immediately from an ally to Germany until 1883 then immediately became the "main threat ".

  Have those areas taken from Russia become independent state in their own right or are they under the control of other nations?  Also what is to stop a democratic Russia, if one emerged from reuniting again?

e)  As I say nearly 100 million deaths, especially since its unclear what they include is comparable with the totals of our two world wars.  If its just wars that Germany has been involved in, even if since Frederica's time that is a lot.  If it includes conflict elsewhere - for instance OTL has had some very nasty wars in China for instance in the 19thC then your world, while still bloody has been less so than OTL.

In terms of your questions:

a)  Iberia is split between Spain and Portugal and was in decline from the 17thC.  For much of the 20thC they were fairly backward autocratic dictatorships but in recent decades they have become democracies and fared somewhat better although Spain has had internal problems over human rights and both have suffered from the decision to except the EU's common currency and the latter's been used largely for the benefit of France and Germany.  Although they have done better than Italy and Greece who have suffered markedly worse.

b)  There was only one serious internal dispute in the US here, when a number of states sought to break away to preserve slavery.  They were defeated after a fairly bloody 4 years and the slaves were freed although continued racism greatly restricted the rights of blacks and to a lesser degree other groups until a major push for social reforms and rights in the 1960's.  Even now there are persistent problems.

  However it stayed united and helped by its own vast resources and massive inputs of migrants and funds built up what was until recent times the largest and most developed economy in the world, although it is facing a serious challenge on that issue from communist China.

c)  There is no restored Byzantium Empire.  The nearest Greece came to this was a conflict with the Turks after the latter were defeated in our WWI.  However while they had early advantages internal divisions inside the Greek state and support for the Turks from a number of powers, especially the early communist state in Russia meant the Greeks were heavily defeated and their population inside Anatolia killed or deported.  Even if they had been successful their unlikely to have controlled more than Thrace itself and western Anatolia as well as the Greek heartland in Europe.  When did the empire get restored in YTL and how are the populations under it as unless there have been massive deaths/deportations the Greeks would only be a small minority in such a state?

d)  The Soviet Union was a successor state to Imperial Russia resulting from the collapse of the old Romanov dynasty and then a fragile potentially democratic state in WWI, which seems to have parallels with your Grand European War, although here despite the Russian collapse the allies won.  However while there was some support for opponents of the communists most of them were right win autocratic groups so were deeply unpopular and after WWI the allied powers were too war weary and politically divided to seriously intervene. 

  It was a pariah state between the two world wars, a de facto ally of the Nazis in Germany - the deranged racist state I mention - helping to carve up eastern Europe between them until the Nazis back-stabbed it in 1941.  The Soviet state was larger and somewhat less chaotically mismanaged than the Nazi one and gained support from the democratic powers also fighting the Nazis and ultimately ended up as the 2nd greatest power behind the US.  As I said before it controlled virtually all the old Russian empire plus much of eastern and central Europe and lasted until 1991 when growing incompetence and unrest led to its collapse, fortunately without much fighting given the number of nuclear weapons it had.

  Sounds possibly that it had a similar position to your Russia after your Grand European War but the resultant power struggle was won by a more right wing dictator or possibly popularity instead of an hard left wing group?

e)  China underwent a prolonged period of decline from the mid 18thC failing to modernise, growing more and more corrupt and with frequent popular rebellions, one of them costing nearly as many lives as OTL WWI.  When the Qing dynasty finally collapsed the attempted republic collapsed into a warlord period compounded by a major Japanese invasion which inflicted huge damage on the country until this was ended by the Japanese defeat in WWII.  During this period the main opponents were the Nationalist government but this was stricken by corruption and infighting with its autocratic leader being more determined to remove any potential rivals, which unfortunately included any competent generals while the communists were a relatively minor group also in offical coalition with the nationalist but often clashing with them.

  After 1945 there were attempts to unite China without conflict but neither side were that willing and a civil war started.  With growing tension between the democratic powers and Soviet Russia the latter, which had supported the nationals against the Japanese switched support to the communists.  The corruption and incompetence of the nationalist and lack of clear support from the US meant that the communists won.  Under their 1st leader, Mao they inflicted further suffering due to his egomania and deluded ideas, plus ruthless crushing of any possible challengers to his dominance.  After his death more responsible leaders aided by opening trade links to western powers built China up into the greatest industrial power in the world and a major challenger to American per-emenence.  However a few years back a new leader emerged who shows some signs of Mao's insanity and has cracked down on what limited human rights were allowed since 1976 so China could be in for another period of decline and disaster.

  Damn a friend rang so been on the phone for about an hour nattering.  Might ask a few more questions tomorrow.

[Zyobot]

Since stevep has answered your latest batch of questions about OTL better than I probably can, I suppose I'll ask five more. Hopefully, I'll be more prompt in addressing your inquiries going forwards.

A) You briefly described Germany's dominant party as being analagous to my world's Republican Party. Are there any other political factions that are equivalent to OTL ones, i.e. the Democratic Party or Libertarian Party?

B) Could you tell me more about this War of American Brothers that you mention?

C) What other nations have emerged from the former, now-divided United States? And which ones still exist in the present day?

D) What was this "Union of Greater Russian Republics" like while it was around IYTL (I have an unproven feeling that a certain totalitarian version of Germany from mine might've been rather similar)? And how was it carved up once the Great Global War concluded, precisely?

E) How is the global economy with Germany at the helm IYTL? Has it, for example, embraced a system similar to the international capitalism of OTL?

Thank you in advance,
Zyobot