Germany and the War of German "Reunification"

One badly defined area in 2300AD is the pre-2291 status of Germany. This will be the topic of this post.

2300AD says Germany settled down divided into five states: Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hanover, Saxony and Westphalia. It never says these states are equal, and never defines their relationship. It is fairly easy to show that "Bavaria"  in fact compromises more than half the German population. Using the metric of places named to be in "Bavaria", I've circled "Bavaria" in red below. The military units ni question are where things ended up in Twilight:2000.

"Bavaria" thus is a huge state compared to the others, which would likely be:

Brandenburg is approximately the modern province.
Saxony is approximately the modern province.
Westphalia is approximately Westphalia, i.e. the bit of North Rhine-Westphalia not in "Bavaria".
Hanover is Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, except the bits occupied by 3rd German Corps towards the end of the Twilight War, which includes all the ports.

Holstein is likely "Bavarian", whereas Schleswig was regained by the Danes. The real question is what of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? One would guess, given the apparent strength of Hanover compared to other states, that this province is ruled by Hanover.

"Non-Bavarian" Germany is essentially the parts of Germany that were not under the control of the German Government (in Nurnburg) after the Twilight War. These may have developed their own governments separate from the FRG in the period after the Twilight War, but why weren't they simply reabsorbed? 2300AD says France encouraged the development of these states, and hence had a hand in things.

So what was Germany like before 2291?

Firstly, it was not that divided. In "The Game" that created 2300AD Germany was a single country under the control of Loren Wiseman. In Twilight:2000 the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany was relocated to Nurnburg in Bavaria. Hence "Bavaria" is the direct descendent of "Germany", whatever 2300AD boxed set says.

"Hanover" after the Twilight War was a British fiefdom on the continent, which explains a lot. "Brandenburg" would seem to be a fiefdom created by the US 11th Corps which mostly didn't get evacuated and hence stayed in that area as strongmen. In both these cases you have an odd situation creating an English speaking elite ruling the area. No wonder they're less receptive to overtures from Nurnburg.

"Westphalia" is Arminius' little state. This unpleasant little warlord may have gotten squashed later. He is essentially US CivGovs contender for "lets rule Germany".

"Saxony" would appear to be the fiefdom of Helmut Joachim Korell. The odd thing for a separatist, the "Bavarian" starship at the 1st Battle of Alpha Centauri is the Helmut J. Korell. Korell thus appears to be a big deal.

Thus we have our setup. "Bavaria" is the legal government of Germany. "Saxony" is a sort of rebel part, and "Hanover", "Westphalia" and "Brandenburg" are backed by the British, US CivGov and US MilGov respectively.

How this plays out seems to create a much more Federal Germany than existed before. Ultimately the Nurnburg government gains Suzerainity over all of Germany again. Given Korells status as a national hero of "Bavaria", one would surmise that he was instrumental in this, and went over to the Nurnburg government. In the process he probably gained a governorship of somewhere for himself.

This of course is similar to the situation that existed between 1867 and 1871, but with a slight reverse. Prussia conquered all of northern Germany, and had militarily defeated and humiliated the southern nations, making them vassels. After 1871 the Prussian King elevated himself to Emperor of the Germans, and made them under a devolved but direct rule.

The War of German Reunification

The WoGR is stated to be a war between the northern German states and an alliance of "Bavaria" and France with the aim to annex "Bavaria" into a new German empire.

The problem was not all authors followed this line. Several attempted to change the situation to Bavaria wanting to join the new Empire, but France acting to prevent it. The main aim here seems to be to paint the French as dicks. However, that is not what happened.

The four northern German states unified under Hanover in 2291, creating a new nation they called "Germany". The rest of Germany, the FRG or "Bavaria" did not join this alignment. The north Germans then invaded in 2292 in an effort to annex it. The French honoured their treaty obligations and declared war on the north Germans, in defence of their ally, the Federal Republic of Germany. However the southern German states fell and in 2293 the Germans invaded the French province of Belgium and were stopped on the Somme. Sound familiar?

The French negotiated their way out of this, being wracked with internal problems. The Germans for their part were very reasonable, not asking for the Rhineland etc., but this is probably a reflection of the actual weakness of their position, trapped in a war they will ultimately lose.

The German colonies are mostly unaffected by the war, and most are annexed into the new Germany after the war. The only pro-Hanover colonies were Halbinsel (Hanoverian colony, probably settled using British ships, remembering Joi was originally promised to be a British world along with Crater) and Hochbaden (this may actually have been the writer, Gary Thomas, trying to paint the French as dicks. He spends a lot of the writeup pushing that argument.). Those colonies that could get out of this aggressive new Germany (look at the governance of Halbinsel) got out, and maintained their alliance with France, in fact becoming de facto parts of the French Empire.

The Kafer War

The Kafer War has killed the German Empire. A massive loss of ships is only made worse by the massive loss of credibility amongst the colonies. The new Germany failed the colonials, and they haven't missed this. One expects the German Empire to collapse in the early 2300's.