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Franconia is an area in SE Germany between Hesse, Thuringia, Bavaria and Württemberg.

The duchy of Franconia was formed in 1545 when burgrave Johann II von Hohenzollern of Ansbach and Bayreuth defeats the Gottesfreistaat Würzburg and annexed it, thus connecting his lands. For this deed, the emperor promises him to support his claims for Pomerania too. In 1562, the Greifen dynasty died out, and Pomerania was inherited by the Hohenzollern.

Around 1600, 100 years after the Twenty-Year War, the German population had completely recovered and even grown further. The German nobles repeatedly raised taxes, which the peasants in Thuringia, Franconia and Swabia couldn't pay any more, because in these areas, the peasants used to divide their lands among all kids - so their plots became smaller and smaller. The revolters demanded a "jubilee" (when all debts were to be cancelled), no lord except emperor, pope and God, liberation of the serfs, election of the clerics by the people, peace among Christians, restitution of their old rights and lower taxes. The uprisings were mixed with religious movements (which were, sadly, often antisemitic). Except for the Swiss confederation, the uprisings were defeated everywhere. Those who could, tried their luck elsewhere - some going even to Atlantis.

1640, Franconia-Pomerania joined the Baltic League under King Erik XVII of Sweden, Northern Norway and Mecklenburg together with Prussia and Brandenburg-Silesia against Polish or Russian threats. When in 1681 Johann IX of Hohenzollern died without heirs, the other member states would govern his country in his place, until new found heir Friedrich IX started his reign in 1694. In the same year, Franconia-Pomerania became a new electorate instead of Saxony-Wittenberg-Lauenburg, which was united with Brandenburg-Silesia.

The reign of his grandson Johann Friedrich since 1739 proved bad for Franconia-Pomerania. Under his reign, lots of money was wasted for building palaces and cathedrals. He even tried to sell Farther Pomerania to Sweden or Prussia, which only didn't happen because noone wanted to buy it.

1766/67, Franconia fought in the short Southern German War, without success. Their participation in the French Republican Wars wasn't great either. In the Peace of Basel 1784, Franconia became the Naristic Republic, and duke Friedrich Johann had to relocate his court to Stettin. But the new state's end came with the German Uprising against France in 1818, after which it became a part of united Germany.

Baltic Flag   Member States of the Baltic League (Chaos TL)   Baltic Flag
Member States

Brandenburg-Silesia | Franconia-Pomerania | Prussia | Sweden-Norway-Mecklenburg

Prominent Rulers
(founding members in italics)

Dietrich IV | Erik XVII | Johann VIII | Kristina I | Waldemar "Cicero" V

HRE Flag  Member States of the Holy Roman Empire (Chaos TL)  HRE Flag
List of Roman kings of the HRE
Nations

Baden | Bavaria | Brandenburg | Braunschweig | Franconia | Hesse | Jülich-Berg | Luxemburg | Mecklenburg | Nassau | Netherlands | Thuringia | Württemberg

Nations that joined the HRE later: Poland | Prussia
Nations that left the HRE: Bohemia | Florence | Switzerland
Nations that became defunct

Austria | Holstein | Meissen | Münster | Osterland | Pomerania | Salzburg | Würzburg

Organisations

Alpenbund | Baltic League | Hanseatic League | Süddeutscher Städtebund

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