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People's Republic of Germany

Volksrepublik Deutschland
Flag of Germany
Flag
Emblem
Coat of arms
Motto: "Arbeiter der Welt, vereinigt euch!" (German)
"Workers of the world, unite!"
Location of  People's Republic of Germany (WWII Backwards)  (red) in Eastern Bloc  (Pink)  —  [Legend]
Location of  People's Republic of Germany (WWII Backwards)  (red)

in Eastern Bloc  (Pink)  —  [Legend]

Capital Berlin
Official languages German
Demonym(s) German
Government Marxist single-party state
Karl Liebknecht(first)
Egon Krenz(last)
Rosa Luxemburg(first)
Margot Honecker(last)
Legislature Volkskammer
• Treaty of Creation
11 August 1919
• Republic Dissolved
25 December 1991


Germany (German: Deutschland), officially the People's Republic of Germany (German: Volksrepublik Deutschland, colloquially VRD) was a Marxist state in central Europe. It was governed as a single-party state by the Communist Party of Germany with Berlin as its capital. It exercises jurisdiction over 15 constituent states and one municipality with a highly centralized government and economy.

The People's Republic of Germany had its roots in the failed Russian revolution in November of 1917. After the execution of Vladimir Lenin by the Russian Provisional Government, the surviving revolutionaries fled Russia in order to form a new communist state elsewhere. Exiled in Germany, the Russian communists met the Spartacus League, headed by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Armed with the experience of a previous failure, the newfound allies formed the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and began plotting a revolution to overthrow the German Republic.

On 7 January, 1919, the KPD organized a strike in the newspaper quarter of Berlin. This strike proved to be the death knell of the fledgling German Republic. With the help of their new Russian allies, the KPD was able to foment a full-scale revolt, capturing the Reichstag on 15 January, 1919. Now in firm control of the nation's capital, the revolutionaries declared themselves the "People's Republic of Germany" and began sending troops to the rest of the nation to assist local communists. The entirety of the nation was finally under the control of the KPD on 11 August, 1919. Karl Leibknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were able to successfully argue that the new German government was a different entity than the German Empire, so the extreme penalties of the Treaty of Versailles no longer applied.

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg instituted the Double Leader Policy (German: Doppelführer Politik), specifying that instead of the old bourgeoisie style of only have one leader, the fledgling republic would always have two leaders, equal in power. Karl Liebknecht styled himself the Volkskanzler (People's Chancellor), while Rosa Luxembourg became the first Volkspräsident (People's President). While it was never legally specified, tradition has dictated that the two leadership positions are to be filled by one man and one woman, never two leaders of the same gender. The two leaders created the People's Chamber (German:Volkskammer) to act as representatives from the remainder of the nation to ensure no one portion of the populace gets ignored.

At the beginning of World War II, Germany found herself in an unlikely alliance with her former enemies the United Kingdom and France. The three powers began working together to fight the new Veep menace from Russia. Germany used some of the famous German physicists at his disposal to create the V1 rocket, capable of reaching the Russian-occupied city of Köningsburg. The Russians, in response, use their vastly superior KV-1 tanks to almost completely overwhelm the Germans and Austrians in the East, leaving half of Germany occupied and the seat of power moved to Bonn in 1943. With the help of their allies, Germany eventually broke through the Veep lines in 1944 and began to liberate eastern Europe. In 1945, Allied leaders Karl Liebknecht, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman signed the Treaty of Moscow, ending the war. Russian-occupied territory in eastern Europe became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. Ideological and political differences with their Western Bloc counterparts, directed by the United States, led to the creation of military and economic pacts and culminated in a prolonged Cold War.

Following Karl Liebknecht's death in 1950, Rosa Luxemburg started the first election process. Wilhelm Pieck became the new Volkskanzler; Luxemburg remained Volkspräsident until her death in 1952. Now that the original founding members of the KPD were both deceased, the subsequent leaders became more and more totalitarian until the relatively liberal ideas of Egon Krenz and Margot Honecker became state policy in 1979. Honecker's main idea of Freundlichkeit, or "Friendliness" (referring to the Western capitalist powers) opened the door for more social reforms. In 1991, a coup in Berlin ousted the two leaders, effectively ending over 70 years of communist rule. The Federal Republic of Germany assumed the People's Republic of Germany's rights and obligations and is recognized as its continued legal entity.

History[]

The last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, ruled the German Empire until his abdication on 9 November 1918 in the early days of the German Revolution. A short-lived German Republic took power, only to be overthrown in the January Revolution by radical-left communists led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The People's Republic of Germany was officially established on 11 August, 1919.

Revolution and Foundation[]

Liebknecht speech

Karl Liebknecht addressing a crowd, 1919

The first acts of revolution were triggered by the policy of the Supreme Command and its lack of coordination with the Naval Command, which, in the face of defeat, nevertheless insisted on engaging in a climactic battle with the British Royal Navy. The Wilhemshaven mutiny (a sailors' revolt) ensued in the naval ports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, and the spirit of rebellion spread across the country and led to the proclamation of a republic on 9 November 1918. Shortly thereafter, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated.

The revolutionaries, inspired by communist ideas, began to work together with Russian Bolsheviks in exile after their own failed revolution. Armed with this wealth of experience, the Sparticist League joined forces with the Social Democratic Party to form the Communist Party of Germany (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, KPD). In January 1919, the KPD organized a general worker's strike in the newspaper quarter of Berlin. With the help of the Bolsheviks and the Social Democrats, the KPD was able to extend the peaceful strike into a full on violent revolt. On 15 January, 1919, KPD stormed the Reichstag, ending the rule of the German Republic and leaving all political power to the communists. This event would later be known as the January Revolution. The remaining Republikaner fled to Bonn and formed a government-in-exile.

The former World War I Allied Powers (the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, and the United States) did not recognize the new communist state, and insisted that the true leadership of Germany now resided in Bonn. This greatly influenced the signatories of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June, 1919. In the meantime, the new leadership of Germany sent the loyal members of the German Army to the remainder of the nation, forcibly subjugating the country to communist rule. Republican troops fled to support the Republic in Bonn, which became the final holdout. The city of Bonn was finally captured by KPD forces on 9 August, 1919. Two days later, Karl Leibknecht and Rosa Luxemburg formed the People's Republic of Germany.

Revocation of the Treaty of Versailles[]

Liebknecht and Luxemburg argued with the former Allied Powers that they were not, in fact, the German Republic, and thus the Treaty of Versailles no longer applied. They sent revised copies of the Treaty -- now renamed the Treaty of Berlin -- to each of the five former Allied Powers. The new treaty voided the Treaty of Versailles and allowed Germany the ability to form an unlimited army and navy under the stipulation that it would only be used internationally when specifically requested. The war reparations were reduced drastically; Leibknecht and Luxemburg argued that since they were no longer the same Germany and were not alone in aggression during the Great War, it was not reasonable for the reparations to be solely a German responsibility. However, since the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved and could no longer afford to pay anything in reparations, the new Russian Republic should be forced to pay the majority of the reparations since they pulled out of the war early, abandoning their allies. In exchange, Germany did not change the stipulations regarding their overseas colonies, claiming their "goal is not world conquest". The United Kingdom was the first nation to sign the new treaty thanks to the public criticism of the original treaty by John Maynard Keynes. The United States followed closely behind. Japan signed third, reasoning that Germany was now "Europe's problem". Only France and Italy remained; nerves shattered by their shared border with Germany. They finally relented after repeated public statements by American President Woodrow Wilson that the Allied Powers must work together if the dream of the League of Nations was to ever become a reality. The new Treaty of Berlin was signed and ratified on 28 June 1920, one year to the day of the ratification of the original treaty.

The Interbellum[]

Freed from the fetters of the Treaty of Versailles, Liebknecht and Luxemburg began a series of reforms designed to bring Germany back from the brink of ruin. Their methodology was three-pronged: economic and military.

Economic Reforms[]

First, in order to fight the rampant starvation, the Liebknecht and Luxemborg ordered the Volkskammer to begin instituting ration cards as a part of the new National ID program. Since all farmland was now owned by the state, this enabled the government to guarantee each citizen a certain amount of food by default. If the nation's food stores could not meet the demand, the rations would be quietly reduced. This would give the German populace the impression that things were still firmly under control in Berlin, buying time for the government to negotiate trade deals with other nations to reduce the deficit.

Despite the changes allowed by the Treaty of Berlin, the German economy was in ruins. To raise the economy to the point where the German Workers' Paradise could be attained, the existing Papiermark was replaced with the Volksmark (lit. "People's Money") and redenominated at 1,000 Papiermark = 1 Volksmark. Economic policies would be strictly controlled from Berlin. Laws were passed outlining measures for minimum wage, limitations on workers' hours, and the running of factories by elected workers' committees.

Military Reforms[]

Liebknecht and Luxemburg knew that Germany was still in a weak position, even with the changes afforded to them by the new Treaty of Berlin. As a result, the German armed forces were completely reorganized into the People's Defense (German: Volkswehr). Military service was required for all citizens for 4 years beginning at age 18. This made Germany the first nation to institute mandatory conscription for both genders. In 1935 the Volkswehr was reorganized again, renamed to the Nationale Volksarmee, or NVA. The NVA was split into three branches: theVolkslandstreitkräfte (Army), the Volksmarine (Navy), and the Volksluftswaffe (Air Force).

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