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Description

This was an old idea from BagelBagelBagel , which has laid unfinished in my drives for years now. Much of the text below is his, modified by myself to read a bit better.

This world diverges from our own in 1742, when the Prussians suffer defeat at the hands of the Habsburg Empire. Eager to prevent Prussian power from threatening them in the future, the Habsburgs sponsor the creation of the North German Confederation, a puppet association of anti-Prussian German states. In order to divert the efforts of this North German state from European affairs, and chain the North German Confederation to the Habsburgs financially, the Habsburgs sell Spanish Tejas to the North Germans. The Germans rename the colony “Bündingland.”

In the Americas, the British Thirteen Colonies successfully fought a war of independence, creating the United States of America. American democratic republicanism would gain popularity throughout the Habsburg Empire in America, inspiring them to launch their own revolutions. These revolutions were further helped by the chaos of the War of the Grand Alliance distracting Europe, which saw the Russian, French, British, and Ottoman empires all fighting against the Habsburg Empire. By the time the war ended in the 1820s, Spain and Austria were separate kingdoms, and all of their colonies gained independence.

The War of the Grand Alliance also destroyed the Habsburg-backed North German Confederation, which allowed Bündingland to declare independence. The war also produced large waves of German refugees, who settled in Bündingland and the Great Plains. In the Plains the Germans fought, married, slaughtered, and sometimes converted, the Native Americans, helping them gain experience in horse warfare.

Bündingland’s American cousins had more trouble. Though they were able to kick the British out of the Great Lakes region, harder competition and the government’s general slant towards mercantile interests slowed westward expansion; accordingly, the borderlands with Bündingland were sparsely populated. The election of an abolitionist president in 1858 and ongoing tensions between North and South led to the South’s secession and the formation of the Confederation of America. Bündingland, a rival of American power, supported the Confederation, which was enough to give the Confederation victory in the war. The destabilized remaining United States would later become a revanchist, one-party state.

Eager to regain their territory, the Americans started what history would know as the Great American War. Offensives began along the Ohio River and Appalachia, culminating in an attempted lighting strike against the Confederate capital of Richmiond. Bündingland quickly entered the war as a Confederate ally, and the legendary General Frederick Rictentrough began his legendary career crossing the Mississippi and harassing Yankee settlements on horseback. Richtentrough fooled the Americans into believing his attacks were mere feints, and by the time the Americans realized the extent of his offensive, he was able to cross the Allegheny and threaten the American capital of Philadelphia. Rictentrough instead made for New York City, and with the support of a Confederate offensive in the south and the secession of New England, the Americans were on the verge of defeat. Fanatical defense, power struggles in Bündingland and a slave rebellion in the Confederation would save the United States from total destruction. However, the United States would be reduced to five states.

Meanwhile, the Europeans colonized much of Africa and Asia, and geopolitics would settle into two major alliances: the Russo-French Entente, and the British and their allies. The British sponsored the unification of Germany under a new German Confederation governed from Frankfurt, creating the Union of Germany. The British, German, and Ottoman empires together fought and defeated the Entente of France, Russia, and Austria in the Great European War. France would be utterly destroyed by the war, and Germany’s position as the supreme power on the continent secured after the annexation of Austria. During the Great European War, Russia ethnically cleansed its German population, sending them to the Far East, and eventually, Russian America. Some of Russian America became part of Bündingland after the war, but part broke off to create a German-speaking Mennonite theocracy.

Although victorious, the British Empire was exhausted from the Great European War. The British entered into an agreement with Bündingland over control of the North American plains, resolving in Bündingland’s favor. After all, the British did not want to fight a war for Upper Canada, which was now full of American migrants. Britain was further hit with a succession crisis, which almost became a civil war, as three monarchs claimed the throne. The British Queen fell in love with a member of the French Bourbons, leading to the succession crisis. Parliament eventually chose a king which ruled over a smaller British Empire, with the Queen accepting the throne of the Kingdom of Canada, while the third claimant got Upper Canada and was subsequently overthrown in a republican revolution. This succession crisis would fragment the British Empire as a major world power, allowing Germany to be supreme in Europe.

In the 20th century, Bündingland and Germany would be the dominant global powers, and become rivals for dominance. The two would even fight a short, inconclusive war in 1958, before the invention of nuclear weapons. In the modern age, both fear mutually assured destruction and are content with detente. Brazil and Russia are rising powers, leading a third bloc slowly gaining on Bündingland and Germany.

The Bündinglander political system is obsessed with the concept that “the root of all good is giving one what he deserves.” This notion of justice runs deep through Bündingland. Bündingland rejects democracy as a popularity contest, and monarchy as the “lottery of birth”; this belief stems deep enough that there are major restrictions on inheritance, and a popular movement proposes banning it outright. Wealth and power are expected to be gained by earning it, with being at the right place at the right time earning scorn; of course, what exactly is earned and what is gained by luck is always in dispute. The bloated and complicated Bündinglander government is composed of a hierarchy of ministers, organized like a corporation with a Board of Directors making broad decisions at the top and to present a face to other nations. Though largely capitalistic, Bündingland has universal healthcare, all workplace dismissals are subject to review, and the state views itself as a meritocratic technocracy.

Bündingland’s German rivals take their ideological cues from their British allies. Though the Union of Germany has no singular monarch, it does have princes; while these princes lack political power, they have immense economic power. Aristocratic status also grants them certain legal rights that commoners do not. Overall political power is in the hands of a democratically-elected parliament, headed by the Prime Minister.

The United States, or what's left of it, is increasingly considered a rogue state. It is the go-to place for shady banking, overthrown dictators escaping justice, and drugs. You can buy anything in Washington DC, a city known for its thrilling and often dangerous nightlife. By day it gets even weirder, with its gilded streets, and obsolete cannon and artillery covered in lucky trinkets and gold decor facing off against boring modern Confederate artillery on the other side. The government is also bizarre, as it follows an unofficial state hierarchy which allows Maryland and Delaware to lord over the rest of the nation. As cooperation between Germany and Bündingland increases, the US finds it harder to cause trouble, but they try.

On the other hand, the Confederation of America retains its federal republican model. After the slave revolts, the majority of the Confederation’s black population emigrated to Pacifica or Africa. Florida is a popular retirement destination for Bündingland's middle classes, causing some tensions as the Floridians find that elderly Bündinglanders are bossy, refuse to speak English, and impose their rules on everyone.

Brazil is the most powerful nation in South America and leads the so called "independent" bloc. They reject the aristocratic semi-capitalist Germans and the technocratic Bündinglanders in favor of a strong presidential system with a ceremonial Imperial Family.

After its defeat in the Great European War, Russia has clawed its way back to great power status. It claims to fuse together the Bündinglander and German systems to achieve "the perfect fusion": the Tsar shares political power with a council of technocrats that he himself appoints. While economic power is concentrated in the aristocracy, it's much easier for an incompetent prince to fall from grace and be replaced by a sufficiently competent - and ruthless - commoner.

The Ottoman Empire managed to reform after a hecting 18th and 19th centuries, and as the primary supplier of oil to the German sphere, it has become so wealthy that it could spend its way out of its internal problems.

India, never fully colonized by the Europeans, is a tense battlefront in the German-Bündingland cold war. It is divided between the rump Mughal Empire (aligned with Bündingland) and the nationalist, post-British State of Hindustan (aligned with Germany). Here, the war has taken on a religious dimension, and with both the Mughals and Hindustan armed with nuclear weapons, it could get ugly.

Socialist ideology has failed to take root everywhere, save for some states in Africa. Taking on a distinctly anti-colonial, nationalist tone, these socialist states are being courted by Brazil and Russia for their potential as gateways into the otherwise German-dominated continent.

The Qing Dynasty fell, replaced with a bureaucratic, meritocratic regime in the Bündinglander model; as a result, they’re one of Bündingland’s closest allies. They are opposed predominantly by the Japanese, who modernized thanks to British and German assistance.

Description

This was an old idea from BagelBagelBagel , which has laid unfinished in my drives for years now. Much of the text below is his, modified by myself to read a bit better.

This world diverges from our own in 1742, when the Prussians suffer defeat at the hands of the Habsburg Empire. Eager to prevent Prussian power from threatening them in the future, the Habsburgs sponsor the creation of the North German Confederation, a puppet association of anti-Prussian German states. In order to divert the efforts of this North German state from European affairs, and chain the North German Confederation to the Habsburgs financially, the Habsburgs sell Spanish Tejas to the North Germans. The Germans rename the colony “Bündingland.”

In the Americas, the British Thirteen Colonies successfully fought a war of independence, creating the United States of America. American democratic republicanism would gain popularity throughout the Habsburg Empire in America, inspiring them to launch their own revolutions. These revolutions were further helped by the chaos of the War of the Grand Alliance distracting Europe, which saw the Russian, French, British, and Ottoman empires all fighting against the Habsburg Empire. By the time the war ended in the 1820s, Spain and Austria were separate kingdoms, and all of their colonies gained independence.

The War of the Grand Alliance also destroyed the Habsburg-backed North German Confederation, which allowed Bündingland to declare independence. The war also produced large waves of German refugees, who settled in Bündingland and the Great Plains. In the Plains the Germans fought, married, slaughtered, and sometimes converted, the Native Americans, helping them gain experience in horse warfare.

Bündingland’s American cousins had more trouble. Though they were able to kick the British out of the Great Lakes region, harder competition and the government’s general slant towards mercantile interests slowed westward expansion; accordingly, the borderlands with Bündingland were sparsely populated. The election of an abolitionist president in 1858 and ongoing tensions between North and South led to the South’s secession and the formation of the Confederation of America. Bündingland, a rival of American power, supported the Confederation, which was enough to give the Confederation victory in the war. The destabilized remaining United States would later become a revanchist, one-party state.

Eager to regain their territory, the Americans started what history would know as the Great American War. Offensives began along the Ohio River and Appalachia, culminating in an attempted lighting strike against the Confederate capital of Richmiond. Bündingland quickly entered the war as a Confederate ally, and the legendary General Frederick Rictentrough began his legendary career crossing the Mississippi and harassing Yankee settlements on horseback. Richtentrough fooled the Americans into believing his attacks were mere feints, and by the time the Americans realized the extent of his offensive, he was able to cross the Allegheny and threaten the American capital of Philadelphia. Rictentrough instead made for New York City, and with the support of a Confederate offensive in the south and the secession of New England, the Americans were on the verge of defeat. Fanatical defense, power struggles in Bündingland and a slave rebellion in the Confederation would save the United States from total destruction. However, the United States would be reduced to five states.

Meanwhile, the Europeans colonized much of Africa and Asia, and geopolitics would settle into two major alliances: the Russo-French Entente, and the British and their allies. The British sponsored the unification of Germany under a new German Confederation governed from Frankfurt, creating the Union of Germany. The British, German, and Ottoman empires together fought and defeated the Entente of France, Russia, and Austria in the Great European War. France would be utterly destroyed by the war, and Germany’s position as the supreme power on the continent secured after the annexation of Austria. During the Great European War, Russia ethnically cleansed its German population, sending them to the Far East, and eventually, Russian America. Some of Russian America became part of Bündingland after the war, but part broke off to create a German-speaking Mennonite theocracy.

Although victorious, the British Empire was exhausted from the Great European War. The British entered into an agreement with Bündingland over control of the North American plains, resolving in Bündingland’s favor. After all, the British did not want to fight a war for Upper Canada, which was now full of American migrants. Britain was further hit with a succession crisis, which almost became a civil war, as three monarchs claimed the throne. The British Queen fell in love with a member of the French Bourbons, leading to the succession crisis. Parliament eventually chose a king which ruled over a smaller British Empire, with the Queen accepting the throne of the Kingdom of Canada, while the third claimant got Upper Canada and was subsequently overthrown in a republican revolution. This succession crisis would fragment the British Empire as a major world power, allowing Germany to be supreme in Europe.

In the 20th century, Bündingland and Germany would be the dominant global powers, and become rivals for dominance. The two would even fight a short, inconclusive war in 1958, before the invention of nuclear weapons. In the modern age, both fear mutually assured destruction and are content with detente. Brazil and Russia are rising powers, leading a third bloc slowly gaining on Bündingland and Germany.

The Bündinglander political system is obsessed with the concept that “the root of all good is giving one what he deserves.” This notion of justice runs deep through Bündingland. Bündingland rejects democracy as a popularity contest, and monarchy as the “lottery of birth”; this belief stems deep enough that there are major restrictions on inheritance, and a popular movement proposes banning it outright. Wealth and power are expected to be gained by earning it, with being at the right place at the right time earning scorn; of course, what exactly is earned and what is gained by luck is always in dispute. The bloated and complicated Bündinglander government is composed of a hierarchy of ministers, organized like a corporation with a Board of Directors making broad decisions at the top and to present a face to other nations. Though largely capitalistic, Bündingland has universal healthcare, all workplace dismissals are subject to review, and the state views itself as a meritocratic technocracy.

Bündingland’s German rivals take their ideological cues from their British allies. Though the Union of Germany has no singular monarch, it does have princes; while these princes lack political power, they have immense economic power. Aristocratic status also grants them certain legal rights that commoners do not. Overall political power is in the hands of a democratically-elected parliament, headed by the Prime Minister.

The United States, or what's left of it, is increasingly considered a rogue state. It is the go-to place for shady banking, overthrown dictators escaping justice, and drugs. You can buy anything in Washington DC, a city known for its thrilling and often dangerous nightlife. By day it gets even weirder, with its gilded streets, and obsolete cannon and artillery covered in lucky trinkets and gold decor facing off against boring modern Confederate artillery on the other side. The government is also bizarre, as it follows an unofficial state hierarchy which allows Maryland and Delaware to lord over the rest of the nation. As cooperation between Germany and Bündingland increases, the US finds it harder to cause trouble, but they try.

On the other hand, the Confederation of America retains its federal republican model. After the slave revolts, the majority of the Confederation’s black population emigrated to Pacifica or Africa. Florida is a popular retirement destination for Bündingland's middle classes, causing some tensions as the Floridians find that elderly Bündinglanders are bossy, refuse to speak English, and impose their rules on everyone.

Brazil is the most powerful nation in South America and leads the so called "independent" bloc. They reject the aristocratic semi-capitalist Germans and the technocratic Bündinglanders in favor of a strong presidential system with a ceremonial Imperial Family.

After its defeat in the Great European War, Russia has clawed its way back to great power status. It claims to fuse together the Bündinglander and German systems to achieve "the perfect fusion": the Tsar shares political power with a council of technocrats that he himself appoints. While economic power is concentrated in the aristocracy, it's much easier for an incompetent prince to fall from grace and be replaced by a sufficiently competent - and ruthless - commoner.

The Ottoman Empire managed to reform after a hecting 18th and 19th centuries, and as the primary supplier of oil to the German sphere, it has become so wealthy that it could spend its way out of its internal problems.

India, never fully colonized by the Europeans, is a tense battlefront in the German-Bündingland cold war. It is divided between the rump Mughal Empire (aligned with Bündingland) and the nationalist, post-British State of Hindustan (aligned with Germany). Here, the war has taken on a religious dimension, and with both the Mughals and Hindustan armed with nuclear weapons, it could get ugly.

Socialist ideology has failed to take root everywhere, save for some states in Africa. Taking on a distinctly anti-colonial, nationalist tone, these socialist states are being courted by Brazil and Russia for their potential as gateways into the otherwise German-dominated continent.

The Qing Dynasty fell, replaced with a bureaucratic, meritocratic regime in the Bündinglander model; as a result, they’re one of Bündingland’s closest allies. They are opposed predominantly by the Japanese, who modernized thanks to British and German assistance.