The Interesting Alternative History of Kaiserreich

What if the Central Powers won World War One? How would the world look in 1936? What would become of the Entente powers had America never entered the war?

All of these questions and more are speculated in Kaiserreich, an alternative history mod for the computer game Hearts of Iron 4 (as well as previous installments).

The German Empire

Let us look at the victor. The German Empire stands strong in 1936. Kaiser Wilhelm II is still on the throne, and German dominance of Eastern Europe is assured.

The Germans had consolidated their satellite states in the east into a military alliance called the Reichspakt and an economic bloc called Mittleeuropa.

The Treaty of Brest-Litvosk with the defeated Russian Empire was enforced in full. The entire western portion of Russia were turned into German satellite states, as was planned in our timeline but abandoned due to their defeat.

These satellites include Ukraine, Poland, White Ruthenia (Belarus), the United Baltic Duchy (Latvia and Estonia) and Lithuania. All of these are ruled by members of the German House of Hohenzollern.

The Russian Republic

After the defeat of the Russian Empire by Germany, the Bolsheviks, which in our timeline won the Russian Civil War, ended up losing to the Whites. This was due to Germany being able to combat the Reds alongside the Whites.

Instead of being under Marxism-Leninsim as in our timeline, the Russian Republic in 1936 is a flawed democracy under President Alexander Kerensky, who in our timeline was the leader of the provisional government before the October Revolution.

However, he get’s assassinated during the first few minutes of the game, leading to a scenario in which the Bolsheviks can come back, Boris Savinkov’s far-right National Republican People’s Party taking control, the restoration of the empire, or a continuation of moderate rule.

The Third Internationale

As a result the First World War and the failure of the Bolsheviks to instate communist control over Russia, a new ideology dominated left-wing politics: Syndicalism.

Syndicalism is similar to socialism, but political and economic life is dominated by trade unions instead of the state.

Anyhow, after the end of WWI, France and the UK fell to syndicalist revolution. The previous governments of these nations would go into exile in their Canadian and Algerian colonies respectfully.

Italy also fell to the fires of revolution, however they ended up in a three-way civil war that turned into a stalemate. The syndicalist Socialist Republic of Italy controls the northwest, the moderate Italian Republic the northeast, Vatican-controlled Rome and the surrounding area, and the Kingdom of Sicily in the south.

The Third Internationale’s entire goal is to spread syndicalism worldwide while also getting revenge on the Germans. The Commune of France leads this faction with the Union of Britain and the rump Socialist Republic of Italy in tow.

The United States

The US is quite isolated from world affairs. They have to deal with the British royal government in exile in Canada, as well as a Socialist Mexico.

Unlike in our timeline, the socialist movement became much more radical, adopting syndicalism. Other political factions became radical as well, including Huey Long’s America First Party.

Eventually, the game puts the US player in the Second American Civil War against Syndicalists, Pacific coast moderates, Federalists, and Longists. If you play the standalone Kaiserredux mod, this war expands to radical southern reactionaries.

After the wars conclusion, the player can take the US down the path of whatever ideology they won the war with.

Asia

Japan stands dominant in the east, despite being apart of the Entente in WWI not suffering major damage. They are Asia’s primary expansive power and will continue to create an empire as the game goes on, bringing them into conflict with Germany and Australia.

Germany has taken most of the former British and French colonies in the Pacific (except Australia) during the aftermath of the syndicalist revolutions in those countries.

Africa

The European colonies in Africa, like those in the Pacific, have been taken under the wing of Germany. The exceptions to this are South Africa and French North Africa (which houses the French government-in-exile).

Ethiopia, Egypt and Somalia are also independent. Libya is under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire (yes, they are still around too, though barely).

Conclusion

This is just a barebones explanation of the Kaiserreich universe. No, I am not being paid to advertise the mod, I just find the concept really cool and wanted to share the basic lore with my audience.

If you are interested, I recommend installing Hearts of Iron 4 and getting the mod. If you do not play games but are interested in the lore, I suggest you go to their wiki page which has a much more extensive breakdown of the above.

I will probably write about more alternative history in the future, and perhaps try to develop my own. That would be fun.