The return of the Kaiser - A German 3D AAR
May 27, 2020 11:10:01 GMT -6
ieshima, captainloggy, and 1 more like this
Post by Debaka on May 27, 2020 11:10:01 GMT -6
The return of the Kaiser - A German 3D AAR
Disclaimer
I am doing an AAR for the first time and I don't consider myself to be a good Rule the Waves player. This one will have all the wonderful logical and technical errors that you can imagine. Please keep this in mind while furiously slamming your keyboard. I am also not a native English speaker so please forgive some spelling and grammatical errors.
With that said - let's get into it.
Germany in the late 19th century
In 1871 the Franco-German war came to the end and with the peace treaty and unification of the German Reich, a new era was about to begin – that of the Kaiserreich.
Wilhelm I. of Prussia was persuaded by the Bavarian king Ludwig and Otto von Bismarck to become the leader of the new and united Germany.
Bismarck, having previously been the prime minister of Prussia was to become Reichskanzler – a position only second in power to the Kaiser himself.
Over the years Wilhem I. tended to keep out of politics a lot and Bismarck slowly but steadily increased his influence – especially on military and foreign policy.
The declaration of the German Reich in Versaille 1871 - Wilhelm I. to the left on the pedestal, Bismarck to the right in a white uniform
Bismarcks foreign policy relied heavily on the balance of powers. It was always his intent to let the other major powers struggle against each other over their colonial possessions while keeping Germany out of such affairs.
Understandibly it really surprised and bothered Bismarck when Wilhelm I. announced that he had aquired some areas in Africa and the Pacific as well as the Chinese port of Quingdao in 1884 without consulting him first.
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Satire on Bismarcks policy on playing the other powers like puppets by British magazine "the Punch"
From then on relations between Wilhelm and Bismarck radically degraded and on the 6th of March 1886 Wilhelm died under mysterious circumstances during a hunting expedition into the black forest.
The new Kaiser Friedrich III. was crowned soon after and (probably rightfully) suspecting that he had something to do with the unexpected death of his predecessor, he tried to force Bismarck out of government.
Bismarck however didn't even think about resigning and leaving Germany to the „vultures on the corpse of my dear friend Wilhelm who would only lead this proud country into doom being crushed between the Tsar and whoever rules France at that time“, as he stated in a speech in front of some senior generals of the German military soon after the news of the Kaisers plans reached him.
With the help of the army he managed to stage a successful coup d'état and to force Friedrich III. and his son Wilhelm II. into exile in Austria-hungary.
The troops of the Bismarck-military establishment coalition wiping out some civilian resistance against the new government
Having assumed full power, Bismarck was finally free of any restrictions on his idea of an isolationist Germany. The colonies were mostly left to themselves, military funding, especially for the navy was severely cut and defense pacts with all other major nations were signed to make an attack on Germany risky at best and suicidal at worst.
In terms of internal matters Bismarck continued his crusade against democracy and socialism, dissolving parliament and banning all political parties in 1890.
French satire on Bismarcks treatment of the "Reichstag" (the German parliament)
Meanwhile in Austria-Hungary Friedrich III. had died from cancer in 1888. His son Wilhelm II. however was very active, trying to build a resistance movement in Germany and rekindling connections to the military which obviously disagreed with Bismarcks cuts to their budget which was the opposite of what he had promised them before.
Bismarcks mental condition became worse and worse starting around 1893 which showed in his more and more extreme actions against everyone he perceived as an enemy of the state.
When he tried to arrest multiple noblemen with a very good connection to the military in 1894, the generals decided that enough was enough. Preparations were made to get Wilhelm II. back into the country while military planners were already busy designing new ships and equipment that Wilhelm had promised them in advance.
On november the 2nd of 1895 the plan was carried out: The undeniably insane Bismarck was forcibly taken into a medical care facility where he was kept until his death in 1898.
Bismarck on his deathbed in 1898
Wilhelm II. assumed power and in difference to Bismarck he kept his promises. He opted out of the treaties Bismarck had signed and increased funding for the military considerably, putting special emphasis on building a large and oceangoing navy to protect the colonies of the empire and rival the fleets of other major powers.
The colonies themselves, almost abandoned in the years before were to be heavily invested into to make the wilhelminian dream of „ein Platz an der Sonne“ („a place in the sunshine“) a reality.
This was of course seen with a lot of concern by other European powers especially the British who feared that a strong German fleet could endanger their naval superiority. (France was in a revolution as always and had other thing to worry about.)
This however was of little concern for the German designers. In late 1896 the first oceangoing German Battleships were layed down and launched in 1899 as well as some smaller vessels.
The newly founded German „High seas fleet“ could in no way compare to the navy of Britain but already posed a severe threat to other foreign powers.
The fairly young and unexperienced Roland von Tannenheim was chosen as the new secretary of the navy. It was to be his task to command the operations of the new military arm as well as „disarming“ some of the often somewhat dangerous statements that Wilhelm II. decided to put out.
The world in 1898 - the German colonies are still very underdeveloped and can not supply anything bigger than a small cruiser force
Disclaimer
I am doing an AAR for the first time and I don't consider myself to be a good Rule the Waves player. This one will have all the wonderful logical and technical errors that you can imagine. Please keep this in mind while furiously slamming your keyboard. I am also not a native English speaker so please forgive some spelling and grammatical errors.
With that said - let's get into it.
Germany in the late 19th century
In 1871 the Franco-German war came to the end and with the peace treaty and unification of the German Reich, a new era was about to begin – that of the Kaiserreich.
Wilhelm I. of Prussia was persuaded by the Bavarian king Ludwig and Otto von Bismarck to become the leader of the new and united Germany.
Bismarck, having previously been the prime minister of Prussia was to become Reichskanzler – a position only second in power to the Kaiser himself.
Over the years Wilhem I. tended to keep out of politics a lot and Bismarck slowly but steadily increased his influence – especially on military and foreign policy.
The declaration of the German Reich in Versaille 1871 - Wilhelm I. to the left on the pedestal, Bismarck to the right in a white uniform
Bismarcks foreign policy relied heavily on the balance of powers. It was always his intent to let the other major powers struggle against each other over their colonial possessions while keeping Germany out of such affairs.
Understandibly it really surprised and bothered Bismarck when Wilhelm I. announced that he had aquired some areas in Africa and the Pacific as well as the Chinese port of Quingdao in 1884 without consulting him first.
Satire on Bismarcks policy on playing the other powers like puppets by British magazine "the Punch"
From then on relations between Wilhelm and Bismarck radically degraded and on the 6th of March 1886 Wilhelm died under mysterious circumstances during a hunting expedition into the black forest.
The new Kaiser Friedrich III. was crowned soon after and (probably rightfully) suspecting that he had something to do with the unexpected death of his predecessor, he tried to force Bismarck out of government.
Bismarck however didn't even think about resigning and leaving Germany to the „vultures on the corpse of my dear friend Wilhelm who would only lead this proud country into doom being crushed between the Tsar and whoever rules France at that time“, as he stated in a speech in front of some senior generals of the German military soon after the news of the Kaisers plans reached him.
With the help of the army he managed to stage a successful coup d'état and to force Friedrich III. and his son Wilhelm II. into exile in Austria-hungary.
The troops of the Bismarck-military establishment coalition wiping out some civilian resistance against the new government
Having assumed full power, Bismarck was finally free of any restrictions on his idea of an isolationist Germany. The colonies were mostly left to themselves, military funding, especially for the navy was severely cut and defense pacts with all other major nations were signed to make an attack on Germany risky at best and suicidal at worst.
In terms of internal matters Bismarck continued his crusade against democracy and socialism, dissolving parliament and banning all political parties in 1890.
French satire on Bismarcks treatment of the "Reichstag" (the German parliament)
Meanwhile in Austria-Hungary Friedrich III. had died from cancer in 1888. His son Wilhelm II. however was very active, trying to build a resistance movement in Germany and rekindling connections to the military which obviously disagreed with Bismarcks cuts to their budget which was the opposite of what he had promised them before.
Bismarcks mental condition became worse and worse starting around 1893 which showed in his more and more extreme actions against everyone he perceived as an enemy of the state.
When he tried to arrest multiple noblemen with a very good connection to the military in 1894, the generals decided that enough was enough. Preparations were made to get Wilhelm II. back into the country while military planners were already busy designing new ships and equipment that Wilhelm had promised them in advance.
On november the 2nd of 1895 the plan was carried out: The undeniably insane Bismarck was forcibly taken into a medical care facility where he was kept until his death in 1898.
Bismarck on his deathbed in 1898
Wilhelm II. assumed power and in difference to Bismarck he kept his promises. He opted out of the treaties Bismarck had signed and increased funding for the military considerably, putting special emphasis on building a large and oceangoing navy to protect the colonies of the empire and rival the fleets of other major powers.
The colonies themselves, almost abandoned in the years before were to be heavily invested into to make the wilhelminian dream of „ein Platz an der Sonne“ („a place in the sunshine“) a reality.
This was of course seen with a lot of concern by other European powers especially the British who feared that a strong German fleet could endanger their naval superiority. (France was in a revolution as always and had other thing to worry about.)
This however was of little concern for the German designers. In late 1896 the first oceangoing German Battleships were layed down and launched in 1899 as well as some smaller vessels.
The newly founded German „High seas fleet“ could in no way compare to the navy of Britain but already posed a severe threat to other foreign powers.
The fairly young and unexperienced Roland von Tannenheim was chosen as the new secretary of the navy. It was to be his task to command the operations of the new military arm as well as „disarming“ some of the often somewhat dangerous statements that Wilhelm II. decided to put out.
The world in 1898 - the German colonies are still very underdeveloped and can not supply anything bigger than a small cruiser force
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