A War of Blood and Steel [Althis|PT|OOC|Ended]

[The National Dominion of Hungary]

Oooh Super-temped to either go for a slightly different USSR or perhaps a Tzarist Russia that survived thanks to modernizing due to Tzar Alex II'd not getting assassinated.

Failing that, maybe Poland could be interesting...

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Oooh Super-temped to either go for a slightly different USSR or perhaps a Tzarist Russia that survived thanks to modernizing due to Tzar Alex II'd not getting assassinated.

Failing that, maybe Poland could be interesting...

Well, both options are open so pick whichever one you feel is more interesting to you!

[The National Dominion of Hungary]

Here we go then.

Reservation

Nation Name: The Soviet Union
Territory: Here - including puppets (if possible)
Tech Tree: Soviet/Russian
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

[Empire of Techkotal]

I withdraw my reservation for.

Happy Exil?

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Here we go then.

Reservation

Nation Name: The Soviet Union
Territory: Here - including puppets (if possible)
Tech Tree: Soviet/Russian
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

Accepted.

I withdraw my reservation for.

Happy Exil?

Noted. Roster is updated, map update comes when Imgur stops being silly and playing adverts on endless loop.

[Arvenia]

Reservation

Nation Name: Spanish Republic
Territory: Spain, Andorra, Spanish Morocco, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea
Tech Tree: Spanish
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

[Hantuonia]

In all honesty, I tried to find African land that had not be colonized, and in the AU we ceased control of it before the Americans founded it.
SO I suppose that it was just for the sake of having land in Africa. (That was not taken by another European power in the real world.) <-- (Or any other power for that matter)

I see. So a sort of prestige colony you say?

Some questions that came up. Does your territory include Transylvania or Croatia? Might be difficult to have or sustain a colony with the tiny port Bosnia-Herzegowina has.

I added croatia.. If that is okay with you.
(I did not want to have an OP nation)

[Empire of Techkotal]

Reservation

Nation Name: Latin American Confederation
Territory: All the spanish Viceroyalties except New Spain
Tech Tree: Italian
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

[Mifan]

Deleted

[Remnants of Exilvania]

RESERVATION
Nation Name: The Democratic Republic of Hungary
Territory: Hungary, Slovakia, Liberia, Northern Serbia, Croatia, And Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tech Tree: Hungary
#JDMZVUM1QCv

Accepted. You sure you don't wanna have Transylvania?

Reservation

Nation Name: Spanish Republic
Territory: Spain, Andorra, Spanish Morocco, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea
Tech Tree: Spanish
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Accepted.

Reservation

Nation Name: Latin American Confederation
Territory: All the spanish Viceroyalties except New Spain
Tech Tree: Italian
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

Accepted after the territorial adjustments we discussed.

Reservation

Nation Name: Kingdom of Portugal
Territory: Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, East Timor, Goa
Tech Tree: British?
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Right, so, I am going to have to say no. For Portugal to be able to keep not only its colonies in the Old World but also Brazil, which quickly outgrew Portugal in near every way, some seriously weird stuff must've happened. Weirder stuff than might've been possible.

How about just Brazil or just Portugal and its colonies?

[Hantuonia]

will there be a map of our territories?

[Remnants of Exilvania]

will there be a map of our territories?

Click on the green coloured word "MAP" in the OP. It's a link and should bring you to the current, up to date map.

[Mifan]

Reservation

Nation Name: Empire of Brazil
Territory: Brazil
Tech Tree: USA
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

[The Cascade and Saint Islands]

Reservation

Nation Name:The Second Ghassanid Kingdom
Territory:Modern rl Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, the Southern district of Isreal, and Tabuk, Al Jawf, and Al Hodud As Shamaliyah provinces of Saudi Arabia
Tech Tree:Persia/Iran
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

[Hantuonia]

will there be a map of our territories?

Click on the green coloured word "MAP" in the OP. It's a link and should bring you to the current, up to date map.

Oh, thanks!

[Sao Nova Europa]

App is finished. BTW, I claimed Cyprus too in the app, since I had forgotten about it. Hope it's OK.

[Hantuonia]

Exilvania, may you add Liberia to my territory in the map..
Sorry for bugging you

[Hubaldad]

wip

[Monsone]

Reservation

Nation Name: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Territory: All currently unclaimed territories controlled IRL by the Netherlands in 1937.
Tech Tree: Dutch
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Reservation

Nation Name: Empire of Brazil
Territory: Brazil
Tech Tree: USA
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Accepted.

Reservation

Nation Name:The Second Ghassanid Kingdom
Territory:Modern rl Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, the Southern district of Isreal, Tabuk, Al Jawf, and Al Hodud As Shamaliyah provinces of Saudi Arabia, and Alexandria governorate of Egypt (I am aware this would make Alexandria an exclave)
Tech Tree:Persia/Iran
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Gonna need a moment to figure this one out please.

App is finished. BTW, I claimed Cyprus too in the app, since I had forgotten about it. Hope it's OK.

Added Cyprus. Will let Thrac review your app, I do believe Roman Empires are his forte.

Exilvania, may you add Liberia to my territory in the map..
Sorry for bugging you

Riiiight, there was a colony that I forgot. Done.

Nation Application

Right, so, there are a few things I can tell off the bat:

• Can you define territory a bit better? Are we talking 1937 Germany, 1914 Germany, 2021 Germany? Germano-Swiss Germany?
• You are aware that Germany at this point of time had a lot less population?
• It'd be nice if you could describe the military at least a little. That way people need not necessarily open a book but can look at your app to get an idea.
• Same goes for the economic section. Some more info would be grand. It's really not necessary to go super into depth but at least some basic stuff to give people a basic overview would be great.
• I know, I know, same as IRL timeline, but again, this is also so that people don't need to open wikipedia every time. We do require a history of at least the last three decades and it would be good if it were longer than one paragraph. How about one paragraph per decade?
• I assume you are new, based on your post count? Or is this just a new/puppet nation? Germany is a pretty major player in this era so I hope you forgive if we enforce a little bit of quality control on it. It would be great if you could telegram me a sample of your writing or something along the lines of that so I can see if you're up to the task.

Reservation

Nation Name: Kingdom of the Netherlands
Territory: All currently unclaimed territories controlled IRL by the Netherlands in 1937.
Tech Tree: Dutch
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Accepted.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Reservation

Nation Name:The Second Ghassanid Kingdom
Territory:Modern rl Jordan, West Bank, Gaza, the Southern district of Isreal, Tabuk, Al Jawf, and Al Hodud As Shamaliyah provinces of Saudi Arabia, and Alexandria governorate of Egypt (I am aware this would make Alexandria an exclave)
Tech Tree:Persia/Iran
#JDMZVUM1QC (Do not delete this, it is used to keep track of the apps)

*Note: Reservations will last for 48 hours. The OP board reserves the right to be subjective in regards to accepting and removing reservations.

Hm, I have two questions.

One, could you explain the Alexandria Governorate bit?

Two, I assume Gaza and the West Bank are gains made in the Great War? Might want to talk a little with our resident Roman Player who appears to have lost Lebanon and Palestine in the Great War.

[Tracian Empire]

My app should be essentially done

[Remnants of Exilvania]

Nation Application

Full Nation Name:

• Danubian Confederation/German: Donaubund/Czech: Podunajská konfederace/Slovenian: Podunavska konfederacija/Latin: Confoederatio Danuvii (official and symbolic)
• Danubian Monarchy/German: Donaumonarchie/Czech: Podunajská monarchie/Slovenian: Podunavska monarhija/Latin: Monarchia Danuvii (official and symbolic)
• The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Crown of Saint Wenceslas/German: Die im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreiche und Länder und die Länder der Heiligen Wenzelskrone/Czech: Království a země zastoupené v říšské radě a v zemích Svaté koruny svatého Václava /Slovenian: Kraljestva in dežele, predstavljene v cesarskem svetu, in dežele svete krone svetega Vaclava (official, but outdated)

Short Nation Name:

• Danubia/German: Danubien/Czech: Podunajsko/Slovenian: Podunavje (informal)
  Austria-Bohemia/German: Österreich-Böhmen/Czech: Rakousko-Čechy/Slovenian: Avstrijsko-Češka

National Symbols:

• National Flag of the Danubian Confederation
• Naval Ensign of the Imperial and Royal Navy
• Naval Jack of the Imperial and Royal Navy
• Banner of the Imperial and Royal Army
• Coat of Arms of the Danubian Confederation
• Gott Erhalte, Gott Beschütze, the Anthem of the Empire of Austria
• Zachovej nám, Hospodine, the Anthem of the Kingdom of Bohemia
• Indivisibiliter ac Inseparabiliter /Unteilbar und Untrennbar/Nedělitelný a Neoddělitelný/Nedeljive in Neločljivi/Indivisible and Inseparable - motto of the Danubian Confederation
• Viribus Unitis/Mit Vereinten Kräften/Spojenými Silami/Skupne Sile/With United Forces - personal motto of Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia

Capital: Vienna

Territory: Austria, Lichtenstein, South Tyrol, Istria, Slovenia, Czechia

Form of Government: Federal constitutional parliamentary monarchy

Despite claiming to be a confederation officially, the Danubian Monarchy is a closer to a federation, an evolution of the political system that existed in Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the Great War. The Confederation is divided into two federal states, the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Bohemia, and Austria has a few provinces which have been granted a certain degree of autonomy, the Duchy of Carinthia, and Lichtenstein. The two federal states are equal but remain federal states under a relatively strong central authority, unlike the Dual Monarchy of old.

Legislative power in vested into a single bicameral parliament, which each of its two chambers representing one of the parts of the Confederation, the Diet of Austria and the Diet of Bohemia. The two are elected within their specific part of the monarchy, but meet and legislate in Vienna, and routinely work in a joint session that is known as the Diet of the Confederation, which has led to some political experts describing the system as one of tricameralism. The two Diets have a system through which a majority of their members are elected through a direct, free, and secret vote by the Empire's male's citizens over the age of 18. Women's suffrage is at the time being only legal in local elections, even if there is a considerable movement with political support that is pushing for it to be adopted at a national and confederal level within the next few years. A small number of the members in both Diets are directly appointed by the Emperor-King.

According to the Danubian Constitution, executive power is vested into the Emperor-King, who then delegates it to his ministers. Unlike the previous Dual Monarchy, which had two governments, the Danubian Confederation has a single, Imperial and Royal Government. The Emperor-King appoints the ministers and the Minister-President, usually after consultations with the political parties, and they need to be confirmed by a simple majority vote in a joint session of the Imperial Diet. The Emperor-King's person is inviolable, and he isn't responsible for his acts as he doesn't directly exercise his executive powers. All executive acts are signed by both the Emperor-King and a minister, and the minister takes political responsibility for it.

The judicial power is an independent branch, with judicial authority granted to a hierarchical system of courts, ranging from lower courts to the Imperial and Royal High Court in Vienna.

Head of State:

(Image)
His Imperial and Royal Majesty, Charles the First and the Third, By the Grace of God Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Jerusalem etc. Archduke of Austria, Great Duke of Tuscany, Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Upper and Lower Silesia; Duke of Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Friuli and Guastalla; of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, of Friuli, of Raguza, and of Zara, Margrave of Moravia, Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trent and Brixen; Margrave of the Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria, Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc.; Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and on the Windic March; etc., etc.


Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Majestät, Karl der Erste und der Dritte, von Gottes Gnaden Kaiser von Österreich, König von Böhmen; König von Jerusalem etc. Erzherzog von Oesterreich, Großherzog der Toskana, Herzog von Lothringen, Salzburg, Steyer, Kärnthen, Krain, Ober- und Niederschlesien, von Modena, Parma, Herzogtum Piacenza und Herzogtum Guastalla, von Auschwitz und Zator, von Teschen, Friaul, Ragusa und Zara; Markgraf von Mähren; Gefürsteter Graf von Habsburg und Tirol, von Kyburg, Görz und Gradiska; Fürst von Trient und Brixen; Markgraf der Ober- und Nieder-Lausitz und in Istrien, Graf von Hohenembs, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc. Herr von Triest, von Cattaro und auf der windischen Mark etc., etc.

Head of Government:

(Image)
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Minister-President of the Danubian Confederation
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Ministerpräsident des Donaubundes
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Ministerský Předseda Podunajské konfederace

Ideology: As a somewhat functioning democracy, the Danubian Confederation does not have a single ideology, however, the Confederation is a strong support of monarchism, parliamentary democracy, multiculturalism and freedom of religion, but it is also at least partially revanchist when it comes to recovering some of the territories that it had lost during the Great War. The main political parties that are represented in the Diet of Bohemia and the Imperial Council are the Social-Christian Party, the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the National Liberal Movement. Each party is dually represented in both Austria and Bohemia, and alongside them, more local parties with Austrian and Czech interests also exist in their respective side of the empire. More extremist parties, like the National Bloc, the Greater German People's Party, the Young Czech Party, and the Austrian and Czech Sections of the Internationale are in a legal gray area.

Population: ~20,498,832

• Austria: 6,658,000
• Sudetenland: 3,261,636
• Czechia: 7,380,000
• South Tyrol: 300,000
• Istria: 600,000
• Slovenia: 1,144,298
• Lichtenstein: 10,600

Military Description:

The Imperial and Royal Armed Forces (Kaiserliche und Königliche Bewaffnete Macht/Císařské a královské ozbrojené síly) are the armed forces of the Danubian Confederation. They are divided into several branches, the first of which is the Imperial and Royal Army (Kaiserliche und Königliche Armee/Císařská a královská armáda).

Unlike in the old Dual Monarchy, the Confederation's armed forces are not internally divided into multiple branches belonging to several states, but serve as one army for one federal state. Separate designations for regiments still exist, Imperial and Royal (kaiserlich und königlich/k.u.k., cesarski i królewski/c.i.k.), used for common regiments recruited from throughout the country, Imperial-Austrian (kaiserlich-österreichisch/k.ö., císařsko-rakouský/c.r.) for units recruited from Austria, and Royal-Bohemian for units recruited in Czechia (königlich-böhmisch/k.b., královský-bohémský/k.b.), but these are just general naming conventions. German speakers and Czech speakers can be recruited in all three kinds of regiments depending on where they live, and the language of instruction and command remains German. The Imperial and Royal Army is a modern and well equipped force, strong compared to its position and numbers, and well known for its efficient organization and command structure, with many of the lessons from their defeat in the Great War well learned. The army has a peacetime strength of 235,980 men, organized in 23 infantry divisions and 6 mobile/fast divisions. Regular infantry divisions have an artillery regiment and support units, and have mortars, machine guns and anti-tank guns as support, and two of the infantry divisions are motorized. The mobile divisions are composed of motorized and cavalry brigades, include a bicycle and horse artillery battalion each, and have most of the tanks in Danubian service.

In times of war, through a mobilization, the army can increase its size to 1,342,390 or even 1,766,400 if a general mobilization were to be ordered, organized in 46 infantry divisions, two of which would be motorized, and the above mentioned 6 mobile divisions. Future plans include the addition of at least two more motorized and two more fast divisions. There would be six headquarters in charge of organizing the army, representing Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Styria ,Carinthia and Istria.

The army is generally equipped with domestically produced items. The standard pistol is the Pistole vz. 24/P24, slowly being replaced by the semi-automatic ČZ vz. 27/ P27. The main rifle is the bolt-action vz. 24/Gewehr 24, and the semi-automatic ZH-29 is in use with some units, particularly the motorized infantry. Two different submachine guns awere experimented on, the ZK-383 and the KP vz. 38, but only the latter is being introduced to military units. The ZK-383 was produced in small numbers as a prototype and was mostly sold abroad. Generally, units use the LK vz. 26 or the modernized ZB vz. 30 as their light machine guns, while units using heavy machine guns use the modern TK vz. 37 or the older Schwarzlose. The ZB-50 and ZB-60 are used as even heavier machine guns, usually in AA scenarios. The vz. 36 is the standard infantry mortar, while the artillery is very varied, and entirely domestic, generally produced by Škoda. In terms of armor, the core of the Danubian program is represented by the LT vz. 35/Panzer 35, of which the k.u.k. Armee has 300 units. 69 units of the lighter LT vz. 34/Panzer 34 are also still in use, while the army also has 96 Tč vz. 33 tankettes, usually assigned as support units to the infantry divisions, and around 100 armored cars of different models.

The Imperial and Royal Army also benefits from an extensive system of fortifications. Some, like the defensive complexes in the Alps on the border with Italy, are a legacy of the Great War, while others, like the border fortifications in Bohemia and Moravia, are relatively modern constructions, generally based on minefields, pillboxes and forts. The successful defense of the Italian front throughout the Great War, and the failures experienced in other fronts, combined with a real and pragmatic perspective forced upon the empire by its fall from the position of a great power and led its general strategy towards one of general defense, whereas the enemy would be forced to waste its forces attacking fortified areas, after which the Danubian forces would counterattack, with the fast divisions serving either as the core of their attacks, or being used as mobile reserves if any segment of the front would have been broken prior to this. The army also has 6 lower quality infantry units, known as Grenzers, manning these fortifications, and the Confederation can also call upon the equivalent of 19 divisions in improvised battalions of uniformed men, like border guards, railway guards and gendarmes, which can also be used to man the fortifications.

The second branch is the Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen, Císařské a královské letecké sbory). In theory, it has around 1794 planes in its records, however, from those, only around 897 are first-line planes, and only about 717 and actually operational. Most of the Confederation's planes are built domestically, having evolved from its early years in which it was only using licensed designs. Aero and Avia are the two largest producers, with theAvia B-534 biplane being the main fighter, while a project for a low-wing monoplane, the Avia B.35 do exist. Significant efforts are also made to modernize the bomber force, with the Aero A.304 and Aero A.300. The Danubian Air Force is a well trained and competent force, but it is somewhat held back by its bloated number of second-line planes and by the fact that the complacency of the past decades has somewhat slowed down its development of new planes, which means that the force as a whole has started to quickly attempt to catch up in the last few years with a modernization program in process.

The third branch is the Imperial and Royal War Navy (Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine, Císařské a královské válečné námořnictvo). In terms of sheer numbers of vessels, it seems to be a very imposing force, with 6 battleships, 8 cruisers, 28 destroyers, 80 torpedo boats and 10 submarines, however, most of these ships are terribly outdated and aren't in working condition. The Danubian Kriegsmarine has inherited most of the Austro-Hungarian ships which have survived the war, in its naval base at Pula. The new geopolitical reality which limited the Habsburg rule to a rump state with a minimal coast in Istria and Triest led to the naval budget being slashed, and remaining low for the entire time since. As such, only a few ships in the navy remain operational, and only a few of them have been modernized, with the current naval command focusing the most on using torpedo boats for defensive maneuvers.

Tech Tree: Czechoslovak tree, which as in real life also includes some remaining Austro-Hungarian equipment from the Great War that is no longer produced.

Economic Description: The Danubian Confederation is a highly industrialized country, having inherited most of the industrial areas of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bohemia is more industrialized than Austria, and produces armaments, locomotives, automobiles, machinery in quantities enough for them to be a major export, and it also benefits from a strong chemical industry, porcelain and glass industries. Beer and alcohol exports are also very important due to the high number of breweries and distilleries. Austria is less industrialized, but it has a very strong banking sector, and it produces important quantities of lumber, leather, paper, magnesite, copper, and platinum. Agriculture was initially a major issue in the empire, as the old Dual Monarchy had mostly relied on the more rural and agricultural lands in Transleithania for its agricultural needs. This combined with land ownership issues and with large cities like Vienna being suddenly cut off from their food supplies led to major issues in the first few years after the Great War, but the situation has somewhat stabilized ever since, with land reforms and strong state investments in agriculture helping bridge the gap.

Goals: Maintain the Danubian Confederation as a strong, multi-ethnic and democratic state, complete the federalization and modernization of the nation, recover the lost territories and maintain a Central European balance of power.

Point of Divergence: The death of Emperor Franz Joseph I happening in 1915, and a lot of of subsequent points of divergence happening because of it

History:

*Notes: Unless the opposite is mentioned, my history takes real life history into account, so in between these points, the war is expected to have occurred like in real life. If necessary due to the histories of the other nations in Europe and their players, I will be more than happy to make more changes so that things will work out.

• 1915: In November of that year, Emperor Franz Josef I dies in his sleep in Vienna. He is succeeded by his nephew, Karl von Habsburg, who is crowned in December. Much more liberal than his predecessor, but without the impending sense of doom that existed in real life in 1917, Karl starts making token concessions - one of the first being that after the initial crowning ceremony in Vienna, he goes on a tour of his empire and have coronation ceremonies according to the local customs of his various realms - starting with a coronation in Budapest and ending with a coronation in Prague. This made him the first Emperor since Ferdinand I to be crowned separately in his positions as King.
• 1916: Disagreements with Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf over the increased reliance of Germany, and the Austrian failures on the Eastern Front led to his removal from the positions of high command by Emperor Karl in spring. Unlike in real life, where the removal of von Hötzendorf was done slowly and with great care, in this instance it happened directly because of a big argument had with Emperor Karl during a meeting of the general staff, a result of the disagreements between the two men that existed in real life also. Von Hötzendorf initially resigned from the army, and not wanting to lose the trust of his highest officers, Karl didn't take any military roles by himself, instead appointing Arthur Arz von Straußenburg to be his chief of staff and de facto supreme commander. Arthur Arz von Straußenburg was a conciliatory figure, a good military commander but one who wasn't patronizing and combative in conversations like his predecessor. Von Hötzendorf was afterwards readmitted to the military and given a local command on the Eastern Front.
• 1918: During Operation Faustschlag, von Hötzendorf was wounded by a stray bullet fired by a Bolshevik soldier hidden in the Rostov railway building. He survived, but he was temporarily withdrawn from active military service in order to heal. Throughout spring and at the beginning of summer, the Austrians started moving their divisions from the east on the Italian front, where they hoped to capitalize on their earlier victory at Caporetto in order to take out the Italians with one decisive offensive. The Battle of the Solstice, as it would become known, was planned with increased desperation, as the situation had become just as bad as in real life, with food shortages and political and ethnic tensions throughout the empire. With von Straußenburg and Emperor Karl in charge of planning, the offensive was designed with a focus on the "Giudicarie" sector, leading to Brescia. While the Italians had found out about the approximate timing of the attack, their intelligence believed that the attack in the Giudicarie sector would be a diversionary one. The offensive began on the 15h of June, and the Italians did not commit their reserves, believing that the main thrust of the attack would come towards Verona and Venice. Meanwhile the Austrians committed all their reserves and managed to break through with a pinpointed attack. On the 17th, they reached Brescia, and the Italian front was broken, panic spread, and the Italian front collapsed. While the reserve units were sent forward, after heavy fighting, the Austrian units occupied Verona and Padua on the 20th, while Venice was besieged. While the collapse wasn't as bad as the one during the Battle of Caporetto, the Italian government, believing that the front had completely fallen, dismissed Diaz and asked for an armistice.
  
  The armistice was signed at Mantua in late June, but the victory there had no noticeable effect on the situation on the homefront. Food shortages, political chaos, and the economy being strangled by the continental blockes were still all issues, and despite having knocked out its major enemy, the Empire was still caught up in the greater continental war. Emperor Karl as such, instensified his efforts to ask for an armistice fron the Entente, with his brother in law acting as an intermediary. Since the Allies could no longer request an Austrian recognition of Italian claims, and since the Entente was desperate because of the German effort on the Western Front, an informal agreement was reached. Anger from the Germans however threatened to pull Austria into a different war, and despite his best efforts to explain the situation to Wilhelm II, Karl attempted to move his units towards the west to defend against any possible German attacks. The population however, having their hopes of a final war to the end dashed however, had enough. A revolt began in Budapest and in the occupied Belgrade, and Karl's promises of reforms and attempts to reconvene the Imperial Parliament were made useless by the situation in Budapest, which prevented him from negotiating with any delegations from Transleithania. Hungary officially ended the personal union between the two sides of the empire, and Hungarian units started deserting or revolted. The Empire disintegrated, however, in the final days of October, an agreement was reached with Bohemia, which had remained among the most stable in the empire. Cisleithania was to be recognized as a federation of equal nations, an agreement easier to made without the Hungarians vetoing everything. Karl did not yet resign from the Hungarian throne, and he continued to harbor the hope that he could still mobilize the remains of his military and retain his empire, but even the collapse of Germany in early November came way too late for that, as the Hungarians organized themselves, and there were skirmishes between the two former parts of the same army in Burgenland. A separate, Slavic rebellion in Croatia threatened both empires, and a socialist uprising in Vienna inspired by the Spartacist Uprising in Germany required a military intervention from the still loyal XX Corps. With Gallicia-Lodomeria also occupied by forces of the newly reborn Poland, with parts of the Cisleithanian Dalmatia occupied by informal Italian units or by the Hungarians, the remaining Habsburg rule had to face reality and accept that significant parts of its empire were lost, and that the military units that it still had were needed at home to quell unrest. An informal armistice was reached with Hungary, but no peace treaty was signed.
  
• 1919-1930: The following decade was difficult for the rump Habsburg state, having lost most of its agricultural regions, but due to its earlier signed armistice and already obvious territorial collapse, the Treaty of Saint German en Laye was relatively fair, and without Wilson's Fourteen Points, it recognized the borders of the remaining Habsburg territories. The new country even received some allied support early on, intended to stop it from collapsing and falling into communism. The economy started to recover starting in 1923, and the agriculture was salvaged by a series of land reforms in both Bohemia and Austria. Political reforms required extensive negotiations, including with the Czech nationalists, but they eventually crystalized into a new Compromise/Ausgleich, signed in Vienna in 1925 and which reorganized the remains of the Empire into the federal state that exists today.
• 1930-present: While no longer a great power in Europe, the reformed Danubian Confederation remained a powerful middle power, its internal political situation stabilizing, and remaining as a powerful model of how a multi-ethnic state can survive. Despite that, the Confederation has had to contend with the rising of political extremism, both within its own borders and throughout Europe, and threats, to both the survival of the Habsburgs and of the Confederation's parliamentary democracy, will have to be faced, sooner or later.

Have You Read, Understand, and Agree with the OP Posts & Rules In Detail?: yes
#JDMZVUM1QC (do not delete this, it's for keeping track of the apps)

Jesus fucking Christ Thrac! Your apps never cease to amaze xD

After the small changes we talked about, ACCEPTED! Changing the roster now.

[Northern Socialist Council Republics]

Application is written. I have no idea why I wrote my history like this when my usual fare is a drier, more technical style. I guess I was just feeling a bit poetic or something?

Nation Application

Full Nation Name: The official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Northern Socialist Council Republics (da: Nordiske socialistiske rådsrepublikkenes samfundet).

Short Nation Name: Colloquially, the nation is often referred to as Norden, the Northern Commonwealth, or the NSRS.

National Symbols: The flag of the Northern Commonwealth is as follows: a field of red charged with a roundel of white, in which is inscribed a stylised swan of blue.

Capital: Nominally, the capitals of the four nations: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Helsinki, are considered to be of equal status. In functional governance, the government and the legislature both meet in Copenhagen, making that city the functional capital of the Northern Commonwealth.

Territory: The territory of the Northern Commonwealth includes Fennoscandia bounded on the east by the Russo-Finnish border as defined in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu (identical to the real life treaty except: the Petsamo Corridor remained in Russia), Jutland bounded on the south by the Eider River, the small islands off the coasts of these two main landmasses, and the following major islands and island groups: Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, the Faroes, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Danish Isles, Bornholm, and the Åland Islands.

Form of Government: The Northern Commonwealth is a republican, democratic, and parliamentary confederation. Sovereignty is vested in the Commonwealth Parliament, a unicameral legislature to which members are nominated on an open-list proportional-representative basis through regular elections held no more than three years apart under universal suffrage and which appoints from one of its members a Speaker who performs largely ceremonial and functional roles. The Commonwealth Parliament also nominates and has the power to recall a State Minister, who may not serve concurrently as a member of parliament, in whom the executive powers of the state are vested. The confederate nature of the Northern Commonwealth is clear in the high degree of self-rule afforded its constituent republics and autonomous regions, with the Commonwealth government largely overseeing matters of common welfare.

Head of State: The head-of-state of the Northern Commonwealth is Jens Nordstjerne, Speaker for the Brother Peoples.

Head of Government: The head-of-government of the Northern Commonwealth is Anders Dyrssen, State Minister of the Commonwealth.

Ideology: The ruling Agrarian League - Labour Party - Socialist Left coalition is broadly reformist-socialist and anti-military in nature.

Population: The population of the Northern Commonwealth is 17.05 millions, of which 6.14 Sweden, 4.27 Denmark, 3.67 Finland, and 2.97 Norway.

Military Description: The Northern Commonwealth has large, well-trained, but not particularly well-equipped armed forces with a strongly defensive posture, with a philosophy of leveraging its geographical advantages to remain secure despite having a much smaller industrial base and population compared to its neighbours. Broadly speaking, in peacetime it only maintains a small professional core around which a large reserve force can be rapidly mobilised during times of crisis.

Its army, still based on the Sixty Divisions Plan established after the Great War, calls for a force of 60 divisions (hence the name), including two armoured divisions (on paper, light armour supported by motorised infantry, but the necessary motorisation equipment has yet to be produced), six ranger divisions (elite infantry specialised for harsh terrain and weather), four dragoon divisions (name anachronistic; bicycles, not real horse cavalry), and four armies of 12 reserve infantry divisions each, for a total of 148,520 peacetime and 595,400 mobilised paper strength. Compared to other armies of the region, the Commonwealth Army is seriously deficient in armoured or motorised forces and only mediocre in terms of heavy artillery, choosing instead to place its faith in a deep and flexible defence supported by extensive border fortifications. The Danevirke line along the southern border of the Commonwealth, in particular, is regarded as one of the finest border fortifications of the era.

Compared to other states of similar stature and technological sophistication, the Northern Commonwealth maintains a large and flexible navy albeit one without heavy ships that can truly dominate the high seas. Considering the sheer British naval dominance in the region, the Commonwealth Navy is a force built with an asymmetric strategic situation in mind, built to survive against and interfere with, rather than emerge truly victorious over, hostile forces. Consequently, like the army, it is a force dedicated to the immediate security of the Commonwealth's home territories, consisting of a broad destroyer, patrol boat, and submarine force built around a core of 13 coastal defence heavy cruisers. All in all the navy fields 91 heavy vessels (that is to say, excluding patrol boats) for a total paper strength of 32,500 peacetime and 48,750 mobilised.

It is the relatively new air force, however, that is the true pride of the Commonwealth Armed Forces, and it is in this arena that the Northern Commonwealth's technological sophistication truly shines. Unlike the Army, which mostly serves the function of hiding behind the nation's border fortifications and rough geography, and the navy, some of whose hulls are nearly half a century in age and are showing serious signs of age despite many refits, the Commonwealth Air Force has the equipment, the training, and the sheer size to compete with any other in the world. With aims of being the ultimate mobile force that can shore up defence both on the ground and on the sea when surface forces are in difficult situations and preventing any hostile air forces from doing the same, the Northern Commonwealth has developed a force of three air divisions each containing three fighter wings and three bomber wings, for a peacetime paper strength of 16,200 and a mobilised paper strength of 32,400.

Tech Tree: The United Kingdom

Economic Description: With a highly-educated population and one of the finest technological academia in Europe, the Northern Commonwealth boasts one of the highest industrial productivity and best standards of living in the world, which thanks to the country's flexible monetary policy and a decisive fiscal response survived the harsh years of the Great Depression relatively intact.

Well educated and technically sophisticated the Northern Commonwealth's population may be, however, that population is not a large one, meaning that the Northern Commonwealth's economic and industrial capacity is, in absolute nominal terms, merely a fraction of those of the great powers. Furthermore, the economic prosperity of the Northern Commonwealth hides serious regional inequalities; in development the vast and underpopulated north lags many years behind the mechanised farms and industrial cities of southern Scandinavia, and despite two decades of recovery and developmental assistance so does Finland.

Goals: Despite only being tangentially involved in it, the Northern Commonwealth is possibly the country whose culture and politics was most affected by the sheer pointless butchery of the Great War. The main centrist parties of the Commonwealth, both on the left and the right, are agreed: the single overriding foreign policy of the Northern Commonwealth must be the establishment of a stable and peaceful international order in which alone its own security and prosperity can be assured.

Point of Divergence: Swedish-Norwegian participation in the 1864 Prusso-Danish War; the outcome of the war remains unchanged, but the pan-Scandinavian movement emerges strengthened.

History: Emerging from the smoke and thunder of the Prusso-Danish War of 1864, the populist Pan-Scandinavian wave of the 1860s and '70s, and then the mass labour movements of the late 19th Century, the Commonwealth of Northern Socialist Council Republics - originally just the Scandinavian Confederation and then the Northern Revolutionary Commonwealth before the current name was arrived at - entered the 20th Century full of all the nationalistic pride and futuristic optimism that so defined Europe of the Belle Époque. As a revolutionary state, although exactly what kind of revolution was a matter of some contention between the progressive liberals, the labour movement, and the anarcho-syndicalists, to say nothing of the Scandinavian Romanticists for whom 'socialism' meant a return to agrarian idyll away from the violent market forces of the industrial city and the various flavours of radical nationalists, it also dreamed of overturning the old European order to establish something truly new and better in its stead.

And then diplomacy failed and the world descended into madness.

While the Northern Commonwealth is not conventionally considered a belligerent in the Great War, being involved only in the peripheral conflicts that defined its conclusion, it would be incorrect to say that the Commonwealth did not suffer from it. The British, who feared her enemies subverting her trade interdiction by using neutral European powers as a conduit of trade with the outside world, issued an ultimatum to cease trade with its enemies or be interdicted as one, and the Northern Commonwealth spent most of the war being blockaded by the Royal British Navy, even as the Danish minority of northern Germany, which due to cultural and nationalistic ties the Northern Commonwealth regarded as being naturally within its sphere of influence, was drafted into the Kaiser's armies and sent to the trenches to bleed and die.

According to the traditional metrics by which a state's success is measured - victory on the battlefield, the absorption of new territories, and the realignment of its neighbours in its favour - the Northern Commonwealth gained much from the Great War. The Commonwealth's attempt to finally break itself free from the British naval blockade caught the United Kingdom with complete surprise and the Commonwealth swan flew over the Northern Isles before the British could muster a response. The disintegration of the German and Russian Empires into bloody civil wars, and the rapid intervention of the Commonwealth Armed Forces in both, saw the Duchy of Schleswig and - the big prize - the Grand Duchy of Finland declare independence and soon hold plebiscites to formally join the Northern Commonwealth.

Yet the popular memory of the Great War was not that of brave sailors pressing on through the dark, nor was it the red flag flying over the Northern Commonwealth's new territories. Rather, it was the collective memory of sixteen-year-old South Jutlander boys who returned from the Western Front with no spark left in their eyes. It was the hunger seasons of 1916 and 1917, with British cruisers in the Baltic turning away much-needed shipments of corn and wheat from the Americas. It was the visions of mass executions and forcible population transfers that coloured the Finnish Civil War, and of the ice-covered remnants of Swedish volunteers who froze, unlamented and unremembered, in the frozen darkness of the Sami winter.

And all those trenches on the foreign newspapers. Kilometre after kilometre of barbed wire and mud, decorated only by the corpses of uniformed men draped over them.

The voices that once called for an international revolution sputtered and died. The calls for a glorious Swedish return to the Baltic petered out into silence. The Northern Commonwealth emerged from the Great War, in short, with a renewed determination that never again will its people make the mistake of war, as a nation that wished nothing more than to be left alone.

As the Northern Commonwealth's people, and thus their chosen representatives, turned their eyes inwards, towards achievements that were perhaps less glorious but did every bit as much to heat and lighten hearth and home, the politics of the country quickly settled into a stable sort of neutrality, retreating in onto itself surrounded by defences and no longer so eager to venture out into the world beyond its own frontiers. The Great Depression, which simultaneously focused the attention of the Northern Commonwealth towards domestic matters while sapping money away from the defence budget, did nothing but accelerate this trend, even as eyebrows rose and traumas were refreshed as neighbouring country after neighbouring country fell into the fires of despotism and revanchism.

As the Year of Our Lord 1936 draws to a close, the Northern people enjoy the comforts of their home and hearth, their spines warm and their bellies full, even as the world outside their little island of stability teeters towards the inevitability of a second conflict like a derailed train. Images of barbed wire and mud flash in their minds again. They hope, hope against all reason, that if they just close their eyes and pretend that nothing is happening, then it will all just go away.

But the world is not in the habit of entertaining anyone's delusions.

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Also, slight map error: the territory of the Northern Commonwealth includes what used to be the Duchy of Schleswig, but not the Duchy of Holstein. You've given me one province too much in South Jutland in the official map. :p

[Arvenia]

What should I do with the Spanish Civil War?