1951 The Greater German Reich offers membership to those European nations it does not already control. Several of the nations agree out of an acknowledgement of their inevitable incorporation within the Reich, while others, like Poland and Romania, do so out of fear of the burgeoning power of the USSR. Europe is effectively united, except for England, for the first time in history.
The Second Sino-Soviet War: The leaders of the USSR, concerned about Japan?s power should it successfully harness the huge populations it absorbed in China and India, declare war on Japan. Unfortunately, they have over-estimated the combat ability of their own army and underestimated that of the Japanese. After initial reverses the Japanese Army launches strong counterattacks and succeeds in pushing the Russians back along their long common border. Particularly galling for the Soviets are the seemingly endless waves of Chinese that the Japanese throw at them as a predecessor to their own attacks. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the USSR has nearly every advantage and ultimately the Japanese lines crumble under repeated onslaughts from well-equipped and apparently endless Russian hordes. In addition, the Japanese have ruled China and India with an iron hand, in a very brutal manner, and thus the Japanese defense is hampered by resistance groups and partisan activity in their rear and is ultimately unable to match Russia?s vast manpower.
In spite of Japanese pleas for assistance against the Russians, the Greater Reich remained neutral until the Japanese lines crumbled and it appeared that the USSR was going to take all of the Japanese continental holdings. When Timinov, the Premier of the USSR, ignored a request for negotiations from the Reich, the Wehrmacht, with Japanese agreement, began moving from its Afghani bases into India to support the Japanese. At the same time, Wehrmacht units in Europe began massing on the Reich?s eastern border. Premier Timinov agreed to a summit after the Kaiser began making pointed statements about not wishing to destroy Moscow as London had been destroyed. Not having nuclear weapons of his own, Timinov had little choice but to back down and open negotiations. Germany presides over a peace settlement between Russia and Japan that sees approximately a third of China turned over to Russia. The war also incidentally reduces Japan?s hold on India as a result of the heavy casualties that the Japanese Army took during the war, although this is not apparent at first.
During the Russian-Japanese War the Greater Reich invades and conquers Saudi Arabia and the other counties on the Arabian Peninsula. Although America protests, it does so half-heartedly and it takes no action when the Arab nations are annexed as Reich Territories.
The FEC uses the forces under its command to put down several bloody rebellions in Africa, and, later in the year, moves on to take over several other former colonies in Africa and expand its territory.
1952 The USSR detonates its first nuclear weapon making it the third nuclear power. Japan detonates its own nuclear weapon later in the year.
The Greater German Reich launches its first orbital satellite. America is caught unprepared.
Late in 1952 America and Russia launch their own satellites.
With the launch of satellites into orbit, the attention the public turns to space, and the major governments begin diverting large sums of money into astronomy and rocketry. Major new telescopic surveys of Mars and Venus are authorized, building on earlier work. For the first time, astronomers are able to confirm that both worlds have oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres.
1953-1954 America forms the Permanent Alliance for Freedom, or more simply, the Alliance or Western Alliance. In large part the Alliance is a mere acknowledgement of the already existing situation in the West. The Alliance initially encompasses the US and most of the former Commonwealth countries, including England. The Alliance is in reality a loose federation of semi-independent nations and is seen as a necessity in light of the German superpower and the emerging strength of Japan and the USSR.
Africa becomes a playground for spies and influence peddlers from all of the major powers as they vie for control of the developing nations and their mineral resources. Influence is bought and sold, and every form of conflict is practiced short of outright war or military invasion. Heads of State are bought off, governments toppled, and opposing forces attacked if it can be brought off. The continent is a large, seething, barely controlled cauldron of political and social instability. The Alliance and the Greater Reich are the two main players, with the USSR and the Japanese acting as spoilers, becoming involved only if one side or the other appears to be gaining the upper hand. The FEC begins losing ground, a victim of native nationalist sentiments and economic and military pressure from the other major nations.
1954 Extensive telescopic survey of both Venus and Mars finally proves that both planets harbor life. It had been proved long ago that both had atmospheres, and earlier surveys showed that they had large bodies of water, but until this most recent attempt scientists had been unable to determine if either harbored large-scale life forms.
1955 India rebels against Japanese rule. Japanese forces, weakened by the war with the USSR, are unable to keep control and are forced to retreat to the coast. The Japanese Emperor threatens to use nuclear weapons on Indian cities; however, both the Alliance and the USSR threaten to use nuclear weapons on Japan if they do so. The Japanese turn to Germany for help, but the Greater Reich remains silent and ultimately Japan is forced to retreat from India. Japanese occupation forces, reinforced by units relocated from India, savagely put down a similar rebellion in China.
The USSR masses forces on the Indian border in what appears to be a prelude to invasion. All three other powers warn the USSR against taking precipitous action, and ultimately it stands down.
The new Provisional Government of India is offered membership in the Alliance and Territorial status in the Greater Reich but turns them both down.
1960 The Greater Reich announces that it intends to put a man on Venus within a decade. Rather than be seen as following the Germans, the Western Alliance announces that it will send men to Mars in the same time period.
1956-1964 This is a time of rebuilding and consolidation. Germany spends vast amounts of wealth improving the conditions in Eastern Europe and the Middle Eastern Reich Territories. Autobahns now stretch from the Atlantic Ocean at the western boundary of the Reich to the Indian Reich Territories in the Far East, and the dense European network of railroads preceded them.
The Alliance spends equally large amounts of wealth and effort to rebuild England and modernize South America. The Alliance Council agrees to include most of Central and South America in the Alliance, regardless of whether those nations want membership or not. Once those nations are incorporated into the Alliance significant quantities of resources are diverted to those nations to bring them more into line with the standards of living in the other countries in the Alliance.
Although Africa appears to settle down, at least on the surface, tensions increase as battle lines are drawn between Alliance and Reich proxy nations.
The Greater Reich launches an unmanned rocket into orbit in 1963. Germany launches the first man into space in 1964 and follows up with the first orbiting satellite into orbit later in the year.
America is not far behind. Although America does not have the same expertise in rocketry as the Germans, they were stung by the way that the Reich caught them off guard with nuclear weapons and have sworn never to let it happen again. President Kennedy promises that America will get a man to the moon by 1968. The moon is seen by both nations as a stepping stone to Mars and Venus.
An Indian separatist movement arises in the Reich Indian Territories, demanding that the Territories be allowed to join the new Indian Republic. The Wehrmacht garrison units in the Indian Territories are reinforced in response.
India becomes a hotbed of intrigue as the major powers vie for influence. The Indian government is surprisingly successful in playing the major powers off against each other.
1965 The British Missile Crisis. High altitude surveillance photos taken by German reconnaissance planes of England show what appear to be missile silos under construction. The Kaiser warns the Alliance against a renewed militarization of the British Isles and orders a mobilization of the Reich?s armed forces. When the Alliance denies the presence of any missiles, the Kaiser orders a full blockade of England by the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe. The President of the US and Prime Minister of the Alliance order a mobilization of their armed forces, and send naval units to sea to break the German blockade. Strategic nuclear forces on both sides go to high alert, and war seems imminent.
The Alliance backs down and agrees to remove any and all missiles in England. Germany also makes concessions to avoid war, although their concessions are largely related to Africa.
In spite of effort by the great powers to prevent it, India obtains plans for a nuclear weapon and detonates a test weapon late this year.
June 29, 1965 Kaiser Reinhardt I dies, to be succeeded by his son, Kaiser Reinhardt II.
1966-1968 The great space race. Both America and Germany do their best to beat each other to the Moon. Russia is far behind the two, although it does launch a man into space by 1967, and Japan is barely in the race as it only managed to get a small satellite into orbit by 1968.
Germany is ahead of the Americans until an accident that strands three of its astronauts in orbit causes a complete overhaul of its space program.
America wins, barely, getting its first mission on the moon in April of 1968. Germany comes in a close second, landing its first astronaut on the moon in June.
1972 Germany launches and assembles the first orbital station. America follows suit later the same year.
The African War: War breaks out across Africa between pro-Alliance and pro-Reich proxy nations. The two major powers limit themselves to supporting their proxies with supplies and materiel, along with extremely limited military support, often in the form of officer cadres and technical support troops.
The FEC, which had been steadily weakening over the last decade, is the first casualty of the war.
1973 War still rages across Africa. Many cities are devastated and most national infrastructures are close to collapse. The only exceptions are the Alliance proxy of South Africa and the Reich proxy of Egypt. Both of these nations are relatively stable and wealthy, and they form the core of the two African Alliances.
By late 1973 casualties among Reich and Alliance ?observers? are mounting as both sides send more troops in to bolster their flagging allies. Tensions between the two nations are very high, and strategic forces on both sides are on high alert.
1974 The Greater Reich and the Alliance broker a cease-fire and withdrawal from Africa to avoid a greater war. While withdrawal is seen as the compassionate action to avoid even greater bloodshed, it is seen as the final betrayal in most of Africa. First the two super-powers pushed the African nations into a war that devastated everything, and then they withdrew, allowing whatever was left to collapse. Revolutions sweep the continent and nearly every pro-Alliance or pro-Reich government is toppled, again with the exception of Egypt and South Africa.
Islam, the more radical forms of which were successfully suppressed in the Reich Territories, spreads through Africa like a wildfire.
1975 The US offers South Africa membership in the Alliance. Germany responds by offering Egypt full membership in the Reich. Turkey, which has long been a Reich Territory, is also offered full membership.
1976 America launches the first reusable ?space plane?, dubbed the space shuttle. It uses a large liquid fuel rocket coupled to expendable solid fuel boosters. Germany has focused on increasing the efficiency and payload of its standard rocket fleet, and is investigating hybrid ramjet variants for alternative methods to get into orbit.
At this point both America and Germany have crude spy satellites in orbit, and both are beginning to deploy communications satellites as well.
Russia also has a limited presence in orbit, as does Japan. Both are more occupied with their internal troubles and with the threat represented by the other powers than with space, though.
All four powers sign the Space Militarization Treaty. The Treaty allows for the militarization of space, but specifically prohibits any of the signatories from stationing nuclear weapons in orbit.
Oct. 1, 1978 Kaiser Reinhardt II dies of natural causes. His only child, Hildegarde, succeeds him. Kaiserine Hildegarde I is only 17 at the time of her accession to the throne. Her mother is appointed Regent for three years.
1979 Germany establishes the first permanent presence on the moon. The German base is located at one of the moon?s poles, near deposits of water. The base is intended to mine the moon for materials to bolster Germany?s presence in orbit. In short order the base is providing German orbital bases with both volatiles and mass in the form of lunar slag.
As always, America follows suit and establishes their base not far from the German facility. Over the next several years both sides expand their facilities and send troops to secure their investment.
1980-1985 The Islamic Union of Somalia, which used to be one of the stronger German proxy countries, uses a shrewd network of alliances and strategic wars to form the African Islamic Union. Taking a lesson from India the Islamic Union plays the major powers against each other to secure its independence.
Late in 1985 the first Reich mission reaches Venus. The Alliance had realized some time ago that the Reich was going to beat it to Venus, and thus changed its focus to Mars.
1986 The first Alliance mission arrives at Mars. Both of the missions by the Major Powers confirm that Mars and Venus are habitable, and that both contain life. Incredibly, both planets possess life forms that are recognizably from Earth. Both missions find extensive ruins, but this fact is suppressed and not released publicly. The ruins appear to be at least one hundred thousand years old, if not older. Careful contacts between the scientific establishments of the Reich and the Alliance establish that the ruins on Mars and Venus belong to completely different species, and that the environment of both planets were heavily altered at some point.
Both the Reich and the Alliance announce an increase in space exploration budgets, ostensibly to explore the brave new frontiers opened on Mars and Venus. In reality, these budgets are for exploring and exploiting the ruins found on both planets.
1987 Islamic underground movements in South Africa and Egypt make themselves known for the first time by engaging in attacks on Alliance and Reich installations.
1989 The first German asteroid mission is launched from Earth orbit. The mission is using an Orion-style nuclear pulse propulsion system, and is slated to spend five years surveying asteroids for potential mining missions. America follows suit the next year.
1995 The Reich has built up a sizeable colony on Venus, while the Alliance has done the same on Mars. The colonies are primarily composed of researchers, archeologists and pioneers.
2002 Alliance and researchers on Mars discover the secret of ?Trans-Newtonian? technology, opening an entirely new branch of science. The Americans, notoriously bad at security, allow enough of the information to leak that Reich researchers on Venus are able to replicate their discovery based on their own research of the ruins there. Within six months all of the nations are working on trans-newtonian tech, and their existing space programs have been largely abandoned in the face of the incredibly superior abilities that the new tech will impart.
2005 Both the Alliance and the Reich have deployed large numbers of enhanced ICBM?s. These new weapons are capable of striking their targets in seconds thanks to their new drives and sturdy hulls. Unfortunately, the new weapons have caused extreme paranoia among the leaders of both nations. There is absolutely no way a first strike can be detected in time to respond before the first missiles hit their target, raising the possibility that an attacker could decapitate their targeted nation and devastate its military, all before the target could respond.
Representatives from both the Alliance and the Reich attend several high-level meetings to resolve this situation, but the problem is inherent to the new technology. Finally, both nations adopt new command and control technology which includes limited independent decision making capability residing in powerful computer networks. The new systems are programmed to automatically launch on enemy nations if certain conditions are met. Both nations boast that any attack will be met instantaneously by a counter-strike launched within seconds of the first strike.
2010 Both the Alliance and the Reich have completed their modernization program to convert their economies to the use of trans-uranic materials. Both of the Major Powers are poised to make the leap out to the Solar System and whatever lies beyond.
