Nation: Ukrainian State (Ukrayinska Derzhava)



Location (on map): Most of modern-day Ukraine minus the westernmost and easternmost portions and Crimea.



History:

After the assassination of the Tsar of the Russian Empire in 1952, the resulting tremors and quakes exposed the ever-present cracks in Russian society and state. New movements and old alike, Bolshevik and reactionary, republican and nationalist, took the opportunity to rise and compete for control over what became an increasingly fractured empire. This took some great time to build up to outright civil war and conflict, but when it did, the ideology which has proven itself by far the strongest of all human ideas was the first to take advantage of it. This ideology was nationalism. While the other forces certainly were at work in Ukraine, the common bonds of nationalism led to the Ukrainian nobility, bourgeoisie and peasants alike uniting for a brief time to secure their independence from an increasingly fragmented and shattering Russia. With the central government in disarray, the Ukrainian Provisional Assembly formally declared independence on December 14th, 1955, claiming all lands with a majority Ukrainian population. In reality, however, this would prove to not be the case, as further troubles loomed once the question of independence was settled.

On May 1st, 1956, the Ukrainian Bolsheviks staged a massive revolt centered in the major cities of Kiev and Kharkiv. They pronounced the formation of new Soviets, and the entire Provisional Assembly was executed in an effort to instill terror on the other segments of the population. However, the main forces of the army, still in control of the officer corps made up of the traditional nobility, were able to galvanize support in retribution for the Bolsheviks' actions. They surrounded Kiev and after a defiant yet brief defense by the Bolsheviks, Kiev was retaken. The commander of the army, Artem Yurijovych Solovski, seeking to cement the power structure and buoyed by a wave of popular support, was crowned Hetman of Ukraine by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on June 25th, 1956. However, the Bolsheviks were able to retain their grip on power in northeastern Ukraine, and remain one of the primary antagonistic groups faced by the new Ukrainian monarchy.

Over the next three years, Hetman Artem Yurijovych struggled to lay the new foundations of power, but succeeded in doing so by fostering a close relationship with the ascendant capitalist class in Ukraine as ever greater numbers of former peasants came to the cities as nobles enclosed on communal farms in order to remain prosperous. A strong military-industrial complex was formed, catalyzed by intensive state investment and need for war materiel in ongoing skirmishes with bordering Russian splinter states, the Ukrainian Bolsheviks, and Tatar Crimea in the south. In the just-finished 1960 census, the Ukrainian State had a population of approximately 42 million people, mostly Ukrainians with a minority of Belarusians living in the northernmost, newly conquered regions. His rule was popularized by his highly jingoistic, patriotic speeches and efforts to recover the remaining land that he considered part of the de jure Ukrainian patrimony, and republican sentiment has been quelled by close relationships with the largest industrial magnates and a barebones constitutional framework governed by the legislature, the Verkhovna Rada. The monarchy, however, retains primary control and power to override its decisions.

In April of 1960, however, the 55-year old Hetman Artem suffered a stroke and after a few days of intensive care, died. His only heir, his 20-year-old daughter Anastasiya Artemivna Solovski, is set to assume the throne. The coronation was decided by the Rada to take place on June 25th, 1960. It remains to be seen whether such a young female successor can hold together the new monarchy her father had built, as many doubt a female's martial prowess and ability to hold this coalition together.

The German Empire was one of very few to make it through the Great War having gained something. The Russian Surrender in 1917 saw Eastern Poland and the Baltic shift into German control, and allowed Germany to throw everything at the Western front. However, nearly 6 months later, Austria started to lose traction, and Kaiser Wilhelm feared they would capitulate if something wasn't done. 1/3 of the German Army in Belgium was redirected South, to aid the Austrian army, and provide them with proper leadership. The strain on the Western front caused by the shift in the army eventually led to the French managing a successful push into Belgium in 1918, where the trenches would sit until the end of the war. Many Germans blamed the weak Austrian army for their failure to win the war, which is a sentiment that many still hold to this day.

Once the war was over, Germany was in shambles. The only thing that kept it's economy from collapsing in on itself was the sale of stockpiled military equipment and lease of mercenary forces to the White Army in Russia, to aid them in their civil war.

Back at home, soldiers had returned to their homes, only to be drafted into work at factories, farms, and construction. The state promised that once the economy stabilized, all veterans would be compensated for everything they went through in the last years of the war. That promise was enough motivation to keep them all hard at work for a good while, while the state frantically tried to find a way to keep their promise. Around this time, revolts started to appear in the larger German colonies due to lack of support from home. The most notable was that of Paul von Letow-Vorbeck in Tanganyika, who, with nearly the whole of the colonial army at his back, overthrew the colonial governor and titled himself “The Kaiser in Africa.”

The German state tried it's best to keep news of Vorbeck turning traitor out of the public eye, but it, of course, eventually made it's way to them. At nearly the same time, the mercenaries from Russia returned home, refusing to keep dying for another country. They also brought word with them that their side was losing, and the Russian money was no longer coming in. The flood of all this information at once led the populace to the same conclusion: Nobody was getting their compensation. They fought, died, and were now slaving away for nothing. The state lied. The Kaiser lied. At this point, they turned to a man who was speaking out against the state, and who had never failed them during the war. August von Mackensen. As more and more people rallied behind him, the Kaiser feared the worst, and ordered the assassination of von Mackensen in 1931. The assassin failed, however, and was captured. After a brief interrogation, he outed the Kaiser. The following year, the Kaiser was found dead in his office, rifle wound in his back, and the window shattered. Despite never finding the shooter, Mackensen was blamed, and, two days later, the German Civil War began.

Many regard the German Civil War as being even more horrendous than the Great War, as it pitted Germans who were tired of fighting against each other. It was a necessary war, that forced men to do many, many unnecessary things. To make matters worse, about four months in, the Poles and Lithuanians rebelled, demanding independence from the broken German state. The Empire nearly buckled, but a successful guerrilla operation in Bavaria lead by Wilhelm IV resulted in the death of von Mackensen. The Prince was captured, but managed to escape a couple months later during a raid staged by his brother. With their figurehead dead, and their last chance at victory at the negotiating table freed, the disorganized rebels quickly fell apart and surrendered, ending the Civil War on October 1935. The Germans took back Poland the following Summer, but found they reached their limit and had to stop their advance before they got around to the Baltic. Poland was designated a protectorate of the Empire, allowed mostly full autonomy so as to prevent another rebellion form emerging.

Between 1937 and 1956, Germany was focused solely on recovering from nearly 20 years of devastation. It holed up, and shut itself away from the world for the most part, only really interacting with essential trade partners, and it's neighbors. It wasn't until the death of Wilhelm III, and the ascension of Wilhelm IV that the empire truly saw life breathed into it again.

In 1957, on the 20th anniversary of the German Recovery period, Wilhelm marched German troops into Lithuania, aiming to reassert German hegemony over the territory. The Lithuanians fell within a week, and the Kaiser ordered the troops to continue North until they found the coast, taking Kurland from a broken Latvia as well. With his show of force accomplished, Wilhelm named the Baltic State a client state of the Empire. New flags were drawn up for both the Baltic and Poland, representing both their subservience to the German Empire, and their autonomous nature.

The fall of Russia has reigned in a whole new set of problems for Germany. Large amounts of Russian nationals enter Poland and the Baltic every day, searching for refuge and stability away from the horrors of their home. The visage of order that is the German state serves as a stark contrast to the lawless waste sitting at it's Eastern border. That same visage, however, also draws in a variety of criminals who simply want to take from the German territories, before escaping back home and disappearing into the lawless wastes. Because of this, Wilhelm IV has started plotting ways to bring order back to the East, however long it may take, for the security, and prosperity, of the German people.