Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Overview
The Federal Republic of Germany was formed in 1949 in the wake of a Second World War leaving millions of Germans dead, and the rest under the subjugation of the atom bomb and split by two sides of the same coin. Based in the city of Frankfurt, a mere 70 miles from the ruins of Würzburg, the Constitution of the Republic was ratified on 8 May, 1949, being the first of the two German states to become a sovereign nation after the War.
The state has since then largely devolved into a nation rife with bureaucracy and a political deadlock despite a relatively powerful federal government. Its contributions to the effort against BETA have been remarkable, culminating primarily in Operation Palaiologos, and they have proved an immensely useful buffer state and bargaining chip for NATO.
History
In the waning part of 1944, the two bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, were dropped on a crippled Germany. Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the following days, as did his entire line of succession in the Party. The wake of the Second World War left five million Germans dead and scores more without homes or the means to survive. The few politicians and Wehrmacht officers who survived struggled to pull together a German wasteland long enough to even sign the surrender.
Germany was split four ways between its conquerors, and was summarily forgotten, as the enemy in the East was subjugated. This original West Germany was apologists, activists, and simply those who survived the gallows in the wake of Nuremberg. Under the watchful eyes of the Allies, these few ‘Fathers of the Republic’ tried as best they could to repair a shattered nation in the latter half of the 1940s.
At first, their future was uncertain: Were they to build a new, obedient Germany, or were they destined to be on a leash for the remainder of their days? And as quickly as that question began, the Allies had signed off on a Federal Constitution in Summer 1949, with the first Chancellor being sworn in since 1933.
West Germany became the most prominent political piece in Europe for NATO, being the closest one could get to the rapidly closing Iron Curtain. West Berlin, the crown jewel of the Federal Republic, became a symbol of hope for those living in the Eastern Bloc. Standards of living skyrocketed. West German manufacturing took off among the Western European markets, and rearmament was authorized in the form of a self defence force - the Bundeswehr.
The ‘West German dream’ was the talk of Europe until the arrival of BETA. The initial findings were met with scrutiny and a Bundestag of politicians unwilling to believe. The landings at Kashgar sent shockwaves through every echelon of West German society, leading to major upscaling of the Bundeswehr and the extension of the six-month mandatory military service to one year per male. As the Bundestag preemptively readied a War Coalition government, the nuclear option was explored by the Warsaw Pact. Then again by the USA after the landings in Canada.
West Germany was among the first NATO members to receive working models of the US’s F-4 ‘Phantom’ TSF, and immediately restructured most of the Luftwaffe to utilize these new machines. They committed all forty of these machines to Palaiologos, and nearly 60,000 personnel under the Eurocorps and US European Commands, in which they suffered nearly 70 percent casualties among the frontline units.
Many of the surviving TSF pilots from Palaiologos would go on to become senior leaders of TSF squadrons, pioneering tactics used universally by the Luftwaffe TSFs. In the decade since, however, the progress of the Bundestag has stalled significantly. Though a War Coalition was formed, it is pitted against itself by those who have wildly varying ideas of how to deal with BETA. The government stays in deadlock, civilian policy often deferred in favor of ballooning military budgets and heated debates over deployments and domestic TSF manufacturing.
Government and Alignment
The Bundesrepublik Deutschland is a familiar Parliamentary Republic-style government, crafted as a counterpoint to the weak Weimar Republic of the early 20th Century and the tyranny of Hitler. It is characteristically both American and British in organization, taking the best examples of Western democracy to the table.
Its primary governing body is the legislative branch consisting of the Bundestag (lower house) and Bundesrat (upper house). The Bundestag’s members are popularly elected, with the number of seats within being determined by exactly how many voters each party got and how many candidates it necessitates. The Bundesrat’s members are appointed by the local governments of West Germany, with its representation being entirely based on population.
At the head of this is an executive Chancellor, usually the leader of the majority party in the Bundestag, possessing some executive powers in the scope of West German policy-making, as well as responsibility to act as the face of Germany to the wider world. The sitting Chancellor is Helmut Kohl, an immensely popular politician who is primarily concerned with maintaining a balanced approach to the aggression of both BETA and the Warsaw Pact, going so far as to authorize a revitalization of the Federal Intelligence Service to counter the Stasi.
Military Overview
For much of its early history, West Germany was denied a standing army for reasons considered obvious. Its defence was handled almost entirely by its civilian-staffed border police and NATO. That was, until it was authorized a small standing army in the form of the Bundeswehr, in which it was soon required that every able-bodied male serve six months.
Its principal branch is the Heer, best translated as the Army, which consists primarily of armored and mechanized assets, relying heavily on its ability to maneuver and be an armored spearhead if necessary, as well as being a stubborn static defense line if that too is necessary. Nearly all of its assets are mounted, whether it be on track or wheel.
The second branch is Marine, or the Navy, consisting mostly of domestically produced vessels based on British, French, and Dutch designs, tasked with the patrol of the Baltic Sea and the containment of the Soviet Baltic Fleet should it ever become a problem. In the grand scale, it operates primarily alongside task forces of British and French ships.
The third and final branch is the Luftwaffe, or Air Force, which has gained extreme prominence in recent years with the introduction of TSFs. With organic air power being functionally useless against the BETA, over half of Luftwaffe manpower has been put into the TSF battalions. Despite the recent focus on TSFs, the Luftwaffe maintains a sizeable force of F-104G ‘Starfighter’ jets from the USA which it has largely kept in reserve.
The TSF doctrine of the Bundeswehr is largely based on Interdictor Strike units (IDS), which use superior maneuvering and volume of fire to ‘interdict’ enemy forces in coordinated surprise attacks, along with armored spearhead assaults.
Tactical Surface Fighters
F-4 ‘Phantom’ - A first generation TSF provided by the United States and now produced semi-domestically. Most are F4N variants, with a few sporting US-manufactured F4E upgrade packages. The Phantom constitutes a good portion of the Luftwaffe fleet, and acts primarily as a cheap escort and multirole craft.
F-5G ‘Tornado’ - Another first generation TSF produced entirely domestically, based on the US-designed F-5 ‘Freedom Fighter’. It is the penultimate craft in the Interdictor Strike form of combat, and thus constitutes another significant portion of the Luftwaffe’s fleet, and is the primary frontline craft deployed to combat BETA.
F-15 ‘Eagle’ - Though rarer among Luftwaffe stocks, the entirely US-designed and produced F-15 is considered the leading second generation TSF as of 1988. First fielded in its 'C' variant four years ago, it hit foreign markets the following year, with West Germany getting its own cut to begin to replace its severely aging F-4 ‘Phantom’ fleet.
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