Fascist Georgia | 1949 German parliamentary election
The founding of the Federal Republic of Germany was followed by a general election campaign contested primarily by Konrad Adenauer's CDU and Kurt Schumacher's SPD. Smaller parties, such as Franz Blucher's FDP and Max Reimann's KPD, also played a role.
Adenauer campaigned on moderate, non-denominational and Christian democracy, social market economy and integration with the West. He attacked social democracy and the British, especially their dismantling of industry during the occupation.
Schumacher called for a democratic socialist Germany that would nationalize industries and pursue a neutral foreign policy keeping good relations with both the United States and the Soviet Union. He turned the SPD into a big tent left-wing party with a strong emphasis on German patriotism, accused Adenauer of treason, and criticized the Catholic Church.
Blucher ran on a classical liberal platform opposing state intervention in the economy and strongly supporting civil liberties. Reimann, on the other hand, wanted Germany to become a workers' state closely aligned with the Soviet Union; as such, if the KPD won the election, the Cold War would likely happen.
During the first two months of the campaign, the CDU/CSU led in the polls, but as election day approached, the SPD won over many voters who believed Adenauer did not have Germany's best interests at heart. By election day, the Union and SPD were neck and neck, with the SPD leading in major cities while the Union led in the countryside and Bavaria.
On 25 January 1949, the SPD won the election with 205 seats and 36% of the vote versus 180 seats and 32% of the vote for the CDU/CSU, 9% of the vote and 54 seats for the FDP, 38 seats and 6% of the vote for the KPD, 22 seats and 4% of the vote for the monarchist DP, and 15 seats and 2% of the vote for the regionalist BP.
The SPD formed a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and the FDP. This government wrote a new constitution with a strong national presidency. In July, Schumacher was elected President of Germany, defeating Adenauer, Blucher, and several other candidates.
Fascist Georgia | Kurt Schumacher (1895â1962)
On 30 January 1949, the Bundestag convened and elected Schumacher chancellor pending presidential elections. Schumacher's administration was fairly moderate at first because he was in a coalition government with the CDU/CSU and FDP, who opposed his more left-wing proposals
Schumacher's reelection later that year allowed him to bring his democratic socialist agenda into full swing. Upon taking office on 5 August, Schumacher nationalized Germany's major industries, imposed high taxes on the wealthy, and created a Nordic-style welfare state, containing extensive social programs and strong unions as a counterweight to both the state and capital.
As the Cold War did not happen, the United States did not invest significantly in Germany, butterflying away the economic miracle and making the recovery from WWII slower. Schumacher did not bring Germany into the Council of Europe, the European Coal and Steel Community either.
Despite the lukewarm economy, the German welfare state proved to be popular with middle and working class, slowing Schumacher to be reelected by a comfortable margin in 1954. During Schumacher's second term, Germany finally recovered from the war, becoming one of the richest countries in Europe again.
Schumacher kept good relations with both the United States and the Soviet Union, which was not hard to do because, as said before, there was no cold war. But Germany's relations with France and capitalist Poland were tense due to Schumacher's sovereignism and the expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe.
By 1959, Schumacher was term limited. Chancellor Erich Ollenhauer was elected President. When in office, Ollenhauer created a trans-European security alliance with most of Europe, and continued Schumacher's economic policies, resulting in considerable growth.
Schumacher died on 19 March 1962 and received a state funeral attended by 3 million people. He was buried in Berlin's main cemetery. Currently, Schumacher is very popular in Germany thanks to his status as the founder of the BRD.
Fascist Georgia | Congo Crisis (1960â1962)
When Katanga succeeded, the United States began supporting Lumumba, because the USSR was still too weakened by the Nazi occupation in WWII to intervene anywhere outside its borders and because Lumumba was fairly ideologically moderate. But Belgium still backed Katanga in order to control its mineral wealth.
With support from European mercenaries and Belgium, Moise Tshombe and Albert Kalonji managed to defeat the initial Congolese offensive, but the war continued as Lumumba and his followers continued to receive American aid. Eventually, in late 1961, the ANC went on the offensive.
By February 1962, South Kasai had been deestablished, allowing the ANC to launch a full-scale offensive into Katanga. The Katangese "gendarmerie" continued to resist, but by that point, they were decisively outmatched by the more numerous and better armed ANC.
On 15 June 1962, Katanga capitulated, unifying all of the Congo under Lumumba. Lumumba transformed the Congo into a neutralist, unitary social democracy combining strong presidential powers with a high degree of civil and political liberties, except for separatism.
Later that year, the Congo nationalized its mines, straining relations with the United States and prompting Mobutu to unsuccessfully attempt a coup against Lumumba. This coup attempt was crushed and the Congo emerged as one of the wealthiest African countries, becoming capable of determining its own affairs.
Now that the United States and the Congo were no longer close allies, Lumumba turned to Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China, which had not done the Great Leap Forward and therefore was stronger and more stable than in real life, for assistance. Mao provided the Congo with large amounts of military and financial aid, turning it into the closest Chinese ally in Africa.
Lumumba also renamed Congolese cities, but he did not rename the country to "Zaire" and European influence remained strong. Another major change was the transformation of Lingala into the Congo's lĂngua franca, helping unify one of the most diverse countries in the world.
In 1976, Lumumba retired and was succeeded as prime minister by Antoine Gizenga, who shifted the Congo to the left because the Soviet Union and China were stronger by then. This led to more proxy wars in southern Africa.
