When Franz Josef took over the Austrian Empire in 1848, he was given control of a resurgent state benefiting from liberal reforms and colonial expansion. He made it his goal to unify Germany and Austria together, and simultaneously ensure a place in the sun for his people.

In 1862, Franz Josef oversaw the formation of the South German Federation, while simultaneously giving the new Imperial Crown-lands of Croatia, Slovakia, Galicia-Lodomeria, Banat, Transylvania, Bukovina, and Hungary autonomy. This move ensured that German nationalists would approve of the Austrian maneuvering to control Germany. By 1870, tensions with Prussia and France boiled over, and with Russian help Elsaß-Lothringen was regained and Prussia was subdued. With that, Germany could form.

Numerous wars with the rest of the world followed the creation of Germany, with many labeling it a pariah state, but Franz Josef persisted, and by the turn of the century, Germany controlled large swathes of Africa, Arabia, and the Caribbean, as well as expanding into the Balkans and adding the Baltic Duchy, Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia, and Greece to the Crown-lands. Alongside this, the Germans had also created the Panama and Suez Canals, allowing them to control much of global trade.

A period of relative calm followed the turn of the century, but in 1910, the peace was shattered. An Italian-American by the name of Gabriele Princep assassinated Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Germany, in the port city of Fiume. Princep escaped immediately and returned to America, but his actions had begun the first major conflict of the century, the First Weltkrieg.

For two years, the Germans marched up Central America, crushing all the states allied with the US while simultaneously blockading the Eastern Seaboard. By 1912, the Germans had burned DC to the ground and destroyed the American fleet, causing the President to capitulate. New York and Pacific territory were ceded, and the States of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas were granted independence.

Another short period of peace followed, and by 1922, the British, French, Russian, and American states joined together to dismantle Germany once and for all. The Germans, with help from their Canadian allies, put every single enemy down, seizing control of most of North Africa, Egypt, The Levant, Turkestan, Central America, and the Pacific. This conflict, known as the Second Weltkrieg, ended in 1933 and saw the addition of the Dutch, Irish, Swedish, Occitanian, Gran Columbian, South African, Iraqi, Indian, and Indonesian Crown-lands.

In 1936, the Empire is no longer an autocratic nightmare, but a dramatically reformed Parliamentary Welfare state, boasting the largest economy and military in the world, as well as a population of over 400 million. During Franz Josef's reign, he oversaw the foundation of numerous social reforms, earning him the hatred of the reactionaries and the love of the liberals. The current Emperor, Otto II, is largely a figurehead, and a young one at that, being only 24 years old. Germany is stable, prosperous, and stands triumphant with its permanent place in the sun.