History of Artania

Socialist victory, January 1922 and the beginning of the end
When the Reichstag elections of 1922 came around, the conservatives were in a weary position. Several areas of the world had suffered an economic downturn and trade with Southern Artania had fallen off, the colonies in Majatra began to push for independence and more and more resources were being expended to ensure economic dominance of the Dundorfian Reich. The Social Revolutionary Party (Dundorfian: Sozialrevolutionäre Partei) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Dundorfian: Institutionelle Revolutionäre Partei) emerged after the concepts of Socialism and Metzism began to appear. Socialist and communist movements began but tapered out as they were suppressed by the Dundorfian government throughout the reich. The SRP, lead by Tiberius Bauer and the IRP, lead by Elsko Eilers campaigned together for a victory over the Traditional Conservative Party, the Liberal Conservative Party and the Movement of the Hosian Community. These parties opposed the socialist, despite the existence of only three parties there were far more outside political organizations that opposed the socialist and campaigned against them such as the Home Corps (Dundorfian: Heimkorps) a social organization of former Reichsheer officers who favored radical measures against the socialist, many former members of the Home Corps would be influential political proponents of a new ideology, National Socialism.

The socialist victory in January 1922 would have far ranging consequences on the Dundorfian Reich, the history of Artania and the entire world. The socialist won enough seats in the Reichstag to begin enacting legislation with relative ease. The legislation at first was seen as compromising but as the socialist tasted victory more and more with their legislation they pushed further. The Dundorfischer Gewerkschaftsbund (Luthoran: Dundorfian Trade Union Confederation) began to unionize employees and the first Dundorfian trade union movement really took effect, strikes and walk-outs became common and the government did little to intervene. Prior to the socialist victory the Dundorfian Police or the Reichsheer would intervene and force the workers to work, this time the socialist used this as a means to strengthen their position. Tiberius Bauer would become a self-proclaimed champion of the people and used his position of influence to bring the major trade unions together to form the Dundorfian Trade Union Confederation.

The powerful and growing Dundorfian Trade Union Confederation would eventually take hold throughout the entirety of Dundorf, employers were forced to either take action personally and pay private security to break the strikes or give into the demands of the workers. It was not before long that a majority of Dundorfian businesses were taken over by the unions, the number of union members swelled and the conservatives were rendered useless as they failed to introduce legislation to prevent unions and union take over of businesses. Conservatives and traditional royalist were appalled and active campaigned against the socialist, throughout the reich lines were already being drawn. Rutania and Dorvik were preparing themselves for greater conflict, Dorvik and Rutania became bastions of conservative ideals. Aloria and Kirlawa were quick to adopt socialist ideals in their own areas but held onto their conservative undertones.

Conservative Dundorfian business owners allied themselves into a group known as the Conservative Star (Dundorfian: Konservativer Stern) which actively campaigned for conservatives to take back the government from the socialist and to work together to break unions. The Conservative Star aligned themselves with the growing group known as the Home Corps. The Conservative Star would go on to fund the Home Corps throughout the early stages of the civil war and constitute a massive piece of the Dundorfian economy following the collapse of the Dundorfian Reich. The week prior to the outbreak of the First Dundorfian Civil War were incredibly intense, the conservatives were preparing measures to walk out of the Reichstag and trigger an election while the socialist were actively seeking to remove conservative Chancellor Wilhelm von Asnacht, who was a member of the Traditional Conservative party and a staunch anti-socialist.

First Dundorfian Civil War
The First Dundorfian Civil War, also known as the Great Patriotic War (by conservatives and royalist) began on June 6th, 1922. The civil war had it roots within the victory of the Socialist in the January, 1922 elections for the Reichstag. The civil war began on June 6th when members of the Home Corps and the militant members of the Republican Defense League (Dundorfian: Republikanerischer Schutzbund) opposed a protest by members of a conservative political movement. The Home Corps went to provide security for the protest and seeking a physical fight, as was common in the months before the civil war for both sides, began a brawl which would spark a movement across the entire Dundorfian Reich that would bring it to its knees and see it eventually collapse. The Dundorfian Police were brought in to break up the protest and the conservatives saw this as a means to arrest the socialist. Minister of the Interior Ludwig Otto von Hohenstauffen announced that the Dundorfian Police would be supported by the Reichsheer and would break the protest "promoted by the leftist to disturb public order".

The Kasier, Georg Wilhelm VI refused to take action against his own people. Historians suspect that the young Kaiser saw the writing on the wall during the outbreak of the civil war and did all he could to prevent the House of Hohenstauffen from falling victim to the civil war. It was during this period that the Kasier and his family began to move their wealth throughout the conservative-aligned areas of the Dundorfian Reich such as Dorvik and Rutania. Kaiser Georg Wilhelm VI left the management of the crisis to Chancellor Wilhelm von Asnacht, Minister of the Interior Ludwig Otto von Hohenstauffen (the Kaiser's brother) and Chief of Staff and Minister of War Regismund Augustus von Faust-Essen (the brother of the reigning Dorvish King). The three formed a triumvirate which would guide the Dundorfian Reich to collapse, historians often dispute that their actions had little to do with what Dundorfian historians call "...the course of history" while others speculate that the light handed response at first garnered the socialist legitimacy.

As the civil war spread throughout the Dundorfian Reich, the Imperial government was increasingly rendered useless. Services and local governments were either overthrown by socialist and organized into councils or were placed underneath direct control of the appointed Oberprasidents of the Ministry of the Interior. The Dundorfian Police began cracking down on the socialist far more than the conservatives, though there are several records of skirmishes between the Dundorfian Police and the Home Corps. Minister of the Interior Ludwig Otto von Hohenstauffen saw this chance to suppress members of the SRP and the IRP, he would go on to arrest several dozen members on the night of June 17th, 1922 including much of their senior leadership. Tiberius Bauer narrowly escaped capture when he fled to Kirlawa where the socialist were gaining ground due to an influx of international volunteers arriving from Keris.

The Reichsheer remained immobilized due to Kasier Georg Wilhelm VI not wishing to see the state move against the people. Chief of Staff and Minister of War Regismund Augustus von Faust-Essen pushed the young Kasier to use the military or risk the total collapse of the Dundorfian Reich. By November, 1922 the Kaiser announced his abdication and proclaimed that the Dundorfian Reich would exist but no longer as a monarchy. This drove Regismund Augustus von Faust-Essen to mobilize the Reichsheer which had been a step short of revolting due to inaction, the last second influx of troops was not enough to counter the socialist as they swept throughout Kirlawa, Dundorf and the southern portion of Rutania. The conflict was more political than military, that was to come after the first civil war, the conflict saw many places within Kirlawa, Aloria and Dundorf proper organize along the lines of socialism, they formed councils and the ruling coalition of the SRP and IRP formed the first Dundorfian Democratic Republic.

Ludwig Otto von Hohenstauffen ruled as Imperial Regent (Dundorfian: Reichsverwesers) for three months until February, 1923 when socialist forces had overrun the Dundorfian Reich's capital of Dunburg. Shortly after the capture of Dunburg the socialist proclaimed the official foundation of the Dundorfian Democratic Republic and signaled the death knell of the Dundorfian Reich underneath the rule of the Hohenstauffen family. The Dundorfian Democratic Republic would soon be locked in a bitter conflict with the Dundorfian Reich underneath the leadership of several successive leaders before the conflict eventually ended in the late 1940s due to lack of resources and war exhaustion.

The Dundorfian Democratic Republic, located primarily in Dundorf proper, Kirlawa and the south-east portion of Aloria would go on to strip all nobles of their titles, confiscate their wealth and land, deny them basic human rights and banned them from political offices. In 1923 the conservatives and royalist began to form militias and secret societies to oppose the socialist.

"Collapse of the Dundorfian Reich"
The "Collapse of the Dundorfian Reich" is the name of the series of conflicts and events from 1924 to 1948 between the Dundorfian Democratic Republic and the Dundorfian Reich.