German Empireball

Not to be confused with Reichtangle German Empireball, or Reichball, was Germanyball from 1871 to 1918. His glory days started from the Unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of November 1918, when when he became a Federal republic (Weimar Republicball). He was known for sabre-rattling and stirring up tensions in Europe that eventually lit the spark of WWI, dragging the continent's alliances into a Great War.

Unification (1815-1871)
German Stateballs had been divided for centuries, but it was only after the Enlgihtenment and French Revolutions displayed nationalist ideas for the first time, did a sense of German nationalism begin to inspire the various German stateballs. Their conquest by Napoleonic Franceball in the Napoleonic Wars had reorganized them into 39 stateballs by the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, under the German Confederation to replace the dissolved old HREball's rule. This new German Confederation was led by Austrian Empireball (Habsburgball) and  Prussiaball, the two strongest states in the Confederation.

However, as time went by Austrian Empireball's influence waned and  Prussiaball's grew steadily. The 1848 liberal revolutions had the effect of boosting Germanic nationalism and a sense of unity, but Prussiaball was too convservative, so he declined the offer of the crown of a liberal unified Germany (with a constitutional monarchy only), that had been offered to him by the Congress of Frankfurt that year. Prussiaball changed his mind about unification by setting about accomplishing it with "Blood and Iron" under Bismarckian ideals. In 1864 Prussiaball and  Austrian Empireball attacked  Denmarkball for Schlewsigball and Holsteinball, who were about to be annexed into  Denmarkball's dominions despite their German ethnicity. This cooperation was later dissolved in 1866 when Prussiaball turned on  Austrian Empireball and his satellites, forcing him to cede his hegemony over the German stateballs like Hanoverball, who was annexed into the North German Confederationball in 1867.

Franceball was becoming alarmed at the new tilt of power, so made a ham-fisted attempt to intervene in the Austro-Prussian Brothers' War which came too little too late; then in 1868 demanded that Spainball not accept a German dynasty to rule him. The tensions erupted after North German Confederationball published an inflammatory telegram (the Ems dispatch) in 1870, provoking Franceball to declare war. Franceball was overconfident, and got overrun by the German stateballs' armies and defeated at Sedan and Metz. It was in his Palace of Versailles, in 1871 that the South German stateballs were drawn into the union, and the German Empireball was proclaimed there.

Bismarckian era, and Kulturkampf (1871-1890)
The end of the Franco-Prussian war saw Franceball wracked by civil insurgency in the form of the Paris Commune, and the treaty of Frankfort in 1871 that ended hostilities forced her to pay reparations and give the German Empireball Alsace-Lorraine, making her a sworn enemy of the German Empireball. However, the reparations were paid swiftly, and German Empireball ended his occupation of Franceball as early as 1873. Her quick economic recovery startled him too; from now on they would be in a race to out-do each other.

German Empireball knew he had to keep a delicate balance of power in Europe in order to maintain peace towards his new state; so he signed the League of the Three Emperors (Dreikaiserbund) in 1879 after a war-scare with Franceball in 1875 almost led to an intervention by  UKball and  Russiaball, who threatened war in the 1876-78 Balkan crisis. Russiaball and Austria-Hungaryball now sided with German Empireball, who drew in  Italyball into a 'Triple Alliance' in 1882. Around this time he began a policy of 'Kulturkampf'; of encouraging Protestant, Germanic cultures over Catholicism, making it unpopular with the southern German Stateballs like Bavariaball, who remained autonomous in monarchial governance. Jewcubes in the Reich were also targeted. The policy stifled the growth of democracy in German Empireball that would lay the foundations for the authoritarian regimes of the next century.

German Empireball also hosted the 1884 Berlin Conference, to divide African clay up amongst the Great Powers, and at a subsequent 1885 Congo Conference voted to give Belgiumball the Congo region. By now, German Empireball was at the heart of a network of alliances and emerging as the world's foremost developer of industrial output, eclipsing UKball. Russian Empireball was allied via the 1887 Reinsurance Treaty, a renewal of the 1879 pact, Franceball remained diplomatically isolated, and  UKball was only a friendly rival. However, in 1888, he had a change of personality, and became a brash,sabre-rattling brute instead of the suave statesman he was before.

Wilhelmine era; The Arms race and Tensions (1890-1914)
In 1890, German Empireball recieved Heligoland from UKball, but he then refused to renew the Alliance with  Russian Empireball, and as such,  Russian Empireball was drawn closer to  Franceball, who became allies in 1894, as both were suspicious of German Emireball's new attitude of sabre-rattling,  Franceball, having broken out of the quarantine, now began to draw closer to  UKball, culminating in the Entente Cordiale in 1904. This was mainly due to German Empireball's new naval buildups, trying to challenge UKball's dominance of the high seas with his fleets. His colonial policies caused friction too, with him being able to claim only small pieces of clay, despite his claim to want a 'place in the sun'. He caused friction with UKball in the Boer War by sending the Kruger telegram to  Transvaalball. He was part of the 1897 international dispatch to Crete, then he took Tsingtao from Qing Chinaball forcibly, then he purchased some islands from  Spainball in the Pacific, then he was part of the 1900 Expedition in response to the Boxer Rebellion, leading to international outrage from German Empireball's orders to 'take no prisoners', leading to his nickname, 'The Hun'.

In 1905 German Empireball provoked a Moroccan crisis by sending reaffirmation to Moroccoball in the face of  Franceball's claims to his clay. However, German Empireball was humiliated at the 1906 Algerciras conference, where UKball,  Franceball,  Spainball,  Italyball and  Russiaball stood against him. He was forced to withdraw, and his two allies of Austria-Hungaryball and  Russian Empireball came into conflict in the Balkans, with the 1908 Bosnia crisis, where German Empireball stood alone in backing  Austria-Hungaryball's annexation. At the same time, German Empireball began investing in Ottoman Empireball, despite his state as the 'Sick Man of Europe'. Meanwhile, UKball and  Russiaball drew together in 1907 to complete his encirclement, as nations across Europe worried about their new sabre-rattling neighbour. During the Balkan Wars which destabilised the delicate balance of power in the Balkans, German Empireball remained oblivious, instigating only another Moroccan crisis which turned out like the first one, ending with Franceball establishing a protectorate over  Moroccoball, and drawing closer to  UKball.

So when the July Crisis broke out in mid-1914 after Serbiaball shot  Austria-Hungaryball's archduke, German Empireball's "Blank Cheque" support of the ailing Empire saw him come into conflict with  Serbiaball's ally  Russian Empireball, and his ally  Franceball, beginning the war to end all wars.

The Great War (1914-1918)
Initially, German Empireball used his Schliffen Plan; to attack Franceball through  Belgiumball and Luxembourgball, bypassing her fortifications and ending up in Paris, then turning his armies east to fight Russian Empireball, who would take longer to mobilize fully. But Belgiumball turned out to be more resistant than expected, and UKball intervened on the Entente side, along with his Dominions and colonies, sending a BEF to Franceball's clay. German Empireball made good progress through Belgiumball's clay, occupying most of it and committing atrocities in Louvain and Antwerp against civilians, claiming they were guerilla fighters. As Franceball withdrew her troops from Alsace to fight the German Empireball coming through Belgium, UKball stepped in at the 1st Battle of Mons to defend the corner of Flanders still held in Allied hands (Ypres Lives!). Russiaball occupied East Prussia, so German Empireball had to divert troops to fight him from the advance on Paris. Franceball rushed out in taxis to defeat German Empireball at the Miracle of the Marne, stopping his advance at the gates of Paris. They then raced to the sea, digging entrenched positions along the way, and by November, trenches stretched from Switzerlandball's clay to the North Sea.

In 1915, renewed offensives were made a Neuve-Chapelle and Mons to try and throw the Germans off Franceball's clay. The Allies had overrun all of German Empireball's colonies overseas, and UKball had blockaded the North Sea, starving German Empireball at home. Russian Empireball was facing defeat after defeat and despite the entry of Italy onto the Entente side, the Balkans had fallen to the Central Powers, and Ottomanball was on their side now. German Empireball had to send troops to prop up his allies in the Balkans and Eastern Fronts (looking at you, Austria-Hungaryball) and by 1916, the stalemate had lasted over a year on the Western Front. The opposing belligerents were evenly matched, with occasional charges over the top, through no-man's land into enemy machine guns. Their fleets jarred at Jutland. As the massive offensives of Verdun and the Somme, at Passchendale and Cambrai saw tens of thousands of casualties on both sides on French soil, the Allies looked to convince USAball to join the war. The announcement of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by German Empireball and his 1917 Zimmerman Telegram to Mexicoball resulted in USAball declaring war on him; but at the same time the exhausted Russian Empireball had a revolution. German Empireball infected him with communism, resulting in a civil war, and RSFSRball's signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, giving German Empireball tons of new clay and puppet stateballs in the East.

By spring 1918, however, German Empireball was also exhausted, and the Allied blockade affected the flow of supplies unilaterally. It was now a race to deploy his forces in the East westward before USAball could arrive in full force; he made several great pushes in the Ludendorff Offensives that spring, but they ultimately broke down due to supply overstretch before Amiens; and when USAball arrived, the Allies pushed back relentlessly in the Hundred Days' Offensive, breaking through German Empireball's Hindenburg defensive line. His allies collapsed starting with Bulgariaball in September, then Austria-Hungaryball and Ottomanball, and finally, German Empireball's troops mutinied, his navy scuttled itself, and he was forced to sue for peace, signing an armistice on the 11th of November 1918 that came into effect at 11 am that day, ending the Great War. He had by now abdicated, fleeing to neutral Netherlandsball's clay, and his son Germanyball (Weimar Republicball) was forced to pay the price for his father's defeat in the war, leading to another Great War some 20 years later.

Advice for Polandballers
On Reddit, moderators strictly prohibit using Reichtangle to represent the second reich. In the other, less stern countryball communities, German Empireball and Reichtangle are interchangeable in representation of the second reich. This is in part due to Reichtangle being a representation of the 4th Reich.

How to draw
Drawing the German Empire is simple: (Optional) add a small black cross in the middle
 * 1) Divide the circle shape into three vertical stripes
 * 2) Color them black, white and red
 * 3) Draw the eyes and you are finished.

Der Kaiser

 * Reichtangle - he is Kaiser, Ich can nicht disobey

Friends
Central Powers
 * Austria-Hungaryball
 * Ottomanball
 * Bulgariaball

Central Powers' client states
 * [[File:Belarus-icon (old).png]] Belarusian People's Republicball
 * Berbersball
 * Don Republicball
 * DR Georgiaball
 * [[FIle:Duchy of Courland and Semigallia-icon (1918).png]] Duchy of Courland and Semigalliaball (1918)
 * Kingdom of Finlandball
 * Kingdom of Lithuaniaball (1918)
 * Irish Republicball
 * Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasusball
 * [[File:Polish Kingdom-icon (1916-1918).png]] Kingdom of Polandball (1916-1918)
 * South African Republicball
 * Ukrainian People's Republicball
 * United Baltic Duchyball

Colonies
 * Witulandball
 * German East Africaball
 * Kionga Triangleball
 * German South-West Africaball
 * German West Africaball
 * German Cameroonball
 * German Togolandball
 * German New Guineaball
 * German Samoaball
 * Kiautschouball
 * Tientsinball

Enemies
Triple Entente
 * UKball
 * Franceball
 * Russian Empireball
 * USAball
 * Belgiumball
 * Kingdom of Romaniaball
 * Kingdom of Italyball
 * Portugalball
 * Empire of Japanball