Deutsches Reich 1871

DR1871 v1.4

Deutsches Reich 1871 is a six-player Diplomacy variant designed by Ingolf Emmert.

The map of DR1871 shows the borders of the "Deutsche Reich" (green area) and its direct neighbours (bright beige area) in 1871. The division in territories is based on the borders of the different "national" kingdoms, dukedoms and principalities.

The adjacent contries are neutral thus there are no supply centers to conquer but they give infantries and cavalries the permission to cross their countries.

For a better playability some kingdoms and dukedoms are subdivided into further provinces. The best example for this is the division of Prussia.

Special features: - DR1871 has no water-areas, so there is no need of fleets. - Instead of fleets, the cavalry-units are added. - Some areas are brown coloured. In these areas no actions take place. - The island of "Rügen" (rug) is reachable by infantries and cavalries.

Special units: - infantry: (Realpolitik-unit=army) (A)

 The infantry-units have the normal options of orders and movements.
 Regard to use the abbrevation (A) and the symbol in the building-phase.

- cavalry: (Realpolitik-unit=fleet) (F)

 The cavalry-units have a two-field movement. They can´t reach the adjacent
 countries of a territory (comparable with the knight at chess)!
 Example: A cavalry in Berlin can move to "Rügen" (rug) but not to 
 "Westpommern" (wpo). Further a convoy-order as known for fleets is 
 impossible! Regard to use the abbrevation (F) and the fleet symbol in the 
 building-phase.

Winning conditions: The victory criterion in DR1871 is to own 17 of the 32 supply centers.

Historical background: German history up to 1871!

At the end of the eighteenth century and up to 1814, Germany was under power of Napoleon's French empire. Napoleon was defeated in the battle of Leipzig by a coalition of the kingdomes Russia, Prussia, Britain and Austria.

At the Congress of Vienna the German Confederation was created, which was placed under the administrative power of Austria.

In the following periods the liberals in Germany founded the National Assembly, which aimed to unify Germany as a liberal, constitutional state. In May of 1848, The National Assembly (or the Frankfurt Assembly) was convoked in Frankfurt to prepare for this "unification". After disagreements between Prussia and Austria, Prussia decided to try to unify Germany under their "kleindeutsche" plan, which included all of the German states except Austria, under Prussian control. In 1848, the Assembly finished the constitution, and appointed King Frederick William IV as the first emperor of constitutional Germany (kleindeutesches Reich), but he refused that and the National Assembly failed.

In 1862, Otto von Bismarck became the Prussian chancellor. Bismarck knew that to reach his aim of a united Germany under Prussian control, he had to get the German sovereigns to stand with him and to stop other countries from forming a coalition against Prussia.

In 1863, Denmark tried to take away the autocracy of the two northernmost German states, Schleswig and Holstein. Bismarck announced that this was completely unacceptable to the German Confederation, and together Prussia and Austria went to war with Denmark. Denmark's armies were defeated, Prussia took Schleswig, and Austria took Holstein. To provoke Austria into declaring war on Prussia, Bismarck ordered his troops to the Austrian state of Holstein. At the German War in 1866, the South German states joined Austria to fight against the Prussian army, believing that Austria was the defender of their independence, but however, Bismarck's military forces won the war again.

What Bismarck now needed was a patriotic war against France to unite the South and North German states. The disagreements between France and Prussia on the Spanish succession to the throne were taken as an occasion to provoke a Franco-Prussian war. On July 19, 1870, Napoleon III of France declared war on Prussia. Combined with the South and North German states, Prussia defeated the French army. The French were forced to cede Alsace and Lorraine to Germany.

The Franco-Prussian war gave Bismarck the support he needed to unify Germany. After the war, he won the consent of the German princes to unite Germany (excluding Austria) under the Prussian king as German Emperor. On January 18, 1871, in Versailles, the king proclaimed the "Deutsche Reich". William I became emperor, and Otto von Bismarck became chancellor.

A new German constitution was written. The upper chamber (Bundesrat) and the king held power over the lower, popular elected chamber (Reichstag). The Bundesrat itself contained sixty-one members and this is what you are playing for: the majority in the Bundesrat!!!

So, have fun with this variant!!! Feedback is very welcome!!!

mailto: emmert@graue-substanz.net