Karlsreich Europe in 1900 AD

v2. Added Flags
v3. Changed flags of Serbia, Baltics, and Sweden
(First try with Inkscape so please let me know what you think. And also, if you know a way to upload a vector image to DA please share!)

It's the dawn of a new century and the European continent is finally experiencing a period of peace. The previous couple decades have been filled with rivalry, expansionism, and bloodshed. (This scenario is based on a game of Europa Universalis that I played until the year 1900)

Germany's rise to glory:

Germany has risen from the ashes to become the world's leading superpower, thanks to it's vast array of colonial possessions bringing many goods to the market (Germany is the world's top producer of wine and number four in grain production; trailing the US, UK, and the Russians). Just a short while before, Germany was a collection of squabbling petty kingdoms, until Kaiser Karl IV (me) of Prussia embarked on a quest to unite the German people and vied for the creation of a German Imperial Superstate.

Annexation of Austria:

Karl IV took vast swaths of territory deemed ethnically or linguistically German via a combination of diplomacy and conquest, angering Austria-Hungary. This sparked a massive conflict between the nations culminating in all out war. With the help of her allies Russia and The Ottoman Empire, Germany crushed the Habsburgs and captured the capital Vienna in 1896. With the Austro-Hungarians effectively subdued, the Treaty of Trieste was signed and the Austrian realms of the empire integrated into Germany, on the grounds that Austria was ethnically and linguistically German. The Habsburg monarchy lives on in Hungary (which is technically still Austria-Hungary, but commonly referred to as simply "Hungary").

German Satellites:

Being the massive and powerful empire that Germany is, it is unsurprising that several states have been taken under their wing. Poland had a fall from glory and is but a shadow of it's former self. Still holding on to it's Baltic possessions and The Port of Danzig, Germany had an vested interest in integrating Poland into it's vast empire. Karl IV offered protection to Poland in exchange for integration of these possessions. Rather and occupying and annexing Poland directly into the empire, the rump state was kept independent as a buffer in case the Russians or Hungarians ever went to war with Germany. The trade ports of Germany are open to the Polish as well.

A German backed Croatian independence movement put Croatia in very good standing with the Empire, after they helped them shake their Hungarian oppressors. Today, the small Adriatic nation is highly industrialized and heavily influenced by its much larger ally Germany. A large minority of Croatians live in the area surrounding Germany's major Mediterranean access port, Trieste.

A coup against the government in Milan lead to the Installment of a German loyal king in the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, a secular Alpine Italian state that was unhappy with the role of Catholicism in the Milanese government.