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Central Europe
German Democratic Republic
Flag of the German Democratic Republic
Common Names: East Germany, GDR
Official Name: German Democratic Republic
Starting Leader: Erich Honecker
Ruling Party: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlandsnote Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
Starting Faction: Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Warsaw Pact)
Erich Honecker
Full Name: Erich Ernst Paul Honecker
Party: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlandsnote Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
In-Game Biography Click to Show Erich Honecker was born on the 25th of August 1912 in Neunkirchen as the 4th child of a coal miner. After the First World War, Honecker was firsthand introduced to the horrors of Western Imperialism as he watched French troops occupy his home of the Saarland, which introduced him to the ideas of Communism. After his tenth birthday, Honecker became a member of the Spartacus League's children's group in Wiebelskirchen and joined the Young Communist League of Germany. He rose through the ranks, and by 1928 he went to attend the International Lenin School in Moscow after being handpicked by the KJVD. After returning to Germany and working for the KPD, he was arrested by the Nazis in 1937 and sentenced to 10 years in Brandenburg-Görden Prison. Following the liberation of the prison by Soviet forces, Honecker quickly rejoined politics under the Ulbricht Group and became a leading party member and took his place in the party's Central Committee. By 1971, Honecker was appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee. For the last 10 years, Honecker's leadership has been marked by a period of relative stability brought on by his policies of "consumer socialism" along with a liberalization of the arts. While new challenges face East Germany in the 80s, it is yet to be seen if Honecker can handle whatever the world will throw at him.
People's Republic of Poland
Flag of the People's Republic of Poland
Common Names: Poland
Official Name: Polish People's Republic
Starting Leader: Henryk Jabłoński
Ruling Party: Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotniczanote Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
Starting Faction: Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Warsaw Pact)
Henryk Jabłoński
Full Name: Henryk Jan Jabłoński
Party: Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotniczanote Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
In-Game Biography Click to Show Jabłoński was born in Stary Waliszew on December 27th, 1909, and joined the Polish Socialist Party in 1931. During the war, he first participated in the defense of Poland during the September campaign, and following the fall of Poland, made his way to France. He participated in the Battle of Narvik as part of the Independent Podhale Rifle Brigade. When the war ended in 1945, he returned to Poland and worked as a professor at the Academy of Political Sciences in Warsaw. Meanwhile, he helped conduct the merger between the Polish Socialist Party and served as a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party. In 1972, on the initiative of Edward Gierek, Jabłoński was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Council of State, making him de-jure leader of Poland.
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Flag of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Common Names: Czechoslovakia
Official Name: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Starting Leader: Gustáv Husák
Ruling Party: Komunistická strana Československanote Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
Starting Faction: Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Warsaw Pact)
Gustáv Husák
Full Name: Gustáv Husák
Party: Komunistická strana Československanote Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
In-Game Biography Click to Show Gustáv Husák was born as a son of an unemployed worker in Pozsonyhidegkut, Austria-Hungary. He joined the Communist Youth Union at the age of sixteen while studying at the grammar school in Bratislava and at 33 he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). During World War II he was periodically imprisoned by the Jozef Tiso government for illegal Communist activities, and he was one of the leaders of the 1944 Slovak National Uprising against Nazi Germany and Tiso. After the war, he began a career as a government official in Slovakia and a party functionary in Czechoslovakia. Husák's loyalty to the central organs of the Czechoslovak Communist party as well as his considerable talent for body politics and a ruthless approach to political opponents contributed largely to the crushing of the Democratic dissent in Slovakia and subjugating the popular opinion in the country to the prevailing political currents. In 1950, he fell victim to a Stalinist purge of the party leadership and was sentenced to life imprisonment, spending the years from 1954 to 1960 in prison. As the Soviet Union grew increasingly alarmed by Dubček's liberal reforms in 1968, Husák, originally Dubček's ally and a moderate supporter of the reform programme, began calling for caution. Supported by Moscow, he was appointed leader of the Communist Party of Slovakia as early as August 1968, and he succeeded Dubček as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April 1969. He reversed Dubček's reforms and purged the party of its liberal members. In the first years following the invasion, Husák managed to appease the outraged civil population by providing decent living standards and avoiding any overt reprisals. Nearly two decades after the Prague spring, Husák is still one of Moscow's most loyal allies.
Austrian Democratic Republic
Flag of the Austrian Democratic Republic
Common Names: ADR, East Austria
Official Name: Austrian Democratic Republic
Starting Leader: Franz Muhri
Ruling Party: Kommunistische Partei Österreichsnote Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
Starting Faction: Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Warsaw Pact)
Franz Muhri
Full Name: Franz Muhri
Party: Kommunistische Partei Österreichsnote Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
In-Game Biography Click to Show Franz Muhri came of age during the reign of the Third Reich, after being drafted by the Wehrmacht he'd join an Anti-Fascist group and fought the Nazis for the rest of the war, following the war however he'd go to Moscow and enroll in the CPUSA "VI Lenin" institute, the highest political education centre in the Soviet Union.
When Muhri returned to Austria he would quickly be promoted through the ranks, and soon was the leader of the party, and then the small rump state of East Austria. Muhri found himself in the precarious position of needing to remain in Moscow's favour, more so than any other member of the Warsaw Pact since East Austria was entirely dependent on the Soviet Union, which never wanted Austria split to begin with. Muhri would fight to remain in favour, supporting the Soviets during the Prague Spring, proving himself, and Austria as a whole, to be a useful and worthwhile investment by using the country's advantageous position to aid the Soviet invasion. Muhri would also remove several members of the Austrian Communist Party to ensure absolute loyalty to Moscow.
As dawn draws close though, East Austria's future is uncertain, and Muhri is a pragmatic man, this loyalty to Moscow may not remain intact in these coming times.
Hungarian People's Republic
Flag of the Hungarian People's Republic
Common Names: Hungary
Official Name: Hungarian People's Republic
Starting Leader: János Kádár
Ruling Party: Magyar Szocialista Munkáspártnote Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
Starting Faction: Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Warsaw Pact)
János Kádár
Full Name: János József Kádár
Party: Magyar Szocialista Munkáspártnote Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP)
Ideology: Marxism-Leninismnote Revolutionary Socialism
In-Game Biography Click to Show Born a bastard son of a soldier and a maid, Kádár worked his way up from a rural and relatively poor upbringing to the leader of a nation, his story seemingly the dream of the working classes. He joined with the Communists by the late 20s, was involved with activism throughout the 30s, and when the Hungarian People's Republic was established, he joined the government then too. After the disastrous fallout of the Hungarian Revolution, Kádár became the voice of a middle ground in the Communist Party. Hungary would not return to the Stalinist brutality of the Rakosi era, nor would it try to expel the Soviets like Nagy. Instead, his policies would become known as Goulash Communism, after a tasty stew. And like even the tastiest of stews, one can only partake for so long. Kádár has been in power since the 1950s, and has become older, regretful, and tired. The Soviets, ever distrustful over his relative independence in domestic policy, keep a close eye on him. The people yearn for more change, and he might no longer be able to offer them what they desire. But Kádár didn't climb his way to the top only to roll over. Hungary has come far from 1956. And if Kádár has a say, it has far yet to go.
