State of the German Reich in 1946
By 1946, Germany has emerged as the undisputed hegemonic power in Europe and much of the world following its victory in World War II. The Third Reich has consolidated a vast territorial empire stretching from the French Atlantic coast to the ruins of Stalingrad in the east. With the surrender of the United Kingdom in 1941 and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union, German dominance now spans the entire European continent.
The country, under a deeply nationalist and militarized totalitarian regime, experiences apparent internal stability, upheld by brutal repression, an effective propaganda machine, and a war-driven economy strengthened by the exploitation of resources and forced labor from occupied territories.
Germany has installed puppet governments or collaborationist regimes in regions such as France, the Balkans, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe. The SS and other security forces maintain strict control over these areas, brutally suppressing any local resistance. At the same time, a policy of Germanization is advancing throughout the conquered lands, accompanied by deportations, labor camps, and ethnic cleansing.
On the international stage, Germany has entered a Cold War era with the United States. While there is no direct conflict, both superpowers compete for global influence, strategic technologies, and ideological control of the world. Berlin—renovated and expanded as the symbol of the new European order—has become the capital of the Reich and a diplomatic center of this new age of global tension.