Martin Winter
Martin Winter Führer und Reichskanzler des Altisches Reich | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 1933 | |
 Führer of the Altish Reich | |
| In office 17 April 1928 – Present | |
| Deputy | Peter Pappenheim |
| Preceded by | Ruppert Graff (1924 - 1928) |
| Chancellor of the Altish Reich | |
| In office 10 August 1926 – Present | |
| Preceded by | Erich Hättener |
| Führer of the Valkist Party | |
| In office 12 September 1922 – Present | |
| Preceded by | Wilhelm Kohl (Party Chairman) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Martin Joseph Neumann-Winter 11 April 1891 Wesselheim, Wolmar, Altenland |
| Citizenship | Altish |
| Political party |  Valkistiche Volkspartei |
| Parents |
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| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Altish Empire |
| Branch/service | Imperial Altish Army |
| Years of service | 1912 - 1920 |
| Rank | Unteroffizier |
| Unit | 11th Kalan Shock Regiment |
| Battles/wars | TBD. |
| Awards | Iron Cross First Class
Iron Cross Second Class Velvet Charge |
Martin Winter, born Martin Joseph Neumann-Winter, is an Altish politician serving as dictator of Altenland. A veteran of the Great War, Winter rose to power as the leader of the Valkist Party, becoming Chancellor in 1926 and taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1928. As Führer, Martin Winter has overseen the transformation of the nascant Altish Republic, formed from the ashes of the Altish Empire, into an authoritarian valkist state.
Winter was born in Wesselheim, in the Altish state of Wolmar, and was raised in the nearby village of Hamstedt. He was decorated during his service in the Altish Army in the Great War, serving for the duration of the conflict. In early 1920, he joined with like-minded veterans in an early Freikorps organization in Münzen, and participated in the violent suppression of communist revolutionary movements in the state of Lauenmark during this time, and became an influential figure among the Altish reactionary right in that part of the country. In September of 1920, the Münzen Putsch was carried out by Freikorps members and ended in failure. Although Winter did not participate in the putsch and had attempted to discourage his comrades from seeing it through, he was convicted on charges of conspiracy and treason and sentenced to two years in prison, though only served fourteen months. While in prison, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto titled Eine Neue Ordnung ("A New Order"). After his release, Winter worked to reform the various Freikorps movements in southern Altenland - now outlawed - into a proper political party, which would eventually develop into the Valkistiche Volkspartei, or VV. He gained popular support by attacking the post-Great War order and promoting pan-Altishism, Valkism, and rabid anti-socialism and anti-communism with charasmatic oratory and propaganda.
By 1926, the Valkist Party had formed a coalition with other right-wing political organizations known as the Reichsbund, and achieved a major victory in the 1926 Altish federal elections. With his coalition, Winter was able to leverage President Ruppert Graff to appoint him as chancellor on 10 August. Shortly thereafter, the discovery of the Hochstadt Plot was used as justification to pass the Sicheres Altenland Decree in February 1927 and then the Neureich Act in March 1928, which began the process of transforming the Altish Republic into Valkist Altenland, a one-party dicatorship based on the authoritarian and autocratic ideology of Valkism. Upon Graff's mysterious death in April of 1928, Winter succeeded him, becoming simultaneously head of state and government, and the powers of these two offices were later merged to make Winter Führer und Reichskanzler of Altenland.
Winter seeks to establish a New Order to counter what he sees as the injustice of the post-Great War international order and establish a model Valkist state. Since coming to power, Winter has overseen rapid economic recovery, the abrogation of restrictions imposed on Altenland after the Great War as seen by ambitious military rearmament and military restructuring, and the annexation of the controversial Reynland- the prize of the Great War that slipped through the fingers of the infant Altish Republic during the December Revolution.