The allure of a strong and fiercely independent defensive pact swayed a few neighbouring states - Hungary, Silesia and Croato-Slovenia joined swiftly. This project was spearheaded by the energetic Chancellor-General of Franconia-Palatinate Kurt von Gotha, a self-proclaimed noble, who united most of eastern Germany under his command. Not willing to submit to a powerful, but an ultimately alien political entity, ten of the most important leaders of east Germany, Czechia and Austria entered a military alliance and signed an agreement of mutual help and co-operation, which resulted in the creation of a new supra-national state on the map - dubbed the "Iron Pact", in reference to the document in question. Other petty rulers saw that as aggressive encroachment. The Balkans, disunited, took some time to persuade, but entered preliminary talks soon enough. Western Ukraine and Moldova didn't think twice Poland joined the Federation in a matter of weeks. Eager to admit new states into its fold, the Federation's diplomats reached out to the Central European leaders, offering protection and prosperity. This long-lasting turmoil in Europe, regarded as a disgrace by Franco-Iberia and ignored by many others, caught the attention of the solidifying Slavic Federation. This would prove invaluable in the years to come. Yet they also became hubs of activity and industry - military needs kicked already abundant factories and research corporations into high gear. Munich, Augsburg, Linz, Vienna, Brno, Budapest and many more cities grew into congested and dirty megacities. Waves of refugees, on occasion turned away by isolationist city-states, made their way southwards. While INTEGR employed green technologies and emergency measures on areas under its jurisdiction, other lands - like Mecklenburg - were left behind and flooded by the rising Baltic. Border conflicts escalated into resource wars. This presented a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for numerous military commanders, industry tycoons and demagogues to seize power "to ensure order and preserve the peace", as they would often say. Warring states split and fragmented into ever tinier entites, trade waned or ceased. Trouble that was brewing in the aging EU erupted into violence the moment the old union disintegrated. INTEGR was already gaining traction in the West, mostly in the environmentally challenged Rhineland and Lower Saxony, but some southern and eastern states withdrew from the Bundestag. Mistrust and rivalry were commonplace and mutinous local governments called their populations to arms. This was to no avail, as mounting economic and political animosities tore the nations of Central Europe apart. Germany, the foremost nation of the Union, desperate to keep the fragile federation together, tried to resolve this early 21st-century crisis diplomatically and economically, by bailing out numerous bankrupt and failed states across the continent. The collapse the European Union in the wake of the Great Mistake, was swift - but far from painless.
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