{DHC} Daumann Heavy Construction

Since its foundation by Alexander Daumann in 54 A.S., Daumann Heavy Construction has been the leading manufacturing and industrial company in Rheinland for more than 7 centuries. Daumann's first space installation, The Oder Shipyard, was launched in 83 A.S. Construction of the Ring, the crown jewel of Rheinland’s industrial might began in 302 A.S. marking the 300th anniversary of the Rheinland’s arrival to Sirius and the installation was fully completed by 310 A.S.

The company began supporting the fledgling Rheinwehr and soon became the chief industrial contractor of the Rheinland Empire. Daumann also branched into the mining industry commencing its push to the newly discovered Dresden system. This saved Daumann from the economic crash following the failed 80-Year War which resulted in a low interest in military and other manufacturing.

However, on Von Rohe's Day, 672 A.S., Daumann mining stations in Dresden were seized and locked down by miners in a widespread general strike. The miners claimed that the imperial government had failed, and demanded it stands down and makes way for a new people's state. Supplied by Bundschuh revolutionaries, the miners managed to hold out on the station for five weeks before word about the revolt was finally spread to the planet populations. Two months after the start of the uprising, workers sympathetic to the miners' cause lockdown of Daumann facilities on Planet New Berlin. A few days later the first riots take place on Hamburg and Stuttgart. With the industrial heart of the economy grinding to a halt, the government had to give in and Rheinland became a republic. The new Republic forcibly turned Daumann into a joint-stock company, wary of its former influence and thus wrestling the power from the Daumann family which has controlled the company for more than 600 years.

In the following years, the company strategy was to push deeper into the resource rich Omegas. However, by 700 A.S. the Hessian movement was founded and subsequently began plaguing Daumann and the whole of Rheinland ever since. For the first time ever, Daumann’s progress was met with a highly organized resistance and not just solitary acts of piracy. Following Hessians were the Corsairs and other foreign unlawful groups. As a result, Daumann was forced to greatly enhance its security division.

Over the next several decades, DHC has once again regained its influence (which has somewhat diminished post-Popular Revolution) due to Rheinland's military ramp-up preceeding the Nomad War and the following war with Liberty,

However, in 826 A.S. the company went into turmoil. Since the end of the war with Liberty, Daumann was facing pressure from the Libertonian conglomerates, slowly bleeding its non-governmental contracts to the more competitive foreign companies. The weak performance of the Rheinland’s economy in 826 A.S. bordering on a recession, combined with DHC’s mining operations in the Omegas being left vulnerable to the Hessians and other unlawfuls as a result of Rheinwehr's focus on the war with Kusari and expansions into Sigmas, have resulted in an enormous loss for the fiscal year. The general assembly of panicked shareholders has decided to completely change the board of directors which in turn appointed a new Generaldirektor of the company. The choice has fallen on Dr. Albert Kelsen, a minority shareholder and a member of the Rheinland’s Bundestag, with the hope that his political capital will ensure a more prosperous future for Daumann. There were, however, whispers that his choice was influenced by the imperial-royalist voices within the company which mirror the rising Imperial sentiment within the Rheinland’s society

In 827 A.S. these rumors were proven to be true when Daumann pledged its support to the fledgling Empire of Rheinland and its restored Emperor. Once again Daumann has found itself supporting a war effort, this time against the rebel Federalist forces. The civil strife in Rheinland has resulted in a loss of Raubling station in the Munich system. With the loss of the station and the system as a whole, the board has decided to focus further on its Omega operations and the possibility of a push deeper into the Omegas in search of a greater profit and establishment of a more permanent foothold.

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Last update: 23/5/2020