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78. The Giant Falls
There was little left to the fight for the British Isles. The week after London fell, General Leese surrendered what was left of the elite Guards regiments and opened the city of Cardiff to General von Fritsch. In the first week in May, Bock crossed Hadrian's Wall with twenty-six infantry divisions. Even if the British units facing him had not been mauled, Bock mustered four times as many divisions, better-equipped and better-trained than anything Britain had. The Highlanders had no choice but to fall back on Glasgow. Relentlessly, Bock advanced to the north. Peace negotiations were already beginning through the offices of the King and Lettow-Vorbeck, but Bock would not be stopped. When Lettow-Vorbeck protested directly, Bock merely smiled enigmatically and said that William the Conqueror had conquered England; Wilhelm the Conqueror would conquer Britain.
The Royal Navy had not, it turned out, given up the seas around Britain completely: Dönitz located them in Irish waters, where rumors held that American troops were starting to arrive. In the Battle of St. George's Channel, fought while Bock was moving into the Highlands, Germany suffered the most cataclysmic naval losses taken thus far. In exchange for four cruisers, Britain sank sixteen U-boats. The majority of these losses were inflicted by the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, reinforcing the lessons of Scapa Flow, Taranto, and Pearl Harbor. The age of the carrier was here.
Elsewhere, resistance to Germany's allies crumbled. Busch had gathered his divisions - the Afrika Korps was now eighteen divisions - in the Sinai preparatory to joining Kluge. Badoglio needed no further assistance, controlling as he did the entire length of the Nile. Kluge entered Tehran on the twenty-third of June, the same day that the last forces in the British Isles surrendered to Blomberg at Stornoway. From the Hebrides to Land's End, Britain was in German hands.
Kluge did not stop; it was not that he was seized by whatever madness it was that rode Bock. He had a different vision, to stand astride the Indus. By mid-July, his headquarters had been established in Karachi, and Busch had received perplexing orders from Berlin to support a Turkish offensive through the Arabian desert. This was despite Saudi protestations of neutrality, and was justified by the intrusion of King Saud into the Sharif of Mecca's affairs in the 1920s. The desert campaign was brutal not for its fighting - the Saudis were incapable of putting up significant resistance - but for the climate. Busch eventually reported from Mascate that the Arabian Peninsula was in Turkish hands, but still had private doubts about the importance of this front.
If Busch had his doubts, they were nothing compared to those of Erwin Rommel. Rommel was responsible for putting Tannenbaum into action, a hare-brained plan of the Chancellor's that none of the men given responsibility for it truly supported. Tannenbaum was nothing less than the international equivalent of some criminal gangs' initiation, binding Germany and Italy together by dismembering Switzerland between them. Rommel was chosen because of his rising star and his Great War mountaineering experience. The invasion of Switzerland took a week, and fewer than three hundred German fatalities, despite the best efforts of the Swiss to blow their tunnels and mine their roads.
As with Tannenbaum, Operation Episkopos in Romania was a case of binding Germany's allies to Germany by guilt as much as by gain. The troops who had fought their way through Yugoslavia were once again put at Hungary's "disposal." The fact that the entire war was, beginning to end, a German operation, leading to the creation of the first General der Panzertruppe, Heinz Guderian, was carefully obscured by the fact that Germany apparently gained nothing from the operation, while the Sultan gained the area around Constanta and the Hungarian Regent gained the port of Varna, the Ploesti oil fields, and a massive Orthodox minority.
The Chancellor called for a cease-fire in the last days of August, 1942. Kluge was in Moslem India, driving for Delhi and likely to meet the Japanese en route. Britain was completely occupied. The United States had begun deploying troops to Ireland "to safeguard our allies," according to President Roosevelt. In Africa, the Italians were sated. Spanish expeditionary soldiers had advanced into the Congo, bringing that Belgian possession to heel.
Thus was the stage set for the Conference of Wilhelmshaven and the Wilhelmshaven Treaty, and, worse for Britain and France, the Treaty of Singapore. After little over a year at war, Germany was ready to present terms for peace to the Western allies.
There was little left to the fight for the British Isles. The week after London fell, General Leese surrendered what was left of the elite Guards regiments and opened the city of Cardiff to General von Fritsch. In the first week in May, Bock crossed Hadrian's Wall with twenty-six infantry divisions. Even if the British units facing him had not been mauled, Bock mustered four times as many divisions, better-equipped and better-trained than anything Britain had. The Highlanders had no choice but to fall back on Glasgow. Relentlessly, Bock advanced to the north. Peace negotiations were already beginning through the offices of the King and Lettow-Vorbeck, but Bock would not be stopped. When Lettow-Vorbeck protested directly, Bock merely smiled enigmatically and said that William the Conqueror had conquered England; Wilhelm the Conqueror would conquer Britain.
The Royal Navy had not, it turned out, given up the seas around Britain completely: Dönitz located them in Irish waters, where rumors held that American troops were starting to arrive. In the Battle of St. George's Channel, fought while Bock was moving into the Highlands, Germany suffered the most cataclysmic naval losses taken thus far. In exchange for four cruisers, Britain sank sixteen U-boats. The majority of these losses were inflicted by the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, reinforcing the lessons of Scapa Flow, Taranto, and Pearl Harbor. The age of the carrier was here.
Elsewhere, resistance to Germany's allies crumbled. Busch had gathered his divisions - the Afrika Korps was now eighteen divisions - in the Sinai preparatory to joining Kluge. Badoglio needed no further assistance, controlling as he did the entire length of the Nile. Kluge entered Tehran on the twenty-third of June, the same day that the last forces in the British Isles surrendered to Blomberg at Stornoway. From the Hebrides to Land's End, Britain was in German hands.
Kluge did not stop; it was not that he was seized by whatever madness it was that rode Bock. He had a different vision, to stand astride the Indus. By mid-July, his headquarters had been established in Karachi, and Busch had received perplexing orders from Berlin to support a Turkish offensive through the Arabian desert. This was despite Saudi protestations of neutrality, and was justified by the intrusion of King Saud into the Sharif of Mecca's affairs in the 1920s. The desert campaign was brutal not for its fighting - the Saudis were incapable of putting up significant resistance - but for the climate. Busch eventually reported from Mascate that the Arabian Peninsula was in Turkish hands, but still had private doubts about the importance of this front.
If Busch had his doubts, they were nothing compared to those of Erwin Rommel. Rommel was responsible for putting Tannenbaum into action, a hare-brained plan of the Chancellor's that none of the men given responsibility for it truly supported. Tannenbaum was nothing less than the international equivalent of some criminal gangs' initiation, binding Germany and Italy together by dismembering Switzerland between them. Rommel was chosen because of his rising star and his Great War mountaineering experience. The invasion of Switzerland took a week, and fewer than three hundred German fatalities, despite the best efforts of the Swiss to blow their tunnels and mine their roads.
As with Tannenbaum, Operation Episkopos in Romania was a case of binding Germany's allies to Germany by guilt as much as by gain. The troops who had fought their way through Yugoslavia were once again put at Hungary's "disposal." The fact that the entire war was, beginning to end, a German operation, leading to the creation of the first General der Panzertruppe, Heinz Guderian, was carefully obscured by the fact that Germany apparently gained nothing from the operation, while the Sultan gained the area around Constanta and the Hungarian Regent gained the port of Varna, the Ploesti oil fields, and a massive Orthodox minority.
The Chancellor called for a cease-fire in the last days of August, 1942. Kluge was in Moslem India, driving for Delhi and likely to meet the Japanese en route. Britain was completely occupied. The United States had begun deploying troops to Ireland "to safeguard our allies," according to President Roosevelt. In Africa, the Italians were sated. Spanish expeditionary soldiers had advanced into the Congo, bringing that Belgian possession to heel.
Thus was the stage set for the Conference of Wilhelmshaven and the Wilhelmshaven Treaty, and, worse for Britain and France, the Treaty of Singapore. After little over a year at war, Germany was ready to present terms for peace to the Western allies.
Only a week for London to fall? I think clearing out the Underground alone takes longer, but I cannot blame you for oversights of the developers.
Yet while the campaigns in Britain are somewhat justifiable, the invasions of Switzerland and Romania are, as you say, bordering on the criminal. In the case of Hungary, Italy and the Ottomans it only means more minorities to keep under control. In case of Hungary it will probably destroy the nation, with the Magyars being a minority in their own nation, with angry Serbs and Romanians able to wage partisan warfare in terrain ideally suited for that aim. I guess the Greek and Bulgarians will think the same if the Sultan gets any ideas about centralizing the Empire.But I guess we have to wait for Siegerkranz II for those stories.
Yet while the campaigns in Britain are somewhat justifiable, the invasions of Switzerland and Romania are, as you say, bordering on the criminal. In the case of Hungary, Italy and the Ottomans it only means more minorities to keep under control. In case of Hungary it will probably destroy the nation, with the Magyars being a minority in their own nation, with angry Serbs and Romanians able to wage partisan warfare in terrain ideally suited for that aim. I guess the Greek and Bulgarians will think the same if the Sultan gets any ideas about centralizing the Empire.But I guess we have to wait for Siegerkranz II for those stories.
Yikes. You have turned Eastern Europe into a slaughterhouse for the next 50 years. And the dismemberment of Switzerland will forever blacken Germany's reputation. This will come back to haunt them.
Whatever peace comes out of this war, it will not last...
Whatever peace comes out of this war, it will not last...
Actually, you've pretty much read my mind on this one. The Turks are pretty much up the creek by 1960, since the ideals of pan-turkism and the reality of the previously Soviet ethnically turkic regions are at odds, the Arabs are not happy about the occupation, and there are elements which see the relatively liberal sultanate as impious and overly western. At the same time, the Tsar isn't happy with the fact that "Tsar of All the Russias" is strictly titular, and elements of the old Greek court mutter darkly. Words like "Basileios" and "Avtokrator" are thrown around Athens and Sofia.
It's not meant to. This peace is as revanchist as Versailles. As for Switzerland... it really is more trouble than it's worth, especially since the invasion of France was long-since completed, so it's not like Switzerland was an alternate invasion corridor for France. I suspect that there are plenty of relatively clear-sighted, and even fairly muddle-headed, individuals in Germany going "This is going to come back to bite us."
If OTL Europe is the result of a second Thirty Years' War, as some historians have described it, what comes out of Wilhelmshaven, while a tremendous success for Germany, is potentially the seed for a second Hundred Years' War. Some of the German gains are, to say the least, tone-deaf.
That's a pretty dystopic vision.
o Have you read "Fatherland" by Robert Harris? It's set in Germany 20 years after the Endsieg. Harris describes how Germans still gloat over their victory, constantly mentioning how this or that building is "taller than the Eiffel Tower", "ten times bigger than the Arc de Triomphe", and so on. Berlin was totally redone by Albert Speer after the Endsieg, littered with monstrously large buildings intended to display the triumphalism and gigantism of the regime. But not all that was started was finished, and some of my favorite scenes take place in a section of Berlin which (IIRC) was where Speer's gigantic program ran out of money in the 1950s and the constructions were left unfinished.
Needless to say, at the time of the story, there's very little new construction and the resources of the Reich are increasingly tied up fighting a never ending war against the Russians in the Urals, as well as combating the rising "terrorist" threat by from the oppressed peoples. Even with only 20 years passed since the victory, it already feels like the Reich is running on borrowed time, although most people in Germany think that all is well.
Do you think your Germany will have 20 years before the next war? In some places, the new order will likely start crumbling even before the ink on the treaties runs dry. I'm curious to read what your Treaty of Wilhelmshaven will stipulate.
Yes, I've read "Fatherland." The "Geschichte," which I swear isn't finished, just on hiatus because that game on that mod is painful to play because of game speed in the 1960s, is heavily influenced by it (though it features Sane Hitler, which isn't the same as Good Hitler).
And no, Germany doesn't have twenty years before the next war. Germany has until 7 May 1944, when the Soviet Union declares war on Poland. The next war in the west will probably be in the 1960s, featuring Leopard A1s against AMX 30s. However, there's a serious period of internal turmoil in France beginning now and ending in the 1950s, after which France simply isn't capable of waging war for quite some time. Neither Kaiser nor Papen really means to plunge France into civil war, because those have a tendency to boil over, but the personality conflict between Petain and Giraud pretty much means that France doesn't have men like Rathenau and Stresemann. The end result is one more Bourbon overthrow and one more Bonaparte restoration, under a tall, arrogant armor commander whose reputation is untarnished by fleeing to Britain or collaboration.
And no, Germany doesn't have twenty years before the next war. Germany has until 7 May 1944, when the Soviet Union declares war on Poland. The next war in the west will probably be in the 1960s, featuring Leopard A1s against AMX 30s. However, there's a serious period of internal turmoil in France beginning now and ending in the 1950s, after which France simply isn't capable of waging war for quite some time. Neither Kaiser nor Papen really means to plunge France into civil war, because those have a tendency to boil over, but the personality conflict between Petain and Giraud pretty much means that France doesn't have men like Rathenau and Stresemann. The end result is one more Bourbon overthrow and one more Bonaparte restoration, under a tall, arrogant armor commander whose reputation is untarnished by fleeing to Britain or collaboration.
All right... apparently I've got a fairly severe case of postwar writer's block. Can't bring myself to write up Wilhelmshaven properly. I'm going to try writing something else, get another update on the "Geschichte" written.
I demand that all the lands of Austria are restored to its rightful Emperor! Also, cool AAR.
If the normal style (one big narrative post) is too difficult, you could just type up the treaty text for us
We'll look at it and then comment on it.
You could then fill in the story in bits and snippets as it comes to you?
It's actually the stuff that goes with Wilhelmshaven. Lying out the terms of Wilhemshaven is actuall pretty simple. Belgium is divided, with Flanders and Wallonia pushing the French border back past Calais and the Dutch border to about Utrecht, and the Congo to Germany. The Low Countries and Denmark are part of a resurrected Zollverein, Poland is a German protectorate, the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Sinai are transferred to German administration (the Orkneys as a fueling station, the Sinai because of the canal), Germany regains large chunks of Africa, Alsace-Lorraine, and Schleswig. Italy gets Nice and Savoy, Malta, Tunisia, and Egypt. Spain gets Morocco and Algeria. All of the land losses sustained are reimbursed by France, who assume sole responsibility for the war and are forced to accept a Bourbon restoration and crippling punitive indemnities. The positions in the east are ratified as found, which means that for the first time, the Turks have overcome Persia. India gets self-rule. As a consequence of Indian self-rule, the simultaneous Treaty of Singapore makes all of this look relatively mild.
In comparison, for some reason, I've got a hard time writing about Dorothea von Salviati meeting Wilhelm III on Prince Wilhelm's birthday and going "You think this brings him back?" when he legitimizes their marriage.
In comparison, for some reason, I've got a hard time writing about Dorothea von Salviati meeting Wilhelm III on Prince Wilhelm's birthday and going "You think this brings him back?" when he legitimizes their marriage.
79. Legitimacy
Charlottenburg Palace
Berlin, German Empire
4 July 1942
"All-Highest, she is here," the Foot Guards duty page said quietly, bowing fractionally from the waist. Wilhelm nodded and stood, crossing the broad stretch of office to meet his guest. "Dorothea," he said softly, taking her by the elbow mid-curtsey, "thank you for coming today." She nodded stiffly, and he gestured for one of the chairs. "Please, sit," he asked, smiling at the veiled, black-clad woman. She sank slowly in one of the overstuffed chairs he favored - rapier-slim Wilhelm, ironically, preferred much more padding than the well-padded Hindenburg had - and the Kaiser sat beside her, collecting his thoughts for a long moment.
"Dorothea..." He started, then halted, hesitating before he continued. "We have treated you very shabbily." It was a stark admission, and Wilhelm's face turned bleak as he said it. "Not just you, of course, but also Willi." She nodded once, and replied bitterly, "Well, thank you for at least seeing that much, Majesty." All the walls of palace protocol were down, and he knew there was no fair defense against her, but the words still stung. He sighed and looked down, focused on a point halfway between his knees and the floor. "Do you think if I could go back and undo it all, the war, everything, that I wouldn't? He was my son! My eldest son!" His voice dropped to a miserable murmur. "The fourth Wilhelm. The one who didn't have to go to war."
She softened, glancing over at the Kaiser, eyes hidden behind the veil. "I am sorry, I sometimes forget. Thank you for seeing me today. You understand if I would rather have spent today with him." Wilhelm smiled, a jagged, broken smile, and nodded. "So would I, believe me. Still. This is the best I can do for him now." He straightened, transforming from bereaved father to Kaiser in a single un-curving of his back. "Dorothea von Hohenzollern, I hereby convey upon you the title Dorothea, Prinzessin Wilhelm von Preussen, and upon your line in perpetuity the privileges attached to the title."
Even under the veil, her expression was easy to read - first shock, then anger. "That is why I am here? A stupid title? You think a title will put it all right?" Her hands balled into fists, and for an alarming moment, she looked as if she might actually strike him. The anger passed as quickly as it had come, leaving nothing behind it, as far as Wilhelm could tell. "They're just words, Majesty. They don't tell Felicitas or Christa where their father is. It doesn't fix anything."
Wilhelm sighed. "It is what I can do."
She shook her head stubbornly. "You are the Kaiser! You can do anything you want in Germany, and you offer me a title? No. I want more." Wilhelm blinked. "More?" This was unheard of - to demand more of the Kaiser when he offered a title was simply not done! "More?" he asked again blankly.
"Yes, more. He was a fine man, a good man, and he would have been a splendid Kaiser if you and that horrible old man hadn't said otherwise! Do you know what it's like to walk into that damn house in Doorn and hear that old goat going mongrel, mongrel every time your children walk in?" Wilhelm continued goggling helplessly, completely taken aback. "You could have told the old man no, but what did you do? You went right along, because 'in this house, he is still Kaiser, old boy,'" she said in a fairly passable impression of Wilhelm's voice. "If you really want to put his ghost to rest," she finally said, tiredly, "then for God's sake do something worthwhile for him, a hospital or a university or something."
He nodded silently, thoughtfully. "It is... a matter which I had not considered," he admitted. "Excuse me," he finally said apologetically. "I must think about this. But... Dorothea? When your children ask about their father... tell them that he was the best man in Germany." She stood, curtseying again before she backed away. "Tell them yourself, Your Majesty. At least you are not your father."
Charlottenburg Palace
Berlin, German Empire
4 July 1942
"All-Highest, she is here," the Foot Guards duty page said quietly, bowing fractionally from the waist. Wilhelm nodded and stood, crossing the broad stretch of office to meet his guest. "Dorothea," he said softly, taking her by the elbow mid-curtsey, "thank you for coming today." She nodded stiffly, and he gestured for one of the chairs. "Please, sit," he asked, smiling at the veiled, black-clad woman. She sank slowly in one of the overstuffed chairs he favored - rapier-slim Wilhelm, ironically, preferred much more padding than the well-padded Hindenburg had - and the Kaiser sat beside her, collecting his thoughts for a long moment.
"Dorothea..." He started, then halted, hesitating before he continued. "We have treated you very shabbily." It was a stark admission, and Wilhelm's face turned bleak as he said it. "Not just you, of course, but also Willi." She nodded once, and replied bitterly, "Well, thank you for at least seeing that much, Majesty." All the walls of palace protocol were down, and he knew there was no fair defense against her, but the words still stung. He sighed and looked down, focused on a point halfway between his knees and the floor. "Do you think if I could go back and undo it all, the war, everything, that I wouldn't? He was my son! My eldest son!" His voice dropped to a miserable murmur. "The fourth Wilhelm. The one who didn't have to go to war."
She softened, glancing over at the Kaiser, eyes hidden behind the veil. "I am sorry, I sometimes forget. Thank you for seeing me today. You understand if I would rather have spent today with him." Wilhelm smiled, a jagged, broken smile, and nodded. "So would I, believe me. Still. This is the best I can do for him now." He straightened, transforming from bereaved father to Kaiser in a single un-curving of his back. "Dorothea von Hohenzollern, I hereby convey upon you the title Dorothea, Prinzessin Wilhelm von Preussen, and upon your line in perpetuity the privileges attached to the title."
Even under the veil, her expression was easy to read - first shock, then anger. "That is why I am here? A stupid title? You think a title will put it all right?" Her hands balled into fists, and for an alarming moment, she looked as if she might actually strike him. The anger passed as quickly as it had come, leaving nothing behind it, as far as Wilhelm could tell. "They're just words, Majesty. They don't tell Felicitas or Christa where their father is. It doesn't fix anything."
Wilhelm sighed. "It is what I can do."
She shook her head stubbornly. "You are the Kaiser! You can do anything you want in Germany, and you offer me a title? No. I want more." Wilhelm blinked. "More?" This was unheard of - to demand more of the Kaiser when he offered a title was simply not done! "More?" he asked again blankly.
"Yes, more. He was a fine man, a good man, and he would have been a splendid Kaiser if you and that horrible old man hadn't said otherwise! Do you know what it's like to walk into that damn house in Doorn and hear that old goat going mongrel, mongrel every time your children walk in?" Wilhelm continued goggling helplessly, completely taken aback. "You could have told the old man no, but what did you do? You went right along, because 'in this house, he is still Kaiser, old boy,'" she said in a fairly passable impression of Wilhelm's voice. "If you really want to put his ghost to rest," she finally said, tiredly, "then for God's sake do something worthwhile for him, a hospital or a university or something."
He nodded silently, thoughtfully. "It is... a matter which I had not considered," he admitted. "Excuse me," he finally said apologetically. "I must think about this. But... Dorothea? When your children ask about their father... tell them that he was the best man in Germany." She stood, curtseying again before she backed away. "Tell them yourself, Your Majesty. At least you are not your father."
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Because "not writing" is less productive than "write it even if it's not perfect."
It's pretty good
Don't worry about perfection... you're already the most prominent narrative writer on the AAR forums
And your fans are happy for every update, long or short.Are you kidding? I already decided if/when I ever decide to write an actual novel, it's the same basic story, only Wilhelm gets the old man's permission to run in the 1932 presidential election. He apparently considered it, but Wilhelm II was, as I said, still Kaiser within his own family.
Though now I have to ask - what have I started?
We're not done with Dorothea von Salviati yet. More on that at Wilhelmshaven, if I remember it.
It's pretty good
Don't worry about perfection... you're already the most prominent narrative writer on the AAR forums
Thanks, and I doubt I'm the most prominent narrative writer on the AAR forums. Just off the top of my head, Yogi and Hyphenated's updates are awaited with much more fervor than mine - if only because those are the ones I look for.
I'm toying with a different Germany and a different kaiser. The problem is that I've played too much about alternative Germanies... This is, clearly, a topic for the blog.