Land der Dichter und Denker - Tales from PrussiAAR

1836: A new year, full of new possibilities. The lands of Germany were at peace once more, but they were fractured. Even in one of the strongest states, The Kingdom of Prussia, tension grew.

Having emerged from his stupor some months ago, the king had worked hard, spending most of his waking hours in the company of his advisers, using the rest to negotiate agreements with whoever he could get his hands on. Finally, about a month ago, the proclamation of the changes to come had arrived. Most had been shocked, if by nothing else than the fact that the otherwise-weak king had dared to instigate such changes. Still, though many were dissatisfied, nobody could get themselves to disagree with everything. The month had passed, full of anticipation, and now the new year had come.


Shaking his head, Alexander Leitzke put down his issue of Der Preussische Staats-Zeitung. The government reforms had been set in motion months ago, and most of his collegues were well-prepared for them, but this was unexpected. How could he possibly have missed such things? He supposed it must've been done in secret, to prevent anyone from finding out. Upon further reflection, he would probably have done the same, but still! There was a reason one did not do such things.

It was a stroke of genius, he supposed – The king had, before his withdrawal, been known to have certain sympathies for the liberals, and though many of the reforms would annoy them, the opening of a new Technische Hochschule would help to mollify them. The intellectuals in Cologne had been annoyed ever since the university had been abolished by the French and would be happy to have any kind of educational institution, whereas the industrialists, unhappy as always with any government-imposed restrictions, would be overjoyed at the influx of skilled workers.


Still, even with his apparent genius, one could not forget his other actions. Some things could be excused, or perhaps chalked up to stupidity, but this?

An alliance with France of all nations?

It was a decent measure of security, he supposed, but surely even the king could remember what the French had done during the war. Louis-Phillipe seemed to be peaceful enough, but who knew what he might do? There was so many questions, and one could only hope that the king had thought them all through. He seemed to have a hidden spark of genius, though, so perhaps all hope wasn't lost.


One most certainly couldn't help but wonder how exactly he'd managed to convince his new political associates to support the alliance. Alexander wouldn't go so far as to call himself a liberal, but he still felt some small distaste for the reactionaries. Supporting the king and the nobles was good enough, but there was no need for more. Things were good as they were, after all, and perhaps there was a chance that some of the liberal reforms might actually do some good, if only with heavy moderation. He himself could certainly use some lower taxes; he had no illusions of the recently-induced tax cuts lasting long. In whatever way, they'd find some excuse to raise it again - No matter what one thought of the recent changes, they had to be financed. Some of the reforms would help with the task, but they wouldn't be sufficient. He still marveled at how the king had managed to get the jingoist reactionaries to lower the military budget – It must've been quite a feat, considering the general opinion of said matters.

Perhaps he really was becoming a bit liberal.


Meanwhile, in the western-most parts of Prussia, another man put down the very same newspaper, his face lit up by a wide smile.

Johannes Voss was a big man, as suitable for one engaged in the business of mines. He was usually a rather serious man as well, with a temper matching the fiery colour of his bright red hair, but today was an exception. He didn't have much respect for kings in general, and most certainly not his own - Anyone could see that the man was a weakling fool - but today, he cared nothing for that matter.

He'd never lacked anything, and he was satisfied with the output of his mines, but this was above anything he'd dreamt of. A steelworks in the Rheinlands, financed by the state and, rumour had it, arranged by the king, would mean a doubling, no, a tripling of the profits of his mines.


He'd frowned a bit when reading about the alliance-to-be with the French, but after some time, he'd seen the logic. With the French border secured, the industrial growth would be encouraged - There'd no longer be as great a threat of losing one's investment, and if the relations with France bettered, one might even find a market for one's goods there. It seemed the French had made an alliance with Austria as well, which meant that the balance of power would be kept, and there'd be no great war on the horizon. If only an alliance could be made with Austria itself as well, things just might end up nicely.

Sadly, that was not a possibility, as he grudgingly acknowledged. After the baseless accusations from the Austrian embassy in Krakow, relations between Austria and Prussia had grown worse than ever. Still, with the looming threat of a French invasion, peace was reasonably sure. Additionally, it looked like the relations with Bavaria were bettering, and with the right actions at the right time, profit could turn out to be possible.


Now, with the changes of the new year, the foundation of a rising empire have been lain. Only the future can tell what might happen, but rest assured - Peace won't be eternal!

Oh, I did encourage craftsmen as well, I just forgot to show that. Brandenburg has capitalists, whereas Nordrhein has craftsmen. Correct me if I'm wrong, but an increase of craftsmen, more knowledge of industrial production as well as increased education spending should justify the opening of a new Technische Hochschule, shouldn't it?

Herr Voss doesn't really mind alliances, per se, it's just... Why did it have to be France?

I'll be describing the story mostly from the viewpoints of a collection of Prussian citizens, perhaps with the odd foreigner here or there. Next update will be dealing with the rest o' the year 1836, detailing the rising political tensions, both concerning foreign politics and in Prussia itself, as well as the growing industrialisation. Peace is kept for now, but in the last days of the year, dark clouds seem to appear on the horizon...

I would've posted this chapter earlier, but I was taken by surprise by a half-marathon as well as several different assignments in varying languages. Now, however, school is out for a week, so things should pick up speed again. As for the comments...

Enewald: I would try to unite NGF, only I'm afraid that it'd be beyond my meagre abilities to do so currently. Also, the current king is kinda anti-war-ish, so we'd probably have to wait 'till post-1840. I'm actually kinda hoping for a gutter-crown - That'd solve so many problems.

TekcoR: Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a stupid move by France, but eh... I don't particularly mind

Tanzhang: Well, y'know... Spending all those years in near-catatonia can't be good for your mental health. Perhaps he was just a bit addled at the time?

Communitarian: Let's see if you're right - I'm afraid this chapter only covers a relatively short time, but I'm still trying to introduce the 'main characters'. Trying to have one from each type o' POP; that should give us several perspectives on the events to come. I hope you guys can identify the different people.

CHAPTER TWO
A Worrying Turn​

In the lands of Prussia, history went onward as it had done so many times before. The industrialisation had been moving steadily forward, and even with the expenses involved in the construction of additional factories, coins had been rolling steadily into the national coffers. All was well in the nation as a whole, much unlike the situation in Bavaria.

Somewhere in the state of Bavaria, between the cities of Nuremberg and Fürth, a carriage drove along. It was rolling forward at a steady pace, its wheels neatly following the iron tracks of the Ludwigsbahn. As the horses dragged it along, with only the occasional direction the coach, two men sat inside and discussed the recent events.

”I still don't see why they couldn't just let us use the Adler,” the younger of the two said, the frustration in his voice clear. ”It can't be that significant, when the king himself hasn't even bothered to visit. We're not some rag-tag emmisaries from a Saxon count, we're envoys from the Prussian state itself! Even if we have to leave, we shouldn't be forced to travel like common merchants – I can't believe this!”


”And that, my friend Robert, is why I am in charge of the mission. Or was, at any rate. Since the Austrians apparently want us thrown out of Bavaria – I'm sure they'd happily ship us all the way to Indochina if need be – they can't have us returning to Prussia like heroes returning from the glory of battle.” Attempting to take another puff on his pipe, Benedikt von Gransee sighed as it turned out to have burned out.

Taking forth his tinderbox, he began to relight his pipe as he continued: ”It's nothing new for the Austrian diplomats to oppose us, but I must admit, the way they've used such direct force of their latest acts worries me. I know that the State Council talks about the importance of the German people in Holstein, and how our alliance with Sweden is merely to keep the Danes in check, but that's not the whole truth. I believe that the Austrians are starting to worry the king, as they worry me. The business with the Spaniards isn't a good sign either. One can but hope that the abrupt ending to the alliance between them and the French can keep them in check. I don't see much good coming out of this, no matter what.”


A few months later, in his office in Potsdam, Alexander Leitzke went over his calculations once more. They all seemed to be correct, which was good in itself. Nevertheless, he would've preferred if he'd made some mistake – The Royal Distillery in Magdeburg had turned out to be far more expensive than calculated. It would likely earn the money back several times over, but that didn't do much good right now.

It was good, he supposed, that the State Council had decided that the Prussian Kingdom ought to establish a great stockpile of industrial construction materials; that would lessen the economical strain caused by things like these, and it would help to make Prussia more independent of the world market. In addition, steel was useful for a number of other things, most of which he did not wish to think about – For a bureaucrat like himself, war meant nothing but trouble. Still, the king seemed to be reasonable enough. Hopefully he'd do the decent thing, and preserve the peace.


No matter how good an investment it was, however, it was still expensive. Buying the materials now, as opposed to later, might save some money in the long run, but for now, the cost was abhorrent. If he hadn't messed up his calculations – and he had, after all, both double- and triple-checked – the amount of money spent on establishing the national stockpile was about nine times the size of the usual budget. Prussia could afford it, he knewe that, and it was probably the best thing to do, but he prayed intensively that word didn't get out amongst the population as a whole about this; if riots took place, he'd probably be strung up by his heels.


Benedikt von Gransee slammed his fist into the table. It wasn't good for a diplomat to lose his temper, but he was alone now, so nobody would complain. Damn those British! He'd worked hard in the last months, trying to improve the Prussian-Hanoverian relations, but he'd had to watch his step every cursed second. The Brits were too mighty for everyone's good, and they could put a stop to his operations any time they wanted. Hannover was a German land, anyone could see that, and as such, it ought to belong to Prussia. Nobody could do anything about it, though, because of those high-and-mighty Englishmen; they'd repeatedly insulted the Prussian envoys, and one couldn't do anything but send a polite letter requesting an end to negotiations. Diplomacy had truly been a hell this year, but at least there was only a few days left of it by now – Hopefully nothing more would happen.


He heard a knock on the door and looked up. ”Come in,” he said, trying to calm himself down. Whoever the visitor might be, it would not be good for his reputation, if he appeared to have lost his self-control. As soon as he saw his visitor, however, he smiled.

”There you are, old man,” the guest said, grinning. As a young and healthy man of a good family, as well as a promising officer, Herbert Acker was usually popular in almost every sort of company. However much he enjoyed being the center of attention, though, he still liked to retreat every once in a while. Spending time with people like Benedikt von Gransee, his great-uncle, meant that he had a chance to relax and be himself for a moment.

”You'll never guess what just happened,” he continued. ”I was attending Childermass at the Kriegsakademie, and both General von Anhalt and General von Bülow were present. They'd both had a few glasses too much, and, well, they started talking a bit loudly. Apparently some lout over in Aachen was imprisoned by the Belgians, and it turns out that they did it on our territory. Everybody's up in arms over it, and von Anhalt's faction seems to have started talking about a retaliatory strike. It's all in complete chaos.”

”So, what do you think,” he finally said. ”Mighty fine story, isn't it?”

Benedikt just started at him, then emptied the glass of wine he'd poured himself. Looked like it'd be another long year.