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Well he shouldn't be too too happy, but hey, if all goes well, he'll be able to die in Germany with his son leading their family back to a pale reflection of their former power.
Despite my urge to do so, I will refrain from mentioning the fact that the Weimar Constitution mandated that a run-off election be held between the two candidates that secured the largest amount of votes after the first round of voting in presidential elections.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_presidential_election,_1932
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_presidential_election,_1925
no u
also, "I will refrain to..." *fails to refrain from mentioning it*
0/2 u fail
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I think certain elements inside NSDAP will soon move against Hitler.
So far, he achieved nothing but divided german nation so much, that Chancellor is not him but social democrat, and SPD almost secured presidency as well.
Question just is, if it will be socialist or nationalist part of the party, both weaker every day.
So far, he achieved nothing but divided german nation so much, that Chancellor is not him but social democrat, and SPD almost secured presidency as well.
Question just is, if it will be socialist or nationalist part of the party, both weaker every day.
I think certain elements inside NSDAP will soon move against Hitler.
So far, he achieved nothing but divided german nation so much, that Chancellor is not him but social democrat, and SPD almost secured presidency as well.
Question just is, if it will be socialist or nationalist part of the party, both weaker every day.
This certainly is quite the possibility. We will simply have to wait and see.
Update tonight! (from an EST point of view.) AKA within the next few hours.
PART X: THE AUGUST REVOLUTION
For one week after the 1934 election Germany experienced political and social turmoil it had not witnessed since the revolution of 1918. The son of the late President Paul von Hindenburg had now succeeded to the office itself, and cries of nepotism went out into the air. Socialist and communist papers urged open demonstrations, with some going even further by advocating violent revolution, declaring the election fraudulent and demanding a new one – without the younger Hindenburg on the ballot. Protests sprung up in every major city across the country by midday on August 20, and in many cases they devolved into riots. Mayors called out the city police and fights in the streets broke out. Hindenburg issued calls for order and demanded the rioters return to their homes. Thousands were arrested, hundreds were wounded and dozens were killed nationwide.
Chancellor Wels was caught in the political crossfire. Though sympathetic to the plight of the protesters and rioters – he suspected that the election had been fraudulent[1] – he was also the head of government, and faced the most serious threat to the stability of the Republic since 1919. Economy Minister Joseph Wirth – a Centrist, a former Chancellor who also held the position of Interior Minister for most of 1930 and 1931 – and other Cabinet members suggested confronting President Hindenburg regarding his inflammatory, nationalistic rhetoric. If he refused to either work with the socialist Chancellor or to back down from his campaign promises (some of them being largely anti-union in nature), Wirth and his colleagues suggested a coup d'état (hereafter referred to as the putsch).
Rioters destroy businesses in Lübeck , which, in recent years, had had a history of anti-rightist sentiment.
Collateral damage in the major cities was growing at a startling rate; by the morning of August 21, millions of Reichsmarks' worth of property had been damaged and destroyed. Counter-protests and riots by conservatives (and even some by liberals) resulted in street brawls with socialists and communists; sometimes even intervention by the police would only make it worse. Social order throughout Germany was crumbling and threatening to collapse altogether. The Chancellor had to do something, and he planned to confront the President the next day, but it was the President that was to act first.
It was in early 1934 that Hindenburg and Hugenberg had decided on a course for Germany; it was already a well-known fact that then-president Paul von Hindenburg was aging and becoming increasingly ill, and so the DNVP plotted to seize power – democratically. It had long been Hugenberg's own objective (and that of both Hindenburgs, too) to bring back the old order that they had been born into – that is, the monarchy. On the stage of German politics, talk of the monarchy was taboo; but in the closed circles of the right, it was an accepted, sometimes even common, topic of discussion. The last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, had been forbidden from ever being restored to the throne, and so he had gone off to exile in the Netherlands in the wake of the Great War and the Revolution. If the old Kaiser ever set foot on German soil ever again – at least, in this political climate – it would be disastrous. However, his son, the old Crown Prince Wilhelm, had been a German citizen since 1923, when he was released from prison by then-Chancellor Stresemann. He had since been a resident at the Cecilienhof in Potsdam, not far from the old imperial capital. On the morning of August 21, the Cecilienhof welcomed President Oskar von Hindenburg through its doors.
The two men shared a startling amount of beliefs; after all, it was the Crown Prince that had briefly contemplated running as the DNVP candidate in the 1932 presidential election[2]. Hindenburg was a monarchist, and Wilhelm was the monarch-to-be. The two men, having only met several times and communicated mostly through writing, acted as old friends. The President's aide-de-camp and head of the Office of the President, Otto Meissner, wrote in his journal the next day:
“The head of the House of Hohenzollern greeted with an intriguing warmth the new President …. I found it odd, as the last time they contacted one another was several months prior. They shook hands and, laughing, asked each other about their families; Wilhelm said, 'My father may have seen better days!' and laughed.”
“Our Crown Prince”: Wilhelm pictured some time before 1918.
The 52-year old imperial spoke in secret for many hours with the President, before the latter left the Cecilienhof around midday. Though the exact topic of discussion between the two men remains a mystery to this day, it can only be assumed. Late that night, Hindenburg wrote a letter to Lieutenant General Beck:
“The defining moment for modern Germany is at hand. The Army must maintain order and the authority of the State. Dissent and violent opposition to the government within the next several days must be crushed if we are to remain a sovereign and independent nation.”
The defining moment certainly was at hand, and for the second time in a year, General Beck was to play a pivotal role.
At 10 in the morning on August 22, President Hindenburg made an address to the Reichstag. He addressed the need for “order and security” and that the Reichstag's reaction – or lack thereof – to the public's actions was insufficient to maintain the authority of the government, which yet again threatened to buckle under the weight of the political pressure of socialists (except now, they were not national socialists). At that, Hindenburg declared he was dissolving the Reichstag, and setting elections for the next day. The Chancellor flew from his seat, enraged and screaming, as boos from the socialists and communists were countered by the applause and cheers from the nationalists, including most Centrists (the Nazis, naturally, were split). The Chancellor was now being forced into one of two positions: either accepting the President's declaration and leaving the fate of the Reichstag and his party to the plans of the DNVP, or to gather support within the Cabinet and governmnent and declare a putsch to remove Hindenburg before the elections could take place.
President Oskar von Hindenburg giving his “order and security” speech to the Reichstag, August 22, 1934.
It was a desperate move by the President, though it had been suggested by Hugenberg himself the day after the presidential election. They had been in his study together, discussing the increasingly violent reaction to the election results. Hugenberg realized that the huge upswing in the DNVP vote meant that an immediate Reichstag election would mean they would stand to make huge gains; and the Socialists, viewed as vulnerable for having lost the presidential election, could possibly take a beating. The Nazis were fearful of losing their enormous number of seats, as their popularity had dropped significantly since March of the previous year. It was essentially a ploy by Hindenburg to hand the whole German political stage to the DNVP. Hindenburg counted on Beck, and the man pulled through: the Army declared it would deploy soldiers at every polling station to prevent on-the-spot intimidation, bribery, or anything of that sort; and that it would ensure order and continue to recognize the authority of the government, no matter the result of the elections. Almost single-handedly, Beck ensured that the German Republic would not devolve into chaos at the end of August 1934.
At this absolutely critical moment, Wels froze, petrified. Though he could potentially enact a political coup, he had no means by which to enforce it, both within the government and across the country. The President had secured the support of the Army – or the head of the Army, at the very least – and it was unlikely for the troops to oust “one of their own”. Further, a socialist leading the putsch would only anger the conservatives and liberals even more, and could possibly threaten civil war. Wels urged Wirth or one of the other Centrists in the Cabinet (that were among the plotters, anyway) to make the announcement; but they refused. If there was to be an announcement, they said, it had to be from the Chancellor's lips. The non-partisan Minister for Labor, Friedrich Syrup, suddenly changed his mind and withdrew his support for a putsch against Hindenburg. Terrified of the repercussions of a possible putsch, Wels relented and let the election go on. This was the last chance for the anti-DNVP coalition to stop the coming wave of change.
The key deal-breaking member of the Cabinet during the crisis of August 1934, Minister for Labor Friedrich Syrup.
The true results of the election were never really in question. To help the chances of the main Centrist movement to gain seats, the Bavarian People's Party dissolved and declared its support for the Centre Party. There was less than a days' time to campaign; the next day was declared a temporary federal holiday, as demanded by the Constitution. Party officers led makeshift campaign stations at polling places in an attempt to sway just a few votes; but again, the election was never doubted as being the signal of the fall of the coalition.
The results of the 1934 Reichstag election: NSDAP, 42 seats; SPD, 187 seats; KPD, 33 seats; Centre Party, 141 seats; DNVP, 183 seats.
It was a crushing defeat for the Nazis, a humiliating vote of “no confidence” for the Socialists, and a resounding victory for the DNVP. The Nationalists won just under 120 new seats, and over 13 million votes total, mostly at the expense of the hemorrhaging Nazis. The Socialists lost several of their own seats, but maintained a slim plurality (only by a number of 4). The Centre Party won a significant amount, but remained the third-largest party. Wels was furious at the politicking of Hindenburg and the Nationalists; though the SPD maintained a plurality, he could not form a coalition (Kaas refused to join him in such a venture). Thus, the duties fell to Hugenberg; he quickly secured Kaas' support.
However, Hindenburg refused to allow such a coalition to form. The seizure of power was not yet complete; the Nationalists assuming control of the heads of state and government, along with maintaining control over the Reichstag, would be a total usurpation of German law, and would only incite more violence on the part of the leftists. Ludwig Kaas suffered a stroke just after noon on August 24, and immediately announced his retirement; he nominated Otto Meissner, the head of the Office of the President, to assume his post. Meissner, formerly a secretary for President Ebert in the 20s, resigned from his current position and quickly took the spot as head of the Centre Party[3]. Hindenburg then gave Meissner the duty of forming a government; it was the President's hope that giving a moderate, centrist party control of the Reichstag would quash at least a few of the calls to remove the “autocratic President”. Despite his previous position as Hindenburg's secretary and aide, in a surprisingly democratic move, he swore to uphold the values of the party and his constituents, rather than “ensure the Reichstag becomes a rubber stamp.” Wels, to say the least, was furious. Hugenberg, leader of the larger of the two parties, assumed the junior position in the relationship. Meissner was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany on August 25 at the head of a center-to-right government encompassing everything from classical liberals to militaristic nationalists; to placate the Centrists further, Meissner made Marx Minister of Justice.
Otto Meissner, the new Chancellor of the Reich after the 1934 elections.
There was just one more step for Hindenburg to take. On August 26, Hindenburg picked up his telephone and contacted the Cecilienhof.
[1] Many studies have been conducted by international and domestic researchers since the election, and it has been affirmed that the election was not, in fact, fraudulent in any way.
[2] His father convinced him to let go of the idea.
[3] The man was well-known to support Centrist principles (he had reasonable influence over Paul von Hindenburg, leading to moderation in regards to some policies), and was viewed as a competent statesman by most.
Cecilienhof, eh? If memory serves me right, we're seeing a monarchist restoration then.
just a note, I've never seen good modern monarchist aar where house is replaced - I mean, Hohenzollerns really disgraced themselves in lost Great War, and there are other german houses with glorious history.
like House of Wittelsbach, with also still legitimate claim on British throne.
or Wettins.
Kaiser doesn't have to be Prussian...
like House of Wittelsbach, with also still legitimate claim on British throne.
or Wettins.
Kaiser doesn't have to be Prussian...
just a note, I've never seen good modern monarchist aar where house is replaced - I mean, Hohenzollerns really disgraced themselves in lost Great War, and there are other german houses with glorious history.
like House of Wittelsbach, with also still legitimate claim on British throne.
or Wettins.
Kaiser doesn't have to be Prussian...
Rupprecht of Bavaria would also be a good candidate.
Since he was Wittelsbach...
"He was a member of the lineage of both Louis XIV of France and William the Conqueror. As a direct descendant of Henrietta of England, daughter of Charles I of England, he was claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in the Jacobite succession as Rupert I."
If he's not noble enough to be Kaiser, I don't know who is
I want a Habsburg for the Throne. Otto was a really nice guy, and if there had still been a monarchy, he would have been the longest reigning monarch in the entire history of the world!
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Otto would've been a great moderating influence in a Europe that was hell-bent on destroying itself.
Most important thing there is, what exactly german aristocrats in 1920s and 1930s thought about Hohenzollerns. If moreless only Prussian houses supported them, they possibly couldn't be Kaisers of all Germans anymore.
Such debates in high class circles would totally make this AAR much more deep
Such debates in high class circles would totally make this AAR much more deep
Prussia still is the largest German state...Most important thing there is, what exactly german aristocrats in 1920s and 1930s thought about Hohenzollerns. If moreless only Prussian houses supported them, they possibly couldn't be Kaisers of all Germans anymore.
Such debates in high class circles would totally make this AAR much more deep
Prussia still is the largest German state...
There's no question about it. The legitimate German Emperor is the same person as the legitimate Prussian King. Good luck finding a claim that supersedes that of the Hohenzollern.
Most important thing there is, what exactly german aristocrats in 1920s and 1930s thought about Hohenzollerns. If moreless only Prussian houses supported them, they possibly couldn't be Kaisers of all Germans anymore.
Such debates in high class circles would totally make this AAR much more deep
Prussia still is the largest German state...
Uh... uh... maybe.
You'll just have to wait and see
Update most likely Thursday.
PART XI: HEIL DIR IM SIEGERKRANZ
On August 27 the Crown Prince Wilhelm, Head of the House of Hohenzollern, arrived in Berlin for the first time in years. Arms locked with his wife and escorted by a company of Army soldiers (at the command of President Hindenburg), thousands applauded and cheered the return of the former heir of the Imperial throne along the length of the Wilhelmstrasse. Republicans and anti-monarchists, aware of the planned visit, staged various protest areas along the route, but were conveniently forced to relocate by the police, under the orders of the President, for claims that “threats to the lives of German citizens were made.” His guarded open-topped car pulled in front of the Reichstag and, walking up the steps and through the front doors, he began to speak before an assembled Reichstag.
The whole event was orchestrated by Hindenburg, Hugenberg, Meissner, and others – to achieve the long-awaited agenda for the nationalists and conservatives of Germany. Broadcast through the radio waves to every German household – and to many homes and government offices around the world – the son of the last German Emperor spoke to an open audience for the first time; he spoke of the hardships of many Germans since the beginning of the Great Depression[1], the supreme difficulties (which he called “impossible and unreasonable”) of the Versailles Treaty, and the quest for Germany to regain her much-deserved respect among the various European powers, and on the stage of international diplomacy in general. After shouts of applause and approval from the Nationalists, Centrists, and even a few Nazis (with significantly more disapproval from the Socialists and Communists), Wilhelm dropped the bombshell: President Hindenburg was to support a new bill that would reinstate the old constitution. In effect, the monarchy was to be restored.
Wilhelm making his speech to the Reichstag; while the DNVP and Centrists are elated, the Socialists are rather stoic.
The announcement sent shockwaves not just throughout Germany, but throughout the world as well. What had been common knowledge for the higher-ranking DNVP party members was now common knowledge for all the world. Complete outrage sprung from the leftists, opposed to the re-institution of “autocracy and oppression” to their vaunted Weimar Republic. Wels himself was adamantly against the “open attack on German democracy” and again contemplated the possibility of a SPD-led coup within the government, but again backed down. The Nazis fractured over the issue; while Strasser's supporters vehemently opposed the vote, Hitler and his ilk were lukewarm to it at best; to him, whatever provided even the smallest chance of a route to power was good. However, the conservatives and nationalists, bolstered by nearly all of the Centrists, stood strong in support of scrapping the Weimar constitution. Thus, the result of the proposed bill's vote was never really in question – at least, behind closed doors.
The vote took place late afternoon that very day; the vote passed with 317 votes in favor, just over 54% of the whole Reichstag. Chancellor Meissner opened the floor to proposed amendments to the proposed (old) constitution before it was officially made law. After another two quick days, it was complete. The old constitution stayed much the same except for several aspects: while the Emperor could dismiss, promote, or re-assign military officers completely with his own power, it was assumed that he would have at least contacted the Chancellor or Minister of War (preferably both) before making any decision; and the voting age was lowered to 21 (having been 25 in the original Imperial constitution) for both sexes. Thus, the constitution was brought into effect, and was technically both more liberal than the original Imperial constitution, and also provided, in theory, a small check on the authority of the Emperor over the matter sof the military. President Hindenburg, having been in office for less than 10 days, had done his duty. He stepped down from office on August 28, serving as the third and last President of the Weimar Republic.
Wilhelm, the soon-to-be-crowned German Emperor, some time in early 1934.
On August 29, Wilhelm, in a large motorcade, arrived at the Berlin Cathedral. Many people of great importance were there – the aging Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria (he was crowned later that day); the young Crown Prince of Saxony, Georg (he too was crowned that day); the thirty-one year old Yasuhito, the Prince Chichibu, second son of the late Emperor Taishō and representative and younger brother of the current Japanese Emperor[2]; Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and fascist dictator of Italy; Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff, Dutch Foreign Minister and former Governor of the Dutch East Indies; Cordell Hull, Spanish-American War veteran and American Secretary of State; Alfonso of Spain, the Prince of Asturias (son of the de-throned Alfonso XIII), with his new wife the Countess of Covadonga[3]; Haakon VII, the King of Norway, with Gustav V of Sweden and Christian X of Denmark to his right and left, respectively; Edward, Prince of Wales; French Foreign Minister and pre-war Prime Minister Louis Barthou; Chinese Foreign Miniser and former Mayor of Shanghai Zhang Qun; and the foreign ministers and ambassadors of many other states from around the world. Many other princes, dukes, and other men and women of royalty also participated in non-state visits. Perhaps most notably, the Soviet Union did not send a representative. The occasion was the largest gathering of monarchs, royals, and national ambassadors and foreign ministers since the funeral of Edward VII in 1910.
In a relatively short ceremony, Wilhelm and his wife, Cecilie, were crowned German Emperor and Empress. This was met with the jubilation of thousands, many both inside the Cathedral and many more just outside its doors. Tens of thousands lined the streets of the city, particularly along Unter den Linden, the road on which the great building lay. The new Kaiser and his wife opened the doors out into the cathedral's courtyard, where the “Emperor's Platform” had been erected in record time the day before; the hot August sun beating down from above, umbrellas had been placed strategically to shield the Emperor and Empress from the threat of heat stroke.
The imperial coronation of Wilhelm III, German Emperor, on August 29, 1934.
Accompanied by General Beck, Admiral Raeder, the Emperor's four children (Princes Wilhelm, Louis Ferdinand, Hubertus, and Frederick), the soon-to-be-Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, and Württemberg, and all the invited royals and dignitaries from foreign nations, they sat in splendor as the military procession began. One by one, regiment after regiment of infantry in new splendid uniforms marched orderly down the great Berlin boulevard, cheers emanating from the crowds along the side of the street after the announcement of each regiment's name and place of origin. The Kaiser was visibly moved by the whole thing; his wife wrote later that day,
“William was obviously so proud today; not only of himself, but of the whole German nation.”
The parade of the new Imperial German Army at Wilhelm III's coronation.
The parade of the new Imperial German Army at Wilhelm III's coronation.
The parade went on for almost three full hours; when it was completed, the Emperor moved to the newly-refurbished Stadtschloss, which had received its title as one again being the home of the imperial family.
The Socialists – and Wels in particular – were horribly upset about the events of this day. He would later write to a friend that he felt “a great heaviness to the air and my lungs” and that the Nationalists in the Reichstag had “cleverly and cunningly” stolen the Chancellorship from him and “fulfilled their age-long plan of driving the knife into the heart of the Republic” and restoring monarchy. Many Socialists – and even a large number of liberals – felt similarly. However, there was nothing they could do. They could not jeopardize the stability and peace of Germany at this critical juncture – perhaps more from a fear of the restorationist military than out of a sense of patriotism.
Otto Wels, the former Chancellor, in a rather disgruntled state several days after the restoration.
Further, the reaction of the Allies was one that surprised even Hindenburg and his Nationalist colleagues. British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, interestingly leader of the Labour Party, sent a letter to the Emperor congratulating him on his helping to establish a lasting peace in Germany by reviving the old order and instituting “a strong government capable of upholding the rule of law and the general peace.” Even the Radical French Prime Minister Gaston Doumergue telephoned the Emperor the next day and congratulated him on the “great victory” for “German patriotism”. Why were the Allies so in favor of the restoration? The answer is quite simple, and even evident in their words: they knew that the Emperor, with strong traditional and historical ties to power and authority, had brought back the institutions that would help the German government to maintain political and social order. Germany's weak democratic foundations had begun crumbling too soon and too quickly, and the revival of the virtual autocratic constitution of Bismarck's making was a welcome change.
The day ended with further fanfare. The conservatives and nationalists had won their greatest victory. The enemies of Germany could now know that what they faced was much greater than what they first thought: a resurgent Germany. Even a growing number of socialists grew to approve of the imperial restoration, and the Nazis continued to fracture over their beliefs, as Hitler continued losing followers to the DNVP and other minor parties. The true Reich – the German Empire – was born once again.
[1] The Crown Prince was not speaking hypocritically here – in mid-1933, to “work and toil as all my German brothers do,” Wilhelm worked for several weeks in an Elbe sandstone quarry with low pay and brutal work. His father called the act “foolish,” writing in a letter later that year, “It endangers the chances of the restoration by equating your would-be Subjects to that of equals, or even betters.” The Crown Prince waved off his father's worries, simply happy to have worked alongside fellow Germans.
[2] Twenty minutes after Wilhelm's radio address on August 27, the Emperor summoned his younger brother to his chamber. “I want you to travel to Berlin,” he said, “as a representative of His Majesty. Germany is resurgent and we must gain their trust.”
[3] Leandro Pita Romero, Foreign Minister of the Spanish republican government, encountered the Prince of Asturias after the proceedings. They got into a heated verbal argument before being separated by Prince Nagahisa, cousin of the Japanese Emperor, and Grand Duke Kirill, head of the House of Romanov and cousin to the last Tsar of Russia. And yes, I am aware Prince Alfonso renounced his claim to the Spanish throne in 1931. Let's just assume he didn't in this timeline.