Chapter 59
August 3, 1900
August 3, 1900:
Sweden's continued participation in the Boer War did little to help the empire on the home front. Though it was in no way directly invovled, conspiracy theories abound. Some believed that Gustavus was funneling money to the British government in their effort to subjugate the Africans. Some believed that Sweden had created military units with the expressed purpose of sending them to fight for the Brits. Proof of this theory was hard to come by, though. No record or proof could be found of either the money required for such an exercise or the thousands of missing people that would be required to fill such units. However, those that would believe conspiracy theories rarely base their belief on proof. The fact that the government refused to comment on these "reports" did little to help it in these individual's minds. This simply served to further baffel Gustavus.
"How can anyone honestly believe anything so ridiculous?"
"I have no idea," answered Bernadotte, "but they're going to believe whatever they want to believe. Governmental press and a refusal by the government to answer them will simply feed into their beliefs."
"Are you saying that I should answer these ridiculous charges?" Gustavus asked, shocked.
"No! Not at all. Doing so would simply give credence to these little groups of people. Just ignore them like the rest of Sweden does."
'It's just so ridiculous!" The frustration was evident in Gustavus' voice. "I know we have money to spare, but there's still a lot left to do in Sweden. Have I shown
any evidence in the past that I would rather help someone else fight a war than help my own people?"
Bernadotte didn't answer. Like all rhetorical questions, it was evident that no answer was required and no answer was sought.
"And these
phantom military divisions? I've done everything possible to have as small of an army as possible. In fact, it's almost cost me a few times. I mean, can you imagine how different the war with France might have been if some of these phantom divisions had been around then?"
Both men chuckled a low, nervous laugh. Gustavus seemed to space out for a moment, shaking his head slowly and thinking of what might have been, before coming back to reality.
"Any way. Now we have to deal with more of these damned riots. Where are they?"
"Well," Bernadotte consulted a small piece of paper in his hand before replying, "all of the riots in Belgium and Netherlands have finally been quelled --"
"Good" Gustavus interrupted.
"But the new ones are in Denmark. Viborg and Odense to be specific. W--"
"Not these conspiracy nutjobs, is it?" Gustavus interrupted once again.
"No, not them. Though, I should point out, there are a large group of them in Denmark. As I said, though, it'd be better just to ignore them. If you go after them, you'll just give them credibility."
"Of course. I was just curious."
"OK, good. Anyway, we have a ship off of the cost of Netherlands. Mannerheim is ready to go at any time. However, that'll leave us pretty defenseless in Belgium for at least a month."
"Do you think there's any chance of riots erupting again within the next month?" Gustavus seemed genuinely worried.
"Well, there's always the possibility. There are seperatists all across the Lowlands. They're looking for any opportunity. However, I don't think they'll act any time soon. We did a pretty good job of dispersing them in the latest riots. And even if they did act, we still have about a thousand troops in the Lowlands to deal with them. And barring any sort of action on their part, Mannerheim can get back from Denmark before they could successfully capture any of our Lowland cities. I think they're pretty secure. Denmark is our biggest concern right now."
Gustavus sat for a long moment, contemplating this latest information. Finally, after a long sigh, he gave the order. "Fine, send in Mannerheim. Crush these rebel bastards."
Mannerheim is sent to deal with the Danish rebels:
Next:
Modernization, Expansion and a Sense of Unease II
