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30-January-1921
''Karl, we have news about what is happening in Ireland. Front page of a Belfast newspaper'' Alexander said while throwing a British newspaper in front of me, dated almost two weeks earlier.
''Death by explosives of Wilfrid Bliss Spender. Apparently, his vehicle had explosives placed somewhere on it, which caused the detonation… The automobile ended up on the roof of one of the houses, so I suppose the explosives were placed under the vehicle and the explosion simply threw it into the air'' I said while looking at the photograph of what remained of the automobile.
''He and seven other Englishmen died in the attack. Apparently, all of them were either near or inside the vehicle transporting them. That represents a fairly hard blow to the English police in northern Ireland'' Alexander said with a broad smile at the news.
''And how do we know it was us and not some Irish nationalist group that could have done exactly the same thing?'' I asked while thinking about the possibility that our spies and saboteurs had managed to penetrate British defenses deeply enough to strike important figures in that way.
''Page two… Five factories, the largest in the area, exploded during the same night. That should be more than enough proof that our men are in the area and causing problems. Let us hope they can complete their missions and return, because operatives like them will be absolutely necessary for any similar mission we have in mind later'' Alexander said while pointing to the information about the sabotage of several important factories.
''I thought we would simply be bothering the British on their own island to fuck up any possible peaceful resolution with the Irish'' Manstein said while looking at me fixedly, with a certain disbelief in his eyes.
''We are evaluating our enemy, Manstein. As you can understand, we have to discover the strengths and weaknesses of our greatest long-term rival. Where are they strongest? Precisely in Ireland, practically on their own soil, where supplies can arrive quickly and they still maintain quite a lot of control''.
I spread a map across the table.
''Now imagine if we did the same in… former German colonies currently in British hands. We have possible local support and the British do not have the same level of control over all their ports. A single ship loaded to the top with British weapons and ammunition could feed a rebellion if we manage to establish the necessary contacts beforehand''.
I slowly passed a finger over different regions of the map.
''That is how we must face an enemy stronger than us: by wearing them down everywhere. Rebellions in Africa, rebellions in India and Asia and, above all, in the Middle East''.
Manstein continued looking at the map while I went on.
''We have to strike them precisely where they obtain a good part of their resources. The islands depend enormously on their colonial empire. India was probably one of the richest territories ever conceived, but when the British East India Company sank its claws into it… BAM. A good part of its artisanal and industrial production was destroyed or displaced, leaving enormous sectors of its society dependent on agriculture and British manufactured goods. Then they structured the entire economic system so that an enormous amount of resources ended up benefiting the Empire'' I said while fully spreading out the map that showed the entire extent of the British Empire.
''Then we truly need those men to return… I suppose you will approve the Irish stealing a second ship from us, although I do not know how the hell they will justify something like that. The Irish stealing two ships in a row would raise far too many suspicions about who is financing them, in addition to the Irish Americans'' Manstein said while repeatedly running a hand over his chin, thoughtful.
''Completely. But this remains only a test. I have already said it: it is practically impossible for Ireland to rebel against the British and immediately achieve complete independence. But we can make the process of turning Ireland into a dominion extremely expensive, bloody and difficult for the British. That is why, this time, we will have to evaluate other options for introducing weapons into Ireland, because we cannot say they stole another ship from us… Humanitarian aid, perhaps? Considering they control some ports, we could send ships claiming they are carrying humanitarian aid, but we would have to think all of that through much more carefully'' I said while leaning back in my chair and looking at the map.
''Well, we will try to evacuate the saboteurs with the next arms shipment plan to the Irish. But where will we focus afterward?'' Manstein asked while standing up and beginning to walk around my desk, observing the map very attentively.
''I had thought about sabotaging the Cape to Cairo railway. I suppose we would have some local support, especially because part of the area was a German colony and there were many African troops serving within the German colonial forces. Besides, the German commander managed to cause true chaos during the war. Introducing some commandos into the region and providing money and British weapons could be a good option to prevent that railway from reducing the British logistical burden… Although… local diseases could become a problem'' I said thoughtfully.
''What about a scientific and medical expedition to the area? Surely Maximilian or one of his subordinates would be delighted to travel to study the local diseases, develop new vaccines and things of that sort'' Alexander proposed, immediately mentioning one of the most important figures in my administration in the field of medicine.
''It is an option… Let us hope it does not raise too many suspicions among the British. It would be an opportunity to establish local contacts, if they allow us, and study the African terrain in far greater detail to begin preparing some kind of plan'' I said while looking at Manstein.
He kept his gaze fixed on me for a few seconds before finally nodding.
''I will handle it. When I receive more detailed maps of the region, I will begin developing a kind of plan, considering possible local rebellions whose main objective would be to destroy the railway lines and prevent them from being repaired easily. Surely that railway will be extremely important to the British… I suppose our old German contacts could be useful'' Manstein said.
After that, he returned to his desk, took another newspaper and threw it over the map.
''By the way, we already have the confirmed results of the latest German elections. It seems that the plan to temporarily close Parliament ended up working quite well for the Kaiser. He secured a minimal majority within the Reichstag, although he still seems to have problems in the Bundesrat. At least he no longer has to constantly worry about attempts to throw him from the throne and confiscate all his properties, as some socialist groups were proposing. Although now he has another problem: practically all the parties are attacking the army harshly'' Manstein explained while opening the newspaper to the page where the distribution of deputies appeared.
''The SPD was a fairly obvious possibility to finish first. I thought the Zentrum would gain more support, but with approximately twenty-five percent of Parliament, it is already a fully consolidated force'' I said while beginning to read the article about the elections.
''The Zentrum and the Social Christians, running in coalition, obtained around twenty-four point one percent. So the two most traditional political blocs ended up almost equal in power. It is understandable that the Kaiser now has far more room to breathe'' I commented with a slight smile while gently tapping the newspaper with the back of my hand.
Then I lowered my gaze a little further.
''What the fuck is the Viking League?'' I asked while looking at Manstein, narrowing one eye and raising an eyebrow in complete disbelief.
''An Austrian movement, from what I understand. They came second in Austria, but secured enormous control over the southern rural areas and several of their main strongholds'' Manstein replied, looking at me with practically the same expression of bewilderment.
''Sixteen percent of the vote? They are the third political force in the Reichstag. The Zentrum secured a large part of the Austrian vote, the socialists swept northern Germany and this Viking League… where the fuck did they come from? It seems they obtained quite a few votes both in urban centers and rural areas'' I said, surprised as I looked at an electoral map that was far more confusing than I had expected.
''As far as we know, they are a movement favorable to the Kaiser. Beyond that, I know little about their formation'' Alexander replied while clasping his hands and placing himself to my right so he could also look at the newspaper.
I ran a hand over my face and continued quickly reviewing the results,eleven percent for the Nationalliberale Partei,eight percent for the Deutschkonservative Partei,around seven percent for the Fortschrittliche Volkspartei, which would surely end up cooperating with the SPD on certain votes.
I continued down the list.
Then I clenched the newspaper tightly.
The NSDAP had obtained around five percent of the seats, distributed across several regions.
''What is it, Karl? Is there something you do not like about the results?'' Manstein asked, having immediately noticed my reaction.
''Nothing… nothing. Shit, the communists still managed to get around four percent of the vote. Can you believe that, even after it has been proven that their system has enormous flaws, people continue voting for such radical parties?'' I replied, trying to remain calm.
But that was not what truly worried me.
I had done everything within my reach to destroy the arguments that, in my old life, had allowed certain political movements to grow.
And yet, something had changed.
The NSDAP had organized themselves much earlier than I remembered,They were not supposed to become a truly relevant political force until 1923 or even later
But now they were already there,they controlled some mayoralties,they had deputies inside the Reichstag,and they had begun accumulating power several years before they should have.
After that bucket of cold water, I remained deep in thought, trying to decide what to do. I had tried to prevent the rise of the Nazis and there they were: far more popular than they should have been at this point and with more power than ever.
And everything related to the members of that Viking League seemed even stranger to me.
I did not understand how they had managed to acquire such an amount of power. None of it matched my memories nor did any historical event come to mind that could explain a group like that ending up as the second political force in Austria and also obtaining considerable support in some areas of the former Sudetenland that had been divided among the German federal states.
So I immediately asked Ferdinand and Ernst to bring me up to date on what was happening in Germany, especially regarding the Nazis and the Vikings, who between them had managed to obtain around twenty percent of the German vote.
I tried to calm myself after the blow that discovering all of that had been, but for the rest of the day I remained trapped in an enormous dilemma about what the hell was happening.
I had tried to change destiny.
And it seemed I had only managed to provoke the opposite.
To distract myself, I reviewed some of the progress related to the development of aviation engines. We had managed to recruit several people whom I remembered as important figures in the future German military industry, and there was also interesting progress in our tank projects.
Precisely then, I learned that one of the German delegations invited to the joint theoretical studies project that Manstein had organized with several officers of the Heer had finally arrived.
And among them was a German general I knew far too well because of what he would do in the future.
Guderian.
He was one of the officers leading that delegation dedicated to the theoretical study of the use of tanks.
Considering that Germany was under severe restrictions regarding the development and study of armored vehicles, it was not too strange either that those officers who had most persistently bothered the Government with proposals to spend money on something they were practically forbidden from developing, while the national coffers remained empty, ended up being sent here.
There were quite a few officers obsessed with the idea of creating armored units and studying all their possibilities.
It was precisely that kind of man we were hosting in the testing grounds we had built.
They spent practically the entire day theorizing about how to use tanks, how to stop them and how to push their capabilities as far as possible.
Meanwhile, our air forces continued following, at least theoretically, a good part of the Red Baron's doctrine. The main problem we were trying to solve was how to introduce radios small and reliable enough inside aircraft to achieve the aerial coordination we desired.
But after waiting a few hours, the information I had requested about the Viking League finally arrived.
Apparently, it was a radical group that intended to completely cleanse German institutions of what they considered corrupt elements. They were deeply hostile toward a good part of the Government itself and rejected many of the existing political structures.
That was why it seemed very unlikely that they would voluntarily accept becoming part of any governing coalition.
At most, they had become that group everyone needed to convince in order to get anything important approved.
Because, for the moment, there seemed to be an almost complete deadlock inside the Reichstag.
And that was not good.
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