8mm to the Left: If Hitler Died in 1923
- Thread starter KaiserKatze
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Or a division of Ukraine between an independent Ukraine in the West and a Ukrainian SSR in the East, for that matter.
Depends if Germany goes to war with Poland or whether they can achieve their claims without it.
The truely cursed option would be a restored Imperial Germany refounding Imperial Russia in a ethnic-federalist form based off of the Byelorussian and Ukranian territories of Interbellum Poland
I think lettow vorbeck wouldn't be this stupid, Belarus and Ukraine would have as much land as they can nick off Poland, since one of Germany's war aims is to restore Ukraine and Belarus.
Frankly I could see this happening if lv didn't get that far into the USSR.
My guess is Yugoslavia with how insane Yugoslavia is slated to be.
Speaking of which, maybe Britain, less exhausted by wars than OTL, could be TTL’s poster boy for neocolonialism with a Francafrique-style system adopted by the British ITTL to maintain influence in their former colonies.
With France being seen as a country that has 'sinned', it's a lot more possible for France to be weakened due to their actions and losing most of the colonies as a result.
With how Yugoslavia is implied to explode ITTL, what would fit this mess would be a civil war between the Ustase and a coalition of the Yugoslav Radical Union and ZBOR, a civil war between two fascist groups with incompatible visions with the Ustase wanting a Greater Croatia while ZBOR and the Yugoslav Radical Union wanted a Fascist Yugoslavia.
So different kinds of ultranationalism clashing with one intended to absorb the other under the same system?
Would be interesting.
It would fit the kind of mess Yugoslavia is implied to be ITTL as well.
17 - The Price of Peace
8mm to the Left: A World Without Hitler
"Germany has built around themselves an economic system whose very existence hinges on the continued power and stability of the Reich, a system which has allowed them to reach heights comparable to even the British Empire itself. And while the reward for their compliance has been peace and protection, it is undeniable that the cost extracted from the smaller nations of Europe and the world has not been insubstantial—if that is in doubt, one merely has to look at what happened to the Kingdom of Belgium when they stepped out of line.” - Excerpt from Mitteleuropa - The Footprint of the Reich by Milton Friedman, published 1974
The Price of Peace
“As I am sure you can understand, such a proposal would cost the Reich little and would win us significant diplomatic credit with the United Kingdom,” German Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath was saying, smoothly working his way down the list of bullet points detailed on the brief on von Lettow-Vorbeck’s desk. The topic at hand was Britain’s League of Nations proposal to place sanctions upon the Kingdom of Italy, and whether or not Germany should support them in this. “The bulk of our trade with Italy has been foodstuffs, something which we would be able to subsidise with new economic agreements aimed at the Balkans and Baltic states. They, in turn, rely on our industrial products; with both British and German markets beyond their grasp, their economy will be unable to support both a war in Africa as well as the increased investments in Austria. It would only be a matter of time before the Italian sphere of influence collapses.”
“A sound plan,” von Lettow-Vorbeck noted, eyebrows rising appreciatively. “What do you think?” He posed the question to von Schleicher, seated to his left.
The Minister of Defense rubbed his chin. He had been an early advocate of German-Italian alignment against France, but the situation had evolved somewhat in the past year, and Italy was no longer the useful prospect which it had once seemed. Mussolini’s overreaching in Africa would cost him greatly, whether or not he could succeed where his predecessors had once failed, and it provided a golden opportunity for Germany to occupy the void which Rome would leave. “It is surrendering a card which we hold, granting Britain our support and asking nothing in return. I do not believe it to be a mistake, but the risk incurred must also be taken into account. If we do this, we are surrendering major continental allies. Would you place our trust so fully in British hands?”
“Of course not,” von Neurath was quick to interject. “But let us not forget that it was the reliance on the alleged superiority of the Great Powers’ combat ability which led to our defeat in the Great War, when our supposed partner and equal in Austria-Hungary was brought low by the so-called ‘plucky Serbia’. Rather than making the same mistake again, I propose a revival of the Mitteleuropa idea. Envision it: A German sphere stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans, strangling our enemies before they can even strike. Italian aggression has opened a door through which we must take a step.”
Mitteleuropa. A dream borne from the nationalistic fires of the Victorian Era and the hunger for an empire which defined German policy under Kaiser Wilhelm II. A German political and economic hegemony encompassing all of Central and Eastern Europe, creating a belt of self-sufficient strength and power through which neither the French nor the Russians could ever hope to tear. The Imperial German Army had come so close to achieving it with the fall of the Russian Empire, only to have it stolen from their grasp at the last second by domestic revolution and surrender.
Von Neurath continued. “The Bulgarians favour us, though they think that we are blind to Tsar Boris clumsily trying to play both sides. The Albanians, too, or at least their king, hate their heightened dependency on Rome, and have sought to expand upon the investments we established last year to counteract its influence. Romania is, while too close to Poland for my liking, at least sympathetic towards German interests. The only roadblock is Yugoslavia and the Serbs’ hatred for all things German.”
“Their Prime Minister is not as inflexible as he at first appears,” von Lettow-Vorbeck cut in. “Sources from Belgrade have informed me of the panic gripping their government. Many fear that an Italian invasion is imminent. They are no longer certain of French protection.”
“And what does Göring say of Paris?” von Schleicher inquired, not bothering to hide the open secret of the VoSiSt’s international activities.
The president shot him a faintly amused, faintly chastising look. “The French won’t oppose the Italians. They won’t support them, especially in the face of British enmity, but they will not risk open opposition under any circumstances. They have far too much to lose.”
“I concur.” The duo turned back to von Neurath, who continued, “Britain’s proposal to block trade to Italy will only increase the distance between London and Paris. We can take advantage of the distraction and assert our influence.”
Von Lettow-Vorbeck looked between the duo. “The both of you are in agreement, then? We will pledge our support for the British sanctions against Italy?”
The other two nodded. “It was only a matter of time until one of our opponents made a misstep and cleared the board for our rise,” von Neurath said with a smug smile. “Now, all that remains is to take the first move.”
On December 9th, 1935, the League of Nations, led by Britain, came together in an emergency assembly to tackle the emergence of a sudden and dangerous threat to world peace and stability: The invasion of Abyssinia by the Kingdom of Italy, and Britain’s proposal to end the war. The British plan was simple and brief, proposing a series of economic sanctions designed to strangle the Italian war machine and force them to the negotiating table or risk economic collapse. The planned sanctions would have been extensive, including not only weapons of war, but also fuel, with some even extending their demands to a complete closure of the Suez to Italian passage.
On paper, it seemed a near-guaranteed victory for the forces of the United Kingdom. Not only did they having the backing of League policy, wherein aggression of one League member against another was strictly forbidden, but they also possessed the support of two of the other four permanent members of the League—the Soviet Union, a vocal opponent to Imperialism, and the German Republic, whose alignment was a simple matter of foreign policy goals. It was assumed, somewhat prematurely, that France would soon join onboard, as France had previously joined Britain in her attempts to prevent Italian expansion into the Horn of Africa and the threat to their holdings in the region which it would bring.
Member States of the League of Nations, 1935-1936
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membe..._of_Nations#10_January_1920:_founding_members)
This would not be the case. For the French, so recently scorned by Britain during their attempt to prevent German rearmament and expansion westward, the decision to fully sideline Italy on the request of London was not one so easily made. To Prime Minister Flandin and many within the Parisian government, what 1935 had shown them was the profound risk of placing too much faith in a single ally, be it Britain or anyone else. While it was true that the two great empires retained cordial relations and strong trade, despite everything, a veil had been pulled from the French’s eyes and they now saw that their survival and continued relevance could not be assured if they were to solely toe the British line.
This reluctance was seized upon by the Italian delegation and soon Britain’s attempt at a swift diplomatic stroke descended into the hell of debates and counter-arguments which characterised the League of Nations. The Italians wielded the advantage in this situation, because time was on their side: While Britain had to convince their peaceful neighbours to damage their own economies and risk war for the benefit of an African nation which many had never heard of, Italy merely had to hold out until the importance and urgency withered, a task which would quicken if their armies successfully defeated the Abyssinians and drove the government into exile. The weakest point in their opponents’ armour was France, so it was against them that the Italian delegation struck, promising the French economic concessions in conquered Abyssinia as well as reaffirming their commitment to preventing Austro-German unification, something which they could not do if their economy was to crumble under the weight of sanctions, they added as a reminder.
Another sympathiser to the Italian cause was Poland. While Poland held little love for Fascism or Mussolini himself, they aligned in their shared commitment to prevent German expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as a common moral view in regards to the Catholic Church. Poland held one of the few semi-permanent seats on the League Council, granting them, while not an especially powerful voice, an important one nevertheless. France’s own sympathy further swayed the Polish delegation, not only in accordance with their hopes to encircle Germany in the event of war, but out of their own ambitions towards colonial expansion in Africa, something which they had hopes of seeing realised in exchange for a pledge of support.
Lastly, there was Portugal, a nominal ally of Britain with more than passing similarities to Italy in forms of governance and Authorianism. Mussolini had long hoped to align Portugal in his plan to exert Italian influence from Iberia to Anatolia, but his hopes had come to naught, as leader of Portugal Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, despite his admiration for Mussolini, held more than a little distaste for Fascism itself. With Portugal holding one of the rotating non-permanent seats on the League of Nations Council, Italian diplomats would reach out to try and court the Portuguese, but in the end nothing would come of it and Portugal remained on the sidelines.
As the Italians had hoped, days turned into weeks and no unified resolution was forthcoming, and by the time February 19th rolled around, marking two months since the beginning of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Britain’s hopes had been thoroughly dashed. The League had proven impotent in the face of this new crisis, and Baldwin’s appeals to Parliament had failed to rouse them to more than a series of sanctions on weapons, with them refusing to budge on the matter of oil sales or the Suez Canal, especially focused as they were on the domestic complications arising from the death of King George V and the public’s focus dramatically shifting from the war to the matter of a new coronation.
Germany was little better. Von Lettow-Vorbeck followed the British sanctions with ones of his own, mainly focused on the sale of heavy industrial equipment, and while it did force Mussolini to put a pin in his attempts to improve industrialisation in the North, the German President was unwilling to fully oppose his wealthy financial backers, for whom a complete closing of trade lines to Italy would have been unacceptable.
Neither the Italians nor the British would gain anything significant from these talks, and if one were keeping score, the only groups to improve their position in the wake of the Italian Invasion were the ones who opposed both sides altogether.
“People of Danzig, the time for your salvation is at hand! Witness the perfidy of Germany’s enemies, the arrogant, money-grubbing Jews and decadent bourgeois who squabble amongst themselves to the detriment of the common man! The blindness of our once-mighty nation’s government, turning its head to the plight of the Germans of West Prussia! The weakness of von Lettow-Vorbeck, conspiring with our enemies and conceding to his economic puppetmasters! No more! The time is now, loyal Germans, the time to throw off the weight of our past an embrace a new future! A new world order, free from the shackles of corrupt capitalists and bloated democracies! A world order led by Germany!”
Rapturous applause broke out throughout the crowd, men clapping, women cheering, and children waving flags bearing the black-white-red of the German Empire. In the distance, the local police were conspicuously pretending not to notice the technically-illegal rally, and it was near-guaranteed that their Polish counterparts were being kept occupied somewhere else in the Free City while the rally was going on.
Franz von Papen turned up the collar of his coat to combat the stiff wind blowing off of the Bay of Danzig. He’d thought that Winter in Berlin was cold, but that had nothing on the freezing Baltic coastline, the sky overhead overcast and pregnant with snow. Casting his gaze left and right, he slid through the crowd and towards the edge of the stage, where the speaker and leading member of the NSFB, Otto Strasser, had descended and was engaging in conversation with a group of locals. Von Papen kept back but listened closely to the words being exchanged.
“...and you must understand that this comes from a place of love and pride for our great nation and its people,” Strasser was saying, gesturing vehemently with his hands. “For the German people to achieve our greatest potential, the barriers between the strata of society must be torn down and the power taken from those who misuse it. Only then can Germany become the world power that it was destined to be—when every man, woman, and child can at last fulfil their role in service of the Fatherland.”
“What about the Jews and the Poles?” one of the onlookers cried out.
“The Jews and the Poles are foreigners occupying the land needed for German blood to flourish. When the engines of German progress churn, they will find no place for themselves, and will be expelled, just as our ancestors once expelled the savages who occupied the same Baltic land on which we now stand. The same goes for any others who stand in the way of our national unity.”
A cheer broke through the murmurs of appreciation and it triggered a new wave of elated clapping for Strasser. The man smiled broadly, clearly revelling in the immense popularity which he enjoyed in the Free City of Danzig.
Von Papen felt his lips curl with distaste, hidden behind his collar. Strasser and his brother were exactly the sort of gutter politicians whom von Papen loathed; men of no great breeding or stature, inflaming the common fool by promising the stars and bringing chaos and instability wherever they went. Of the two brothers, Otto Strasser was clearly the worst, with his borderline-Communist rhetoric and flagrant disrespect for the mechanisms of power. It was no small wonder that such revolutionary idiocy had failed to catch on in Germany, and that it was only here, in Danzig, a city under little more than foreign occupation, where the ideas took root.
It took a frustrating fifteen minutes before Strasser detached himself from his adoring followers and von Papen had the chance to approach him. If the expression which overtook Strasser’s face upon seeing von Papen was any indication, his opinion for the latter was as poor as the latter’s was for the former. “Ah. It’s you.” His tone mirrored his expression.
Von Papen set his jaw, swallowing the urge to stoop to the other man’s level. “It is a pleasure to meet you in person,” he offered, stretching out a hand.
Strasser took it, but dropped it just as quickly. “I have arranged for a room. Please come with me.” He turned on his heel and strode off.
Von Papen followed, the sound of their shoes on the cobblestone the only thing they exchanged. The walk was brief but the absence of the surrounding crowd made the January climate all the more biting and harsh against the man’s skin and he huddled in on himself. Strasser, in contrast, seemed unaffected by the conditions, and von Papen would almost fancy him to have slowed his gait to prolong the other’s suffering. At last, though, they arrived at their destination: A squat, well-lit bar at the edge of the river, its logo a fox encircling a plump hen. The duo entered, pushing open the door and moving past the heat-retaining curtain before a wave of warmth and the smell of beer-soaked meat wafted over them. Strasser was treated to another wave of friendly greetings by present patrons, and once more von Papen felt that he was being deliberately mocked as the rules of politeness forced him to stand and wait while the politician paused to greet everyone by name before they, at long last, reached the small back room which had been set aside for their meeting.
Von Papen shut the door with a slam, free hand clenching so tightly that he felt his knuckles pop from the strain. “So,” he spoke at long last, crossing the small space in a single stride and sliding into the chair opposite Strasser. “I see that the tales of your party’s grip on Danzig are more than mere rumours.”
“The Danzigers have suffered greatly at the hands of the greedy, Capitalistic powers of Europe,” the metaphorical ‘left head’ of the NSFB declared, pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher left out for them. “Their humiliation has opened them to the possibilities of a better future. A revolutionary tomorrow.”
“Some have accused you of communist sympathies. Words like that don’t help.”
“You mean you and your friends have accused me.” Strasser sneered in disgust. “I don’t care much for what you or your autocratic kind think of me.”
This was proving far more difficult than von Papen had anticipated. Strasser and the NSFB were not only opponents of von Lettow-Vorbeck and his conciliatory politics, but rather opposed the entire system which had governed Germany since time immemorial. For all that his allies in the DNVP likewise sought to reverse Germany’s liberal slide and remove von Lettow-Vorbeck from power, that was the extent that the two Right-wing parties’ goals overlapped. The Strasser brothers talked of revolution, of class conflict, of the elimination of the landed elites and aristocracy itself! It was madness, but it was the only card which could currently be played.
“Then why did you agree to this meeting?” von Papen hedged carefully. Given the man’s loathing for everything that the arch-Conservatives prioritised, he could not fathom why this proposal of negotiating an alliance against the forces dominating Germany would have been agreed upon.
“My brother talked me into it.” The younger Strasser brother glared down into his glass. “I will admit that our parties’ goals are not… wholly incompatible.”
Ah, Gregor Strasser. The older and, in von Papen’s opinion, wiser of the duo. It was with him that von Papen had hoped to speak, not the temperamental, revolutionary younger iteration. “That is what I feel, as well. Something must be done to stop Germany’s decay at the hands of a liberal appeaser.”
“What good have Hugenberg and his ilk done? They do not propose change or improvement; they merely call for a return of the feudal nonsense.”
“Hugenberg is not in question.”
Strasser’s gaze snapped to him. “Oh?”
It was a secret, but the leadership of the DNVP had grown thoroughly sick of Hugenberg’s approach and how it had cost them much of their public support. Motions were being carried out behind the scenes to at last unseat the old codger and select a replacement—if von Papen could secure an alliance with the NSFB, he might have enough sway to ensure an ally as its new head. “The DNVP is changing. It has to, or it will cease to be a factor in the next election.”
“The DNVP has no chance of winning this year, with or without our help,” said Strasser. “The Catholics and the Socialists have too strong of a hold.”
“Perhaps. But the president gives too much. He is weak—if he is removed from the picture, if something were to happen to him, the regime will crumble and the Socialists will try to seize power. The military will oppose them. When this happens, that will be our chance.”
For the first time since they’d locked eyes in the town centre, Strasser looked interested in what von Papen had to say.
A/N: I want to say that I hated writing this chapter and that I do not like the result, but I finally decided to post it just to be over and done with it. I wanted a scene from the British perspective but it kept getting co-opted by the death of King George V and the ascension of King Edward VIII. I finally decided to skip over that and have the next chapter be a British chapter.
Chapters will continue to be somewhat irregular and delayed in posting, I am currently undergoing auxilery training for work and it is sucking up a lot of my free time.
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@KaiserKatze , take your time! LOVED the chapter! Hope Edward Will take his duties seriously
Hey everyone, just so you know, today is the last day to vote for the Turtledove Awards. If you have stories that you enjoy reading, please take the time to cast your vote! Don't take this as an appeal to vote for me, as there are definitely stories more worthy of victory, just do it to show appreciation to any stories you like!
An interesting idea, using the fear of Soviet aggression to draw the Balkan and Eastern European states under German wings.
A necessary coalition, considering the higher population, higher birth rates and vastness of Soviet natural resources compared to Germany.
Especially with the kind of actions they seem to be pushing for in Danzig here.
Garrison
Donor
I would say that all they are going to achieve is to give the Poles an excuse for a pogrom against the German population in Danzig. If that were to extend to East Prussia things could turn nasty for the Poles and they can forget about any British support later.
As for the mentions of Edward VIII I would say that while his relationship with Wallis Simpson was the issue that publicly caused the most problems, privately it was his leaning towards the Nazis that caused the real anxieties. It wouldn't take much for Edward to not meet Wallis and be cajoled into some more suitable match and pro-German sympathies are going to be less of an issue here. Basically as long as he restricts his behaviour to the sort of things the British press have long turned a blind eye to when it comes to the monarchy, then there's no reason for him not to become King.
One question is of course will he produce an heir regardless of who he marries ITTL?
@KaiserKatze this was a well written chapter and I would like to say I hope you win the Turtledove, but that would be a dreadful lie.
Best of luck for the 2025 poll!
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And on that note, such a move would break the back of this considerably more "revolutionary" Nazi movement that exists ITTL, especially if Strasser finds himself still in Danzig when the Poles arrive.