The Rise of the Third Reich

"...Since the decline of the Roman Empire, our continent has been falling apart. We have similar blood and appearance, similar culture and traditions, we also believe in Jesus Christ, and we all gave birth to a brilliant civilization in Europe. People who call the mainland home are separated by national borders and become Germans, British, French, Italians, Spanish, Polish or others.

We are no longer our own people. We have dug trenches and built defense lines on our respective borders. We have established the most powerful army, navy and air force in the world. We have also formulated an offensive plan that can be executed at any time, preparing to attack At some point in the future, we will once again provoke a war to destroy other Europeans who we regard as our enemies. At the same time, we are also preparing to destroy Europe, the homeland of all Europeans.

Some people may say: We Europeans have been living like this for thousands of years, killing each other, wary of each other, launching war after war, and then the victors enjoy the joy, and the losers shed tears and resentment, and either become depressed or work hard. Work hard and strive to taste the joy of victory in the next war. For thousands of years, our continent has been advancing in the flames of war, survival of the fittest, and only the toughest people can survive here. As a result, the most brilliant civilization in human history - industrial civilization!

But the European War from 1914 to 1918 was very different from any war that had occurred in Europe since the advent of the industrial age. The power that determines the outcome of the war is no longer the power of Europe, but the power from other continents!

The United States on the other side of the Atlantic became the largest industrialized country in the world before the war, producing the most steel, the most oil, and the most coal. Its population exceeds that of Britain and France combined, its territory and resources exceed those of the entire Europe excluding Russia, and it holds more gold than the entire Europe.

We can no longer regard lands outside of Europe as savages and sources of our raw materials. The most powerful industrialized country outside Europe had been born, and this country had begun to exert a huge influence on the continent...

And the United States of America is not the only country that may one day deprive Europe of its central position in the world. In our east, a big country spanning Eurasia with a territory, resources and population exceeding the United States - the Soviet Socialist Union Republic has also begun to rise!

Although their industrial output value in 1927 was less than half that of Germany, they had overcome the difficulties caused by the world war and civil war and formulated an ambitious five-year industrial development plan, preparing to build a country equal to that of the United States in the shortest possible time. Almost as powerful as an industrialized country!

There is the United States to the west and the Soviet Union to the east. They are both extremely powerful and have unlimited room for growth. If they continue to develop, they will surely be able to replace European countries like the United Kingdom and France, which only cover a few hundred thousand square kilometers, and become the leaders of the world.

Now many European capitalists who are good at seizing opportunities have realized this inevitable trend. The weakness of the pound and the franc and the strength of the US dollar illustrate the problem. Money is flowing out of Europe to the United States, and we Europeans still owe the Americans a huge debt of more than 10 billion U.S. dollars. Once the United States starts to collect debts, Europe's progress will become even bleaker.

If we do not try to change, in the not too distant future, we Europeans will lose our pride and become slaves of the United States and the Soviet Union. The world's centers of power will no longer be London, Paris and Berlin, but New York and Moscow.

At that time, how will the United States and the Soviet Union, which have gained world power, treat us and our descendants?

I think we can imagine our future by looking at what is happening in Africa, India and China today.

If we don’t want our children and grandchildren to end up in that situation. So now, while the world's power is still in Europe, and we in Europe still have industrial, economic, and scientific capabilities that exceed those of the United States and the Soviet Union, let's put aside our mutual prejudices and old grudges and unite the interests of future generations. From now on, starting from the formation of a unified European Central Bank, we will move towards a unified, united and strong European Community..."

In Paris, in the Matignon Palace (official residence of the Prime Minister), Raymond Poincaré is reading a thin book called "Our Dream" in a mocking tone. The author of this book is an army colonel named Ludwig von Heinsberg Hersmann. According to an investigation by the French military intelligence department, the German colonel is also the president of the German Army Policy Council and the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Earlier, he also served as the deputy chief of staff of the Baltic Defense Forces and belongs to the core of the German Army's young faction. figure. Moreover, this person was also a key figure in the Soviet-German cooperation and was very popular within the German Army. It is said that he was nicknamed "Little Ludendorff."

With a snap, Prime Minister Poungale had dropped the book in his hand on the desk, and then looked at the two guests. One of them is Georges Legault, a core figure in the cabinet who once served as French Prime Minister. The other is Edouard Alphonse Rothschild, director of the Bank of France.

"George, Edward, what do you think? Are the Germans and the British colluding? Is the formation of the World Bank the beginning of European integration?"

"Mr. Prime Minister," Edward Alphonse Rothschild was the first to answer the question, "I don't think the British will really engage in European integration. Their thinking for hundreds of years has been to let the major players on the European continent Maintaining a balance of power and balance among the powerful countries cannot be broken in a short period of time, but forming an ECB and controlling the currency issuance in Europe is indeed what the British want.”

Historically, the theory of issuing an "international currency" that transcends sovereignty was proposed by Keynes. However, this idea was firmly opposed by the Americans, so it was not implemented.

But now, the Germans, who have long linked the mark to the pound, have come out to support the British "World Bank Plan." Considering that this is a critical moment in the struggle between the pound and the dollar, the Germans' actions are tantamount to giving Britain timely help.

"Prime Minister, the British will get closer to Germany because of this!" Edward Rothschild said to the French Prime Minister in a deep and worried tone. "Their reaction to the Karl Marx proves it."

The appearance of the aircraft carrier "Karl Marx" certainly caused an outcry. But what Schleicher worried about did not happen, at least Britain did not make any protests to Germany. The United States also ignored the "Karl Marx".

"This aircraft carrier cannot be used for Atlantic operations," Secretary of the Navy George Legg interjected. "According to the photos taken by intelligence personnel in the Bosporus, this is an aircraft carrier with poor seaworthiness and can only be used in the Atlantic Ocean." It operates in less stormy waters. Vladivostok is its home port. Considering the Soviet Union's support for the Chinese government in Wuhan, the British may have determined that the Soviet Union's expansion direction has turned to the east, so this aircraft carrier is Japanese. "People's troubles are not the British's."

"No, George, you are wrong." Poincaré frowned, "The British will definitely restrict Germany from continuing to export naval technology to the Soviet Union, but...the British adopted private negotiations with Germany this time. And superficially ignoring the Soviet aircraft carrier! This means that the British are putting British-German relations above British-French relations!”

"This is inevitable," Edward Rothschild analyzed in a cautious tone. "Due to the implementation of the gold exchange system, Britain and Germany have considerable common economic interests. Now Germany hopes that the pound will remain stable so that the mark can Being able to maintain stability is a necessary condition for capital to flow into Germany, and the UK also hopes that Germany's economy can remain strong. Only in this way can Germany continue to send gold to the UK. Mr. Prime Minister, I think you should understand that the common interests of both parties are far greater. When there are disagreements, it’s not hard to find ways to resolve them.”

The French Prime Minister glanced at Edward Rothschild and said, "Edward, do your friends on Wall Street think so too?"

"Yes, our consultant Mr. Owen Young believes that after the implementation of the Keynesian Plan, the pound and the mark have a symbiotic and co-prosperous relationship. This relationship will inevitably prompt the United Kingdom to adopt a series of pro-German policies... because if Germany appears What's wrong, it also means the pound will collapse."

"In other words, there is nothing we can do now except build a defense line?" The line of defense that Poincaré mentioned was the later Maginot Line of Defense. Construction of the defense line has not yet officially started, but the construction plan has been finalized.

"No, that's not the case." Edward Rothschild paused, as if he had thought of some very destructive method.

"Edward, if you have any idea, just tell me!" the French Prime Minister urged impatiently because he was impatient.

"Chancellor, actually the reverse is also true... the collapse of the pound also means the collapse of the German economy!"

"The pound collapsed?" Poincaré was stunned and shook his head quickly, "That's not possible. The Bank of France also has a lot of pounds in reserve, as if there are tens of millions, right? Do you want all that money to depreciate? "

"No, Mr. Prime Minister, that money is our weapon! It is our weapon to break up the quasi-alliance between Britain and Germany!"

"Weapon? How to use it?"

Edward Rothschild replied: "If we exchange all pounds for gold and dollars, it will cause greater panic and selling... and the Bank of England does not have so much gold and dollars, they have no choice, We can only give up on our commitments, which means the depreciation of the pound and a massive outflow of funds from Germany!”

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Note: Historically, the crisis of the pound in the late 1920s and early 1930s directly led to the abandonment of the gold standard. The crisis was triggered by a run on the pound by the Bank of France. Britain and France were by no means close allies during the interwar, so much so that Hitler once thought he could win over an Anglo-German alliance.