The Rise of the Third Reich

Count Ludwig von Heinsberg Hersmann is now riding in a Mercedes-Benz W07 limousine, newly launched in 1931, on his way to the Presidential Palace. He received a promotion in February 1930 and is now a major general.

Among the 230,000-strong Defense Force Army, the major general is almost at the top. Standing on top of this group of major generals were probably the Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Kurt von Hammerstein-Eckert, and the Director of the Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Schleicher. The most powerful among them, Lieutenant General Schleicher, is now wearing a brand-new woolen military uniform, a ribbon and a medal. He is sitting next to Hessmann, smoking a short and thick pipe while looking at the car. A group of people demonstrating outside the window were in a daze.

"Kurt, what are you thinking about?" Hersman asked.

"I'm thinking of 1918!" Schleicher pointed to the crowd outside the window with his pipe-holding finger. They were a group of supporters of the Bolshevik Party, holding red flags and singing "The Internationale" - they were not going to rebel, But to build momentum for the upcoming election.

Germany's economy has naturally fallen into the Great Depression. As in history, it was the first country to fall into the Great Depression! Starting from the second half of 1928, Germany fell into a terrible vicious circle:

Capital flight - deflation - high interest rates - plummeting prices of various assets - consumption and investment demand are severely suppressed - serious overproduction - industry is in trouble and starts layoffs and salary cuts - layoffs and salary cuts lead to even more sluggish consumption At the same time, the government ran a huge fiscal deficit and was forced to implement fiscal austerity. In order to meet necessary expenses, it had to issue more government bonds, thereby further pushing up market interest rates - leading to a further decline in investment and demand...

Faced with this terrible dilemma, the ruling coalition government can be said to be helpless. It wants to stimulate the economy - for Germany, which has always followed the Liszt line, it is natural for the government to intervene when the economy is in a serious downturn - but it is short of money, the national treasury cannot make ends meet, and the money printing press is strictly supervised.

If you want to get the money printing press back, you must solve the problem of huge compensation in the Treaty of Versailles! As of the end of 1928, Germany still owed a huge compensation of 4.55 billion pounds (according to the Keynesian Plan, Germany did not have to pay interest on the huge compensation of 4.9 billion pounds). There is such a large amount of compensation hanging there. If the mark is decoupled from the pound, most of what will come out will be waste paper.

What was even more troublesome for Prime Minister Stresemann, who was in power at the time, was that at the end of June 1929, Britain and France announced that they would stop accepting all German compensation products except coal from 1930, and at the same time required Germany to pay the remaining balance in cash. Otherwise, the Allied Compensation Commission will deduct it directly from Germany's pound reserves deposited in the Bank of England!

Probably because he was so angry at the news, Gustav Stresemann, who had led the coalition government since 1924, died of a heart attack on October 3, 29.

The German political scene, which lost the politician Gustav Stresemann, began to fall into turmoil. From October 3, 1929 to the beginning of 1931, Germany held two general elections. William Marx, Hermann Muller and Heinrich Brüning successively served as prime ministers (all were very unstable coalition governments). ), but in the face of an increasingly worse situation - in the month of Gustav Stresemann's death, the Wall Street stock market suddenly crashed, and a worldwide economic depression ensued - no matter who comes to power, it will not help. .

By January 1931, Heinrich Brüning was hit by a no-confidence motion jointly proposed by the Nazi Party, Bolsheviks and Social Democrats because of his inability to solve the increasingly serious problems of unemployment and economic recession. Because the vote of no-confidence failed, Brüning had to ask President Hindenburg to order the dissolution of parliament and hold an election.

"Kurt, there will be no 1918." Hersman laughed. He is actually in a good mood, because although Germany's current economic performance is terrible, it is much better than 1931 in history. By the end of 1930, the number of unemployed people had not exceeded 2.5 million. Because of the support from orders from the Soviet Union, Japan, and Italy, gross industrial production only fell by about 22% compared with the most prosperous period in 1928. Moreover, the original base is much higher than in history.

However, among European capitalist countries, there are countries that perform better than Germany.

Hessmann smiled and said: "The German people now have better choices. Italy is a good example. Our Baltic Republic is also very good. Even Poland is passable."

The three countries he mentioned are all so-called "fascist countries." Since its founding, the Baltic Republic has been ruled by the Baltic German National Party, which pursues state socialism. Thanks to Soviet-German cooperation, the country's economy has continued to grow. Even in the face of the Great Depression, it could maintain a low-speed growth by relying on government investment and serving as a trade window for the Soviet Union.

A "fascist coup" also occurred in Poland in May 1926. Piłsudski, the founding father of Poland, who had been in power for three years, came to power and established a not very authoritarian dictatorship. Saved Poland from economic chaos, hyperinflation, and social unrest. Even during the Great Depression, the Polish economy could barely sustain itself, much better than the economic powerhouses such as the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Germany.

"Yes, we should also have a Mussolini or a Piłsudski," Schleicher said with emotion and helplessness. "Then Germany won't be as sluggish as it is now... Ludwig, do you really think it's necessary for us to hand over power after the election results come out?"

Hersman smiled bitterly: "Kurt, you know this better than I do... Germany is not Russia. We have a tradition of democracy and socialism, and the people are more difficult to serve. If we Germans have the endurance of the Russians, , the disaster of 1918 will never happen!”

"Yes, we have nearly 70 million outstanding people. They are rigorous, hard-working, brave, and very smart. They just cannot endure hardship like animals."

"So after we have done what we should do, we should withdraw in time," Hersmann said. "And the international community also needs a peace-loving prime minister to lead Germany. It is inappropriate for us generals to stay on the table all the time... …At least not now!”

"Love peace?" Kurt von Schleicher sneered a few times, "Hitler? He only wants to start a world war... Isn't that what the book "Mein Kampf" says?"

"But the British, Americans and French won't believe it because their politicians talk nonsense during the election campaign." When Hersman spoke, his Mercedes-Benz sedan was already parked at the magnificent presidential palace. Inside the garden.

President Hindenburg's two aide-de-camps, Colonel Schulenburg and Colonel Oskar von Hindenburg, were standing at the door of the main building of the official residence. When he saw Hessmann and Schleicher, he hurriedly stepped forward and gave a military salute first. Then Colonel Hindenburg (the son of the president) said: "Kurt, Ludwig, my father and General Ludendorff are waiting for you... But they still hesitated, after all, this appointment is not appropriate. ”

"What's wrong?" Hessman smiled, "General Sekter is a member of Congress and not an active soldier. It is completely in line with the constitution for him to serve as the prime minister of the caretaker cabinet."

"But there are too many military officers in the cabinet," Colonel Hindenburg said as he walked towards the president's office and said the reason for the president's hesitation. "In addition to Admiral Seeckt there were Admirals Hutier, Admiral Granau, Admiral Hipper, Rear Admiral Vorbeck, Colonel Hersmann (Hersmann's father) and Schleicher. Lieutenant General..."

It turned out that Hessmann, Schleicher and others conspired to create a cabinet of generals. The prime minister is the original chief of general staff, General von Seeckt, and the ministers are either retired generals or retired colonels.

Although they are just a temporary caretaker cabinet, the members of the Honorary Officer Corps are still a bit dazzling to look at.

Colonel Hindenburg looked at Schleicher awkwardly again, "Kurt, you are an active soldier."

"There is nothing wrong with an active-duty soldier serving as secretary of defense," Hersman said immediately. "Oscar, we must tell the outside world that this is a cabinet that is ready for war at any time... Only in this way can we restore the compulsory military service system."

According to the plan discussed by senior figures of the Defense Forces such as Hersmann, Schleicher and Hamerstein-Eckert, they are prepared to take advantage of France to be controlled by weak left-wing politicians (the current prime minister is a softie like Laval) , and was in the midst of an economic crisis, decisively launched a military expansion plan. The German Defense Forces will be reorganized into the Wehrmacht, the number of the army will be increased from the current 230,000 to 800,000, and the Wehrmacht Air Force will also be established.

This military expansion plan also means that a large number of officers and non-commissioned officers who have been stuck in middle and low-level military ranks for many years can be promoted. The size of the officer corps will also be expanded from the original 8,000 to 24,000. A threefold increase! In addition, many new senior positions such as corps commander, division commander, and brigade commander will be added. This is a rare opportunity to win people's hearts and promote cronies.

No matter who presides over this military expansion, he can establish a force with himself as the core, so Hessmann will not give up this opportunity to the devil Adolf Hitler under any circumstances!

And not only will he not hand over the gun to Hitler, he also plans to package Hitler as a dove of peace that everyone loves... In fact, Hitler is very good at pretending and should be able to play this role well.