The Rise of the Third Reich

"1.5 billion gold marks? Are they all gold coins?"

"Yes, they are all gold coins, stored in the vault of the German National Bank branch in Switzerland."

The gold content of 1.5 billion gold marks is equivalent to more than 300 tons and almost 400 tons of gold! For Germany, which has almost depleted its foreign exchange reserves, this can be said to be a timely help - although Soviet-German cooperation provides Germany with raw materials, and Germany itself is an industrialized power, it does not need to import foreign technology and machinery.

However, necessary gold reserves are still indispensable, which can give Germany more room for maneuver in its diplomacy - without gold reserves and unable to use pound deposits (in the Bank of England), Germany can only rely on Soviet-German barter trade to obtain Most industrial raw materials. Once relations with the Soviet Union broke down, it would be difficult to maintain the German economy.

Hitler's actions to clean up the Bolshevik Party were likely to quickly cool the already heated Soviet-German relations.

"Germany needs that gold!" Hitler looked at Hersmann, "I can give His Majesty the Emperor corresponding compensation, whether it is land or company stocks!"

But what William II wanted was the crown!

Hessmann smacked his lips and nodded, "Okay, you can go and persuade His Majesty. He loves the German motherland, so he will definitely hand over the gold to the Reichsbank. But... he can't survive with 1.5 billion gold marks. Therefore, cooperation with the Soviet Union must be maintained, and it is best to try to expand it in order to obtain more war preparation materials.”

Germany is a resource-scarce country, lacking almost everything except coal. But this country is an industrial power and consumes massive amounts of raw materials every year. If it shifts to wartime, the consumption of raw materials will be even more alarming.

Therefore, under the auspices of Hersmann, Germany began to stockpile raw materials as early as 10 years ago. Nowadays, it has been established including petroleum, copper ore, bauxite, chromite, tungsten ore, molybdenum ore, antimony ore, tin ore, manganese ore, lead ore, zinc ore, magnesium ore, uranium ore, nickel ore, A strategic reserve system including opium (for the production of morphine), silk (for the production of parachutes) and other raw materials.

However, the various raw materials that have been collected and stored are far from meeting the needs of a world war - according to Hersmann and Schleicher's plan, World War II will take five years to prepare for instead of just a few months! Therefore, the various raw materials that will be consumed are also astronomical.

Moreover, Germany has a history of "starting" a world war, and its actions to purchase and store raw materials from the international market cannot be too eye-catching, otherwise it will cause interference from Britain, France and other countries.

The method Hirschmann adopted was to establish shell companies in friendly countries such as the Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden for long-term and small-volume purchases.

However, this can only solve a small part of the purchase and storage needs, and the bulk needs to be carried out through barter trade cooperation. The Soviet Union had a vast territory and abundant resources, and had urgent industrialization needs. Moreover, the domestic mining industry also had a certain foundation and could provide a large amount of raw materials. Therefore, it became the main source of Germany's strategic reserve materials.

"But our cooperation with the Soviet Union is also strengthening the Bolsheviks!" Hitler paused, "This will have a negative impact on future wars!"

He looked at Hessmann, "Ludwig, you don't really think we can always live in harmony with the Soviet Union, do you?"

In fact, the Soviet Union's power now is not much stronger than it was in history. Because while Soviet-German cooperation was strengthening, economic exchanges between the Soviet Union and the United States were weakening. The reason is that the Soviet Union's ability to export raw materials is not unlimited, and their industrialization speed is also limited - industrialization is not just about importing some foreign machinery and technology, but also requires a large number of supporting construction projects and a large number of laborers to be "transferred" from agriculture to industry.

The Soviet Union imported more than one billion marks of machinery and technology from Germany, and its domestic investment often required ten to twenty times this amount to support it. It will also involve the distribution of interests between industry and agriculture - in order to meet the labor demand in the process of industrialization, a large number of young and middle-aged farmers have become workers, and the state needs to provide them with food rations, housing rations and other related Assure. Therefore, the process of industrialization in the Soviet Union was actually also a process of urbanization.

The scale of investment involved is extremely staggering, and it is accompanied by a serious imbalance in the shortage of industry and agriculture. The agricultural labor force has decreased, but the population to support has increased significantly. At the same time, it has to bear the growing export task, so it will naturally encounter huge difficulties.

Therefore, it is impossible for the Soviet Union to import the same amount of American machines as it did in history when the scale of Soviet-German cooperation has expanded several times. There is a mutual substitution relationship between Soviet-German cooperation and American machines, and there cannot be a simple addition. Otherwise, the Soviet Union’s domestic agriculture would not be able to afford it!

Moreover, due to the loss of the agricultural area in Ukraine on the right bank, the scale of agricultural production in the Soviet Union was smaller than that of the same period in history. Although Stalin made up for it to a certain extent by developing Kazakhstan, it could not compare to the granary of Ukraine on the right bank (which is the best land in the world).

Therefore, the power of the Soviet Union has not increased much compared with history. On the contrary, the Polish Federation started a round of industrial construction after the establishment of Piłsudski's "dictatorship". Since the right-bank Ukraine belonged to Poland, the Polish Federation obtained a lot of foreign exchange by exporting grain and meat. Therefore, with the help of Britain and France, we can carry out some construction related to military industry and heavy industry in Galicia, which is rich in coal mine reserves. We have also expanded the coal mines there and opened many power plants.

Moreover, Poland's military power is also stronger than in history! And not just because of Galicia's industrial construction. Right bank Ukraine and Lithuania not only brought more food to Poland. And it also brought more than 20 million Ukrainians and more than 2 million Lithuanians. The population of the Polish Federation now approaches 53 million.

"Adolf, you have forgotten Poland with a population of 53 million!" Hersman pointed out, "This is a powerful country with a land area of ​​100,000 square kilometers larger than Germany and the Baltic Republics combined. It also has the largest land area in Europe. The second or third most powerful army!”

According to the current analysis of European military observers, the strength of the Polish Army far exceeds that of Germany - the German Army, even including the Baltic Army and the Armed SS, only has more than 900,000 soldiers. And most of them are new soldiers with low-level weapons and equipment. There were basically no tanks, and heavy artillery and machine guns were also in short supply.

The Polish Army currently maintains a huge size of 1.5 million people (actually not that many, this is the number when all units reach 80% fullness), and has many tanks, heavy artillery and machine guns.

In addition, in order to defend against the invasion of the Soviet Union, Poland is currently building the Piłsudski Defense Line modeled on the Maginot Line in Ukraine, western Belarus and eastern Lithuania on the right bank, and has also imported a lot of German cement for this purpose.

"Well, Poland, everyone hates Poland..." Hitler gritted his teeth, "This may be the reason why we cooperate with the Soviet Union, this is the only reason!"

"No, that's not the only one!" Hersman said. "We actually have a similar political stance to the Soviet Union."

"What?" Hitler stared at Hersmann with gray-blue eyes.

"Socialism!" Hersman said, "We and the Soviet Union are both socialist countries!"

"What? We and the Soviet Union are both... Ludwig, I think you have misunderstood National Socialism! This is different from Soviet Socialism!"

"Yes! There is a difference between the two," Hessman paused, "But state socialism is also socialism, and Soviet socialism is also socialism. From this perspective, both Germany and the Soviet Union now belong to the socialist camp!"

"Stalin will not admit this!" Hitler reminded.

"I'll make him admit it," Herschmann laughed. "That's not a problem. Now not only does Germany need the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union also needs Germany. So the differences between National Socialism and Soviet Socialism are comradely differences. Differences. Therefore, Stalin must recognize that national socialism is socialism! This is very beneficial to us, not only to tie the Soviet Union with ideology, but also to export national socialist ideas internationally... This will win many friends for Germany!"

"Being capitalist" or "socialist" actually had no restrictions on Hitler and the Nazi Party. They were not very particular about this. But it was different for Stalin and the Soviet Union.

If Stalin and the Soviet Union recognized Germany as a socialist country, then the friendship between the Soviet Union and Germany would be more solidified from the Soviet standpoint.

Because once the Soviet Union recognized the National Socialist Society as socialism, the Nazi Party's coming to power in Germany would be a sign of "the victory of the German socialist revolution." It will certainly be widely publicized by the propaganda agencies of the Soviet Union and the Third International as a sign of the victory of socialism over capitalism.

When Germany and Britain and France go to war in the future, the Soviet propaganda agencies will most likely describe it as the beginning of a "world revolution." In this way, the Soviet Union's national stance will be influenced by its ideological stance.

Even if the Soviet Union would not go to war with Britain and France on Germany's side, it would not easily abandon Germany, its "socialist brother." Otherwise, it will be easy to create chaos in the country - to abandon Germany, at least a period of propaganda is needed. Germany cannot be the vanguard of the world revolution today and the enemy of socialism tomorrow. That would make the Soviet people suspicious of the Bolshevik Party.

Moreover, in the 1930s, socialism was still a symbol of progress in the eyes of working people and oppressed nations around the world. Once Germany's socialist identity is "certified," it will become easier to export national socialist activities.