Chapter 32 Playing with Fire

"Lieutenant Colonel Hessmann! The German army is not giving up its responsibilities. This is impossible..." Marshal Hindenburg's face was gloomy, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked very haggard. "But the current situation is very bad. The Western Front battlefield is encountering great difficulties, the situation in Austria-Hungary is unstable, and Bulgaria may withdraw from the war next month!"

The war on the Western Front was unwinnable, and the conflict between Austria and Hungary became increasingly intensified. Bulgaria, which was originally a side of the Allies, wanted to withdraw from the war. The situation is already clear, and procrastination will be very detrimental to Germany. Therefore, both the General Staff and Kaiser Wilhelm II hoped to gain understanding from the Allied Powers through political reforms and at the same time resolve the domestic crisis.

"...So, we must do something now to create conditions for peace talks." Marshal Hindenburg leaned back in his chair, his face more solemn than ever. "However, the army will not disintegrate, nor will it give up its responsibilities. What happened after the February Revolution in Russia will never happen again in Germany!"

The marshal's tone was decisive, but as he actually explained to Lieutenant Colonel Hessman, he probably already explained the problem - he was not trying to convince Hessman, but to convince himself. Because European history has seen too many chaos caused by hasty implementation of political reforms. It is difficult to put the brakes on political reform once it starts. There have been too many similar incidents in Europe!

Therefore, Marshal Hindenburg and Wilhelm II did not want to start reforms immediately. They just want to relax their repressive rule a little. Release some political F, relax the control of public opinion, and show off to the Allies.

"Marshal, this is the plan for Fokker Aircraft Company and BMW to cooperate in building a factory and experimental center in Riga. Please take a look at it." Hersman knew that he could not prevent the fall of the Second Reich - but there was no collapse of the Second Reich. , where did the rise of the Third Reich come from? What he just said was just doing human things.

"Put it here first." Marshal Hindenburg glanced at the thick stack of files sent by Hessmann. The construction plan for the factory and experimental center is very complex. Not only do we have to relocate equipment, personnel, and inventory of spare parts, but we also have to find a factory in Riga to restart construction, and there is also a lot of infrastructure construction.

"Lieutenant Colonel, now is the time to launch the second plan of the "Courland Plan." Marshal Hindenburg sighed as he spoke, "If Germany is really going to encounter misfortune, then we must at least keep the Baltic. The United Principality...this is our only gain in this war, and we have paid too much for it!”

Marshal Hindenburg took a brown document bag out of his drawer and placed it in front of Hessmann. Inside should be the second plan of the "Courland Plan" and the order to launch this plan.

Like most plans formulated by the General Staff, the "Courland Plan" is composed of multiple plans. The second plan is to establish the United Baltic Principality with Grand Duchess Ogaly Nikolayevna as the monarch - which means giving up the power of Duke Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The first plan for Francis IV to become Grand Duke!

If the second plan continues to fail, then the only option is to adopt the third plan... which is to abandon the Estonian Autonomous State and allow the Courland Autonomous State to join the Polish Federation. When it really comes to this point, the situation is very unfavorable. After all, the Courland Autonomous State does not have the sovereignty of an independent country, and the Poles are not an easy nation to get along with. In addition, the separation from Estonia also meant that the Baltic German landowners would lose a large amount of land, and Estonia's resources such as oil shale, phosphate rock, and limestone would not be available to the Kurland Germans.

The first difficulty in implementing the second plan, in Hindenburg's view, was whether it would trigger a war with the Bolsheviks.

It should be easier for the Allied Powers to accept the Grand Duchess Olga coming to power. After all, Nicholas II was the legitimate monarch of the Baltic region - if the Allies wanted to use the Tsar to unite the fragmented Russian White Guards, they had to recognize the Tsar as the legitimate monarch of the Russian Empire. According to the Stasi report, the three leaders of the White Guards in Russia, Kolchak, Denikin and Semyonov, were all royalists. It was difficult for them to cooperate with the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Only the Tsar could lead them. .

Therefore, if Grand Duchess Olga obtained the monarchy status of the United Baltic Principalities from the Tsar, the Allies could only hold their noses and admit it. Moreover, the Allies had no reason to treat the countries ruled by the Romanov dynasty as defeated countries. This made the United Baltic Principalities the best breakthrough for Germany to break through the Treaty of Versailles.

However, the United Baltic Principality's support of the tsar's daughter as its monarch also meant hostility to the Bolsheviks! In this case, there will definitely be some problems in the cooperation between Germany and Soviet Russia. It might even trigger a war with Soviet Russia!

"Lieutenant Colonel, there won't be any problems with the Soviet Union, right?" Marshal Hindenburg asked with some uncertainty.

"Your Excellency, Marshal," Hessmann said thoughtfully, "as long as we keep the United Baltic Principality neutral in the future and allow this country to have a certain ability to defend itself. Before Soviet Russia defeats foreign interference and Poland, there should be no What a problem. It’s just that in order to repair the relationship between the two countries in the future, I’m afraid the Grand Duchess will have to step down.”

Of course, Hersman had already calculated that it would take until 1920 for the Soviet Union to defeat the Allied intervention and the White Guards at home. As for the Soviet-Polish War... the Soviet Union seemed to be defeated. By then, the British and French interference in the affairs of the Soviet Union and the Baltic countries should have been almost exhausted. The Baltic countries could "make a revolution" again, overthrow Olga's rule, and replace it with a republic sign. They should be able to repair their relationship with the Soviet Union.

"It would be better to sign a secret treaty to guarantee the independence and inviolability of the Baltic countries after the war." Marshal Hindenburg touched his white beard, and then said, "The treaty may not be reliable, but it is better than nothing."

This was an order to Hersman. Hersman did not answer immediately, but thought for a while before nodding slowly. "Sir, I will try my best. However...it may be necessary to make concessions in other aspects to ensure the signing of the secret treaty."

"Other aspects?"

"It may be related to the Bolsheviks' export of revolution to the Balkans." Hersman said, "Russian intelligence shows that the Bolsheviks are planning to establish the Third International with the purpose of exporting their revolution."

"Humph!" Hindenburg snorted coldly, "Still want to export? How can you be the same as the Tsar at that time?"

"But this is also good for us." Hersman remembered that there was a short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic in Central Europe after the First World War, which should have been supported by the Third International. "The Austro-Hungarian Empire is likely to be difficult to sustain. If one or two Soviet countries appear on the land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I believe that the Allies will regard the Bolsheviks as the number one threat, and then the pressure on us in Germany will be greatly reduced."

Hindenburg touched the white hair on his head and said with a wry smile: "I feel like playing with fire...We set the Bolshevik fire ourselves, and now there are signs of it burning more and more vigorously. I wonder if it will burn us in the future?" He paused and nodded reluctantly. "Well, let's talk to Lenin. That's a way out, right? We might be able to use the revolutionary situation to save Germany."