RE: BLOOD AND IRON

Bruno had been given the greatest honor by the Kaiser, and that was operational command of the entire Western Front, the only major front left that Germany really cared about. As a result, he was no longer given the option to command in the field, and the German 8th Army he had been in command of now fell to the control of Heinrich who by no was a Lieutenant general.

As a result, Bruno would be spending the majority of what remained of the war far enough away from enemy lines to be threatened by the enemy, but close enough to maintain full control over every front and the forces of the Central Powers located there.

Because he was no longer stationed at the chaos of the front, Bruno had easy access to ongoing news around the globe. Hence he immediately heard about what happened in French Indo-China and the field day the United States Press, who was not under his control, were having with it.

But it was too little too late. The French lines had broken. Their country was on fire suffering from internal revolt, while the countryside was ravaged with brigandry. The newly formed conscripted army designed to hold the line, having received poor training, equipment, and severely lacking in the robust chain of command their adversaries had, especially at the NCO level made for widespread routs and desertion whenever the French Army made contact with the Central Powers.

If there was one thing this war had taught Bruno, or perhaps I should say reinforced his modern knowledge, it was that a highly trained professional army was always better than a force of conscripts.

Either way, Wilson’s attempts to drag the United States out of isolation, and spark a war with the central powers was a futile one. At the current rate Bruno would be parading through Paris within a fortnight at the latest, and because of this he could only smirk and snicker upon reading all about what the Americans had planned.

“Perhaps if you had won the 1912 election, you may have been able to get troops and supplies on European soil in time to stall the inevitable. But unfortunately for you, it is now too little, too late….”

After saying this to nobody in particular, Bruno folded up the paper on his lap neatly, and stashed it away. Having done this, he approached the command center that was a established within Germany territory near the western border within France.

Casualty reports were flooding in, and while the soldiers of the Central Powers had sustained minimal losses thus far in their current push, the French Army’s figures were staggering, increasing by the thousands per second.

One thing was certain, by the time this war came to an end, and peace was secured, France in its current state would not survive the immediate aftermath… No… They were likely to fracture, and wage war against itself similar to the troubles the Weimar Republic found itself having early on within its existence during Bruno’s past life.

As Bruno gazed upon the updated numbers spread across the telegraph, he was quick to ask about the current state of the war effort.

“It would appear our forces are not relenting in their pursuit of a quick finish. Good, tell me, how quickly will it take for our forces to surround and besiege Paris?”

The communications officer did not even realize that Bruno had entered the room, quickly snapping to attention as they did so before responding with the information he wanted. Thus confirming the calculations he had already made in his head.

“At the current rate of the war, two weeks at the latest… However, it is entirely possible the French will begin to surrender the moment they see our armor passing by, as we have come across several cases of such behavior already.

If these immediate surrenders become more commonplace or even the norm among the French Army, then we will probably see a victory in 72 hours at the earliest. The French have exhausted their ability to wage war by throwing waves after wave of men at our fortified borders, and now they are merely within their death throes, having a last gasp before they are finished once and for all. Discover hidden content at My Virtual Library Empire

I have to say, your strategy of forcing the French to attack us repeatedly and over the course of the war bleeding them dry of manpower and resources has worked flawlessly.”

Bruno simply responded to this remark with a silent nod of his head, before giving the men within the room further orders.

“Well, if anything changes, keep me posted…”

After saying this, Bruno walked off, suddenly finding himself incredibly bored with his current lot in life. Life far away from the front lines seemed less than ideal for a man of his character, having spent his entire professional career as a military officer who led from the front, and by example. He was now finding himself having a hard time adjusting to his current position.

Sure he had been allowed to do as he saw fit in the past, largely because of the power and influence he wielded, but as the war intensified, and rumors of Bruno’s “reckless” behavior reached the Kaiser’s ears, was it really any wonder he was finally ordered to behave in accordance with his current position?

One stray shell at any given time, or one lucky sniper, and Bruno could be dealt a fatal blow, one that would cause irreparable damage to the German Reich’s war machine. Such a thing could not be permitted to happen, and thus he was given a stern talking to by the Kaiser before he departed for war this time around.

Logically, Bruno understood the Kaiser’s reasoning. Weapons had developed towards such destructive ends that the era of generals and kings’ leading armies had vanished. Instead replaced with a system where these generals, especially the highest ranking ones, never stepped foot on the battlefields on which they sent their soldiers to die upon.

And since this was the case, Bruno decided to spend the next few weeks regarding his plans for the future now that he had guaranteed a Central Powers victory within the Great War. Wheter it was facilitating the annexation of the Osterreich into the German Reich, or it was establishing long-term and permanent relations with the Romanovs through the marriage of his offspring.

In addition to this, there was the matter of what to do with the German colonies after the Great War came to an end. Frankly speaking, Bruno felt it would be both wise and prudent to begin a peaceful and long-term process of decolonization, as he felt the risks they posed to overall stability and economic prominence was far greater than it was worth maintaining direct control over them.

While reflecting on this particular question, Bruno understood that there were lessons to be learned from his past life, particularly the diplomatic efforts nations of the BRICS economic alliance had made in this regard.

With this in mind, Bruno decided that he would pursue a long term dynastic alliance between the house of Hohenzollern and Romanov, using his own bloodline as the glue that kept them together.

This would cement an economic and military alliance that would guarantee damn near self sufficiency for the two empires even against a world of enemies. At the same time, it would allow for the use of debt trap diplomacy, and state backed mercenary forces to gain control over former colonial resources, and ensure that the puppet state in the area maintained control, while paying German and Russia to do so.

Yes, there were a lot of lessons to be learned from Bruno’s past life, especially in the decades and century that were to come from the current era, and Bruno intended to use this knowledge for the benefit of the fatherland.

Especially now that he had the time to do so, having been removed from the front lines of war and sent into a more administrative position located at the safety of the rear. Perhaps he was celebrating two early, but from his perspective the United States had tried to force its involvement in the war a bit too late to have any actual impact on the result.

Even if they did manage to get a ship full of foreign volunteers and supplies past the blockade around France, there was little they could do to change the outcome. Thus it was indeed as Bruno had said… Too little, too late.

As for how Woodrow Wilson and his camp of zealous hawks would react when realizing they had responded too late? Well, let’s just say it would either tank their prospects for election, and thus solidifying the efforts Bruno had spent the last decade subverting American Politics.

Or it would end in a bolstering of his own party. And would see fit that the Americans would begin playing a much larger part in global politics. Should this occur, Bruno would have a new player to contend with on the global stage. But that was a story for another time.

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