The Rise of the Third Reich

"Joseph, when can we achieve a total ceasefire?"

"Mr. President, the date has been set. The ceasefire with the European Community and New Asbania can be achieved on May 8, 1945, Berlin time. As for the ceasefire with Japan, full communication between Germany and Japan is required It can only be realized later.”

"May 8th... Today is May 1st, there is still one week left."

"It is true that there is still a week, but Hitler guaranteed that the European coalition ground forces will not launch an attack in areas other than the Avalon Peninsula and Labrador, nor will they launch another attack on the United States. The reason why he proposed to use 5 "The date of the ceasefire is March 8th, and we hope to have full exchanges with Japan to achieve a worldwide ceasefire."

"Oh, I see."

While communicating with Vice President Kennedy on the hotline, Truman let out a sigh of relief. The Germans' attitude was still mild, and the ceasefire was finally finalized.

"So has the amount of compensation changed?" When Truman asked this question, his heartbeat began to accelerate.

"One trillion Euromarks." Kennedy replied in a very disgusting tone. "Hitler hopes to get 1 trillion, of which 75 billion will be paid in gold and silver, and the rest will be collected in materials. The materials can be paid in installments."

"One trillion... is still too much!" Truman shook his head, feeling a little regretful. When Roosevelt was still there, even 500 billion was unusable. Now that it has doubled, it is a real loss.

"There should be room for negotiation...but for us, it is not impossible to get 1,000 billion Euromarks."

1,000 billion European marks is equivalent to 400 billion US dollars today (the US dollar is definitely bearish), which is almost equal to the GDP of the United States in 2 years.

It seems like a lot, but except for US$30 billion in gold and silver and some petroleum, agricultural products and livestock, most of the compensation (about US$360 billion) can be paid in 15-20 years, which averages out to US$18 billion per year. (According to the currency value in 1944), it is actually not a lot.

In addition, the raw materials such as grain, livestock, cotton, crude steel, coal, petroleum products and non-ferrous metals requested by the Germans are not difficult for the United States to raise. The United States is the chosen country. It has the most vast and fertile agricultural land in the world, as well as the largest coal reserves in the world and extremely low mining costs. As long as the U.S. economy can maintain normal and healthy operation, it will not be a problem to pay off the reparations in 20 years.

But it is not easy to maintain the normal operation of the post-war American economy. Even the domestic political stability of the United States after the war will face severe challenges.

"Joseph," Truman thought of this and sighed, "Edward (referring to Secretary of State) was able to arrive in Rome yesterday, and the meeting with German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop is now going on... I think we should also find an opportunity to get in touch. Leader of the Republican Party.”

Of course, there are open and formal channels for peace negotiations between the United States and the United States. Secretary of State Edward Stettinius has now led a team to Rome and will officially start negotiations at the Venice Palace with the diplomatic delegation led by German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. .

However, both Truman and Kennedy knew that the real opponent in this peace negotiation was not in Germany, but in the United States!

After ending his call with Truman, Vice President Kennedy immediately left the temporary vice presidential residence in the Art Institute of Chicago building and went to the temporary congressional residence in the nearby Art Institute of Chicago library to meet with Republican leader Taft.

The meeting took place in Senator Taft's office. In addition to Kennedy and Taft, the only person present was Nelson Rockefeller, the vice president's chief of staff.

In a room filled with the aroma of books and coffee, three people began a meeting that may determine the future fate of the United States.

Kennedy smiled bitterly and said to the leader of the Republican Party: "Senator, now that the Secretary of State has met with the German Foreign Minister, a ceasefire agreement is expected to be reached soon. But the real peace negotiations will probably be very difficult...The Germans will definitely raise their asking price. I am afraid that compensation of 300 to 400 billion US dollars is inevitable.”

Taft shook his head: "Damn it, you have to pay so much money... I said that this war cannot be fought, but that stubborn Roosevelt just couldn't listen."

"Isn't it?" Nelson Rockefeller also echoed, "Mr. Vice President and I are against the war...Now those who supported the war have either died or stepped down, but we, the anti-war people, are left to clean up the mess. It’s so hateful.”

"Nelson, tell me," Taft looked at Nelson Rockefeller, "who should pay for this?"

Nelson Rockefeller exhaled and smiled bitterly: "No one can afford that much money, except the Federal Reserve."

This means printing tickets! Whether it’s 300 billion or 400 billion, it’s definitely not possible to collect that much money through taxation, and there’s no hope of raising it by issuing government bonds. The only way is for the Federal Reserve to directly lend money to the government... which is to print dollars to dilute the savings and wages of all American people.

This was not what Nelson meant, but what Wall Street as a whole meant.

"How much will the dollar fall?" Taft asked.

"Ideally," Rockefeller said, "purchasing power would fall by 50%."

"That much?" Taft was stunned for a moment. Apparently, the depreciation of the dollar exceeded his imagination.

"Yes," Rockefeller said, "Because in the next 20 years, we will have to pay a large amount of raw materials to Europe, so domestic consumption of raw materials must be reduced, and Americans may need to save a little. There is a difficulty above all. period."

This conclusion was made by Wall Street and is not necessarily beneficial to the U.S. economy after the defeat. In the view of Wall Street, the U.S. economy will enter a period of coexistence of economic contraction and inflation after the war, and ordinary people will have a harder time. .

"So how can the domestic economy be maintained?" Taft asked. "If the dollar depreciates and wages fail to rise at the same time, consumption will probably shrink very much, right?"

"Exports," Rockefeller replied, "the Roman Empire would be a very large market and the best place for American capital."

The method proposed by Rockefeller was to export industrialization to the Roman Empire. On the one hand, it could find a new, safe, and highly profitable market for American capital; on the other hand, it could also support the Roman Empire to fight against the German-led United States of Europe.

"In addition," Rockefeller said, "China, Australia and New Zealand will also be important markets for American goods and capital."

"Australia and New Zealand?" Taft was a little confused. "Aren't they colonies of the British Empire?"

"That's not necessarily true," Kennedy shook his head and smiled. "There are still hundreds of thousands of American and British troops there, and a large amount of weapons and equipment are stored there. If, I mean, if King George VI and his government leave Canada and go Australia, and if General MacArthur and his army are unwilling to admit defeat...what can the Germans do?"

Germany could launch a massive expedition, but it would have to be assisted by Japan.

But why did Japan help Germany conquer Australia and New Zealand? That would only allow Germany to deploy heavy troops in the backyard of the Japanese Empire, which would do a lot of harm to the Japanese Empire.

"Australia and New Zealand will become our American Baltic Republics!" Kennedy said. "If the Germans cannot reach an agreement with Japan on the Australia and New Zealand issues, then they can only let it go. And we can use Australia and New Zealand Breaking through the limits of the peace treaty.”

The method of using Australia and New Zealand to escape from the restrictions of the post-war treaty was proposed to Truman and Kennedy by Hopkins, a close aide of Roosevelt who was now sick at home and waiting to die.

In Hopkins' view, once Canada fell into German hands, the United States itself would be vulnerable to death. Many things are inconvenient to do at home and can only be done in Australia and New Zealand, which are beyond the reach of Germany.

To this end, the United States should try to persuade King George VI to lead the government to seek refuge in Australia, and at the same time strengthen Australia and New Zealand as much as possible before signing a peace treaty. After the war, we should also increase investment in Australia and New Zealand within our capabilities. If possible, foster a strong Australia-New Zealand federation.

"That's quite thoughtful," Taft nodded, "So...when can we resolve this troublesome matter (referring to peace negotiations)?"

"It should be resolved within this year," Kennedy said. "Next year is the midterm election, and many things are inconvenient, so we should resolve it this year."

Although the Democratic Party's defeat has been determined, Truman and most of the Democratic Party leaders still hope to save it, so they are now formulating salvation strategies.

There are two specific methods: one is to cut the knot quickly to resolve the peace talks issue, minimizing the damage to the Democratic Party, and at the same time giving the Democratic Party an opportunity to adjust its policies; the other is to return to the iron-voted areas of the seven states in the South and hold high the banner of white supremacy. Big flag, first save the votes of white southerners.

"Okay, okay, that's it." Taft nodded repeatedly, "The Republican Party's request is also very simple. As long as you pass a few resolutions to repeal the unreasonable New Deal bills, we will support the peace treaty you reached with the Germans.

In addition, our two parties can also cooperate in the mid-term elections of 1946 to deal with the fascist party and the Bolshevik party, the two saboteurs of American politics!

I sincerely hope that our politics in this country can return to the way it was in the 1920s, before the Great Depression and the New Deal. Let our two parties take turns in power, while excluding all radical political forces from mainstream politics. "