The Rise of the Third Reich

Hersmann's house in Charlottenburg was large and beautiful, with a garden with a fountain, swimming pool, lawn and many tall trees. This place originally belonged to the Duke of a German state and was a large mansion that could be called the "Palace of So-and-So".

When Hitler and others arrived by car, he found that several luxury cars had been parked in a corner of the garden. One of them, Hitler recognized, belonged to General Schleicher, the current Minister of Defense.

Hessmann and his wife Chloe, who had been upgraded to a **** but was well maintained and very graceful, came out of the house to greet Hitler, Goering, Röhm, Strasser and Hess. The others were invited to enter the library on the first floor together - it is very spacious, with brown wooden bookshelves placed against the walls. The bookshelves are filled with books, most of which are military works, and some that Chloe likes. Read novels and history books.

In the center of the library, there is a rectangular dark wooden table, and several people are already sitting next to the wooden table. They are Defense Minister General Schleicher, Colonel Canaris who succeeded Hersmann as Director of Military Intelligence, and several "general councilors" from the Fatherland People's Party.

Obviously, this is a cabinet negotiation between the military and the Nazi Party!

Unlike in history, the German military now has a lot of leverage. Not only did the number of troops increase by seven to eight times, but the German industry was also controlled by controlling Soviet-German cooperation, Japanese-German cooperation, German-Italian cooperation, and some smaller-scale "barter cooperation" projects.

In addition, the Stasi mechanism built by Hirschmann was also a trump card for the army. For those who really want to be at odds with the military, assassination and kidnapping are also options, but the most common method is to discredit the news - using this method, the Military Intelligence Agency has already killed many Bolshevik and Social Democratic politicians. Although the Military Intelligence Agency has not taken action against the Nazis so far, it must have caught a lot of people...

"We have done polls, and the Nazi Party can get more than 25% of the votes, and it is estimated that it can have 164 seats."

As soon as Hessmann sat down, he told Hitler the results of the poll conducted by the General Intelligence Agency - Germans are actually relatively honest, so the poll is easy to do. Just send more people to the streets to ask questions.

In addition, the number of parliamentary seats in the Weimar Republic was expanded to 656 seats in the 1924 general election, and 25% of the vote was almost 164 seats. This is almost double the less than 80 seats won by the Nazis in the last general election (held in 1930).

"The Motherland People's Party, the People's Party and the National Party are estimated to win more than 20% of the votes and have about 131 seats."

Hersman went on to analyze: "The Catholic Center Party, the Democratic Party, the Bavarian People's Party (a branch of the Center Party), the Christian People's Party (a branch of the Center Party) and some other small parties can collectively win 20% of the votes, and the remaining 37 % was divided between the Social Democrats and the Bolsheviks.”

"Is this the latest poll?" Hitler asked. Someone in his party is also conducting public opinion polls, but the level of accuracy and timeliness cannot be compared with that of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

"This is the latest. The reasons for restoring compulsory military service have been taken into consideration." Hersman replied, "There are less than 300 seats. Although it is still a little short of a majority, as long as there is authorization from the president, a cabinet can be formed."

Presidential authorization is to use the provisions of Article 48 of the Constitution to grant the power to form a cabinet to a political party or individual. In the Weimar Republic, this method of forming a cabinet was also called "back-door cabinet formation." Historically, this was how Hitler came to power.

In this time and space, the Marx cabinet, Mill cabinet, Brüning cabinet and Seeckt cabinet that emerged after Stresemann's death were all "backdoor cabinets". Because there is no possibility of forming a majority in the parliament.

"Now let's talk about the composition of the cabinet," Schleicher took over from Hersmann. He glanced at Hitler and then said, "The chancellor will be the person nominated by the Nazi Party."

This man is, of course, Adolf Hitler. Hessmann glanced at the excited expression of the "Führer" and thought that this person probably wouldn't be the Führer, but it would be good for everyone, including himself.

"The position of Secretary of Defense will be assigned by the president himself," Schleicher said with a faint smile. "I will continue to hold this position."

"Continue to have an active military officer serve as the Minister of Defense?" Ernst Röhm asked as if he was unhappy.

"Of course, we have to prepare for war!" said Schleicher.

"We have been preparing for this for many years." Hessman said with some pride. "We started preparing before the November Revolution of 1918, and we will prepare for several more years."

He glanced at Ernst Röhm, "Captain Röhm, we know that you have been preparing for war. Your Nazi party's Volkssturm has millions of people, more than our Wehrmacht. , this is a rare force that should be part of Germany's war preparation plan!"

Hearing this, the expressions of Hitler and Röhm changed drastically at the same time!

Hersmann's intention was clear, to turn the SA into an integral part of the Wehrmacht. Putting this matter in another time and space, Ernst Röhm would really like it. Because the Stormtroopers at that time boasted 4.5 million people, the Wehrmacht had only one-twentieth of the number of Stormtroopers. Now the SA is said to have 1 million soldiers, and the Wehrmacht has more than 800,000 soldiers. It seems to be about the same, but in fact the 1 million of the stormtroopers is fictitious. According to the standards of the Wehrmacht, 100,000 is the maximum.

"Mr. Hitler, Captain Röhm," Hessmann continued his plan. "Since the SA is the armed force of the Nazi Party, we can adapt it to the Waffen SS as a special force under the Wehrmacht... Its members are still You can retain the membership of the Nazi Party. It should not be possible to adapt 1 million people, but there are still 6 to 7 divisions with 100,000 troops. Captain Roehm can be awarded the rank of General of the Waffen-SS and serve as the leader of the Waffen-SS. Commander in Chief."

Hitler and Röhm exchanged glances. One hundred thousand armed SS troops... This was the Nazi party's condition for handing over the stormtroopers! But this army was called the "SS", and Ernst Röhm, a member of the Nazi Party, served as its commander-in-chief. But neither Hitler nor Röhm would think that this army belonged to the Nazi Party. At best, it was "pro-Nazi".

Because the right to adapt the Waffen-SS must lie with the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, and it is impossible for the Nazi Party to adapt it on its own. Moreover, the personnel appointment and dismissal power after the reorganization is completed will also be controlled by the Ministry of National Defense.

"But the SA are our electoral tools!" Röhm objected.

The biggest role of the stormtroopers was not to go to the battlefield to compete with the enemy, but to fight with the Bolshevik Party at home. At this time, the electoral order in Germany was very bad, and fights between rival political parties were commonplace. The most capable of all German political parties is undoubtedly the Nazi Party with its stormtroopers.

"There will never be such chaotic elections again!" Schleicher frowned. "It's best not to hold elections until the empire wins the world war... because it is a waste of energy!"

"How can a government be formed if there are no elections?" Hermann Goering interjected.

"Perhaps there will be a few more elections," Hessmann replied, "elections under our control. The purpose is to establish a joint governance system between the Nazi Party and the Fatherland People's Party. As for other political parties, they will be fully controlled by the two parties. After the Congress, their activities will be suspended for at least 10 years, and elections will also be suspended for at least 10 years. In addition, the same governance method will be adopted in local states and cities, and the Nazi Party and the Fatherland People's Party will be jointly governed. control."

The Fatherland People's Party is now firmly controlled by a group of retired Juncker officers. Hersmann's father, Hersmann Sr., has also joined the party and will most likely become a member of parliament after this election.

Moreover, Hirschmann also planned to promote the union of Germany and the Baltic Republics. Later, the Baltic German National Party will also merge with the Motherland People's Party - Baltic now has a population of nearly 3.8 million (Baltic has a very high birth rate, and has absorbed many Belarusian and Lithuanian refugees as naturalized citizens), accounting for approximately 5.4% of the German population after reunification. Dozens more seats will be added to the National Assembly for the People's Party of the Motherland.

In addition, there are some members of foreign parties in the Congress who have views close to those of the Motherland People’s Party and may join in the future. This will roughly form a two-party structure in the Congress with the Nazi Party accounting for the majority (estimated to be more than 60%) and the Fatherland People's Party accounting for the small majority (less than 40%). The two parties would then form a coalition government.

In fact, the upper-middle class with the Honorable Officer Corps as the core and the far-right middle-lower class with the Nazi Party as the core reached a cooperation to jointly govern the country.

If such a political situation is formed, it may be impossible for Mr. Adolf Hitler to become the head of state and fully control the power as he did in history.

But now Adolf Hitler and several of his confidants know that they do not have much choice. The Legion of Honor has just won a huge gamble, and its power and influence have greatly increased. And they still have an ace in their hands - the promotion of the unification of Germany and the Baltic Republics. Germany will gain 4 million people and 110,000 square kilometers of land!

This move will definitely enhance the military's standing in the eyes of nationalists. If the Nazi Party gave up this opportunity, the Honorable Officer Corps and the Fatherland People's Party might also be able to gain control of the parliament by relying on the integration of the Baltic Republics. At that time, the Motherland Party, with the support of the powerful Wehrmacht, will completely tear up the Treaty of Versailles, take back the right to issue currency, and then use money printing to stimulate the economy. I don’t know when the Nazi Party will come to power...