The Rise of the Third Reich

People have classes!

Ludwig von Hersmann now truly feels what class is. Class is an identity, a recognition, a feeling that can suddenly bring people who don't know each other closer together.

For example, Ludwig von Hersmann himself belonged to the Junker aristocratic class. He is the eldest son and heir of the Hersmann knight family in Rastenburg, East Prussia, a young army lieutenant colonel, a recipient of the Blue Max Order, and a member of the elite of the Grand General Staff. With such status and achievements, no one would regard him as an outsider in the circle of Junker nobles. To Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Goltz, and Seeckt, Hessmann was his junior, his own man, and his successor who could become Chief of General Staff and First Director of Munitions in the future. .

Although he came from a somewhat humble background, as long as he married Chloe, the Countess of Heinsberg whose family tree could be traced back to the time of Charlemagne, he would be the top figure among the Junker nobles. Even the nobility of West Germany, South Germany and Austria would regard him as a star figure in their own circle.

But Hessmann is not a lover of the masses. Some people like him, and others will hate him, or alienate him from the bottom of their hearts - because of his class attributes, and because of the label of Junker aristocrat and elite officer on his head!

On November 7, 1918, the weather was very cold and drizzling. Lieutenant Colonel Hersmann, wearing a field gray military uniform with a blue Max Medal hanging on his collar, lined up with a large group of officers from the General Staff outside the official residence in Berlin's Imperial City. Each of them looked depressed, and some of them were still crying.

The door of the royal residence was open, and several carriages slowly drove out from inside. Under the escort of a group of Guards cavalry, they passed in front of these elite German officers. The carriage does not have any symbols symbolizing the Hohenzollern dynasty, nor is it luxurious. It is just an ordinary carriage. But Hessmann knew that in one of the carriages was the German Emperor Wilhelm II!

The storm of the November Revolution in Berlin grew stronger and stronger, and on the morning of the 6th it turned into a city-wide general strike. In the early morning of the 7th, two military camps in Berlin were attacked by demonstrators. No one fired a shot, and the crowd entered the military camp in large numbers to celebrate with the soldiers.

Berlin's defenders have begun to defect! The Kaiser could no longer stay in Berlin and must leave immediately. At 10:30 a.m., Admiral Groener told the officers staying at the Reichstag and Imperial Residence that he would accompany the emperor to the German headquarters in Spa. The officers still in Berlin must obey the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Schleicher. .

Hersmann was also one of the officers who remained in Berlin. After signing the "Hersman-Albert Agreement" at the Capitol on the 6th, Hersman did not go home again, but was ordered to stay at his official residence in the Royal City to await orders.

He asked Chloe and Stockhausen to accompany Archduchess Olga over the phone and leave Berlin for Riga before the railway workers' general strike. At the same time, Rosenberg was instructed to closely monitor the Spartacists and report their actions at any time.

"Salute!" someone shouted at this time.

Hersman saluted along with the others. This was when the carriage the Kaiser was riding suddenly stopped, not far from Hessmann. The emperor in military uniform got off the carriage, looking haggard and frowning.

"Long live the Emperor!" Someone took the lead in shouting, and Hessmann discovered that the person was Schleicher.

"Long live the Emperor!" Hersman and others also shouted together.

The emperor nodded, as if he had gained some comfort. The Junkers officers still support him! He waved his hand to everyone, his mouth trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to speak. After a while, he sighed and said: "I will be back! I will definitely..."

At this time, he saw Hersman, and actually walked forward, stretched out his right hand, and patted Hersman on the shoulder: "Lieutenant Colonel, are you and Chloe getting married soon?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Herschmann shouted back. Everyone present looked at him and the Kaiser.

The emperor showed a soft smile: "Put Heinsberg before Hessmann. That is a very old surname... You have to pass it on. You will be Hessmann-Heinsberg." Count Ludwig. Also, when your first son is born, I will be his godfather."

This is Chi Guoguo’s solicitation!

According to the Kaiser's words, Hersmann became a noble count after his marriage, the head of the Heinsberg family. The Heinsberg family was named after the place, Lower Rhine-Westphalia. The district of Heinsberg was once a family-owned county. However, this status does not bring all benefits. It will strengthen Hersmann's status in the Junkers officer corps. At the same time, it will also alienate him from the people at the bottom.

Who can imagine that if Adolf Hitler was a high-ranking count, his home would have a castle, a horse racing yard, and countless antiques and works of art. How can he incite a group of proletarians who have lost their jobs and cannot even afford their wives and children? The Trump phenomenon was simply impossible in the years when class struggle was important.

"Thank you, my majesty!" Hessman straightened his body and gave a military salute.

The Kaiser said nothing more, turned around, got into the carriage, and drove away. Hersman watched the carriage disappear in a drizzle, and then sighed softly. Schleicher walked up to him and patted him on the back like an older brother.

"Ludwig, don't look...he can't come back," Schleicher said in a low tone, "This country has to be saved by us."

Obviously, he regarded himself as the protagonist-the last prime minister of the Weimar Republic was quite capable. Now he has become a member of the Officers' Federation, a member of the Industrial Promotion Committee, and the director of the Public Security Department of the General Staff. He was doing as well as Hessmann, who was almost cheating, and he also got the support of Hindenburg!

But in the end, he was easily overthrown by Hitler who came up from the bottom...

"Let's go, let's find a place to change clothes first, and then change to another place." Schleicher and Hersman walked towards the royal residence while talking.

With the Kaiser's flight, the last Guards loyal to the Emperor will return to the military camp and stop interfering in politics. Berlin's workers and soldiers would soon become masters of the city. By then, officers like Hessmann and Schleicher might just be the street rats that everyone wants to beat.

And we can’t stay in the Wangcheng official residence any longer. Because Berlin's demonstrations and protests will soon turn into an uprising, the royal residence will inevitably be occupied by the insurrectionists.

Schleicher took Hessmann to a hall in the Capitol, where about four to five hundred people had gathered, all wearing field gray soldier uniforms, with red armbands on their arms, and some holding red flags. .

"Who are they?" Hessman was startled by the scene in front of him and suspected that he had gone to the wrong place.

"They are revolting soldiers!" Schleicher waved to one of them, and the man ran over holding two soldiers' uniforms. "Ludwig, change your clothes... We are also soldiers in the uprising now! By the way, you are more familiar with this matter than me. You should be able to guess what is going on, right?"

Hessman has already thought about how he wants to get into the revolutionary ranks!

“Are we going to pretend to be revolutionaries?”

Schleicher showed a sarcastic smile: "How could it be fake? We are now Social Democratic revolutionaries... Comrade Albert and Comrade Scheidemann both admit it. Okay, hurry up and change clothes, and then come back to train everyone.”

"Training for what?"

"Of course they deceived the masses!" Schleicher pointed at the people in the hall and said, "They are all people from the Security Department and the Political Department. Half of them are going to occupy the palace in the royal city, and the other half are going to the various barracks. Establish a soldier committee." He turned his head and looked at Hessmann, "Ludwig, I will take the people to occupy the palace in the royal city. You will be responsible for establishing the soldier committee. You have half a day to train them. We will do it tomorrow morning. People from the Social Democrats came to take control of the barracks with them... This is an order from the First Commissary Director! It is also part of the "Grey Plan" of the "Free Corps Plan"!

Hessmann nodded. This is how the German revolution failed!

——

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