The Rise of the Third Reich

In the blink of an eye, it was already January 1919, and several great events happened in the world.

First, the deadly cold seemed to disappear—a big deal in late 1918 and early 1919 (although Hersman knew there would be another wave of cold epidemics). However, this may not be a good thing for Germany. The Allied military camps are no longer full of sick patients, and they can launch new attacks.

Secondly, the Russian Empire is back! On January 1, Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II, was crowned in Tallinn and became Empress Olga I of Russia, despite the opposition of Britain, France and the United States. Commander-in-Chief of the South Russian Armed Forces Denikin, Governor of the Provisional Government of Siberia Kolchak, Governor of the Transbaikal Provisional Government Semyonov and Director of the China Eastern Railway Administration Lieutenant General Horvath all sent telegrams or dispatched special envoys to the new appointees. The Russian Empress expressed her allegiance.

However, the world's major powers, including Britain, France, the United States, and Japan, did not recognize Olga's status. However, Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and other countries sent people to attend the Queen's coronation ceremony, and these countries also recognized the Queen's government diplomatically.

Then came the vigorous January Revolution in Germany!

As the Americans delayed again and again on the issue of food aid—from November 14 to January—food supplies in major German cities became increasingly difficult, and were significantly worse than before the armistice. At least there were grain shipments from Poland and Ukraine at that time. As a result, support for Albert's Council of People's Commissars began to decline sharply, while the Bolshevik Party, established on December 30, gained a large number of adherents.

Therefore, the revolutionary situation in Germany is also heating up rapidly. On the eve of the establishment of the Bolshevik Party in Germany, the "Race Course Incident" occurred in Berlin. The People's Marine Division, which was leaning towards the Spartacist League (the Spartacist faction became the Alliance), refused to be transferred from Berlin and engaged in a firefight with soldiers from the Berlin garrison who came to drive them away. In the end, they won with the support of Berlin workers, but this did not mean that the People's Marine Division could defeat the counter-revolutionary troops gathered around Berlin. The "Race Training Ground Incident" only showed that most of the German army did not obey the Albert government. Even the troops who were ordered to act were only dealing with things carelessly.

But the direct consequence of this conflict was that Albert's People's Committee turned into a paper tiger that was bullied by everyone. Now that the Social Democratic Party received neither aid from the United States nor support from the German army, the working class, as their lives became increasingly difficult, turned to the newly formed radical Bolshevik Party.

Feeling in danger, Ebert dismissed the Bolshevik-leaning Berlin police chief Egegoren on January 4 and replaced him with Ernst, a social democrat. However, this move did not help strengthen the authority of the Social Democratic Party. Instead, it caused a break between the Social Democratic Party and the Independent Social Democratic Party. The latter withdrew from the government and instead cooperated with the Bolshevik Party.

On the evening of January 4, the Bolsheviks and the Independent Socialist Revolutionary Party held a joint meeting and decided to launch a strike and demonstration on January 5 to protest against the Abbott government. By January 6, the strike had escalated into a general strike! The number of people protesting has also greatly increased, and some workers have also obtained weapons. The uprising is about to break out.

Hersmann returned to Berlin on January 3 with the German delegation to Russia (Tallinn) that attended the funeral of Nicholas II and the coronation of the Empress. The funeral and coronation were not grand, partly because the Russian government was financially strapped; partly because there were not many foreign missions attending the celebrations.

However, Polo's current situation is reassuring. The "low-intensity war" with the Soviet Red Army began as early as early December. As for Courland, both sides were just pretending, and no one wanted to fight. In Estonia, the conflict was more intense, but it was just a constant exchange of fire. Now is the cold winter season, and the cold winter in Russia is not the time to fight at all.

Moreover, the Courland Defense Force, the Estonian Defense Force and the Russian Army are quite powerful, with a total strength of more than 200,000 (not counting the Courland People's Stormtroopers). If we really want to attack Petrograd, we may not be unable to succeed as long as Britain, the United States and France can support us. It's just defense now, so there's no big problem.

On the British, American and French side, although they have not recognized the Queen and her government, they have not made any demands for expelling the Germans. Hersman felt that the flag of the Russian Empress was of some use. Although the Allies did not recognize her, they would not use force to deal with her. Due to the tragic experience of the Tsar's family, many people in Britain, France, the United States and other countries (mostly above) etc.) were very sympathetic to the empress and disgusted with the Bolsheviks. The "non-recognition" of Britain, the United States and France has already attracted a lot of criticism. If they send troops to threaten again, they will have to be smeared as Bolshevik agents.

So there is no danger in Baltica for the time being, but Berlin is facing a civil war!

The top German military organizations, including the General Staff and the Naval Ministry, had already withdrawn to Potsdam at this time. Hessmann and his agents were still in the city, but they no longer dared to wear military uniforms to enter or exit the General Staff Headquarters.

Instead, a secret headquarters was established in the Eden Hotel in Berlin's West End, with more than 500 agents and informants (182 agents and the rest are cooperating informants) who were directly or indirectly under the control of this headquarters. All military barracks (including the barracks of the People's Naval Division) and police stations in Berlin were lurked by agents of the Military Intelligence Bureau (Stasi), and the chairman of the soldiers' committee of many barracks was simply an agent or informant.

In the editorial office of the newly established German Bolshevik organ "Red Flag", people from the Military Intelligence Service (Stasi) also broke into the editorial office. Even Liebknecht, the leader of the Bolshevik Party, was surrounded by secret agents from the Military Intelligence Agency (Stasi).

Therefore, Hersmann was not only well aware of the activities of the Bolsheviks and the Independent Social Democrats in Berlin. Moreover, the city of Berlin, which is like a dragon's den and a tiger's den, is also a place he can enter and leave at will.

At 8 a.m. on January 6, Hersman was sitting in a dilapidated carriage with the Spanish Embassy logo on it, driving slowly on William Street. Through the steamy car window, I could see it was snowing heavily outside. But William Street was crowded with people, and large groups of people were gathering through alleys. They walked through the white snow and braved the biting cold wind, carrying bright red flags. Some of them were holding weapons they didn't know where they got. Some people even sang "The Internationale" loudly, appearing to be in high spirits, and seemed to be ready for a big fight.

Sitting next to Hersman was a very tall man, about 50 years old, wearing a well-dressed suit, looking at the scene outside the car window expressionlessly. Of course he was not an official from the Spanish Embassy, ​​but Gustav Noske, a politician from the Social Democratic Party. Hersmann received a call early this morning from Field Marshal Hindenburg, who had been transferred to Potsdam, asking him to take the man to Potsdam himself.

As for why he went to Potsdam, Hindenburg did not say, but Hessmann knew it clearly. Now it's time to show off! The Social Democratic Party is a clever woman who cannot make a living without rice, so she has no choice but to borrow troops from Juncker - they are the Social Democratic Party, the ancestors of the European Holy Mother Bitch, not a naturally reactionary national society. Having gotten to this point, there is really no other way.

The carriage passed by the Chancellery on Wilhelmstrasse. The seat of Germany's highest administrative agency has been surrounded by demonstrators since yesterday. Prime Minister Albert's whereabouts were unknown for a time.

"Have you found the Prime Minister?" Nosk asked suddenly.

"Found it," Hersman said. "He is hiding in the house of a businessman named Sklulek."

"Why are they doing this?" Nosk shook his head. "Have they not seen what kind of hell Russia has become?"

"They have no food to eat!" Hersman said. "The supply is very tight, more than 70% less than before the revolution. Without relying on the black market, no one can fill their stomachs. And the things on the black market are too expensive, even for me, a lieutenant colonel." It’s hard to afford it, let alone ordinary people.”

Hessmann doesn't buy groceries, but he has secret agents, and of course he knows how difficult life is for ordinary people in Berlin now.

The high welfare of the Social Democratic Party will be a matter of decades later, but now they have no way to feed more than 90% of the people in Berlin. There are only two ways to solve this problem: one is social revolution, redistributing some food so that most people have food to eat; the other is seeking external assistance to tide over the difficulties.

But the United States later rescued the Soviet Russian people and allowed the Soviet Union to tide over the difficulties. Now they are reluctant to help the German Social Democratic Party and require them to use repressive measures to restore order.

Therefore, the Social Democratic Party must now take a shot at the German working people who voted for them. The rift caused by this will seriously damage the mass base of the Social Democrats. Moreover, the Social Democrats are not Russian Bolsheviks, they do not have their own armed forces...

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