The Rise of the Third Reich

It is hard to say that Britain and France would not ask Germany for help because of the Hungarian Revolution, but it is certain that the Soviet Union would ease tensions with Germany for the Hungarian Revolution. Although the Bolsheviks in Germany still received support from the Third International, and the Free Corps controlled by the Junker officers also slaughtered the Bolsheviks in Germany.

On April 12, 1919, the day of the proletarian revolution in Bavaria, Hersman, accompanied by a Miuta squad and a "Chinese Red Army" assistant minister (his fate was different from history, he did not die in 1918, and now he is a division-level cadre of the Russian Red Army), crossed the line of fire where the "fake war" was taking place and arrived at Pskov under the control of the Soviet Red Army from the Courland Autonomous State.

At a small train station less than 10 kilometers away from the line of fire, there was a train consisting of only a locomotive and three carriages. This was a special train sent by the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs to welcome Hersman. Just by having a special train to ride, it can be seen that Hersman was important in the minds of Lenin and others.

Although the Third International seems to still support the German revolution, in fact, after two showdowns in November last year and January this year, if Lenin still does not know the power comparison between the domestic revolution and the anti-Japanese forces in Germany, he will not be the great mentor who created the red country for more than 70 years.

Therefore, the Third International's support for the Bavarian Revolution is just a lip service, which cannot be compared with the status of the Hungarian Revolution at all - in Hungary, the proletarian dictatorship has been established, and the Bolshevik Party has completely taken over the political power and the army. Therefore, supporting the Hungarian Revolution is the top priority of the Third International's foreign work at present!

The person who greeted Hersman at the train station was a middle-aged man who looked like a university professor, slightly bald, with a high forehead and deep eyes. Standing next to him was Natalie Lesinskaya, whom Hersman met when he arrived in Pskov last time.

"Ludwig, we meet again, it's so nice." Natalie saw Hersman coming and happily went up to hug him. "Where's Chloe? She didn't come this time?"

"No, she stayed in Germany to prepare for the wedding." Hersman said with a smile, "We are getting married, in August or September."

Hersman knew that the Treaty of Versailles would be signed in June, and he should be free for a while after that, just in time to get married with Chloe.

"Congratulations," Natalie turned halfway and pointed at the man who looked like a university professor. "Let me introduce you, this is Comrade Christian Rakovsky, he is the Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs - this is Ludwig Hersman, the general manager of the Russian-German Economic Promotion Company."

Hersman is no longer the general manager of the Russian-German Company, but he still visited the Soviet Union secretly in this capacity.

After greeting Rakovsky, Hersman, Vasily Huang, and Paulus who accompanied him got on the train together. At this time, raindrops began to fall from the already gloomy sky. The train went east in the rain, sliding on the track, making a clanging sound, and driving very slowly.

The carriage was still very dirty, the seat covers were torn, and there was a faint smell of mold. However, the food was very rich. One of the three carriages was a dining car, probably equipped with a senior chef. At lunch, Natalie, who was acting as a waitress temporarily, brought one dish after another: champagne, caviar, smoked fish, soup, chicken, steak, and cream cake. It was impossible to finish it.

Natalie took off her yellow-green military uniform and changed into a short-sleeved dress with a very low neckline. Hersman suddenly found that Natalie had gained a lot of weight in the past few months, and her bust was plump. Although not as good as Chloe, it was also quite impressive. After putting the food on the table, Natalie sat next to Hersman and started to eat and drink with him.

Maybe she has been doing this for the past few months? Hersman glanced at the woman next to him and thought: entertaining foreign friends must be the most lucrative job in the Soviet Union at the moment.

At the table, Rakovsky and Hersman talked about the situation in Paris. Although the Soviet Union was locked out of the Palace of Versailles and had no chance to attend the peace conference, they had a strong presence in Paris and were well aware of the situation in France. Because in France, there were political forces that supported the Soviet Bolsheviks.

Like Germany, France was also a country with a very strong socialist party. Among them were some socialist leaders who supported Lenin and the Bolsheviks. For example, Marcel Cachin, who later became the leader of the French Bolshevik Party, is now a member of the French Parliament and editor-in-chief of L'Humanité. Under his leadership, there were many protests in France against the Paris Peace Conference's division of the world and interference in the Russian Revolution.

"Can they force the French authorities to change their position?" Hessman asked.

"Not in the short term," Rakowski replied immediately, "but France is a democratic country after all, and public opinion has some effect. If the French bourgeois government suffers a setback in Hungary, then public opinion will force them to change their policy of intervening in Russia. It will also be good for Germany... You know, the French bourgeoisie is very warlike now, but their people hate war."

More than 1.2 million people were killed, and at least the same number of people were seriously injured and disabled, and many people died of illness on the battlefield. For France, a population of 39 million, the loss can definitely be described as tragic, and it is normal for people to hate war. In fact, before the United States entered the war, France was already on the edge of the revolution, and it was the Americans who saved France.

But this does not mean that the French can endure wars endlessly!

It turned out that Lenin's strategy was to use the Hungarian Revolution to promote internal change in France. Hessmann pondered that such a policy might not take effect before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, but it would be beneficial to Germany in the long run. Once anti-war forces within France grow stronger, the French authorities in power will be forced to adopt policies to avoid war.

This would give Germany some power to resist the Treaty of Versailles after the war.

"So it would be more beneficial to Germany to let the French suffer defeat in Hungary than to let them succeed." Rakovsky made it clear.

"That is obvious," Hersman mused, "but for France to fail in Hungary, our two countries must work together."

"Yes! Of course we must work together!" Rakovsky smiled and nodded.

"The areas of our cooperation should be very broad, and Hungary is only a small part of it." Hersman continued, "I think that although we and you have different views on the issue of private ownership, both our countries are regarded as Countries that are oppressed and bullied by the Allied Powers led by Britain, the United States and France need to resist this oppression!”

"Yes, we all need to resist the Allies!" Rakovsky nodded heavily.

"Not only us, but all countries that are oppressed and bullied by the Allied Powers should unite to resist!" Hessman said, "As for Germany and Soviet Russia, we have a common enemy, and they pose a great threat to us! But the two of us There are differences between the two countries, and the differences are also huge! And the cooperation between our two countries will bring huge benefits...huge diplomatic, military, and economic benefits. Therefore, we cannot face common threats and huge interests. Differences should be allowed to affect cooperation.”

Hersman looked at Rakovsky and said, "But it is impossible for our two countries to form an alliance."

"Yes, it is impossible to form an alliance." Rakovsky had no objection to this. Today's Germany is still called the "German Empire" (the official country name has not changed), not the "German Soviet Republic", so it is different from Hungary.

"But there are special interests between our two countries."

"Yes, there are huge benefits."

Hersman smiled: "Then please allow me to invent a new word to describe our relationship. We are: strategic partners."

Strategic Partners? What is the significance of this name? Rakovsky was about to ask a question, but Hersman took the initiative to explain: "This means that the relationship between us is far closer than the relationship between our two countries and the United States, Britain, France and other countries. In economic, military, In terms of diplomacy, our cooperation should take precedence over the United States, Britain, France and other countries.”

To put it bluntly, this means that in the future, when the Soviet Union has big business, it must take care of Germany first, and then Britain, the United States, France, etc...

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