Chapter 28: The Treaty of Versailles Is Published — War Breaks Out Again

Krupp wasn’t the only one getting protected. There was also:

— DWM, the German Weapons and Ammunition Factory, which made heavy machine guns, Luger pistols, and the rifle and machine gun ammo that went with them;

— Mauser, the weapons manufacturer responsible for rifles, sniper rifles, and the C96 Broomhandle pistol;

— Rheinmetall, which produced field guns, mountain guns, infantry guns, mortars, and their ammunition;

— plus several shipyards that built warships and submarines for the Navy.

Every one of these defense companies was hit by the Treaty of Versailles. Some got carved up directly by the Entente. Others had their core businesses gutted.

In the original timeline, because post-war Germany was in total chaos — the left and right too busy fighting each other for power to give a damn about these companies — they either got forcibly dismantled by the Entente or went bankrupt in the economic crisis that followed.

But in this timeline, Crown Prince Wilhelm wasn’t about to sit back and let that happen.

Because when those old-line companies collapsed and went under, it made the Third Reich’s rearmament a nightmare. They had to start from scratch in so many fields, burning through massive amounts of resources and time.

In World War I, German artillery had the edge over the Entente. But by World War II, German artillery — especially heavy howitzers — was actually at a disadvantage.

"Speaking of which, the left-wing occupation of the Ruhr industrial region actually did us a solid favor, whether they meant to or not!"

Most of these arms factories were located in the Ruhr. The worker uprisings had definitely caused them some damage.

Since it was already a messy, unaccountable situation — might as well pile on a little more.

The equipment Wilhelm had secretly moved out would be disguised as more "losses," with the blame pinned on them.

Anyway, the leaders of the left-wing movement had already been dealt with by the right-wing government in Berlin. Dead men tell no tales. Even if the Entente wanted to investigate, they’d have nowhere to start.

Paris, capital of France.

After more than a month of bickering, the major Entente powers finally reached an agreement on how to carve up the spoils of victory.

The most humiliating, most brutal unequal treaty in history — the Treaty of Versailles — was born.

When word hit Germany, it sparked outrage across the entire nation.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany didn’t just have to give up territory — they had to pay the Entente a staggering 226 billion marks in war reparations!

At the pre-war exchange rate of one mark to 0.36 grams of gold, Germany had to pay 80,000 tons of gold!

Spread across every German citizen, each person was born carrying a debt of 1,300 grams of gold!

Based on the pre-war German government’s tax revenue, even if they handed over every single penny — no food, no water, no spending — they couldn’t pay it off in fifty years!

Future generations of homeowners looking at mortgages would call that a big brother.

Yet despite how harsh, how absurd, how utterly soul-crushing this treaty was — the right-wing government in Berlin planned to accept it.

"We don’t have an army. We can’t fight Crown Prince Wilhelm and the monarchists behind him. The only way to beat them and take control of the country is to use the Entente’s power. So even though we all know this is an extremely unequal treaty — we have to sign it."

Gustav Bauer, the newly installed leader of the right-wing government and chairman of the Social Democratic Party, said it with absolute conviction.

That coward Scheidemann was afraid that signing this treaty would ignite the nation’s fury and blow back on him — so he chose to resign and run away.

But Bauer wasn’t afraid of any of that.

On the contrary, for him, this was a golden opportunity to rise straight to the top!

You have to be realistic. The Germany of today isn’t the mighty empire that looked down on all of Europe before the war.

Their fate wasn’t in their own hands anymore. It was in the Entente’s.

Bending the knee wasn’t a mistake. It was how the weak survived.

Besides, someone had to take this step. As a defeated nation, if you don’t sign the post-war treaty, it means the enemy keeps coming. And that means total annihilation.

To a certain extent, Bauer’s thinking wasn’t wrong.

Germany absolutely had to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

But accepting every single term without any resistance — not even a token negotiation — how was that any different from treason?

He talked a big game, but all he was doing was saying pretty words to climb his way onto the presidential throne!

Germany had plenty of smart people. Plenty of them could see right through Bauer’s game.

So when Gustav Bauer decided to send someone to sign the Treaty of Versailles, damn near the entire country was against it.

Factories went on strike. Students walked out of class. People flooded the streets in protest. Writers and economists published articles in the papers, fiercely opposing it and laying out the catastrophic consequences of signing:

"This isn’t just a treaty. This is a contract of servitude — one that binds 60 million Germans!"

"Once we sign this, the people of the German Empire will never climb out of the pit. We’ll be slaves for the rest of our lives. Everything we create will be stripped away by our enemies. The German nation will have no hope left!"

The massive wave of public opposition didn’t seem to scare Bauer or change his mind.

It just made him angrier — and more determined to go all the way down that road.

"That old bastard Hindenburg can’t be trusted. Send a telegram to the Entente directly — tell them to send troops into Germany and help us crush these troublemakers by force!"

He’d used military force to crush the left-wing uprising so quickly that he’d developed a blind confidence in violence — a belief that force could solve everything.

That was exactly why he made this decision!

In his view, the Entente armies — bigger, better equipped, better supplied — would definitely beat the German forces under Hindenburg and Crown Prince Wilhelm!

As long as he could use outside help to wipe out those two factions, nobody in Germany would ever challenge his authority again.

Too bad he miscalculated one thing: not everyone was willing to kneel to the Entente like he was.

The telegram he sent to the Entente for help one day was sitting on Crown Prince Wilhelm’s desk the very next day.

The tip-off came from senior members of the Social Democratic Party.

Wilhelm let out a cold laugh when he got the news:

"Digging your own grave, huh. About time to close the net."

He hadn’t wanted to make his move this soon. But now he had no choice.

If he let those Social Democrat scumbags actually summon the Entente’s armies, things would get seriously messy.

"Manstein, write this down. Here’s my deployment."

Manstein immediately pulled out paper and pen, waiting with total focus for the Crown Prince’s orders.

"Send a telegram to General Magnus von Eberhardt, commander of the First Army — have him move his troops into the Siegfried Line immediately and keep an eye on every move the Entente makes.

Order General Max von Gallwitz’s Fifth Army into the Strasbourg area, where they’ll join the Bavarian Army Group to hold off any attack from the eastern flank.

Have the Seventh Army, together with General Rupprecht’s Army Group B, defend the line from the Ardennes Forest to the Belgian and Dutch border.

That area could be the enemy’s main point of attack. Tell them not to get locked in a death match on the front lines. Use the terrain to fight a fighting retreat, bleed the enemy’s strength — I’ll have troops waiting on the right bank of the Rhine to cover their withdrawal.

Also wire General Mackensen in the Danube region — have his forces move into Austria to help the local army resist the Italian invasion. If conditions allow, they can take the initiative and launch an attack toward South Tyrol.

The Eighteenth Army is the overall reserve. They don’t move.

Tell every unit: if the enemy dares to set foot on Imperial soil, don’t wait for orders. Open fire immediately and hit them hard.

And tell every frontline commander — don’t carry any psychological baggage. Just fight well. I’ll take full responsibility for every consequence."

The Crown Prince’s words landed like hammer blows, slamming into the hearts of everyone in the room and shaking those young commanders to their core.

Directing a million troops with a laugh while holding off a foreign invasion — this was what a real man should be!

Rundstedt and Bock exchanged glances — both of them saw the itch to fight in each other’s eyes.

If the Crown Prince had allowed it, they’d have gone to the front lines themselves.

Defending the homeland is every soldier’s dream and duty!

Manstein had real potential as a secretary. Even though Wilhelm was speaking fast, he finished his notes right as the Crown Prince gave his final order.

"Manstein — repeat my orders back to me."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Manstein saluted respectfully, opened his notebook, and recited every single order Wilhelm had just given — word for word.

"Good. Have the telegraph operators send the orders down the line."