Chapter 32 Playing with Fire

"Lieutenant Colonel Hessmann! The German army is not going to give up its responsibilities. This is impossible..." Marshal Hindenburg's face was gloomy, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked very haggard. "But the situation is very bad now. The Western Front has encountered great difficulties. The situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is unstable, and Bulgaria may withdraw from the war next month!"

The Western Front cannot be won, and the MZ contradictions in Austria-Hungary are becoming increasingly intensified. Bulgaria, which was originally a soy sauce on the side of the Allies, wants to withdraw from the war. The situation is already very clear, and it is very unfavorable for Germany to delay. Therefore, the General Staff and Kaiser Wilhelm II both hope to obtain the understanding of the Allies through political reforms, while also resolving the domestic crisis.

"...So, we must do something now to create conditions for peace talks." Marshal Hindenburg leaned back in his chair, his face more solemn than ever. "But the army will not collapse, nor will it give up its responsibilities. What happened after the February Revolution in Russia will never happen again in Germany!"

The marshal's tone was firm, but given his status, he actually explained it to Lieutenant Colonel Hessmann, which probably explained the problem - he was not trying to convince Hessmann, but to convince himself. Because there have been too many chaos caused by the hasty implementation of political reforms in European history. Once political reforms start, it is difficult to stop them. There have been too many similar incidents in Europe!

Therefore, Marshal Hindenburg and William II did not want to start the reform immediately. They just wanted to relax the high-pressure rule a little. Release some political F, relax the control of public opinion, and show it to the Allies.

"Marshal, this is the plan for Fokker Aircraft Company and BMW to jointly build a factory and experimental center in Riga. Please take a look." Hessmann knew that he could not stop the fall of the Second Reich - but without the collapse of the Second Reich, how could the Third Reich rise? What he said just now was just doing his best.

"Put it here first." Marshal Hindenburg glanced at the thick stack of files handed over by Hessmann. The construction plan of the factory and experimental center is very complicated. Not only do we need to move equipment, personnel, and inventory parts, but we also need to find a factory in Riga to restart the work, and there is also a lot of infrastructure.

"Lieutenant Colonel, it's time to start the second plan of the "Courland Plan." Marshal Hindenburg sighed as he spoke, "If Germany is really going to encounter misfortune, then we must at least keep the United Duchy of the Baltics... This is our only gain in this war, and we have paid too much for it!"

Marshal Hindenburg took a brown file bag out of his drawer and put it in front of Hessmann. It should contain the second plan of the "Courland Plan" and the order to start this plan.

Like most plans formulated by the General Staff, the "Courland Plan" is also composed of multiple plans. The second plan was to establish the United Baltic Principality with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna as the monarch - this meant giving up the first plan of Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as the Grand Duke!

If the second plan didn't work, then the third plan would have to be adopted... that is, to give up the Estonian Autonomous State and let the Courland Autonomous State join the Polish Federation. If it really came to this, the situation would be very unfavorable. After all, the Courland Autonomous State did not have the sovereignty of an independent country, and the Poles were not an easy nation to get along with. In addition, separation from Estonia also meant that the Baltic German landlords would lose a lot of land, and Estonia's oil shale, phosphate rock and limestone resources could not be used by the Courland Germans.

The first difficulty in implementing the second plan, in Hindenburg's view, was whether it would trigger a war with the Bolsheviks.

Letting Grand Duchess Olga take power should be easier for the Allies to accept. After all, Nicholas II was the legitimate monarch of the Baltic region. If the Allies wanted to use the Tsar to unite the fragmented Russian White Guards, they had to recognize the Tsar as the legitimate monarch of the Russian Empire. According to the Stasi report, the three leaders of the White Guards in Russia, Kolchak, Denikin and Semyonov, were all royalists. It was difficult for them to cooperate with the Social Revolutionary Party and the Mensheviks. Only the Tsar could lead them.

So if Grand Duchess Olga obtained the monarchy of the Baltic United Duchy from the Tsar, the Allies could only recognize it with a pinch of their nose. Moreover, the Allies had no reason to treat the countries ruled by the Romanov dynasty as defeated countries. This made the Baltic United Duchy the best breakthrough for Germany to break through the Treaty of Versailles.

However, the Baltic United Duchy's support for the Tsar's daughter as monarch meant hostility with the Bolsheviks! In this case, there would definitely be some problems with the cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union. It might even trigger a war with the Soviet Union!

"Lieutenant Colonel, there won't be any problems with the Soviet Union, right?" Marshal Hindenburg asked uncertainly.

"Your Excellency," Hessman said thoughtfully, "As long as we keep the United Baltic Duchy neutral in the future and allow this country to have a certain degree of self-defense capabilities. There shouldn't be any problems before the Soviet Union defeats foreign interference and Poland. However, in order to repair the relationship between the two countries in the future, I'm afraid we will have to ask the Grand Duchess to step down."

Hersmann had of course calculated that it would take until 1920 for the Soviet Union to defeat the Allied intervention and the White Guards at home. As for the Soviet-Polish War... the Soviet Union seemed to be defeated. By then, the British and French interference in the affairs of the Soviet Union and the Baltic countries should have been almost exhausted. The Baltic countries could "make a revolution" again, overthrow Olga's rule, and replace it with a republic sign. They should be able to repair their relationship with the Soviet Union.

"It would be better to sign a secret treaty to guarantee the independence and inviolability of the Baltic countries after the war." Marshal Hindenburg stroked his white beard, and then said, "The treaty may not be reliable, but it is better than nothing."

This was an order to Hersmann. Hersmann did not answer immediately, but thought for a while before nodding slowly. "Sir, I will try my best. However...it may be necessary to make concessions in other aspects to ensure the signing of the secret treaty."

"Other aspects?"

"It may be related to the Bolsheviks' export of revolution to the Balkans." Hersman said, "Russian intelligence shows that the Bolsheviks are planning to establish the Third International with the purpose of exporting their revolution."

"Humph!" Hindenburg snorted coldly, "Still want to export? How can you be the same as the Tsar at that time?"

"But this is also good for us." Hersman remembered that there was a short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic in Central Europe after the First World War, which should have been supported by the Third International. "The Austro-Hungarian Empire is likely to be difficult to sustain. If one or two Soviet countries appear on the land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I believe that the Allies will regard the Bolsheviks as the number one threat, and then the pressure on us in Germany will be greatly reduced."

Hindenburg touched the white hair on his head and said with a wry smile: "I feel like playing with fire...We set the Bolshevik fire ourselves, and now there are signs of it burning more and more vigorously. I wonder if it will burn us in the future?" He paused and nodded reluctantly. "Well, let's talk to Lenin. That's a way out, right? We might be able to use the revolutionary situation to save Germany."