Re: Blood and Iron

While the enemies of the German Reich burned in the aftermath of war, having pushed their industry and agriculture to the edge all for the sake of a futile resistance. The fatherland prospered like never before.

Their economy largely guided by the state, and its ties to the military industrial complex had ballooned from the increased volume of output and sales, not only to their own armed force but also to their allies who had begun a process of standardization of equipment in line with the German Army for the sake of the ease of logistics.

And while Austro-Hungary was still feeling the heat of the balkans ready to ignite at a moment’s notice into a great fire, the German Reich and Russian Empire were largely unaffected by the war.

Losses had been well below the replacement rate, and soldiers were routinely given leave to rest from the horrors of war, meanwhile the people flourished in their work, generating a large amount of wealth for the nation.

Would this boom last forever? Of course not? And could it easily cripple the nation after the war was over? Oh yes? But plans were already in place to begin transitioning towards civilian industries that could maintain the output of the war for more sustainable production.

Thus life continued in the unmolested lands of the German fatherland, much as they had before the war. In fact, in Bruno’s household there were subtle changes taking place. Heidi had been pre-occupied with her charities, and the daily function of her family that she had forgotten that her son Erwin’s 14th birthday was rapidly approaching.

Why was this so important? Because in the German Reich a man could marry at the age of 14 with parental consent. And considering his fiancee was roughly nine years older than him, Heidi intended to have her eldest son properly married before waiting until he was a proper 21 years of age.

Because of this, now that she finally had a day to herself she approached Alya who was staying with her family, as the Russian beauty always did whenever her adopted father as off to war. Stay updated through My Virtual Library Empire

There was a book in Heidi’s hands that she had prepared years in advance for this day, the information within it contained everything needed to plan a proper wedding, and thus she appraoched the young woman, who was in the act of helping around the house, catching her entirely off guard.

“Alya dear, can I have a moment to speak with you?”

Ayla was most certainly confused why her godmother and future mother-in-law would come to find her when it was the woman’s day off, but she was quick to react respectfully as she did so.

“of course, mother, what do you need?”

Heidi shoved the book into Alya’s hands and showed off all that she had prepared.

“Erwin will be turning fourteen soon, and because of this, I intend to have your wedding planned for the spring of next year. By then, both your father and his will be home to witness it. I think it will be a great celebration for the family after the war has been won to see the eldest son of our house married off to our beloved goddaughter. Don’t you think?”

Alya was indeed shocked by this sudden revelation. She had known for years that she would be marrying Erwin, and was naturally aware of the laws regarding marriage in the German Reich. Still, she had always felt like the day was an eternity away.

Erwin was still just a boy in her eyes, sure he was rapidly turning into a man she could only hope to be worthy of one day, but even now he was still young, having just recently hit a growth spurt and acquiring a height greater than her own.

But when she really thought of it, she would be 23 years old when they married, and she did not want to have to wait until her late 20s or god forbid, her early thirties before the two of them could seal the deal.

With all of this weighing on the young woman’s mind, it took her a second to realize there was a deeper significance to Heidi’s meaning. Bruno and Heinrich had endured a lot in this war, as had every man who participated in it. And they, like many others, had lost a very close friend.

Hell, Alya herself felt that sting as she lost a man who was her second godfather, the marriage ceremony would be a way to help bring the men of war back to a mindset capable of adapting to the world of peace they would have created with their blood and sweat and tears.

And when this realization slowly dawned on her, Ayla found no reason to postpone the inevitable and was quick to wear a bitter smile as she nodded her head, wiping a single tear from her eyes as she thought of all the loss of life she had endured, both in her childhood in Russia and here and now as an adult in Germany, there was a solemn tone in her voice as she nodded and forced a more natural smile.

“I think that’s a beautiful idea, mother. Let me take a look at what you have planned…”

The two women then looked over all the details of the wedding including its venue, which would take place in Berlin’s most beautiful cathedral. Everything planned was very traditional for a Prussian wedding. And the dress Heidi had prepared for her future daughter-in-law was gracefully styled to the latest fashion trends.

By the time they had agreed on everything they wanted for the day, they began to make all the preparations necessary for the time and date. Neither Bruno, Heinrich, nor the groom in question would be aware that the wedding was set in stone until after the war came to an end, which seemed to be rapidly approaching.

—

In contrast to Germany and Russia, which had suffered minimal losses in this war when compared both to the enemies they were fighting, as well as the previous timeline. The allies had been dealt a far more brutal hand.

Lands ravaged by combat, populations displaced from war, and millions upon millions of men lie dead from battle. And that was not including those civilians who starved to death, or died of disease, and exhaustion was common during such era’s of strife.

The war had ravaged Britain, France, Serbia, and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. And while countries like Bulgaria and Italy were less so affected due to the swiftness of their surrender, they still lost sizeable enough chunks of their population to create a burden on survivors.

Outside of a few examples in history, war was generally hell for both sides of the conflict and the people within the nations involved were not free from experiencing some form of suffering as, or at the very least difficulty as a result.

For a war of this scale, it was unprecedented for only one side’s civilian populations to be suffering on the home front. And this was no greater displayed than the countrysides of the British homeland. Where soldiers returned from the war found their homes vacant, and their loves ones buried in the local cemetery.

Miraculously, they had survived the hell of the trenches only to find that starvation and disease had done their families in. It was perhaps the worst hell a soldier could come home to.

Knowing that each day you are likely to be the next to die, only to have the relief of surviving long enough to return home, yet the moment you enter the doors of your childhood home you find a mother, or a father, or a brother and sister missing, or perhaps if you were particularly unlucky all the above.

Not killed by the cold steel of a bayonet, or a gunshot to the chest, or an unsuspecting artillery strike in the middle of the night like all of your brothers in arms you had witnessed perish while on the battlefield far from home, but instead, dead by the nation’s failure to produce food, or medicine in sufficient enough quantity for its people’s needs.

Such betrayal was far too great for a man who had just come home from war to reasonably bear. And that was exactly what happened to Bernard Montgomery. In Bruno’s past life, he would make a name for himself in the Great War and be heavily decorated for his efforts, where he would go on to serve as one of the Empire’s better generals during the Second World War decades later.

Currently, the man stood in a cemetery; the rain pouring on his head as he gazed upon the graves of his family, who had died the same way that many of the men in uniform around him had lost their loved ones…

There was a look of deep lament and suffering in his eyes as he stood silently for a long while. Before finally placing his cap on his head and turning away… However if one were to see him after doing so, they would see his pain replaced entirely with the fire of rage, a flame that would consume the world if left unchecked.

And there were many others with such a fierce glint in their eyes who would leave this cemetery and many others like it, on this day, and those still to come.