Written By: TiberianSun371Alexw
Proofread by: PervySageChuck
The Empire Falls
1930
Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg (some detractors say von Hapsburg-Lorraine-Wessex-Lombardi, but every time a female von Hapsburg ruler married a male noble, the male adopted his father-in-law's name) browsed through reports from 30 different generals. The reports were grim. Over 70% of the Empire's territory was occupied by enemy forces. The forces of the Republic, Entente, Dakia, Iloda, Russy Federation, and several non-European countries were carving their way toward Berun. The Rhine frontier had collapsed. Dakia's outdated infantry division plus 3,000 Entente troops were pushing against the southern border. The Entente had captured Holstein.
Dakia, the Republic, and the Entente presented a united negotiation table. Once these terms had been agreed to, they could easily get the Americans and the Russians to join the peace talks. Unfortunately, the terms they offered in their various proposals were quite bitter.
The first was an absolute joke. It called for the release of many territories, Charles von Hapsburg's abdication, the reeducation of Imperial civilians, and outrageous war reparations. It also demanded that every Imperial mage be turned over to Republican custody and the loss of prisoner of war status, as the Republic did not recognize the Empire's right to existence. Charles X von Hapsburg of the Empire was nothing more than Charles X of Austria, Croatia, and Hungary as far as they were concerned. And why would he call himself Charles X of a country when he was the third of them, they might have asked.
Following the rejection of peace, there were several revolutions. The July revolution instituted a Republican form of government, Westminster style in the Northern part of the Empire, forcing Charles to flee to Vienna, his ancestral home. The September revolution put the communists in charge.
The second peace offer was also rejected. The Republic demanded reparation, the custody of 25% of Imperial mages, and to allow every Republican officer to take a spouse from the Empire. The most ridiculous part was that he would have to commit 1/8 of the forces still loyal to him and all his mages to fight the Socialist North German Federation, the short lived breakaway revolutionary regime out of his control. As much as Charles detested leftist movements, the idea of using his own forces to fight Imperials was absurd. And they would not be fighting for his control, but to partition the north between the Republic, Entente, and Russy Federation. If Charles von Hapsburg was going to have men loyal to him die in the trenches, they might as well do so against his enemies, not for them.
The October revolution brought what can be best described as a pan-Slavic reign of terror. 50,000 German Imperials were executed for… not much. Plenty of others were executed for not supporting the new regime of anti-revolutionary ideology. It was strange that a minority in the empire would take control and be openly hostile to a majority that made over 75% of the population. Propaganda stated the Berun government was not anti-German, but merely trying to root out communist and royalist sympathizers that just happened to be German speaking citizens. Surprisingly, while the public did not approve of the new regime, they did buy that the new regime was not after the majority. The military continued to fight on all fronts while suppressing dissent. A contingent even went to Hapsburg controlled Croatia and helped the royalists on the Southern front while some of their counterparts were half-heartedly fighting royalist forces in the Black Forest.
Charles von Hapburg gambled that the new regime lacked any semblance of legitimacy among the population. After all, a royalist party would have won 75% of the parliament in July only to be disqualified because the revolution's constitution forbade any pro-royalist sentiment. The revolution took masses of angry violent mobs, and most royalists that were not in the military didn't want to die for the monarchy. He gathered 3,000 of his cavalry forces and marched towards his capital of Berun, counting on speed more than force. His agents started royalist uprisings in Leipzig, Cologne, Berun and Dresden. The uprisings dissolved into chaos as the army and trade union militia tried to suppress them. Revolutionaries started looting and a seven way fight began in the cities, resulting in royalists either fleeing to the countryside or lying down in terror. Charles' own forces were stopped by a division sent to apprehend him. Despite fighting royalist forces in the battle of Budapest, the division did not contest Charles. Three platoons and several officers defected to him and he galloped towards Berun.
In Berun, Charles was nearly killed. His forces faced military units fighting for the Berun government and party militia. While the enemy faced hourly desertions as professional soldiers threw down their arms, he was still outnumbered. The trade unions threw in their lot with the Berun government thinking they could restart the communist revolution. His cavalry forces were whittled to 750 men.
The turning point for the November restoration was when General Kurt von Rudersdorf and Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff threw in their support for the Kaiser. Rudersdorf brought another 35,000 troops to his side, although they had trouble fighting. The trade union militia fought with partisan tactics and Rudersdorf was unwilling to use artillery. Some military units also continued to fight for the Berun government, fearing reprisals for following orders from the communist Berun government. In actuality, they would have probably been spared since they did not side with them during any of the revolutions. Tanya Degurechaff had left the frontline from Kongsberg, leaving her three infantry divisions, an artillery brigade, and the mage battalion to continue the Eastern Front. The Berun government expected to overpower her easily. While the Elenium Type-95 was known to give Tanya power, they had 32 mages committed to their revolution and dozens of those "trapped" into serving them much as Roman Legion I Germanica was forced into ranks of the rebels in The Year of the Four Emperors. Even Tanya knew that she could not overpower the Berun mages, even at full strength. The sudden switching sides from the Berun to the von Hapsburg faction meant she spent considerable energy arriving.
The mages ideologically compatible with the revolution had some dissatisfaction with Kaiser Charles X, but they fought loyally for the Empire. Like most that had some sympathy for the October revolution, their main thoughts were that it was the existing military establishment that compromised plan 315. In other words, it was because they thought the majority had mismanaged the country and they participated in the revolution for the love of their country not their hatred of their neighbors. The Junker nobility was ethnically biased. While the Empire did not differentiate ethnicity from commoner to commoner or nobleman to nobleman, all nobles spoke German. For a commoner Imperial to be granted nobility, one had to impress the Kaiser or someone with a title to spare, had to speak fluent German and it was said that almost all of them had spoken German as a first language. Tanya Degurechaff said rather cryptically if the sentiment were true, it would have to be amended to "primary language" rather than "first language" as she was granted nobility.
The Berun mages and Tanya floated around having an awkward standoff. The hundred or so started at Tanya. Even those sympathetic to the revolution had too much respect for Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff. They had joined the revolution because they considered the majority needed to be taught how to run a country, not due to hatred of German Imperials. When Tanya was a Lieutenant, she had fought to the death against an entire company of mages despite being a novice at combat. Her dedication to orders and her loyalty to the Fatherland had saved many Imperial lives. She was like a fairy of the battlefield.
Tanya radioed locations of troop movement to Rudersdorf. She didn't dare break the standoff by giving combat. Within three hours, fighting had reached the palace. Tanya had convinced many Berun soldiers to lay down their arms rather than fight the Kaiser. The restoration was complete.
Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg now inherited a mess on the throne. During the three revolutions, over 36,000 royalist troops were killed in direct fighting against the three Berun revolutionary regimes. This was smaller than those suffered in the Southern Front by combat during that same time period. This number was dwarfed by other casualties. Dysentery ran rampant and many troops died from overheating in the winter due to poor management. Starvation ensued as some troops were shipped to the north with mobilization plans assuming the Empire unified. Some were killed by derailed trains. During the revolutions, 70% of the troops were committed interiorly. Despite the foreign mage threats largely neutralized, air superiority was insufficient to stop the onslaught.
The third peace offer demanded the dissolution of the Empire, large reparations, the banning of cavalry and non-Mediterranean navy by successor states of the Empire, and the custody of all "Named" imperial mages. Once again, Charles X rejected the offer. The German and Hungarian groups wanted to continue fighting to the death while most of the Polish Imperials, now proclaiming their loyalty to the Kaiser and that the revolutionaries were false prophets, asked for peace.
Knowing of the success against Dakia early in the war, Charles X ordered 7 separate battalions of mages to attack different infantry divisions. Four on the Rhine Front, one to the north, one to the south, and one to counterattack a division approaching Kongsberg. Surprisingly, Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff objected. Tanya said that while the enemy's technology had not significantly changed since the beginning of the war, massed infantry formations had altered tactics making anti-air formations more effective, using bolt action rifles to synchronized firing on targets and overpowering shields. While losses would be inevitable, even a battalion on battalion fight would not leave the mages without casualties. In her own words, if the Dakian Army used those same tactics early in the war, she would only be able to rout one division without suffering losses. The routing of all three would be possible, but only due to Tanya's presence, not the battalion's strength. Another problem was that only the Kongsberg battalion was battle tested, three of the others were new formations of reorganized men of a mix of those who saw a single battle and those who did not, and three battalions were not only new formations but completely made of recruits. A third objection was that Tanya was being redeployed to the Rhine Front for the third time as a frontline general to lead the 3rd infantry division and its attached mage units. Major Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov was in charge the 203rd mage battalion, the one at Kongsberg supporting the divisions Tanya was leaving. Tanya didn't believe First Lieutenant Serebryakov was ready for the responsibilities for a double promotion, but Lieutenant Wilibald Koenig turned down the job. Three attempts by Tanya to get outside officers to lead the 203rd failed as over a year they fell to food poisoning, dysentery, and combat.
The operation was undertaken as planned, the mages needed to travel for more than an hour to reach their targets. The one against the Entente was beaten back with heavy casualties from the infantry division that attacked and a single supporting mage intelligence had missed. One of the Rhine front attempts resulted in a magical barrage and suffered light casualties, but they had to withdraw to replenish manna, leaving the advance merely delayed. Most others ended in Pyrrhic Victories, the target infantry division sent into retreating, but with many Imperial casualties. A group of 30 Imperial cavalry did follow up on one of these battles, took 100 prisoners and spiked some heavy guns before withdrawing. The Kongsberg battalion did the best, with only 7 casualties while forcing a rout. Three from the original battalion and one replacement were outright killed. Two replacements were shot down in enemy territory and lost. One was shot down in enemy territory and returned the next week, with a lame leg. The replacements who survived 3 or more battles were nearly as good as Tanya's personally trained soldiers, but until then the quality was lower.
For a month, Lieutenant General Degurechaff brought some hope, recapturing the Imperial city of Strasbourg. A counterattack by the Republic and Americans resulted in over 45,000 enemy casualties while Degurechaff only lost 13,000, plus some troops who were routed back to the east of the Rhine. This only left a hundred defenders, but with the enemy in chaos, it was hoped the city could be held for another 32 days before withdrawing.
Terms were offered once more. Charles X could stay on as Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and King of Croatia. The Republic, in the past, had never acknowledged the Empire's unification and considered its very existence an abnormality. The Empire would be subject to the principal of European self-determination, the idea that Europeans had the right to their own cultural and political development. The large island chain off the coast of California, triple the landmass of the Empire's European lands proper, was to be ceded to America. The successor states, including Austria-Hungary-Croatia, would be responsible for reparations based on urban population size at the time the ink dried on the final peace accord. Each successor state would be limited on mage quantities. A quota made of one third the number of surviving mages would be divided between successor states based on total population. Austria was exempt but could not recruit mages that were not natural born Austrians. The reparations were lower than all three previous offers and 1/3000 that of the first, but still fairly stiff. The Empire before its dissolution would help America with its eugenics program.
PR note: The yellow highlighted sentence is basically the same as the final sentence in this paragraph. This redundancy is unnecessary. And the last sentence sounds much better than the highlighted sentence.
The most offending offer was that the Republic wanted custody of 31 Imperial mages without prisoner of war protection. They supplied the magical signatures of the relevant mages. Charles X von Hapsburg could tolerate demands to hand over most of them. 16 of the mages were known of have communist sympathies and hid conspirators of the September revolution once the restoration happened, claiming that they were loyal but the revolutionaries didn't need to be punished. 7 of them were very elitist, thinking that as mages they were superior to mana-blind humans. Coincidentally, all 7 had committed burglary before being conscripted. 4 of them had participated in the July revolution that overthrew Charles. And three of them had all of these problems to boot!
While it could be argued those mages were expendable, the problem was the last mage they demanded be handed over. The magical signature matched Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff, Silver Wings Assault medal recipient. Objectively, saving Austria, the Hapsburg heartland, was worth the sacrifice of one soldier or even an officer, no matter how talented. The fact that Tanya's sacrifice would stop the famine, (because food production is not where the consumption is and too many rivals were being used by the military), decrease the reparations to the winning side, and ease social tensions were bonuses. Early in her career, a Pogue, or a Rear Echelon Motherfucker as Americans would say, made the correct choice by giving Tanya a suicidal order. There was a 30% chance to protect 750 artillery pieces and their crews. Even if the artillery unit at risk was a third of its size, it was still the correct call to sacrifice a mage with some experience, much less a novice to buy time. The stakes were larger than ever now.
Yet Charles X von Hapsburg could not bring himself to do it. He had met the girl personally only 3 times, once after his restoration. While Tanya was 16, she was small for her age, even as a female. He remembered seeing the pre-cut recording of her first propaganda recording. It started three minutes before the cut that was release. A female employee brushed Tanya's long blond hair. She wore a red puffy skirt that managed to show legs when she sat down. The dress had large loose fitting shoulder covers. Her hands wore white gloves. A black bow donned the front of the red dress. For a second, it appeared Tanya was uncomfortable with the situation, with her eyes somewhat in distress, her sitting awkward, and her hands in her lap. This was quickly replaced by a blank look in her azure blue eyes. She stood up, the chair was taken away, and someone put on a red beret. Tanya smiled. It was at this point the video released to the public was cut. "I'm 'White Silver' Tanya Degurechaff" was the line she opened the propaganda interview with. Charles's heart melted.
Tanya was basically a Loli, looking even younger than Charles's eldest daughter Cornelia. Over the past three years since he first saw Tanya, her growth was 1 cm, 1 cm, and… oh another cm in height. Cornelia had long blond hair too. If anything, Tanya was probably cuter, retaining some childish features. Every time Charles X thought about sacrificing Tanya, the thought of Cornelia came to his mind.
Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff stepped off the train in Berun. Activity was buzzing and one wouldn't know there was a war going on if one didn't speak German. The most obvious sign of problem was a large number of corpses from the latest plague. There were other subtle hints. Almost all the men were gone. Ever since the July revolution, the Empire had gone from a draft lottery to picking off as many able bodied men as they could and the Kaiser had not revered this policy. The mood of the capital was melancholic. Tanya's first destination was the Akitsushima Imperium embassy.
"Hello ambassador Shinotsuki. How is work?" said Tanya in awkward Japanese.
"Hi, Tanya-chan! We just have lots of paperwork fromin the past year. It didn't help that over 70% were killed in the revolutions. Only the British embassy was spared." said the ambassador, while patting Tanya's head.
"Do you have any sushi, mocha, miso soup or other food?" said Tanya in her cute voice.
"I'm sorry. The Allied British Kingdom finally mediated a system where other embassies can bring in food, but we can't give any food to Imperials, not even duel citizens. But don't worry, you have a high salary, you can easily buy food despite the shortages like sausage and sauerkraut. The Republic argues that any food to civilians means less people will starve and more civilians can produce military goods." said ambassador Shinotsuki.
"This is untrue. Until recently, the Kaiser rejected a total war footing, and allowed much of the economy to produce civilian goods, although it is just as well since it seems it wouldn't have changed much. The problem is the whole world is against the Empire. Also, we have enough nitrogen for fertilizer and explosives, unlike Imperial Germany, where the problem for the Empire is that the railroads and roads can't deal with the increased demand for movement while suffering from a reduced capacity." said Tanya.
"Imperial Germany? Is that local slang for the North?" askedsaid the ambassador.
"It doesn't mean anything. I have a meeting to go to, ambassador." said Tanya.
The ambassador waved Tanya off. It was a shame the little girl was a general. Likely, the only reason this occurred was due to casualties piling up among their officer corps than any ability to command. A once proud nation starving off at the end. Even the neutrality of Akitsushima Imperium and the semi-neutrality of the Allied Kingdom didn't help with practically the whole world bearing down on the Hapsburg domains. No one would have thought the marriage of Charles III of Prussia and Maria Theresa of Austria would have ended in the new state dying to the Republic, the successor state to Frankia which Austria always danced around.
Tanya Degurechaff did not know why she was summoned to meet Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg. Her new unit needed her. It would take at least three months to turn the situation around. At that point, she might need to go back to defend Kongsberg. While Imperial mages had dominated the skies, the ground was being lost. At least three times Tanya had left on successful sorties only to find that her camp was overrun while she was gone, forcing her to fly some distance back and depleting even more of her stamina. One time she nearly collapsed to the ground and had to pray to Being X to bring Elenium Type-95 orb to full power merely to keep flying. Tanya hoped she was finally going to end up with a cushy desk job instead of being a frontline general, but the desperate situation made that seem unlikely. There was also the strange situation of her coming into the throne room instead of a quiet meeting room in the palace.
Tanya entered the large throne room. The Kaiser was sitting on the throne and looking miserable. She walked 100 meters forward to face him. At 172 cm, he wasn't particularly tall, but did tower above Tanya like nearly all the adults did. The large arm, pectoral, and hip muscles showed through his loose robes. His blond hair had been given a flattop cut. His mustache just looked silly. Some guards escorted onlookers, since this was usually a publically available room, away.
"Are you willing to die for the Fatherland?" said Charles X von Hapsburg rather bluntly.
"This might surprise you, your majesty, but I would rather not. To fight for and kill is one thing, and my first mission I followed an order that was probably suicide. But probable death with a chance of success is different than dying." said Tanya. She didn't exactly know how to deal with Charles. One part of her wanted to treat him like another military superior, one to be impressed. Another part of her thought playing the innocence card would work better. She talked the way she did with Major Maximilian Johann von Ugar, using her normal voice but trying to subtly imply she was out of place in the face of danger.
"Here are the terms the republic wants," said Charles X.
Tanya pored over the document. Tanya had a bad feeling about this. "The magical signature of the mages they are asking for. Am I…" said Tanya.
"Yes." said Charles.
"How much longer can the Empire sustain the war?" said Tanya.
"With you, I'd say 37 months. Without you as a mage, tactician, and logistician, 11 at most." said Charles.
Tanya immediately started calculating her options. Desertion was always out. She would never be accepted by the enemy, and even if Tanya wasn't executed, she would be a social pariah on both sides. Since The Republic didn't recognize The Empire's right to exist, any non-Austrians were likely to not get any rights as prisoners of war. She already knew of at least 30 incidents where Imperials stupid enough to accept unconditional surrender had many in the party executed, once as much as 75%. The best option might be to play along and prepare for escape once the inevitable life sentence came.
Charles X von Hapsburg looked at her sadly. This was a girl who did the most valorous fighting action in the battle that started the whole war. A child who was a capable mage and intelligent enough to lead. Tanya was filled with loyalty to the Empire, and now as Emperor he was basically saying her reward was being sold off to wolves. He wondered what the little girl was thinking. Perhaps she was wondering why the Lord would have rewarded her hard work, loyalty, and piety with this. Tanya looked at Charles with a pitiful face. If she said no, he couldn't accept the terms.
"Can I enjoy life for a few weeks before the end?" said Tanya.
"Of course, my child!" said Charles X von Hapsburg.
Tanya was annoyed at the meeting. For the purpose of average happiness, the Kaiser was right to sacrifice her to save hardships against the rest of the country. But Tanya didn't care about the mean welfare so much as her own. But the most responsible part of it was Being X. Being X had turned practically the whole world against Tanya. In the end, even the Kaiser she had worked so loyally for, even for non-altruistic or patriotic motives, was going to abandon her. The only time she wavered was when she followed the revolutionary Berun governments. Tanya actually tried to stop the first one, abandoning the front lines and hoping to get in the Kaiser's favor, but she arrived too late and the capital was taken. In successive revolutions, she did what most military officers on the front did, which was to blindly follow orders from Berun, whoever happened to control it. There was no way Being X could be God.
Ironically, maneuvering herself into the best light of her superiors had provided more of a challenge than the foes Tanya had once fought, who had not provided much threat to her safety while she was awake. Her skill and speed were usually enough to let her get the better of the situation on nearly every one vs. one as well as countless other situations, and the Elenium Type-95 made her functionally undefeatable as long as her base was secure. But a mage would have to come to the ground eventually and with the Empire losing the war, Tanya could see the writing on the wall.
Tanya immediately raided the intelligence department. The Empire had managed to make extensive documentation on many structures. Tanya immediately narrowed down structures which could be feasibly used as a prison. The fact that the attacking forces did not trust the Russy Federation meant many buildings could also be eliminated.
Likely they would use a mana inhibitor. These large devices were connected to hand shackles and typically were put on a horse cart. The best ones basically stopped a mage from using magic for the duration of the restraint and 168 hours afterwards. This was followed by a 2 hour period where magic use slowly comes back. This meant that any breakout attempt would have to take place using structural flaws or external help.
An inhibitor merely 1% lighter than the best devices had only an hour of cooldown time. Furthermore, below a certain weight, mana inhibitors simply didn't work. Since the best inhibitors for instantaneous stoppage had 75% of the weight as those that lasted a while week, it seemed wise to use the week long inhibitor. Stopping a mage from casting more than 172 hours after no longer being in physical contact with an inhibitor was also impractical.
There is a legend about a mage who was able to cast immediately after his inhibitor was removed. Since the enemy would not want to take that risk, Tanya would likely have the shackles on at all times. Due to the large device, this will further limit the possibilities of where she would likely be imprisoned.
There was also the issue of financial assets. The Allied British Kingdom was often shortened to The Allied Kingdom, but the demonym was oddly still British. An exchange of the Reichsmark for British pounds was going to be necessary. Tanya would need funds if she didn't want to end up destitute.
After a few days, Tanya had established what she had intended to do. All she needed was a few mage conspirators. She contacted Viktoriya and told her about the plans. Tanya then moved on to establish a backup plan. She had made a magic capsule and linked it to seven glass orbs. If the capsule was bitten, the orbs would light for a few hours before burning out. If the capsule was swallowed, gastric juices would break it within an hour and the orbs would light. Nothing fancy like a message that could be sent by Morse code, but a single "Get me out. Damn the consequences!" signal.
Finally Tanya tried her best to relax and live with comfort and pleasure. It was only going to be a matter of time. History more or less matched what she knew up to 1530, except a notable failed Polish contribution to the Third Crusade and a larger Third Crusade in general. Then magic was discovered and not much else looked right in Europe and changes in Europe propagated little by little across the world. History got closer in the 1760s both in Europe and Americas, then starting going off again after the American Revolution which succeeded despite British mage superiority. At this time spells were somewhat unwieldy, required a relatively stationary mage, and flying faster than walking was impractical. Things looked closer in the Napoleonic wars, which surprised Tanya. By this point, none of the European monarchs were those she knew in her past life. After Napoleon Bonaparte retired, history started going wrong again, for starters making peace with Austria and Great Britain after only three wars. Capital cities and countries were renamed over the next three decades, but most places retained their names, like the city of Worms. And Japan renamed itself after contact with the west. Ming China was supposed to have fallen to the Manchu, but the Manchu invasion was only a sacking of northern cities probably due to English backing of the host regime.
Since history was all off by 1900, it didn't seem like it would be anything like Tanya once knew. However she was somewhat skeptical about that. While there was no gas warfare, there were two candidates that could have been similar to a war she knew. The Empire- Republic War of 1914 was a quick imperial victory during her childhood. The war she was in appeared to be on a route to tragedy.
The Treaty of Copenhagen brought an end to the Empire. An administrative unit would be used in place of the Empire while a transition was made. The Republic had never acknowledged the right of the Empire to exist as a unified state. All three previous wars ended with the mediation of the Allied Kingdom, a country both sides acknowledged and could sign treaties with.
Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg, Cleves, Oldenburg, Ansebach (their rough historical regions) and Prussia (this one larger than historical Prussia) were spat out as independent republics. Czechoslovakia was a new addition to anyone but Tanya and seemed to be based on old Bohemia to some extent. The creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Serbia was also at the expense of their lands. Of the colonies in the pacific, they were released. Somalia was ceded to the British, Ghana to the Republic, and the Transvaal region became independent. Somlia was actually a front of Imperial victories and the negotiators insisted it not be given to Republican control. America took the island chain. Austria, Hungary, Brandenburg, and Croatia were still tied with a monarch in the form of Charles X. The Lorraine region and Hapsburg Netherlands, once dynastic strongholds, were given to the Republic. In truth, even before the war, the Netherlands was de facto out of Imperial control. Dakia was given control of the Greater Romanian region, every chunk of territory that was 75% Romanian speaking was gained. Denmark, a demilitarized disputed region, was given back to the Entente.
Reparations would have to be paid out. The city of Kongsberg would have a three day period where any occupying soldiers could treat any citizen there as a brothel worker even if they were not actually a brothel worker. As this pretty much happened when the city fell in the actual war, the cynical observer claimed this merely extended an existing situation. The Empire successor states would have to cooperate on American eugenics, whatever that meant. Restrictions on mages were placed on the militaries.
All military mages were forbidden to travel without approval of occupation forces. Occupation forces would not leave until the 31 mages were found and the reparations paid. Until the mages were found, the republic could even go to areas they had not occupied during the war to find mages. Records were to be handed over to the occupiers.
The successor states would take responsibility for turning a border conflict into a huge war. The first 3,000 military casualties on the Rhine front were Republicans and no Imperials. The first shot fired was from the Empire. The first mage killed was a Republican mage. The minor issue of the Republic rushing in many divisions into Imperial territory without a declaration of war and that they knocked out border guards was not noted on the documentation of the peace treaty.
Previously the Reichsmark was one of the highest value currencies of the world, worth 3018 British pounds. Charles X von Hapsburg paid off 2/3 of the total reparations using his personal funds as a monarch, even though it was understood he could tax the subjects and Austria wasn't even responsible for all the payments. He did this as a gesture of goodwill, relieving some burden. The reparations still needed to be paid. The treaty forced all successor states to use the Reichsmark, printed in Vienna now instead of Berun, or British pounds. Charles X knew that 2/3 of Reichsmark in circulation were actually held outside of the Empire's successor states. So what could go wrong with printing some marks and buying gold to pay off reparations? After all, the monarchy did not actually hold much and most of the noble classes have wealth died up in land and gold. The successor states could not object and Austria's portion of the debt could be repaid faster.
One month after the peace treaty and Tanya Degurechaff could tell things were going downhill. In Berun, Republic of Prussia, the politicians were already paralyzing the government. The diseases of the war decimated the populations. Railroad capacity was only 30% of prewar capacity. But the worst part was that society appeared to be crumbling.
Inflation was running rampant, around 30% daily and accelerating. A lot of commoners could not actually use the currency in the past for daily transactions as the smallest unit was too large, instead buying credits at local consortiums which were used to pay for some goods. After all, it was over 3018 of them for a British pound, a currency which had similar value to what Tanya thought of in her past life… the pound of the 1800s.
Farmers were the largest net debtors, for many of them had taken out loans. Factory owners on the other hand, generally had little credit during the war. But even the farmers started to suffer the ill effects of hyperinflation even despite their prewar debts being wiped out. It didn't help that many sons had died in the war.
People looked for others to blame. Tanya thought that Being X would make a "stab in the back myth", but in this case, the army really was stabbed in the back by revolutionaries. Most egregiously, 75% of the Polish speaking Imperial units had participated in both the July and October revolutions. Only one officer in that group stayed loyal to the Charles X the whole time, although Tanya couldn't say much about true loyalty. Not only was she lacking in that sentiment, but her actions were similar to many of the generals who obeyed whoever controlled Berun. The Social Democrats, the communists and the nationalists, had all contributed to the problem.
But in fact, the war wasn't going too well even before the revolutions. The seven Chinese states launched a major offensive in the Republic. Although over 3.1 million casualties were suffered by the attackers, this greatly weakened the Imperial army. Just as they had gotten out of trench warfare and gotten into maneuverer warfare with the Republicans and Americans not being able to rebuild defensive trenches in time, the offensive stopped the Imperials cold. There was also the problem of the Americans being just a little bit too eager to die for their cause. Tanya assessed the situation to be similar to the English in the Hundred Years War, Austria early in the War of Austria Succession, and South Vietnam after the Easter offensive. In all cases, the war was still winnable, but it wasn't going well and they appeared to be the underdog. And except for Austria, all lost. Even Austria arguably lost due to the loss of Silesia preventing Austria from repaying the war debts. So while the "stab in the back" happened, it was more like twisting a knife in someone already wounded.
Not that this didn't keep people from playing the blame game. In Bavaria it was claimed by some local parties that Jews were responsible for the communists due to the 75% who showed up to vote electing communists during the parliamentary period. In Prussia and Oldenburg, some cities started having anti-Catholic sentiments, despite Catholics making up a majority of those countries, albeit not in the cities. Educated noblemen and noblewomen knew better. For one thing, the July elections were a bit of a joke, and most Imperials didn't even vote, so blaming a demographic for a bad election that wasn't even the cause of the September revolution was a bit of a stretch. The Catholic sentiment seemed to come from a pedophile priest being caught, despite both the Church and its followers being more law abiding during the chaos. In fact, that priest was the only member of the Catholic Church organization that committed a crime during the entire war.
In at least three cities, Tanya was jeered on for supposedly being a Catholic. In one city, she was said to have sold herself out to the democrats. In all cases, Imperial veterans immediately stood up for her. At least the military and intellectuals knew the blame game got people nowhere. Most of the rural farmers were also less inflammatory. And the people of Berun still respected Tanya. Tanya was living a fairly high comfortable life, but she needed to end the suffering if Prussia was to remain stable. She would have to make a phone call.
"This is Charles X von Hapsburg. How do you know this number? Only my closest advisors do." said Kaiser Charles X von Hapsburg.
"This is Lieutenant General Tanya Degurechaff. Stop printing money." said Tanya.
"But at the end of the war, most notes were outside the Empire. What's wrong?" said Charles.
Tanya kept her voice calm but altered her tone as she described the direct effects of hyperinflation on the common folk. No need to talk about the blame game.
"OK, I'll continue printing for 3 more years in the quartic fashion. Tomorrow I'll print 8 times as much as today. Two days from now will be 27 times. In four days, it will be 125 times what is made today" said Charles X.
"Won't that speed up the problem?" said Tanya, shocked.
"No, today is actually a slow day, much lower than the past rate of printing. If I continue that pattern for 3 years, there will only be 30% more notes in circulation that today. In contrast, you said the prices went up 30% daily?"
"Yes. How many British pounds are left in your treasury?" said Tanya.
"Aside from personal expenses? I cut down my living expense 70%. Ahh… Let's see. Before printing we would have had 3021 pounds for every Reichsmark. If we have more marks in exactly the way I print as planned, that's 3001 pounds for every 3000 marks" said Charles X.
"If that's what you have to do, do it. 30% more over 3 years and then stoppage is better than 30% a day. The velocity of money will increase rapidly as people spend. I suggest you put in a peg of one pound to one mark after you stop printing. The market value of the mark will likely be lower than that, but you have enough pounds to cover it, right?" said Tanya.
"I assure you I do, my child" said Charles X.
"Do it" said Tanya. She hung up the phone. Back to the comfortable life while everyone was suffering? This wasn't too bad, although if her salary wasn't adjusted for inflation, this could be trouble as she covered her past earnings but not her future ones to gold and pounds. They were well hidden because she had a feeling her freedom would not last long.
One week later, Tanya got a knock on the door. It was a Republican Lieutenant. "Tanya von Degurechaff? You're under arrest for War Crimes." said the man.