A Shift in Priorities

[Decrian]

Originally Posted by Jotun

Ugh. What a likable chap that Schluchtenscheißer is

Yeah, a real likable fellow, isn't he?

[Josephus]

Watch it, Piefke.

[Richter von Manthofen]

I can't believe it - I finally read through that TL....

Awesome Rast

I hope we will arrive today in a few years (or what will be today then )

I am wondering what is this huge ship (carrier?) the Germans are building secretly? (it was mentioned many pages ago but you never revealed details)

[rast]

Originally Posted by Richter von Manthofen

I am wondering what is this huge ship (carrier?) the Germans are building secretly? (it was mentioned many pages ago but you never revealed details)

Was only launched in August 1935. So, SMS Otto Lilienthal is expected to be commissioned in September or October 1936; we'll get an update on her then. (Right now, we're still at the end of June 1936.)

[rast]

No mode of warfare ever becomes truly obsolete. It always turns up again as an event in the Olympics.
(Middle African proverb)

Konrad Kikuhele was one of these Schwoarz’n, a Middle African participant of the Summer Games of the 11th Olympiad. Standing in rank and file, he was dwelling on his thoughts while Archduke Joseph Ferdinand Salvator was droning over the tannoy. He had competed in two running events, in both cases unsuccessfully. But his 400 metres time had been his personal best, and he had come in as number four. So, there was no reason to be dissatisfied. Yet, he would be glad to leave Vienna again, which would happen immediately after this senile waffler and the little yellow man standing at his side had finished their boring speeches.

Like most Middle African athletes, Konrad hadn’t come from home – but had already been sojourning in Germany. He was studying in Berlin, chemistry and physics, and had been nominated for the games by his Berlin athletics club. Berlin was a nice place to be. The Berliners were used to strangers coming to live in their city. One couldn’t escape being called “een Nega” or “een Kaffa” but one generally was treated fair.

Vienna was different. First of all, the Viennese were sulking. Theirs had been the capital of an once mighty empire; now it was just one German city, equal to Munich, Cologne, Desden or Hamburg, but infinitely inferior to Berlin. – And the Viennese had a rich tradition of not liking the people who came to live in their city. Before the Great War, the had hated the Czechs and the Eastern Jews; today, they hated the Middle Africans.

The African colonies had belonged to the German Empire, not to Austria-Hungary. This was another reason to detest the Middle Africans, who were seen as a plague imported by the despised Piefkes. Therefore, Konrad’s stay in Vienna had only been pleasant as long as he had not left the Olympic Village. Going shopping and sightseeing in town had been more like running the gauntlet. Of course, Konrad was only used to the Berlin dialect and Prussian way of life – and to the average Viennese, a Schwoarzer talking and behaving like a Piefke was the ultimate insult.

Well, Konrad was not going to shed a tear over Vienna. He was looking forward to returning to Berlin. It was the time of the semester break, and he had got a job at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute for chemistry. Professor Hahn was launching a programme of splitting atomic cores; and Konrad, who was among the best students in his age group, had been offered a slot. It wasn’t paid very generously, but he would have a chance to meet many important scientists.

If things progressed like Konrad hoped, he might even get a chair at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University before returning home. He had served his two years in the Middle African Navy and would be promoted to Leutnant zur See on his next reserve exercise. Thus, he had all credentials required for a good academic career in Middle Africa. One day, he might be dean of the faculty for chemistry or physics in Daressalam or Duala – and bring forward Middle Africa.

Too young to remember the Great War, he nevertheless remembered the proud tales of those who had participated, especially the triumphal return in 1918, having beaten Englishmen, Boers, Belgians, Indians and whatever other scum the Entente had mobilised against Bwana Obersti and his invincible Askaris. This was the spirit that drove the Middle African elites. Having beaten the Amis at Cape Palmas and the Cape Verdes had only reinforced this attitude. One was no humble Uncle Tom, one was the lofty master of the realm, the stout squire brandishing the sword of African power.

[Bmao]

I think that what this reveals is that while Europe has been growing more and more prosperous in general, racial attitudes are only gradually changing. Racism in general hasn't had a sort of 'shock' like the US Civil Rights Movement to discredit it as a mainstream sentiment upon Europeans.

Its the last paragraph of the last post which worries me, which implies that Kikuhele's attitude is a reflection of the Middle African elite's perception of themselves as being the vangaurds of the advancement of a type of black master race. All the elites we've seen in Middle Africa have had some military background in one way or another; G'Norrebe, M'Biddibe, David Kalumbe and now Kikuhele; talk all you want about the Germans attempting to develop democratic institutions, but as long as men like these are holding the reins of power in Middle Afrika in practice its going to end up as a military dictatorship.

What's more dangerous is that in the long run, its going to be counter-productive in terms of eliminating racism toward blacks, as the militarized Middle Afrikan will shape what the average European imagines of a black man. Europeans would conclude that Africans are a people that are predisposed toward violence, and that giving them modernity would only accentuate their violent 'natures' and then begin to direct them against whites.

[Miker]

Good observations, Bmao. While unfortunate for those living ITTL, it provides the base for another conflict necessary to keep this wonderful story going. I'm definitely looking forward to the Rise and Fall of Mittelafrika.

[Kitiem3000]

The Netherlands went from 17 medals in OTL to 0. This timeline has officially become dystopian.

[rast]

Flash news
Ewald Rohlfs Succeeds in the World’s First Free Autogyro Flight.
Bremen, first-hand report. – Albatros test pilot Ewald Rohlfs today flew history: he conducted a two minutes free flight with the Albatros VT-1, attaining a ceiling height of 34 metres. – The VT-1 was developed by Henrich Focke of the former Focke-Wulf aircraft company, which has been bought by Albatros in March of this year. The machine is held up in the air by two horizontal rotors and did travel with a speed of 91 km/h. Ewald Rohlfs described his experience like this: “It’s a very shaky affair, but it’s the best thing for hovering around and looking down – until somebody comes along with a genuine flying carpet.”

Bremer Nachrichten, Friday, June 26th, 1936

[Shogo]

If it makes Konrad feel better, hosting the Olympic games is a terrible burden on whichever city does so. The people of Vienna will be feeling the crunch from that for awhile. The prestige just isn't worth it, I tell you.

Also, Helicopters. Hooray for the whirly bird.

[Expat]

I think I'm still more optimistic about Mittelafrika than most people. Spreading wealth will turn people off to war.

I'm also pretty optimistic about the Olympics. Costs have shot through the roof in recent years, but Vienna should be alright.

[Peabody-Martini]

Without the big production of the Munich Olympics in 1936 the Olympics would remain a low key affair for awhile longer. The torch lighting and relay was possibly butterflied as well. IOTL African athletes didn't come to dominate areas such as long distance running until the 1960s. In TTL it could happen earlier, the Russian and German marathon runners could be for a surprise in Tokyo.

It looks as if Albatros is leading the way in helicopter research. The two rotor method at this point, think CH-47 Chinook. Sooner or later someone is going to think up the tail rotor and boom configuration if for no other reason than practicality. Once something is understood as being possible it's only a matter of time before the most practical applications and configurations are found. It's not mere happenstance that most modern fixed-wing aircraft echo the designs of Louis Bleriot from a century ago.

[Monty Burns]

Considering racism, I still think that it's much reduced in Germany. Austria is more rural and less connected, but anyway. ITTL, all universities should see plenty of Mittelafrikans. It seems that they are well integrated there - which is no surprise given that probably only the best and brightest Mittelafrikans make it to German universities and that their military career guarantees a discipline that is not typical for students . As a consequence, the future German elites are educated alongside Africans. That should be positive.

OTOH, hte Mittelafrikans show several tendencies that may cost them dearly in popularity among Europeans - but that's the minor problem...

Originally Posted by Peabody-Martini

Without the big production of the Munich Olympics in 1936 the Olympics would remain a low key affair for awhile longer. The torch lighting and relay was possibly butterflied as well.

Games in Russia, the Ottoman Empire or Mittelafrika are probably the best chance to invent those pompous addons...

[rast]

A bissle domm isch jeder, abr so domm wia mancher isch koiner.
(Everybody is a little bit stupid, but nobody is as stupid as some are. – Swabian wisdom)

That Konrad Adenauer had supplanted him as leader of the Zentrum Party hadn’t exactly turned Matthias Erzberger into a political carcass. He still had the firm support of his Swabian power base – and thus considerable influence on the party as a whole. Adenauer’s power base were just the Rhine Province and the Catholic districts of Westphalia, and there was no way that the sly Rhinelander could prevent Erzberger from being appointed as one of his permanent deputies. Actually, the 1937 Reichstag elections were going to decide over Adenauer’s political fate. If he couldn’t deliver – which meant at least participation in the new government – he could go home to Cologne and breed roses.

Well, because Imperial Chancellor Wels was very popular with the Germans, there was a fair chance that Erzberger might take the party chair again – although that signified that the Zentrum had to remain in opposition for four more years. But – of course – Erzberger was too much a busy bee to sit idle and wait. As former Imperial Chancellor and two-time Finance Minister, he was ideally cross-linked with all political and economical circles at home and in Berlin. His financial reforms after the Great War had laid the foundations for Germany’s recovery from the deprivations of the British blockade and internal mismanagement. Therefore, he sat in more boards of directors than any other Zentrum politician – and otherwise was only surpassed by Walther von Rathenau, the famous Aufsichtsrathenau.

Erzberger’s ultimate goal was becoming Imperial Chancellor again; for this, he was even ready to wait another four years – or to serve as Finance Minister in Adenauer’s cabinet, in case the Zentrum should be awarded in the 1937 ballot. But in this case, he had to come up with a method of getting rid of a Chancellor Adenauer. That – however – might be very tedious. Adenauer was a clinical professional and an excellent diplomat – but his weak side was economics. Erzberger had already started his subversive activities in the circles of the powerful Rhenish industrialists. But Adenauer, smelling a rat, had in turn started his tour of honeycombing the clerical and bourgeois circles in Württemberg.

The Bavarian and the Austrian Catholics were going their own ways – as always – but would be available if promised enough benefits for their clientele. – A future coalition with the GDNP was far more worrying for Erzberger. He had already headed a coalition with them fifteen years ago – when Tirpitz had still been alive and kicking. Today, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck was their party leader, certainly a great soldier – but a complete idiot as a politician. He was the innocent puppet of the Pangermans and the jingoists within the GDNP. They had grown very close to the troublemakers of the DVP, a party with which Erzberger never was going to ally.

Seeckt’s National Liberals were far too weak to play an important role in any future government, but at least Hans von Seeckt was a bright fellow and very close to some of Erzberger’s political ideas. – But, most probably, the old centre-right coalition of 1921 would not happen again. As unpleasant as it was, one – even if victorious – would have to deal with the insufferable Socialists and their weird ideas.

[Kitiem3000]

Originally Posted by rast

(Everybody is a little bit stupid, but nobody is as stupid as some are. – Swabian wisdom)

I spend 10 minutes breaking my head over this sentence. Damn Swabe.

[wietze]

Originally Posted by Kitiem3000

I spend 10 minutes breaking my head over this sentence. Damn Swabe.

kennste keen platt?

[Jotun]

This isn't Platt. Platt is spoken up north. Swabians are more French or Swiss than German! *huffs indignantly*

Just kidding!

[wietze]

thats where i am, up north , but it does look very alike when written down.

[Kitiem3000]

I actually didn't read the original sentence, I went straight for the translation.
It actually makes more sense now. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm used to my mind being twisted in plat.
Ich kin allien plat kalle win immand engers das oog dees, nit allien.

[sloreck]

Ouch..it hurts the head of those who only speak Hochdeutsche. Will I have to retaliate with Provencal..or even worse Cajun French?