alternatehistory.com

‘Even as they busied themselves in union affairs and café culture, the workers and petit bourgeoisie of Vienna were not blind to the major events unfolding in Europe. By the second decade of the twentieth century many feared that a conflict would be inevitable and it seems that as a young man, having recently received his inheritance, Hitler was one of those people as he witnessed Europe drifting into two massive alliances.

Joined by the hip on the European continent sat the aptly named Central Powers, with Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire principal amongst them. All these nations had their different and occasionally contrasting aims, seeking each other out as allies of convenience. The German Empire was keen to make their mark on the world after decades of Bismarckian diplomacy aimed at securing a peace in Europe. A new generation of Germans had become self-assured, harbouring imperialist ambitions and a new order in Europe more advantageous than that which had been brought about by the unification of Germany in 1871. Austria-Hungary was a lumbering giant that aspired to survive as much as conquer. The state was a multicultural community under joint oppression via the Hapsburg monarchy, threatened by internal economic and ethnic strife from within as well as from the outside. The Ottoman Empire was already collapsing and sought relief, they found reassurance in the German Kaiser, the self-proclaimed protector of Islam. The Germans were equally impressed by the actions of Enver Pasha and his fellow ‘Young Turks’, whose overt proclamations echoed a nationalist ethic that was well underway in the Balkans. In Slavic form, it was the albatross around the Hapsburg’s neck.

This threat principally came from the newly assertive Kingdom of Serbia, emboldened by its victory in the Balkan Wars and the patronage of its Russian ally. The Russian Empire faced its own internal strife but unlike the Hapsburg’s the Tsar saw this as all the more reason to rock the boat. A missionary pan-Slavism in the Balkans conveniently fit in with Russia’s goal of access to the warm water of the Adriatic Sea and influence over the straits of the Bosporus that had been threatened by the growing German-Ottoman friendship. With their pride far overextending their reality, Austria-Hungary had spread itself across the Balkans in a fit of malaise and bureaucratic inertia, emboldened by its German ally despite the growing threat from both the Russians and the Serbs. In many ways, Bismarck’s warnings of the German frigate tying itself too closely to the worm infested Austrian gallion had come true, though most within the German establishment seemed ambivalent towards this liability.

Despite his beliefs being rather contrary to our contemporary assumptions, Hitler nonetheless hated the Hapsburgs. This hatred likely stemmed from the Austrian sovereignty over lands he saw as rightfully German rather than any resentment over aristocracy or class conflict. Hitler wanted to avoid conscription into the Austro-Hungarian, not out of an unwillingness to fight in what he would eventually decry as “imperialist slaughter” but because he wanted to fight for the Kaiser rather than his Hapsburg allies, or at the very least a rather idealistic portrayal of the German nation inspired by his upbringing and contemporary futurist political beliefs.

Whilst Austria saw the danger to the east, Hitler likely held the popular opinion of most other Germans that the threat was in the west and that as such Germany needed all the allies she could gather, even if it was a moribund imperial state. Having been diplomatically isolated in the wake of German and Italian unification, France had gradually built an anti-German alliance with the Russian the British empires out of collective disdain for the intransigence of the German Kaiser. Most Germans were well aware that in France’s case containment was not enough, there were scores to be settled dating back forty years, a French lust for revenge that posed an existential threat to most Germans.

Ofically it is stated that with the new means granted to him by his inheritance, Hitler moved on from his artistic and political experiences in Vienna towards Munich, where he did not have to wait long before he got his wish to fight for Germany.’

~ Steven James The Making of the Man: Hitler in the First World War

---

The café debate was alive as always and Adolf found himself less uncomfortable in sparring than he had once been, his views would now be regularly denounced as vile by his friends and he loved them for it. He realised his strength was in their opposition, and their tendency to occasionally buy his paintings or “loan” him cash when he couldn’t sell one anywhere, although that was increasingly rare these days. Franz’s connections had finally allowed Adolf to rent out an apartment and though the two rooms weren’t much on paper it offered more respectability than the couch of a friends and more stability than the boarding house.

He was happy, as it were, even though he was becoming increasingly conflicted. It was a shame it was all coming to an end.

He had been raised to venerate German nationalist ideals, for a while they had played in the back of his mind, with his poverty they had become far more ingrained in his character. His belief in an innate superiority of being German made him feel strong inside but had it also not made him and many others overtly malleable to the ideals of those in power who also claimed to be German? Why did so many argue for the greater Germany he had been brought up to believe in when no-one was acting on it, even as Britain, France and Russia slowly encircled the Kaiser and the Hapsburgs alike?

Why had so many establishment types indulged an Italian radical like Marinetti, and why had Marinetti tolerated them even though they were exactly the sort of people he had outlined as being inhibitive in society? The answer was perplexing but it nonetheless shone light upon an inarguable that there was something dispossessing about this current form of German nationalism.

His socialist friends sneered upon all nationalisms of course despite being more German than they like to admit. Could he make them see sense when he was having his own doubts?

Rudolf was the perfect example, supporting a united Germany despite his desire for it to be socialist, their differing political views hadn’t mattered a great deal since Adolf had first met him, his friend remained relaxed in his breaks from activism and party work and preferred to talk art in any case. If there was any strong disagreement it would be in regard to foreign affairs, a topic which was difficult to escape in the early months of 1913. Both men faced the draft, though each had his own solution.

“I don’t care what the conflict is started over, be it Africa, the Balkans or China, we all know how these wars go, death and destruction for the working class and profits for the rich.”

Adolf scoffed, he enjoyed his friends conversation but his tendency to find conspiracy everywhere was tiresome. Rudolf's plans to go to Switzerland were equally frustrating.

“Come on, we’re talking about national sacrifice here. War isn’t pretty but it drives progress, we wouldn’t have had a Germany otherwise and that victory has been to the benefit of all Germans, rich and poor.”

"And you think this war will unite Germany further? Even if we're going to war to prop up this decrepit feudal state?"

Adolf had to admit he had doubts about that one, though it seemed the die had been cast already. Germany was joined at the hip with the Hapsburgs, it was better to scoff at the thought than let it sink in.

"German victory is the end of the Hapsburgs, they cannot maintain their grasp on power even if we succeed together but if we allow Russia to topple them for us they will be the beneficiaries, not the German people."

"So you'll fight with the Hapsburgs but not for them?" Rudolf was smiling but Adolf could tell that he was angling at genuine, his socialist friend could sense his discomfort and he wondered not for the first time if he wasn't coming over to his side, even unwittingly.

"If I fight for the Hapsburgs who knows if I'll be fighting Russians or suppressing German uprisings when the time comes." If Adolf's dig at Rudolf's pan-German sympathies had any impact it didn't show, his friend appeared quite happy that he'd mentioned the subject if anything.

"Oh I agree about that, I just don't see why you what the difference is with suppressing Germans for the Hapsburgs or suppressing Germans for the Kaiser?"

Rudolf had expanded on this theory before, the claims of secret deals between the French socialists and German social democrats to mutually opt out of the war sounded like treachery, especially if it left Russia unchecked in the east. Adolf could never be sure if Rudolf was teasing him, though he would play along regardless before they bid each other farewell.

"If that ever happens, we'll be on opposing sides of the barricades regardless of whether or not I'm the army!"

The days for talking would some come to an end across Europe.

---

The cartoon is originally by Punch magazine, arguably somewhat one-sided.

Though the Wittelsbach was rendered obsolete by the Dreadnought era it did see some service in the First World War before having to retreat in the face of British submarines. The ship's remaining skeleton crew were present at Kiel during the mutiny.