From great inequality of fortunes and conditions, from the vast variety of passions and of talents, of useless and pernicious arts, of vain sciences, would arise a multitude of prejudices equally contrary to reason, happiness and virtue. We should see the magistrates fomenting everything that might weaken men united in society, by promoting dissension among them; everything that might sow in it the seeds of actual division, while it gave society the air of harmony; everything that might inspire the different ranks of people with mutual hatred and distrust, by setting the rights and interests of one against those of another, and so strengthen the power which comprehended them all.
~ Jean Jacques Rousseau,
On the Origin of the Inequality of Mankind
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“As we have seen, the fascist aggression can only be met with the same violence they would inflict on the German worker. Their attacks across the border began again last night, we have been returning fire since 2 AM. From now on bullet will be met with bullet, shell will be met with shell-”
The Crown Prince Wilhelm, head of the House of Hohenzollern, took another sip of his coffee and smiled. Hitler had developed his ability to broadcast vitriol over the airwaves for over a decade, he had no doubt this new act of defiance being broadcast across Europe was scripted to time with the sudden outbreak of skirmishes across the Italian border. He had underestimated the man as an adversary beforehand but no longer.
This news had come alongside similar reports of firefights in France, Hungary and Poland. Scattered on their own but together, enough to paint a picture of Germany under siege.
In regards to the news of shooting in the vicinity of the Brenner Pass, Mussolini was yet to respond with his usual bombast, casting doubt on Hitler’s aspersions about a coordinated fascist offensive. The Crown Prince had no doubt the Duce was currently just trying to figure out what was going on before responding.
The increasingly confused activities of the United Front were perplexing to many and the Crown Prince would not have begrudged Mussolini’s confusion. Indeed, he held the Italian dictator in high regard, with him having been a generous host in accommodating the Hohenzollern family after the Third Reich debacle had forced their flight from Germany. Since then their lands and fortune had been expropriated by the United Front. They had few means but Mussolini had provided them with a luxurious existence at the expense of the Italian state, with an easy line of credit. It was charity which the Crown Prince aimed to repay one day.
To this end he had looked to establish a government-in-exile after von Seeckt’s assurances that he must lay low seemed to be leading to little practical action on behalf of German patriots. Von Seeckt himself and many other potential followers of the Crown Prince’s cause had left Europe altogether for the opportunities offered by the new world but he refused to leave his empire behind and as such he had looked into seeking recognition for himself as the true leader of Germany. Mussolini hadn’t been willing to go this far with his support, however he had been decent enough to send his son-in-law Ciano, now Head of the Government Press Office, to meet with the Crown Prince once more.
Ciano had explained that the breaking-off of all diplomatic relations with Berlin was not advisable. If he was ever to become Kaiser through Italian help then Italy would need to be strong and that strength was only enabled by the German trade which helped to grow the Italian economy.
The Crown Prince had been frustrated by having his dedication to duty be tempered by such clerical matters but it seemed the recent events in France and subsequently in Germany had allowed for a change of tact on behalf of his Italian hosts. It appeared that the republic was about to fall entirely to Bolshevism much as he had warned before and his request to make an appeal to German patriots to resist such a direction was now given the green light.
It was for this reason that he was now sitting leisurely in the waiting room of one of Europe’s most powerful radio transmitters, used by Italian state radio, to deliver a broadcast in German. Ciano had welcomed him there himself, having assured the Crown Prince that they were going to great lengths to ensure his broadcast would be heard by as many in Germany as possible. The script he had been given was more measured than the one he would ideally have liked to broadcast but it was a start. Where Mussolini dithered, the Crown Prince intended to show once again why leadership was in his breeding.
Hitler continued to outline the details of his outrage from the waiting room’s radio, elaborating on a conspiracy in which treacherous royals were mentioned more than once. The rhetoric made Hohenzollern smile further, Hitler wasn’t the only one who could utilise this technology and he would soon find that out when the Crown Prince himself took to the airwaves to set the record straight.
He saw Ciano arrive at the door, the Italian glancing awkwardly at his choice of programming, Hohenzollern turned it off for his benefit.
“Important to know what the Bolsheviks are up to if we’re to beat them at their own game. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Quite, excellency. They’re ready for you now.” Ciano replied with an awkward deference.
“Wonderful, then let us shed some light at last!”
He was, of course, not entirely blind to how some of his future subjects viewed him. There were those who had tried to vote to expropriate his families lands even before the civil war and amongst his own supposed adherents there had been those like von Schleicher, who saw him as fit only to be a useless bauble to lend legitimacy to a regime whose power lay elsewhere. Since the events of the Third Reich had required him to flee he had been branded a pretty tyrant by the left and a feckless criminal by many on the right. It was enough to stoke a fire inside anyone but he knew that such impressions were temporary, he had been a prince across the water in worse circumstances. Now he had a chance to show he could lead once more.
Or, at the very least, he could cause a little chaos of his own.
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The painting is
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich