Since youth organisations feature so prominently in this chapter, how is the Jungdeutscher Order doing? I seem to recall that it was the largest organisation of its type untill its forced merger into the Hitlerjugend.
As far as I am aware, they were more of a paramilitary group that happened to have a youth wing than a true youth organisation. They and the other Far-Right groups have largely stopped operating because of the new Reichspolizei absorbing a lot of those sort of people, though they are still lurking and are loosely tied to the Far-Right groups who want to overthrow the Republic and Lettow-Vorbeck to establish a fascist dictatorship.
On that note, what far-right party is more prominent right now? The now-fascist DNVP or the more "revolutionary" NSFB that exists ITTL?
The DNVP is not technically fascist yet, at least in their own definition, but they are the closest parallel to what we would consider "fascist" a la the Nazis. They are also the strongest of the Far-Right parties and saw a slight boost following Lettow-Vorbeck's restricting of Junker finances following the Eastern Aid Crisis. Hugenberg still calls for toppling Lettow-Vorbeck, but the DNVP as a whole is sort of... waiting to see what L-V does. They like a lot of his aims so far but they disapprove of his willingness to compromise and work with Catholics and Socialists. They keep to the sidelines for now because they worry that an active push against L-V without good reason might cause another group fracture which would basically be the death of the DNVP.
On that note, I do wonder what LV could do against the Soviets, and how that could fit with a hypothetical war with Poland. The countries where the Soviets could credibly expand are Romania, Poland, the Baltics and Finland.
Gloomy foreshadowing here. Nothing in the narrative through this chapter seems to point to the fall of the Republic.
OTOH, this implies that the fall of the Republic does not lead to particularly bad things.
ITYM "plurality"; there are 597 seats in the Reichstag. A majority would be 299, but the SPD has only 215. The SPD is by far the largest party (the Zentrum is second with 137), but that doesn't get control. Vide OTL 1932-33, when the NSDAP had a plurality but could not form a government.
The fall of the Republic will be, in many ways, just as much of a surprise to the people who bring it down as it is to the average citizen.
That's a good point, thanks, I should've remembered that! Will go fix
Yes. In Belgium for example Leon Degrelle got quite a bit of aide from the Nazi's for his electioneering. The Flemish Movement in general was quite positive towards the Germans (they treated us fairly last war). The two exceptions to this were explicit socialists/communists (for obvious reasons) and Joris van Severen, but with Germany not having a pan-Germanist attitude towards the Low Countries, he may be cool with Germany as well
Hmm, I really have not thought about it much beyond the Auslandsdeutsche and the Ukranians. You are right than Pan-Germanism won't be anything he cares about (though he would favour the Flemish by nature of them not being French-speaking). If anything, interest in non-German groops might be where Göring shines through. To be honest I cannot think of any major ones besides the famous ones like the Catalonians and the more visible minorites like the Germans in the East.
It honestly makes little to no sense for Von Lettow to try and establish diplomatic contacts with some niche minorities. Why would Von Lettow care about Catalonia for example? Why build an upstart regime that won't have a big majority of the population on its side, depend on your support to not get conquered, and involve you in a conflict you don't care about? Remember this isn't Hitler we are talking about, this is a German conservative who has no dreams of world domination. His objectives aren't furthered by aligning with niche minorities which put him into conflict with bigger countries.
That was sort of my feeling. With the exception of a specific few such as the aforemntioned Ukranians and maybe the Hungarians if he targets the Czechs, there is not much to gain. There is basically no chance of him pushing to annex Belgium so, unless the situation miraculously ends with a Belgian invasion of Germany, he is content to be friendly with both sides of Belgium.
I don't want to spoil it too much, but I will give a teaser. Not much will change for Romania for a while, but for Bulgaria... Bulgaria will become the centrepiece of a tug-of-war for Mediterranean influence between Germany and Italy.
I've actually been having a desire to place it somewhere near but not in Berlin proper, like perhaps Potsdam, to sort of emphasise that Germany isn't the centralised "Everything in the capital" place like France. But we shall see.Can he build The Big building inNeuAlte Berlin?
If it’s something that’s meant to serve as a very distinguishable icon of Germany, then being in the capital makes a lot of sense, since it’s the place that most people will visit and that represents the country the most.
Finnish military leader and statesman C. G. E. Mannerheim as general officer leading the White Victory Parade at the end of the Finnish Civil War in Helsinki, 1918I imagine he and the rest of the British establishment will be more fond of the new German government and will be less likely to oppose them on their expansionist actions.
