Any one up for a Germany wank again?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1487
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Deleted member 1487

Continued

One of the hidden acts of the DNF regime was the creation of detention centers where 'threats to the safety of the nation' were housed. This group predominantly contained communists, which no one shed a tear over. This also led to the break up of many Soviet intelligence cells in Germany, but by no means all. The act sent a clear message to Stalin, he had a new competitor. Also Gypsies and the Mentally Retarded became wards of the state, with gypsies being housed in the camps and the mentally handicapped being quietly euthanized. This move was supported by many in the government and led to the later outlawing of the Communist party in Germany, as much evidence (some of which was forged) was discovered linking the party to the Soviet Union.

In Austria in 1934 (date change from OTL) the chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss began a move to take sole control over the nation by dissolving the parliment, which was met by discord in the population. Pan-German groups from Austria travelled to Germany to discuss the matter with Fuchs, who promptly saw an opportunity to expand Germany and begin to crack at the bonds of the treaty of Versailles. Fuchs declared the act an affront to the will of democracy and challenged Dollfuss to a test of wills. He called for a plecibite of the Austrian people for a union with Germany rather than fall to a dictator in the league of nations. The situation set off a firestorm in the league as France and Italy moved to back Dollfuss and Britain backing Germany, as they did not want to see another nation fall to facism. Dollfuss saw correctly that this was a test to his regime and being a Austrian patriot nearly refused. But realizing too that there was a large amount of dissatisfaction with his actions he was conflicted. France and Britain cancelled each other out on the call, while Mussolini had made guarantees to Dollfuss, there was a strong chance that resisting the call would plunge the into civil war. Ultimately he relented confident that he could rig the vote his way. However, as the league of nations was set to monitor the vote, nations like Sweden and Switzerland controlled the polling. Despite voter irregularity, the vote was mostly honest and the Anschluss began.
In May 1934, Germany and Austria united, while Dollfuss fled the nation.
 

Deleted member 1487

I never said the regime was full of nice people. This keeps with the eugenics fad that was going in on the Western world at the time. Stay tuned.
 

Deleted member 1487

Continued

The annexation of Austria was heralded in Germany, but created a furious reaction elsewhere. Italy was none too pleased with developments, but was molified when the German foreign minister gave assurances about the state of south Tyrol. France on the other hand was furious. They understood that this meant that the treaty of Versailles was no longer valid, especially with reparations payments being cancelled only a year before. But what was most disturbing was that Britain backed Germany in its actions, even if only tacitly. Due to the recession though, French rearmament would have to wait and the government awaited further developments.

Britain was a curious case. Most Britons felt that the union of states was just a revision of a bad treaty that benefited France too much and beggared Germany. In fact many had a certain respect for Fuchs for fixing much of the economic crisis in his country. It also helped that trade ties were increasing between the two nations and many people were gaining jobs/wealth based off of this trade.

Ultimately this act was viewed as an isolated incident and all believed that the little entente still stood, ready to counter further German revisionism. But as time went on, it seemed that the only nation that was truly recovering in Europe was Germany. France and Britain were both mired in recession and Czechoslovakia and Poland were starving for foreign investment. Italy was on the march, with Mussolini ratcheting up rhetoric about a new Italian empire in Africa, while casting his eye to Ethiopia. Japan began to suffer from chronic unrest and the first of a long series of assassinations broke out in Tokyo. China was still mired in a series of wars of unification under the Nationalist. Germany-Chinese cooperation was starting to hit its stride, as facilities for training and experimentation were completed and the necessary cadres from Germany arrived to begin. New factories were set up and natural resources were flowing into Germany.
 
natural resources were flowing into Germany.

Natural resources from China? Such as?
Also, which way are they going? Overland means Soviet benevolence. Over the seas, British benevolence. Either are possible (at a price in the case of the Soviets) - for the time being, but not forever, especially if Germany begins rattling sabers.
 
the Mentally Retarded became wards of the state, with gypsies being housed in the camps and the mentally handicapped being quietly euthanized.

A Note on this:
in 1930s Doctors and psychiatrist worldwide were demanding a euthanasia program
the Nazi made real with "Aktion T4" (in secret) , and Sovjet had also simlear program (officially!)

France on the other hand was furious. They understood that this meant that the treaty of Versailles was no longer valid
A Non, no more Gold payment from Germany. Merde !

for Britain role in TL is Logical ;)
also how Mussolini react over Tirol also
(Italian Fascism developed completely different without Nazi, like NO Anti-Semitic)

How gona ge Spain Civil war ? (from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War
 
Natural resources from China? Such as?
Also, which way are they going? Overland means Soviet benevolence. Over the seas, British benevolence. Either are possible (at a price in the case of the Soviets) - for the time being, but not forever, especially if Germany begins rattling sabers.

I agree that given the anti-communist rhetoric, getting the Soviets to agree on using their railroads is rather unlikely (though not impossible, Stalin was a pragmatist - so, if the price is right ...).

But having the British actively impeding the flow of international trade during peacetime is something I'd judge to be rather more unlikely! Especially since e.g. the Dutch and others would be glad to be paid for hauling those resources from China to Germany - I believe any American president would have something rather unpleasant to say about British interference with those ...
 
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I agree that given the anti-communist rhetoric, getting the Soviets to agree on using their railroads is rather unlikely (though not impossible, Stalin was a pragmatist - so, if the price is right ...).

But having the British actively impeding the flow of international trade during peacetime is something I'd judge to be rather more unlikely! Especially since e.g. the Dutch and others would be glad to be paid for hauling those resources from China to Germany - I believe any American president would have something rather unpleasant to say about British interference with those ...

And again - what resources?
 
The two most important I can think of right now are tungsten and antimony - I believe China was already the world's biggest producer of tungsten in the thirties. Tungsten for use in machine tools, turbine blades, AP projectiles and sorts of high-quality steel alloys.

I'll have to refer to wiki for the applications of antimony:

# Batteries
# antifriction alloys
# small arms and tracer ammunition
# cable sheathing
# matches
# medicines, antiprotozoan drugs
# plumbing
# soldering - some "lead-free" solders contain 5% Sb
# main and big-end bearings in internal combustion engines (as alloy)

edit:
Found quite a bit more in

Wolfram Adolphi:
Das faschistische Deutschland als »Freund«
Archivalien in der VR China zu den Erfahrungen der Guomindangregierung 1935-1941
geschrieben im Dezember 1987 in China an der Peking-Universität;
gedruckt in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, Berlin (DDR), Heft 3/1989 (37. Jg.), S.
211-227

Fascist Germany as "Friend" - Archives of the PRC regarding the experiences of the Koumintang Government 1935-1941

Written at Beijing University in December 1987, printed in: Magazine for Historical Science, Berlin, GDR

In exchange for military & industrial development assistance and the 100 million Reichsmark credit Germany needs almost everything China has available for export, to be stockpiled (zur Landesverteidigung, for national defence):

#2,000t Antimony
#5,000t Asbestos
#30,000t Lead
#2,000,000t Iron Ore
#150,000t Copper
#50,000t Manganese
#1,000t Molybdenum
#8,000t Nickel
#150t Mercury
#2,000t Tungsten
#4,000t Tin
#10,000t Zinc
#60,000t Cotton
#5,000t Hemp
#1,600t Silk

Annual demand apart from that:

#3,000t Antimony
#24,000t Asbestos
#100,000t Lead
#6,000t Molybdenum
#600t Mercury
#8,000t Tungsten
#24,000t Tin
#220,000t Zinc
#680,000t Cotton
#4,000,000t "oil fruits of all sorts"

According to 1935 negotiations between Hans Klein and the Chinese Secretary of Defence Planning, Weng Wenhao. Those plans were never fully realised because of the increasingly pro-japanese stance of Nazi Germany and thus reduced support for Chinese rearmament.
 
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Those plans were never fully realised because of the increasingly pro-japanese stance of Nazi Germany and thus reduced support for Chinese rearmament.

It would remain to be seen whether plans on paper could possibly be followed up in practice, something many foreign investors in China have wondered about from time to time.

Antimony alloys can be replaced by many other alloys.

That said, I admit I was overlooking tungsten. The reason is that I had a table showing the Chinese production of that was under 1% of the world's production - but that's for 1937. Admittedly, that was during the war against Japan, so predictably a way lower figure than the over 50% of a decade before (!). _If_ the Germans can prevent the Japanese from meddling, _and_ the Communist vs. Nationalist war from getting in the way, _and_ assorted warlordism from getting out of hand... then maybe they can buy tungsten and some other commodities.

Shipping them home during the war is either costly (payment to be made to the Soviets) or impossible (sinkings to be made by the British).
Shipping them home before the war to build up a national reserve is possible, but then again, paying them with what. The Germans attempted to build a reserve of much more critical supplies, such as oil, and failed, because they lacked the resources to buy.
 

Deleted member 1487

Here they are offering aid, industrial and military. Historically, China was not actually getting cash for their resources, they were getting help and expertise. I am going to play this out as China being the greater ally to Germany so when the war come around in 1937 (china-japan that is...) Germany is not actually going to declare war, but turn it into a larger version of the spanish civil war. This helps China immensely, which they already would be a couple steps ahead, as Germany has been working with China seriously since 1933. Germany probably is not going to deal with the Spanish Civil war at all, for reasons to be given later.
 
Shipping them home before the war to build up a national reserve is possible, but then again, paying them with what. The Germans attempted to build a reserve of much more critical supplies, such as oil, and failed, because they lacked the resources to buy.

The great thing about Sino-German trade during the period was that both sides had commodities the other was desperate for - natural resources in Germany's case and military hardware for the Chinese. That is why the Chinese government was given the aforementioned 100 million Reichsmark line of credit (in April 1936) to buy weapons and production equipment, to be repaid in resource deliveries.

Even OTL the Chinese government bought weapons for 144 million Reichsmark (~$58 million) between the Japanese attack in July 1937 and the recognition of Manchukuo by Germany in February 1938 (first order in November 1937). With the much earlier and more enthusiastic political backing Wiking postulates, enormous improvements could be made to the German resource and Chinese military situation.
 

Deleted member 1487

Sort of. I want to be within the plausible but unlikely realm.
 

Deleted member 1487

The Economic Situation

The period between the union (1934) and the de-armament conferences in 1936 where one of explosive economic growth for Germany. Fuchs' decision to focus the efforts of the government on recovering the economy through work programs, expanded trade in the East and with Britain (after heavy lobbying), and starting new industries run by the government had all produced excellent results. Germany was being linked with the new Autobahn and the new company Volkswagen was producing Autos to fill the streets with the affordable little car called the 'bug'. This new industry even offered penetration into foreign markets, as it was so cheap that even the middle class could afford one with their reduced incomes. It seemed that the German miracle was soon to overtake Europe. Many foreign companies hungered to take advantage of this new market, but German foreign ministers drove a hard bargin. With high tarrifs in most of these countries, Germany was unable early on to conduct trade. But in a quid pro quo, many of these barriers to trade where negotiated down to resonable levels, so that products began to flow both ways. Britain especially benefited from this return to trade, which would increasingly make politicians more pliant to German "requests".
The USA was one of the only hold outs. Still angry over Schacht's blunt refusal to service the massive debt that was owed to the US, Roosevelt was unwilling to negotiate with Germany over trade issues, no matter how much business complained. As a result by 1936 the USA was still mired in economic depression, while Europe was well on its way to recovery.
French leaders became even more envious and afraid with each passing year...
 

Deleted member 1487

Rearmament

In Germany, the rearmament game did not really begin until after the Anschluss. Previously, there has only been a marginal, covert increase in the training of new soldiers that by 1934 had brought the overall numbers of soldiers to over 150,000. Germany also had canceled its cooperation with the USSR and had shifted its experimentation to China. There, increasing numbers of soldiers and airmen began to be found at schools built by the Chinese for German research. Doctrine began to evolve and the basic structure of the Luftwaffe began to emerge. German 'airline pilots' began flying missions in military aircraft built in Germany, but exported to China. These men were in many cases, veterans of the Air Corps in WW1 and updated their experience fighting the warlords of China.
With the 1934 union of Germany and Austria, the armies were also merged. This increased the numbers of the German army to over 200,000 men. This was not sanctioned by the ToV, but said treaty was not aborgated and still existed in name. The Rhineland was still demilitarized, which molified the French, despite German expansion. However, once the merging of forces occured, Rearmament began. By this point the economy was recovering and much of the money designated for economic use was instead shifted to military programs. By 1935 the army had unofficially doubled to over 400,000 men and nearly 31 divisions. Most of these men were still in training and would not be up to standards until the following year. Experimentation with motorizing the cavalry divisions expanded into 5 fully motorized divisions by 1936. Also other landmarks occured in 1935: the creation of the first Panzer division with export model German manufactured tanks and the unofficial founding of the Luftwaffe. The air arm would really only exist in China at this point, but by the next year would be revealed to the world. Germany was on the march, but clandestinely. Matters would not come to a head until 1936 during the arms limitation confrences, but after the events there, the political scene would change...
 

Deleted member 1487

Europe Reorients

In 1936 Britain called for a de-armament conference after France complained of reports of Germany rebuilding its armies. Chamberlain was convinced that the League of Nations could still contain the issue and satisfy everyone. However, the events that would occur at the conference would begin the process of his fall from power and set Europe into opposing camps once again. All the principle nations arrived in London for the conference to discuss the possibility of limiting the arms of western armies for the purpose of peace and diplomacy. From the start France accused Germany of rearming to invade and dominate Europe, to which the Germans angrily replied that France had the largest Army in Europe by far and was the greatest threat to peace. Almost from the beginning talks fell apart and after the 3rd day of labored negotiations, Germany, Italy and France walked out. Germany cited French refusals to dissarm in any regard as a reason for the aboragation of the treaty of Versailles. Why were the french allowed to defend themselves, but not the germans?

The Italians later would invade Ethopia, which brought condemation from most European nations, but Germany was silent, a fact noticed by Mussolini. Fuchs declared that the ToV was 'finished' as a shackle on Germany and announce rearmament officially. Many in Britain blamed this on France for their stubborn behavior, but a small group led by Churchill began to form a power base with the ultimate goal of toppling Chamberlin in parliment. Churchill blamed Chamberlin for the return of German power in Europe and felt that if the British Entente with France was damaged, British interests on the continent would be threatened.

Churchill's position was increasingly strengthened by events, such as Fuchs ordering the German army to reoccupy the Rhineland. This act increased tensions and began the French rearmament plan (ironicly, as they had over a million men in the army, including reserves). Britain tried to manage the fall out but Chamberlain this was the beginning of a long road to ruin.
 

Deleted member 1487

1936

This year was full of great upheaval. After the invasion of Ethiopia and the occupation of the Rhineland, Europe was once again thrown into turmoil by the outbreak of the Spanish civil war. France, Britain, and Germany all united in attempt to prevent intervention in the conflict and signed a treaty to support that position. Italy and the Soviet Union did not and actively intervined. In fact Fiat airplanes were used to fly Spanish army units back from Morocco. The fact that Germany did nothing save send observers did much to take the spot light from her and focus it on Italy. After so much aggression and meddling in foreign nations, Italy became the pariah of Europe. Fuchs saw and opportunity to settle the Fascist issue and actively courted Italy. While Western powers condemed Italy, Germany proved sympathetic. Mussolini would remember this later, just as Fuchs wanted. The situation in Spain continued for several years and would not be settled until 1940 when the Nationalists gained the upperhand and ruthlessly exploited it.
In the meantime, Japanese-Chinese relations collapsed and Japan invaded China. Japanese army units had been provoking Chinese units for years and finally an explosion on a Japanese rail line (determined later to have been caused by the Japanese) was used as a pretext for war. The IJA was worried that a later war would see the Chinese too strong for invasion, as it was known that German industrial assistance was creating a strong government in Peking.
This conflict caused Germany to pledge support for China and in the form of the Condor Legion and the Adler Brigade, that support came. German pilots appeared to fly over Chinese cities and military units in fighter support and bomber pilots who had honed their skills fighting Chinese warlords now turned their deadly aim on the Japanese.
The Japanese were stunned by the levels of resistance that they encountered in fighting the Chinese. German training and support stiffened Chinese military units and a fledgling arms industry started by men like Max Bauer supplied some of the equipment needed to fight a full scale war. The other necessary equipment naturally came from German industry, which was opperating at full steam, supplying both Chinese demand and German rearmament. The efficiency that would be developed by German industry in these years would later come in handy during the War.
As it was, the Heer and Luftwaffe would regularly rotate units and personel through the Sino-Japanese war to gain their men experience that they would later bring back to Germany and training centers. Between 1936-40 the war in Asia would provide Germany with a live training center for doctrine and arms development.

Significantly, 1936 was also the year that the Kriegsmarine began to receive funding to build a Uboot fleet, but progress was slow. This would prove significant later, as there were few surface vessels built during this period.
 
Here they are offering aid, industrial and military. Historically, China was not actually getting cash for their resources, they were getting help and expertise.

What makes you think that aid does not have a price tag? Those are still resources. In any case, the draft agreement quoted upthread included a hefty credit.
 
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