Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

ferdi254

Banned
And into what parts do you want to have Poland broken into? Yeah some sqkm could go to Germany but taking large parts to become German proper would not be seen as s good move by anybody with the strategic brain of a sparrow.
Oh and btw Emil is acting perfectly in the right way.
 
The reaction in Deutschland is going to be anger as there will be calls for a plebiscite in Galicia and other disputed areas of Poland that will have the options of remaining part of Poland, becoming a Protectorate of the German Empire, or actually become part of Germany itself.
Look for the Reichstag to cut off all funding and subsidies to Poland and a movement might arise were Poland is stripped of a large amount of it land and their independence is revoked and they become an Imperial Crown Territory with very limited self rule.

Thta's one way of giving Germany its equivalent of Northern Ireland.
 
Vastly relieved that Zella & Yuri are unharmed and that Maria has finally realised that her little girl has indeed grown up. Zella & Yuri are now ARD's premier field team with the street cred that gives them a whole shit load of leeway with the producers. At least for a while.

The Polish Government, especially that in Krakow, will be both relieved and pissed with her. Relieved because their troops didn't kill the only daughter of Feldmarschall Markgraf Emil von Holz (very scary man). Pissed because she proved that they were a) lying about what happened in Krakow, b) were actively trying to cover it up,and c) that at least one officer in their Krakow garrison is a reactionary murderer. The police in Krakow, however, will be relieved that they can now point to the video evidence and say "It wasn't us! WE tried to handle things peacefully, but that bloody idiot of a soldier... "

Emil may find himself being asked by the Kaiser if he can try to rein in the Freikorps long enough to prevent this escalating into uncontrollable violence. Although the hotheads on both sides will not help in that regard. Emil, by his past actions & nature, will side with the underdog in this fight and the underdog is not what the Polish nationalists or Freikorps separatists think it is. It is the little people, like the Romany, who tend to get minced when intransigent politicians scream for blood to protect their rights.

If Poland stays in the empire after this, there will have to be, at the very least, a Galician autonomous region. If Poland leaves the empire, Galicia & a few other regions may demand independence from Poland & seek to remain in the empire, because recent events have proven that they cannot trust the politicians in Warsaw to treat them as equals the way Berlin does.
 
We are getting in to a very complex situation with German-Polish relations, after the ITTL WW II Germany made a massive investment in Poland as a way to compensate for the fact that Germany basically used Poland as buffer from being invaded by the Soviet Union.
That took from in a road and rail network that made Poland more integrated with Germany and the Empire at large along with a Rural Electrification Administration style program that brought to cheap electricity to farms and small towns.
Manufacturing companies from Germany and other nations went to Poland because of various financial incentives has made it more prosperous for young people in Poland to leave the family farms and work in the city and it has been established that many Polish workers are now have good paying jobs in Germany itself.
A lot of the farms that were in the war zones were abandoned and because of that there is a program that gives veterans free lands in exchange to putting them back in to production and that is bringing a lot of non-Polish people in and it is giving an incentive for smaller farms owned by older Polish farmers to sell out and the fact that the newcomers are making their farms more prosperous then thought possible is breeding resentment by many Polish people which is being exploited by the politicians in Warsaw.
 
We are getting in to a very complex situation with German-Polish relations, after the ITTL WW II Germany made a massive investment in Poland as a way to compensate for the fact that Germany basically used Poland as buffer from being invaded by the Soviet Union.
That took from in a road and rail network that made Poland more integrated with Germany and the Empire at large along with a Rural Electrification Administration style program that brought to cheap electricity to farms and small towns.
Manufacturing companies from Germany and other nations went to Poland because of various financial incentives has made it more prosperous for young people in Poland to leave the family farms and work in the city and it has been established that many Polish workers are now have good paying jobs in Germany itself.
A lot of the farms that were in the war zones were abandoned and because of that there is a program that gives veterans free lands in exchange to putting them back in to production and that is bringing a lot of non-Polish people in and it is giving an incentive for smaller farms owned by older Polish farmers to sell out and the fact that the newcomers are making their farms more prosperous then thought possible is breeding resentment by many Polish people which is being exploited by the politicians in Warsaw.

To be fair, neither the Germans nor the Poles had much choice in regards to Poland being the buffer; Poland was, quite simply, in the way. Stalin was always going to go through Poland once he decided to march West again. He wanted to destroy his capitalist/imperialist enemies in the West, "reclaim" Russian Poland, and grab the rest of it while he was at it.

As for the rebuild, it was a given to revive the civilian economies of the entire empire including the Kingdom of Poland, and was supported by Polish politicians at the time. Sadly, however, human nature being what it is, those who seek power for powers sake & those who only think of themselves have joined forces in the Sejm in order to seek a short term advantage from the resentment that has fed both the nationalist & separatist movements.

Speaking of resentment, we haven't heard much (anything) from Asia's idiot little brother for a while. If he is still being an idiot, I wouldn't be surprised if he's involved in this FUBAR up to his neck on the nationalist side.
 
I have a question about the ESA, with von Braun in the lead is the moon mission going to be a direct insertion mission like he wanted in OTL?
He was against the Luner Orbital Rendezvous that NASA went with IOTL and with a direct insertion option there is going to be a need for a much larger rocket the the Saturn V.
 
And into what parts do you want to have Poland broken into? Yeah some sqkm could go to Germany but taking large parts to become German proper would not be seen as s good move by anybody with the strategic brain of a sparrow.

If you're referring to my post, (last post on the previous page), I'm referring to Poland's social structure rather than physical geography.
Something that will make Poland stronger as a society and a nation.

(if you aren't referring to my post, then no worries).
 
Random Thoughts from a scattered mind:
The use of a light weight portable video camera in this story is going to greatly speed up the transition of using film cameras to video cameras much sooner and with earlier use of communication satellites along with electronics being more advanced ITTL it will be easier to have live remote on-the spot reporting for television.
There will be calls for an Imperial Commission to look in to the Krakow Massacre and the reasons for the Galicia separatist movement and there will be a need for someone to head it up that could be acceptable to the Polish Government like the King of Bavaria but I think that the Polish Government may say that it is "An Internal Polish Matter" and outsiders from the Empire are not welcomed.
If this problem gets any bigger, I fear that Turkey is going to completely misread the situation and go after Greece.
 

PNWKing

Banned
That soldier is going to end up on the receiving end of a karambit…………………………………………………………………...………………………………...……...……………………..
 
Things are going to get really messy in Poland.

A lot of the moderate supporters of the movement will be starting to distance themselves from the nationalist in light on what was just broadcasted on TV. This will make the one who will stay true to the cause that much more radical. Meanwhile any region with mixed populations will start thinking about wether something like this could happen there.

Places where a lot of ethnic poles live alongside non-poles will see tensions rise.

The men in the video will find that shooting unarmed protestors will have been a bit more easy than standing up against actual riots let alone a real military called in to 'keep the peace'.

Meanwhile we will soon see a bunch of features on the far side of the moon that in OTL have mostly Russian name end up named after German, British and Vietnamese people among others with at least some craters or peaks named after various royals.

If Kiki gets a mare or mountain or crater named after her based on photographs brought back by her boyfriend that could be embarrassing.
 
If Kiki gets a mare or mountain or crater named after her based on photographs brought back by her boyfriend that could be embarrassing.
Mare Kristina is something that Kiki can never live down because her older brothers won't let her.
In Poland I think that the Nationalists are in the distinct minority but they are the ones making the most noise right now.
The majority of Poles are probably ok being part of the Empire but are not passionate about the issue and that has allowed the more cynical politicians to exploit the situation for their own gains but it is getting out of their control and taking a life of its own.
An outside the box possibility could be if the Polish Army gets the blame for the Krakow Massacre and criminal charges and demotions issued there could be a military coup as one of the centers of the Nationalists is the military.
 
I forgot how did the Polish Problem (?) developed into the current clusterfuck. Can someone remind me? Thanks.

Ah, gypsies, probably amongst the most fucked with group of people other than Jews, blacks, and Dalits. Yeah, it’s not gonna be pretty.
You forgot the Kurds (and maybe Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, too).

Marc A
 
I forgot how did the Polish Problem (?) developed into the current clusterfuck. Can someone remind me? Thanks.


You forgot the Kurds (and maybe Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, too).

Marc A
At least partially the polish situation got by von Papen deciding to funnel the money he stole from the royal trust into various illegal movements (just for kicks, seemingly), including some Freikorps types agitating for a "Heim ins Reich (Back to Germany)" annexation of "ethnically" german bits of Poland as their means of a feed through.
That probably in turn spurred polish nationalist of the deluded sort that can be baited into argueing the Congo is ethnically polish because Africa and Europe are connected landmasses.
The two sides happily fed off each other and inspired a few other movements seeking protection from the crazies.
 
I forgot how did the Polish Problem (?) developed into the current clusterfuck. Can someone remind me? Thanks.

Stalin.

WW2.

Rebuild program included settling retired soldiers (& expat) Russians from across the German Empire, who wanted to farm, onto farms in Poland. These farms were purchased from the owners if they no longer wished to farm themselves, or from the survivors of those who had farmed them (Asia & her siblings etc.). New migrant farmers utilised modern farm tech & government grants, while most Polish farmers refused both. Resentment between the two groups grew (see Asia's idiot brother), leading to increased nationalist & separatist feelings in Poland; this includes those who want Poland out of the empire & those who want their region out of Poland.

Sporadic bombing campaigns from all sides; Increased nationalist political presence in the Sejm led to Freikorp re-forming as counterbalance, initially funded by Papen the Traitor, now funded by ???; Major party in ruling coalition proposes anti-minority legislation & policy changes to placate ultra-nationalist allies thinking they would fail to pass but they do (depressingly familiar result). This results in peaceful protests by separatists throughout Galicia & Ruthenia, except in Krakow, where the local police try to handle things with kid gloves but the local Polish Army garrison is ordered to open fire on unarmed protesters by one of their officers.

Massacre caught on tape by visiting Berlin news crew. Polish government tries a cover-up, calling the protest an out-of-control riot. Freikorp starts to mobilise to defend & avenge their murdered compatriots. Berlin news breaks the story of what really happened by broadcasting it across the empire.

Super-massive pile of excrement then proceeds to violently impact an over-sized rotary air impeller.

Edit: Ninja'd
 
Part 107, Chapter 1739
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Thirty-Nine



9th August 1966

Piombino, Italy

Kat had talked briefly with Maria about the broadcast of Zella on International News, the story in Krakow briefly eclipsing Lunar exploration. Maria was understandably worried about Zella, who had given her a real scare this time. Apparently, Emil and Maria had been notified of Zella’s death only to learn that it was a case of mistaken identity. As it was his nature to do the right thing as opposed to what was safe or expedient. Emil had returned the body of the girl who had died to her family as opposed to getting on the first available transport out of Poland, which would have been the sensible thing. According to Maria, he’d had a hair-raising experience dealing with armed men who were not happy about what had happened but had thanked him for what he had done anyway. Maria was also worried about how the expectations on Zella were going to markedly increase after this. As in, Zella had broken a big story and Maria figured that her employers at ARD were going to expect her to continue doing that in the future. If all that wasn’t enough, there was an event in Verdun next week that Maria and Emil were supposed to be preparing to leave for and they had not done anything yet because of this whole mess.

Kat was just thankful that someone else was leading a complicated life for a change. When the Summer Holiday came around this year, all she had wanted to do was get out of Berlin and she didn’t care about where. Fortunately, Cosimo de’ Medici had offered to let her family use the house had he had in the ancient port city of Piombino. Though that included members of Cosimo’s family residing on the ground floor and listening devices in every room, which had been exactly what Kat had been expecting.

Every day they took trips to the beach or went somewhere of cultural importance. Except for the trip into Florence which had turned out to be a mistake due to the incredibly hot weather the rest of it had gone well. Even Tatiana was enjoying herself despite her determination not to. The only dispute so far had come from Malcolm and Marie. Only Kat’s children could squabble over something like one being dyslexic while the other was something of a bibliophile.



In transit, nearing Lunar orbit

It was said that von Braun had wanted the Lunar Lander and Command Module to be one unit, but weight and fuel considerations had ended that plan. It was also rumored that their rivals in NASA had reached the same conclusions at about the same time. So, there were had needed to be two units and an entire field of technology had needed to be developed as to how to launch the two craft and link them up once they were in space.

When the actual landing happened next year, the capsule was to link up with the Lunar Lander Module. Because this was a dress rehearsal of sorts, they had included a similar module that lacked the ability to land but was filled with cameras, radar, and other surveying equipment. The Lunar Reconnaissance Module. Doctor Kita Ayano was the Mission Specialist and she had been given the task of operating it with the assistance of the rest of the crew. That included the painstaking task of turning it on. The gyroscopically stabilized Nikon/Zeiss cameras were particularly finicky and beaming the pictures back to Earth via relay satellites had not been done to the extent that they would be attempting, especially when they went around the dark side of the Moon. Captain Brown said that they were going to see things personally that no one ever had before, it was something that they all should be excited about.

“If it isn’t the media darling” Ayano said as Ben pulled himself into the Recon Module. The Press had glommed onto the fact that he was the youngest member of the crew, an Ace Pilot over Korea and was romantically linked with Kiki. Black Knight goes to the Dark Side of the Moon one headline had read. The result was that Ben was receiving dozens of interview requests.

“They will forget about me soon enough” Ben said as he peered out one of the small windows. It was odd that they couldn’t see their destination though Mission Control said that they were on course and schedule. The Earth though, that was a different story, Ben had found that he could look at that for hours. From this distance it looked like a blue marble. “What I hope is that this will cause my University back home to take my application to get into the Doctoral Program for Astronomy seriously.”

That caused Ayano to start laughing. He had grown used to the cynical Mission Specialist over the previous days, but this was the first time that he had heard her laugh.

“Hirsch” Ayano said in a somewhat exasperated tone, “You get back home alive after this and you can name your price, not just to your University but the entire German Empire as well.”

That was something that Ben had not thought of.

“Is that what you are intending to do?” Ben asked.

“I intend to cash this experience in for everything it is worth” Ayano replied, “And if you think that those other three aren’t planning on doing the same thing you are kidding yourself.”

She gestured towards the tunnel that led to the Command Module.
 
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