I can see the populist party go down the route of LDP. With Democrats and Republicans reduced to regional party.
The Iron Eagle - The History of the Cold War
- Thread starter Kaiser of Brazil
- Start date
I'm personally hoping on them setting up an anti pope because Mussolini decided to intervene in the election of the next pope.
I am currently debating myself on what should be covered on the next chapter, seeking some inspiration.
Some things I am personally interested in are:
1. India.
2. Free Europe (UK, Ireland, Iceland)
3. Iran.
4. South Africa & Rhodesia. Germany would LOVE apartheid.
5. Russia. I just hope things get better for them.
6. Israel.
Israel will be a part of the same chapter as Syria and Iran, there will be a general chapter about the Iraq War and the Third Arab-Israeli War.
I do plan on a British chapter eventually, as well as an Indian one, but the latter will make more sense after the next Ural War chapter about the Spring.
Rhodesia is still British but yes South Africa is certainly an interesting partner for the Reich. As the Suez is under Italian control, Portugal has a friendly government and South African boers have an strategic interest to ally with the Germans. The result is that the African Coast from the Zaire River to Mozambique is controlled by Pakt-friendly nations.
Will there otl leaders(Not Important Charecters but straight up Fuhrer/President/Premier) even after introduction of Fictional Charecters?
The tendency is that they will reduce, especially as the Butterfly effect will prevent some people from even being born. But I will still have OTL leaders around. For now you can expect American politics full of known figures like Wallace, Johnson and Nixon, but the impact of Long's Presidency would have changed a lot both existing characters and characters who are still growing in this new context.
China did not change much from real life yet, but one big change is the fact there is no Great Leap Forwards (as Mao won't be driven by Ego to outpace Khruschev since the man is dead alongside the USSR), That means as many as 100 million extra people if we count the dead and future descendants. It's obvious there would be someone amongst these who will grow up as a new leader in the world. But at least until Mao's death, most things will remain similar.
Wrap up the Korean War and maybe do more insight into what's happening in China in the meantime. Also a chapter on what's going on in Italy and France after 1951.
I imagine a big divide between pro-American Anglos and pro-German Afrikaners in South Africa, not to mention the non-white majority in the country. South Africa could, like much of the world, be quite interesting in the Chinese sense.
Spain. Spain. Spain. Let's know what happen inside the Península.
I am also interested in Spain. Portugal has gotten some attention, but Spain has only been given interesting tidbits like primo de riveras survival and the assassination of Franco.
How does the Brazilian government see non-Christian countries like the arab world or India?
XXXIV - FRÜHLINGSERWACHEN
THE IRON EAGLE
FRÜHLINGSERWACHEN
Fools, how could they have lost their senses in such a way as to throw decades of work into the dustbin of history? He had been there, not from the start like Hess as he was never in Munich, but he had been there watching the rise of their savior. So many years awaiting for the true hero for the German Volk, someone who was Social and Nationalist, someone who could take them from their misery and into glory, a Messiah. They had one, he left everything perfect, all of Europe up to the Volga was theirs, but why did they have to stray from his path? Instead of a reinvigorated Volk, zealous in their undivided and unshakable faith in the Reich, the leadership was made up of bureaucrats, Bormann's scoundrel had risen to power all because that blonde devil let him get so high. And Hess, oh the poor man, he was no doubt a follower so zealous that every leader would want him by their side, but he should never have been granted the leadership. Goebbels reflected on that day, that horrible day that seemed like yesterday, where they all found their leader sleeping, he had gone peacefully he was told, but the fact that a man like Hess became Führer when he had made himself Hitler's most devout follower was like a stab at all that happened. FRÜHLINGSERWACHEN
What had he done wrong? He still held his position but he did not have the Führer, he had grown more sidelined with time as these Neuer mensch appeared with their little senate and bureaucracy. The German State and the Party, once in harmony, were in conflict and Speer had grown to become this new leader for the Ministers and Wegener became the new leader of the Party, all while Hess could not handle the pressures of leadership. He was at his most natural on the Memorial Day, when he delivered an Annual Speech at the Volkshalle in Germania, where he could again be that follower, a model follower. But the Führer was dead, and like the apostles they were meant to continue the work but instead they now bickered and tore each other apart. And Goebbels himself was so underestimated by these new Big players, all the three of them being in some way a more youthful figure than he was, it came to the point where Speer himself subtly admitted during a meeting of the two that he was sabotaging the Reich's effort in the Ostkrieg, a sabotage of the Wehrmacht was an act of treason, but none of that mattered nowadays. Heydrich, for instance, was a dangerous man that not even Wegener dared push too far, after all they all knew in silence what had happened to Bormann, to Klopfer, to Himmler, even to Röhm. Speer and Wegener at least fought their war in the open, Heydrich was a killer in the night.
Now, the spring was coming to Europe and Goebbels could sense that shift, a shift that could tear down all the three and allow him to rise above and restore the work of their beloved Führer. No more bureaucracy, no more division, it will return to the days of One Volk, One Reich and One Führer. But he knew he had to bide his time, Kaufmann himself had started to work on a plan that would require for him and Naumann to prepare the Ministry for great works. He worried that Wegener would catch the wind of this, his "compulsory retirement" policies could at any moment be used to place more of his goons in the young guard in Party positions, his position as the almighty Gauleiter of the capital was at risk if the strike was not decisive. He had to bring down Wegener above all of them, and for that he could certainly count with the help of Speer, who probably believed that he would lead the Parteikanzlei, and of Heydrich who had an old dispute since Wegener outmaneuvered him from the position of Deputy. But how could they ever hope to compete against Wegener when he had the Party apparatus and the Führer's ear? The latter was the real problem, because even if the whole party united against the "Golden Boy" he could still resort to Hess to give him a blank cheque, the Legalists themselves had long accepted that even an oral declaration by the leader was stronger and above any law. Goebbels was never a law student, he was not like Frank or one of the other lawyers in the NSDAP, he was a Doctor in Literature!
But one thing even Hess' sickly mind could sanely attach to was Hitler's legacy, it was Wegener who had pushed the most towards a continuation of Lebensraum, he was the one who appointed first Heusinger and then Schörner as army commanders in this adventure to the Urals. He remembered his meetings with Hitler, the asiatic horde was not the main threat and never was, the Jew was the enemy, the greatest of them, why weren't their armies directed towards Israel instead? Or to London and New York where the true danger was? Instead they only managed to end the peace in the east and start the terrorism of the partisans after a decade of silence. The Nuclear Weapons? That was desperation, not from the Wehr, not from the Führer, not from the Reich, but from Wegener who could not let himself be beaten. He could understand why Speer reached the conclusion of a sabotage but it was still a misguided and treacherous decision not befitting of a National Socialist. The Party was being corrupted, so corrupt that their rotten corruption was being practiced in open air while the economy stagnated and the people began asking uncomfortable questions that they were never supposed to have. Older generations still remembered the old parties and the rotten democracy, even if the youth was properly taught the Principles of National Socialism. Yes, the Youth was the key, they were the torchbearers once and had to be again, a new revolution to rid the party of it's impurity and weakness, he had seen them in action when destroying the foreign structure of the Catholic Church, why could they not do the same to those thieves who raped their Vaterland?
He needed a show of force of his own, he had to show Hess that the legacy of Hitler was being destroyed, he had to remind him of the old days, something nobody else but him could. From one zealot to another, they were able to understand one another even if Goebbels did not Partake on Hess' occultist insanities. The Slavic forces were coming from the East, they had even captured Samara in February! Which is why he was in the Volkshalle, not for a session of deputies although they had also been called to watch, but for a session of the people. Hess would hear them, he would understand the danger they were of losing everything, and he would have to act. And so, rising on the tall podium where a hundred thousand souls watched him, Joseph Goebbels began to speak.
The events that followed in 1959 would be unthinkable in 1958, in that year before the war, the Linz Pakt and the Reich were at their peak, there was no question of it. Even in the United States, the fears that the Germans would one day invade America were a worry greater than unemployment and crime in the polls, the idea the RSHA was an omnipresent entity all around the world led to careful eyes watching everyone and everything that looked German, a few leaders even banned blondes from entering government buildings in a few cities due to the stereotype of the "Aryan" German. The Germans were the main villains in Cinema, in comics, in art and music, but it was never in a mocking or diminutive way. Pre-War propaganda used to show the Germans as a puny enemy with small puppets of Hitler being easily beaten like in a Disney Cartoon, but none of that was the propaganda now, because the Reich had proven itself an invincible threat to the world. That is until the Ural War.
Now the spring had arrived and the overextended and undersupplied Wehrmacht had been chased almost into the Volga. In some places such as the city of Samara, the Russians had actually retaken the Volga Line where the original armistice was signed. Terror spread amongst the Eastern Colonists of a vengeful savage horde, many of them fled westwards. All while partisans were growing more and more bold every day as cells carefully built over the years struck the German rearguard, including the Baku oil pipeline that was put out of operation for a few weeks in the winter. As the snow melted into mud and the Russians halted their attacks, the Wehrmacht was sent reeling backwards from their great adventure and now for the first time in 15 years they called up conscripts and reservists to shore up numbers, while the military industry had to transition to wartime production of equipment for them. The Luftwaffe was no longer uncontested, more Jet planes were delivered by the United States and Britain during that winter than all jets produced by Russia itself since 1955. The optimism of those who opposed that colossus, seeing their invincibility fade out, was an emotion shared by hundreds of millions around the world. And in some nations, it was time to strike back.
Wegener was a man who knew when he was being backed up into a corner, he knew that the loss of this conflict, that anything less than the victory promised, would be a weakness of him. He would be the man responsible for this eastern blunder, the one who convinced Hess and even made the appointments in the military leadership. However he was also the prime target of being sabotaged and that showed by how his enemies struck against him from behind even at the cost of the Reich itself. The supplies requested by the military only increased from the unexpected Russian resistance and the Industry was not providing them, logistical constraints and the need to readequate the military industry to the new necessities, or some of those excuses Speer spat at him. Heydrich, the blonde devil, he was not giving what he had promised from the Waffen-SSK, his Security Force was better armed than the Wehr itself, always have been given the highest priority for new technologies while some Wehr units still used Kar98k rifles from the war, the dispute for resources was won by Heydrich and instead he wasted brand new StG rifles on shooting mongrels into shalow graves or some other excuse of his'. Heusinger was too passive and let the Russians organize, Schörner was too aggressive and overextended his forces to such a level that the Wehrmacht must have lost a third or more of it's original force as casualties or prisoners, what kind of rabid animal sends in men into a Radioactive Zone with only masks?!
He had been sabotaged and knew that, but he still held the Party like a show of puppets and sycophants who applauded whatever was spoken to them in the Senate, and with that madman Hess only being useful to sign down on whatever was given to him, he could end those two traitors himself. But for now he had to salvage his losses, which is why the Reich had diverted it's attention to Portugal. The Frontlines stalled as the Russian advance slowed down, only building up more and more strength, while the Wehrmacht was shoring up it's numbers with reassigned divisions and new reservists being mobilized. The rhetoric of keeping it a distant conflict was crucial for the NSDAP, even Hitler knew from the beginning that the greatest danger was that the German people would be exhausted and easily influenced by Judeo-Bolshevik rhetoric, at least the SSK indicated that nothing too different came in terms of atitude as the absolute control of the media narratives allowed them to disguise the retreat as a redeployment
Macau was probed by the Germans over the years to become a base from where advanced U-Boat submarines could strike at Vladivostok, the single artery from where Russian support could arrive, other than the smuggler routes in Afghanistan and the port city of Magadan. A Blockade in there could sink more ships than the entire Battle of the Atlantic in the last war, some estimated, that is just how much the Americans were investing on Russia, to the point the city became the most important port in Asia. On the 19th of February, a meeting was arranged between Foreign Minister Bohle and Portuguese Minister Antonio Salazar, one where the latter already expected what would be asked of him, he had expected to be able to grant the usual concessions. But when the German Minister arrived, he came with no courtesy or talk, only an ultimatum for the Portuguese to "enhance their partnership with Europe", under the threat of being considered a "Hostile nation to the interests of the Continent", which meant at minimum an economic embargo, but he had seen what happened when Switzerland and Sweden attempted to remain neutral in this New Europe, and despite the historical Portuguese tradition of stalling for time, the time was over. Salazar met with the Portuguese President, an office which for years had turned it's powers to the Minister, Admiral Américo Tomás, and the plan was ready. On the 24th, the Ultimatum expired without any response from the Portuguese, and the Reich made it's move.
The news of the Ultimatum had leaked on the 20th to the government in Delhi, which is where it was decided the first strike would be delivered by Asian powers against an European colonial power. India, Indonesia and China had long seen the Portuguese territories of Goa, East Timor and Macau as threats, not just as a symbol of humiliation but also a constant danger that it could become a military base for strikes against their home countries. On the 21st, the embassies of the three countries hastly rushed the plans of a combined action which was set to happen later that year, and on the midnight of the 25th, when the news came from Iberia, the three countries launched a simultaneous strike against the Portuguese garrisons in these territories. The Surprise attack overwhelmed the Portuguese and many fled on the few military ships they could take while Portuguese citizens either attempted to run with them or stayed hidden. But for the majority of the people, the morning came to great celebration as within a single night, the small Portuguese holdings would be taken by far larger forces, although it would take until the end of that week for the Indonesians to fully end the Portuguese holdouts of East Timor and annex the region.
How that was possible? Portugal had to deal with a far greater invasion as a mix of German, French and Spanish forces crossed the border, ironically the latter two being nations who had also once invaded Portugal in the past and held it under their control for a time. But contrary to Hitler's fanaticism, Wegener wanted to make the process have a more legitimate appearance on an International level. Claims of forgery and fraud in the 1958 Presidential election is what gave them the motivation for intervention, but mostly the use of Portugal as a springboard to black market and espionage schemes that threatened the stability of the Continent. The accusation was not unfounded in any of the two stances, the Portuguese elections were extremely biased towards Salazar's National Union Party and Lisbon was well known to be the gateway for spies in Europe due to Portugal's "neutrality", but obviously neither of them were the reason for the attack. But for the second time in history, the Portuguese tricked a foreign invader, because while there was little armed opposition against the overwhelming force of the Linz Pakt, the Portuguese government was not even in Lisbon, having departed shortly before the ultimatum expired under the protection of the Royal Navy.
They left towards the South while British forces took control of the Azores Archipelago and French forces took Cape Verde from Dakkar. Onboard the HMS Eagle, one of the mightiest carriers of the Royal Fleet, Salazar reflected on history, feeling almost exactly like D. João felt when fleeing from Napoleon in the same way. There were fears that the Luftwaffe would have shot down his plane when headed to meet the British in the Azores, but those fears were unfounded, and there was no need to fear U-Boats as none of them would be insane enough to strike an Anglo-American naval force. In a Radio Transmission, President Tomás lamented on the occupation of the mainland by the forces of the Linz Pakt, but claimed the Portuguese government would continue in Luanda. The Brazilian government offered to shelter Salazar's government in case of an occupation, indeed Brazilian ships would be a part of the escort force that took Salazar to Angola, perhaps one of the most awkward events in the Cold War was the fact that a group considered by many Americans as "Catholic Nazis", who all behaved in the same ways through uniforms and salutes, were allied to the same goal of protecting the Portuguese. The Minister, when hearing of Salgado's offer, reportedly laughed in a playful way, claiming that "One time was enough".
In Portugal, a Commission was installed to oversee the electoral process and promptly gave the mandate to the defeated opposition leader Francisco Rolão Preto, a self-proclaimed Integralist, however he had in time declared himself a Falangist and then became more and more allied with Nazism. He did the compromises he had to in order to reach power in a continent greatly influenced by such ideas. Although personally him and Rivera despised one another, to the point Preto called for the annexation of Spanish Galicia and Primo Rivera suggested to Hess and Bohle that Spain could support a united Iberian State. It was decided by the Germans that Portugal would seek to remain as similar to the old government as it used to be, in an effort to sway the colonies to recognize the Lisbon government rather than the Luanda one. That did not work, in fact Wegener's bet earned him nothing, the eastern bases which made Portugal a crucial ally were taken by governments which could not be pressured to open bases. Years of contacts and efforts laid by the RSHA were rendered worthless, the Portuguese Atlantic islands were now under control of the British and de Gaulle, while Angola and Mozambique now had decisively shifted towards Washington as the United States was quick to offer a protection agreement with the Portuguese. King Edward celebrated this much-needed triumph in restoring the Anglo-Portuguese alliance, especially in a moment where South Africa had come to join ranks with the Pakt. The Boer-led regime in Pretoria, led by President Verwoerd after a recent referendum abolished the Monarchy and installed an Afrikaan-led Presidential regime with the de-facto rule of the National Party, was tempted to invade Mozambique and Angola by German incentives, the government ultimately refused to do so after the American backing of the Portuguese government.
Further developments happened on the frontlines which ended up becoming more deathly than expected to the German High Command, not in terms of food soldiers but amongst the high ranking officers. The traditions of the Prussian Aristocracy lived within the Wehrmacht, despite the years of ideological education that was leading towards the adoption of the Führerprinzip. Ferdinand Schörner was not an aristocrat, but he was also a very proud man, one whose arrogance was only matched by the commander of the Southern Army Group, Erich von Manstein, an aristocrat and one of the most brilliant minds in the Wehrmacht, largely responsible for the plan that led to the destruction of the French forces in 1940. However, both of these men now faced a problem, with Schörner being stubborn in following Hess' command to avoid retreats while Manstein disobeyed his orders in the South to save his forces from an encirclement, which allowed the Russians to take Samara. The two entered a heated argument where Ferdinand accused Manstein of disobeying orders, while Speidel, Ferdinand's Chief of Staff, agreed that Manstein's action saved several divisions from being encircled. Then the two reached a level of stubborness so outrageous that the Prussian challenged the Bavarian to a duel to settle their scores after months of frustrations. Unsurprisingly, Ferdinand agreed, and the two of them decided to set the duel right then and there, the two walking out of the room, two elder and bitter veterans in the middle of the Russian countryside, using only their personal pistols, revived a tradition which nobody expected to be used in the 20th century. After all if this was the rule, neither Patton nor MacArthur would be alive at that point. Heydrich would only be told by the SSK officers that the two men dueled after the fact and Ferdinand's corpse was a bloody mess on the battlefield. The confusion in Germania as the head of the entire eastern war effort was just shot dead in a duel was so great that Wegener had to take a medication for migraine.
The dueling incident on the 1st of March came after two months where the Germans fought the Russians to a standstill far behind their advanced lines. Archangelsk had been taken by Russian troops, the first time the Swastika had been lowered over an European territory since 1943, and the Russians had reached near Kazan and captured Samara. The Tsar ordered the Offensive to be halted due to logistical constraints, not wishing to repeat the mistake the Germans had made. The effect that this had on the morale of the German troops on it's lowest level, a generation taught that they were superior in every way was now facing it's first major defeat. Coffins were coming back to the west instead of medals, it got to a point where even the "greatest military staff in the world" had a general sacked and another shot dead. In Germania, Rudolf Hess continued recluse, he was a hypocondriac man, dealing with constant stomach aches and falling deeper and deeper into the insanity of occultism, many times ranting, growing a rudimentary mustache exactly like Hitler's, acting as if he was possessed and going on tirades against his staff. In a particularly disturbing incident, he evaded his guards and went missing one morning much to the despair of the SSK who found out he had headed to the airport again to his plane. Before there was a repeat of his previous embarrassing visit to Great Britain, Hess was stopped by his own guards and the Führer openly screamed at them, ordering his guards to be arrested and shot for this betrayal and claiming he was being targeted in a coup. Finally came the 12th of March, the anniversary of Hitler's death and a day of mourning in the Reich, Rudolf Hess left the capital at the night of the 11th despite his compromise to a public speech, heading to the city of Linz under strict command that all was kept in secret. He spend the night at the Mausoleum of Adolf Hitler in the Führermuseum, staying alone with his predecessor's preserved corpse. The guards claim that night he had spent hours begging for forgiveness to his former leader, claiming he had failed the Reich, that he had failed the Volk, that he was incapable and unworthy of succeeding him. Finally he was taken back to Germania in the morning by plane where Goebbels made his speech.
The Memorial Day in the Reich was one where none was even allowed to smile, although that was not forbidden by law it was socially expected for people to mourn the death of Hitler, something that was more prevalent amongst veterans and the youth, while older generations scoffed the date and just enjoyed being able to stay at home. But in that memorial day, Goebbels went to war against Wegener and the bureaucratic leadership of the Reich. He spoke in the Volkshalle, where he usually made his tributary speech every year, but this year he spoke of the true extent of the disaster in the east, he spoke of mismanagement, he spoke of betrayal, he spoke of infighting and decadence, which is something many had agreed with. Very few took this to the extent of opposing Nazism, rather Goebbels was able to maneuver the growing dissatisfaction with the Status Quo, earlier he did so by scapegoating the Catholic Church, now he did so with his own play for power. He had spent the last two years in contact with men such as Albert Speer and Karl Kauffmann, even Heydrich and Goebbels came to a certain understanding, a growing bloc of opposition towards Wegener and the Partification process had grown as Hess and his influence became weaker every day. But Wegener was still a very powerful figure even against this grand coalition, and if not for the fact that his political capital was blown in the Ural War none of what came after would have been possible.
In his grand speech to an assembled crowd, the fervor of a generation of young fanatics was riled up, not at hatred of some foreign enemy, not for the war effort, but against an internal enemy. The Party Chancellor was never mentioned by name, but it was an open secret that he was the man responsible for this disaster, for the changes being forced in Germany to turn it into a "bureaucratic" state that sapped the energy and vigor of the people who once conquered Europe. The great evidence was this, the Wehrmacht decayed to the point it's leaders fought one another, that the soldiers were abandoned by the Bureaucracy to be destroyed by an inferior enemy, and even the use of nuclear weapons was shown as a tactic of "desperation" by the leadership which rendered the land meant to be colonized by the German volk into a radioactive worthless wasteland, while German troops were sent to die from the radiation. The shocking reveal on the extent of the disaster in the east, all caused by the mismanagement of the "Bureaucracy", was heavily associated with the failed Weimar Republic and Democracies who "bickered while others conquered". For the first time in decades, protests happened in Germania, all directed against the Party Faction in the NSDAP, but these were not protests like the ones in western countries. In Germany, the protestors marched like soldiers, wielding torches and dressed in uniforms, chanting the Horst-Wessel Lied, it was a return to the days of the dominance of the SA.
This call for action had the backing of the Hitler Youth through Arthur Axmann, while the SSK stood aside or even supported the protests by raising salutes to the protesters in solidarity as they raised portraits of Hitler. Heydrich had allowed the situation to grow, although the RSHA has been keeping watch, he claimed that the marches were rallies in support of the Führer and were kept in good order by the Security Corps. Hess merely acquiesced, perhaps feeling nostalgic over seeing the youth marching in good order again. The old SA, which had mostly being reduced to guards and neighborhood watches, now marched again with brownshirts, calling for a Renewal of National Socialism and a return to Hitler's ideals that once made the Reich great. Goebbels watched the situation escalate with pride, but he had much to do in a little time, it would not be long before the Control Faction made it's move so he had to do it first. Karl Kaufmann and Goebbels, who once were old friends from the early days, met with Hess in Linz, a secretive meeting where the two approached him as old Party Comrades, even if Goebbels was not present in the Munich Putsch in 1923, he was still a relatable figure for Hess in his despairing mind, the Führer had to be convinced and they knew of what had happened in the Mausoleum that night, perhaps due to Magda Goebbels, who was still a close friend of Eva Hitler and knew all that happened when Hess came in his constant "pilgrimages" to Linz. Exploiting that weakness, the weak leader had been convinced, the only way he could ever hope to restore Hitler's glory and pride was not by continuing down Wegener's failed path which sapped National Socialism of it's vigor, but by returning to the time that Europe trembled before the fanaticism and zeal of the Reich and it's Legions.
The "Spring Coup" happened on the 16th of March, when the Party Senate had been summoned by Wegener to address the recent concerns within the Reich. As Gauleiter of Germania, Goebbels was present at the meeting as well as Kaufmann and other supporter's of his. The Parteikanzler had slowly removed that old base of his opposition, the "Old Combatants", thanks to his retirement reforms within the Party Bureaucracy, while working to reduce the influence Speer and his State Faction held by centralizing growing legislation powers in the Small Senate by using the Constitution. Finally there was the SSK that Wegener wrongly believed had been appeased for the time, but instead Heydrich had used the police archives to build an even stronger power base to challenge the "Prince of the Senate". The session started off well, with the usual speeches where Wegener called for the Senate to suggest a new name to lead the Wehr's war effort in the East to the Führer Rudolf Hess, naturally he already had his name which would just have been approved anyways. But he also took the opportunity to speak out against "destabilizing elements" within the Reich that sabotaged the War effort and threatened to undo all of the gains achieved over the last years, including the colonization efforts on the East. But then the meeting started going off the plans once Reinhard Heydrich came to attend, the first time he actually set foot on the Senate floor since he abdicated the officer of Party Chancellor, not only that but Hess himself came to attend a meeting, an even rarer event, and once Wegener set his name to be approved in the command of the East, namely of Field Marshal Georg von Küchler, he would be surprised by the fact Hess interrupted the vote. While many knew the Führer was becoming a madman, nobody could ever question his decisions in public, especially with the most feared man in the Reich by his side. Hess ascended the podium and denounced Wegener for being a traitor to the Reich and the Aryan race.
Heydrich had produced evidence from a supposed meeting Wegener had before the war started, where he spoke with a man revealed to be a Mossad agent, a Jewish spy working for the State of Israel. The Parteikanzler had never met a spy, and yet the evidence was very convincing in produced pictures and recordings that were mixed to sound as if he spoke of the German plan to strike Russia, with the precise date and methods. Wegener was not only incompetent in conducting the Eastern War, he was also a traitor to the Reich who sold out it's military secrets causing the deaths of tens of thousands of German troops. Stripped of his titles and office by the Führer, none dared to speak out against it, the mixture of Heydrich's blackmail, Goebbels' popular pressure, and Speer's economical pressure would ensure that this move was successful. After he was taken away, nobody had ever come to see Paul Wegener again, much like Heinrich Himmler and other high-ranking figures he would disappear, with the claim that he had escaped only to be treacherously killed by "Zionist agents". The vacuum of Power did not stay long, as Karl Kaufmann, Gauleiter of Hamburg and one of the most influential figures in the NSDAP, would assume as a compromise figure, being named by Hess to that office that same day. Meanwhile, the Small Senate elected Gauleiter Albert Forster from West Prussia as President of the Small Senate, as an appeasement to the SSK.
It was not only in Germany where a change of Guard was imminent, Benito Mussolini was in his last days in Italy, he was at the age of 75 and that year would celebrate his 76th birthday, but he did not enjoy a healthy lifestyle or favorable genetics. For years the Italians have had to accept a subservient role in the Linz Pakt, after all the only way they could challenge Germania was in having the most powerful navy in the Continent (if one excludes the British isles), which means little against the feared Wehrmacht. But the failure of the German Army in showing strength in the east had placated those fears, all that was needed was to provide an answer to the enormous Nuclear Arsenal the Germans had, and this was achieved in Lybia that year. On the 23rd of March, roughly a year after the Portuguese invasion and on the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Fasci, a Nuclear device exploded in the desert, the "Aurelian" bomb, named after the famous Roman Emperor, had a yield of 20 kilotons, a show of Italy's newfound power. The arrival of yet another Nuclear Power in the world shocked many, in London and Washington few expected the Germans would allow the Italians to create their own device, in Germania Heydrich was blamed for the failure of the RSHA in stopping the Italian Nuclear Program. Benito Almicare Andrea Mussolini looked in pride after this last public appearance, knowing his Imperium was safe from the ambitious claws of Hitler's henchmen, a day of celebration came all over Italy as there was a sense of relief that the country now felt invincible against foreign invasions. The strained relationship between the Italian people and the Germans, which only grew far more intense following the purge of the Catholic Church, was more clear than ever, despite the fact they were still in the same team.
In the Middle East, another nation would see a chance to strike back once the Germans were distracted with Russia. The State of Israel has spent much of the 1950s in a siege mentality, not as much because of Pan-Arabism but because of the Syrians. Saadeh's regime invaded Iraq, supported by the German-friendly Iranian Empire, overwhelming the defenses of the country following internal unrest in Baghdad. In his quest for a Pan-Syrian state, Saadeh obviously had a special target in mind, his opposition to Zionism had become more radical since the foundation of Israel and now the threat became more real by the day. The Syrian Army showed itself as the most effective fighting force in the Middle East at the time, using advanced armaments and tactics taught for years by German military academies and a well-trained officer corps. Hess' hatred of Arabs did not extend to the Syrian people, who many associated with the old warrior cultures of Assyria. The forces of the "Little Wehrmacht" numbered around half a million troops, with the territory extended from Aleppo to Basra, and now this State was targeting the Levant again. There was also the United Arab Republic between Egypt and Jordan, who watched the growth of Syria while continuing the hateful rhetoric on Israel. Nasser made a great deal about the fact his Republic was divided by Land, and spent years building up forces with Italian backing to not only reconnect Jordan and Egypt through the Negev, but also to eliminate Israel itself and annex the land into a Palestine Republic, integrated as a part of the UAR.
On the 11th of April 1959, the Shabbat, when the Israeli forces launched an attack. In the middle of the night, over 300 jet planes would take off at very low altitude, flying over the desert and striking below the radar level, first coming for radar stations and air bases, and within the night the Syrian and Arab Air Forces would be both largely taken out of action. Paratroopers began to assault supply lines in the Sinai, Jordan Valley, Lebanon and Golan, with armored forces striking at four fronts at once in the boldest move in the history of modern warfare, a nation which was theoretically inferior in practically all ways against the combined force of the Syrians and Arabs would strike at them both in a quick and decisive assault that crippled the communications of both forces and ensured Aerial supremacy of the Israeli Protection Force. Years of planning since the 1952 Suez War came to correct the mistakes of the last operations, but many things would have to go right for the move to succeed, including the fact the Syrians and Arabs despised each other so much that they refused any cooperation, while the Italians and Germans would be too distracted to send an overwhelming force, especially the Germans, and for that the Mossad would make it's job in making sure the worst fears of the Nazi leadership became true.
Reinhard Heydrich was a proud man, how could he not be after all that has happened? He rose from a disgraced naval officer into the most feared man in the world, the chief of the most powerful Police force, head of an omnipotent intelligence, a man who was responsible for coordinating the dirty deeds that ensured the Reich ruled Europe with an Iron fist. Not all of it was overwhelming terror, after all he did offer rewards for those who obeyed the SSK, to those who obeyed him, and they should be grateful. Czechia had just been the start, he was head of the Interpol, he was head of the RSHA, he was head of the SSK, he could very well be the head of the Reich itself now. After Wegener was dealt with, the spoiled "Golden boy" who thought himself more clever than all the other leaders, Heydrich had become the next in line in all but name. His influence was overwhelming amongst the corrupt who wanted to save themselves from being sent into a Camp, or amongst the elite cadres of German Society, the SSK had grown to symbolize this new aristocracy Hitler had dreamed of. Did Heydrich even believe all the ideology of Nazism? That was a mystery, outwardly he was the perfect Aryan, but inwardly his sense of superiority did not extend only against Jews or "others", he believed himself superior to everyone, he proved that in how he got rid of Himmler, and he had found that renewed confidence after getting rid of Wegener.
Now he was headed to the East, coming in to meet with the officers of the Waffen-SSK, it was time for them to actually start winning the war after all, with enough of a show of force the Senate would no doubt choose his men to lead the path to the Final Victory, and by bringing an actual competent organization and sufficient numbers, not even all the help the United States could send would suffice to save Russia. The Ural mountains and even beyond will belong to him, the SSK would have a blank cheque over the frontier just as in the days past. Plans were already drafted with Speer on the fate of the Eastern horde, with Wegener out of the way the Party would weaken and they will no longer be able to interfere in one of the most profitable markets of the Reich. Sure, Portugal was closed down now, that was inconvenient, but they would find a way to rebound their influence in the world stage, perhaps once Hess is silenced then things would be able to move more smoothly to repair relations with the Arab world.
His car went off the Autobahn for a stop, headed towards Gotland. Crimea became a prosperous and beautiful model of colonization, it was a German land now, as much as Germania or Munich was, and he was headed to the former Sevastopol to meet representatives of the Reichskomissariat of Moscowien. But as the car crossed the Dnieper near the old Zaporizhia, it came to a stop for a scheduled inspection of the Nuclear Facility, which is when he saw a man walking slowly across the empty street. The car stopped and the driver honked for him to get out of the way. That was the moment Reinhard Heydrich regretted not having escort vehicles, the moment he regretted such lax security to the point of going arround the East in an open car. The man pulled out a machine gun from his jacket and fired off at the car, while a loud explosion came from behind flipping the vehicle to the side. Heydrich did not die immediately, in fact he crawled out of the car and attempted to fire back at the assassins as he could swear one of them shouted "Nakam", the Jewish word of vengeance, and as the adrenaline came down he realized his chest was bleeding.
The Spring of 1959 saw great changes in the Reich, both in the fall of Wegener and the death of Reinhard Heydrich, foreign wise, nations with long resentments against the Germans used their chance to strike as Portugal fell to the Wehrmacht, Italy shielded itself through their own Nuclear Device, and Israel launched a preemptive strike against both their enemies. The death of Heydrich on the Friday 10th of April came when he was the closest of reaching the highest levels of power in Germany, and the most powerful organization of Germania would see itself without a central leader when the only man who could appoint their successor fell on a mental breakdown upon receiving the news. If Reinhard Heydrich could be killed, so could anyone else in Hess' mind, his paranoia grew with his madness, while Albert Speer and Joseph Goebbels just remarked in private that this was the consequence of his arrogance and nothing more. He had believed the east was pacified, that he had made it safe, and that was his undoing because there was no lack in people who would be willing to die to bring him down with them. The assassins vanished in the east and were never found, nobody ever knew they were Mossad agents, which left open if the Israeli assault was made out of opportunism or planning to coincide with the power vacuum and dispute within the almighty SSK. In the East, the war reached a Stalemate, Karl Kaufmann would suggest a new commander for the East, the newly promoted Marshal Walter Warlimont. When Kaufmann went to the Führer's Chancellery to deliver the recommendation, he would see how terrible Hess looked, taking several different proscription medications, with a badly kept mustache, avoiding any public sight, even a trembling hand, he felt like he was seeing Hitler in his last days, the stress of leadership and the infighting had made Rudolf Hess age 80 years in 8 apparently. The day of the Tag das Sieges would come on the 20th with no public appearance from the Führer, while Kaufmann went to the East in order to salvage the German war effort for when the ground was dry.
The mythos of German supremacy was buried alongside Heydrich, when the Day of Victory came, it felt empty, the war was making the people restless while the death of the second most powerful man in Germany, after the previous second had vanished entirely, and the first one self-isolated into his own insanity, was leaving a crisis different from any they had to deal with until that moment. What could a totalitarian state that preached complete devotion to a leader do if said leader was insane? What could a people convinced of their own supremacy do when facing a defeat? What could a Security State do when their Head of Security could just be assassinated in the open and the assassins were not even caught? The Spring came in 1959 with many expecting that the War Machine would move and the previous convictions became confirmed once again after a winter of torment, but the Germans only saw their own winter become more and more intense. While others around the world finally could see the coming of the spring, perhaps just a flimsy hope that would be crushed eventually, but for now they could almost see a possibility, the chance that the fall of the Reich was coming, 20 years had passed since the invasion of Poland and while others saw defeat, others saw victory, and others saw an opportunity, especially those in the Halls of Germania.