Also, he had the most powerful propaganda apparatus in human history pointed at him
To the Victor, Go the Spoils (Redux): A Plausible Central Powers Victory
- Thread starter TheReformer
- Start date
Yeah, to an extent. He wasn't exactly the most reasonable of men all of the time, and while he wasn't the only one behind Germany's obsessive naval push that led to the arms race with Britain, he was a huge pusher for it. There's also things like the "Mad March Hares" comment - by all available evidence, Wilhelm did have something of a foot in mouth problem, to say the least, and he could be quite impulsive at the worst moments, but combine that with a lack of confidence and he could thus freeze up at also the worstmoments.
So yes, to an extent, his reputation is unfair, but it didn't come entirely out of nowhere. His modern reputation is a combination of yes, character assassination during and after WWI, and also an exaggeration of his real flaws (because he did have quite a few, as most people do).
I mean, compared to Cousin Nicky, Wilhelm II was a paragon of Imperial competence in wartime, but he was not exactly the best man for the job.
This is certainly true, though exacerbated by Willy’s penchant for being his own worst enemy
So it seems the worse has been avoided in Germany, unless you were a Bolshevik partisan seeking to use people's anger and misery at your own profit of course... In which case I guess too bad sanity prevailed for once.
I'm also glad to see Maximilian of Baden is in the Chancellor' s office. This is a great idea. He truly was an interesting figure and hopefully his tenure in TTL will allow him to show history what he was capable of. If he does well, he's bound to restore some of the popular support the German monarchy lost in those closing months of the war.
This is a very good story
I'm also glad to see Maximilian of Baden is in the Chancellor' s office. This is a great idea. He truly was an interesting figure and hopefully his tenure in TTL will allow him to show history what he was capable of. If he does well, he's bound to restore some of the popular support the German monarchy lost in those closing months of the war.
This is a very good story
Won't lie was slightly worried people would think it's 'too close to OTL' or something, so kinda glad it's gone down well aha
He wouldn't have been the option if he wasn't just frankly a pretty plausible, convenient figure really.
Map of Europe as of the signing of the Treaty of Zurich
Map of Europe as of the signing of the Treaty of Zurich
Last edited:
We need a united German-Austro-Hungarian Empire to dominate Europe.
Map of Europe as of the signing of the Treaty of Zurich
The Kaiserreich: Oh dear god, No thank you, were quite done with being shackled to a corpse.
Nice map! Now for a question, shouldn't Prussia have annexed that area further north of Luxembourg? Or is it just an Imperial Territory, like Alsace–Lorraine is/was? Also, I'm very concerned for Armenia, I'm expecting the worst for it....... as I always do in these CP victory TL's, and it looks like to me that the Russian intervention is ending even quicker.
Map of Europe as of the signing of the Treaty of Zurich
I think Syria is the joint british-arab forces ocupation and the northen Italy one is the italian units revolting.
The key IMHO is: If the Germans aren't too Cartoon Villain Stupid Evil, those places wont want to come back. Being a de-facto Dominion of the German Empire is leagues better then a province of either Tsarist or Communist Russia.
Didn't the Germans want to annex Lithuania and the Baltic duchies directly into the empire? Although I doubt they'd actually do so, I think that's indicative of the German establishment's attitude towards its conquests.