Re: Blood and Iron

Just as Heidi had said the next morning, the newly constructed Palace of Tirol held peace talks between the delegations from Hungary and Romania.

or at least the section of it that was currently livable, as a building as grand as that which Bruno was building for future generations of his family to reign from was a multiyear project even with the most efficient and capable labor force known to man.

Both the Kingdom of Hungary and Romania desired and had attempted to annex Transylvania after Bruno allowed referendum as a sign of good faith to the turbulent region, and an example being led towards a more peaceful solution.

The Referendum was largely in favor of independence. But independence was not easily secured, nor won simply because the people gave their voice to the idea. And because of its inherent weakness militarily the newly sovereign Grand Principality of Transylvania and the monarch chosen by the people quickly found themselves invaded by both of their neighbors.

Romania and Hungary immediately moved their troops into the region, attacking from both sides in a race to reach the capital damn near simultaneously. To the point where the monarch had long since surrendered, and instead the Hungarian and Romanian armies were now exchanging blows, hoping for the best.

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and broke down, the majority of serious military hardware like Austro-Hungaria’s light tanks, limited air corps, and modernized artillery found themselves on the Austrian sides of the border.

Leaving the Hungarian forces now led by a Hungarian General who proclaimed himself king in the absence of the Habsburgs with a military that, while having significantly more experience than the Romanians who had remained neutral during the Great War, was armed roughly the same.

The Hungarian-Romanian War was just one of many small wars being fought in the Balkans at this very moment as a result of the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, it was the only one Bruno actually had any stake in, as for a very brief time, prior to renouncing his claim over it, Burno was the de facto Prince of Transylvania where this war was being fought.

As a result, Bruno was currently seated at a table where he met with both kings of the belligerent nations, as well as several of their ministers, delegates, and generals. Some of these men Bruno had known personally during his time in the Great War, Hungarian Generals who once took up arms for the Habsburgs were now calling another man King, and were giving Bruno a complex gaze.

On the one hand, they felt like their past ties of blood, sweat, and bullets shed together might give them the upper hand in these negotiations. On the other, there were few men who knew just how brutal of a negotiator Bruno could be than the men sitting on the Hungarian side.

In fact, the man who had proclaimed himself King of Hungary was one of such men, having served beneath Bruno’s operational authority during the Balkan theater of the great war. General Artur Arz von Straußenburg, despise the German sounding surname, was a Hungarian national, and one of the better Generals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, both in this life, and the previous one Bruno had come from.

Granted, when you’re dealing with relatively disastrous leadership, that’s not the greatest claim to fame, but it was one nonetheless. Because of this, he looked cautiously at Bruno who was sitting silently in his seat, having heard both sides air their grievances in excess before finally coming to a conclusion on how to proceed.

He was quiet, a bit too quiet as he sat there almost as still as a marble statue, until finally Bruno sighed and shook his head before giving voice to his thoughts.

“I see no other alternative to this problem other than to partition the land into thirds. The Hungarian regions will go to Hungary in an autonomous province, while the Romanian lands will go to Romania.

As for the lands primarily inhabited by Germans in between, they will become a small, independent duchy whose independence is guaranteed by the German Reich. The treaty will stipulate that free trade is to spread across the region, and that no military bases, occupation, or garrisons are to take place in the small German neutral zone.

If you both agree to lay down your arms and retreat into your own regions, I will guarantee the Tirolean crown backs the region with investment into infrastructure upgrades, including agriculture, as I know you are all desperate for my machinery. Do we have a deal?”

This was not a solution that either party had come to the table expecting. Partitioning Transylvania into thirds? With a German buffer zone in between, acting as the peaceful wall between them. It was… undesirable on the surface for both sides.

However, if there was anything the failure of the Austro-Hungarian Empire taught them, it would be that annexing and integrating foreign populations into their territory would cause a far larger headache than it was worth.

With that said, and the promise of German investment into their lacking infrastructure and agricultural sector, this offer became a lot more appealing to those who were present to bear witness to the proposal.

Thus, after some extensive thinking, a formal treaty was drafted, air tight and without loopholes to be exploited by either side. And in the end it was signed by all parties, including Bruno himself who acted as witness and arbitrator over what would become known as the Tirolean accords.

Though Bruno did not realize it yet, his ability to settle what was perhaps the most complicated and bloody partitioning of land since the Schleswig Holstein question in the previous century would give him enormous prestige across Europe as a man who had a mind beyond simply slaughter.

It was a treaty that would echo across Europe as a testament to Bruno’s vision—not just as a warrior, but as a statesman.

He didn’t realize it at the time, but this would be the moment the European press began calling him not the Wolf of Prussia, but the Lion of Tyrol—a beast no less dangerous, but one cloaked now in majesty, authority, and imperial calm.

The mutt had become a monarch.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!