Re: Blood and Iron

Following the end of the Great War the lines between Christian Europe and the Islamic near east were drawn at the borders of old Ionia. Directly east of these lands was the Republic of Turkey, smaller than in Bruno’s past life, and likely never to rise and become a great power again.

Meanwhile, further east was a Pan Arabic Empire that had formed from the collapse of the Ottomans, ruled beneath the authority of the Sharif of Mecca, and more or less following a federal semi-constitutional monarchy style modelled after that of both Germany and Russia in this timeline.

Beyond this fledgling Empire was the Shah of Iran, and further east was the British Raj, which while revolution had brew during the Great War as ultimately put down through brutal force by the British Empire after it withdrew from the war just early enough to begin dousing the flames across its own colonies in time to save them.

How much longer these lands would be ruled by the British was truly unknown. A revolutionary sentiment was not fully extinguished, merely suppressed by the might of the British Army.

However, there was another country facing revolts from its colonies, or territories, as they liked to call them. What exactly was the difference? Very little, it’s just that the American and their origins as a Constitutional Republic, didn’t like using the term “colonies” as it was a bit hypocritical.

Nevertheless, the Philippines was ripe for another insurrection, and small arms were plentiful these days. Old stockpiles from the Pacific theater of the war, waged by the Empire of Japan, and the Kingdom of Siam against the Allied territories in south-east Asia and the Pacific were flooding into insurgency groups that desired the Americans to leave their homes at once and for all.

However, in the Pacific Germany still held some colonies, and it was now a former ally that was eying them voraciously. The Imperial Japanese Army had proven its might during the Great War as an equal, if not superior to the British and French in the west.

Or at least on paper, the reality was that the Colonial forces were not nearly as well equipped or trained as their European counterparts, nevertheless, the current Emperor of Japan, Emperor Taishō felt that German held lands in Malaysia, New Guinea, and Micronesia were in contention for their overall plans of consolidation in the Pacific.

However, Germany was wholly unwilling to cede territory that was still theirs, even if they were in the process of decolonization across the board. So who do you send to negotiate with the Japanese?

The only German man to ever gain their respect and fear simultaneously. When Bruno stepped foot into the city of Tokyo, for the first time in decades, he could feel the clean and warm Pacific air filling his lungs.

Yet it was not a look of nostalgia on his face, rather it was an expression of stern understanding. The man he had built ties to was dead. Meiji passed away years ago, and Bruno had not possessed the means to save him at the time.

Instead, he would be dealing with a new emperor, one who likely did not have the same positive opinion of the man. Perhaps even thinking of him as the mistake of his predecessor.

Either way, when Bruno entered the palace of the Emperor, he was not surprised to see that the only thing which had changed was the uniforms of the generals, and admirals who stood by and watched silently.

Bruno himself entered the Palace wearing his usual feldgrau uniform, one that was heavily embellished with all the medals he had been awarded throughout the years, from various German States.

Bruno’s uniform however was perhaps the unique in all the German Reich, as he was permitted to wear the sash, breast star, and ceremonial chain of the grandmaster of the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen.

Why was this the case, despite being a Hungarian Order? Because the Archduchy of Austria had been annexed into the German Reich, and though it maintained the Hungarian name and imagery, it was still an order belonging to the dynastic house of Habsburg-Lorraine, and since they were brought into the German Reich, it remained a legitimate order of the Reich.

Because of this, Bruno sported the chain and sash, but not the breast star as he felt the two already on his uniform were flashy enough. Even so, the most noticeable medal pinned to his chest from the perspective of the Japanese was the Order of the Rising Sun, which was located at the very end of his ribbon bar.

Bruno seldom wore this medal, but had specifically broken it out because he was returning to the Japanese mainland to negotiate with its emperor about ongoing disputes regarding German colonies in the Pacific and their unwillingness to yield on the issue.

It was a way or reminding the Japanese Court of what he had once done for them, despite the less than a stellar relationship between the two former empires here and now in the year 1919.

Thus when Emperor Taishō gazed upon Bruno, as all of his retainers, and subjects whispered among themselves, Bruno stood proudly, refusing to kneel before an emperor who was not his own.

This did not go well with the Japanese court, especially its new Emperor who was quick to call Bruno out on his ‘disrespectful behavior.’

“You will not kneel? All foreign emissaries had historically knelt, as a sign of submission.”

Bruno stood defiant, his eyes conveying his intent more than his words, which were equally robust as he announced his reasons for not showing such “respect” to the Japanese Emperor.

“When I last stood in these halls, I was but a mere Lord, or I should say the 9th son of one… Today, I am both the chief of staff of the German Armed Forces, and the Grand Prince of Tirol.

There is only one man in this world who can make me kneel, and you are not him…

I have come to negotiate, not as an inferior, but as a personal representative of the Kaiser. If you wish for me to kneel, then I am afraid there is nothing to discuss…”

Bruno’s words were like an artillery shell detonating in the vicinity. They carried the force of thunder with them, and compelled every single one of the Japanese Emperor’s subjects to whisper among themselves in shock, dismay, and perhaps even disgust.

As for Emperor Taishō, he simply sat still and silent for the longest of moments. Whether or not he would cast Bruno out, or accept his terms had yet to be seen.

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