Re: Blood and Iron

Bruno welcomed Svetozar and the man’s family into his home, in a way that he felt would make the man most comfortable.

He walked to the door not in civilian attire, but wearing the old Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal gala uniform he had been bequeathed by Emperor Franz Joseph as a ceremonial title, along with all the medals he was granted for avenging the House of Habsburg during the great war.

Svetozar’s aging face practically lit up when he saw a familiar face and a familiar uniform. As Bruno performed a proper salute.

“Generalfeldmarschall Svetozar Boroević has arrived!”

A full honor guard was present to raise their swords and welcome the Austrian hero back home to the lands that he had once defended. The man’s face was both astonished and jovial as he witnessed the grandeur of Bruno’s palace, which was still under construction, as well as the display of traditional Austrian uniforms on display for him, and him alone.

The past few years he had felt underutilized, and underappreciated by the Hungarian King, but Bruno had gone out of his way to make the man feel most celebrated and welcome in Tyrol. Which, while now officially no longer a part of the Archduchy of Austria, was still a land he had spent years in the trenches defending.

Because of this, Svetozar returned Bruno’s salute, trying his best to hold back the tears in his eyes as they concluded the formal gesture, and shook hands with a far more casual approach.

“It has been too long my friend. I must apologize again. I had been ill-informed and was ignorant of your position. But you need not worry about that now. Here in Tyrol you are a hero. You defended these lands against the Allied onslaught time and again.

You were front and center when we reclaimed the territory they occupied after a brief breakthrough. Tyrol owes you everything for holding the line while I was elsewhere. Tell me, what do you ask as a reward for your services? A noble title? Land? Wealth? Simply ask and it will be yours my friend….”

Svetozar had already undergone a full medical checkup, confirming, as Bruno had expected, the stroke which claimed in his past life was one caused by distress and old age, and not an underlying disease.

The man could theoretically live another 10 or twenty years, assuming life didn’t crush his spirit and will to live as it had in the previous timeline. But Bruno did not want him worrying his life away in the military. The man had earned retirement and so much more.

Svetozar himself could hardly believe what Bruno was offering him, and was quick to shake his head, and decline Bruno’s kindness.

“You have done more than enough by simply showing me kindness and respect. All I ever did was my duty….”

This was exactly the kind of attitude Bruno respected most in a man, and it was because of this, Bruno intended to reward Svetozar beyond his wildest dreams.

“And that mentality is precisely why I intend to reward you still, come take a walk with me into my home, there is something I wish to show you… Your wife and son can become acquainted with my own while we talk in private.”

—

Sitting on Bruno’s desk was a mockup of an artificial lake set in the province of south Tyrol. The project was ambitious, to merge two natural lakes into one large body of water. It would submerge two towns, but efforts to deconstruct these towns, preserve their heritage and history, and relocate the inhabitants elsewhere were already underway.

The lakeside village Bruno proposed would have two sizeable manors within its boundaries. One was a summer home Bruno planned for himself, and another was for the man standing next to him. But he had yet to announce this to Svetozar, asked for the man’s unbiased opinion.

“So tell me, what do you think?”

The diorama was beautifully detailed, almost lifelike in its construction, and Svetozar was breathless as he gazed upon what would one day be Lake Reschen with reverence and awe.

“Words cannot describe the beauty you have portrayed here. If this comes to be, whoever lives in this village will be very lucky…”

Bruno smirked as he heard this. Upon hearing Svetozar’s approval, he knew the choice he had made was right, and he was quick to announce it.

“I intend to make you Freiherr of these lands, in name of course. One of these manors will be your estate, and the other will be my summer home. What do you think? Not a bad retirement plan, don’t you think?

Naturally, you will have a proper staff to wait on your needs, and of course a personal medical team to ensure you live a long and fulfilling retirement. Substantial resources have been dedicated to finishing the project as quickly as possible so that you can enjoy the most of the years you have left with your wife and son.”

Bruno’s smile turned bitter when he thought about that last part. Svetozar had only one child with his wife, a son, who in the world Bruno had originally come from had been killed in action during the last year of the Great War.

This, combined with his eventual oppression by the Austrian Republic, rejection from what would become Yugoslavia, statelessness, and the overall collapse of the Austro-Hungarian had contributed to his rapid decline in health and morale.

But in this life, the war had ended before the boy was old enough to serve, and thus, he was still very much alive. Without even realizing it, Bruno had engineered a world where the worst tragedies to befall a loyal soldier like Svetozar had not occurred.

And now the two of them could share a toast in his office, as if they were old friends reconnecting after years of losing contact. Which is exactly what Bruno did when he poured a liter for himself and the Lion of Isonzo.

“To victory! And to the two lions whose prides shall forever guard these lands!”

Svetozar chuckled upon hearing Bruno’s words, shaking his head as he accepted the toast all while cracking a joke at his host’s expense.

“I heard you shed the fur of a wolf and replaced it with the mane of a lion. It’s interesting your reputation, how different it is in Hungary than it is here in the Reich. The people here love you, even in Austria on my way here.

The common man speaks of you as the one who saved them from the fate that the rest of their empire now endures. But across the border, they revile you, see you as responsible for the Habsburgs abandoning them.”

Bruno didn’t hide the truth from his old colleague, and instead spoke plainly as he wiped the suds of his beer from his mouth.

“They’re not wrong. I created the conditions that forced the Habsburgs to unify the Archduchy of Austria with the German Reich. They can hate me all they want, but I saved what I could.

Incorporating all the Austro-Hungarian Empire only would have created suffering for everyone here in Germany. I did the best I could with the circumstances I was given. And though I respect Franz Joseph for what he did in life, I must admit, creating an empire out of the Balkans was never something that was going to last.

You and I both know this, do we not?”

Svetozar could only sigh and nod his head in silence. What Bruno had said was true, as true as words could be. Because of this, the man shifted the discussion towards the future that Bruno was built here and now.

“So, tell me, what are your plans now that France has been defeated? Are you really going to serve in the military for the rest of your life? Do you not envision yourself as chancellor after Bethmann retires?”

A short chuckle escaped Bruno’s lips as he sat upright in his seat before explaining his vision for the future quite clearly for his guest.

“Look at me, Svetozar. Do I look like I have the makings of a politician? I’m a soldier. My life is in the military. It’s all I have ever known. Besides, someone has to be around for the next war, to remind the French what happens when they march on the Reich….”

Upon hearing Bruno’s bold statement, Svetozar nearly choked on his beer, as he was quick to inquire further about his host’s reasoning.

“Hold on a second. Are you telling me you expect there to be another war? After everything that has happened in France? After everything they still endure? They lost nearly an entire generation in the war, and the ongoing state of strife they are in. They won’t really try again will they?”

A simple scoff is all that Svetozar’s question was met with at first, as Bruno leaned back in his chair, gazing upon the man as if he were a little naïve. Before explaining outright why, he knew there would be another war in the next few decades.

“Sure, a generation is gone, but another has been born in their place, and in twenty years they will be old enough to answer the call of whatever government replaces the Third Republic whenever they decide their pride is ready to be avenged once more.

You should see the propaganda they print of me. Nasty stuff, Revanchism wasn’t broken when we marched into Paris, it was only further emboldened. The French are a notoriously petty and vengeful people.

We spanked two generations of their soldiers, and they aren’t going to take that lying down. No… I will need to break the French, truly dismantle their foolish ego, a second time in this life of mine for them to finally learn the lesson that they are not the supreme power in Europe, and they never truly were outside the days when a Genoese artillery office called himself Emperor.

I will end the grudge out two people have shared since the moment Ludwig dared to call himself a German and not a Frank. And I will do so the only way I know how… With blood and iron!”

Judging by the fiery gaze within Bruno’s eyes, Svetozar knew the man was serious. And at the same time, he made no move to argue with the man. Because, in his experience, Bruno had a track record of almost prophetic understanding of future events.

And because of this, he simply drank in silence, lamenting the fools who would dare to test Bruno’s resolve a second time.

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