Chapter 141 General Cabinet

Count Ludwig von Heinsberg Hersmann is now riding in a Mercedes-Benz W07 luxury car launched in 1931, on his way to the presidential palace. He received a promotion in February 1930 and is now a major general.

In the defense army with only 230,000 people, major generals are almost at the top. Standing above this group of major generals are probably a few people such as Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Kurt von Hammerstein-Eckert and Director of the Ministry of Defense Lieutenant General Schleicher. The most powerful Lieutenant General Schleicher is now wearing a brand new tweed uniform, wearing a ribbon and medals, sitting next to Hersmann, smoking a short and thick pipe, and staring at a group of people marching outside the car window in a daze.

"Kurt, what are you thinking about?" Hersmann asked.

"I thought of 1918!" Schleicher pointed to the crowd outside the window with his pipe-holding hand. It was a group of Bolshevik Party supporters, holding red flags and singing "The Internationale" - not to rebel, but to build momentum for the upcoming election.

Germany's economy has naturally fallen into the Great Depression a long time ago. As in history, it was the first country to fall into the Great Depression! Since the second half of 1928, Germany has fallen into a terrible vicious cycle:

Capital flight - deflation - high interest rates - plummeting prices of various assets - consumption and investment demand are severely suppressed - serious overproduction - real industries are in trouble and start to lay off employees and cut wages - layoffs and wage cuts lead to even more sluggish consumption, and at the same time, the government's finances have a huge deficit and are forced to implement fiscal austerity. In order to cope with necessary expenses, it is necessary to issue more government bonds, thereby further pushing up market interest rates - leading to a further decline in investment and demand...

Faced with this terrible dilemma, the ruling coalition government can be said to be at a loss. Want to stimulate the economy - for Germany, which has always followed Lister's line, it is natural for the government to intervene when the economy is in serious decline - but the government is short of money, the treasury is not able to make ends meet, and the printing press is strictly regulated.

If you want to get the printing press back, you must solve the problem of huge compensation in the Treaty of Versailles! By the end of 1928, Germany still owed a huge amount of compensation of 4.55 billion pounds (according to the Keynes Plan, Germany did not have to pay interest on the huge compensation of 4.9 billion pounds). Such a large amount of compensation is hanging there. If the mark is decoupled from the pound, most of the money will be waste paper.

What made the then-ruling Prime Minister Stresemann even more headache was that Britain and France announced at the end of June 1929 that they would stop accepting all German compensation products except coal from 1930, and asked Germany to pay the remaining part in cash, otherwise the Allied Compensation Commission would directly deduct it from Germany's pound reserves deposited in the Bank of England!

Perhaps because of the news, Gustav Stresemann, who had led the coalition government since 1924, died of a heart attack on October 3, 1929.

Without the politician Gustav Stresemann, the German political arena began to fall into turmoil. From October 3, 1929 to the beginning of 1931, Germany held two general elections. William Marx, Hermann Mueller and Heinrich Brüning successively served as prime ministers (all of which were very unstable coalition governments). However, facing the increasingly worse situation - in the month when Gustav Stresemann died, the Wall Street stock market suddenly collapsed, and a worldwide economic depression followed - no matter who came to power, it would be useless.

In January 1931, Heinrich Brüning was hit by a no-confidence motion jointly proposed by the Nazi Party, the Bolsheviks and the Social Democratic Party because he was unable to solve the increasingly serious unemployment and economic recession. Because he failed to pass the no-confidence vote, Brüning had to ask President Hindenburg to order the dissolution of parliament and hold general elections.

"Kurt, there will be no 1918." Hersman laughed. He was actually in a good mood, because although Germany's current economic performance was bad, it was much better than in 1931 in history. By the end of 1930, the number of unemployed people had not exceeded 2.5 million. The gross industrial output value was only about 22% lower than the most prosperous period in 1928, supported by Soviet orders, Japanese orders, and Italian orders. Moreover, the original base was much higher than in history.

However, among the capitalist countries in Europe, there are still countries that perform better than Germany.

Hersman smiled and said, "The German people now have better choices. Italy is a good example. Our Baltic Republic is also very good, and even Poland is still acceptable."

The three countries he mentioned are all so-called "fascist countries." Since its establishment, the Baltic Republic has been ruled by the Baltic German National Party, which adheres to national socialism. Thanks to the cooperation between the Soviet Union and Germany, the country's economy has continued to grow. Even in the Great Depression, it was able to maintain a slow growth rate by relying on government investment and serving as a trade window for the Soviet Union.

Poland also experienced a "fascist coup" in May 1926. Piłsudski, the founding father of Poland who had been out of office for three years, came to power and established a not very dictatorial dictatorship. Poland was saved from economic chaos, hyperinflation and social unrest. Even during the Great Depression, the Polish economy could barely maintain itself, which was much better than economic powers such as Britain, the United States, France and Germany.

"Yes, we should also have a Mussolini or Piłsudski," Schleicher said with some emotion and helplessness. "Then Germany would not be as sluggish as it is now... Ludwig, do you really think it is necessary for us to hand over power after the election results come out?"

Hersmann smiled bitterly: "Kurt, you know this better than me... Germany is not Russia. We have a tradition of democracy and socialism, and the people are more difficult to serve. If we Germans had the same tolerance as the Russians, the disaster of 1918 would not have happened at all!"

"Yes, we have nearly 70 million excellent people. They are rigorous, hardworking, brave, and very smart, but they can't suffer like animals."

"So we have done what we should do , should withdraw in time," Hersman said, "and the international community also needs a peace-loving chancellor to lead Germany. It is not appropriate for us generals to stay on the stage... at least not now!"

"Love peace?" Kurt von Schleicher sneered a few times, "Hitler? He is bent on starting a world war... Isn't that what "My Struggle" says?"

"But the British, Americans and French will not believe it, because their politicians also talk nonsense during the election." When Hersman spoke, his Mercedes-Benz sedan had already stopped steadily in the magnificent garden of the presidential palace.

President Hindenburg's two adjutants, Colonel Schulenburg and Colonel Oscar von Hindenburg, were standing at the door of the main building of the official residence. Seeing Hersman and Schleicher, they hurried forward and saluted first. Then Colonel Hindenburg (the president's son) said, "Kurt, Ludwig, my father and Admiral Ludendorff are waiting for you... But they are still a little hesitant, after all, this appointment is not very appropriate."

"What's wrong?" Hersmann smiled, "Admiral Seeckt is a member of parliament, not an active soldier, and it is completely in line with the constitution for him to serve as the prime minister of the caretaker cabinet."

"But there are too many officers in the cabinet," Colonel Hindenburg said as he walked to the president's office, explaining the reason for the president's hesitation. "In addition to Admiral Seeckt, there are Admiral Hutier, Admiral Granau, Admiral Hipper, Major General Volbeck, Colonel Hersmann (Hersmann's father) and Lieutenant General Schleicher..."

It turned out that Hersmann, Schleicher and others conspired to form a general cabinet. The prime minister was the former chief of the general staff, Admiral von Seeckt, and the ministers were either retired generals or retired colonels.

Although it was only a temporary caretaker cabinet, the all-honorary officers were still a bit eye-catching.

Colonel Hindenburg looked at Schleicher again with embarrassment, "Kurt, you are an active-duty soldier."

"There is nothing wrong with an active-duty soldier serving as Minister of Defense," Hersmann said immediately, "Oscar, we must tell the outside world that this is a cabinet that is ready to fight at any time... Only in this way can we restore the compulsory military service system."

According to the plan discussed by Hersmann, Schleicher, Hammerstein-Eckert and other senior figures of the Defense Force, they were ready to take advantage of the fact that France was controlled by weak left-wing politicians (the current prime minister was Laval, a weak-kneed man) and was in an economic crisis, and decisively launched an expansion plan. The German Defense Force was reorganized into the National Defense Force, and the number of army personnel was increased from the current 230,000 to 800,000, and the National Defense Force Air Force was also to be established.

And this expansion plan also meant that a large number of officers and non-commissioned officers who had been stuck in middle and low-level military ranks for many years could be promoted. The size of the officer corps will also be expanded from the original 8,000 to 24,000. It has tripled! And there will be many new senior positions such as army commanders, division commanders, and brigade commanders. This is a rare opportunity to win people's hearts and promote confidants.

Whoever presides over this military expansion can establish a force with himself as the core, so Hessman will never give this opportunity to Adolf Hitler, the devil!

Not only will he not hand over the gun to Hitler, he also plans to package Hitler as a dove of peace that everyone loves... In fact, Hitler is very good at pretending, and he should be able to play this role well.