1934 - Rise of an Empire

1934 - Rise of an Empire
What if the general of the Wehrmacht weren't completely in favor of the nationalsocialistic idea. What if the tension between the Nazis and the Army were even stronger? What if during the Nigh of the Long Knifes, Wehrmacht officials were also murdered?

The date is 30. June, 1934. Hitler has been in power for over a year now and Germany has seen some impovements already, but not in the gigantic way Hitler described them. This night, Hitler and the SS began the execution of high ranking members of the SA, such as Ernst Röhm. In this timeline however, some general and officers of the Wehrmacht were also purged. The Nazis claimed the same thing that they said in OTL, that the SA and Wehrmacht were secretly planning against him. The situation in the Army is very bad now: The higher ups who served Germany for years are getting purged by a madman who was only in power for 1 year and didn't fulfill the things he promised.

While in OTL, the purge ended on the 2nd of July, it last a bit longer because more people got killed. The army had enough and started the plan to kill the Führer. On the 12th of July, at 2:00 pm, the operation began. A small group of soldiers stormed the office of Hitler and killed him. At the same time, the entire Wehrmacht under control of Werner von Blomberg, minister of the Reichswehr, seized government building across the Reich and arrested Nazi officials and SS members. Because the main army was against Hitler, the only one supporting the Nazis were the SS, who began the resistance in larger cities like Berlin, Munich and Nurnberg. Leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, replaced Hitler and tried to rally the people against the Wehrmacht. The german people however, supported the Wehrmacht, as they were way stronger than the SS and because Hitler didn't achieve any main goals in his 1st year, so they didn't trust the NSDAP. Nearly 12 hours after the operation started, Germany was in the hand of the army as the Nazi higher ups were either arrested or executed.

At 6:00 am in the moring of the following day, Alfred Hugenberger, leader of the right-wing pro-monarchy DNVP party, was announced to be chancellor. He was chosen, because the Wehrmacht didn't wan't to risk agression with the Allies as they might see a military coup as dangerous and because he was a conservative-nationalist and would try his best to make Germany great again. The discussion about the new country started up quickly as they didn't know which form of governemnt should be used. Some were for another dictatorship, some for the restoration of the Weimar Republic, but the most support was for the recreation of the German Empire, as the military was basically all right-wing and for a monarchy. And so, a telegram was sent to the old emperor Wilhelm II. if he wanted to be Kaiser again. To the surprise of many, he declined, stating that his son, Wilhelm III., should be made Kaiser, as he himself wasn't like by either the people or the allies.

When news reached London and Paris that the revolution was succesful and that the monarchy was being reinstated, tensions grew. Ramsay MacDonald, british prime minister, and Albert Lebrun, french president, decided to meet the new german governemnt. Fearing an attack on MacDonald and Lebrun by ex-nazis, they decided to hold the meeting in the neutral country of the Netherlands, as the family of Wilhelm II. already lived there in exile. The two met up with Hugenberg, Blomberg and Wilhelm III. to discuss the future of Germany. The conference lasted for 2 days until the results were clear: The monarchy was accepted, but only if it would be a liberal form, like the one in the United Kingdom. Hugenberg could stay chancellor until 1938, because elections should be held then. Germany agreed to sign a pact of non-aggression with France and the UK.

Back in Germany, the de-nazification began. The old traditions of the Empire were quickly adapted and reforms were taking place. New parties were created, the major ones being the DNVP (= German national people's party, right wing), DVP (= German people's party, conservative), Zentrumspartei (= Center party, liberal-conservative), SPD (=Socialdemocratic Party of Germany, socialdemocratic) and KPD (= Communist Party of Germany, communist). The new Empire focused on improving relations with the Allies, improving the army and economy, reducing reperations of WW1 and trying to restore the old borders in the east, but peacefully.

The first push towards expansion was in 1936, when Hugenberg asked for the return of some german colonies in Africa and Asia. While the UK and France agreed to giving some land back to help boost Germany against communism and the USSR, Japan was strictly against it, as they wanted to create their owne empire in the pacific. The treaty of London gave the German Empire their old colonies in Namibia and Cameroon back, as these areas would help kickstart the new economy and industry. The Ruhr are was rapitely expanded and modernised to improe production. Soon, Germany would be a major player in international trading.

1938 came around and the first elections were held: SPD got 30%, DVP 23%, DNVP 18%, KPD 16% and Zentrumspartei 13%. To achieve more than 50% the DNVP, DVP and Zentrumspartei made an coalition. Hugenberg would remain chancellor for another 4 years. The social democrats were angry, as they received the most votes but didn't win inside the parlament. To appease them, the conservative coalition improved the lifes of workers slightly, like reducing the working hours.

- More to come -