DKB Internal Troubles

[Borys]

 "The Great Conspiracy of Count von Bülow"

On a steamy fall day in Neue Brandenburg, Großadmiral von Letters visited one of the city parks to make contact with a man who had expressed that it was "most urgent" that they privatly meet immedediately. The man, speaking with a Norman accent and identifying himself only as "Doctor", gave the Admiral a thick package and urged him to "read and act upon" its contents.

That very evening, a detatchment of Sturmtruppen led by the Grand-Admiral himself broke into the office of Count von Bülow and placed him under arrest. The list of charges was long; the contents of the package had been a complete record of secret correspondence between the Count and several members of the Sultan of Oman's court. The whole affiair of Arabian piracy and the mining of the DKB battleship had been part of a plot in which the Sultan's advisors would mislead him into a war with Brandenburg; the resultant invasion would result in the Omani conspirators overthrowing the Sultan and claiming the throne for themselves, then swearing fealty to Kaiser Wilhelm II in exchange for self-governance, the result gaining prestiege for both them and the Count.

But that was not all; the documents established that the Count had spread his rot throughout the governmental processes of Brandenburg. Brought to the attention of the Kaiser, an emergency session of the Reichstag was called in which he gave the famous speech stating "while foreign relations and trade will of course continue, our nation must withdraw from active participation on the world stage until we have cut this rot out. How can we assist in removing motes from the eyes of our brothers when there is a beam stuck within ours? Our house must be placed in order before we can assist in remodeling others."

The immediate result was the suspension of the plan to attack New Switzerland; instead it was limited to covert (and completely successful) support by the Bushrangers of Chinese commandoes in the Republic of Central Australia. The Kaiser then personally (and very privately) appealed to the Sultan of Oman presenting the evidence; the Sultan was at first unconvinced but soon noticed how desperate his advisors were to reject the German statement. The crew of the battleship was released, and the Sultan's advisors found themselves publicly beheaded as an example.

The investigation dragged on longer than anyone had expected; in the end, it seemed that the only high-ranking officials untainted were the Kaiser himself, Admiral von Letters, and Feldmarschall von Moltke. An added twist was that von Bülow's connections in the Baltic League lead to investigation into the possibility that he had been spearheading a Communist conspiracy; while in the end this was essentially the only charge that wasn't able to stick, it quickly became an article of faith among the Brandenburgian public.

Finally the investigation wound down; a series of exiles, imprisionments and executions had "battered the Reich but not bent it" in the Kaiser's announcement to the Reichstag. His usefulness at an end, Count von Bülow was executed by firing squad on 1 May 1903, and the Deutsches Kaiserreich Brandenburg preprared to reassert itself on the world stage.
   
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swamphen    
Posted: Oct 6 2006, 08:40 PM


Großeadmiral Sumpfhühn
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Group: Head of State
Posts: 1,298
Member No.: 23
Joined: 29-January 05



   
(aaaand a little "ommminous hummmmm" for you, from late Q2/03)

The three men had enjoyed their "traditional" pre-meeting schnapps and cigars; the feeling of finally having things returning to normal had lead to a jovial mood. But now it was time to get down to business.

Grand-Admiral Baron von Letters cleared his throat. "Well gentlemen, it seems that we are ready to once again engage in world politics none too soon, if what I have heard from Afrika is true."

"It is," Oberst Walther Nicolai, agreed. "It seems our Boer friends have decided to use the Communist Wars to make out like the bandits they are."

"What do you believe their intentions are?"

"Well they say they're 'holding the territories to prevent the spread of communism until the Portugese government can reassert control'," Oberst Nicolai rolled his eyes, "but if you believe that you might be interested in acquiring the Great Wall of China from me."

"So what are we to do about it?" Feldmarschall von Moltke spoke up.

Letters thought briefly "With the Pacific seemingly quiet now, for now anyway, we can spare some ships. First and Second Scouting Groups will redeploy to Dar-es-Salaam..."

"Fourth and Fifth Scouting are already there," von Moltke pointed out.

"Yes, but we should keep the battleships here for now, we'll keep them ready though just in case. More immediately we'll have Brandenburg alerted to prepare to move to Ost Afrika but not to do so just yet."

"And what of the army?"

"Your reccomendation?"

"I'd suggest that we get a few divisions ready for deployment on short notice."

"Agreed."

"And," Nicolai stated, "the Abwehr will be making use of some of the...contacts we've developed among the Zulus. Feldmarschall, we may be requiring some of your supplies."

"You'll have it."

"Well then, is there any further business?" Letters paused. "Then I'll be briefing the Kaiser shortly..."
   
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Desertfox II    
Posted: Oct 8 2006, 03:56 PM


Hegemon
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Group: Head of State
Posts: 262
Member No.: 76
Joined: 24-August 06



   
Interesting, the attack on NS would have been most interesting because I had gotten wind of it and was preparing a most adequate welcome!

And welcome back Swampy, the Pacific will be interesting again!
   
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swamphen    
Posted: Oct 8 2006, 04:14 PM


Großeadmiral Sumpfhühn
*

Group: Head of State
Posts: 1,298
Member No.: 23
Joined: 29-January 05



   
The Scourge of the Pacific sails again...

(tho "Scourge of Afrika" might more accurately reflect DKB plans, at least for the short-term.)

So there was a leak, eh? wink.gif I was already assuming that post-the NS breakup, the 'alliance' had fizzled, looks like it would be by mutual consent.