While listening to his subordinates report on the battle situation at the front, King George V casually flipped through the letters William had written to him.
He had a vague recollection of this nephew.
That was at a gathering of the two royal families before the outbreak of war.
Compared to his mentally unstable cousin, William was much more to his liking.
But after the outbreak of war, the kinship was gone.
After he personally changed the British Royal Family’s surname to ‘Windsor,’ which had nothing to do with Germany, he severed his last remaining connection with Germany.
Therefore, he would not show mercy to Germany just because the other party called him “uncle” in the letter.
The Germans must pay the price for their emperor’s recklessness!
If Crown Prince Wilhelm was merely trying to appeal to his family ties to gain his forgiveness and help, then he had miscalculated.
However, after King George V finished reading the letter, his expression became playful: “Heh, this is interesting.
This kid is much better than his father!” He felt a pang of regret; if the Emperor of Germany four years ago had been William the Younger instead of his cousin who had contracted polio, perhaps this war would never have broken out.
As he pondered, King George V frowned, his mind turning to what William had said in his letter.
The British Empire consistently pursued a balance of power policy on the continent, meaning it did not allow any single powerful nation to dominate the European continent.
During the Napoleon era, Britain went to great lengths, investing manpower, money, and resources to rally European countries to encircle and suppress France.
It was because France was too powerful at that time!
If they don’t intervene, and France integrates continental Europe and becomes too powerful to be contained, then Britain will be in danger.
Although the British mainland is not connected to the European continent, the English Channel is ultimately too narrow.
Once the enemy navy defeats the British Empire’s Royal Navy, it will only be a matter of time before a million lions from the European continent land on the British Isles!
To prevent this situation from occurring, they need to divide and conquer, supporting the second strongest power on the European continent to counter the most powerful nation.
Prior to the Franco-Prussian War, the situation on the European continent was one of France being strong and Prussia being weak, so they chose to support Prussia to fight against France.
However, after the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia used this opportunity to unify the German region, and its strength suddenly surpassed that of France, making it the strongest power on the European continent.
At this point, Britain immediately reconciled with France and supported France in containing Germany.
From an operational standpoint, the balance of power policy of the mainland was not problematic.
Although it came at a heavy price, the powerful German Empire was ultimately worn down by the British Empire.
But this time, the British seem to have gone a bit too far.
They only considered the countries on the European continent, but forgot about a rising star in North America who was quietly making a fortune.
The rise of the United States made Britain’s balance of power policy on the continent a joke.
The other side has a larger population, a stronger industrial capacity, and even a land area that is dozens of times larger than theirs.
The potential for future development in the United States is significantly higher than theirs.
If we continue to limit our focus to the European continent, it may not be long before we relinquish the world dominance we seized from the Spanish.
Therefore, at this stage, defeated Germany is no longer Britain’s number one enemy and target of containment; the Americans have taken their place.
Besides the United States, a rising star that emerged unexpectedly, the collapse and Sovietization of Russia also completely surprised them.
Russia has a history of coups and revolutions, and the Tsarist Russian land worships strongmen.
Even an emperor, if he loses a war against foreign powers, could still lose his life.
Previous coups and revolutions did not overthrow the Tsarist Russian empire, but Bolsheviks were different.
This is a completely new ideology, unlike the imperial system, republic, and constitutional monarchy in Europe.
The collapse of Tsarist Russia and the violent deaths of the Tsar’s family made him feel a great sense of crisis, while the workers’ uprisings and revolutions in Germany at the same time exacerbated his worries.
Although the situation in Britain has not yet deteriorated to that extent, no one can guarantee that once Germany is also communist, this wave will not quickly sweep across the whole of Europe!
At that time, he, the king of the British Empire, might end up like his mad cousin Tsar Nicholas II, shot to death or dragged out and hung on a lamppost!
To protect his own interests and safety, he had to step in to stop the communizing of Germany, which was one of Crown Prince Wilhelm’s requests.
King George V was quite hesitant about the other party’s other request.
I’m not sure if I should agree.
Crown Prince Wilhelm earnestly pleaded in his heart with King George V and the British Empire behind him to support Germany in retaining its emperor, even if it meant continuing the imperial system, or at least continuing to use a constitutional monarchy like Britain.
The reason is quite simple.
The old empires such as Tsarist Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire perished one after another in World War I.
If the German Empire also perished, then only a handful of countries on the European continent would still retain their royal families, among which only Britain would be a world power.
Whether the British public and parliament will then take the opportunity to demand the abdication of the British Empire’s emperor and completely change the constitutional monarchy into a republic remains to be seen!
Therefore, Crown Prince Wilhelm and King George V share a common interest in preserving the royal family.
King George V thought about it again and again, but still couldn’t make up his mind.
At this moment, King George V frowned in displeasure upon hearing the person reading the battle report stop, and said: “Read the previous battle reports again!” “Yes, Your Majesty!” The man dared not refuse and read aloud the results achieved by the German Army, namely Army Group B, where Crown Prince Wilhelm was located, on the front lines.
After listening to it again, King George V’s brow finally relaxed.
Crown Prince Wilhelm’s judgment was very accurate.
Without this victory, King George V might have read his letter, but he would definitely not have taken it seriously.
Because he lacked the strength to command the opponent’s respect!
But now, with the results achieved by these 100,000 American troops, everything has changed.
He’s finally earned a bit of the right to be seated at the table!
…
William, far away on the battlefield, was unaware of all this.
At that moment, he was entertaining a high-ranking military official, Reich Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who had just arrived at the front lines from the General Staff.
“Can anyone tell me what exactly happened?” The people of Hindenburg were stunned.
Before they arrived, they had only heard that a German Army unit refused to retreat and was still resisting.
Nobody told him that this German Army was so capable of fighting, wiping out so many Americans in one fell swoop!