"Major victory! Major victory! A huge win on the front!"
"Crown Prince led our troops to smash the invaders—nearly 100,000 American soldiers wiped out in one battle!"
"The invaders are paper tigers. The German Empire ain’t done yet!"
Newsboys shouted at the top of their lungs, making people stop in their tracks.
As newspapers flew off the stands, word of the German victory under Crown Prince Wilhelm spread like wildfire across every household.
Berlin, Capital of the Empire.
Philipp Scheidemann, leader of the Social Democrats—who had just declared the founding of the German Republic and the overthrow of the monarchy yesterday—was shaking as he read the report.
Just the day before, when he heard the Kaiser had abdicated and fled to the Netherlands, he and his inner circle were popping champagne, thinking they’d pulled off their power grab.
But only a day later, reality slapped them right across the face.
Sure, the Kaiser was gone. But the Crown Prince was still around. And so was the army.
They’d announced a new government, but they had no real power. No support from the military either.
If Crown Prince Wilhelm marched east with his troops and rolled back into Berlin, these guys would be sitting ducks.
So... was it too late to kiss up to the Crown Prince now and swear loyalty?
Asking for a friend. Kinda urgent.
Aachen, Ruhr Industrial Region – Worker’s Movement Headquarters.
The same news had the striking workers and Bolsheviks seriously rattled.
They wanted to pull off a Russian-style October Revolution in Germany—overthrow the monarchy in the November Revolution and set up a Soviet-style government.
But if the Crown Prince brought millions of battle-hardened troops home from the front, there was no way their ragtag forces could stand up to those well-equipped, combat-tested veterans.
"We need to speed things up. Recruit as many workers and proletarians as we can to grow our strength."
"That alone won’t cut it. We need to get in touch with the Soviet Union. Without their military support, we can’t take on an enemy this strong."
"I’ve heard the Crown Prince is more open-minded than old Kaiser Wilhelm II—actually cares about the common folks’ suffering. You think there’s a chance we could turn him into a revolutionary comrade?"
Doorn Estate, Kingdom of the Netherlands.
"Well done! Hell of a fight!"
"Hahaha! That boy William’s got more guts than I ever did!"
Former Kaiser Wilhelm II, exiled here, was reading the newspaper about the big win on the front. He laughed out loud, cracked open a bottle of fine red wine, and celebrated hard.
He started regretting it. Maybe he jumped the gun by abdicating so soon.
Things didn’t seem as hopeless as he’d imagined.
But going back to reclaim the throne? He didn’t have the balls for that.
After all, his cousin Tsar Nicholas II and his whole family had been killed by revolutionaries back in Russia.
What if he went back, fell into the hands of revolutionaries, and ended up like his cousin—dead before he knew it?
He thought it over for a long time. In the end, he decided not to risk it.
Let’s wait and see. If things really turned around...
If his good son, the Crown Prince, managed to stabilize things back home, wouldn’t he send someone to invite the old Kaiser back?
Paris, Capital of France.
When news of the American defeat hit Paris, it shook the city.
The French couldn’t believe the U.S. had lost—and lost so badly.
This sudden shift in the war cast a dark cloud over Paris.
Some Parisians, already traumatized by the war, didn’t even bother figuring out where the battle happened. As soon as they heard the Allies got beaten, they packed their bags and tried to flee the city.
You couldn’t blame them for being jumpy. The war had absolutely wrecked France.
Nearly five million casualties out of a population of just 40 million. That’s brutal.
And their capital wasn’t safe either. It had been attacked by the Germans during the war.
Just a few months ago, the German offensive had nearly reached Paris again. So yeah, the citizens weren’t exactly feeling secure.
Ordinary people were sick of the war. But the politicians at the top? They were bloodthirsty.
French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, famously tough as nails, stormed into the Élysée Palace after hearing the news and confronted President Raymond Poincaré:
"This is a slap in the face to the Allies! A betrayal of our agreements! We need to make the Germans pay—teach them a lesson they’ll never forget!"
Thanks to the Franco-Prussian War, the French hated the Germans with a burning passion.
Clemenceau was a hardliner through and through. France had been burned by Germany before, and he was determined to carve up and dismantle Germany after the war—to wipe out the threat once and for all.
Raymond tapped his fingers on the desk. Of course, he knew that unless Germany was completely crushed, another war like this was bound to happen.
But wiping out Germany? Easier said than done.
Who was gonna take on those millions of German soldiers on the Western Front?
Would Britain and the U.S. just sit back and let France swallow Germany and become the sole superpower in Europe?
France could go it alone. But after all the losses they’d already suffered, even if they cranked the draft to the max and bled the country dry, they still probably couldn’t finish off the German army.
"What’s your plan?" Raymond looked up at his prime minister.
"We should use this opportunity to attack the Germans ourselves. With this excuse, Britain and the U.S. can’t blame us. Hell, the Americans might even thank us for taking some heat off them."
Raymond nodded. As an ally, France did have an obligation to help its partners. Plus, it could score points with the Americans.
"If we want to keep Germany down for good, we need American backing. This U.S. defeat is a golden opportunity. We can send people to lobby Washington, stir up anti-German sentiment, and drag them firmly onto our side."
France and the U.S. had always had decent relations. Louis XVI was practically called the "Founding Father of America" as a joke.
With this chance, maybe they could actually bring the Americans on board.
But the toughest nut to crack was Britain.
Without the British Empire’s nod, nothing was gonna happen. After all, they were still the world’s top dog.
Buckingham Palace, British Empire.
Along with the battlefield report, George V also received a letter written by Crown Prince Wilhelm—addressed to him as his "nephew."