George V listened to his men briefing him on the frontline situation while flipping through the letter Wilhelm had written him.
He had some memory of this "nephew" of his.
It was back before the war broke out, at one of those royal family gatherings between the two countries.
Compared to his mentally unstable cousin, little Wilhelm had actually grown on him.
But once the war started, whatever family bond they had was gone. After he personally changed the British royal family’s last name to "Windsor"—scrubbing any connection to Germany—the last tie he had with the德意志 was cut clean.
So no matter how many times the guy called him "Uncle" in that letter, he wasn’t about to go easy on Germany.
The Germans had to pay for their Emperor’s recklessness.
If Crown Prince Wilhelm thought he could play the family card and get his forgiveness or help, he was barking up the wrong tree.
But after George V finished reading the letter, his expression got... interesting.
"Heh. Not bad. This kid’s way sharper than his father."
He couldn’t help but think—if the German Emperor four years ago had been young Wilhelm instead of that polio-stricken cousin of his, maybe this war never would’ve happened.
As he kept thinking, George V furrowed his brow and started mulling over what Wilhelm had written in the letter.
The British Empire had always stuck to the policy of Continental Balance of Power—basically, don’t let any single country in Europe get strong enough to dominate the continent.
Back in Napoleon’s day, Britain went all in—men, money, resources—rallying European nations to gang up on France.
Why? Because France was way too powerful back then.
If they hadn’t stepped in, and France had consolidated control over mainland Europe, growing strong enough that nobody could stop ’em, then Britain itself would’ve been in danger.
Sure, the British Isles aren’t physically connected to mainland Europe. But the English Channel isn’t that wide. Once an enemy navy beats the Royal Navy, landing a million troops on British soil is just a matter of days.
To prevent that nightmare, they played the game of backing one side against the other—propping up the second-strongest power in Europe to fight the strongest.
Before the Franco-Prussian War, France was strong and Prussia was weak. So Britain backed Prussia against France.
But after the Franco-Prussian War ended, Prussia unified Germany and suddenly became stronger than France—the new number one power in Europe.
At that point, Britain immediately made peace with France and started using France to contain Germany.
On paper, the Continental Balance of Power strategy worked. Yeah, it cost them a ton. But in the end, the mighty Second Reich was worn down and taken out by the British Empire.
This time, though, it looked like the Brits had bitten off more than they could chew.
They’d only calculated the European powers. They forgot about the new kid quietly stacking chips over in North America.
America’s explosive rise made Britain’s whole balance-of-power strategy look like a joke.
The U.S. had more people, stronger industrial output, and a landmass dozens of times bigger than theirs.
In terms of future potential, America was clearly ahead.
If Britain kept its eyes locked on Europe, it wouldn’t be long before the world crown they’d snatched from Spain got handed over to someone else.
So at this stage, a defeated Germany was no longer Britain’s number one enemy or target for containment. The Americans had taken that spot.
And besides the sudden rise of the U.S., Russia’s collapse and slide into Soviet rule caught them totally off guard.
Russia had seen coups and revolutions before. That land worshipped strongmen.
Even if you were the Tsar, if you lost a war, your head was on the chopping block.
But earlier coups and revolutions never actually overthrew the Russian monarchy. The Bolsheviks were different.
This was a brand-new ideology—nothing like Europe’s monarchies, republics, or constitutional monarchies.
The fall of the Russian Empire and the massacre of the Tsar’s family sent chills down his spine. And now the worker uprisings and revolutions happening inside Germany only added to his anxiety.
Sure, things in Britain hadn’t gotten that bad yet. But who’s to say that once Germany gets infected by the Red wave, the whole thing doesn’t sweep across Europe?
If that happened, he—King of the British Empire—might end up like his crazy cousin Nicholas II: shot dead by a mob or strung up on a lamppost.
To protect his own skin and interests, he had to step in and stop Germany from going Red. That was one of the things Crown Prince Wilhelm asked for in the letter.
As for the other request... George V was pretty torn.
He didn’t know if he should agree.
Wilhelm begged him and the British Empire to support keeping the German monarchy alive—even if they couldn’t keep the old imperial system, at least switch to a constitutional monarchy like Britain.
His reasoning was simple.
The old empires—Russia, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman—had all fallen in this war. If the German Empire went down too, there’d be barely any royal families left in Europe. And among them, only Britain would still be a major world power.
When that happens, who’s to say the British public and Parliament won’t demand that their own King step down and turn the constitutional monarchy into a full-blown republic?
So when it came to preserving the monarchy, Crown Prince Wilhelm and George V had a shared interest.
George V thought it over and over. He still couldn’t make up his mind.
Then he noticed the guy reading the battle reports had stopped.
George V frowned, annoyed, and said:
"Read the last battle report again."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The man didn’t dare refuse. He read out the results of the German forces—specifically Crown Prince Wilhelm’s Army Group B—on the front lines one more time.
After listening again, George V’s frown finally relaxed.
Wilhelm’s judgment was spot-on. Without this victory on the table, George V might’ve read his letter, but he wouldn’t have taken it seriously.
Because the kid didn’t have the leverage to make him care.
But now, with 100,000 American troops wiped out, everything changed.
He’d earned himself a seat at the table.
Far away on the battlefield, Wilhelm had no idea about any of this. Right now, he was hosting a big shot from the military—Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who’d just arrived from headquarters.
"Can somebody tell me what the hell happened here?"
Hindenburg was completely thrown off. Before he got there, all he’d heard was that some German unit refused to retreat and was holding the line.
Nobody told him this unit was that good—wiping out this many Americans in one go.