Springtime of Nations II: A European Republic Quest

You know with all the immigrants from the imperial league countries despite trying to fund the revolutionary underground there failing, we get the consolation prize of being able to ask our new citizens about their old home.
 
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.

I don't want to use the plausibly-innocent policeman to start a war that our public doesn't want.
 
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.

My reasoning is simple, I want to defeat both the Entente and the Imperial Alliance but fighting them both at the same time will only ensure our defeat. Instead, we should descalate with the Entente and prepare for an Imperial invasion (if we play well our cards we could install pro-german government on former imperial territory).
 
[X] Hang Schnäbele as a spy.

Just move our army through Belgium, and we'll be in Paris in no time! This has the added bonus of giving us the opportunity to guillotine Leopold II.
 
we can't hang him. we invited him in. not to mention that our population very very loudly does not want war. we can't afford that.

we can't release him while insisting on his guilt. that's just fully saying "you can decide our policy".
we can't really release him with apology. given that we invited him in, it seems more reasonable, but it's not a good position to be in. it is less so than the former.

just detaining him for further investigation is probably the safest option. they are unlikely to invade, we have more time to feel out the response, etc. boulanger may be thirsting for war, but napoleon is clearly not as eager. there is room for advantage here.
 
[X] Release Schnäbele, but insist upon his guilt.

We are in the middle of completely restructuring German society right now; we cannot afford a war, nor internal instability.

Let's choose the option that will (hopefully) allow both sides to save face. Then we bid our time; and if it's really necessary, we go to war when we're actually ready for it.
 
[X] Release Schnäbele, but insist upon his guilt.

I don't really want to release him but our people have consistently made it clear they don't want a war, so I'd rather not push it.
 
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.

This is clearly a SocRad plot! After their failure to convince the public of their warmongering agenda, they're using their patsies in the National Gendarmerie that they've set up to provoke a war themselves!
 
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.

The French just handed us over a golden opportunity to make their hawks look stupid. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is their hardliners manufactured this crisis to force the emperor's hand. And even if this isn't a trap, the moderate amount of spying this guy managed to do before getting caught isn't worth passing over an opportunity to completely catch them off guard and give us a good window of time where war on two fronts is impossible, which will make it safer to ramp up tension in the east.

This is paradoxical but if you're looking forward to righteous war, now is the time to be pragmatic with this idiot so we have a clear opening for punching Russia in the face.

Honestly if we go with the apology vote I'm going to be a lot more eager to plan for war, having weakened the Entente hawks. Might even switch party to do that.
 
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[X] Hold Schnäbele pending further discussions.
 
[X] Release Schnäbele with a full apology.

This is clearly a SocRad plot! After their failure to convince the public of their warmongering agenda, they're using their patsies in the National Gendarmerie that they've set up to provoke a war themselves!
Says the lapdog of the French! Tell me, how do Napoleon's shoes taste?
 
With the sunshine government cementing their rule the german republican experiment can now be declared a failure. We didn't even last a decade before we turned into a one party state.
 
There is never a time when a nation will be truly ready for war. It is, by its nature, unpredictable. We will never be "ready enough" for war, there will always be a reason, and so it will be thrust upon us.

For those who fear our people's reaction - This is clear-cut French aggression and arch-conservative warmongering. They sought to invade us practically immediately. A defensive war is not our fault for defending our laws.

In Italy, against Austria or Russia, the Entente will not stand idly by, no matter how much we bow and scrape. We are an existential threat to their world order, and so we will be fought, we will be attacked, and we will be denied every recourse they can manage. We must not make the mistake of thinking that they will play by their self-proclaimed rules, or give anything in return. There is no normalization for them, no quid pro quo, there is simply an understanding that at the end of the day, it will be them or us. And we must have that same understanding as the forces of capital - For if we do not, we will lose this war.
 
we've got to ask, what does boulanger want? he wants war now, and is probably banking on our reputation of violence and brutality as revolutionaries to hang the man. the longer we hold him the more he's going to scream to the hills that we're going to kill him and that france needs war. if we release him after that, and after he's repeatedly rebuffed by napoleon, the warhawks lose clout and we inflame tensions. relations with imperialist powers as a revolutionary power isn't worth it. it is explicitly in their interest to screw us over, even if they aren't going to declare war, so the argument that letting him go will hand us free reign in italy is a non-starter. holding the man calls boulanger's bluff and makes him look like a maniac after we reasonably release the man after the conference is over.

vote hold
 
What do the French delegates to the Continuing Committee of the Workers' International have to say about their comrades' capabilities?
 
Cowards, cowards everywhere.

We have a French spy in our custody, trying to undermine our defenses and prepare for war to crush the republic, yet again, and there are votes here that would let him go, that would apologize for catching a foreign spy. Have we not suffered enough by the hostile actions of reactionaries? Must we still grovel in the face of their provocations? I say no.

[X] Hang Schnäbele as a spy.

If the French wish to start a war because their spy was caught and hanged, let them. Let the crowned heads of Europe see we do not fear them. Let the unmatched power of the Landwehr once again destroy the forces of reaction.
 
another thing, france isn't prepared for war, their bill to mobilize failed to pass and they don't have the democratic energy of the landwehr to do it particularly quickly. if we hold him for a week or two it'll take at least that long for france to be war ready. they don't have the right footing for war, so they won't do it. again, holding him makes boulanger look insane
 
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