Tu felix Austria... (Interwar Austria)

Viribus Unitis · Nov 14, 2020

George Mathew said:
I see, I see, yes, this is good. I have to wonder though will the there be more changes in tech advancement maybe some countries will invent stuff they wouldn't have done?

I haven't given too much thought to it. I see innovation as a process in most cases - even if we put the lable on it at one certain point. Just taking the post from yesterday OTL Fleming "invented" penicillin, but the use of the fungus was documented before that. It was brought to a usable form by a team. Or the mentioned Sulfa. OTL IG Farben/Bayer released it in it's more complex form, while already having produced the active component for over 20 years, not knowing it's medical use. Here I used it to get around patents, that were about to expire anyway. Might also have butterflied the US Sulfa craze away, delaying the FDA if I read Wikipedia right - but that's not my usual sandbox so someone else might weight in?

One of the things that will soon be "invented" outside of Austria will be the armoured personal carrier. It will be people looking at the advantage Austria had in the fighting here, and building on it.

George Mathew said:
I also don't understand why more people are not getting involved with this story. It is actually quite interesting.

AH is niche on SV. I'd also probably have more readers if I went with something else but the niche again "Austria" in the title. Say "Creating a Danube Federation" (well, if I ever get that far, only kinda wrong) or "Vielvölkerkerker Mk II" (Oh, there will be the caricatures, and the odd nationalist with a grievance, but it was somewhat exaggerated OTL, and would be more so when it comes to the "Mk II").

Anyway, on with the programming:

Furlan, Martin (1954): The Austro-Italian War and the Wider World, Triest: University Press

League of Nations

Having grown out of the Paris Peace Treaties, the League of Nations was often considered something of an Entente power club. Additionally events like the Corfu Incident strengthened the view, that is was there to extend the power of the big countries within it.

While it was laid down in the founding treaties, that attacks on a League member should be militarily answered by all members, with the already known League inefficiencies nobody expected any big decisions to be taken before the Assembly meeting in September. So it was something of a surprise, when the League Council was quick to condemn Italian aggression against Austria by the 16th of April. Thirteen of the fourteen members voted for the resolution, with Italy forced to abstain as it was involved in the conflict.

While there were accusations of bribery, this theory nowadays is contained to Italian revanchist and neo-fascist circles. This theory was mainly based on the fact that the 11th, the day Mussolini was shot, the Austrian Consulate in Geneva had held a dinner party for the League Council representatives of France, Britain, Japan and Canada. This had been a long-standing tradition, since the negotiations in 1922 Austria attempted to keep up good relations with the representatives, even if relations were strained with their home governments.

It was far more that the media storm that was orchestrated by Austria aided them. There were graphic pictures of Matrei on the cover of most papers, the small damage to Innsbruck by artillery fire was widely reported on, even if exaggerated by clever angles on the photographs, as well as pictures of Italian troops non too gently occupying Lienz. The near unprecedented Austrian Army provided to journalists, going as far as embedding foreign reporters within combat troops, as well as carefully selected pictures and film distributed for free world wide, dominated the perception of the war in the international press. A counter narrative was presented in Italian papers as well as a small amount of international ones that were sympathetic to the fascist ideas, but especially in those confused first days before Italo Balbo took over Italian leadership, even those narratives were very diluted.

It was Romania, under pressure of it's fellows of the lose coalition called the 'Little Entente', that brought further sanctions to the table. The initial idea was a full embargo on Italy, but this was whittled down over two weeks of negotiations to a simple embargo an arms and ammunition sold to Italy. Noteworthy according to the protocols an extension of those embargoes to Austria wasn't considered, despite their successful counter offensive they were still considered the victim.

While this embargo didn't significantly affect Italian war making ability, them having a domestic industry and robust stockpiles, it prevent a crash conscription program similar to the one Austria was undertaking.

When it became clear that the Italian leadership in Rome intended to continue fighting this war to the end, despite repeated calls for negotiations not just from the League, and several military setbacks, by mid May calls for a naval blockade and an embargo over a larger list of war making and war supporting cargo were growing louder. After the Italian representative finally stormed out in anger, a resolution for this was decided on on the 21th, with several nations agreeing to provide ships for this endeavour. While the French and British provided the largest contribution, other nations chipped in. These were Germany, Portugal, Spain, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. Albania offered to participate, but would require some ships, as their two German surplus minelayers had just been decommissioned, and their new ships were still under construction in Venice.

While there were several letters of complain, mainly from US merchantmen, the blockade proved to be reasonably effective at preventing arms from reaching Italy, even with the obvious problems. The Yugoslav Royal Navy, having nothing heavier than a light cruiser in service, mostly stayed in their ports, as Italian battleships regularly steamed out of Taranto up and down the Adriatic to provide coastal bombardment. Still under the mandate their lighter units were used to crack down on their domestic smugglers and to harass ships leaving Albanian ports.

Similar difficult was the situation in the Aegean Sea. Here several shooting incidents happened between the Greek and Turkish Navy in the waters around the Dodecanese islands, the most famous probably the exchange of fire between the Greek battleship Lemnos and the Turkish battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim south of Kasos. While both ships retreated with only minor splinter damage, over the course of the two month embargo Greece claimed two submarines and a torpedo boat lost, while Turkey lost one destroyer.

These events shifted discussions towards the post war world, Italy already being carved up by bystander nations while the fighting was still ongoing on the ground. Concrete territorial concessions were of course only discussed in back rooms, but the rumours were, that only Britain and France would receive anything but scraps. With a chance of concrete spoils on the horizon, by mid June France and Yugoslavia shifted from a partial defensive mobilisation to a more general one, intending to bring the Italian leadership to the negotiation table by force.

With the second to last post out of chronological order anyway, and the last post actually spanning up to 1942, I decided that the spoilers in this can be allowed.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 15, 2020

Something new today. Not quite what I intended to write about the Friaul/Istria campaign, but what my muse gave me.

Aus dem Schützengraben zu den Sternen, Part 1

30.4.1929

Oberstabswachtmeister Felix Haas once again check his men. The Oberleutnant was back at the ramp, still eager to be first to fight. It was good for the spirit, not that they'd need it. This wasn't the Great War, he remembered the fear they'd all felt when the order came to go over the top once more. Some days he could still feel the karst stone splinters in his back. This time around however they'd already blooded themselves against the Italian in the Gailtal, and his Zug hadn't taken a single casualty. Oh there had been scraps here and there, but training had told during the confused night fighting they'd been involved in, and they'd all been ready again for this mission.

Rationally he knew that when they'd arrived, the Italians had already been on their last legs, cut off from support, pressed hard over the last couple days before, they'd probably hadn't even had a warm meal in days. But in practice this meant that morale was high anyway and they'd need that. Hold until relieved were the orders. They'd be short on artillery, expected to take and hold the target, no fancy manoeuvrers, just straight up fighting. And shock and awe.

He glanced forwards into the cockpit again, as the glider quietly sailed though the night. In towards the east there was the first hint of dawn, but it'd take a while to fully appear. With some luck the defenders of the railway bridge and the city of Latisana would be asleep when they arrived, silent as owls.

Noticing his stare the gilder pilot announced: "Five minutes."

Felix nodded, and louder repeated it into the cargo compartment, filled with forty men and most of the equipment they'd need for two days of high intensity combat. They'd trained for that often enough, glider assault, followed by take and hold. Twice a year, scheduled once for snow and once for mud it seemed like.

The man stayed calm. Some checked their gear, other silently prayed. They'd probably be Unteroffiziere themselves soon, if rumours for the expanded Army were true. Though he'd also been informed that the core formations would be kept together for as long as hostilities lasted. It'd be better for moral and cohesion.

Then the lights turned red, signalling final approach. And then the glider shuddered as it set down on the ground, breaks squealing, announcing their arrival to them and the world at large. Still, the breaking run was short, and they were off. Felix's voice hurrying them on, even as they went through the drill trained a thousand times. Oberleutnant Schwarz happily led the charge towards the bridge, firing his machine pistole at the four Italian guards that were still fumbling with their full length Carcano rifles. Looking up, in the low light he could see another glider parked at the other side of the bridge. From the unhurried movement they hadn't run into any large problems either. The road bridge, some two hundred meter south, didn't seem to have guards either.

"Peter" Felix called out, "Your up."

They had several people trained in sabotage and ordnance disposal, but Lukas Peter had a particularly devious mind when it came to placing them. If anyone could figure out if the bridge was rigged to blow it was him.

Meanwhile he signalled the Zug at the other side to move south. They'd clear the road bridge. The radio man should already have sent the clear signal, meaning the two gliders carrying their gun battery should be on their way to reinforce them.

If intelligence was right, there shouldn't be any units guarding the city itself, but there might be a small number of combatant nonetheless. The Blackshirts had transitioned into military units, but there might still be individuals, or even non organised resistance as well. It was always a danger. Still, if everything went as planned, then they'd only have to hold for a day, and then everything between the Tagliament and the Tore should be under Austrian control, though planning had made concessions that Udine itself might hold out longer.

What didn't seem to fit in, that's a company of the 1st Infantry Guardregiment you see there. They pride themselves to be the elite of an already well trained army, though several other Regiments would dispute that claim. That's also whey they were put on the spot, with the furthest forward deployment.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 16, 2020

I wanted to post that piece on the stock market crash in New York today. I've written and rewritten that one several times and it just won't click. So here is something different.

Meierhofer, Gebhard (1979): Militia and Volunteer Fighters in the Austro-Italian War, Vienna: Amalthea

Spanish Volunteers

Spanish volunteers were found, as with many other countries, on both sides of the Austro-Italian war, though in far more even numbers.

When de Rivera took power in a Mussolini inspired putsch, the right wing applauded. When he didn't manage to solve all of Spain's problems they quickly tired of him. Continued compromises with the socialists under his dictatorship didn't help his standing.

So when war broke out these right wing groups were those in Spain who flocked to the Fascist cause, hoping that closer relations with Italy or military intervention would bring de Rivera around to their view on how Spain was to be restructured. They recruited heavily among the army, but also those that felt personally disadvantaged by the government.

Less than a week after the conflict started a regiment, mostly armed by army surplus, was shipped off to Genoa on Spanish Navy ships.

Austria also attracted Spanish volunteers. They mainly drew from three very different groups. Socialists, separatists and legitimists.

Socialist were mostly brought there through international contacts. Both Italian exile socialists as well as agents of the Austrian Social-Democratic Labour Party were fishing for volunteers amongst their networks. Austrian Secretary of State, Julius Deutsch, was quoted that they'd provide arms and training for future struggles to those that volunteered, though he would always deny doing so.

In Spain there was a significant overlap between Basque and Catalan separatists and socialists, so word soon reached those circles as well. More so, the plight of forcefully italianized South Tyrol resonated in those communities, where similar assimilation policies, even if less extreme, were in place.

The third group usually wouldn't really fit in with the first two. Amongst the foreign nobles living in Spain were the Habsburg family in exile. Empress Zita was quick to react, and through her networks gathered both financiers and volunteers for an endeavour of her own. While the ultimate goal was a Habsburg restoration, it was accepted that this was unlikely and settled on restore and protect it's old borders. This intersected with a Spanish nobility among whom a certain Habsburg nostalgia had risen in recent years.

Just how these groups found together is contested, but find together they did. Since a large part of funding came from the legitimists, the Regiment received the name "Carlos I".

Fearing unrest and organising socialist and separatist military formations, the government under de Rivera started to crack down on organising volunteer units. They were to be arrested and dispersed, so that they could not create trouble, though known agitators were kept longer. Forewarned "Carlos I" crossed the border to France shortly after that proclamation, and took far longer to arrive in Austria, than their fascist counterpart took to arrive in Italy.

The Regiment received surplus equipment that Austria had bought from Switzerland and a similar abbreviated training as many of their own conscripts. They served as a garrison unit in Bergamo, where they were more welcome than the Austrians themselves. In this duty they faced Italian units twice, that were trying to imitate Austrian behind the line attacks.

After the war was concluded, they they like many other volunteer units participated in the victory parade and received decorations. During this stop over one of the unit members caused a minor crisis, being revealed as the then sixteen year old Otto von Habsburg.

Anyone who actually knows pre-civil war Spanish politics, please correct the mistakes I've certainly made here. Like many other countries it's internal politics are a bit of a mystery to me. What I'm especially worried about is if the fascist could receive this much support from Army and Navy - I hope that they are proto-falangists was something that was clear.

Coming soon: (because it amuses me)

Josef Gygax: Mecenary. An Autobiography

Born to wealthy parents in Neuchatel, Gygax was a soldier in the payment of 11 states, fought wars on all 5 continents and finally retired into life as a crime boss. Read the astonishing story of his life right here!

Unless that stock market piece works out. Then maybe only soonish?

Viribus Unitis · Nov 17, 2020

Gygax, Josef (1974): Mercenary. An Autobiography, Unpublished Manuscript

I grew up in a live in privilege. My father was a pharmacist originally from Bern, while my mother was a daughter of the Suchard family, known for their chocolate products. With a successful business of their own, I never really lacked anything. Not even during the years of the Great War, as a kid it was just normal for me, though I would later learn that many others had to go hungry every now and then during that time, while I just didn't have access to more exotic treats.

While the canton itself was part of the Romandie, the house I grew up in and the school I attended were German. Yet I learned French from the kids I used to play with in the streets of the city, and then later learned Italian and Latin in school. As a kid I didn't notice so many things, it was normal to me. Mixing German and French was just usual, so I wasn't surprised that I would speak more than one language at the time. It was normal after all, though many others didn't show the command I had acquired.

After I graduated school I served in the Swiss Army, as was expected from ever abled body man. My mother would have liked me to defer service in favour of University, joining my older brother studying pharmacy, she always was the ambitious one in the family. I had however struggled often enough in school, so that I didn't want to continue that. I wanted the adventure that was the army, something different than I'd known before and I was right. I enjoyed my time in the army, even if looking back I must admit that the reputation was a bit out of proportion to what it really was. Even back then the army peddled the myth that their mere presence had kept Switzerland out of the Great War, when the truth was that they hadn't been in a serious fight since Napoleon. And it showed often enough if one learned where to look. Still, the training I received there stood me in good service for my life.

When I got out of the army and still showed no inclination to higher education, my mother started nagging me about taking a hand in the family pharmacy. She had already managed to grow my fathers work to three different shops, not just in Neuchatel itself, but also in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Something had given her the idea that it could grow from there, to a major importer and exporter of pharmaceutical products. It wasn't for me, or so I thought at the time at least. Look at what I am doing now.

Still, I managed to escape her control. I caught up with an old acquaintance from the Army and he got me a job with a bank in Zürich, just to complete some stereotypes. This move east got me out of my mothers immediate influence. In fact she even approved, saying it would provide me with useful skills for the family business. Now if only I could find a nice girl with the right connections.

Girls certainly were on my mind, but I'm certain the ones that found themselves in my company weren't the sort my mother would have approved of. In fact the entire crowd I hung out in the city was not to her taste. They were a rough crowd. From the mountain valleys mostly, lesser sons who would not inherit the family farm. Sent to the city where they would work in a trade where strength was more important that brains.

We drank the nights away, parties like no tomorrow and were always on the look out for girls. We'd find new locations every so often, become a staple of the night live for many, be they bankers like me or students on the look for a good time on a night out, but the core remained a rough crowd. Looking back it might have been my presence that gave them the veneer of respectability, that attracted those wealthier, that financed some of our fancies. In fact over the time there, I'd been the silent backer of more than one dive bar, before the police found a reason again to shut them down again. The money made there, both legitimate and not, served me as a starting capital for my following plans.

I grew restless there as well. While the endless parties were thrilling, they had lost their lustre with time. It was a coincidence that the war between Austria and Italy started at the time.

The far smaller country, Austria was looking for volunteer fighters wherever they could. While they managed to make inroads with some groups, like German nationalists or ardent socialists, to actually send real volunteers, I quickly learned at my day job that they would pay those volunteers. Base pay wasn't exciting. As I understood it, it was the base pay one of their recruits was paid, not too bad for that position compared to what one got in the Swiss Army, but it still lacked the combat and deployment bonus and all those other additions that a men in the Austrian Army received.

It was however then that a payment scale started doing the rounds. Normal payment was low. But if you brought a rifle it would go up. If the rifle chambered a military round already in their burning trash pile they called logistics you'd get double that. Fully equipped and with a rifle that fired the old or new Austrian cartridges, or the German Mauser one and you'd actually approached something you might be able to live off. It was the bonus if you brought some buddies with you that got me thinking. I had some rough friends, all of them already trained to handle a rifle and who would have been the type not to show any hesitance during the Landesstreik.

I think that is the longest single snippet I've posted until now? So Switzerland once again enters the conversation. And he's in the market for some mercenary work. Who'd have thought? Reading through it I should have probably put a few footnotes in there? On the other hand google is two clicks away... If anyone of the fifteen or so that actually keep reading have strong feelings either way, I'll take this into account.
On a different note I added a few dates to earlier "story" snips. I hope that helps with orientation. This one lacks that because it covers a long time, but I'll add dates to later pieces of "Mercenary" as well.

Arentrir · Nov 17, 2020

It's all good man. I'm rather fsmiliar with European geography so all the cities mentioned are familiar. I also like the many angles from whoch the story is approached. Can't wait to see in what adventures Austria finds itself after the initial Italian hurdle, and of course where the story will take them.
Good job on writing though, it's good fun and keeps me intrigued.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 18, 2020

Arentrir said:
It's all good man. I'm rather fsmiliar with European geography so all the cities mentioned are familiar. I also like the many angles from whoch the story is approached. Can't wait to see in what adventures Austria finds itself after the initial Italian hurdle, and of course where the story will take them.
Good job on writing though, it's good fun and keeps me intrigued.

Can anyone tell I'm from Austria? No? Right, no I've live in Innsbruck in the past, so the area there is rather familiar. I know some of the cities mentioned personally - otherwise I've got to say thank god for Google Earth. Though it is quite tough to figure out just what parts were already in place in 1929 and what was built later. Often I've just got to eyeball it. Ironically the best records of city planing and expansion I've come across until now were from Sterzing and Bozen, dealing exactly with Italian building and resettlement programs.

I also regularly go: I want to move on to peace negotiations, and all those future problems those will ensure, and then all the other fun stuff that follows on. And then my brain goes: Oh shiny. And I find myself expanding on what is already going on, delaying that further. For example currently in addition to the recently introduced "Trenches to Skies" and "Mercenary" I'm dabbling around with something I've called "Tales of the Homefront" that might or might not be posted at one point. There's more "Franzerl" to come, more of "Dear Susanna" (aside from edits actually finished, but comes later chronological than I'm until now), textbook posts... What doesn't seem to work currently are newspaper articles, but that's the way it is.

Anyway thanks for the encouragement. It's good to be validated that way, even if I would have kept writing purely for my own amusement.

And again, I'm open to suggestions, never afraid to pander to an audience. For example I've got more posts planned on volunteer formations, those that amuse me mainly, but I'd also open to taking some prompts for further origins. Be prepared for that to take a turn to the left with my squirrel brain every now and then.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 18, 2020

Okay so I'm not an economist. I understand the basics, but it's more of a black box to be, I can work with cause and effect, but the moving parts? Yeah, no idea. So I've read about the Great Depression quite a bit the last few weeks. And I don't really understand it. And it seems so do few others, because just about every school of economic though has it's own pet theory or three of how it happened. So yeah, I know some of the moving parts. I know that I know little enough. But as it turns out, for plot reasons I want a depression, and since I'm the author I'm gonna get one. But similarly I'm aware that I pulled several important looking cogs out of the Rube-Goldberg machine and put in magnets, wires and duct tape in other parts. So who knows what would really happen, if this wasn't a narrative? Dumping that much gold on the market, not once but twice in a decade should have interesting effects on the gold standard at the very least.

Hafner, Gregory (1999): A simple introduction to 20th century world history, Chicago: Scholarium Book

Economic Crash

The world economy wasn't the most stable in 1929. In the end all it took to tip it over the edge was war in Europe.

After the Great War the USA found them selves the new leading economy, and more importantly the leading lender of money. Both Britain and France were deeply in debt and relied on German reparation payments to service those. After German Hyperinflation is was mostly the Dawes plan, and the US loans that came with it, that kept the German economy afloat, and thereby able to pay preparations.

In the meantime consumerism in the US was at an all time height. The consumer economy expanded massively, and the stock market reacted accordingly. It appeared that that growth was without limit, that the US had entered the final chapter of eternal prosperity. In this climate more and more investments were also taken outside of the US. European companies still recovering from the Great War war seen as a good growth opportunity. This went that far, that some people even took up loans, in order to use the money to then invest.

There were experts that only months earlier had warned that the market had overheated, that it was due for a course correction, but few listened to them, the fate of those predicting disaster everywhere.

When news of renewed war in Europe arrived in the US it caused a short dip, but the market recovered for a few days. Speculation is, that it was the picture of the burnt out Ford dealership in Innsbruck on the cover of New York's Evening Post on 18th April that caused the panic selling.

It is said that this was caused by the small investor, not the professional. The small worker who had hopped for some quick money for a fridge or a car, who now saw his life's saving going up in fire and vanishing on the stock market floor.

Markets were down 9% on Friday and would fall another 12% on the following Monday. Large emergency investments by leading US banks didn't stop this trend, like it had on a smaller dip several weeks earlier. The panic then spread worldwide, with all stock exchanges reporting a downward trend. It was the large emergency purchases by the Austrian government that halted the fall. Since their "buy out" of the war reparations it had been long speculated that their gold mines stayed similarly productive, a large amount of mined gold simply going into storage. Confirming those theories, it wasn't just gold but silver as well that was used for most of those purchases. Due to the urgency of their need they were focused mainly on the central European countries, though Britain and France profited as well, supplying rarer equipment.

With many European companies retooling for war production, the US consumer industry recovered for now.

But the shock sat deep. While the market levelled out, there were still indicators that not everything was fine. The construction sector lagged significantly over the summer of 1929, and consumption was down, likely due to he fact that small investors had lost disproportionally during the crash.

All this were signs of bigger problems yet to come.

Still not fully happy with it, but better than what I had for more or less the last month...

Durabys · Nov 18, 2020

Viribus Unitis said:
Okay so I'm not an economist. I understand the basics, but it's more of a black box to be, I can work with cause and effect, but the moving parts? Yeah, no idea. So I've read about the Great Depression quite a bit the last few weeks. And I don't really understand it. And it seems so do few others, because just about every school of economic though has it's own pet theory or three of how it happened. So yeah, I know some of the moving parts. I know that I know little enough. But as it turns out, for plot reasons I want a depression, and since I'm the author I'm gonna get one. But similarly I'm aware that I pulled several important looking cogs out of the Rube-Goldberg machine and put in magnets, wires and duct tape in other parts. So who knows what would really happen, if this wasn't a narrative? Dumping that much gold on the market, not once but twice in a decade should have interesting effects on the gold standard at the very least.

Hafner, Gregory (1999): A simple introduction to 20th century world history, Chicago: Scholarium Book

Economic Crash

The world economy wasn't the most stable in 1929. In the end all it took to tip it over the edge was war in Europe.

After the Great War the USA found them selves the new leading economy, and more importantly the leading lender of money. Both Britain and France were deeply in debt and relied on German reparation payments to service those. After German Hyperinflation is was mostly the Dawes plan, and the US loans that came with it, that kept the German economy afloat, and thereby able to pay preparations.

In the meantime consumerism in the US was at an all time height. The consumer economy expanded massively, and the stock market reacted accordingly. It appeared that that growth was without limit, that the US had entered the final chapter of eternal prosperity. In this climate more and more investments were also taken outside of the US. European companies still recovering from the Great War war seen as a good growth opportunity. This went that far, that some people even took up loans, in order to use the money to then invest.

There were experts that only months earlier had warned that the market had overheated, that it was due for a course correction, but few listened to them, the fate of those predicting disaster everywhere.

When news of renewed war in Europe arrived in the US it caused a short dip, but the market recovered for a few days. Speculation is, that it was the picture of the burnt out Ford dealership in Innsbruck on the cover of New York's Evening Post on 18th April that caused the panic selling.

It is said that this was caused by the small investor, not the professional. The small worker who had hopped for some quick money for a fridge or a car, who now saw his life's saving going up in fire and vanishing on the stock market floor.

Markets were down 9% on Friday and would fall another 12% on the following Monday. Large emergency investments by leading US banks didn't stop this trend, like it had on a smaller dip several weeks earlier. The panic then spread worldwide, with all stock exchanges reporting a downward trend. It was the large emergency purchases by the Austrian government that halted the fall. Since their "buy out" of the war reparations it had been long speculated that their gold mines stayed similarly productive, a large amount of mined gold simply going into storage. Confirming those theories, it wasn't just gold but silver as well that was used for most of those purchases. Due to the urgency of their need they were focused mainly on the central European countries, though Britain and France profited as well, supplying rarer equipment.

With many European companies retooling for war production, the US consumer industry recovered for now.

But the shock sat deep. While the market levelled out, there were still indicators that not everything was fine. The construction sector lagged significantly over the summer of 1929, and consumption was down, likely due to he fact that small investors had lost disproportionally during the crash.

All this were signs of bigger problems yet to come.

Still not fully happy with it, but better than what I had for more or less the last month...

Wasn't this a partial Bubble Burst, meaning the ITL Great Stock Crash and the following Great Depression won't be so cataclysmic?

Viribus Unitis · Nov 18, 2020

Durabys said:
Wasn't this a partial Bubble Burst, meaning the ITL Great Stock Crash and the following Great Depression won't be so cataclysmic?

A lot of the root problems are still out there. And even OTL there were a lot of people who thought it wasn't too bad until the second big shock came.

If you add everything up however, looking into both time lines at the same time? As only we writing/reading this story can? We'll see.

(At one point I played with the idea of using the McGuffin to worsen the Dust Bowl... I decided against it.)

Arentrir · Nov 18, 2020

If no measures are taken then there is the potential for an even deeper downturn for the economy in the US, at least initially. It would be hard for them to prevent the stock market crash, though lessening the effects of it is podsible especially if this foreshafowing of a potentially greater bust of their "economic prosperity".
It's a short look into it and this has definetely delayed it, whoch brings us in the many potential avenues for alt.history to take its course, so I can't really even speculate much without going down a certain line of thought thus following one course of action which may not occur at all. Not very deep in economics myself though I have a handling of the basics. The Great Depression is a cascade of economic doenturns that complimented each other in the worst ways possible.
As for your previous message, thanks for replying dude. The story is going along great from what I'm seeing. It's also difficult for me to reccomend anything mainly because the story is under your purview and am enjoying it as such.
That along with not knoeing exactly what to change and how to do it without without breaking the flow or it coinciding with what you are already doing, which is world builsing and giving more depth and nuance to this version of the past world, ehile maintaining the general direction of what the goal and purpose the story is following.
Namely that if Austia and how with the changes stated they will develop and change not only themselves and those around them, but even have influence across the globe (however minor or coincidental it may be).
I guess what I'd like to see more of are recurring characters with a strong conviction and determination to act. Characters we can understand and appreacite while they have a clear place in the story (I'm struggling a bit to properly explain, and you already have a few such characters. But I'm suggesting something with a stronger emotional connection ans more leverage to act that a regular soldier grunt. So a rising officer/politian etc.)
Though that only matters if you want the story to take a more personal turn and have glimpses from the peoples view, or maybe it won't work with your writing style. It is just something I usually incorporate in my personal writings when I'm not going all out on world building.
Thanks for reading this if you managed to get through it all.
(A little more on the rambling side, but I'm a bit too tired to manage anything more coherent now)

Viribus Unitis · Nov 18, 2020

Arentrir said:
*snip*
As for your previous message, thanks for replying dude. The story is going along great from what I'm seeing. It's also difficult for me to reccomend anything mainly because the story is under your purview and am enjoying it as such. That along with not knoeing exactly what to change and how to do it without without breaking the flow or it coinciding with what you are already doing, which is world builsing and giving more depth and nuance to this version of the past world, ehile maintaining the general direction of what the goal and purpose the story is following.
Namely that if Austia and how with the changes stated they will develop and change not only themselves and those around them, but even have influence across the globe (however minor or coincidental it may be).
I guess what I'd like to see more of are recurring characters with a strong conviction and determination to act. Characters we can understand and appreacite while they have a clear place in the story (I'm struggling a bit to properly explain, and you already have a few such characters. But I'm suggesting something with a stronger emotional connection ans more leverage to act that a regular soldier grunt. So a rising officer/politian etc.)
Though that only matters if you want the story to take a more personal turn and have glimpses from the peoples view, or maybe it won't work with your writing style. It is just something I usually incorporate in my personal writings when I'm not going all out on world building.
Thanks for reading this if you managed to get through it all.
(A little more on the rambling side, but I'm a bit too tired to manage anything more coherent now)

Let's deal with that part first.
I've got a lot of stuff in notes somewhere. Some I polish, some I simply ignore. Some I post simply because it amuses me, others because they serve a purpose in my view of the narrative. I've got a complete list of all ships of the League of Nations embargo around somewhere. I'd have to try and dig it up. It supplied the League of Nations post with information such as the state of the Albanian navy. If there is someone really into it, however I could also try to put together a piece on the competition between French and British Battleships, though I think it would be dull, and could be summed up as "they both deployed more of them than were needed, for pride". I've got technical information on Italian aircraft somewhere - some more complete, some with a story they could tell, others just very bare bones - but it's difficult to tell if anyone is interested.
There's a reason I offered up the volunteer ones specifically. It offers a short, very limited insight into that nation, and at the same time challenges me to actually take them into account, more so than just a vague they exist way.

On story telling... Some of them are set up to do more in the future. At least that's the plan. On the other hand you might have noticed that it's been pretty much all, to use fandom terms, OCs. That's down to the fact that I feel uncomfortable writing about real people in those "story" snips. It's also why I couch "textbook" posts as books, it allows me to be less than authoritative. Julius Deutsch for example will later turn up with a speaking part in a snippet I've already written. He's a socialist, and in this story, Secretary for State in the Ministry for the Armed Forces. I know some things about him. He's for example been the driving force behind the paramilitary Schutzbund. I know some of his politics. I have no idea if he liked music, how he acted in public or private, what his opinion was on a lot of things... It makes it difficult for me to write. Then there's the additional problem. A lot of people who were higher up or at least on the ladder up in 1920s Austria, would later be involved in some way with the Nazis. And then there comes someone with an obscure, never published thesis from the early 90s and goes "that hero of yours, you know that one? Totally a Nazi." Probably overthinking things, but that's how I am. Trying to avoid a lot of real people makes it hard to write in those circles. Add to this, well there's the saying about looking behind the curtain. It's all smoke and mirrors, no substance. Or am I mixing metaphors again?

If no measures are taken then there is the potential for an even deeper downturn for the economy in the US, at least initially. It would be hard for them to prevent the stock market crash, though lessening the effects of it is podsible especially if this foreshafowing of a potentially greater bust of their "economic prosperity".
It's a short look into it and this has definetely delayed it, whoch brings us in the many potential avenues for alt.history to take its course, so I can't really even speculate much without going down a certain line of thought thus following one course of action which may not occur at all. Not very deep in economics myself though I have a handling of the basics. The Great Depression is a cascade of economic doenturns that complimented each other in the worst ways possible.

So spoilers incoming, you have been warned: (if you however written your thesis on the Great Depression, feel free to peak and correct me)

You really want to know?
There are some things outstanding. The Austrian spending will end just as suddenly soon. It's emergency measures. We need this shit right now stuff. It ends. And the poor fools that retooled for that and then are late to the party? Yeah those exist as well. Secondly there are two very good harvests upcoming. I haven't messed with the climate yet. And a lot of farmers, especially in the US, but more so elsewhere as well in this ATL, have loans that they can't service with those low food prices. Then there are a whole bunch of old bad loans in Europe still floating around. Note that OTL at this point (well projected further forwards later in the year with the crash) no bank has failed. CA TTL will have a safety net, but the dominos will still fall. Not least because of that that first shock did to Germany's ability to repay reparations. And suddenly those people who could still consume, those with savings will lose those as well.

Arentrir · Nov 18, 2020

Viribus Unitis said:
*snip*

While I've read Wealth of nations and a few economy basics books and have studied in my own time, I'm more general on my knowledge and a bit of what I say is extrapolations and assumptions based on what I know and can guess will logically happen, but thanks for your faith in me

As for the economic side I really like the little change you made that will have a profound effect on the west and more, if only because of the delayed onset of it all giving a potential slower start to recovery and build up against potential threats in the form of future Germany and USSR (possible even making the British more favorable to appeasement and thus give a certain man more leeway into deciding the fate of a few nations in Europe. And I still personally believe when the Depression hits it will be a deeper blow, though not by a significant margin).
The British and French rivalry on the seas depending on when it's conducted could act as a stop gap measure to shore up some work and salaries for their shipyards, but would be as you pointed out wasteful since the ships themselves would have limited value in the next decade or so and would be rather obsolete when tensions come to a blaze. The political effect depending on how casual or serious an affair it is taken as may endear both nations to each other or push them away creating a less united front on handling foreign policy in Europe.
On the matter of character writing and already existing people and/or OCs. I would just suggest giving yourself a lot more creative freedom and not going down the hole of meticulously researching the life and manners of certain personages just so you can write them with a high level of historic accuracy. My suggestion would be having pure OCs, or characters based on certain people you want to write about and put in the story. That would give you the opportunity to have a basis for said character and have you build him up in your vision or to what you think would befit the scenario and position they have found themselves in.
Going back to the economic side of things, while they will be rather catastrophic on most nations, this effect will be minimized and recovered from quicker in some nations than otl.
Austria of course will still suffer but not to the point of near economic collapse, simple because of the won war, the silver and gold they have found themselves in possession of, the expanded territories and more. Now you did mention that with the end of the war, military production that has been heightened to, most likely, ridiculous degrees would suddenly become of little use to the nation and generally unprofitable.
That in combination with The Great Depression will create a few years of turmoil and economic uncertainty, which afterwards would rapidly (in comparison with the US for example) be recovered from and as with the end all such periods a tenuous prosperity will follow. Which depending on how the government handles it could continue for a while in a stable upturn or have a follow-up crash (however unlikely that may be when the story is about Austria). But with their strength and new more dominant position in the region combined with the future economic stability/boom will grant them great influence over their neighbors and especially Germany.
Austria could indeed become a lifeline of support in their most dire times. Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia would end up in a lot more uncertain (as of yet) position in this new Central European situation and will either close up most trade with Austria in an attempt to shore up their "independence" and such or be brought back much closer in the sphere of influence.
As for Italy, they will most likely be a nation paralyzed in all of its functions for the better part of a decade if not more, and that is assuming mercy is granted to them.
Thanks for the extra info man, it's been fun thinking about it and all the consequences it will have.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 19, 2020

Arentrir said:
While I've read Wealth of nations and a few economy basics books and have studied in my own time, I'm more general on my knowledge and a bit of what I say is extrapolations and assumptions based on what I know and can guess will logically happen, but thanks for your faith in me
As for the economic side I really like the little change you made that will have a profound effect on the west and more, if only because of the delayed onset of it all giving a potential slower start to recovery and build up against potential threats in the form of future Germany and USSR (possible even making the British more favorable to appeasement and thus give a certain man more leeway into deciding the fate of a few nations in Europe. And I still personally believe when the Depression hits it will be a deeper blow, though not by a significant margin).
The British and French rivalry on the seas depending on when it's conducted could act as a stop gap measure to shore up some work and salaries for their shipyards, but would be as you pointed out wasteful since the ships themselves would have limited value in the next decade or so and would be rather obsolete when tensions come to a blaze. The political effect depending on how casual or serious an affair it is taken as may endear both nations to each other or push them away creating a less united front on handling foreign policy in Europe.
On the matter of character writing and already existing people and/or OCs. I would just suggest giving yourself a lot more creative freedom and not going down the hole of meticulously researching the life and manners of certain personages just so you can write them with a high level of historic accuracy. My suggestion would be having pure OCs, or characters based on certain people you want to write about and put in the story. That would give you the opportunity to have a basis for said character and have you build him up in your vision or to what you think would befit the scenario and position they have found themselves in.
Going back to the economic side of things, while they will be rather catastrophic on most nations, this effect will be minimized and recovered from quicker in some nations than otl.
Austria of course will still suffer but not to the point of near economic collapse, simple because of the won war, the silver and gold they have found themselves in possession of, the expanded territories and more. Now you did mention that with the end of the war, military production that has been heightened to, most likely, ridiculous degrees would suddenly become of little use to the nation and generally unprofitable.
That in combination with The Great Depression will create a few years of turmoil and economic uncertainty, which afterwards would rapidly (in comparison with the US for example) be recovered from and as with the end all such periods a tenuous prosperity will follow. Which depending on how the government handles it could continue for a while in a stable upturn or have a follow-up crash (however unlikely that may be when the story is about Austria). But with their strength and new more dominant position in the region combined with the future economic stability/boom will grant them great influence over their neighbors and especially Germany.
Austria could indeed become a lifeline of support in their most dire times. Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia would end up in a lot more uncertain (as of yet) position in this new Central European situation and will either close up most trade with Austria in an attempt to shore up their "independence" and such or be brought back much closer in the sphere of influence.
As for Italy, they will most likely be a nation paralyzed in all of its functions for the better part of a decade if not more, and that is assuming mercy is granted to them.
Thanks for the extra info man, it's been fun thinking about it and all the consequences it will have.

I'll leave most of this standing just as is.

There is already a hint to a certain man in an earlier snip. At last if you are refering to who I think you are...

Britain and France had a race to who supplied more ships to the embargo. It had some knock on effect, not least that a certain Tory backbencher is shouting for more, better, modern ships, but overall a harmless show of pride. As is, the worst was straining two peace time Navies with little additional budget freed up for the task to their limit. As currently planned, ultimately not something that will have a large impact. Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Turkey with their participation in the embargo will have more of an effect.

On characters and story arcs. A lot is down for what I find inspiration. There were a few ideas here and there... But I've not yet found anything that half way flows. Maybe I'll manage something closer to the levers of power, maybe not.

And now on to...

Aus dem Schützengraben zu den Sternen, Part 2

30.4.1929

It wasn't quite a trench line like on the Isonzo, but they'd put in good work since they landed. And it was a good thing that they'd done so, since they'd need them. Even a single Fiat 3000 would be murder on infantry caught in the open. And he could make out several armed with machine guns, even outnumbering the ones with canons.

Ten years ago, he'd have despaired. Now however, they were a bit better equipped.

"Keep your heads down, we've got air support moving in", he reminded his men beside him.

They simply nodded, they knew the drill. Felix resisted turning around, knowing that the howitzers were emplaced and ready at the other side of the river. He did however glanced over to the abandoned farmhouse to their south, where they had emplaced one of their three Oerlikon canons. Tests in Switzerland had shown that those would blow right through a standard Renault FT, and the same should be true for the Italian Fiats. However with their refits and new builds the Italians had played around with different armour plates. He was aware of some that might cause them problems, but had no idea if any of them were actually deployed. He suspected that there was some dimly lit office somewhere in the Evidenzbüro where someone knew more, but he hadn't been told.

Then two Drachen swooped down, their two nose mounted canons booming as they dived down, before the bombs fell out of their open bays, falling amongst the Italian tanks, hiding several of them behind sprays of earth. Then another pair dived in, repeating the attack. A third one followed shortly after, coming in from the south-east.

"Still no sign of any infantry support for them." Jiri noted, headphones on, deeply nestled in the same hole as Felix.

He simply nodded, waiting for Schwarz signal. And then, just as the enemy reached the 1500m mark their howitzers started firing. Just as they themselves they were dug in very well, and the Fiats would need a lot of luck to score a hit on them. The tanks were less lucky, an unlucky one receiving a direct hit from one of the first four shells that were fired.

Felix then gave a signal to Lukas, causing the pyromaniac to grin widely. Several more explosions rang over the field, those having nothing to do with any shells, and everything with preparation. Another tank started burning, and at least two stopped to a halt, probably damage to their tracks.

Several tank started firing back. Probably more to do something, anything, than truly aimed. They didn't have the elevation to engage the aircraft, even if they hadn't already climbed even further. The firing angles of the howitzers were all wrong for the 37mm to respond to, let alone the machine guns. And the rest of them hadn't yet opened fire.

On that thought their three 20mm canons opened up. The three lead tanks stopped dead, one of them even exploding rather spectacular. There seemed to be a pause, but it might just have been perception. Still, the Italians took a long moment to orientate themselves to their new targets and started firing at them. In the time it took them for that, three more had been destroyed.

Felix could see that to the back at least one tank crew had bailed out and was running from the battlefield. While the tank troops held themselves to a certain elite standard, seeing more than half of their number destroyed in a blink of an eye still took a toll. Seeing this, their light machine guns opened up, firing special armour piercing ammunition. They were supplied enough of them, and the tanks they faced were supposed to be the only ones this far east in Italy.

Another tank blew up, with several fully on fire. This seemed to be the last straw, the remaining few crews abandoning their vehicles.

Felix left his Schützenloch, several men following him immediately. There were enemies to secure, and the, again, hold until relieved.

For once halfway happy with the fighting. Even if it still feels somewhat sterile, detached... But Felix is one of the few man who stayed in the Army since the last war and kept on soldiering, so some of that fits the character.

LuxEterna · Nov 19, 2020

out of curiosity whats going on in turkey in your tl (eg supplying the karabakh in their bid for independence?) and also are any butterflies changing things in the far east with the expansion of japan?

Viribus Unitis · Nov 20, 2020

LuxEterna said:
out of curiosity whats going on in turkey in your tl (eg supplying the karabakh in their bid for independence?) and also are any butterflies changing things in the far east with the expansion of japan?

Both are largely on the same trajectory as OTL.

For Turkey, I needed the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) for this story to work. Well, not fully, but precedent that the Paris treaties can be modified by force of arms is important. So with the OTL borders established, little direct influence from or on Austria, it's moving forward basically the same. That is until someone dangled something shiny in front of them with the current conflict.

Including current events has a way of dating TL (that isn't necessarily a bad things, but its something I consider). Karabakh wasn't part of planing this, and I still see no compelling reason to include it now. I'm not aware of any large involvement of Turkey after it became part of the USSR, but I'm willing to be corrected (also considering that them supplying Armenian's might backfire?). So for now, it went as OTL, part of Azerbaijan SSR on orders of Stalin. And what Stalin wants...
And if we are talking a larger mind-share of the issues of minority ethnic groups (thanks to existing Austrian propaganda) as cynical as it sounds: there are others that get more attention. Also something that fully takes off with the war (and won't that be fun for everyone). There is groundwork before it, but it's received and spread with only limited impact.

Japan? I'll have to look into the invasion of Manchuria again, before making any definite statements. It's however on the other side of the world, and of limited interest of Austrian foreign policy. Sulfa might actually keep the Taisho emperor alive longer (that is if one keeps the butterfly net on him getting pneumonia - but if one doesn't then OTL history might as well be ignored completely for events)? Though he was sickly anyway and his son already acting as regent it would probably change little.

Edit: Of course there is once again my bias showing. I'm simply assuming in favour of Armenia... It's similar the other way round. While there is less baggage for it throwing up in Turkey's face, I'm also not aware of any support for Azerbaijan at the time. The SSR had Karabakh under their control, and by the late 20s the USSR was far enough removed from the Civil War that removing Azerbaijan from their control without any wider conflict or crisis would be difficult.

George Mathew · Nov 20, 2020

The grinding maw of war, it chews up souls, bodies, and life. Spitting out metal and loss.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 20, 2020

Something that I probably should have dug up sooner. It existed in a very basic form for a while. Should add in nicely to economics discussions

Gamper, Hans (1988): Introduction to Twentieth Century Austria, Bozen: Tyrolia Verlag

Czechoslovakia

To an observer now it might seem odd that for a short while after the Great War Czechoslovakia and Austria were at odds. With their relative small size, common interests and shared history they would nowadays appear to be natural allies, but that wasn't always so.

When the Habsburg Dual Monarch broke up, at the end of the Great War, relations were strained. A lot of this is down to the fact that nationalists dominated this early Czechoslovak state, people who had campaigned for a separate state for years by that point and had little love for anything Austrian, Hungarian or least of all, Habsburg. Some of them had been exiles, some of them had fought in the various Czechoslovak Legions against the Dual Monarchy, others, like Czechoslovakia's first Prime Minister Karel Kramář had even been in prison for treason.

Records show that there were attempts from the very beginning to renew relations, but in those early years from 1918 to 1920 they mostly went unheard. Despite this, rumours persist that material aid was offered from Austria to Czechoslovakia both during the Polish-Czechoslovak War as well as against the Hungarian puppet Soviet Republic in Slovakia*.

It was in late 1920, after the Austrian nationalist Christian-Socialist Party gained a majority, that relations started to noticeable get better. The Brno Accords deal with a wide range of topics, removing a lot of obstacles in the continued cooperation between the two nations. It cleared questions as to the remaining public debt of the Habsburg Monarchy, it resolved outstanding disputes over ownership, notably the Skoda Chemical Works at Moosbierbaum, and cleared the status of Czechoslovak citizens working and living in Austria. Notably many of those questions were solved in favour of Czechoslovak interests.

In this phase one can also observe a change in Czechoslovak public discussions towards Austria. Blame for past real and imagined slights is more and more shifted towards the Monarchy and Hungary, and away from Austria. This might be down to political rapprochement, but might also have been down to a genuine political shift in sentiment, as the nationalist Czech National Democratic Party lost influence, and several Sudeten German parties gained influence.

It was also in 1920 that one high profile project started, to the annoyance of the Christian-Socialist's own right wing, that stood as a symbol of Austrian appeasement towards Czechoslovakia. This was the founding of the Bohemian gymnasium in Vienna, providing Czech language schooling. It taught in a way that students would graduate with both Czech and Austrian Matura. The school books that were provided there were also sold to Czechoslovak schools at a very low price. This is still credited by many scholars as an important counterpoint to a developing anti-Austrian view point in national Czechoslovak historiography.

Several other treaties and accords followed over the next decade, gradually increasing ties. Important were the at the time overlooked Gmünd Treaty of 1924. While several economic partnerships were introduced into it, such as the one that allowed joint developments of Puch and Skoda to dominate car racing circles for nearly a quarter century, there were several secret clauses included. Some are kept secret to this day, but from what had become known it created the basis for adopting a common rifle cartridge and detailed military purchases that were used to create and train the Austrian Shadow Army. It is speculated that some of the still secret clauses dealt with tank development and the training of Austrian tankers in Czechoslovakia.

Other treaties dealt with reaffirmation of standards due to a joint heritage, or creation of new ones, easier access to the others labour markets and better access to markets. A lot dealt with the shipments of iron, both as ore and processed, from Austria into Czechoslovakia, and coal going the other way.

While access had been disrupted for a couple of years, a lot of companies were happy to reaffirm and deepen old ties from the Monarchy. Economic ties deepened to the point where, with both countries still on the same gold standard, in the border areas as well as some parts of Vienna one could pay with Austrian Kronen and Czech Koruna interchangeable.

Czechoslovakia deploying two brigades of their Army in support of Austria in the Austro-Italian war making them a de-facto co-belligerent was rightfully seen as a catalyst for still deepening relations.

*I dislike the English translation of that one, but it's the accepted one. That one has nothing to do with Soviet Russia, and everything with Socialist Hungary (also called the Soviet Republic, different from the post WW2 People's Republic). I in fact like the term "Räterepublik" better, since the Hungarian one is from what I understand closer to what happened in Germany than Russia, but that's the common convention.

To be honest, if you want a stronger, democratic independent interwar Austria, you're best bet is probably closer ties to Czechoslovakia. That isn't easy and means giving up other things (like a Habsburg restauration in Austria), but it gives a fighting chance. There are probably people who can point out holes in this one all day long, but for now it'll have to do. And there are even a couple things that just didn't want to fit in, like how both countries started to be a "Schutzmacht", a protective power for the minorities in the other.

George Mathew · Nov 21, 2020

A customs union of Europe which eventually leads to a United States of Europe is a dream of mine at this point. I wonder if the TL will lead to that. It would be a nice bonus.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 21, 2020

Aus dem Schützengraben zu den Sternen, Part 3

4.5.1929

Felix threw himself again a tree again. Somewhere ahead someone was firing at them. One of their carbine model Carcanos if he was right. At least it wasn't their own guys shooting at them again, and hadn't that been a laugh when the Heimwehr jokers who were to relieve them turned up and promptly shot at them. That there were Fiat tanks around was no excuse for that, they were clearly not in an operational condition.

Sebastian once again untied to surplus helmet he carried at his belt. That thing had several dents by now, showing that there actually were Italians that could shoot accurately. As he slowly raised it, suspended on the butt of the rifle, the Italian took a shot.

There, that bush was moving. Felix carefully lined up a shot and fired himself, a scream showing that he had hit something. A return shot however showed that it wasn't vital, or that he had buddies. It seemed that at the very least the Italian commander in Adelsberg* had seen what was coming. Unlike many other, who had been caught off guard when Austrian troops moved through the Friaul and then started mopping up the border troops towards Yugoslavia, he had used the time to quickly extend the fortifications around the town towards threats from their side as well. It made them a pain to dig out.

For all the pain they were, he didn't envy those German coal miners from the Ruhr. They hadn't learned the military lesson to never volunteer, unless you are the elite, and even then only when clearly thought through. They had found themselves with those nifty, if somewhat raw new pattern machine pistols, some Czech imported body armour, and the order to dig out the Italians from the natural caves of the area and the extensions they had dug all around and across the border.

Not waiting for the Italians in the bushes to find their courage, he gave a quick hand signal. Lukas pulled an egg grenade from his bandoleer, something that was decidedly not standard gear, and threw it forward. A bang, then shrapnel hitting the tree he hid behind. A good reminder that while grenades had an expected kill radius, it was the unexpected that killed you. In pairs they moved forwards, again and again ducking behind trees. They quickly reached the suspicious bush, and found that there had in fact been two Italians. Neither had survived the grenade. And neither held any clue where the bunker that was supposedly on this hill was hidden. There had been a clear path of new growth that might have been used as a road a few years ago, but it ended in the middle of nowhere. It might as well have been just some wild or not so wild forestry operation. As they fanned out they had then come under fire.

"Right, back to the path. Let's see if Schwarz had managed to scare up those old recon photos that got us sent out here." he told his men.

It was drudge work, but it had to be done. He knew the man were looking forward to a night in town. The locals back in the city had been far warmer than the last few stops, the fact that their new occupiers not just didn't frown on spoken Slovenian, but in many cases actually spoke it, or at least something close enough to make themselves understood, certainly helped. And it had been a popular tourist destination, with all the comforts that implied.

As they nearly arrived at the clearing that was the end of the path, Sebastian tripped. Felix nearly started to scold him, but the Gefreite had stopped. He hit the dirt again and again. Wood on the ground, below a layer of dirt. Not something uncommon in the woods, especially somewhere where logging might have taken place not too long ago. But as more and more wood was revealed it became clear that it wasn't some branch or even stump. It was clearly wood planks from a sawmill, not some random detritus.

"Everyone, grenades ready. Gruber was so polite to announce us with knocking, no need to disappoint our guest by not bringing gifts."

*German for the city of Postojna

You might want to look up the Postojna Cave, it's quite impressive. It wasn't the only cave in the area and the Italians heavily fortified it OTL, since there was a railway running though the town. I don't know the exact date for the cross-border tunnels, but I'm simply including them here.

Viribus Unitis · Nov 22, 2020

Gygax, Josef: Mercenary. Part 2

18.4.-1.5.1929

I talked to a few man, and just as I though most were easy to convince. There were a few who hesitated, mostly over a girl, and I reassured them that they didn't have to come. That alone convinced more to join with my idea anyway. The entire thing was made easier by me spinning a tale spanning the centuries, of the great Swiss mercenary tradition.

In the end I raided my savings to equip this mob, though the pay out at the end promised by the Austrians and backed with Zürich banking, would more than make up for it. I played my contacts and managed to appropriate first line Army equipment for us, enough for 80 men. It was there that I learned that Austria was buying up the G11 rifles from stockpiles, and the Army had decided to use this to go ahead with adopting a new rifle as they had planned for a while. This also meant that our cartridges suddenly got added to the Austrian logistics on a large scale, and that they were providing more of a bonus as a result. When I did the calculations afterwards It turned out to be more than enough to retire to some European colony with enough land to never leave it again. Or as it were, enough money for two or three years of my party lifestyle right there in Zürich, even after I paid out some of it to the men.

At the same time I also hired Kaspar Lötscher. He'd been in some trouble recently over public indecency and similar, mostly down to some of the new synthetic drugs that were turning up. I had known him however as a Major in the Army, and a good man. So I'd put him in charge, officially of the second Zug I'd formed, but for all practical purpose of the entire unit that I'd created. He certainly was better trained for it than I.

We then boarded the train to Feldkirch to cheering crowds. I hadn't been aware that it war was this popular, the volunteer I had known about having moved alone or in small groups without public notice. There also hadn't been a lot of media attention to Swiss volunteers, though several papers had noted that the Liechtensteiner Regiment was more Swiss than Liechtenstein.

The train ride passed in a celebratory mood, beer and cigarettes were passed out, making me doubt the entire thing for the first time. I'd seen the whole thing as an adventure, I'd sold them on an adventure, but they were acting like a group of schoolboys on the way to their first vacation without parental supervision. They'd all had their Army training, but I was now worried about how they'd react when they might not have a warm meal for days, no beds to sleep in, getting shot at by the enemy all day and most problematic of all, lacking the certainty of going home immediately if something goes wrong.

When we dismounted the train in Austria I was surprised that there were several young woman waiting at the station platform. They dutifully checked passports before allowing them into the station building and the wider city. When they arrived at our group, the lead one did a double take, all of us wearing army uniforms and rifles, and then simply told us to join the other volunteers on the other side of the city. She even detached one of her girls as a guide.

I was surprised to learn that this sorting station for "volunteers" usually served as a court house. An old man, a judge, even told me when we got talking that sentencing was easy at that time. If you were guilty, you went to the penal battalion. If you were innocent, you went to the training battalion. Easy as that.

Processing went surprisingly quickly, though they wanted pretty detailed information on all men. We were sent onwards to an empty barracks afterwards, where we were tested to ensure we actually knew what we were doing. At the same time our group was also bulked up with some more Swiss volunteers.

Three days later we boarded trains again. We were brought to Landeck and then loaded onto truck in the middle of the night. In the early morning we were told to dismount the trucks, and were greeted by a young Austrian Army officer. I remember him cynically greeting us, with the observation that since we were Swiss, we'd obviously could hike.

As I looked around what he had said sunk in. My father had been an avid mountaineer, and taken me hiking often enough. It wasn't a problem. The problem was the mountain ahead, illuminated by the early morning sun, as we in the valley were still in the dark of the night. My father had a picture of it hanging in his study, since it was the first Dreitausender he'd climbed outside of Switzerland.

Taking up position on the Ortler was a bit more than just being able to hike.

I had this whole rant about grand conspiracies and unintended consequences. But I'm a bit too tired to write it all up. In short: If you pull a multi-layered conspiracy where you can't be certain of the complete trustworthiness of even the inner circles? Yeah, sooner or later there are gonna be side effect. As hinted here, synthetic drugs took a step forwards in the 20s. Switzerland and Zürich especially are something of a hot spot.

The Ortler is one of those positions in WW1 that killed more soldiers than the enemy. And that front needs someone guarding it again. Who better than some Swiss mountain folk from right across the border?

Viribus Unitis · Nov 25, 2020

For once not as an ALT book format, the post that might get me into serious hot water... Since most people here probably don't know it, Austria in the First Republic and in the Second Republic until 2003 was a de-facto two party nation. This went through all of society, banks, shops, roadside assistance, everything. It belonged to either the CS/ÖVP or the SDAP/SPÖ, though I realise that many people never questioned this and weren't fully aware of this. Also probably news to most under-30 people. And so is the historiography of interwar Austrian political history. It's a partisan issue, and you can get torn apart for only using the wrong nomenclature. So writing an ATL where the whole thing doesn't end in escalating tensions up to open armed conflict?
Though as planed in the future of this ATL some of those same tensions will boil over. Burgfrieden only lasts so far. And I hope you can see at least some of the seed in here.
OTL notes at the end of each section, since it seems appropriate here. Additional warning: mostly written from memory - I take correction if someone spots any obvious mistakes, espcially for the pre-1918 parts.

Parties and Paramilitaries

Christlichsoziale Partei (Christian-Socialist Party; short: CS)

The movement that became the CS started with the Maigesetz of 1868. It undid several parts of the 1855 Concordat leading to protests. Amongst the perceived most serious grievances were the transference of judicature on church marriage to secular courts, removal of all church oversight of schooling and the newly created category "no religious confession" de facto legalising atheism.

They were a catholic conservative party from the start, but in accordance with their name, they supported a lot of reforms in accordance with catholic social teachings of Pope Leo XIII. However soon after, in an attempt to show broader appeal they started closer cooperation with German nationalists and anti-Semitism. The "Christian" was seen more and more as a counterpart to the "Jewish" liberals.

It worked and the party advanced to one of the biggest of the Habsburg Monarchy, Karl Lueger as it's most famous member becoming mayor of Vienna.

After the Great War there were changes within the party. While the party basis were still the catholic milieu, the small business owners and farmers, the petite bourgeoisie, the new party leader, Nepomuk Hauser attempted to steer a new course. While with the Great War and it's deprivations still close, the return to many of their social teachings in focus was well met. An attempt to turn away from Großdeutsche and anti-Semitic through were more fraught.

While his careful manoeuvring in coalition with the Social-Democrats had been given credit to prevent the chaos of the German or Hungarian Räterepublik, after the first CS minority government in 1920 it caused party internal tensions. Hauser had to go, but his protégée Ignaz Seipel managed to continue his course. Seipel attempted an all inclusive way forwards, using the newfound mineral wealth of the nation strategically to strengthen business while at the same time taking care of the needs of the workers. From Social-Democrat side this was seen as attempting to undermine class cohesion and an attack on the proletariat, by uniting all others against them. It didn't help that there were regular clashes between between member of the (proto-)Schutzbund and the then CS close Heimwehr. This went as far that in 1924 a worker attempted an assassination of Seipel.

A steady narrow minority of CS, alone or more often in coalitions with various minor parties of the right, made for a succession of unstable governments. In the late 1920s it was the growth of small companies and the success of catholic worker movement especially in Western Austria that allowed Seipel to form a relative stable government with a clear enough majority. While he had attempted to keep open relations to the Social Democrats all along, it was this phase where he finally made some inroads, leading up to the grand coalition during the Austro-Italian war.

(Of course OTL was more difficult. The leaders OTL were more in favour of an Anschluss, more Anti-Semitic, harder on the SP. There was the incident at Schattdorf that didn't happen here, with all that rat tail that one had, poisoning any attempt of reconciliation with the SP. Also better economic growth means less austerity, that felled more than one government due to in-party conflicts, and a slightly bigger increase in voters, in turn meaning less need for closer work with the extreme right. Of course then, when Seipel in OTL offered the SP the option of a coalition in 1931 they refused it, according to later SP chancellor Kreisky they lost the last chance for a democratic Austria right then. In 33 OTL there was a CS putsch, Austria became an authoritarian dictatorship, somewhat similar in character to those of Franco, Salazar and Pilsudski. "Ständestaat" in the more conservative historiography, "Austrofascism" in the socialist one. And then of course came the Anschluss...)

Sozialdemokratische Arbeiter Partei (Social-Democrat Workers Party, short SDAP or SP)

Founded in 1888 as a socialist party encompassing all people of the Cisleithanian part of the Habsburg monarchy, the party quickly grew under the auspice of Victor Adler. They followed a social-democrat path, pushing reform over revolution. This gave them a more universal appeal. In 1907 they managed to push through the universal male suffrage* and then grew 1911 to the biggest party in the Reichsrat, due to their expanded voter base. They were one of the parties that supported the war efforts during the Great War, though there were dissidents in the party.

After the war ended they held the majority in the remains of the (German-Austrian) Reichsrat, and as such governed the country as coalition leaders, pushing through several social reforms. However the experience of the war and a shift towards the revolutionary opinions of Karl Renner and Otto Bauer lost them voters, and saw them replaced with the CS as strongest party.

It was the new more party line of Otto Bauer that caused some problems. "Austromarixms" was thought to be revolution through democracy and tried to bridge the gaps between the second (social democrat) and third (communist) International. This commitment to revolution caused friction towards the right, both in party and out of it, but at the same time a commitment to democratic process brought along a rift towards the Soviets.

Added to this actions taken by the SP caused some problems. They formed scattered paramilitary formations into the Republikanische Schutzbund, stroking fears of a violent socialist takeover. Meanwhile they also proclaimed the new party program in 1926, known as the Linzer Programm. The language used was very much that of the revolutionary far left, causing additional problems.

Meanwhile Vienna had administratively separated from it's surrounding Lower Austria. This made it the socialist stronghold in Austria, and the local government moved ahead with building it up into a socialist model city. Especially the "Gemeindebau", a socialist housing program received international attention.

While low level difficulties persisted, the lack of any high profile clashes slowly prepared the way for coalition government.

*as an aside, since before the ability to vote was tied to paying tax, this stripped all woman who could vote before this point of the ability to do so

(Of course, OTL there were those high profile clashes, and I've also left out just how Großdeutsch the party was OTL and TTL, since it doesn't fit TTL narrative – not because it didn't exist TTL. OTL after the CS putsch the SP was in several steps restricted until they became illegal(the final step came with the Februaraufstand/Austrian Civil War), some of them later claimed they found some kinship when they shared prison cells with the Nazis. Renner was OTL the highest profile proponent of the Anschluss when it happened, despite being part of the left wing of the party…)

Großdeutsche Volkspartei (Greater-German Peoples Party; short GdP)

After the Great War various German-nationalist splinter parties fused together in 1920. They basis was mostly made up by the bourgeoisie, and they were anti-Semitic, anti-clerical, economically liberal and their primary political goal was unification with Germany.

They still provided the CS the needed votes for coalition governments several times, and profited greatly from internal conflicts in that party, largely on anti-Semitism and pro-German questions.

(OTL of course they were quite similar. A minority party that provided just enough votes to tip the scale. They more and more were cannibalised by the CS and a growing NSDAP. TTL of course, CS internal conflicts over the "German Question" and anti-Semitism somewhat reverses that trend.)

Landbund (Land Association [maybe Farmland Association, maybe Rural Lands Association]; short LBd)

Founded in 1922 the Landbund was a German-nationalist Agrarian party. They were anti-capitalist, anti-liberal, anti-Semitic and pro-German. Their main supporters were larger farmers, but they also were voted for by forestry workers and owner of small businesses.

They had a different, but complementary clientele on the right to the GdP. Similarly they were called into coalitions some times. On the level of the Länder they did better than the GdP however. Especially in Carinthia and in Burgenland they managed to gather a significant following, mostly down to perceived preferential treatment of the Croat and Slovene minorities, but also the perceived threat of Yugolavia and Hungary.

(Pretty much as OTL, up to now. Slightly weaker in the two mentioned Bundesländer however. Again OTL cannibalised by the CS and NSDAP)

There were a variety of splinters and other minor parties, mostly to the right, that some that managed to gain mandate, more that didn't. The communist party was the most prominent minor party on the left, but hasn't managed to receive a mandate yet.

Heimwehr

The Heimwehren were a heterogeneous group of various paramilitary organisations that were founded more or less independent from each other. In Tyrol, Carinthia, Styria and the Burgenland they were mostly founded to protect from perceived or real encroachment of the neighbouring countries on German territories. In other places, like Vorarlberg or Vienna, they were more generally founded to combat a perceived threat of armed socialists or the perceived equally socialist Volkswehr, that later was transformed into the Bundesheer.

While generally seen as close to the CS, especially in that early period, there were significant Großdeutsche sentiments amongst the leaders of the Heimwehr. When various socialist groups were organised into the Schutzbund, this resulted in a reaction and the additional growth of the Heimwehr. Yet politically the Heimwehr was seen more and more unreliable by the CS, supporting the German-nationalist parties just as much as the CS. While their roughly 300.000 members were recruited en mass during the Austro-Italian war, plans were made to limit it's post war influence and size.

(Start pretty much as OTL, there they however were tied closer to the CS as time went on, on a general pro-German anti-Semitic platform. With increasingly political leader they also stood as their own party in later elections, the Heimatblock. Later they merged into the Vaterländische Front, the single party of the authoritarian dictatorship.)

Republikanischer Schutzbund

In 1923 Julius Deutsch formed various scattered socialist paramilitary groups into the unified Schutzbund. In this he received covert aid from head of the Bundesheer Theodor Körner. The organisation is a reaction to perceived threat from the Heimwehren and the general rough fighting in the streets. By 1929 they counted some 75.000 members, most of whom would participate in the Austro-Italian war as part of Schutzbund formations.

(Names the same, but very different from OTL. With TTL Volkswehr absorbed/reformed into the Bundesheer under Körner, there is no ready made cadre to recruit from as a basis. Though more support from Körner kept in his position makes up for a lot, as do general shadow army adjunct concepts. Of course OTL it was the Linz Schutzbund that kicked of the February Uprising/Austrian Civil War in 1934. Today we know that incentive for this had come from the NSDAP, to create in incident where they could intervene in Austria. Any way, illegality, fighting, dying, executions were in the works for the OTL Schutzbund after 1930)

Sturmschaar

By 1923 the CS leadership grew wary of some of the Heimwehr leaders and decided they needed their own paramilitary organisation, and founded the Sturmschaaren. They were recruited mostly in the west of Austria amongst catholic student, journeyman and teacher associations. While they never gathered anywhere near the membership of the Heimwehr, their close association with the CS meant that they were co-opted for the Shadow Army and received better training and equipment than their paramilitary counterparts. By 1929 they counted some 50.000 members. Taking part in the earliest fighting as Strumschaaren, they were quickly reorganised into Army units, with only the few "pure" Strumschaar units keeping their paramilitary uniforms.

(And that's completely different. OTL founded as the Östmarkische Sturmschaar in 1930, for similar doubts concerning the Heimwehr. Fought in the civil war with the Heimwehr and the Bundesheer against the Schutzbund and then were disarmed and reformed into a "cultural association" in 1936)

Ludovicusplebe · Nov 25, 2020

Viribus Unitis, I'm planning a very complex timeline where the success of the Habsburgs wedding policy reaches its peak, with Leopold William marrying Queen Christina of Sweden and Phillip II of Spain having children with Maria I of England, thus ensuring a strong presence of Habsburgs in the north, with the Nordic Habsburgs of Sweden and the Kingdom of England as a mere kingdom of the Spanish Kings, would you like to participate in this small project?

Viribus Unitis · Nov 25, 2020

Ludovicusplebe said:
Viribus Unitis, I'm planning a very complex timeline where the success of the Habsburgs wedding policy reaches its peak, with Leopold William marrying Queen Christina of Sweden and Phillip II of Spain having children with Maria I of England, thus ensuring a strong presence of Habsburgs in the north, with the Nordic Habsburgs of Sweden and the Kingdom of England as a mere kingdom of the Spanish Kings, would you like to participate in this small project?

That's not an era I'm too well versed in. Though I must say I'm a bit surprised that'd you'd marry off a bishop.

Ludovicusplebe · Nov 25, 2020

Deleted

Viribus Unitis · Nov 26, 2020

And something new again. I teased it in an earlier post. Once again, at the beginning of the war, from yet another perspective. And some of those Tales will follow people even closer to the levers of power than this one here takes us.

Tales from the Homefront, Story 1

20.-21.4.1929

"Fräulein Nowak", her employer called out to her.

"Ja, Herr Thaler?" she answered.

"I'm certain you aware of the current situation." he told her.

"Yes, my fiancée has been deployed to the front somewhere, he couldn't tell me details." she answered.

He paused for a moment, and then told her: "As you are aware, I work with the supply command, newly commissioned as a Major. As such I am intimately aware of the upheavals our country goes through."

She simply nodded, as he continued: "With more than half a million working man called up to fight, there is a lack everywhere. It wouldn't reflect well on my position if I kept on employing a domestic aid, if she could be used elsewhere. I'm certain my wife will hate me if she has to take care of the children on her own, but it's what it is."

She hesitated for a long moment, then asked: "Herr Thaler, are you firing me?"

"Not quite. I'd actually like to offer you a different job. With so many man moving forwards to training or front-line slots, we are short staffed. If you want you can have a job aiding combat logistics by tomorrow morning." he offered her.

-

She went through her work in a bit of a daze. Working as a domestic aid had never really been the idea of a long time career. It had been something to get some money to the side, so that she and her future husband could afford a house on their own, just as her parents had built one when she was little. She'd been aware, that after the lean couple of years immediately after the war there had been a shortage of work, but since then there had always been the chance of both partners working. It hadn't been something she had though about, but it was there.

As she slowly walked along the Schwechat towards the west of Baden and the new neighbourhoods there, the heard a familiar face calling her out.

"Cilly! I barely recognised you." she told the newcomer. Cäcilia wore a blue labourers coverall, stained all over, and had cut her hair short.

"It fits me better than the stuff my parents want me to wear, right?" Cäcilia answered. It was very different. Cilly's parents wanted nothing more than their daughter finding a good match, unlike herself.

Speaking of: "Shouldn't you still be in that finishing school, convent, internat, whatever, to learn how to snag a young nobleman in a court that didn't exist since we could barely walk?"

"I quit, obviously" Cilly told her "Walked right out and then straight into the Ministry for Industry. With the current emergency labour laws, there's nothing my dad can do about it."

"So you got a job?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're still retooling the old machine part factory, but by this time next week we'll be producing those neat little machine pistols. They call them Ersatz-Gewehr and they swear it's enough for everyone that doesn't see front line service, but might need one anyway." Cilly enthused.

"And you can do that? I though you've only been taught etiquette and dancing the last couple years." she asked.

She looked unsure for a second, before she proudly proclaimed: "We've got the normal workers still teaching us. But in a week or three they'll all be training to be soldiers, aside from a few specialists and the really old folk. We'll manage."

-

Usually she had Saturdays off, but today she woke up early and caught the tram into Vienna. The streets were empty, she couldn't remember the last time seeing so few cars on the streets. And of those underway, most drivers carried the red-white armbands showing that they had been called up to service in one way or another. The mood was otherwise subdued as well, expect for that group of young man who told her at the station to come celebrate their last days of freedom with them.

Even when she had to change trams at the usually so lively Gürtel, there was little traffic, though as she then neared the Arsenal it started to pick up a bit. As she approached one of the guards busy checking everyone who entered the complex, she was intercepted by a young man. If she remembered what Alois had taught her right, he was a cadet.

"Can I help you, Madam?" he asked her.

"Yes, Major Thaler had offered me a job, and told me to be here today if I wanted it." she answered.

"Very well. Wait here please. I've got to confirm that. What is you name?" he told her in a hurry.

"Susanna Nowak." she simply answered.

So I know people like Thaler. They still exist. He's got the good government job, so even if he doesn't need it he employs a domestic aid, because it gives him status. But with the war going on a man in his position can suddenly no longer afford to do so in order to keep his perceived public perception. So he's at least nice enough to actually organise another job instead of just firing her. Susanna - and yeah, the same those letters are addressed to - suddenly finds herself far closer to secrets and power than she realises yet.
Susanna and Cäcilia both come from upward mobile middle class families. Though how that manifests is a bit different. Cäcilia's parents have very clear ideas what they want for their daughter, and it isn't what she thinks she wants.

Tu felix Austria... (Interwar Austria)

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