＜ Episode 153 >
England, London.
It was a very rare sunny day in London.
It seemed as if the city knew that he would soon be parting from the owner of Buckingham Palace, who had been crushed by his duties all his life, and that he had given the sky clear for that day.
The two delegations who arrived at the Port of London not long ago were quite different from each other.
Both were de facto condolence envoys with their own excuses, but no one questioned the fact that the monarch had sent condolences even though he had not died.
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Most of all, it was because the king, who was the party, welcomed the visit of his cousins.
***
“Nicky. Billy.”
“George.”
Two former emperors and one incumbent king looked at each other.
The two emperors sat quietly beside the powerless king.
“Thank you for coming.”
“… give me strength, George.”
“No.”
he said softly.
“I know my body, I will die sooner or later. It would be no wonder if God called me tomorrow.”
With his neck locked, he looked at his friends and cousins.
“It’s good, though, to be able to see you guys, actually… I never thought you’d be able to come.”
“My daughter told me to go, and she told me not to regret for the rest of my life for not being able to protect my friend’s death.”
At the words of the former emperor Nicholas II, George V felt a bit of envy.
Although it was not his intention, Nicholas II’s words meant that Russia’s current political situation was stable enough to ignore public sentiments between Russia, Britain, and Germany.
Germany is trying to improve irrigation with the UK, so he resigned, but it was possible for Wilhelm II to come to London.
But he didn’t bring up that story.
“Even if God doesn’t call me, it’s probably only in heaven that we’ll be reunited like this, it’s a pity.”
War is coming.
I couldn’t stop it. People from all over the world already wanted it.
The French want more thorough revenge, more thorough lust for Germany.
Of course, the population of France is less than that of Germany.
It has been a long time since Germany’s population growth overtook France, and it was France that suffered the most casualties among the negotiating countries during the Great War.
France, who vividly remembers the damage of the past war, has a tank wave within the military that future battles will flow into mobile battles including tanks that Russia has shown, and the mobile battles of the Eastern Front are too wide to dig trenches, and there are only a handful of people on the huge front called the Eastern Front. It originated from the unusual situation of elite soldiers and a large number of conscripts, and the future battles were divided into fortress factions that, as a result, would start with attrition battles including trench battles and end with attrition battles.
As a result, the tank group was defeated, and the French decided to proceed with tank development and fortification at the same time.
Of course, the priority was the fortress and the Maginot Line.
From the Netherlands to the German border, he declared that he would break through the situation in which all sides became enemies by tightly closing the border and constructing additional coastal fortresses including coastal batteries.
Although the construction was delayed due to the Great Depression, the construction was in progress anyway.
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Meanwhile, the Germans want territories including Alsace-Lorraine and the lust of the Great War.
The Germans who advocated anti-Germanism were blowing the trumpet that all places where Germans lived should be German territory, and the neighboring countries were clearly nervous.
Even if it wasn’t for the Nazis, even without Hitler, the next great war would definitely have happened. To this end, Germany was busy making allies and building alliances.
The Italian government wants to restore the glory of the Roman Empire.
Of course, there were also differences. The Stresa regime, the background of the Italian-Ethiopian War, was not established.
In fact, Italy, which was not very friendly to Nazi Germany, continued to adopt an attitude to counter Germany’s expansionary policy by linking Britain and France.
Even Hitler worked very hard to attract Mussolini at the time, but the story is different here.
First, the English-French link underlying the Stresa regime was shattered. There was no hole for Italy to cut in.
Considering that Italy’s original reason for joining the Stresa regime was to allow the invasion of Ethiopia to be tolerated by Britain and France, under the current circumstances, the diplomatic isolation of Ethiopia, a prerequisite for the invasion of Ethiopia, could not even be achieved.
In the end, Mussolini had a high possibility that either France or Britain would be hostile to his country when he invaded Ethiopia, and after linking with Germany, the possibility of the French invasion of Somaliland and Eritrea became serious, and the plan to invade Ethiopia was temporarily put on hold. reached
As a result, Italy was concentrating on cultivating the capability to survive in modern warfare through the accumulation of budget and infrastructure.
In addition, as the measles of civil war has already been waged once, the forces of dissatisfaction at home and abroad have been wiped out, and the necessity of quelling the people’s dissatisfaction through imperialistic expansion has significantly reduced.
Of course, there could be no complaints. But just that it sank to the bottom of the water was a huge harvest.
And Britain and Britain did not want to lose their old glory.
The British Empire could never lose this splendid legacy left by its ancestors.
Rule Britannia must be forever, so England, the old lion stood in the ring.
To show the brown bear that has been completely metamorphosed, that even though it is a lion with missing teeth, its claws are still intact.
A lion’s claws are long and sharp. Long and sharp as a bear’s claws.
The crown and jewel of the empire, India.
and each dominion.
They were once again united to recreate the glory of the Napoleonic Wars.
Arthur Wellesley, Horatio Nelson, Waterloo, Leipzig, Trafalgar.
I wanted to reproduce it all.
When the Corsican villager Napoleon conquered Europe, they persevered.
The yellow-skinned Russian tsar was no different.
Of course, the past is very different from Napoleon of Corsica. His past, which had been in a labyrinth before the Great War, had spread to a level that European diplomats did not even consider it a secret after the war ended.
It seems that he had to leave his hometown on purpose, but in contrast to the Bonaparte family, who were driven out by the Corsican independence movement forces, his family ran into Russia after being wiped out by the master who betrayed them while trying to fight for independence.
And unlike the reign of Napoleon, who was a true title, he inherited power in a legitimate way through marriage. In the first place, he was only the wife of the Empress, and never claimed to be an emperor.
Of course, if you crush revolutionaries and sweep away the nobles who oppose reform, you might get a nickname like the Thunder Emperor, but the Emperor of the Thousand Islands is not an emperor.
However, it was not a decisive difference from the standpoint of the British Empire.
An undisputed master who overturned the war paradigm and exerted a powerful influence in Europe with his own power.
yes, good I’ll admit it.
His talent for trampling the Prussian legions, utterly annihilating the Ottomans, and bringing the imperial empire to this point is evident.
But even so, I have no intention of condoning climbing.
The ruler of the seven seas, the ruler of all the waves, will always be the British Empire. is the Royal Navy.
The British Empire dares not tolerate any action that challenges its hegemony.
Rule, Britannia, rule.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow. So rule eternity.
Whoever rules the sea, rules history.
Whether it’s France, who overtly attracts British aggression by naming the newest battleship the Joan of Arc class, or the spoiled colonists of the New World who have left their homes.
The British Empire never avoids challenges. No, it’s closer to unavoidable. To this end, it has been gathering allies from all over the world, preparing military advisors, and preparing capital.
And the moment the war is declared, the enemies will taste the wrath of Great Britain.
There was one reason they were still silent. Because they don’t think their country is ready enough yet.
However, wherever the detonator is ignited, the world will be embroiled in a second great war.
None of the people present here were so stupid as to not know it.
***
George V looked out the window.
“However, God has mercy on me at the last moment.”
Even though he was the monarch who ruled the largest territory in the world, his life was objectively far from happiness.
But being able to go on a long journey on such a sunny day is the last mercy of their father, who had pity on him.
“It was a tough time.”
I never thought I would become a king.
Due to his brother’s sudden death, he became a monarch.
His children were heartbroken, and the Great War and the Great Depression swept through his generation.
As his health deteriorated as time went on, his subjects revolted from hunger.
The Communist Party whispered rebellion to the suffering, and the army finally opened fire on its subjects.
In Britain, the existing political forces, the Tories and Whigs, have collapsed and a new wind is blowing in the political world.
While he collapsed due to ill health, his younger sister died of chronic illness.
The fact that he could not even protect the death of his family brought him even greater sorrow.
At least God wished to bless him at least one last time, allowing him to see the faces of his friends and cousins again, even before they died.
But he was afraid.
He was afraid of the second great war that would inevitably occur after his death.
If he had even 10 years of life left, he would have offered to trade.
It is unknown who wins or loses in a war, so the victor may have offered to promise to take care of the loser’s family.
But he dies soon, and he who dies can’t promise anything.
You can appeal to old love and recognition, but how effective will the promise of the dead king and the retiring emperor be?
George V was grateful for his two close friends.
“I’ll see you again someday in heaven, then I won’t be in this position… I wish I could just have fun as friends… But don’t come too early.”
“……”
The two kept their mouths shut. Wilhelm II slowly raised his hands.
Wilhelm II, who placed his left hand, a deformity he would never normally use, on his friend’s hand, and wrapped his right hand over it again, bowed his head and whispered something in his friend’s ear. Meanwhile, as if overwhelmed with emotion, Nicholas II said nothing.
After the two friends left, the only people left in the room were the doctor, his two sons, and his granddaughter.
King George V, who first turned to the Crown Prince, spoke softly.
“Son.”
“Yes, Father.”
“… Your determination, I will not listen to such things. It will only increase regrets and things to say.”
He didn’t like the rebellious eldest son, but he couldn’t say a few words before he left.
“Just, do your best, soon… the people will call you, so be a monarch who will not forget the suffering of the subjects, and… I beg you. Come as late and slowly as possible and tell this father what happened. I don’t want anything else. To this father, ‘I just did my best.’ Just let me hear this one word.”
“Yes, Father.”
Prince Edward replied quietly.
“And George.”
“father.”
“Help your brother well, with all your heart, with the best you can.”
All he could say was those words.
“Leeds.”
“…Yes, Grandpa.”
When King George V heard Elizabeth’s weeping voice, he squeezed his last strength.
“Be happy.”
Don’t live a life like me. I didn’t have the energy to do it until the end.
Not as a monarch, but as a grandfather, he only hoped that his granddaughter would be happy even if he put it in his eyes.
‘May the empire… be safe.’
It was his last hope at the last moment.
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May the people be happy.
It was a wish for the past to come true.