Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 225: Reactions to Bruno's Rise



With William Howard Taft being elected to the position of U.S. President, a man who was beholden to his donors within the America First Committee, which itself was a lobbying group designed by Bruno to keep the United States out of the war, the United States and its official stance on the Great War was one of pure neutrality.

Unlike in Bruno's past life, they did not even attempt to provide material aid to the Allied Powers, believing that any attempt to get involved, even indirectly, was a dereliction of their patriotic duty and a violation of the Founding Fathers' vision for the nation.

To put it simply, the United States maintained open trade with nations from both alliances while neither favoring one nor the other in any official or unofficial capacity. Meanwhile, newspapers printed the ongoing happenings of the war.

One such story was currently being read by the President of the United States, William Howard Taft, who smirked at the photograph of the trenches outside Belgrade, which was just beneath the sensational headline.

"The Wolf of Prussia is rewarded for his defense of Serbia."

The article then went on to explain Bruno had been awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his victory over the Serbian Provisional Army at Belgrade. It also stated that, due to his position on the front lines, Bruno had yet to receive the honor but would be given it personally by the Kaiser the next time he entered a state of leave.

However, the mere mention of the moniker "The Wolf of Prussia" caused the American President to sneer. It was one of three nicknames used by the West to refer to Bruno. The fourth, however, was a name Bruno was only called by the Japanese. It was also the epithet generally used by those with a more favorable disposition toward the German general.

The term "Butcher of Belgrade" was almost always spoken in reference to Bruno by those who hated him. Meanwhile, "The Red Scourge" was commonly found among the ranks of anti-Marxist circles.

The very use of the term showed that the author of the article was probably highly biased toward Bruno, and it was a nickname commonly used by media outlets in the United States. Something the American President found curious.

"Tell me, James, what do you think of this so-called Wolf? I'm starting to get the feeling that the Germans have more influence over our society than they reasonably should."

Until now, the favorability toward Bruno within the American media had reasonably been explained by the significant minority of German immigrants in the United States, as well as their descendants, who were natural-born citizens.

As for the man Taft addressed, he was the current Vice President of the United States, James S. Sherman. Sherman was a man descended from the American founding father Roger Sherman, who signed the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, known for lighting the South ablaze in his "March to the Sea."

If there was such a thing as American "nobility," he was most certainly a member of this privileged class.

It was only natural that the man would have some sort of sixth sense when it came to matters of politics. Because of that, he pushed his glasses forward before speaking his thoughts on the matter asked of him by his running mate.

"To put it simply, I think there is a very high likelihood that the media is conspiring in some way or another with the German Empire to keep us out of the war. That being said, I don't think it would be wise to investigate further. After all, we were elected under the promise of remaining neutral.

So unless the Germans do something incredibly foolish like attacking our nation and its people, I would suggest not kicking the hornets' nest, as they would say. Don't you think?"

Taft couldn't help but put the paper aside as he sat back in his seat. He had a comfortable expression on his face as he explained his thoughts on the matter.

"Wars being waged across the Atlantic are no concern of ours. So long as we can profit off the Europeans and their utter madness, I see no reason to pick a side. Wouldn't you agree, my friend?"

A silent nod from the Vice President confirmed his agreement on the matter. Because of this, they chose to simply watch the war from afar and not care in the slightest about Germany's attempts to influence American sentiment toward neutrality.

In the entire history of mankind, there were four nations that had neither been colonized by Europeans nor subject to their influence, whether in totality or in part. Those four nations were Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Liberia.

However, this was also misleading, as the Japanese had colonized the Koreans before the Europeans could get their hands on it. Liberia was more or less under the protection of the United States during the scramble for Africa.

The United States itself was a nation founded and created by European colonists and their descendants, thus really meaning there were only two nations on the list of four spared from being subjected to the influence of a Great Power.

Of these two nations, only one was a minor power: the Kingdom of Siam, which would later become known as Thailand. Thailand was a neutral country, or at least it was currently in 1914. After all, they were heavily influenced by both sides of the Great War and were on relatively good terms with both.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

That being said, European interests in the region and aid in the development of the Southeast Asia kingdom weren't necessarily out of the goodness of their hearts. A series of unequal treaties had been signed between Siam and the Great Powers of the world.

While significant territory in Southeast Asia had been ceded to France and the UK during negotiations that only finally concluded in 1909, settling the nation's borders as they currently were, the current King, Rama VI, decided to ultimately stay out of the war

altogether.

However, whispers of the Germans and their barbaric ways of conducting warfare had begun to reach his ears, specifically from the King's foreign minister, who was an anglophile, and this caused Rama VI great concern regarding the ongoing war.

Because of this, he decided to reach out to one of the 48 German nationals employed within the Siamese government and inquire about whether he was being lied to by his uncle. Naturally, the German nationals were quick to defend Bruno's actions at Belgrade, stating the official story of how the Serbian royal family was composed of usurpers who had assassinated the previous King and his wife to gain their position and were in league with the Black Hand and Young Bosnia, thus being partially responsible for the outbreak of the war.

After a lengthy story pointing out how Bruno had been forced between besieging a heavily fortified city and marching his soldiers through its streets, where they would have to engage in brutal urban warfare against armed soldiers and civilians alike—or simply gassing its inhabitants-Rama VI was forced to believe that getting involved in the war was a very, very

bad idea.

When, at its outbreak, such a horrific choice had to be made by one of the generals fighting it, Siam's neutrality was sealed.

Thus, inadvertently, Bruno had continued to change the timeline with his actions, ensuring that the Kingdom of Siam would not enter the war in 1917 on behalf of the Allies like it had done in his past life.