Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 340: Capitulation



Call off his hounds? Surely he was not referring to Bruno was he? That was a bit of an insult, now wasn't it? Either way, the Kaiser thought little of the remarks made by the Italian King as he spoke of his demands to end the war. Which were not the same as Franz Josephs.

"Frankly speaking, I'm fine with a white peace. Or at the very least, a treaty which imposes favoritism towards the German Reich and its merchants when it comes to trade between our two nations, but I am quite certain that my friend here has other plans.... Ultimately, it will be between the two of you to decide how you wish to settle this matter."

Franz Jospeh smiled and nodded his head at Wilhelm's words. Austria, after all shared a border with Italy, and Italy had done a number on its border towns during their occupation. Some proper recompense was in order, and the Habsburgs would not accept peace without it.

And thus after making this fact known the two sides began debating over the amount that should be owed to the Austrian Crown and its ruling dynasty over perceived damages that were caused during the time of the Italian occupation.

Evidently the Austrian Emperor had a list of grievances written to him by the people that he kept on him, and because he had the "receipts" so to speak he was more adequately able to push for what he wanted, even if the balance of power was only slightly in his favor during these negotiations so far.

That is until of course a servant came bursting into the room, whispering something to the Italian King that had him become ghostly pale, before red with rage. He stood up and immediately threw allegations at both Wilhelm and Franz Joseph neither of which knew what their Italian counterpart was remotely talking about.

"You damned knaves! You seriously thought I would not find out about your dastardly schemes!?!"

The two emperors looked at each other as if they were being hoodwinked by King Victor Emanuel III, before finally giving voice to their outright confusion.

"I'm sorry, but what in the hell are you talking about? We have done nothing to provoke such a furious response!"

This only elicited a scoff from the Italian King who made clear what was happening in the north of Italy as of this moment.

"You have done nothing? Truly? Then why has Milan, Turin, Genoa, and Venice fallen into the hands of your alliance? Huh? I thought we agreed that your men would not set foot into my lands until after these negotiations had been concluded! And not a second more! So what exactly had happened if you two are not secretly conspiring behind my back!?!"

This was most certainly news to Wilhelm and Franz Joseph, and frankly speaking they did not know if they were being setup by the Italian King in order to fall into some forced admission of wrongdoing.

Because of this, they remained silent, and were just about to assure the Italian King that they truly had no idea what was happening, when their own aides came and in silently whispered what they had discovered.

As a result, Wilhelm sighed heavily and shook his head before repeating the lie that Bruno had stated in defense of his actions as if it were the utmost truth.

"I'm afraid this is a very large misunderstanding. We sent a message over the radio to Generalfeldmarschall Bruno von Zehntner while he was within the Alps, but it would appear that the connection was unreliable and he did not receive the notice until after he had already marched on your territory and seized your cities..."

While Wilhelm may have placed his trust in Bruno, so much so that he did not fathom the idea of Bruno purposely acting against his standing orders. Franz Joseph did not believe for one second that this was a mere communication failure.@@novelbin@@

In fact he was quite shocked that Bruno had made such a risky gamble. Had he not been able to seize the cities so swiftly, and gain the advantage on behalf of the German Reich and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he could very reasonably be facing charges of Insubordination, as well as potentially sedition and treason.

But his gamble had paid off, and in doing so, he had seized control over these negotiations for the Central Powers. Italy's initial position of being slightly less advantageous than Germany and Austro-Hungary now had them prostrated before the two mighty empires.

There was no way to bargain about having allies sent to the ports of Venice and Genoa for reinforcements now. Especially since what it sounds liked, the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Armies had already dealt a swift and lethal blow to the first wave of such forces.

This was the death knell in the Italian King's plots to broker a suitable peace, one which favored Italy as much as possible. And once he learned that there was really no way to prove this "miscommunication" theory wrong, he sat back and slumped in his chair with a thoroughly defeated expression on his face.

Any further resistance after this would ensure Italy's rich history burned in the flames of war, and its pristine culture was tarnished never to fully recover no matter how many generations passed. As a result, his voice was horse, almost as if he had been completely sucked dry of all his liquids when he officially announced his intentions to surrender.

"You offer terms, I have none, give me your worst and I will accept them..."

Kaiser Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph I were bewildered by how thoroughly the Italian King lost the will to fight after Bruno's calculated gamble. It was quite a very real possibility that Italy was out of the war entirely, but the negotiations to see just how this matter concluded were far from finished.

Even if the Italian King was admitting defeat, there was still much to discuss, and agree upon before Italy formally capitulated to the Central Powers.