Chapter 683: The peace of chicken feathers
Ludendorff did not really want to resign, but wanted to use his resignation to blackmail William II.
After Falkenhayn stepped down, the duo of Hindenburg and Ludendorff became the brains of the German army. And because Hindenburg spent more energy in Berlin, the German army's operations were actually Conducted by Ludendorff.
Because of Ludendorff's insistence, the terms of the Treaty of Brest were so harsh. Ludendorff was partly responsible for William II's reputation as "greedy".
After Ludendorff took over power, whenever his opinions conflicted with William II, he threatened to resign and forced William II to make concessions, so much so that William II once complained: If the Germans think that I If he is their supreme commander, then they are very wrong.
Ludendorff said in his memoirs that he supported peace, which was a lie.
Just the day before Ludendorff resigned, US President Wilson, who was preparing to participate in the election, sent a note to Germany asking Wilhelm II to abdicate.
Wilson's original text is: If the people negotiating with the United States are still the initiators of the war and the imperial dictators, the negotiations will end with the unconditional surrender of Germany.
On the same day, Ludendorff issued an order requiring the German army to continue fighting and resist to the end.
This order was opposed by almost everyone. Even Hindenburg believed that this order was inappropriate.
So Ludendorff was forced to revoke the order.
This was an unbearable shame for Ludendorff, who had a strong self-esteem.
So Ludendorff resigned.
When the news of Ludendorff's resignation spread across the country on the radio, the listeners cheered and celebrated, especially the frontline German troops, who finally got rid of this unrealistic commander.
Except for the offensive that forced the Russian Provisional Government to sign the "Brest-Litovsk Treaty", none of the battles commanded by Ludendorff achieved strategic goals. Even if he had a certain advantage at the beginning of the campaign, he would later lose They were defeated steadily by the Allied counterattacks.
Ludendorff's series of attacks caused losses to the German army of 2.3 million.
From the feedback from the Germans, Ludendorff felt that the Germans were disgusted with him, so Ludendorff fled Germany in disguise and went to Sweden.
Ludendorff escaped, but Wilhelm II's troubles were not over yet.
At this time, Germany was at the end of its rope.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered and the Ottoman Empire also withdrew from the war. Resistance forces in Germany began to emerge. Almost all provincial capitals announced that they would no longer accept the rule of William II. Munich simply declared the establishment of a republic. Crown Prince Rupp of Bavaria The Lehit man is still directing operations at the front line, but his kingdom is gone.
On November 1, the German Reichstag asked Wilhelm II to abdicate.
William II refused to abdicate and came to the frontline base camp, preparing to lead the army back to Germany to quell the rebellion.
General Groener, who succeeded Ludendorff as the First Minister of Munitions (equivalent to the Deputy Chief of Staff), sent a telegram to 39 generals on the front line, asking them if they were willing to return to the country to quell the rebellion.
23 generals clearly said no.
The 15 generals did not make a clear stance.
Only Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria was willing to return to quell the rebellion.
Groner did not tell Wilhelm II the result immediately, but told Hindenburg.
Hindenburg reminded Wilhelm II that the situation was irreversible.
William II went into exile in the Netherlands.
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Willem II are distant relatives, and they are both descendants of Queen Victoria.
The German army did not invade the Netherlands during the World War, which was the main reason why Queen Wilhelmina was willing to protect Wilhelm II.
Looking at it this way, William II is still smarter than Nicholas.
After Vasily occupied Moscow, he turned Moscow upside down but could not find Nicholas.
There are new clues about Nikolai's whereabouts. Based on the confessions of the prisoners, Vasily got the answer that Nikolai's family may have been executed somewhere in Yekaterinburg.
After George learned the news, he went to sit in the chapel of the headquarters for the first time for an afternoon.
After get off work, George went home as usual and had dinner with Anne.
Alexandra is not at home.
Anne complained to George, saying that there was a meeting between the headquarters hospital and the staff office today, and Alexandra was hanging out with her group of "brothers" again.
About a week ago, Alexander met a beautiful young actress while watching the ballet in St. Petersburg. After that day, they had dinner together every day.
Ekaterina doted on her children too much. Elizabeth complained to Anne, saying that her mother-in-law allowed the children to eat too many sweets, which would affect their physical development. All the children in Alexander Manor were chubby. .
The cat at home gave birth to a litter of three kittens, but only one survived. Because of this kitten, the dog and cat fought every day.
Anne kept talking at the dinner table. Although the parents were a bit nagging, George finally had a smile on his face.
The next day George went to work and had a lot of housework to do.
After Nicholas abdicated, the provisional government declared the Romanov family guilty, and all the properties of the grand dukes in St. Petersburg and Moscow were confiscated.
The wiser Grand Duke fled St. Petersburg directly after Nicholas abdicated.
Now people are still alive and the money is gone.
Except for George and Nicholas Jr., only four grand dukes are still alive, and the rest are either confirmed dead or their whereabouts are unknown.
Those whose whereabouts are still unknown can basically be determined to be dead. The princes hope that the property that belongs to them will be returned to them as soon as possible. The property lost in the war will be recovered if possible. If it cannot be recovered, they hope to receive some compensation.
Witt asked George what should be done.
George asked Werther to hand over all these matters to Guchkov.
Compared with Witte, Guchkov told the princes clearly and clearly that Russia was now a republic and their titles and status could not be retained.
Out of sympathy, Constantinople will continue to pay living expenses for the Grand Duke, but only for their generation, and their descendants will no longer have any privileges.
George's cousin, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich, was surprised. Didn't he say that George was going to ascend the throne? Isn't George willing to inherit the empire?
The relationship between Alexander and George dates back to Alexander I.
Yayi died in 1825.
Alexander had lived in Paris for a long time and never returned to Russia except on major festivals.
It is for this reason that Alexander escaped.
Even so, the Russian Empire still paid Alexander a salary, which was indeed the most benevolent thing.
George had no feelings at all for these relatives who were beyond his reach.
Even if they returned to Russia like Paul after the war broke out and made a gesture of serving the empire, George would not ignore them.
Paul and three other archdukes were executed in the Peter and Paul Fortress on the eve of the reconquest of St. Petersburg.
Fortunately, Paul's son, Archduke Dmitry, who had participated in the killing of Rasputin, escaped because he was sent to the Caucasus Military District.
Dmitri is now in Moscow, avenging his father.
This is Dmitri's only request.
Dmitri and his sister, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, were registered as military personnel after the war broke out and served in the Russian army. Maria worked in the rear hospital.
For such an archduke, George would definitely not leave him alone.
"Honorable Grand Duke Nikolayevich, please forgive me, this may be the last time I call you this. You must understand the fact that even if Grand Duke Yuriev ascends the throne, his surname is not Romano Husband.”
Guchkov was all smiles.
Alexander felt cold all over.
This means that if you continue to be ignorant, you will become a floating corpse in the Bosporus tomorrow.
After the news of Nicholas's death came out, many members of the nobility jumped into the river and committed suicide because they could not accept this fact, and were buried in honor of the empire and the Tsar.
Each of them was commended by the Constantinople government for their loyalty and bravery.
A little trivia: In 1917, the Russian Empire was extremely financially strapped due to the war. Under such circumstances, the Russian Empire paid a salary of 170 million rubles for the aristocracy.
In 1917, the Russian army, which was fighting on the front line, had only 180 million rubles in total.
Only the Russian military's living expenses are counted here, and the consumption of weapons and equipment is not included.
This is why the Russians had to overthrow the aristocracy.
Alexander accepted this fact and left Constantinople silently.
On November 3, 80,000 sailors revolted in the German port of Kiel. The world’s second fleet, built with a lot of money by William II, played almost no role during the war. In this humiliating way, Ended his mission.
The treatment of German sailors is the best among all German troops.
When the German troops on the Western Front were already starving, the sailors in Kiel Port could still eat meat.
The reason for the sailors' uprising was that the German government was financially exhausted and wanted to reduce the supply of meat.
On November 8, a delegation led by Mathias Ersberg arrived in Compiègne, France, where the Allied headquarters was located, and surrendered to the Allied Powers.
Foch demanded that all German troops withdraw to Germany within 3 days and hand over all territory on the west bank of the Rhine. At the same time, 5,000 cannons, 3,000 mortars, 30,000 machine guns, and 2,000 aircraft.
Oersberg hoped that the Allied Powers would immediately lift the blockade of the German coast so that Germany could get enough food.
Foch disagreed. If the Germans did not sign the surrender document, the Allied naval blockade would continue.
Oersberg had no choice but to sign on the morning of November 11th, and the armistice agreement came into effect at 11am.
After Ersberg returned to Berlin, he was assassinated by an extremist.
The news of Germany's surrender reached Constantinople, and the whole of Constantinople was boiling. People poured into the streets to cheer and celebrate, and all alcoholic drinks in the bars were sold out.
On this day, the military police went out wildly and arrested at least 1,000 officers and soldiers who were drunk and causing trouble.
Alexandra was also almost caught for kissing a Constantinople hospital nurse in public in a bar.
The nurse is female, and she is very beautiful and has a hot figure.
George can only be thankful that at least Alexandra's aesthetics is online.
(End of this chapter)