Re: Blood and Iron



156 A Visit To Romania

Romania was a nation whose contributions to the Great War in Bruno's past life were less than significant. In fact, what it was most well known for was losing about one tenth of its population during the entire conflict.

By the time they entered the war in 1916, Romania had a population of roughly 7 million, and by the time the Armistice of Focşani was signed roughly a year later, over 700,000 soldiers and civilians had died due to causes related to the war.

It was an unmitigated disaster for the Romanians who had entered the war on behalf of the Allied Powers for the sake of seizing many lands that belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary as part of their ambitions to untie "Greater Romania."

Of course, the victory the Central Powers gained over the Kingdom of Romania in 1917, much like the one they gained over the Russian Empire that same year was nullified when the war finally ended in the Allied Powers favor a year after these treaties were signed.

Frankly speaking, if the Kingdom of Romania was not currently one of the world's largest producers of oil, and if it didn't lie on the eastern borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then Bruno would have no interest in the region.

But... Bruno had already made substantial investments into Romania oil infrastructure as far back as 1901 when he came home from the war in the far east, and found himself with a large fortune which his family paid him for the patents of his more modern weaponry.

He was, of course, not the only one, with wealthy investors from the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands competing for these shares. And Bruno had ultimately walked away with the smallest number of these shares when compared to his competitors because his wealth at the time was not as vast as it was today. However, currently the German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russian Empire were investing heavily into their nations infrastructure, and Bruno's construction corporations that he either owned directly, or had substantial portions of ownership in indirectly, were reaping the benefits of these projects.

Because of this, Bruno wanted to connect the Romanian oil fields he had invested in to this transportation network that was being established. However, there were several problems with this.

For starters, Bruno's influence over the Kingdom was purely as a foreign investor into their oil industry. He had no close ties to the Romanian Royal Family like he did to the three great powers.

While the family which ruled as kings in Romania were in fact a distant branch of the House of Hohenzollern, of which the German Kaiser was a member of. Bruno could at most ask Wilhem for an introduction. Relying on him for anything related to his ambitions was entirely out of the question.

In addition to this, Romania and Ilungary's disputes were unreconcilable, unlike the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires whose disputes were over potential colonies in the Balkans. The dispute between Hungary and Romania was one of blood and soil. Both claimed historical and ethnic ties to the disputed regions which were currently under the rule of the House of Habsburg, and such disputes were seldom solved diplomatically. Let alone when the potential to claim them via conquest was on the horizon.

Convincing the Romanian King to join with the Austro-Hungarians against the Allied Powers, when their whole purpose to fight such a war was to gain disputed territory from the Austro-Hungarians was a diplomatic maneuver which Bruno was not even remotely capable of performing.

In fact, Bruno doubted anyone could convince the two monarchs to agree to such a thing, as it would rely on heavy concessions, and for what? Access to oil? This was especially absurd when one realized that Russia and Austro-Hungary themselves were already two of three nations in the world which currently had a larger oil production capacity than Romania.

Why should Austro-Hungary give up their lands in Romania in exchange for access to oil, when they already out manufactured Romania in terms of oil production? It did not make logical sense, nor did Bruno even really agree with such a concession which would be required to mend the two nations.

Even so, it was always better to have fewer enemies than more, and with it looking like the Allied Powers would initially consist of the nations of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Serbia. Adding Romania to the list, even if they were only capable of mustering around 700,000 men, was less than ideal.

Could Romania be taken out very early on in the war? And their oil assets being seized by Austro-Hungary as the result of a heavily punitive treaty? Most certainly, in fact if they did join the war immediately in this timeline, rather than wait two years, Bruno estimated it would take less than a year for him to sweep through both Serbia and Romania, assuming he was of course given command over such a theater.

But then again, excessively punitive treaties was ultimately what caused the second world war to begin in Bruno's past life. The result of which was what Bruno considered to be the destruction of Western Civilization as a whole.

It was with all of this in mind that Bruno petitioned for a week off from his duties at the Central Division of the German Army's High Command for the sake of visiting Romania. In doing so, he also made a personal request of the Kaiser to reach out to his distant relatives and negotiate with them on his behalf to allow for a proper introduction.

Unsurprisingly, the Kaiser agreed to this request. He had long since begun to trust Bruno's judgement. Especially when it came to making preparations for the eventual Great European War, which with each passing day was starting to become a more and more realistic possibility.

And since Bruno was expressing interest in Romania's oil fields, as well as already had substantial investments within them, it made sense to Wilhelm to at least do the bare minimum in setting up a meeting between the Romanian King and Bruno.

Hence why Bruno was now sitting on a train headed to Bucharest. If Bruno was being perfectly honest, he had never actually been through the Hungarian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During his previous visits, he had only ever passed through the Austrian Crownlands.

But whether it was in this life, or his past one, long after the Empire had faded into the annals of history. Bruno had never stepped foot into Hungary.

While Austria was a German state that, for political reasons had never unified with the German Reich, Hungary and the other regions of the Empire were distinctively different. Both in terms of culture and heritage, which was evident by the very architecture which was on display in the region.

For those who were uninitiated when it came to the beauty and diversity of European architecture, they may look at the many beautiful chapels, palaces, and other grand buildings which stood proudly among the Hungarian landscape, and assume they were no different from the Austrian portion of the Empire.

But they would be wrong. There were some similar styles due to the proximity which Hungary had with Germany. But there were also both subtle and overt differences even from the styles that were similar to those in Austria.

There were even a few Ottoman style buildings spread throughout southwest Hungary and Transylvania, which had been constructed during a brief era of the Turkish occupation. In this regard, Hungary was perhaps one of a handful of nations in Europe. where old Islamic architecture still stood.

Especially when one considered the fact that most of the European nations who had been subjected to such a dark history had torn down the structures built by the invaders after gaining their impendence. As was common in any land occupied by a foreign aggressor.

Either way, Bruno never found himself bored while he was travelling through Europe. Many of these buildings, beautiful and magnificent as they were, would not survive the 20th century, or at least had not done so in his past life.

Some were rebuilt, but there was a bit of sadness in witnessing a restoration. As one

never knew whether it was truly faithful to the original or not. But many others were lost to history, only seen in photographs and paintings that had been made in the era which preceded their ruin.

And it was perhaps because he could enjoy gazing upon the glory of pre-war Europe, even those nations outside boundaries of the fatherland, that Bruno was in a rather exceptional mood upon finally stepping foot in the city of Bucharest, where he immediately stuck out as a foreigner.

Luckily for Bruno he was well versed in a variety of languages. Having spent his childhood mastering them to a level of proficiency that only a native speaker would normally be able to pronounce. As language was a valuable tool, especially in a time of war. Which was ultimately what Bruno had been preparing for ever since he first reincarnated into this life.

Hence, despite his distinctly foreign appearance, Bruno was able to get along well enough with the locals as he prepared for his stay in Bucharest. Where he was eventually led to the Royal Palace to be greeted by King Carol I and his wife.