Suppose that Preident Hindenburg deciedes that he is getting too old to be President in 1932 and he convinces the former Bavarian Crown Prince to run for President in his place. The crown prince was quite populkar during the war. Would the support of Hindenburg be enough to help him defeat Hitler. It is unlkely that Rupprecht would ever appoint Hitler as Chancellor so wouldn't that chance the cource of History. Perhaps it would lead to a restoration of the monarchy with either a Hollenzollern or Rupprecht on the throne.
Crown Prince Rupprecht for President in 1932
- Thread starter chris N
- Start date
Let us say that with the Support of Hindenburg he wins the election and deceides to make changes. He appoints a new Chancellor and begings a program designed to rebuild Germany. The first program is designed to put the people that are unemploed back to work by means of a massive public works program to1) rebuild the railroad system and create a massive autobahn system. The new President meets with the President of Poland and of Czechoslovkia over the next two years to help to settle differences. In 1935 his chancellor announces the reuilding of the German army and of the Navy. Unemployment has dipped to a new low and the President is quite popular while the Nazi's and communist are fadding from the sceen.
The problems inherent with the WR can't be ignored. If the president can return stability and prosperity to the extent of the Golden Twenties then the republic may survive. Hitler will still be striving for power but without Hindenburg and his advisors, Hitler's ability to become Chancellor are suddenly reduced by a lot.
The advantages that Ruprecht has is he was a popular Army group Commander during the war, he is a lot younger than Hindenburg and as the former Crown Prince of Bavaria he also has a political base.. It is likely that the Catholic Parties would rally around him.. As a former Royal he might also be able to use his connection with the British Royals to gain some re-leaf from the war debt.
The Social Democrats were quite afraid of Hitler coming to power and will willing to support anyone who would stand up to him and crush the Nazi Party. As for the former Kaiser's oldest son he had fluttered with the Nazi Party. The Kaiser had forbidden him from running for Political office. . Also Wilhelm III was quite lacking in skills. He had proven to be in over his head in the last war as an army commander and was not at all popular with the troops.
In Contrast Ruprecht was well known by the other members of the Military and would make the difficult decisions. Checking the threat from both the Right and the left
would be a major undertaking as well as getting the German economy humming again. If he could get the people back to work and end the inflation he would be able to undercut the Nazis and the Communist.
In Contrast Ruprecht was well known by the other members of the Military and would make the difficult decisions. Checking the threat from both the Right and the left
would be a major undertaking as well as getting the German economy humming again. If he could get the people back to work and end the inflation he would be able to undercut the Nazis and the Communist.
While there would be no unification with Austria the new President did reach a trade agreement with both Austria and Hungary . He also reached out to the Poles in an attempt to settle problems between the two nations. He pointed to the common threat from the USSR. He also tried to reach an agreement with the Czechs. The Crack down on the Nazis was swift in coming. The President cracked down on the private armies and this had wide support in the Reichwehr.
Ruprecht used the power of the President to breach the limit on the size of the army as he ordered a crack down on the SA. The Nazi militia was to be disbanded and disarmed any resistance was to be crushed. A warrant was put out for the arrest of the officials of the National Socialist German Workers Party. The Nazi and Communist Parties were to be banned after the Reichstag approve the bill.
I think that Nazis or not, unification with Austria was a matter of time. The Austrians considered themselves Germans and wanted to join and the Germans wanted them to join. The only thing stopping them was Versailles, but even without the Nazis Germany wouldn’t have abided but it forever.
Ruprecht was not looking to start a fight with the allies which is why I said there would be no unification with Austria. He did not rule it out but the reality was fight the battles that you can win. Not everyone in Austria was looking to become part of Germany.Among those people was the son of the last Hapsburg Emperor. But whether Austria became a part of Germany or remained independent for now is not important. The main concern of the German Reich President was two fold 1) to eliminate the threat from both the Nazis and the Communist and 2) get the German economy running again.
The President pushed his Chancellor to take actions which would set Germany on a correct course. He breached the treaty limits on the size of the German army in order to have the manpower to crush the Nazis and Communist. He made sure that the British were aware of what he was doing because he knew that the French would not act without the support of allies. He made clear to the Czech government that they were free to deal with any ethnic Germans that supported the Nazis. The German government now began a lot of public works projects putting the people back to work. Germany began a limited building of new ships for the Reichsmarine. By 1934 conditions were improving and the Nazi and Communist threat within Germany was vanishing. Adolph Hitler was convicted of plotting to overthrow the elected government and was executed. Many others were spending years in Prisions.
How would he (or the Czechs FTM) distinguish between Sudeten Germans who were pro-Nazi, and those who simply wanted to join the Reich , whatever its form of government?
Why would unification with Austria be likely to start a fight? It didn't OTL
If anything, I'd have thought Anschluss might come sooner. If Germany is now run by a conservative Catholic, as Austria also was after 1932, unification would seem natural. Rupprecht might not even need to send troops.
After all, most of what Hitler did through 1938 was pretty much what *any* German government would have done, given the power. And once Germany has re-armed, she does have the power. Once she has serious armed forces, the Treaty of Versailles is waste paper. And Chamberlain et al will probably be even more ready to appease a Germany run by a respectable army officer of royal lineage than one ruled by an Austria guttersnipe.
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holy shit i didn’t even notice that. that’s actually impressive. I was a toddler when this thread was posted 🤯
Yeah I agree. An unification with Austria would be even smoother here, especially if the necessary diplomatic overtures are made beforehand. GB is much more likely to accept it with good grades if their support is secured before the deed rather than doing it like Hitler did and making them seem weak.
By the middle of 1934 the German President had decided to approach both the Austrian government and the British Government with possible feelers about a possible unification of the two German Speaking countries. He had also spoken to Otto Hapsburg who was the eldest son of the late Austro-Hungarian Emperor. Germany was trying to undermine any objection before it could .
Germany had rebuilt its army to the point that it was now twice the size of the limits set in the Treaty. The Reichmarine had begun to build some new ships after reaching an agreement with Britain. Relations with Poland had Improved and the same was true with Czechoslovkia. Unemployment was dropping and the economy was strenghening.
Germany had rebuilt its army to the point that it was now twice the size of the limits set in the Treaty. The Reichmarine had begun to build some new ships after reaching an agreement with Britain. Relations with Poland had Improved and the same was true with Czechoslovkia. Unemployment was dropping and the economy was strenghening.
