Apis’ death had only further emboldened the Black Hand to gain their vengeance against the Habsburgs, as well as steeled their resolve toward their ultimate goal of independence and unification of the Balkans under a single banner.
Either way, it was entirely possible that Heidi’s actions had hastened the start of the upcoming Great War. Or it would have been, if not for the fact that less than half a year after the grisly death of Apis aboard a ship headed for South America, war broke out in the Balkans.
But that was a story for another time. In fact, as 1911 began drifting into its final few months, an interesting conflict broke out that would help contribute to this madness. Italy, having been given a sense of security by joining the Allied Powers, had decided now was the time to press some of its former claims.
For complex diplomatic reasons, mostly tied to the Great Powers all desiring the same pieces of the pie during the scramble for Africa, which occurred a century prior, Italy had a claim on Libya. And currently, the Ottoman Empire was the ruler of the region.
However, because of the many, shall we say, chaotic undertakings within the Ottoman Empire —which one might call the natural course for all multicultural, multi-ethnic, and multi- religious societies-the Ottoman Empire was in a state of collapse, more or less.
The Young Turk Revolution had forestalled the inevitable by a few years, but the problems that were bound to occur eventually were just beginning to manifest themselves. The Balkans, ever a location rife with tension, was like a powder keg that had been lit with a slow fuse, and that slow fuse, after years of burning, was just about to go off.
Over the course of the last few years, ethnic and religious tensions had been rising within the region between the native European populations and the Turkish occupiers. And these scuffles, as we might call them, were only growing in intensity as the years passed.
It didn’t help that Serbia was stoking the flames by providing Catholics within Ottoman- occupied Balkan regions with arms and munitions to continue the fight. This, along with Italy’s joining of the Allied Powers, had compelled them to declare war on the Ottoman Empire and stage an amphibious landing of some 20,000 men on the coast of Libya.
Currently, Bruno was within the headquarters of the Central Division of the German Army’s High Command, listening to reports of what was happening in Libya. He, of course, knew what would happen. Italy, using modern technology such as early armored cars and aircraft, would overwhelm the Ottomans and win the war within a year.
This, in turn, would embolden the resistance groups in the Balkans, as well as the nations supporting them, into starting the First Balkan War. After disputes between the nations comprising the so-called Balkan League, this would lead to the Second Balkan War.
And finally, after the Second Balkan War concluded, the Archduke of Austria would be assassinated during a visit to Serbia. The rest was, as they say, history. Because Bruno knew exactly what would happen and how it would occur-assuming the butterfly effect didn’t slap him in the face with something crazy and unexpected-he was smoking a cigarette and drinking from a glass of beer.
All while the other generals of the German Army spoke in surprise at the technology the Italians were fielding. Initial reports suggested some difficulties in the landing operations, but it wasn’t something the Italians couldn’t overcome.
The Ottoman Army, after all, was a shadow of its former self, capable of being trounced by even the minor powers in the Balkans. The Italians, who many might say had the worst army in Bruno’s past life during the Great War, needed at most a year to take Libya from the Turks and their wretched state.
Bruno’s expression was as indifferent as ever when he corrected something that Field Marshal August von Mackensen had just said.
“They’re not telegraph stations; they’re wireless telegraph stations. It would appear that the other Great Powers have begun to catch up to our preparations…”
This was a wild overstatement, as German communications technology had advanced tenfold over the last decade and was now on par with its 1930s-era counterparts. Bruno was not the man responsible for this-not directly, at least.
However, he did acquire significant talent in the field of wireless communications and threw a fat stack of cash at them. With damn near unlimited investment, these scientists and engineers were more than capable of accomplishing three decades’ worth of achievements within a fraction of the time.
At the end of the day, scientific advancement was often hampered not by the minds of the men who created it but by the lack of foresight of their investors, who refused to give the funding where it was necessary and in the amount required.
It was the entire reason that, during Bruno’s past life, ventures into space had more or less regressed since the moon landing in 1969. As for what Bruno had said, even August von Mackensen was aware of the exaggerated manner in which Bruno had sarcastically praised their rivals.
Whether it was wireless telegraphs, field telephones, or radios, the German Army’s communication system was not only significantly more advanced than their rivals, who were just now fielding the likes of wireless telegraphs, but also encrypted in a way that was damn near unbreakable with current technology.
Because of this, Bruno was mocking the natural development of technology that Germany had long since superseded as a result of his interference in the timeline. Even the Field Marshal couldn’t help but laugh at Bruno’s mocking tone and join in the fun.
“It appears that is indeed the case.”
Over the years, von Mackensen had gone from resenting Bruno, to distrusting the man, to finally seeing him as not only a valuable asset to the German Reich but also a good friend. Bruno’s instincts were generally on point, and if the man was not anxious about the current situation or the “advanced” technology the Italians were currently fielding, then there was no reason for him to be either.
Because of this, the aging Field Marshal sat down next to Bruno and pulled out a cigarette of his own from the pack hidden inside his coat’s internal pocket. After lighting the device and taking a long drag, he finally asked Bruno bluntly for his opinion on the current conflict, which the world’s many Great Powers were watching with keen interest.
“What do you make of this invasion?”
Bruno himself was in the middle of a smoke, and after exhaling a plume from his lungs, he was quick to respond to the question asked of him with an almost nonchalant tone in his
voice.
“The Ottomans will stop the Italians briefly, but the Italians will send more men. By this time next year, the war in Libya will be the least of our worries….”
August von Mackensen looked at Bruno with a cautious glance. By the way Bruno was speaking, there was something far nastier than this conflict across the Mediterranean for them to worry about, and Bruno was usually right when it came to such things. Because of this, he asked, almost with a sense of trepidation in his tone, about what awaited them all at the end of this war.
“Oh? If that is the case, then what should we be worried about?”
Bruno put out his cigarette in the ashtray with a slight tap-there was nothing but the filter left-and once he had done so, he straightened up from his relaxed posture and looked into August von Mackensen’s haggard gaze with a grim look on his face, before posing a question of his own that answered the question.
“Tell me, Generalfeldmarschall, you’re a man of many wars and deep knowledge on global affairs. If Italy were to smash the Ottoman Army in Libya with little effort, what would happen to the Ottoman Empire? Specifically, in the territories they still hold within the
European continent?”
August von Mackensen’s eyes opened wide as he suddenly understood what Bruno was implying, saying what was said without explicitly being spoken with his own words.
“It would be revolution…”
Bruno finally showed some form of emotion on his face in the form of a sinister smile as he nodded his head in approval of his superior officer’s realization before posing another question much like the one he had just said no more than a minute prior.
“And if the Balkan Christians beneath Turkish rule were to revolt, how would their neighbors
respond?”
It was only now that August von Mackensen fully realized what Bruno was saying, and the full weight of the words he had not said directly. He didn’t want to believe it and was quick to ask
if what Bruno was saying was what he believed.
“You don’t mean-”
Bruno quickly cut off his superior officer while standing up from his desk. He answered the legendary German Field Marshal’s question with a single quote from a man greater than either of the two of them.
“One day, the great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans.” – Otto von Bismarck