The war in Italy continued to progress at a rate that Bruno found to be not at all surprising, and yet still somewhat alarming. By the year’s end, the Ottomans were sure to capitulate. Though General Caneva was praised within international. newspaper outlets for his “bold, decisive, and aggressive strategy which crushed the Ottoman defense while outnumbered and outgunned,”
Bruno knew that this likely was not the case. He had done some of his own investigating into what happened outside Shar al-Shatt, and sure enough, the change in the timeline had not resulted from any major shift in the infamous General’s personality. Rather, it was an act of insubordination from a figure who was unknown to Bruno in his previous life.
This man was the officer in charge of the Italian Brigade holding the line while under orders to wait for reinforcements. He was, in all honesty, a figure unknown to Bruno from his past life, and because of this, Bruno thought perhaps he was a threat that needed to be removed.
The reality of the situation was far from Bruno’s worst fears. Colonel Giovanni Columbo was not a reincarnated individual like Bruno’s paranoia had compelled him to investigate. Rather, he was a nameless officer in the ranks of the Italian Army who history likely forgot the name of, as in Bruno’s past life, he had not made any significant contributions to the war effort.
In fact, according to Bruno’s investigation, he received a battlefield promotion after the initial landing to the rank of colonel, likely as a result of the butterfly effect. Whoever was supposed to be in his position had died in the earliest days of the war, being replaced by this nameless figure.
And it was because of this that his impatient and daring character led to a major shift. in the war’s timeline. While Bruno would continue to monitor this newly emerged face, he was instead more focused on General Caneva’s newfound prestige.
Obviously, the direct insubordination by the Colonel beneath his command had been covered up; the man responsible for this victory was likely given leniency in exchange for the credit being stripped from him.
This changed things, as General Caneva’s poor performance in the war basically stripped him of any battlefield command by the end of the war and brought back to the Italian homeland to basically serve a desk job for the rest of his career. He had been given a promotion, but it was in name only.
But now… now he was likely to be considered a far more capable general than he actually was, and if that happened, Italy would be even worse off when the time for a war with the German Reich became a reality.
This had, in some ways, benefited Bruno and his ambitions, but only mildly so. With the preparations he had made, he believed defeating the Italian Army in the Alps would take a single decisive battle. And from there, it was a short march into Rome.
Whether or not they had one more incompetent general in a position of power really did not change too much of his overall plans for this world. Instead, Bruno’s attention was primarily being focused on the 1912 elections.
Sure, the bulk of the fun had not yet even truly begun; the election was in the early stages, and the primaries had not even concluded. But with the current failure of Woodrow Wilson’s campaign, he would need a miracle to emerge as the front-runner for the Democratic Party.
Simply put, Bruno had crippled the man before he could even make it to the general election. And finally, on December 21st, 1911, Bruno received the greatest gift he could possibly obtain on his 32nd birthday.
Woodrow Wilson, having had his reputation soiled by slander and libel of the most heinous kind, resulting in him losing nearly all of his backers, had dropped out of the race and was among the first candidates to do so.
The man who had led the United States during the Great War of Bruno’s past life had thrown in the towel and ceased his candidacy before the primaries had truly begun. Bruno had won a significant battle, and yet the war for the soul of Western civilization was still inconclusive.
This victory surely sparked a moment of celebration but was in no way the end of what was to come. Without Woodrow Wilson as the Democratic nominee, it meant another figure would take his place, one who may have a chance of winning, even with how slight that currently may be.
Bruno silently prayed to the Lord God Almighty that Champ Clark would be the Democratic nominee because he, unlike Woodrow Wilson, had until the very end opposed the U.S. entry into the war during Bruno’s past life.
Either way, it was starting to appear that the most likely candidates to be nominated towards the two American political parties were both opposed to entering the war, especially if Bruno prevented the two major sparks that had caused this in his past life.
All he needed to worry about was the wild card that was Theodore Roosevelt. Thought Bruno respected the 26th President of the United States far more than he did Woodrow Wilson or the other President to share Teddy’s last name, the man was the type who was highly likely to get involved in the war effort or at least do everything he could.
This is, after all, the man who resigned from his post as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy to go volunteer to fight in the Spanish-American War because he saw it as an opportunity to prove himself as a man. In addition to this, he was the man who had
played a large part in the growth of American overseas territories.
If the worst came to worst, and Theodore Roosevelt was elected, Bruno would have to try to persuade him to side with the Imperial Powers rather than the Allies. But that was a worry for another time. For now, Bruno sat at the head of his children, being sung to by his wife and children as they celebrated his thirty-second year in this world.
It was a surreal moment as candles were lit on his birthday cake, and he gazed into the flames and the happy smiles on his family’s faces as they sang to him. Bruno realized that he had never enjoyed such happiness in his previous life and just how long it had been since he had first appeared in this new lease on life.
In his past life, the best memories he had were in his childhood, and even then it was not as if they were as fulfilling as the thirty-two years he had lived in this life. Memories he had long since relegated to the back of his mind came surfacing within the boundaries of his mind’s eye.
All the while he struggled to hold back the tears of joy that were trying their best to flood out. He had nobody who had ever cared about him enough to go through the efforts of preparing such a magnificent multi-layered birthday cake.
Every ounce of effort had been done by Heidi, who had dismissed the kitchen staff for the day as she personally wanted to cook every ounce of food to properly celebrate her husband’s birthday. Her two daughters had also joined in and helped to some extent, albeit mildly so.
The years that Bruno and Heidi had spent together now came flooding back to him. From the first moment they met in his study to their childhood together, where he thought of the young girl as nothing more than a nuisance getting in the way of his
studies.
Nearly three decades of memories together flooded his mind, reminding Bruno of what he was working so hard to preserve: family, folk, God, Kaiser, and fatherland. Things that had all been erased from his previous life for the common man were still present in this world. And he was the only one who could keep it that way. But more than anything, Bruno did not want his kids to live in a world without such things. Because of this, he couldn’t help but lift his mug as he drank a specialty doppelbock beer whose taste complemented the chocolate in the birthday cake
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All while thanking his wife and daughters for the effort they had put into making this birthday a special occasion for him.
“I must confess, I was not expecting today’s festivities to be so moving. I know I don’t say it as much as I should, but thank you all for the love and support you have shown me these years. And I look forward to another year with you all, including the newest
addition to our family!”
Heidi then walked over and hugged Bruno, kissing him on the cheek before allowing his son and daughters to also display their familial affection and respect for their father. After which Bruno cut the cake into enough slices for the lot of them and said his thanks to God for giving him such a beautiful life-one which he would rather die the most brutal death defending than to ever see it slip from his grasp.