Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 254: Maximilian's Redemption Arc Begins



While Bruno advanced into Albania, Russia was fighting its own campaign in Anatolia. Sure, they had given an Army Group or two to help in the Balkans. But considering that they were the ones who actually bordered the Ottomans, whereas nobody else did.

The war with the Turks fell primarily to them. With only an equal or less amount of support that Russia gave to the Balkans coming their way from their allies. Even so, Russian gains were by no means minimal despite the war still being in its early stages.

Armenia had fallen in its totality to the Russian Empire, and was currently being "occupied" by Russian forces, with a potential annexation being discussed among the Russian higher ups. Of course, there was also the discussion for recreating the Kingdom of Armenia, and using it as both a puppet and buffer state to potential adversaries in the middle east.

When it came to Anatolia, that was where the lines had more or less stagnated. Britain, hindered by German naval supremacy in the North Sea, was easily able to send troops and supplies across the Atlantic and Mediterranean to its colonies in North Africa, where it could then send troops straight into eastern Anatolia via the Ottoman railway system.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Because of this, Russia, and its limited support from its allies more or less, had been forced to dig in and wait for further reinforcements while defending the gains they had made. Artillery fire thundered in the air across the borders between Russian occupied Armenia and Ottoman Anatolia.

While at the same time the chugging of the machine guns could be heard in the distance, no doubt from some counter to a charge. Who was advancing, and who was defending? Nobody really knew outside of those participating in the battle.

But the echoes of war were ever present in the current stalemate that was within the Anatolian borders. In Bruno's past life, the Ottoman Empire had to fight the combined might of the Allied Powers with very limited support from their allies.

In this life, however, they were now fully supported by their allies, albeit fighting against a Russian Empire that was more or less on steroids when compared to its previous incarnation. Hence, even with the increase in military capability from the Ottomans, the Russian Army was still holding its ground.

Bruno was a man who tried to keep himself away from all major activities on all fronts at any given time. And because of this, he more or less understood what was happening in Anatolia. The Ottomans, despite being poorly trained, poorly equipped, and having not received the crash course reforms the German had taught them at the outbreak of war in the previous timeline. Still had one thing that other major players in the war did not.

Bodies, lots of bodies to throw at the problem. This was more or less what Bruno expected the ottomans to do, especially as they were not currently suffering from the internal revolts that Lawrence of Arabia had inspired in his previous life.

Currently being the keyword. At the moment, there were German operatives spread deep within the deserts of Arabia and other portions of the Ottoman territory planning to do just that. Inspire the various ethnic groups who hated Turkish rule to overthrow them in conjunction with the Central Powers invasion of Anatolia and Eastern Thrace.

At this very moment, a member of German Foreign Intelligence was meeting with Sherif Feisal, who in Bruno's past life had been one of the many leaders of the Arab Revolt and instrumental in its success.

The German intelligence officer speaking with the man was actually someone Bruno was deeply familiar with. Following his disgrace at the celebration of Eva's birthday, and the humiliation he received from his father's lecturing, Maximilian had suffered a series of unfortunate events in his life.

He was eventually stripped of his inheritance, and denounced as a member of the von Zehntner family after one of his many short-sighted schemes came to light. His wife passed away not long after that from a terminal disease.

And any wealth he had accumulated was more or less gone. Ironically enough, it was the woman he had often chastised as being an inferior being who came to his rescue when his house was being foreclosed upon, and his children were forced to go live with some relatives because Maximilian could no longer properly provide for them.

As if heavenly ordained, Heidi had been personally serving food at one of the many soup kitchens her charitable foundations had established, and had given Maximilian a bowl of soup. It took her more than a few moments to recognize the man, as he was very visibly nothing more than a scruffy and unkempt vagrant.

But when she did, she offered him a helping hand. Pride was not so easily broken, however, considering he had lost everything after his mistreatment of Bruno's family, and ended up in a far lesser situation than even Heidi's relatively humble beginnings. Maximilian had quickly found himself a deeply humble man, one in desperate need of redemption.

And when Heidi offered it to him, first via a bowl of hot soup, and second by sending him to one of the many employment centers she had set up to help find homeless and destitute men and women jobs which paid a living wage, he could not help but change his tune.

It did not take long for Maximilian, who was naturally gifted in many ways like his many brothers, but had always squandered his inherent talent due to his lavish upbringing, to flourish in his new profession.

Maximilian quickly regained what he had lost, buying a far more humble abode, and regaining parental rights over his children. Despite the fact that their mother had perished in years prior, and their father had always been a less-than-ideal parental figure, the children were quite happy to be reunited with their father, especially after they learned of his change in character.

The man had truly begun to reforge his broken life and, for the better, eventually marrying a young maiden to help take care of his home and children. And then the war began. Seeing his younger brother Ludwig, Kurt, and Bruno all playing their own roles in the war.

What with Ludwig being a politician, both denouncing the war altogether, yet still doing everything he could to make sure the army had what it needed to defend it. Kurt now being a full-fledged physician working inside one of Heidi's many hospitals which were established to aid the wounded soldiers of the Great War, and finally Bruno commanding Germany's forces to repeated victories against their enemies, while risking his own neck on the front line.

Maximilian felt compelled to do his own part for the fatherland. It just so happened that the job Heidi had hooked the man up with was being a desk jockey in the headquarters of German Foreign Intelligence.

But after the July Crisis began, Maximilian immediately volunteered to shift towards that of a field operative. And over the past eight months or so, had been working on concluding the training necessary to become one.

With his life turned around, and victory hanging in the balance, Maximilian could finally put his natural charisma, which he had used to engage in scandalous swindles and scams as a state backed conman for decades, to good use for once in his life. And hopefully, in doing so, redeem himself in the process.

This wasn't a matter of regaining his status as "Von Zehntner" nor was this a chance for personal glory. This was an opportunity to support the fatherland, and its war efforts in the same vein that his younger brothers had been doing for years.

And because of this, Maximilian wore a charming smile on his face as he shared a cup of tea with the future King of Iraq. Opening the discussions in the traditional Arabic way.

"As-Salaam-Alaikum..."