Recaps

Oscar learned that the Imperial Guard had rebelled in Berlin and prepared to return to suppress it while ordering his commanders to continue the war in France. The situation worsened when Major General Manstein reported that the 4th Army Corps was preparing to withdraw home, potentially joining the rebellion.

• Oscar learned that Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz had sent a Marine Division to Berlin without the Emperor’s orders.
• Oscar told the summoned commanders that the Imperial Guard had mutinied, the Naval Ministry and General Staff had fallen, and the palace was likely under attack.
• Oscar explained that a Telegram in the Emperor’s name had summoned him to Berlin, but the Emperor’s steward had warned him it was a trap.
• Oscar said he had sent one Infantry Division and one Armored Division to Berlin to join the Marine Division, and ordered the commanders to keep fighting in France.
• Major General Manstein reported that the 4th Army Corps was preparing to withdraw home, and Oscar realized its return could greatly strengthen the rebels.

Oscar ordered the 4th Army Corps to halt its return to Württemberg after learning the Duke of Württemberg was suspected of rebellion, and prepared the 8th Army Corps to stop it if necessary. The 4th Army Corps’s deputy commander and chief of staff complied with Oscar’s orders, and Oscar left for Berlin.

• Oscar ordered Manstein to summon the 4th Army Corps’s deputy commander and chief of staff, and directed Ludendorff to prepare the 8th Army Corps to intercept the 4th Army Corps.
• Oscar told Kluck that the 1st Army Corps might need to suspend its offensive against the British Expeditionary Force while the 8th Army Corps was away.
• Lieutenant General von Fabek and Lieutenant General Kurulus questioned the Duke of Württemberg’s order to return home and decided to seek Oscar’s instructions.
• Lieutenant General von Fabek and Lieutenant General Kurulus received Oscar’s telegram, halted their troops, and reported that they would travel to Versailles.
• Oscar accepted that the two officers had not known of the Duke of Württemberg’s involvement and ordered them to keep protecting the logistical supply lines.
• Oscar set out for Berlin.

Major General Alexander Linsingen led the 1st Marine Division to Berlin, where it seized the railway station and joined General Hindenburg’s forces in surrounding the city. Oscar was expected to return the next day, and the loyalist troops waited for his orders while the rebels remained trapped inside Berlin.

• Alexander Linsingen took the 1st Marine Division toward Berlin and planned to secure the railway station and outer strongpoints.
• After Imperial Guard checkpoints stopped the division from entering Berlin directly, Linsingen ordered his troops to disembark and attack the city.
• The 1st Marine Division’s armored attack overwhelmed the Imperial Guard defenders at Berlin Railway Station, and most of the two battalions surrendered.
• General Hindenburg brought the 9th Army Corps’ 8th Armored Division and 101st Infantry Division to Berlin after learning the Marines had secured the railway station.
• The 9th Army Corps joined the 1st Marine Division to encircle Berlin and awaited Oscar’s return and orders.

In Berlin, Crown Prince Wilhelm’s mutiny weakened as he learned he had lost the 4th Army Corps and that the 1st Marine Division was advancing on the city. Artillery fire began, leaving him panicked and facing the likely collapse of the rebellion.

• Crown Prince Wilhelm worried that his plans had unraveled after Wilhelm II’s death and Oscar’s continued control of most of the military.
• Duke of Württemberg reported that von Faebeck and Holmes had obeyed Oscar’s orders, leaving him without command of the 4th Army Corps.
• Moltke the Younger told Crown Prince Wilhelm that the 1st Marine Division had arrived outside Berlin and was advancing toward the city.
• Crown Prince Wilhelm realized the Imperial Guard could not defeat the Marines and feared the mutiny would fail.
• Artillery fire sounded in the distance, and Crown Prince Wilhelm angrily accused Tirpitz of rebellion while showing his panic.

Crown Prince Wilhelm’s coup faltered as the Marine Corps captured Berlin’s railway station and Army reinforcements arrived. Oscar reached Berlin and ordered the rebellion crushed by force, leaving his forces poised to attack the rebels’ strongholds.

• Crown Prince Wilhelm, Moltke the Younger, and the Duke of Württemberg learned that the Marine Corps had attacked and feared their coup would fail.
• Lieutenant General Prittwitz reported that Marine Corps tanks had seized key routes and were attacking the railway station, which Moltke urged General Graf to defend.
• The Marine Corps captured the railway station, allowing the 9th Armored Division and 101st Infantry Division to arrive and surround Berlin with the Marine Corps.
• Oscar arrived at Berlin Railway Station on the evening of April 28 and learned that his awakened elder brother, Crown Prince Wilhelm, had launched the coup.
• Oscar ordered Hindenburg and the other commanders to suppress the rebellion by force and crush it quickly.

Oscar ordered the army to crush Crown Prince Wilhelm’s rebellion, hoping to secure his succession while wondering whether Wilhelm II had survived. German forces retook Berlin’s key locations and rescued the imprisoned officials, while Wilhelm II’s fate remained unknown to Oscar.

• Oscar considered using the rebellion to eliminate Crown Prince Wilhelm as a rival and inherit the throne sooner.
• General Hindenburg, Major General Rommel, and the German forces launched a nighttime assault across Berlin, with the 9th Armored Division leading the attack.
• The German Army retook the Army Staff Department, and Field Marshal Falkenhayn escaped with several imprisoned generals.
• Other high-ranking officials, including the Prime Minister, were rescued and met with Oscar.
• The officials learned that Crown Prince Wilhelm had masterminded the rebellion and understood that he had gambled everything to reclaim his lost position.

Oscar’s ministers backed him as the lawful successor if Wilhelm II died, while Wilhelm’s rebellion faltered under the Empire’s advancing forces. Wilhelm and his allies learned that their defenses were collapsing, unaware that Wilhelm II had already been killed during the mutiny.

• Bülow, Wachth, and Hindenburg worried about Wilhelm II’s safety and agreed that Oscar should inherit the throne if anything happened to him.
• Oscar reassured the ministers that Wilhelm II would be safe once they suppressed the rebellion.
• Lieutenant General Graf reported that more than fifty thousand troops and over two hundred tanks were closing in, forcing the Imperial Guard’s defenses to shrink toward the palace.
• Wilhelm panicked as he realized Oscar had avoided his trap and mobilized a powerful force against Berlin.
• Moltke the Younger and Prittwitz regretted joining Wilhelm’s mutiny as their chance of success dwindled.

Duke of Württemberg, Crown Prince Wilhelm, and their allies faced defeat as Oscar's forces advanced on the palace. Moltke the Younger proposed using Wilhelm II's name and threatening his life to lure Oscar into the palace and seize him.

• Duke of Württemberg regretted joining Crown Prince Wilhelm's rebellion for promises of greater autonomy and feared the consequences of defeat.
• Moltke the Younger told Crown Prince Wilhelm that the rebels had almost no chance of turning the battle around.
• Moltke the Younger proposed summoning Oscar to the palace in Wilhelm II's name and taking him prisoner when he arrived.
• Moltke the Younger suggested threatening to kill Wilhelm II if Oscar refused to come, and Crown Prince Wilhelm approved the plan.

Oscar’s forces had cornered the rebels in the imperial palace, but he hesitated to attack while Wilhelm II remained inside. Moltke the Younger arrived as an envoy and argued that the rebellion had been their only way to restore Crown Prince Wilhelm’s claim, leaving Oscar’s side to confront the rebels’ belief that a peaceful resolution was impossible.

• The 9th Armored Division captured the rebels’ last stronghold outside the imperial palace, leaving fewer than two thousand rebels entrenched there.
• Hindenburg urged Oscar to attack, but Oscar hesitated because Wilhelm II was still inside and an assault might endanger him.
• Bülow suggested demanding the rebels’ surrender, and Oscar agreed to consider it before learning they had sent an envoy.
• Moltke the Younger arrived at Oscar’s headquarters after submitting to a search and faced Oscar’s questions about his part in the rebellion.
• Moltke defended the mutiny as necessary to restore Crown Prince Wilhelm’s position, and von Kiderlen-Wachth fell silent when Moltke challenged the possibility of a peaceful solution.

Oscar faced pressure to enter the palace, but Essen von Jonait revealed that Prince Wilhelm had killed Wilhelm II. Oscar ordered Moltke the Younger arrested and launched an assault to retake the palace and capture the rebels.

• Moltke the Younger ordered Oscar to enter the palace, while Hindenburg and other officials warned that it was a trap.
• Essen von Jonait and Karl von Jonait arrived, and Essen reported that Wilhelm II had been killed by Prince Wilhelm.
• Jonath told Oscar that Prince Wilhelm had shot Wilhelm II after the Emperor refused to abdicate.
• Oscar accused Moltke the Younger of complicity, slapped him, and ordered his arrest.
• Oscar ordered Hindenburg to assault the palace and capture the rebellion’s ringleaders.

After Moltke the Younger’s plan to lure Oscar into the Imperial Palace failed, Oscar ordered the Army and Marine Corps to storm it. The attackers captured the palace and arrested the rebellion’s masterminds, leaving Crown Prince Wilhelm to face Oscar’s fury over Wilhelm II’s death.

• Oscar had Moltke the Younger taken away after striking him, while his ministers urged him to restore order and focus on the war.
• General Hindenburg ordered the 101st Infantry Division, 9th Armored Division, and 1st Marine Division to attack the Imperial Palace.
• Crown Prince Wilhelm and his allies panicked when they learned that tanks and troops were assaulting the palace.
• The Army and Marine Corps broke through the palace walls, overwhelmed the Imperial Guard, and arrested the rebellion’s masterminds.
• Oscar entered the palace hall, accused Crown Prince Wilhelm of killing Wilhelm II, and punched him to the floor.

Oscar rejected pleas for mercy from Crown Prince Wilhelm, Prince Eitel Friedrich, and other rebellion leaders after Wilhelm II’s death. He arranged for the conspirators to be guarded and went to comfort Empress Victoria, who asked him to spare Wilhelm’s life.

• Crown Prince Wilhelm accused Oscar of stealing his position and killing their father, while Oscar vowed that the court would judge him fairly.
• Prince Eitel Friedrich and the Duke of Württemberg pleaded for mercy, but Oscar rejected their excuses and considered using the rebellion to weaken Württemberg’s royal family.
• Lieutenant General Prittwitz begged for his life, while Lieutenant General Graf faced certain death for leading troops in the rebellion.
• Oscar had the rebellion’s masterminds taken into strict custody and left the arrangements for Wilhelm II’s funeral to Chancellor Bülow and the others.
• Oscar visited Empress Victoria, comforted her over Wilhelm II’s death, and heard her ask him to spare Crown Prince Wilhelm.

Oscar rejected Empress Victoria’s plea to spare Crown Prince Wilhelm and ordered a harsh tribunal for the rebellion’s leaders. He also planned to send troops into Württemberg and abolish the kingdom’s autonomy if its royal family resisted.

• Empress Victoria begged Oscar to forgive Crown Prince Wilhelm, arguing that Wilhelm had acted in rage and would not kill Oscar.
• Oscar refused to spare Wilhelm, telling Empress Victoria that the law should judge his crimes impartially.
• Oscar returned to headquarters and told Chancellor Bülow and Foreign Minister Wacht that the Empress had asked him to spare Wilhelm.
• Oscar ordered every ringleader in the mutiny hanged and called for soldiers to be punished according to their crimes.
• Oscar ordered troops to march into Württemberg, declaring that the royal family must be removed and the kingdom made a province if it resisted.

After the rebellion was exposed, the people of the Empire largely supported Oscar, and he arranged Wilhelm II’s funeral for April 30. Oscar buried the emperor in the Royal Mausoleum and vowed to fulfill his ambitions for Germany.

• Oscar refused the government’s plan to conceal the rebellion and had propaganda vehicles explain that Crown Prince Wilhelm and his allies had plotted against the Empire and killed Wilhelm II.
• The people of the Empire blamed Crown Prince Wilhelm and the other rebels, while Oscar’s military victories strengthened public support for him.
• Oscar, the Cabinet, and the military ministers set Wilhelm II’s funeral for April 30 because the emperor had been dead for three days.
• Leaders, nobles, representatives, and more than a hundred thousand people attended Wilhelm II’s solemn funeral in Berlin.
• Oscar buried Wilhelm II in the Royal Mausoleum and silently vowed to make the German Empire the most powerful empire in the world.

After Wilhelm II’s funeral, the Special Tribunal tried the leaders of the mutiny and sentenced Crown Prince Wilhelm and Prince Eitel Friedrich to death by hanging. Their executions left five gallows for the remaining ringleaders.

• The Special Tribunal tried Crown Prince Wilhelm for mutiny and killing Wilhelm II, but he denied guilt and claimed the throne was rightfully his.
• The Chief Justice sentenced Crown Prince Wilhelm to hang, and bailiffs carried out the execution outside the courthouse.
• Prince Eitel Friedrich admitted his role in the mutiny but blamed Crown Prince Wilhelm for Wilhelm II’s death.
• The Chief Justice sentenced Prince Eitel Friedrich to hang, and bailiffs executed him beside Crown Prince Wilhelm.
• The remaining five gallows stood empty for the other mutiny ringleaders, in accordance with Oscar’s instructions.

After the trials of the rebel leaders ended in executions, Oscar postponed his coronation to deal with the Kingdom of Württemberg, whose royal family was suspected of plotting against the Empire. He ordered General Hindenburg and the 9th Army Corps to secure the kingdom and protect its heavy industry.

• Moltke the Younger, Duke of Württemberg, Marshal Goltz, Lieutenant General Prittwitz, and Lieutenant General Graf were sentenced to death by hanging, and seven men were executed.
• The executed men’s families mourned and cursed Oscar while remaining under surveillance, and Oscar’s surviving elder brothers abandoned any thoughts of claiming the throne.
• Chancellor Bülow, Foreign Minister Wacht, and other ministers urged Oscar to take the throne, but he postponed his coronation until the situation in Württemberg was resolved.
• Oscar told Falkenhayn that Württemberg’s industrial importance made stability essential, then ordered General Hindenburg to advance with the 9th Army Corps and secure the kingdom and its heavy industry.

After his father’s execution, Albrecht Fortunatus pushed Württemberg’s leaders to demand greater autonomy from Berlin and threatened independence. When the Prime Minister and Home Secretary refused, Fortunatus arrested them and declared Württemberg independent, provoking a crisis across the Empire and drawing the world’s attention.

• Albrecht Fortunatus and Albrecht Gregor condemned Oskar for executing their father and urged Württemberg to resist Berlin.
• Fortunatus demanded greater autonomy, arguing that Württemberg’s industrial strength gave it leverage to threaten independence.
• The Prime Minister and Home Secretary warned that defying the Empire would bring disaster and rejected Fortunatus’s demands.
• Fortunatus ordered the guards to arrest the Prime Minister and other officials who opposed him.
• Fortunatus declared Württemberg independent from the German Empire.

After the Württemberg Royal Family declared independence, Oscar judged the rebellion weak and ordered the Empire to suppress it and abolish the kingdom’s autonomy. The 9th Army Corps was sent to secure Stuttgart and protect factories as the government called on the rebels to surrender.

• Prime Minister Bülow urged Oscar to suppress Württemberg’s declaration of independence before unrest threatened the Empire and its ongoing war.
• Oscar explained that the ministers had opposed independence and that the royal family controlled only a small guard force, while the 9th Army Corps was close to Stuttgart and Württemberg’s 4th Army Corps was under Imperial control.
• Foreign Minister Wachth proposed using the rebellion to remove the Württemberg Royal Family and transfer the kingdom’s powers to the central government, and Oscar ordered the Cabinet to make Württemberg a province after the rebellion was crushed.
• Field Marshal Falkenhayn warned that the royal family might destroy important factories, so Oscar ordered the 9th Army Corps to advance faster and send troops to protect them.
• Prime Minister Bülow issued a statement rejecting Württemberg’s independence and urging the guards and people to avoid resistance, while Oscar ordered the 9th Army Corps to secure the kingdom and uproot the royal family.

Fortunatus and Gregor’s bid to make Württemberg independent collapsed as Stuttgart’s residents rejected them and the 4th Army Corps refused to support them. With imperial troops approaching, the royal palace guards surrendered, leaving the brothers isolated inside the palace.

• Residents of Stuttgart protested outside the royal palace and demanded that the Württemberg Royal Family withdraw its declaration of independence.
• Fortunatus asked Gregor about the 4th Army Corps, but Gregor said von Fabek and Holmes had refused to accept their command.
• A guard officer reported that an army advance unit of roughly one regiment was nearing Stuttgart, and Fortunatus ordered the palace guards to seize factories and threaten to destroy them.
• Intelligence agents told the crowd that the guards were heading to attack the factories, and the residents blocked their way.
• The palace guards refused their Commander’s order to fire on the crowd, laid down their weapons, and surrendered, while the Commander retreated into the palace.

German troops suppressed the Württemberg rebellion, and Fortunatus and Gregor were sentenced to hang. With the kingdom’s conversion to a state postponed until after the war, Oscar was crowned Emperor Wilhelm III, while Gundelinde became Empress.

• The 9th Army Corps surrounded the Württemberg Royal Palace, and Fortunatus, Gregor, and the remaining guards surrendered.
• The Special Tribunal sentenced Fortunatus and Gregor to hang, and the weakened Württemberg Royal Family could not resist plans to abolish the kingdom after the war.
• Oscar agreed with Chancellor Bülow to postpone that change until Germany won the war and to hold a simple coronation promptly.
• On May 6, 1015, the Archbishop declared Oscar Emperor, and Oscar placed the crown on his own head.
• Oscar crowned Princess Gundelinde Empress and took the name Emperor Wilhelm III, or Great Emperor Oskar.

Oscar’s accession as Emperor Wilhelm III confirmed Germany’s growing dominance, while President Wilson and Secretary of State Bryan recognized that the United States could no longer rely on the war to overtake it. Wilson concluded that America’s national policy would have to change.

• Oscar was crowned Emperor Wilhelm III in a hurried ceremony attended by foreign envoys offering insincere congratulations.
• Wilson and Bryan discussed Oscar’s youth and the German Empire’s rise to power.
• Bryan recounted how Oscar’s businesses funded Germany’s military expansion and how his leadership helped secure victories at sea and on the Western Front.
• Wilson lamented that the Allied Powers had failed to exploit Germany’s rebellion before Oscar suppressed it.
• Wilson and Bryan agreed that Germany would dominate the world for years, and Wilson recognized that America’s national policy needed to change.

Prime Minister Asquith and his Cabinet discussed how Britain could turn the war around, with Churchill presenting a plan to restore the Royal Navy using twelve battleships bought from the United States. The chapter ended with Britain preparing for a decisive naval battle against Germany and its leaders praying for victory.

• Asquith remained Prime Minister because no one wanted to inherit Britain’s worsening crisis.
• Churchill told the Cabinet that Royal Navy officers and sailors were training in the United States to crew the twelve purchased battleships, which were expected to return within half a month.
• Asquith praised Churchill and said a victory over Germany would make him Britain’s greatest hero.
• Churchill reported that the French and Italian fleets had secretly arrived in Britain for joint training ahead of a decisive battle.
• Grey and Churchill discussed how Emperor Wilhelm III had swiftly crushed Germany’s rebellion and strengthened his hold over the country.
• Asquith and the Cabinet prayed that Britain would defeat Germany in the coming naval battle.

At Le Havre, Sir French and General Haig faced the collapse of the British Expeditionary Force as German forces closed in, but the British government had not authorized a retreat. The German 1st and 8th Army Corps prepared to attack the trapped British troops, aiming to clear the way for a later landing in Britain.

• General Haig urged Sir French to withdraw the British troops to Britain before the German advance trapped them.
• Sir French said he would seek orders from home and placed all British forces at Le Havre under Haig's command, ordering him to hold out as long as possible.
• The German 1st and 8th Army Corps assembled at Le Havre after Germany put down the Württemberg rebellion.
• On May 6, General Kluck and Lieutenant General Ludendorff planned an attack on Le Havre to celebrate Wilhelm III's coronation and destroy the British Expeditionary Force.

German commanders planned to attack Le Havre, relying on the Navy to counter any British warships, and began a massive bombardment on May 7. The British Expeditionary Force’s defenses were devastated while its concealed artillery remained silent.

• Ludendorff and Kluck judged their forces superior but worried British naval guns could inflict heavy losses, so Kluck requested naval support.
• Kluck ordered the attack to begin the next day, with German troops to stop if British warships appeared.
• On May 7, German artillery opened fire on Le Havre after reconnaissance aircraft found no British warships nearby.
• German shells destroyed British defensive works and frightened the British Expeditionary Force, whose commanders kept its guns concealed.

As German artillery devastated Le Havre, General Haig urged Sir French to seek naval gunfire support rather than risk the British Expeditionary Force’s limited artillery. He proposed sending obsolete Pre-dreadnoughts or Armored Cruisers to bombard German forces, and Sir French agreed.

• German guns destroyed the British defensive lines and heavily bombarded Le Havre, inflicting mounting casualties on the troops inside.
• General Haig warned that continued shelling would devastate the British Expeditionary Force before the battle began.
• Sir French said the British artillery could not safely counter the Germans’ superior guns.
• General Haig proposed asking the navy to send old Pre-dreadnoughts or Armored Cruisers to support the defense with their main guns.
• Sir French nodded in agreement with Haig’s proposal.