Recaps

Oscar expanded Daimler’s automobile and truck business, became engaged to Princess Gundelinde, and promoted new weapons for the Army and Navy. After securing approval for a Marine Corps and winning command of the 8th Army Corps, Oscar prepared to lead the East Prussia Legion with Hindenburg and Ludendorff on his staff.

• Oscar secured Krupp’s support for new artillery, then pushed Daimler to expand car production and develop luxury, affordable, and military vehicles.
• Oscar launched the B-Class Sedan, sold out its first production run, and secured large truck orders from the Army and Navy.
• At his coming-of-age ceremony, Oscar met Princess Gundelinde, pursued her in Munich, and became engaged to her in August 1908.
• Oscar and Gustav Krupp demonstrated new machine guns, rifles, mortars, and grenade launchers, winning a limited Army order despite opposition from Moltke the Younger.
• Oscar persuaded Tirpitz and Wilhelm II to establish a Marine Corps, overcoming objections from Moltke and other Army leaders.
• Oscar convinced Wilhelm II and the Imperial Council to appoint him commander of the 8th Army Corps, then requested Hindenburg and Ludendorff as his senior staff officers.

Oscar reformed and reequipped the 8th Army Corps, staking his succession on its ability to hold back Russia, while expanding Germany’s naval and air capabilities. After representing Germany at Edward VII’s funeral and George V’s coronation, Oscar left Britain as its Cabinet debated the threat posed by Germany.

• Oscar took command of the 8th Army Corps in Königsberg and arranged for Prittwitz’s transfer after Prittwitz skipped his welcome.
• Oscar reorganized the corps without brigade-level units and equipped its infantry divisions with greatly increased artillery, machine guns, mortars, and new weapons.
• When Moltke the Younger and Prittwitz challenged his reforms, Oscar promised the corps would hold the Russians for six to eight weeks and wagered his succession on its success.
• Oscar secured Wilhelm II’s approval to continue the reforms, recruited Manstein and Guderian, and oversaw the corps’s reorganization before marrying Princess Gundelinde.
• Oscar showed Tirpitz the U-100-class submarine, gained approval for an initial order of fifty, and urged aircraft researchers to develop faster planes and bombers.
• Oscar secured approval for new battleship and battlecruiser designs, then warned Wilhelm II that conflict with Britain was unavoidable unless Germany abandoned its ambitions.
• Oscar represented Germany at Edward VII’s funeral and George V’s coronation, then watched the British fleet pass during the Portsmouth Naval Review.
• After Oscar sailed home, Churchill warned Asquith’s Cabinet that confidence in the Royal Navy could lead Britain to lose its colonies and global power.

Oscar helped Germany expand its military and secure oil while navigating crises in Morocco and the Balkans. After Ferdinand’s assassination triggered war, Oscar’s strategic disputes with Moltke and Germany’s demands on Belgium left the conflict poised to widen.

• Churchill convinced Asquith’s cabinet to seize the German Welfare Lottery Company’s British operations, and Oscar responded by redirecting its American business to preserve its profits.
• Oscar supported Germany’s response to France’s occupation of Fez, but the Moroccan Crisis ended with the Treaty of Fez, and Italy later invaded Tripolitania and Cyrenaica after Oscar offered support in exchange for oil rights.
• Moritz discovered a high-yield oil well in the Sirte Basin, and Oscar ordered the German Energy Company to extract the oil and build a pipeline and storage facilities.
• Oscar demonstrated tanks, aircraft, and aircraft carriers to Wilhelm II and the military leaders, who approved expanding Germany’s armored and air forces and adding carriers to the Navy.
• Oscar persuaded Wilhelm II to abandon Blue Island and focus Germany’s strength on the Atlantic, then recognized that Austria-Hungary’s planned exercises in Bosnia meant war was approaching.
• Princip assassinated Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, prompting Austria-Hungary to mobilize against Serbia as Russia and France prepared to intervene.
• After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and Russia and France mobilized, Wilhelm II approved Moltke the Younger’s Western Front plan despite Oscar’s objections about its weakened right wing.
• Oscar urged Tirpitz to send submarines and battlecruisers to sea, then departed for Königsberg as Germany demanded passage through Belgium and King Albert I prepared to resist.

Germany invaded Belgium and launched commerce raiding against British shipping, drawing the Royal Navy into a costly battle. Meanwhile, Oscar backed the Bolsheviks and prepared the German 8th Army Corps to lure Russian forces into a trap at Tannenberg, where the Russian assault began.

• Britain warned Germany over Belgium, then declared war after German troops invaded on August 4.
• General Leman’s forces resisted the German assault on Liège until heavy artillery destroyed the forts and German troops captured the city.
• Tirpitz sent German battlecruisers and submarines into the Atlantic, where they sank British merchant ships, including Black Pearl.
• Churchill deployed British ships to hunt the raiders, but Spee’s forces sank Lion and forced Beatty to retreat.
• Churchill secured Cabinet support to accelerate battleship construction after Jellicoe and Beatty warned that German ships were formidable.
• Oscar met Joseph and promised the Bolsheviks money and help obtaining weapons while preparing the 8th Army Corps to fight the Russians.
• Ludendorff and Manstein presented Oscar with a plan to draw the Russian armies into East Prussia and destroy them near Tannenberg.
• Ivan Gylinski sent the Russian 1st and 2nd Army Corps into East Prussia, and Samsonov’s troops began their attack on German positions at Tannenberg.