Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Postwar Settlement (1)
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The defeated nation of Germany was saddled with a harsh yoke.
First, its territory was reduced.
“Germany’s eastern border shall be the Oder River.”
This was the result of a compromise between the Soviets, who had pushed for the Oder-Neisse line, and the British, who wanted to shove the German eastern border as far east as possible.
As a result, Germany ended up with a territory of 378,000 square kilometers—slightly larger than its original 357,000 square kilometers.
Considering that the Weimar Republic had originally possessed about 469,000 square kilometers, this was still a devastating loss for the Germans.
The Allies piled on the punishment.
“The annexation of Austria by Germany is hereby annulled, and the two nations shall remain permanently divided.”
The internationally recognized annexation of Austria was canceled, and Österreich was severed from the Reich territory.
“The Germans of the Sudetenland shall all be expelled to Germany, and the region shall be annexed by Czechoslovakia.”
In addition, there were minor territorial adjustments, ceding a few square kilometers to the Netherlands and Belgium.
But the real crux was the partition of the territory.
Germany’s land was carved up—not into four parts, but six.
“We deserve a share too!”
France whined so much that the United States turned its own slice of the Saar into the “Saar International Mandate Territory” and entrusted it to France.
“The Ruhr is the heart of Germany. It wouldn’t be right for America to hog it all.”
Under pressure from Britain and Korea, the Ruhr became an international mandate territory jointly administered by Korea, Britain, and the United States.
In exchange, the Rhineland and Baden went to the United States,
“Ah, we’ve already looted Baden plenty. This works out fine.”
Korea accepted the swap and received Bavaria, Württemberg, Franconia, Thuringia, and Hamburg.
“This about breaks even.”
Britain got Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, and Westphalia excluding the Ruhr.
The Soviets took Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, and part of Silesia.
The Soviets, who had claimed up to the Elbe River, had stepped back.
In compensation, they formally annexed northern East Prussia and eastern Poland, which they had seized from Poland, into Soviet territory.
As payment for shrinking Polish territory, the Soviets ceded all German lands east of the Oder River—including southern East Prussia and Pomerania—to Poland.
The capital Berlin was divided among the four victorious powers—Korea, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union—according to their contributions.
The Soviets got 45 percent of the total area, while Korea, Britain, and the United States split the remaining 55 percent.
This territorial carve-up was replicated in Austria, which had been part of the German Reich.
Like Berlin and Vienna, it was occupied by the four powers and divided relatively equitably into four zones.
The largest zones—Lower Austria and Burgenland—went to the Soviets;
Styria and Carinthia to Britain; Upper Austria and Salzburg to Korea; Tyrol and Vorarlberg to the United States.
Once the borders were finalized, the Soviets began ethnic cleansing of the millions of Germans outside the “settled German borders.”
“Get out. All of you.”
Czechoslovakia and Poland joined in.
Some twelve million Germans were expelled to Western Europe.
This single ethnic cleansing obliterated the German communities in Eastern Europe, built up over a thousand years.
Here, the history of the Germans’ eastward expansion and colonization came to its final end.
But the price Germany had to pay didn’t end there.
“Germany shall pay a total of 54 billion dollars in reparations.”
Of this, the Soviet share was 28 billion dollars.
Korea was set to receive 8 billion dollars as its portion.
Of course, collecting the full amount was practically impossible.
In Korea’s case, the reparations were used to buy up assets from war criminal companies handed over in trials, with the rest chalked up as debt on the German government.
“German tech and factory equipment—sweet as candy.”
But Germany’s karma was far from over.
“Denazification of Germany begins now.”
Nazi-affiliated officials in public offices and key positions started getting purged.
“What? They’re firing anyone who even joined the Nazi Party? It was an era where you couldn’t do any social activity without being a Nazi.”
“We’ll review and maybe reinstate you later. For now, get out.”
The remnants of the German Wehrmacht were fully disbanded.
Weapons were confiscated, scrapped, or shipped to third countries.
“What about defending our homeland without a national army?”
“Shut your trap. You Germans were allowed 100,000 troops under the Weimar Republic, and you turned Europe into a sea of fire. You lot are dangerous even with 10,000 men—don’t even dream of an army.”
Germany thus became a completely demilitarized nation.
“Stick to policing for public order. That’s perfect for you.”
The Allies also reinstated the Weimar Constitution, ruined by the Nazis.
“We’ll even fix the constitution for you. Just try spouting Nazi crap—we’ll have you eating rice in prison pronto.”
The Germans groaned under the compounded punishments.
“This isn’t enough.”
The Allied and Soviet forces made German POWs clear mines and unexploded ordnance, and “restore to original condition” the devastated farms, factories, and mines.
The Germans complained that it was no different from slave labor.
“How long do we have to keep doing this?”
“Until everything’s fixed—or until we say so.”
For the Soviets, this period lasted ten years.
The Germans also had to confront their own crimes.
Countless civilians were forced into concentration camps to witness the Nazis’ atrocities firsthand and see the crimes they had ignored.
“Forget that ‘stab-in-the-back’ bullshit—go whine it at Hindenburg’s coffin. Look! See how monstrous you were!”
War crimes education was conducted across Germany.
The punishments culminated inevitably in the war crimes trials.
The time for the Nuremberg Trials, to cap off the world war, was approaching.
*
“Your Excellency. How did the conference go?”
“The mood was a bit frosty.”
Stalin, whom I met in Potsdam; the new U.S. President Harry Truman; and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee all showed me friendly attitudes, but an inexplicable tension hung between them.
The reason was obvious.
No matter how much we’d agreed to recognize Eastern Europe as the Soviet sphere of influence, if they loaded up freight trains with communist regimes and used Soviet military might to set up communist states, what would Britain and America think?
Even granting Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland—fine.
But not Czechoslovakia.
Turning Eastern Europe’s sole democracy into a communist state overnight? How could anyone stomach that?
We had clearly agreed that Czechoslovakia’s government would be settled through consensus.
Attlee and Truman showed considerable hostility toward Stalin over this.
I stayed on the sidelines, merely helping mediate.
It was a conflict and standoff that was bound to happen anyway.
Stepping in to mediate wouldn’t resolve it.
“We’ll talk on the way back.”
I boarded the plane with the Foreign Minister.
Come to think of it, Joo Si-kyung had been eating from the same pot as me in the cabinet for quite a while now.
It was about time to shuffle the cabinet.
I briefed him on the discussions from the closed-door sessions with the heads of state in Potsdam.
He already knew most of the issues, so I only covered the brief off-the-record points.
The main closed-door topics were the Ruhr and the Czech issue.
The Ruhr issue arose when the Soviets protested their exclusion from administering the international mandate territory of the Ruhr.
But Truman and Attlee had no intention of yielding.
Nor did I.
Why should I share my cut with Stalin?
I deliberately stayed silent, isolating him.
Same with the Czech issue.
I’d already voiced my opinion to Stalin beforehand.
In the end, he only earned Western suspicion without gaining anything.
For me, it was a conference full of entertaining moments.
Joo Si-kyung listened to everything, then voiced his concern.
“What if this sparks a clash between the West and the Soviets? Won’t that put us in an awkward spot?”
He had a point.
Security-wise, we’d allied with the Soviets, but our national system and ideology leaned West.
We were in a position where we couldn’t ignore demands from either side.
That meant we had to walk the tightrope carefully.
Twist and contort like acrobats—we had to get through this crisis.
“So please hold out for just one year. Then we’ll escape this bind.”
What happens in a year?
Think about the events unfolding in that time, and it’s simple.
First off, Italy’s civil war is a sure thing.
And the Iron Curtain descends over Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria.
When the standoff between camps isn’t life-or-death, they bicker over picking sides. But when survival’s on the line, there’s no room for that.
Wasn’t the Russia-Ukraine war like that?
For mid-tier nations like the Republic of Korea punching above their weight, sure—but a major power like India profited big in superpower standoffs.
With America, Russia, and China all courting them, India sucked up the honey.
The Korean Empire could do the same.
Just as long as it didn’t erupt into full-scale war—then none of this matters.
But that won’t happen.
Start a war mere months after World War II ends?
Even Hitler wouldn’t dare.
Stalin wasn’t one for such gambles,
and Truman and Attlee were leaders of free democracies.
Neither side had leaders reckless enough to light the fuse.
Of course, rational leaders didn’t guarantee no war.
The World War I leaders all wanted to avoid it too.
Their very efforts to dodge war led straight to it.
“If we just buy time, I’ll do my utmost.”
“See to it.”
Feeling the fatigue of the long conference, I closed my eyes for a moment.