To the World! (1)
It was an undeniable, self-evident truth that the supreme authority of the Austria-Hungary Empire was Stahl. The capitalists were firmly held in the grip of the trade order established by the Prague Treaty Organization, which Stahl had restructured, while the Emperor had transitioned from a figure who reigned to one who had to prove his worth. There were cooperative leaders like Hitler, but their authority was strictly confined within the boundaries of the Agricultural Cooperatives. Furthermore, concepts like the "nation-state" or "ethnic state" had already been fully realized in the nineteenth century. And the populace showered Stahl with absolute support. Since his youth, Stahl had been hailed as a saint and a genius, steadily undergoing a process of deification, whether he willed it or not. He had already become an inviolable entity that would make even the Kim dynasty jealous, his authority backed by the monumental achievements he had accomplished. By now, greenhorn bureaucrats practically crawled on all fours at his slightest word—he had risen to a status roughly akin to Iran's Khomeini!
Yet, those in Stahl's immediate circle, like Hitler or Ferdinand, viewed him in a completely different light. For how could he ever hide his thoroughly ordinary, petit-bourgeois nature? Hjalmar Schacht, too, had occasionally looked upon Stahl as a figure of Khomeini-like gravity. But seeing Stahl grinning from ear to ear, he felt that illusion shatter into a million pieces.
"Didn't I tell you? A depression was bound to happen! Bwahahaha!"
"Ah, yes..."
"As expected, my study sessions with Professor Keynes have truly paid off. At this rate, it wouldn't be a stretch to call me an economist who could put Karl Marx to shame. Haha!"
Though it might sound simple on paper, orchestrating a currency attack to trigger a depression of this magnitude was by no means an easy feat. First of all, the laundering process alone was a monumental task! Moreover, the "depression so severe it would turn the country completely upside down," as Stahl had prophesied, had at least not occurred in the United States. Naturally, this was because they had ultimately failed to control the massive crumbs of the depression that had slipped away to Wall Street. Yet, look at him now. Clapping his hands in glee just because his prophecy had technically come true! Only now could Schacht truly comprehend the "assessments of Stahl" shared by Hitler, Stalin, and Ferdinand.
— Deputy Chairman Stahl? That fellow often seems to forget he is a man of supreme power. He has been consistent for over thirty years, making me wonder if it is some sort of sophisticated ruling strategy.
— Deputy Chairman Stahl? ...To be honest, I think he deliberately acts like he has no interest in power. He frequently behaves like a bit of a fool.
Schacht smiled faintly as he recalled those evaluations. It was not without reason that Stahl enjoyed such immense popularity among the masses. No matter how deified Stahl was, the common people were surprisingly quick to catch a glimpse of a person's true nature. Perhaps... was he so beloved precisely because he possessed both heroic qualities and the charm of an ordinary citizen?
"Perhaps you, President Schacht, should take a lesson or two from me as well."
...He took it back. Schacht shook his head.
"At any rate, Deputy Chairman, we are no longer entirely safe from the aftershocks of this depression."
"But there is barely any damage to our real economy, is there? True, the countries heavily dependent on the United States... their deficits are running a bit high. But the Treaty Organization can easily step in with emergency loans, so that shouldn't be an issue."
The greatest advantage of the Prague Treaty Organization lay in its perfect regulation of trade. Even if a few member states succumbed to the depression, the Bancor would absorb the shock. Although they could not respond with absolute flexibility to external shocks, the surplus nations could still band together to share the burden with the deficit nations, much like the IMF or the Eurozone.
"That is true, but... there is a far greater problem."
"And what would that be?"
"The United States, the world's largest producer and consumer, has been knocked down a peg, has it not? Demand is still overflowing. Even if we share the market with America, the Prague Treaty Organization's market remains colossal. However... we are now facing a severe supply shortage."
The chronic weakness of the Prague Treaty Organization had reared its head once more. Stahl had previously resolved supply chain disruptions by handing large pieces of the pie to the Ottomans and Germany. After all, a hegemonic power ought to find self-sufficiency as easy as breathing. In that regard, the issues of oil, coal, and steel could be considered resolved—at least, up until the initial establishment of the Prague Treaty Organization.
Schacht continued his explanation with a grave expression.
"Until now, the Treaty Organization has grown by continuously expanding its markets. We created effective demand by rebuilding Germany and Greece, and we have been developing Joseon and Vietnam, have we not?"
"Indeed."
"While rubber and oil can somehow be secured from Vietnam and the Ottomans... we are facing an absolute shortage of minerals critical to our industries."
It was not just metals like manganese, chromium, copper, and tin. Cotton, tea leaves, and even sugar...
There was a reason Great Britain foamed at the mouth whenever anyone so much as looked at India. All of these resources were practically free for them!
"The United States is currently too busy trying to save its own domestic industries to care about anything else. Meanwhile, Great Britain seems intent on blockading trade with the continent entirely, slapping us with tariff bombs to escape their own deficit."
"Hmm... that is not good. What about the Soviet Union?"
"The volume of resources coming from Russia is indeed vast. However, with the revolution having broken out so recently... expanding trade further right now might actually backfire and worsen our supply shortages."
The Prague Treaty Organization was, after all, a member of the global economy. It was not entirely immune to the depression's ripple effects. Even if Stahl's economic knowledge was merely on par with an undergraduate student whose only real talent was heavy drinking, the crash course he had received from the star tutor Keynes allowed him to grasp the gravity of the situation instantly. Stahl, who had been riding high on his self-proclaimed prophetic abilities, muttered with a solemn face. He had experienced similar situations back in the twenty-first century. There was no need to go all the way back to the 1970s oil shock; a very similar phenomenon had occurred during the unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19.
"Prices across the board will rise. This will cause interest rates to spike, and panic might sweep through the markets."
"Exactly! Truly magnificent, Deputy Chairman Stahl!"
While spearheading the currency attacks over the past year, Schacht had secretly looked down on Stahl—at least when it came to economics. It was roughly analogous to how Erich Ludendorff, the grandmaster of German militarism, or Leon Trotsky, the Polish Prime Minister, looked down on Stahl's military acumen. Thus, lacking any tact, Schacht clapped his hands in admiration, praising him, while the self-proclaimed prophet Stahl, his pride wounded, glared back at him.
"Deputy Chairman, c-cough... That is not what I meant..."
"At any rate, it is a relief we accumulated a massive reserve of gold through this short-selling operation. Let us use that gold to stabilize exchange rate fluctuations first. And, President Schacht, I must ask you to shoulder another heavy burden."
"Which means...?"
"We must regulate trade by any means necessary. It will be a grueling task, but please steer us toward suppressing the demand for luxury goods. We have no choice but to temporarily introduce price ceilings as well."
The Prague Treaty Organization was an institution capable of perfectly monitoring trade. However, being omniscient was entirely different from being omnipotent. Because of its omniscient nature, the Treaty Organization often resembled a planned economy. They had even succeeded in exerting near-omnipotent control over the labor market. Yet, at its core, the Treaty Organization was founded on the banner of complete free trade among its member states. Even the Soviet Reds had failed to control supply and demand, resulting in a thriving black market. How could Stahl possibly achieve what they could not?
"While mobilizing our entire administrative capacity might suppress inflation to some extent... you are well aware that this is not a fundamental solution, yes?"
"Of course. The rest is up to me to resolve through political means."
The United States was busy trying to revive its domestic industries, while Great Britain was occupied with ruthlessly exploiting its colonies without a shred of remorse. Crisis was but another word for opportunity. Now was the perfect time to execute the long-delayed expansion of the Treaty Organization.
Word had it that a historic piece of legislation, rivaling the Prohibition Act in its sheer audacity, had passed the United States Congress. Its name: the Market Disruption Prevention Act and the Anti-Speculation Act! It was a decree that imposed severe penalties on any actions disrupting the monetary order. The moment those bills passed, there must have been fierce backlash in the United States, one of the twin pillars of capitalism. Yet, the Coolidge administration suppressed the resistance through a "decisive resolution." And what was this decisive resolution?
"Patton and MacArthur did... what?"
Did I hear that right?
Patton and MacArthur... had taken their cavalry and surrounded Wall Street. Naturally, this meant the entirety of Manhattan, home to the nouveau riche of the financial district, was effectively under siege. And then, they reportedly arrested all the godfathers of the hedge funds and froze their accounts. Well, it made sense. The karma of those fund managers was by no means light; they had shorted their own country to amass fortunes, only to dump all that cash into real estate, triggering inflation at a time when the nation desperately needed deflation. If it were deflation, the capitalists might go bankrupt like dogs, but at least the unemployed wouldn't starve to death. But with asset prices artificially inflated and driving up the cost of living even as interest rates spiked, the entire nation was on the verge of wanting to burn Wall Street to the ground. For the Coolidge administration, which had been hit by a depression the moment its term began, there was likely no other alternative.
"I received word from President Coolidge," the Emperor said. "He wishes to navigate this crisis alongside our Treaty Organization."
"...Then the United States should be stable for the time being. Your Majesty, you must not forget."
"Indeed. First is Britain, and second is Britain, correct?"
"Please keep an eye on France as well. If my plan comes to fruition... there is no telling what kind of fit France will throw, foaming at the mouth."
As always, France was a concern.
"And Lenin..."
"Sigh. I only hope he is still alive."
Though Stahl could not recall the exact year of Lenin's death, considering Stalin's rise to power and tyranny in his original timeline, the lifespan heaven had allotted to Lenin was likely drawing to a close around this time. France had swept like a wildfire to occupy the southern regions where Lenin had established his liberated zone. He had heard that Lenin fled to Spain immediately after, and even their intelligence had lost track of his whereabouts. This meant that the foundations of Stahlism, which Lenin and Freud had painstakingly built in France, had been completely eradicated.
"Very well. Do not worry, and have a safe journey."
July 1926. It was a splendid time for a journey. Of course, he had traveled extensively throughout Europe. He had visited Constantinople, Berlin, and Sweden. He had even been to Moscow and St. Petersburg—now renamed Buharingrad—though that had been alongside an army. But crossing the oceans to embark on a tour of the world was a first. No matter how much aviation technology had been accelerated by several years, commercial passenger planes were still a distant dream. An aviation transit system required far more than just advanced airframes. With airports and refueling infrastructure still sorely lacking, a journey around the world ultimately had to be undertaken via steamships and railways, much like the setting of Around the World in Eighty Days.
"Stahl, your itinerary includes West Africa, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Macau, and..."
"Japan. After arriving in Japan, I will cross the Pacific and travel by rail from Los Angeles to Washington."
Ever since France had washed its hands of its colonies, those territories—with the exception of Indochina—remained in a state of vacuum. Of course, Great Britain had been subtly trying to siphon resources from them for a while, but with their own colonies already bursting at the seams, it was no easy task. I intended to tour those regions and absorb them all into the Prague Treaty Organization. And, of course, I planned to strike at Britain's "weak links" along the way.
After a tearful reunion and farewell with Margarete and Stahl Junior, I took a train to Naples, where I boarded a ship bound for the Strait of Gibraltar. Why not travel through Germany? Because that would require passing through the North Sea, and I was terrified those British bastards might catch wind of my devious plans and sink my ship! In any case, the grand tour had begun. Our first port of call was West Africa.