Hate Speech, Part 2
Marx Stahl's proposal for the annexation of Bosnia passed through parliament at an unprecedented speed, and the Emperor's imperial sanction was granted just as quickly, bypassing all standard bureaucratic procedures.
A consensus had formed that Bosnia, long considered the empire's greatest headache, could no longer be left to rot. And while it might have been a nuisance to some, to others, Bosnia was the pride of the empire—a grand trophy of imperial ambition.
Even the diplomatic fallout was remarkably clean compared to the original timeline. The Ottoman Empire was nothing more than a hollow corpse clinging to its sovereignty. As for the Russian Empire, which should have posed the greatest obstacle?
"We cannot sit idly by and watch the annexation of Bosnia—"
"I believe someone shot the minister your Emperor holds dearest."
"T-That was not our doing..."
"If we dig into it, it'll be painfully obvious where that man's funding came from! Shall we run a massive media campaign exposing exactly who tried to assassinate a savior of humanity—the very scientist who developed Penicillin and synthesized ammonia?!"
"..."
"Or perhaps we should arrange a special delivery of Reds straight to the Russian Empire? Representative Stahl has been itching to found the Social Democratic International anyway!"
Even without the Bosnian issue, Russia was already struggling to deal with the radical leftists operating in their shadows. Ultimately, whether they realized their nation would eventually collapse due to the express delivery of the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, or not, the Russian Empire quietly let the annexation of Bosnia slide.
Great Britain, France, and Germany remained silent, as prior agreements had already been secured. That left only the remaining powers and neighboring states: the pseudo-great power of Italy, and Serbia.
Karl Lueger was a thoroughly seasoned politician. Sensing with uncanny precision that Italy and Serbia would pose the biggest problems, he launched into a vicious campaign of hate speech targeting Italy.
"Representative Stahl, with his immense insight, has realized that those Slavic bastards are a brainless race incapable of doing anything on their own! And if I may dare to add to his words, I know those Italian dogs are lost in delusions of resurrecting the glory of Rome. But do you know the truth? Those Italians may have built the great Roman Empire once, but today, they are nothing but ethnic mutts! The glory of Rome? Ha! The glory of Rome belongs to true Romans, not a bunch of half-breeds!"
No matter how much the Austro-Hungarian Empire tried to distance itself from him, even a stray comment from a mere celebrity could spark a diplomatic crisis. For Karl Lueger, even in his politically marginalized state, provoking Italy to the point of madness was child's play.
"Karl Lueger, you absolute son of a bitch!!!"
Stahl felt a wave of severe vertigo wash over him.
Fascism is going to rise ten years early at this rate!
He had never imagined Lueger would fling this much filth. In the original history, the Kingdom of Italy had allied with Russia to keep Austria-Hungary in check, aiming to reclaim the imperial territory of Tyrol. Stahl had expected some level of Italian opposition, but he had never anticipated painting Italy in such dark, radicalized colors.
I underestimated him. This bastard is out of control. If I don't do something right now...
And then, whether by a stroke of luck or misfortune for Stahl, the lifespan of a man who spouted such reckless vitriol tended to be rather short.
"Karl Lueger, you arrogant piece of trash!"
Bang! Bang!
A Serbian nationalist patriot appeared out of nowhere and planted lead bullets directly into Karl Lueger's chest, doing Stahl's dirty work for him.
Since the imperial government had been suffering immensely because of Lueger's antics, they took no real action beyond a purely formal, perfunctory protest. They probably never dreamed that a reckless Serbian extremist would actually do them a favor.
King Petar I of Serbia had seized power through a coup. Naturally, he possessed not a shred of political legitimacy. To compensate, Petar I sought to bolster his fragile authority by whipping up far-right nationalist fervor. Since it was a nationalist secret society that had assassinated the previous king and placed him on the throne in the first place, he had to constantly walk on eggshells around the nation's radical extremists.
"The Austro-Hungarian Empire has annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina! We must issue a formal condemnation and take immediate action!"
"A condemnation and action? Did you forget that Bosnia was annexed so easily precisely because you bungled your operations?"
"That has nothing to do with this! They should count themselves lucky we aren't declaring war this very instant!"
"...That is impossible. Leave us."
The annexation of Bosnia set Serbia ablaze once more. The nationalists, completely blind to the madness of their own making, clamored for war.
However, the Russian Empire was actively restraining Serbia from taking unilateral action. Consequently, the Kingdom of Serbia had its hands tied. King Petar I had no choice but to turn a blind eye to the annexation of Bosnia and let it pass.
Since the Black Hand has their own share of blame in this, they will surely let it slide.
But when Karl Lueger, the madman of Vienna, began calling Slavs monkeys and slaves, even spouting horrific threats about chopping them to pieces, public opinion within the kingdom erupted in fury once more.
"Right now! We must lodge a severe protest against this outrage and declare war on the Empire!"
"Have you all finally lost your minds? How on earth do you expect us to win?"
"The rotten Habsburg Empire is nothing but a house of cards anyway! Now is our only chance to declare war!"
"Get out! Get out this instant!"
"...Are you certain of this?"
The secret society that had placed Petar I on the throne—the Black Hand. Its leader, Apis, cast aside even the basic pretense of royal etiquette, rising from his chair to glare down at the king.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"How do you think a man who lost the struggle for the throne managed to become king in the first place?"
"...I am always grateful for your assistance. However, I am a king with a duty to preserve the Kingdom of Serbia. I cannot accept such a reckless proposal."
The Black Hand, having already overthrown one monarch, was completely unhinged and utterly detached from reality. No matter how decrepit the Austro-Hungarian Empire might seem, an empire was still an empire. It was the undisputed hegemon of Central Europe. Even with the full backing of the Russian Empire, Serbia would struggle to survive a war; declaring war without even Russian cooperation was sheer suicide.
"Since Your Majesty is incapable of making a sound judgment, we shall withdraw for now."
"From where I stand, it is you who lack sound judgment. Leave my office."
Lieutenant Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, leader of the Black Hand, code-named 'Apis'. Despite being a mere lieutenant colonel, he muttered curses right outside the royal office and slammed the door shut behind him in a blatant display of disrespect.
As soon as Apis stepped out of the office, members of the Black Hand swarmed around him.
"How did it go?"
"We must gauge the reaction of the people first."
And so, the Black Hand bided their time, waiting for the perfect moment. It was precisely then that a young Serbian, driven to madness by Karl Lueger's hate speech, took matters into his own hands and lodged a lead bullet straight into Lueger's heart.
"This is it. The Habsburgs will undoubtedly issue a joint condemnation and lodge a severe protest."
"And we strike when that happens, correct?"
"Yes. Once the public's fury toward the Austro-Hungarian Empire reaches its boiling point, we will launch our grand uprising."
However, Karl Lueger had already been thoroughly abandoned even by his fellow German nationalists due to his unhinged rhetoric. Neither the parliament, the imperial court, nor even his former supporters demanded the extradition of the assassin or raised a voice in outrage.
Instead, there were only half-hearted warnings and outright mockery. Naturally, the entire Serbian region erupted in celebration.
"...The outrage against Austria is far weaker than expected."
The Black Hand's original plan was to use the king's tepid response to the Bosnian annexation and the public's fury over Karl Lueger's hate speech as a pretext to stage another coup. Crucially, they had intended to use the expected diplomatic hysteria and threats of retaliation from Austria-Hungary over Lueger's assassination as their ultimate justification.
But the assassination of Karl Lueger had blown over with an anticlimactic whimper. Any rational group, no matter how desperate to stage a coup, would have bided their time until they had a proper justification.
"We have no choice. We proceed with the uprising as planned."
"What?! But we have no justification!"
"The moment we stood by and let Bosnia be annexed by Austria, we were already in the wrong."
"But even Russia told us—"
"The weak-willed king is the problem. And now I see it clearly—the Russian Tsar is in league with them!"
A drug addict must get their fix no matter what. The Black Hand, utterly addicted to the intoxicating rush of staging coups, simply could not endure the withdrawal symptoms of political inaction.
"But the Empire's lack of response is troubling."
"Haha, you are still an amateur."
"Sir? What do you mean by that?"
"Look at them. Their own mayor was shot dead, and they haven't lifted a finger. The Austrians simply don't have the strength to retaliate against us! Even if our justification is weak, now is the perfect time to strike."
Even a moment of rational thought would reveal how absurd this logic was. Austria had not failed to retaliate; they had actively chosen not to. In fact, Stahl was currently feeling a deep, profound sense of gratitude toward a radical nationalist for the first time in his life.
Yet, neither the members of the Black Hand nor their leader, Lieutenant Colonel Apis, were capable of such nuance. Why? Because in Apis's mind, Austria was a horde of Germanic demons itching to slaughter Slavs at any opportunity. Therefore, there was no way the Kaiser—the chief Germanic Satan—would not protect Karl Lueger. He had fallen into the delusion that Austria was simply too weak to defend Lueger.
"We strike! Set the plan in motion!"
By this point, the Black Hand's assassination techniques had reached the pinnacle of European expertise. They had already successfully assassinated a king, and in the original timeline, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand years later would also be carried out by their hands. They were, quite literally, Europe's premier league of assassins. Having done it once, doing it a second time was trivial.
Despite being over sixty years old, King Petar I still enjoyed hunting. And so, while Petar was out on a hunt, a bullet fired from his own aide's shotgun pierced straight through the king's head.
Bang!
"Petar, you are hereby executed as a traitor to the nation!"
The assassin of the second Serbian king was, of course, taken into police custody. However, members of the Black Hand embedded deep within the police force quickly released him, citing a "lack of evidence."
"It was a hunting ground, wasn't it? Bullets fly everywhere out there. There is absolutely no concrete proof that this righteous patriot was the one who fired the fatal shot."
"Indeed, indeed. Let's release him due to insufficient evidence."
All that remained was deciding who to place on the throne next. But having already assassinated two kings, the Black Hand was beginning to find the task of crowning a new monarch rather tedious.
"Royalty is always like this. Utterly ungrateful."
"You are absolutely right, Lord Apis. That bastard Petar forgot exactly who put him on the throne and began acting above his station."
"Exactly. We cannot go through the hassle of shooting a king every single time they step out of line, can we?"
The self-proclaimed national revolutionaries fell into deep thought about how to govern the country after their self-proclaimed revolution (otherwise known as a coup).
"Since things have turned out this way, why don't you take the throne yourself, Lord Apis?"
"A tempting offer. However, our Black Hand represents all Slavic peoples. There shall be no more kings for our nation."
"Then what shall we do?"
"A republic, of course. How does the 'Serbian National Revolutionary Republic' sound?"
Just as everyone was clapping in agreement with Apis's proposal, a subordinate raised an objection. Apis scowled at the interruption, but the man spoke up anyway.
"No! You must not do that, sir!"
"What did you say?"
"Our Black Hand bears the sacred mission of saving all Slavic peoples across Europe."
"And?"
"We must no longer limit ourselves to Serbia. Since we have a duty to protect all South Slavs, our nation's name must be Yugoslavia—the land of the South Slavs!"
"...Excellent! Truly excellent!"
And so, the newly declared Yugoslavia National Revolutionary Republic—or simply the Republic of Yugoslavia—was born. In an act of sheer madness, they went so far as to define Croatia and Bosnia as their own sovereign territories right in their new constitution.
With a king suddenly assassinated in the heart of Europe and an unrecognized, radical "National Revolutionary Republic" rising in his place, the entire European continent was left utterly dumbfounded.