Part 95: Victoria: Chapter 29 - The Great Depression: 1930 - 1936
1930 - 1936: The Great Depression
The Great Depression hits Germany's state finances with full force as tariff income dries up. To make up the sudden shortfall in income, a thirty percent income tax is levied, and social programs are cut, further increasing the burden on the poor strata of society who are already suffering the most from the economic downturn.
Riots, few and far between during the twenties, start up again in full force as workers protest the layoffs, taxes and cut social programs in mass. The military is sent in to quench the risings.
The previously so rapid advance of technology and art slows to a trickle as state funding is cut, though some advancements are still made.
National radio networks and movie screenings in the major cities serve to placate the middle classes, who are feeling the pinch but can at least put food on the table.
In February, Frederick II has a stroke and falls into a coma. A few days later he is dead. Because Frederick's only children were daughters, his grandson Waldemar, a militaristic, ambitious and deeply reactionary young man is crowned Waldemar VII. His first act is to use emergency powers to remove the Christian Social Democrats from leadership in the Reichstag and appoint the Nationalists in their place, claiming that only a firm hand can guide Germany through the economic turmoil.
Next, he settles a debate among the Admiral Staff as to the direction of the navy, breaking in favor of tradition with a focus on surface warships and decisive battles.
A new generation of warships, faster, tougher and deadlier than ever is emerging, and though he promised generous state funding of industries, Waldemar diverts much of the budget towards the construction of new carriers and battleships to keep up with the growing Union fleet.
The riots grow worse in 1932, and in March, as the Mayor of München is getting into his automobile along with his wife and children, the car explodes, killing his entire family. A communist group takes responsibility for the deed, promising that it is only the first such action against the enemies of the proletariat.
As German manufacturing declines the industries of the Union of Rome, seemingly unaffected by the global depression, grow and expand, until the Union overtakes Germany in gross production in late 1932.
In 1933 Waldemar finally makes good on his promise, beginning to expand state industries and nationalizes several banks and major companies. Two more years of economic chaos and dissent follows, until the trends finally start reversing in 1935. By August of 1935, several economics declare the depression to be over, as cautious economic growth begins anew.
The legacy left by the Great Depression is a somber one: Both democratic and communist movements are stronger than ever Germany is now facing widespread dissent among both the lower and middle classes.
Riots, bombings and risings continue, even as a nascent nationalism is appearing in the colonies, where the economic crisis has resulted in mass unemployment and starvation due to the crash of raw material prices.
1935 ends, and as 1936 begins, Germany has lost her position as the apex Great Power in the world, replaced by the Union of Rome. There has been no change of a century, no arbitrary numerical line, but yet it seems as though the world is entering a new era.
The years of the Great Depression and the great wars of the 19th century were dark, but could it be that history is entering another, yet darker, era? An era where labor movements, their ranks swelled by the depression and their heads and hopes turned towards Constantinople, rise as one?
An era where the oppressed peoples in the colonies' demands for independence and the right to self-rule grow ever stronger, ever louder?
An era where the armies of nations meet on the fields of battle to settle the clash of ideologies, once and for all?
An era where no weapon, no tactic, no matter how dreadful, no matter how destructive, is forbidden?
An era of total war?
