The War Games

 

 

The first rushed and top secret tests at Spandau occurred shortly before the War Games under a ‘Veil of Secrecy’. But Willy swaggered into those war games as if the cock on the walk!

He humiliated Francis Joseph. He insulted Sisi. He lorded over Rudolph. He ordered Francis Joseph to order Rudolph to order Wales to decamp the country ( or at least decamp Vienna). And Francis Joseph did order Rudolph to ask Wales to decamp his own capital city of Vienna. This was an unspeakable diplomatic offence even if Wales did invite himself.

Wales and Rudolph went hunting until the start of the war games. Then Wales tried to invite himself to the War Games again! Clearly he was spying. Rudolph politely asked Wales to decamp until after the War Games. But Willy was not amused.

Willy even insulted the ‘Gravedigger of the Habsburgs’ Albrecht. Clearly Willy was out of control. He ordered Rudolph to pay Willy’s own bills at a mess club and at Mrs. Wolfe’s elite establishment. (Translation: Willy used Vienna as his whorehouse and expected the Hofburg to pay for it!)

The bills were one quarter of Rudolph’s entire Hofburg yearly stipend. Willy thought that was hilarious. Kaiser Willy rubbed it in. He  repeatedly humiliated Rudolph as a mere princeling when Willy was not only Kaiser but Francis Joseph’s superior royal! The War Games was a public inspection of a lackey by the lackey’s superior! The aging Francis Joseph was the junior royal to callow and conceited Willy!

Even Herbert Bismarck insulted Rudolph as if a nonentity instead of the Inspector General of the Infantry.

But insulting Rudolph was one thing! Insulting Francis Joseph was quite another! The behavior of the Junkers was beyond the pale. But every time Willy did something outrageous Francis Joseph just flinched and endured stony face.  Even when Sisi was insulted! Usually that was beyond limits! But not now! Francis Joseph asked Sisi to endure. Sisi stormed out instead!

Then Willy bellowed that his gun and bullet were the best! He blustered that the Steyr products were shit!

Willy ordered Rudolph fired for the 11 mm Debacle (which Albrecht and Francis Joseph caused and which Leopold already resigned as scapegoat for and which clearly predated Rudolph’s tenure as Inspector General). He likewise ordered Rudolph fired for sloppy parade grounds maneuvering. Rudolph was modern enough to know that fancy uniforms and fancy goose stepping on parade grounds was shit in the face of Maxim Machine Guns. Willy clearly saw goose stepping the way Albrecht saw fancy cavalry ‘Reds’ prancing across parade grounds on expensive race horses. Glorious! Now that was warfare!

Rudolph kept trying to introduce modern War Games to test modern gunnery and battle tactics in the light of modern repeater rifles and machine guns and modern artillery  which would drastically change warfare. And in fact the weapons introduced in these war games along with other war games leading up to 1895 would introduce the weapons used in WW1. Unfortunately the generals continued to use antiquated battle tactics based on the musket and baker rifle and pin rifle because they used war games to parade and strut instead of testing out modern field tactics.

 

Rudolph and other Third Estate Infantry and Artillery modernists wanted to introduce modern technology. Artillery reforms were  laughed off. The concept of repeaters and machine gun bullets filling the battlefield like hail was ignored. Rudolph’s pet plan of building bike corps for infantry who could not afford to maintain expensive horses was laughed off.

Everyone else saw the initial games as an excuse to strut in fancy uniforms across parade grounds during the day and elaborate parties at night.

 

As a war was predicted to happen in 89 or 90 the priority should have been testing modern warfare. But the demigods on Mount Olympus clearly only saw Napoleonic grander sans artillery. Much less repeater rifles or machine guns. Things quickly spiraled out of control as the War Games lunged toward disaster.

Meanwhile Herbert Bismarck watched with quiet eyes as the Mannlicher Repeaters and Steyr 1610 fps full metal bullets were tested.

Then the scion of Bismarck  quietly  slithered to the  telegraph office to telegraph his papa as the situation turned from a chance for Junkers  to lord over inferiors into a disaster.

It was a disaster which the Austro Hungarians were not yet aware off. Used to being ridiculed they assumed the Imperial Second Reich was far ahead of them. In fact The secret Spandau tests were the disaster. In these War Games the fuddy duddy old has-beens were in the lead! Bellowing and goose stepping Willy was riding a hobby horse toward a technological disaster!The ‘Veil of Secrecy’ concealed the extent of the disaster — yet. But for how long? Guns were blowing up! How long could that be concealed?

The supposedly inferior  Austro Hungarians had great guns and ammo!  The tables were turned! Who was chained to what corpse now? The Gun Crisis had just turned personal. The arrogant Junkers were about to dethroned! And their Commanding Heights arrogance was going to make that fall from Valhalla that much more painful!

All the while the oblivious Willy behaved outrageously. Francis Joseph and Albrecht insulted. Sisi insulted. Rudolph insulted but who cared about him.

Steyr and Mannlicher were insulted.

Austro Hungarian soldiers were insulted. The Austro Hungarian allies of the Imperial Second Reich were insulted. And yet the damn untermensch  inferiors had great guns and ammo!

The problem was that the ubermensch Junkers didn’t! It was incredible! Junkers despised the Austro Hungarians even more than the French because they were such an inferior caricature of the ubermensch Junkers. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing oneself as if a clown. So to see the inferior Austro Hungarians welding such a great repeater and ammo, fully salvaged from the 11 mm Blunder, ready, trained, and excelling was incredulous. It was beyond the pale! And yet behold! They had a damn great gun and ammo! While back home at Spandau….

All the while Willy was grandstanding out of control! How could the situation be salvaged later if need be? Willy was burning his bridges and alienating his allies. Unless Willy was stopped he would cross the Rubicon and there  would be no turning back if heaven forbid the Imperial Second Reich might need to asked their allies for help.

Then Willy  ordered Francis Joseph to junk the Steyr Mannlicher gun and bullet and junk the Steyr R &D program into nitro! Spandau had the best! Why bother developing their own?  Nitro was solved! Brilliantly! By Spandau! Buy Spandau!

Why let Steyr waste time over their own useless  R & D program into nitro? It was obsolete! Likewise Spandau had the best gun! Why let Steyr waste time over their own useless model? Buy Spandau!

Rudolph dug in. The Austro Hungarian  army was welding the best repeater and damn near the best ammo! Mano u mano the Austrian Hungarians could hold their own with the Mielle Miracle! But there was no stopping Willy!

In fact Steyr should be absorbed into Spandau and become a manufacturing wing of the obviously superior bastion! Spandau! So what if Steyr was the crown jewel of industrial Bohemia? Heck! Confiscate Bohemia!

It was repeat of Willy’s infamous London Jubilee Speech where he bellowed that he should march into Vienna and gently shove aging Francis Joseph aside and show him how real Kaisers ruled! Then when aging Francis Joseph keeled over Willy should rule as the Kaiser of Austro Hungary!

(It is not known if Taaffe told Francis Joseph what Willy was bellowing during the Jubilee in London but Wales and Rudolph and every international diplomat and ambassador did hear it! It was also around this time that Willy joked when given the key to the city of London that he should keep it and rule FOR Victoria. Wales, who hated Willy’s guts, replied to the effect  ‘over my dead body!’)

In WW1 Willy pulled this act again and bullied Francis Joseph into capitulating to Spandau’s genius and Mauser’s mastery while belittling Steyr and Mannlicher as shit. As far as Willy and Herbert Bismarck (son of Mr. Commanding Heights) was concerned, anything with an Austro Hungarian Bohemian Steyr Mannlicher label on it was shit. (That was a tad ironic when every Commission Rifle in the reserves and in Turkish hands boasted a Steyr retrofit plate indicating it was now fixed and safe for use.)

So it was ironic when Rudolph and Mannlicher and Steyr beheld the Spandau wonder gun! It was a  knockoff of Mannlicher with a Mauser Bolt and Lebel Rifling to shoot a knockoff of the Vielle Balle bullet! The gun was a disaster! The bullet was a disaster! yet Willy was ordering Francis Joseph to not only let Spandau rip off Mannlicher and Steyr but gut their own products and abandon their own R & D to further perfect the Mannlicher Rifle and Nitro Bullet!

Please remember that Steyr not only produced the best gun first and kept it one of the best.  Steyr also  produced their own nitro bullet before Spandau was able to finally fix their own nitro bullet. And it took Steyr to fix the Spandau gun for international sales including supplying the Ottomans. And later it was Steyr who retrofitted the Spandau gun to met Mauser qualifications ( by adding a stripper and spring).

And if Steyr had been devoured by the Spandau Military Industrial Complex it would have ceased to exist as a capitalistic enterprise. (Leading into WW1 Steyr was forced to join the Junker military industrial complex cartel but at least as an semi – independent business). After WW1 Krupp staggered to compete one on one with international capitalistic enterprises until Hitler re-created the Military Industrial Complex  War Economy which allowed the bloated and crippled Krupp to thrive. Krupp had to reinvent itself post WW2 to become the bastion of today.

And if Steyr had been looted and devoured then that would have created a precedent to  allow Bohemia to be looted and  devoured as well. Ditto Junker bellows to confiscate Austro Poland and Galica. Which jibbed with Junker rumors of a secret Prussia Russia Treaty to divide Austro Hungary with Russia taking the hinterlands leaving Hungary as a  tiny Balkan state as poor and egotistical as Bosnia. And that was not an outrageous proposition.

Willy and Pan Germans were openly demanding the confiscation of both German speaking Austria and industrial Bohemia (despite being Czech) as well as Austro Poland and Galica . Willy was openly saying ‘Look to the East’ why pointing a gaudy ring adored finger at Austro Hungary’s ‘east’ flanks. In fact Willy’s coronation featured shocking warmongering. It was the same leering and covetous  envy of industrial bastions which caused the Reich to leer at Belgium.

Belgium was raped during the Franco Prussian war ( A prequel to the WW1 Rape of Belgium and WW 2 Sequel Rape of Belgium). Rumors were circulating about  this fast approaching war which would  finally and at last conquer France forever. Leaked rumors said the Junkers planned to require France to pay ten billion in war reparations and  demilitarize and deindustrialize to  become a  client vassal state of the Imperial Second Reich complete with a Junker overseer overseeing what democracy which  might be allowed to continue. Then occupied and  raped Belgium would not be released from bondage. It  would be absorbed into the all conquering Reich. Belgium’s famous coal mines and massive railroads and magnificent industry (including the headquarters of Browning) would be confiscated. The  royal family would be deposed unless they agreed to serve as lackey rulers for the Reich. And  the Belgium ports would be confiscated for Willy to play with. Willy loved playing with ports of other countries almost as much as love playing with confiscated colonies of other countries. And oh yes! Belgium’s Congo would be confiscated as well! The Congo had gold and ivory and rumors of rubber potential or even oil. Then of course the Dutch would be in a pincer between brutalized Belgium and vassalized France and bleeding Denmark and the victorious Reich. The leering would turn to them and their riches, coastline, ports, and colonies.

Post WW1 the September Program and Lebensraum Space for Life was revealed.

The top secret Junker blueprints for ‘Pax Germania’  including the final redrawing of European borders to create the Greater Germany, the creation of such vassal states which might be allowed to continue to exist, the creation of a sort of Germanic European Union gamed to enrich the Greater Germany and crush everyone else (gosh I think it has happened hasn’t it?). It also featured the purposed  ethnic cleansing of Poles out of German controlled Poland, the seizing of Dunkirk, Calais, Antwerp, and other major ports, France not only demilitarized but deindustrialized to only supply raw materials and buy manufactured German goods, enslavement of Belgium industrial workers, turning The Dutch and Nordic countries into client or else vassal states,(the Swiss fate being unclear ). The plan also featured the  full militarizing of the Channel and North-Nordic  Seas, attacking the Suez, Cuba, The West Indies, Boston, and New York, seizing all German speaking areas for the Greater Reich, seizing Austria and industrial Bohemia(but not the Czechs who lived there —they would end up like the Poles), and also seizing  Austro Poland and Galica to be ethnically cleansed for Germans, plus  seizing the colonies of the conquered, demoting the conquered to untermensch, confiscating the colonies of Great Britain, then conquering Britain, and then waging war on mongrel America.

The September Program and Lebensraum Space for Life  made it clear that each war was intended to not only create the Greater Germany but pay for the next  war. The next war after the proposed war to destroy France and cannibalize Belgium and reduce the Dutch and indeed all of Western Europe to vassals and client states would  target Great Britain. With all of Europe vassalized Britain could be defeated quite easily (which was why Britain fought in WW 1 for Belgium and France —- because fighting on European soil was easier than fighting from its own coastlines which happened in WW 2.)The projected defeat of Great Britain and the seizing of its colonies would pay for the war to destroy America and Canada (aided by Mexico which the Junkers assumed would occur).

This was the modus operandi of Bismarck from the first war with Denmark and Austria and then France. Each was a deliberately chosen domino which fell to achieve the success of the next war. The proposed 89-90 war was suppose to happen. It was the missing domino in the grand plan for world conquest. It was a  missing and essential domino that was suppose to fall to allow Britain to be targeted with all of the weight of conquered Europe thrown against it. Hitler only resumed what Bismarck and Willy started. The Third Reich was only a continuation of the Second Reich. The September Program and Lebensraum Space for Life and Manifest Destiny for Greater Germany’s place in the sun continued.

Bismarck’s panicked rush to product the Spandau gun and bullet could only be explained one way: he was planning a war in 89 or 90. There is no other reason for his panicked rush. France was bellowing ‘defensive war!’ hysterically to everyone.  The Meille Miracle was ‘defensive war’ to ward off the next attack by the Reich. The French were terrified of being attacked by the Reich —- for good reason. Everyone knew the Reich was preparing another war to destroy France at last and for ever. A war was overdue. And Willy warmongering coronation telegraphed Willy’s intentions to wage war in telegrams the size of the ‘Hollywood’ sign garnished with brand new electric spotlights and electric light bulbs! The question was not IF the Reich would wage war but rather WHEN !

No other country panicked and rushed despite the rumors of war. The Meille Miracle was France’s desperate insurance policy. But no one else was manufacturing a war. They were just worried about the next war.  Just Spandau was panicking. Why?

Spandau was panicking because the Commanding Heights was manufacturing a war faster than Spandau could manufacture the gun and bullet to wage it. What was behind Bismarck’s panicked need for a war in 89 or 90? The ten billion in fresh French war reparations slated in the September Program reveals the truth.

The projection of ten billion in fresh  French war reparations was frosting on the cake when the French found out  after WW 1.  There had been rumors but now the rumors were confirmed at last. The September Program’s brutal blueprint  of the Reich’s proposed destruction of France was outrageous. The French  demanded maximum war reparations from defeated Germany. Today France is lambasted by  German apologists who carefully omit  the original German plan to demand ten billion from Defeated France along with its utter destruction. The ten billion demand was penciled in to be exacted in the  final war to destroy France. That war was slated to occur in 89 or 90 but  kept being moved back until it finally happened in 1914. In 1914 dreadnoughts were ready and the Kiel Canal was finally finished to unleash the dreadnoughts along with the Wolf Pack Submarines. And The Reich’s economy was about to implode. War had to come! Now! It could not be delayed any longer! Especially as the 89-90 war never occurred.

Without this crucial ten billon which was suppose to occur after the victorious 89-90 war  the Reich had to keep spending with military Keynesianism deficits up to finally 73% of its GNP. This  caused unsustainable deficits of one billion by 1910 when the Kiel Canal was finally finished to unleash the dreadnoughts and submarines. 150 million to repeated dredge and expand the Kiel Canal.  940 million for a dreadnought navy and then a blank check each year to Tirpitz. 35% of the GNP toward the navy alone. Billions to sustain the one million man army and  four  million man reserves equipped with millions in artillery and gunnery.  The deficit hemorrhaging  finally reached  73% GNP devoted to war.

It was unsustainable without that ten billion which Bismarck planned to exact from defeated France after the planned 89-90 war. And the 89-90 war also planned to cannibalize Belgium and screw the Dutch including confiscating crucial money making colonies like oil rich Java and the golden Congo. Willy’s African colonies only lost Germany money. Seizing the colonies of Belgium and the Dutch Java would have brought in millions —- especially as the German policy was to exploit the colonies and not spend monies in improving native lives or building up the colonies with millions in infrastructure and hospitals and schools which the British, Dutch, and French did . The ten billion also had another symbolic significance.

After the Franco Prussia War (which was manufactured by von Holstein with cunning lies) France was ordered to pay an unheard of five billion plus real estate and interest and occupation penalties. So  Bismarck was flabbergasted when the French paid  all of its five billion in war reparations in only three years. Bismarck assumed it would take ten years plus  resulting in tons of interest and occupation of real estate — some of which now had to be returned.

And Bismarck had counted on this income on top of the five billion so he spent lavishing to buy an expensive navy and expand his gigantic army and reserves plus throwing some slops to the sobs (ie the Social Progressives and  Liberals).

But the French not only paid off the outrageous demands early. They  rushed to the gold standard just before Bismarck did. So  Bismarck’s plan to sell off silver marks to the defeated and groveling French for another bit of  tidy  money making   was wreaked. Instead of triumph Bismarck’s hasty rush to the gold standard  resulted in a  silver glut. Bismarck got an economic punch in his fat belly. Then the silver glut  caused the Long Depression which in Germany was called the Founders Depression. Make that two economic  punches in his fat belly.

And because the French paid off early Bismarck found out that he had no money now to ride out the Founders Recession. Between his military and naval extravagances and his rash embrace of gold and his silver loses he squandered all of his five billion before the recession. So he had to embrace deficits which the Imperial Second Reich became economically addicted to.

French defiance in the face of defeat plus their Meille Miracle laid the foundation for this new  outrageous ten billion future demand plus the plan to deindustrialized vassalizedFrance to finally and at last destroy France forever.

Austro Hungary was  no safer than France or Belgium or the Dutch.  Leading into WW2 Austria and  industrial Bohemia was confiscated by the Third Reich but Willy and Pan Germans and Herbert Bismarck were all openly saying this was the grand plan along — including confiscating Austro Poland and Galica. And by now even dense Francis Joseph had to know about the secret Prussia Russia Treaty which rendered his precious Prussian Austrian Treaty fit only for a latrine.  Willy was openly saying when Francis Joseph keeled over dead he planned to march into Vienna and commence carving while turning the Hofburg into his vassal digs having already turned Vienna into his brothel.

In fact much of what Hitler did leading up to WW2 was based on precedents of the Imperial Second Reich per the September Program and Lebensraum Space for Life. Hitler might have loathed Willy but not the Manifest Destiny that Willy’s Second Reich embraced.

Kaiser Wilhelm II repeated demanded that Francis Joseph order Rudolph terminated as Inspector General of Infantry overseeing gunnery. Willy told Francis Joseph that Rudolph was unsuitable for the job, incompetent, and disloyal. Among the charges was that Rudolph ordered the wrong caliber of the new Steyr full metal jacket bullet. 11mm. Albrecht and Francis Joseph ordered then Inspector of Infantry Leopold to order  11mm  despite the fact Leopold and Rudolph and Mannlicher and Steyr knew that the Rubin full metal jacket bullet would be 8 mm so the revolutionary Mannlicher repeater should be engineered to shoot 8 mm. Francis Joseph and Albrecht wanted to use up stockpiles of old 11 mm ammo. Waste not! Want not! The 11 mm Blunder because the 11 Debacle after the French Meille Miracle was announced. Two old men ordered a revolutionary gun to shoot obsolete ammo.

Leopold was ordered to take the fall for the 11 mm Blunder which became the 11 mm Debacle when Leopold’s successor, Rudolph, had to order back half of the manufactured repeaters and oversee Steyr’s re-engineering of the guns to shoot 8 mm with much costly overruns the all but bankrupt army could not afford. Rudolph’s hard work still resulted in state of the art –best— repeaters in Europe and the world in the hands of the Austro Hungarian K & K Imperial Army by the 88 war games which also shoot a revolutionary  1610 fps bullet so the Steyr Miracle equaled the Meille Miracle (because the Lebal repeater was so mediocre despite the brilliant Vielle nitro bullet).

Despite this obvious achievement Willy wanted Rudolph terminated as unfit and incompetent. The Russian Minister Lamsdorff expressed amazement that Willy was grandstanding before Francis Joseph to fire his own son (which incidentally required Rudolph to resign per military protocols) after Rudolph salvaged the 11 mm Debacle so well.

‘The German Emperor made his inspection not as a guest Monarch but as an inspector  assigned the task of carrying out a most careful review. The results of the inspection proved unfavorable and His Majesty did not conceal his displeasure: he particularly criticized the infantry, the chief inspector of which at the time was the Archduke Rudolph. Wilhelm II did not spare the heir to the throne and expressed his opinion to the Emperor and Empress with extreme openness. The latter was offended and declared that she did not wish to remain in the presence of the German Emperor…… On his return to Berlin His Majesty wrote a long letter (actually drafted by Bismarck) to the Emperor Francis Joseph in which he explained that he had the right and was obligated to draw the attention of his ally to the state of affairs in his army because they must defend their common interests, shoulder to shoulder, and asked that a more experienced person than Archduke Rudolph should be appointed to the post of Chief  Inspector of the Infantry.

Albrecht and his aide de camp Beck Rzikowsky also lied and  blamed Rudolph  for the 11 mm Debacle and also  for the lack  of a drilling manual. In fact  Rudolph  had submitted his proposed drilling manual and it sat gathering dust on Albrecht’s desk. Post Mayerling Francis Joseph ordered Albrecht to produce a better  drill manual or else use Rudolph’s . Albrecht grudgingly used Rudolph’s . It was  the only known time that Francis Joseph ever dared  to challenge his uncle’s dictatorial rule of the army.  But during the  war  games Francis Joseph believed  Willy and Albrecht.

‘A result of this letter was a violent scene between Francis Joseph and his son, who refused to retire voluntarily.’ Part of Willy’s complaint also included the fact the Austrian Army used Mannlichers instead of the superior Mauser and used Steyr instead of Spandau.

The  irony was while Willy bellowed before Francis Joseph back at Spandau there was no end of trouble . The Mauser 71/84 which was still in use in 88 was actually considered a defective attempt by Mauser to improvise a repeater. It was beneath the master’s normal perfection in every way and shot to the right to boot. That was why Mauser was developing his real masterpiece so slowly. It would not be unveiled until 95 for production in 96. The Mauser 71/84 was a mess so if Willy thought that was a great gun then Willy was an idiot.

Willy also clearly did not know that back at Spandau the replacement for the Mauser 71, the Commission Rifle, was blowing up in top secret tests. Willy also obviously did not know that the glorious Spandau gun was a knock off of Mannlicher with a Mauser 71 bolt and a Lebal rifle pattern to shoot a knock off of a Vielle French nitro in a knock off of a Rubin Full Metal Jacket. And the bullet was also so dangerously defective it was blowing up inside the gun. (Please read the Gun Crisis).

So Willy’s bellowing actually proved that Willy was the gross incompetent while Rudolph was the proven deliverer of the best repeater in 1888 and the second best ammo in 1888 which together rivaled the French mano y mano for first  place . Meanwhile the Spandau gun and ammo were rapidly becoming a dangerous disaster. Willy’s bellowing also proved that Bismarck was stonewalling the spiraling disaster back at Spandau and that stone walling would soon become a ‘Veil of Secrecy’ which would soon become a cover up which would soon endanger the country as defective guns and ammo were rushed into production and shoved into the hands of German Soldiers on the Western Front facing France.

So if Willy had been allowed to dictate to Francis Joseph after the 88 War Games  he would have destroyed Austro Hungary’s only industrial bastion and top manufacturing company. And Willy would have destroyed Mannlicher and Steyr before they could have saved Spandau’s bacon by fixing the Frankenstein gun and before Steyr could develop their superior nitro hybrid and then full nitro full metal jacket bullet —-between two and ten years before Spandau could fix their nitro by basically re-inventing it. And Willy bullying to Francis Joseph would have left the Austro Hungarian Army armed with guns and ammo which was blowing up.

Howbeit Spandau might have been playing devious. Willy during the War Games was clearly ignorant of guns blowing up back at Spandau. But Spandau might have been eyeing confiscating Steyr as yet more industrial espionage . Instead of just stealing patents and copyrights and then facing paying infringement fees or else being forced to cut sweetheart deals to woo  Steyr, Spandau might have logically concluded that the smart thing was to confiscate Steyr. Then  they would not have to pay patent or copyright infringement fees. Then they would not have to cut sweetheart deals. They could cover up the extent of their industrial espionage. They could also seize the Steyr R & D Research and Development plan into producing the ultimate Mannlicher Repeater Rifle by 95 and a hybrid nitro by 90 and full nitro by 95. Then Spandau just had to switch their defective nitro full metal jacket bullet for the proven superior Steyr full metal jacket bullet. Willy clearly was not the sharpest knife in the drawer — or as Rudolph would have but it — Willy was not the brightest electric light bulb on the shelf . Willy  would never have realized the switch. But Rudolph would have known immediately. In fact Rudolph and Steyr would have become paranoid about this switch-a-loo during  the War Games.

The initial ‘hiccups’ and ‘pre-production teething pains’ of the Spandau Commission Repeater Rifle alias the Jew’s Musket alias the  Frankenstein Gun continued through the war games and after the war games and into mass production throughout the beginning of 1889.

Loewe and Steyr tooled and started to  manufacture the gun. Both  reported routine blowing up of guns — and Spandau nitro full metal jacket bullets. Even as hundreds of thousands of guns were mass produced and shoved into the hands of soldiers starting with soldiers facing the Western Front with France in the disputed Alsace Lorraine.

Repeater mechanisms blew up — blowing off hands. Bolts blew backward  into eyes. There was blow back. Hot gas explosions. Barrels burst. The crucial  rifle pattern was mysteriously fouled and worn down (the exact opposite of what was suppose to happen). Full metal jackets burst or ruptured or cracked or imploded or exploded. Soldiers lost fingers. Soldiers lost hands. Soldiers lost eyes. Soldiers lost lives. Rumors quickly spread about the Jew’s Musket ie the jinxed gun. Was it the gun? Was it the full metal jacket bullet? Was it the nitro? Was it all three? No one knew.

But immediately Loewe who was Jewish and who was manufacturing the test bullets was blamed. Pan Germans threatened to kill him. Then Pan Germans threatened to kill all Jews as traitors conspiring to betray the Imperial Second Reich by sabotaging the glorious Commission Repeater Rifle and full metal jacket nitro bullet. It could not be Spandau’s fault! Or Mr. Commanding Heights Bismarck’s fault!

It had to be the damn Jews! Anti -Semitism reared up in all of its infamous madness and moronic paranoia! Hermann Ahlwardt published a shocking pamphlet entitled ‘New Revelations  —Jews Rifles’ designed to get Loewe lynched and every Jew seen on any public street murdered. ‘International Jewry has neglected nothing that can contribute to a German defeat in the next war, and has made an unspeakable attempt to put a rifle in the hands of German soldiers that must be almost less dangerous to the enemy than to the user!’

Mauser stood by Loewe as hysterical rumors circulated . So did Rudolph. Some Jewish reporters started to investigate rumors of a Darling Circle Gay Scandal linked to Willy in order to launch a counter attack. Rudolph knew every Jewish reporter and during the vicious newspaper war waged between the War Games and his death even offered a French paper a news story so shocking they dared not publish it. The Darling Circle Gay Scandal finally broke after Mayerling. But it was a byproduct of the Gun Crisis.  So the Gun Crisis turned ever more personal and ever more vicious.

Then accusations spread to Steyr. Mannlicher guns were not blowing up! Therefore by embarrassing admission why were Spandau guns blowing up if they were knockoffs of the Mannlicher? Sabotage! And early Steyr manufactured Spandau guns were testing alarmingly. Sabotage! Then rumors zeroed into  Rudolph was suddenly accused of being  a traitor to all Germans! A traitor to the Greater Germany! And a traitor sabotaging the Prussian Austrian Treaty! And a traitor threatening the Imperial Second Reich! And a traitor selling out to the French and British (and indeed Rudolph  was a famous Francophile and Anglophile and Americanophile). And a traitor selling out to the International Jewish Conspiracy (Rudolph was a famous Jew lover as well)! And a traitor endangering the Austro Hungarian Army!

The latter was an ironic accusation to make when it was Rudolph who salvaged the 11 mm Blunder and helped Leopold to oversee the successful launching of the Mannlicher Repeater Rifle and Steyr 1610 fps full metal jacket bullet into the hands of every Austro Hungarian soldier —-with full training —- in time for the 88 War Games —- without one gun blowing up —- which tied the Meille Miracle and rendered the Spandau Miracle a Mirage.

As Loewe and Steyr and Rudolph were  libeled a few rational brains later, much later, post Mayerling, finally  noted that the guns produced by Spandau, Loewe, and Steyr were all blowing up at the same rate! So unless Spandau was in cohoots with Jewish Loewe and filthy Bohemian  Steyr  then the defect was in the design of the gun and bullet both. Not the manufacturer!And the gun was not blowing up by itself. The gun was blowing up with the bullet inside. The problem was both the gun and full metal jacket and nitro.

Meanwhile, more  pressure was brought to bare on Francis Joseph to fire Rudolph through the end of 88 and into January of 89.  Alas, Rudolph could not be fired as Inspector General of Infantry and therefore the overseer of gunnery. He had to be court martialed unless he resigned. And Rudolph was digging in! All through the War Games and post War Games Rudolph absolutely refused to quit or resign or fall on his sword or take the blame or become the scapegoat for either the 11 mm Blunder, or for supporting Steyr’s threat to sue Spandau for patent and copyright infringement, or for demanding a sweetheart deal for Steyr to manufacture the Spandau gun, or for supporting the use of the Mannlicher Repeater and Steyr 1610 fps full metal jacket bullet, or for keeping the Steyr R & D program, or  for not adopting any Spandau products whatsoever! All in the face of the growing rumors of a Spandau gun crisis.

Even as Albrecht, Willy, and Bismarck demanded that Rudolph  fall on his sword Rudolph dug in. He absolutely refused to budge! And as his job related to gunnery that meant his refusal  to budge related to the gun crisis . And more and more guns continued to blow up. Spandau guns. The Gun Crisis had turned personal but now Rudolph was everyone’s scapegoat. The more everyone demanded that Rudolph fall on his sword the way that Archduke Leopold and General Benedek did the more Rudolph dug in!

The only way to move the immoveable Rudolph was by court martialing him! Sure! Sure! Leopold simply gave up and crept away.  Sure! Sure! General Benedek stood silent at his rigged court martial. Sure! Sure! But Rudolph would not creep away or  stand like a mute swan and silently take the blame and shame! No! If Rudolph was court martialed  he intended to defend himself!

Post War games the accusations continued to fly about guns blowing up. Not Steyr guns. Not Steyr bullets. Not Mannlicher guns. Not Mannlicher guns shooting Steyr bullets. The War Games proved both were fantastic! No! The irony was Rudolph was being crucified because rumors of Spandau guns and bullets blowing up! Bismarck controlled newspapers and Pan German newspapers vilified Rudolph as a traitor. The libels and calumnies became ever more hysterical. Rabid. Insane. What was behind the murderous hysteria? Between the War Games and the end of his life  Rudolph was crucified for every sort of rumor of high treason.

The hysteria was as vague as it was murderous. And guns continued to blow up. Willy signed the Imperial Degree to mass produce the gun and bullets to much fanfare. Testing was stopped. The clock ticked down to handing out the manufacturing specs to Spandau and Loewe and Steyr to mass produce hundreds of thousands of guns in time for a fast approaching war. The French were desperately calling up drafts while protesting they did not want war. Belgium squirmed in terror as Prince Albert quarreled with King Leopold whether or not to appease and grovel to Bismarck to keep the next Rape of Belgium a tad less bloody or else to fight back.

It was rumored that Rudolph secretly met Clemenceau at his Hofburg garret with Szeps. Wales yet again appeared uninvited in Austro Hungary to see Rudolph. This was a replay of his Pre-War Games self invitation.  While the Pre War Games appearance of Wales was royal spying the Post War Games appearance of Wales was probably to say goodbye to Rudolph. Both men knew what was coming down.

All the while Scotland Yard, Parisian Secret Services, and Belgium Secret Services tried to warn Francis Joseph — but was apparently  intercepted by Taaffe.

Albrecht dug out every moldy old Magyar conspiracy theory to throw at Rudolph. It was ironic how many Magyar conspiracies were thrown at Rudolph despite the rumors of Willy boasting about carving up Austro Hungary and marching into Vienna to rule for poor old Francis Joseph while declaring that only he was fit to rule after Francis Joseph. Why wasn’t this a treason plot? Or the secret Prussia Russia Treaty to carve up the empire? Rudolph along with Leopold successfully helped Austro Hungary survive the gun crisis. The army now had the best repeater and damn near the best ammo of any country in the world yet Both Leopold and now Rudolph were being crucified. Why?

The Rubber Princess snippily and spitefully broadcast the decline and fall of Rudolph even though she was all but living with her lover Lonyay.

But everyone admitted Rudolph looked terrible as the crisis reached its climax. Part was a concussion he sustained late in 88 which lingered into early 89 as post concussive trauma. But clearly Rudolph was being pounded between the anvil of his job and the hammers of Albrecht, Francis Joseph, Willy, and Bismarck.

There were desperate rumors that the French wanted to assassinate Francis Joseph so Rudolph could sign the Entente to cage the Hohenzollern Eagle. Did the French and English know how bad the Spandau gun and bullet was ? This was their chance to take down the Imperial Second Reich! The perfect chance! The Reich was all but defenseless!

If Austro Hungary bailed out of the Prussian Austrian Treaty and aligned with the Entente the Reich would fall!

But confessing the extent of the Spandau gun crisis would have been all but treason for Rudolph to commit. Peddling the  Darling Circle Gay Scandal was one thing but leaking top secret gunnery details was quite another. An signing off on the assassination of his father would be treason as well. But it would also be treason to allow Francis Joseph to abandon a proven repeater and bullet to adopt the disastrous Spandau repeater and bullet. It would also be treason  to allow Spandau to loot or devour Steyr and its patents and copyrights and R & D Program.

At Christmas Rudolph broke down and wept as he tried to kiss Sisi while tying to give her a precious gift of some genuine letters from Heine. All the while Francis Joseph blandly smoked a cheap cigar.

Sisi swatted Rudolph away and raved that dire spirits would damn him if he continued to plot vicious plots against her beloved Valerie Only One. The accusations were delusional but vicious.  Sisi never saw her son alive again. What a dreadful way to end their painful failed relationship!

Stephanie the Rubber Princess signed out something dire from the court pharmacy ledger and later in January backdated it with a page of benign drugs (but carelessly signed the backdated page as Widow Princess Stephanie which before the end of 88 was impossible. The paper was different too. But the Rubber Princess was so used to forging she got careless.Then Stephanie whispered a secret in the ear of her lover before sent him off on a paid vacation to Egypt .

She whispered about something dreadful about to go down in Mayerling. Something about suicide. Something about poison. Something about Rudolph being suddenly very dead — six weeks before Mayerling.

The rumors of war were swelling. Belgium was the doormat for invasion into France and this time the collateral damage might continue as vassalage. The Rubber Princess wanted her Congo Blood Money to buy her boy toy. If she could not tie him with a Catholic marriage soon she might lose him to someone younger and prettier and richer.  If her father Leopold toppled then her Blood Money would stop. The Rubber Princess probably got friendly with sympathetic Willy about what the future held for her need for money to buy her boy toy. Stephanie was already moving into her end game and that end game did not include Rudolph.

Albrecht, the Gravedigger of the Habsburgs’,  calendared some sort of paralegal star chamber court martial over new years because no one was going to kill the crown prince without a signed death warrant. But his Roll Commandos started to prepare to encircle Mayerling. Over New Years everyone was surprise when Rudolph still made the first military meeting of the year. Rudolph continued to dig in as if immoveable. Albrecht was not amused by Rudolph’s tenacity. Having no one else to hunt with Francis Joseph  hunted with Rudolph. The old man complained of the poor hunting as the predawn hunt saw in the dawn in freezing winter as ice froze  on both men’s facial hair. Perhaps Rudolph replied by pointing out that he was going blind.  Being a dense and self absorbed man Francis Joseph probably ignored it.

Rudolph’s secretary who had contact with  a double agent working for von Holstein said something bad was about to go down. Von Holstein had asked for information about Mayerling.

Its location. Its security or lack of security. Its layout. Its rooms and doors. Its staff. He showed Rudolph more forgeries and talked about rumors of  assassination . Rudolph’s assassination. He asked if Francis Joseph was aware. Rudolph replied ironically and then changed the subject to an article he was writing . He asked the secretary to find more books and deliver them to Mayerling where Rudolph planned to finish the article. The publisher  was breathing down Rudolph’s neck to finish it.  Rudolph held his last meeting with his Austro Hungarian illustrated history edition and made ironical jokes with his usual black humor about his flare for stupid  accidents.

Mary told everyone the spectacular romantic death she was planning.

Rudolph told several royals that he knew he was about to be assassinated. ‘I know too much’ he said. Wishfully he said he loved no one so much as …….Mizzi

Not Mary….. despite Mary’s protestations to  everyone from the local flower girl to  secret spies from the Hofburg —- despite  that  fact Rudolph never contacted her after  that unexpected garret meeting.

But Larisch assured Mary  Rudolph secretly loved her passionately and was thinking of absolutely nothing else day and night but Mary….

 

Mary made sure her nude painting  was well displayed while she talked about the spectacular double suicide which would surely climax her tragic affair with Rudolph. No one seemed troubled that Mary was not just fantasizing  about a torrid love affair despite  only meeting Rudolph once —- for ten — minutes  —- with  Rudolph in another  room fighting with Larisch — but also with Mary’s obsession with  love  and death and her open talk about not just suicide but double suicide.

Berlin whispered that one of two Habsburgs was going to die in 89. People quoted the ‘famous good luck’ of Bismarck to see his enemies die at ‘exactly the right time’. People recalled how other enemies of Bismarck perished per von Holstein/Smutty Petri sex garnished ‘suicides’.

One of Rudolph’s secretaries gathered up more  samples of Petri forgeries of Rudolph’ pre -carpal tunnel handwriting. Rudolph told a friend he loved MC more than anyone.

As Inspector General Rudolph now found himself in an ironic situation of overseeing the blowing up of German guns while the Steyr gunnery and ammo was working flawlessly.

He was being accused of gross incompetence as well as treason yt his gunnery was working swell. It was the Spandau gunnery which was blowing up. Hysteria swelled into New Years along with rumors of war.  Gold went up and  down. Markets swirled. Stocks of Merchants of War surged except for desperate Loewe. Rudolph studied the mystery of why Spandau’s guns were blowing up.

Double feeding: two bullets ending up in the repeater mechanism’s chamber causing the bullets to blow up inside the gun resulting in fingers or hands blowing off or else blowing the Mauser knock off bolt back into the face of the shooter. This was called blow back.

Gas blowback caused by too much pressure of the bolt on the nitro full metal jacket bullets resulting in ruptured bullets and hot gases igniting  or else blowing back into the eyes of the shooter.

Ruptured barrels. The elegantly thin barrel was a trademark of the Mannlicher Repeater. The famously ‘Sweet girl’s elegant profile was based on the straight bolt, the Steyr 1610 fps full metal jacket bullet, and the special 318 deep rifle bore. The Frankenstein gun shoved a Mauser 71 bolt knock off and Lebel rifle bore into famously slim barrel of the poor sweet girl of a gun. No wonder she was blowing up!

Excessive wear and fouling of the barrel rifle bore. This was not even suppose to be happening. Nitro inside a Rubin full metal jacket was suppose to prevent this! Instead it was even worse! Soldiers could literally look down their guns and see the rifle pattern wear away before their shocked eyes all the way up to the very muzzle!

Nitro bullets raddling and cracking and rupturing and  blowing up or else going ‘stale’.

After Rudolph’s death Steyr ‘fixed’ the Frankenstein gun after manufacturing 300,000 guns. Loewe manufactured another 300,000 guns. Oh happy Germans! The guns were so dangerous  for the Germans it  made waging war impossible. Bismarck was forced to call off his war. Europe breathed a collective sigh of relief except for the furious Willy. Every Junker scurried  over to  Willy as Bismarck saw himself abandoned. The Fall of the Titan commenced.

The Steyr retrofit plate  is still checked today before any gun enthusiast shoots the infamous gun. The Steyr fix included diverse things which Mauser also used for his 95 masterpiece. Neither Mauser or Mannlicher offered to help Spandau for almost two years until Bismarck was forced to cancel his war and then be fired by Willy. This was all after Mayerling. The fix including the following:

A new bolt with additional lug bolts to anchor it and an anti-blow-back flange as well as a hot gas vent.

The Lebel rifle pattern was changed from 318 to a much deeper 323 or 324.  The bullet  caliber was changed from 8 mm to 7.92. The steel barrel was likewise upgraded. Still it was odd that the Mannlichers slim barrel with its special deep 318 bore suffered no such problems. The Frankenstein gun was rebored and rebored and rebored but never could balance the pressure and velocity and nitro fouling. Different oils to clean the gun were also tried. Different maintaining protocols were established. Different  cleaning rods and wiping cords were tried. But the ideal never came. The Mannlicher Repeater never suffered such problems at all. So it was a mystery. Soldiers never did trust the now infamous gun even after Steyr fixed it more or less. The fear of the gun so spooked the Junkers it sabotaged all hopes of a war until after 95 when gun parity pretty much ended the gun crisis. Everyone had a good gun after 95. So no one had an advantage  in a war. Oddly, after that Germany focused its attention on dreadnoughts.

Then the first rumors of the Mauser 95 masterpiece started to percolate down. Mauser swore by the stripper loading system instead of the enbloc packet clip. As the gun crisis ebbed away along with rumors of war and Mayerling receded from memory the Mauser 95 was embraced. Spandau groveled and worshiped Mauser. Mauser was now god. Everyone abandoned the ill fated Commission Repeater Rifle alias the Jew’s Musket alias the  Frankenstein gun. The Ottomans and Third World countries bought it —-as long as the retrofit plate proved it was ‘fixed’ more or less. But the gun was no one’s definition of a sweet girl.

Meanwhile Spandau struggled with the other failure: the Patrone 88 full metal jacket bullet.

The Steyr 88  and 90 hybrid nitro upgrade  and 92 full nitro upgrade outperformed it. The French Balle 86 and upgraded 98 outperformed it. The New & Improved Rubin full metal jacket bullet outperformed it. The Enfield Armory bullet outperformed it.  The bullet was such a fatal gift it was wreaking Spandau’s entire armory program. Spandau basically had to go back to the drawing board and actually reinvent it. Translation:  they finally developed their own genuine bullet instead of a knock off. But by then everyone had nitro. So there was ammo parity. So the gun crisis was over. Everyone moved into machine guns after Browning (financed by the British) broke the Maxim monopoly on the copyright of the patent for the concept of the machine gun.)

So ultimately the only casualties of the gun crisis  were Archduke Leopold, Crown Prince Inspector General Rudolph, and Bismarck.

After Mayerling Francis Joseph ignored gunnery and tried to ignore Willy while continuing to cower before Albrecht while enjoying the fall of Bismarck.

Sisi told people Rudolph was murdered but never found time to do anything about it. But her sham of a marriage to Francis Joseph was over. Only dense Francis Joseph  continued to pretend the marriage was still viable. Royals toed  the official spiel about ‘suicide’ but privately said of course Rudolph was murdered. Catholic priests tried  to deny Rudolph’s memory by stopping masses but the ordinary people loved their ‘People’s Prince’ and rioted when churches refused to hold masses.

It was pointed by key princes of the church like Galimberti that the Pope had approved Rudolph’s Catholic burial so therefore Rudolph could not  be a suicide . Galimberti should know. He co-wrote the mysterious second telegraphic ‘confessional’ memorandum to the Pope which Francis Joseph  signed off. It  secured the ok for Catholic burial and masses based on death by other an suicide caused by  madness. Affair of the state  and not affair of the heart. It was the same clause that allowed a nunnery to be founded at Mayerling for nuns to pray for a soul and a man who WAS KILLED.

Galimberti liked to rub it into the Junkers by casually referring to two bullets in Rudolph’s skull. A vertical bullet from the back and base of the skull slightly behind the ear which blew out the  front and top of the skull  as  if a tin can exploding and vomiting out its contents  and a second  horizontal bullet from left to right blowing out the entire right temple.  And oh yes! Champagne glass from a bludgeoning  wound.  And oh yes some more! Defensive wounds! And Mary bludgeoned! And a mystery civilian hand gun which previously discharged all six chambers! Galimberti was a fount of embarrassing intel!Apparently for such a gutless suicidal coward Rudolph put up one hell of a fight. No wonder the Catholic nuns at Mayerling are ordered to pray for a man who was KILLED brutally and viciously and sadistically .

Paul S Scarlata would later review the Commission Rifle and agree with the general view that it was  crude, difficult, inaccurate, not overly safe to fire. The latter charge being an understatement. The 90 % Mauser knock off bolt was slower than a Mannlicher straight bolt. The installing of a Mauser stripper slowed up loading and invited fumbling. The Spandau Commission Repeater Rifle was a bad knock off of a masterpiece: The Mannlicher Repeater Rifle. And mano u mano the Mannlicher 95 Repeater also excelled the Mauser 95 Repeater.

People speculate about that mysterious final  run in between Francis Joseph and Rudolph in the last week of Rudolph’s life. Romantics want to say it was about Mary. Rudolph only saw Mary perhaps  twice. How was that a love affair? Rudolph was  on record asking people to stop Mary’s unwanted attentions to him. How is that love? Rudolph spent the last Viennese night of his life with MC. A woman he told many he deeply loved.

I think the mysterious confrontation occurred this way :

Rudolph stands  at military attention in the inner sanctum. The seated Francis Joseph opens a leather dossier and pushes  the prepared resignation paper toward his son. Then the aging man pulls  off  his spectacles as he gestures wearily  to the resignation letter. Rudolph pulls out his own thick spectacles and pulls the wires on over his pronounced ears. His deteriorating eyes skims the accusations for  gross  incompetence, insubordination,  and treason. He pulls off his thick glasses and fussily puts them away in their case with shaking hands. Then the aging man  orders his only son  point blank to resign in disgrace for incompetence and insubordination and treason.

Francis Joseph ticks off the  accusations.  Rudolph caused the 11 mm Debacle including cost overruns and dangerous delays in production of gunnery. Rudolph  endangered the Imperial Army. Rudolph endangered the precious Prussian Austrian Treaty of Alliance . Rudolph alienated a key ally while treasonously flirting with  the enemy.  Chancellor Bismarck has demanded his resignation. Kaiser Wilhelm The Second has demanded his resignation. Supreme Commander Archduke Albrecht  has demanded his resignation. Francis Joseph as Emperor is demanding his resignation.

Perhaps the old man waves clipped newspaper articles cut out by Taaffe and color highlighted which reported hysterical Pan German accusations of Rudolph’s  treason to the German Race and betraying the Fatherland to the foul French and beasty Brits.  Then Francis Joseph again gestures to the  pen beside the document drafted and prepared by Supreme Commander Albrecht. The aged man bitterly  refers to vague accusations about Hungarian plots which Albrecht always believed Rudolph was involved in. Perhaps Francis Joseph mentions foul Jew plots too, throwing the odd line that Rudolph was such a treasonous   Jew lover. That  is a bitter reference to rumors of Rudolph’s possible  Jewish son hidden away in America by Rudolph’s American friend General Longstreet. That alone would be treason if ever proven.  The old man curtly  shoves the pen and paper toward Rudolph. ‘You are not worthy of being  my son!’

‘Please  Father! What have I done that you should treat  me so?’Rudolph stands at military attention. Then he   point blank refuses yet again to resign in disgrace.

Francis Joseph orders  Rudolph as not only his commanding officer but as emperor to sign and resign in disgrace. ‘I command to be obeyed!’

Then  Rudolph picks up Francis Joseph’s beloved Red Book of Regulations. Rudolph finds  the page on court martial. Rudolph  places the opened book before his aged and enraged father’s gaze. Francis Josephs bellows that the court martial has been held in absentia and Rudolph as been found guilty of treason and is not worthy of being his son. Rudolph flinches as that tick in his mouth and chin throbs. His red eyes glare at his father, flashing that amazingly hostile look of greenish rage. Then he again points to the actual protocols.

‘The star chamber court martial was illegal! Your Majesty! You have violated your own regulations per the Red Book of Regulations ! And I have not done anything incompetent or  shameful or treasonous!’

The old man pounds  the  desk  as he   bellows ‘I command to be obeyed! Damn you!  You have brought all of this  upon yourself! Why didn’t you resign when I asked you as a father  would his son? Why did you force this crisis? Now we have both crossed the Rubicon!’

Rudolph stiffens. ‘As an officer and a gentleman I cannot confess to  accusations which are false or resign to charges which are lies! Nor will I allow myself  to be besmirched for canards  which I am not permitted to refute in lawful open court! Please Father! Take my life if you must but don’t take my honor!’ Francis Joseph gestures to hurl the incriminating paper at his son. Rudolph flinches as tears fills his eyes.

Then Rudolph salutes   per Military Protocols. Then per Spanish Etiquette Rudolph bows and retreats and bows and retreats and bows and retreats ever backward toward the door to the antechamber. Then he turns and marches out of the Imperial Presence of  Emperor Francis Joseph. At this point they were no longer father and son. At this point they are  Emperor and Enemy.