Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 191: Retirement Ceremony Part I

Chapter 191: Retirement Ceremony Part I

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In the German Reich, there were two legislative bodies within Parliament, much like in the United States and its own legislative branch. And like the United States these two bodies were chosen based upon two distinctive factors.

Within the German Empire, the lower branch of Parliament was elected via popular vote by the citizens of the Empire. While in the higher of the two branches, that being Parliament, the Bundesrat and its members were chosen by the regional governments of every State within the Empire.

This was actually similar to how the United States senate functioned originally and even still at this time. It would only be a year from now, in 1913, where US Senators were elected via popular both at the booth by citizens.

A change that would never manifest in the German Reich, or at least within Bruno's past life, and hopefully never. After retiring from the military as a tried and true veteran of both the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, and the later Franco-Prussian War of 1871, and having earned both classes of the Iron cross, as well as a Pour Le Merite no less.

Bruno's father who shared the same name as his youngest son had easily climbed the ranks of German politics, first having been elected and served with distinction within the Reichstag for a number of years, before eventually being appointed by the Kingdom of Prussia to the Reichstag.

It was, of course a surprise to his fellow members of parliament that he rather suddenly decided to retire. And in doing so, Bruno's father was being granted a massive farewell party. Of course Bruno himself, as well as his family were invited to attend the event, as well as all of his siblings and their families as well.

One could never truly underestimate the grandeur of the parties thrown by the nobility of European Kingdoms and empires.

And this retirement party was no exception. Having been thrown by the Kaiser himself, which was rather unusual, but when one understood it was a means of showing respect to an aging member of the Bundesrat whose service to the country could not be underestimated, one naturally understood why this was the case.

Bruno, as always was far from a social butterfly, paying pleasantries where need be, but otherwise trying his best to be a fly on the wall. Heidi was his gregarious half who managed to convince people that her husband was far less menacing than he seemed.

And while Bruno was definitely more of an introvert than he was a social butterfly. What really made him behave so anti-socially at these venues was the fact that he just really hated the fakeness which the nobility in this era seemed to personify.

It was one thing where back in the day the nobility had an obligation to rally troops and lead them into battle. Such was the nature of the feudal responsibilities of which many of these houses had such a prestigious and ancient lineage.

But it had been centuries since feudalism ended, and without the obligation to protect and serve the people as their noble masters, the descendants of the knights and warlords of the ancient era had become a bunch of pampered and prissy wastrels.

Leeches whose sole claim to fame was being the tenth grandson of some valiant warrior whose feat in battle had gained him his lands and title to be shared among his family line until the end of time.

Few men gained their nobility through blood and iron these days, and those who did were generally among the lower nobility, not privy to such an extravagant gathering hosted by the Kaiser himself.

Among those present, only a handful were like Bruno's family, having earned their noble status in the past century through gallant action on the battlefield. And having continued the martial tradition of military service since.

Yet those were the men Bruno tended to congregate among. This was despite the fact that he was considered far more important than them. For Bruno, it was hard to listen to the pompous boasts of men who had never seen the cruelty of a battlefield yet spoke of their ancestor's achievements as if he had slain a dragon in single combat without staining his gilded cloak.

How would you explain to a man who had been raised with a golden spoon in his mouth, and silk diapers that his ancestor's "chivalric" legend was one of blood and guts? Rather than the fantastical way in which he spoke about it?

Moreover, how would a man who had not only spilled the blood of other men, but shed his own in the trenches possibly tolerate such buffoonery without having an instinctive urge to slap the ever living shit out of the dullard who dared espouse such drivel?

Hence why Bruno stood in the corner of the room, with the few other men wearing modern military uniforms, of which whose ranks were significantly lower than his, while smoking a cigarette in one hand, and having a stiff drink in another.

Was it intimidating to have Bruno among their ranks? Not at all, several of these men Bruno had served with, among them were his brothers Kurt and Ludwig, as well as several other officers who fought beneath his command in Russia and who had continued their military service after the war came to an end.

In fact, their rather dark sense of humor, and loud intoxicated voices carried over, as these men caught up, reminiscing about things that made the more coddled noblemen's skin crawl. One of the men spoke of Bruno as if he were the grim reaper.

Yet he did so in a way that sounded as if they were old friends reconnecting in the afterlife. All the while he spoke of the time Bruno walked through the trenches outside Tsaritsyn, clubbing communists over the head with his sharpened entrenching tool.

"I swear to God, I'm not lying. You had not yet arrived in the Volga theater yet! This man literally just walked through the trenches with a spade in one hand and a pistol in the other. Smacking guys over the head with his entrenching tool and they just dropped over dead as if they had been touched by death himself!

I was about to get stabbed by some Bolshevik piece of shit's bayonet when the next thing I see is the cold and murderous gaze of our brave commander as he raised his shovel I the air above the stupid commie's head. Poor son of a bitch didn't even know that death was right behind him, boring a hole through the back of his head with the most hate filled gaze I have ever seen in my life."

Bruno had a particularly grim and stoic reputation among the German nobility, and this officer's loud boasts did not help in that regard. Bruno however shocked those who did not know him personally as he broke out into a chuckle and shook his head, with an almost nastolgic smile on his face as he did so.

"I remember that. Fucking idiot genuinely thought he was going to take the life of one of my officers right in front of me. Well, he sure learned his lesson didn't he? A rather permanent one I might say, if I were so bold..."

The only one among the group of veterans from the volunteer force once known as the Iron Division who was not laughing was Kurt, who was the leader of the combat medics within the unit. He shook his head and blew out a plume of smoke as he called his brothers and comrades sick in the head for laughing about such a traumatic event.

"You fuckers are disturbed, you know that? I still have nightmares about the poor sons of bitches I had to stitch up in that assault. Luckily, we killed all the Marxist swine responsible for all that death or else I would never be able to sleep at night..."

Bruno couldn't help but pat his older brother on the back, and make light of the whole situation, as he pointed out the medals on all of their chests, some of which were German in origin, a medal created specifically for the Iron Division's actions in the war.

And others were granted to them by the Tsar, who awarded thousands of Bruno's volunteer soldiers with distinctive honors for the roles they each played in saving the House of Romanov and the Russian Empire as a whole.

"Hey it was all worth it at the end of the day, right? I mean, a soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon, right?"

All the men knew that Bruno was quoting Napoleon when he said those last words, and rather facetiously so. The men laughed at Bruno's comments, as they were all too aware of the price that had been paid by them all for the sake of a piece of steel and a slightly dyed piece of cloth.

That is, until they saw who stood behind Bruno, and they all instantly shut their mouths and bowed their heads. Bruno immediately knew by the way his comrades were acting that he had put his foot in his mouth right in front of someone important, and if he had to guess it was none other than the Kaiser himself.