Germany News Wrap-up, Q1/1923
8 January 1923
The Reichsmarine has laid down another class of cruisers. At 8,000 and over thirty-two knots, the Karlsruhe will be larger and faster than any light cruiser ever built in Germany.
Plans for the ship show an unusual layout, with two double mounts and six single mounts, at a time when some navies are using triple or even quadruple mounts for their main guns. Criticism of this disposition argue that it is inefficient, but the Reichsmarine replied through a spokesman that moving to a ship with only multiple gun mounts would not happen until the fleet was ready to do so.
A sister ship to the Karlsruhe , the Konigsberg , will be laid down in the spring.
3 February 1923
Despite the subtle objections of many industry leaders, the Cuno government is making headway in the battle to control inflation. While Chancellor Cuno himself is said to be indifferent to the issue, Finance Minister Hans Luther has been candid in his statements on the matter.
“Certainly one can not overlook the favourable circumstances that inflation has created for our economy in some respects. Neither can one overlook the tremendous damage it is causing to our social fabric”, Minister Luther commented in an address to the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce last Thursday.
“We can not expect the German people to support a government that intentionally strikes at their ability to survive”, the minister added, in a thinly veiled allusion to the Reichstag elections scheduled for next year. “They will sensibly back whomever offers them that ability.”
Although the inflation rate did continue to rise through January, the growth rate was far less than had been anticipated.
19 February 1923
Chancellor Cuno admitted yesterday in the Reichstag that the Republic came very close to defaulting on its reparation payments to France, Belgium, and other nations at the start of the year.
“It was a near-run thing”, the Chancellor later said when confronted by the media outside the Reichstag. “Fortunately, Minister Luther was able to assemble the necessary finances and negotiate a loan with a foreign lending institution that covered a short-term shortfall.”
Political observers agree that the Republic was fortunate this time around. “Despite the efforts of their allies, the French show little interest in accommodating Germany”, Professor Jorge Urlich said from the University of Geneva. “I would not have been surprised to see them invade western Germany in order to secure what they were owed. This would likely have led to open conflict and perhaps all-out war.”
The efforts of Minister Luther to regain control over German finances is, in Professor Ulrich's words, "A luadable attempt, which might even prove successful in the long term. However, he needs the full backing of the Chancellor to make it work, and I suspect that he does not yet have it."
14 March 1923
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Reichsmarine is looking at a possible reconstruction of the three pre-dreadnought battleships that remain in service.
“We’re considering it”, agreed Defense Minister Otto Gessler. “We will not be able to replace them for some time due to our Versaillies Treaty limitations. An upgrade or reconstruction would improve their utility over the next decade.”
Surprisingly, while the Cleito Treaty prohibits the reconstruction of capital ships, Germany is not a signatory and is thus bound only by Versailles - which is mute on the point. Germany would thus be legally entitled to reconstruct any of its capital ships as it deemed fit.
Minister Gessler would not comment on possible design variants for the ships, but noted, “We’ve been examining how Italy, for example, has dealt with its own vessels.”
The Italian Regina Elena , a former pre-dreadnought, was recently rebuilt as a powerful armored cruiser capable of catching and sinking all but the newest and fastest cruisers.
22 March 1923
Saxony has become the first land in Germany to find itself with a leftist government. The move came yesterday, as the SPD and KPD took control of a coalition government. Johann Wilhelm Buck is the new President.
While the federal government and that of many other lander did offer congratulations, however perfunctory, the government of Bavaria pointedly did not comment at all. A member of the NSDAP, Hermann Goering, was heard to describe the news as “an omen that should alarm all patriots”.
Similar rhetoric can be expected in the near future, as the two lander’ mutual neighbour, Thuringia, also seems poised to acquire a leftist government.
[OOC: The last item is generally historical, though I've made up the Goering quote. Is it relevant? We'll see.]
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