Chapter 690: War
Akado’s sharp gaze swept over the thousand members of the Reichstag seated below. These people, along with the reporters crowding the press area, were all waiting for the leader of the world’s most powerful empire, waiting for him to make a stunning statement.
Akado’s somewhat slender body stood ramrod straight on the podium. He raised his long arm. The black SS uniform, under the lights, looked like a sculpture, with its folds and textures giving it a sense of weight and substance. Under the convergence of the lights, in the gaze of the people, Akado’s raised arm gradually bent, and his hand slowly clenched into a fist.
Finally, his fist, diagonally above his head and slightly in front of his shoulder, made a circle. Then he shouted a single, short word: “War!”
His voice, slightly hoarse, echoed throughout the great hall. The entire assembly was so silent it was terrifying. Everyone had expected the Führer to deliver a brilliant speech, denouncing the Americans’ treachery in various aspects, and inciting everyone to a common hatred, to join in a protracted war with the Americans.
Some had even thought of various reasons and excuses for the Führer’s declaration of war, such as the Americans’ actions in Africa, and this time, their brazen attack on Romania, and so on and so forth. But no one had expected that after saying this simple word, Akado would say no more.
What was this? Just one word? War? Was the Führer’s microphone broken? What was going on? Just as everyone was looking at each other, Field Marshal von Rundstedt stood up and echoed loudly, “War!”
Some of the young turks in the military also stood up, shouting along with their Marshal, “War!”
Following them, the merchants from the armaments factories, the Junker nobles, everyone stood up one by one, raised their arms, and shouted the word the Führer had just uttered: “War!”
More and more people were raising their arms and shouting the word “war.” The number of people still seated in the hall dwindled. One after another, people stood up. Those who stood up all frantically waved their fists, shouting for war, joining the fanatical crowd. This scene even frightened some of the foreign reporters. They felt as if they were not in the Reichstag of the Third Reich, but in the palace of some king from five centuries ago.
To people’s surprise, Akado had no intention of using any bullshit reasons to persuade these people to declare war on the United States. He knew that even the most reasonable and appropriate reason could not persuade everyone to agree to his proposal for war. This time, he didn’t mention any reasons, didn’t give any explanations. He simply, with his prestige, incited the entire country to declare war on another country.
Listening to the thunderous shouts, like a tsunami, listening to the word “war” rising in wave after wave, no one could maintain their composure in this situation. A fanatical emotion spread throughout the Reichstag. Like a flood or a wild beast, it devoured people’s minds, spreading blood and corpses throughout the hall. The monster of war had awakened, and everything else was to be torn apart and destroyed.
“Declare war on the United States!” Akado stood on the steps that symbolized his power, looking down at the sea of people below, and announced loudly, “Any country that dares to provoke the Third Reich, no matter how distant, we will surely punish! Long live the Third Reich!”
“Long live!” everyone shouted fanatically in response. This was a gluttonous feast, an outlet for the thirst for war. The war machine of the entire Third Reich would show no mercy to any enemy, because too many Germans were leaning on this war machine. No one wanted it to really stop.
The military knew that the war was already very favorable to them. As long as they held the line on the Eastern Front and won another strategic offensive against the Soviet Union, then Germany could firmly become the world’s number one power. At this time, if some idiot were to say that the war should be ended, wouldn’t that be opposing the entire military establishment? What? You can’t stand to see others achieve meritorious deeds and become national heroes?
And behind these military bigwigs was the support of almost the entire German industrial group. Now, over 70% of Germany’s industry was producing military equipment for the German army. The rest were either controlled by financial groups related to the military or were simply subsidiary factories of military-industrial enterprises.
If you added the farmers who had benefited from the land, the workers who had gained more employment opportunities, and the entire financial system that served the war (the MEFO bill system supported Germany’s wartime economy; one could say that Germany’s economy had been hijacked by the war), no one would stop Germany from starting a war. Or rather, no one would feel that starting and expanding a war was an unacceptable thing—the only difference was that some wars targeting individual markets would upset some businessmen.
Another immeasurable factor was Akado’s prestige as a leader. When Akado stood up and shouted the word “war,” the entire assembly fell into a state of frenzy. Everyone almost lost their minds. They shouted fanatically. The original scattered resistance instantly vanished like ice meeting the sun, disappearing without a trace. Everyone was in the same state: unconditional support for Akado’s decision.
This was the result of one man hijacking the entire Reichstag with his will, the result of one man’s prestige having surpassed the system and become a monument. Roosevelt would definitely envy Akado on this matter, because only Akado could stand on a high platform like today and lead everyone into a crazy war.
“I, Akado, can only give you one promise, and it is very simple!” Akado looked at the crazy crowd below and continued to say loudly, “And that is, to be invincible! The German Third Reich will be invincible!”
Applause began to spread, and then it was endless. Compared to excuses and reasons, no other speech could so blatantly display one person’s power. He ignored the questions of the Reichstag, or rather, he didn’t have to worry about them at all. He could use one person’s decision to make everyone follow him, until the end of the world.
Anna stood behind Akado, feeling the sweat soak the shirt on her back. She knew that Akado had not been fully prepared when he arrived at the Reichstag this time. She knew that Merkel had only prepared that speech for a dozen minutes, and it probably wasn’t of much use. But what she didn’t know was that Akado hadn’t even looked at that speech. With just one word, he had set the whole place on fire.
Germany did not fear war; Germany longed for war. In fact, everything had already been arranged. The Axis powers had been required to launch a full-scale war against the United States. Within a few minutes, the German Third Reich declared war on the United States, Romania declared war on the United States, Vichy France declared war on the United States, Turkey declared war on the United States, Spain declared war on the United States, and then Italy and Northern Britain both very reluctantly read out their declarations of war against the United States. The chaotic world war became even more chaotic at this moment.
“My Führer, to declare war on both the United States and the Soviet Union at the same time will put an even greater strain on our industrial capacity. To retaliate against the United States and Britain, we will at least need to bring out some not-so-mature weapons and equipment. This… is something you have always tried your best to avoid, isn’t it?” August walked to Akado’s side and asked in a low voice.
“Mr. August, I am a very impulsive person, so I have often made choices that you do not think are very correct,” Akado said, his eyes fixed on the front. “But I think that a country needs to have a certain spirit, and a nation should also have its own spirit. I think that although some things are not the best choice, we must persist in the things we need to persist in!”
“Like this? By losing the peace with the United States, we will have to develop for at least another 10 years to reach the economic level we hope to achieve,” August said with a smile. “Are you prepared for that, Führer?”
“Then we will develop on our own for 20 years without the Americans!” Akado said fiercely. “Order the acceleration of the development of the 6-engine Butcher bomber. Have the experimental work on the V2 missile also be sped up as much as possible. For the test… for the test launch, just load it with an explosive warhead and aim it directly at the United States. In any case, don’t waste it.”
To be honest, Germany did not have many weapon systems that could threaten the territory of the United States, and most of these weapons were still future weapons under development. For example, the V2 surface-to-surface missile that was currently under development did not have very good accuracy or reliability. Originally, Akado had planned to develop it as a long-range nuclear attack method. Now, he had to bring it out ahead of schedule to attack and intimidate the American mainland, which was clearly a bit of an overkill.
But now Germany had to bring out something to threaten the American mainland as much as possible, to let the United States experience the cruelty of war. This situation, where only the Americans could make a move and the Germans were forced to react, was something Akado very much disliked. America’s geographical advantage was once again in front of the Germans. At least at this stage, the German army, which had swept across all directions, could do nothing about the distant North America. The only thing they could do was to step up the development of longer-range weapons.
“Actually, there is another good way. Have the newest U-47 submarine take a trip to the American coast. I think there will be more gains,” August said with a chuckle to Akado. “Find some important targets and launch a swift and effective counter-attack!”
Published: 2025-09-18T11:11:29.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-02-27T18:42:21.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c690-war-139175719
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com