Believe in Revolution ©

IV

"The Europe Empress"

Gabri and Alexei widened their eyes and mouthed at the same time "Who?"

Every Atlant in the room turned to see the two foreigners. At the sight that they were unaware of what was happening in their own world, all quitted their glares and fixed them in Sophie.

"Since which year have you been here?" She asked Gabri and Alexei

"1914" Dani said

"1920" Alexei said "Why you ask?"

"Just to understand why you are unaware of it" Sophie said "The Empress and her puppet husband - even if he's the supposedly rightful heir - started to be a threat after the war" She paused "You know about the Austro-Serbian War, right?" She asked Alexei

Alexei remembered and answered "Yeah, but I don't know who won. Russia retired in 1917 and the war wasn't over in that moment"

"Okay, I'll make a quick summary" Sophie said "In 1914, Bosnia was under control of Austria-Hungary, but there were people against it. They made, with some Serbians, a terrorist group that wanted independence" She paused "And in June of the same year, the archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of Austria-Hungary was murdered by that people"

"So" the Elder woman from before said "they murdered someone to get their country's freedom"

Sophie nodded slowly.

The faces of the Atlants were of pure shock and gasped. As a pacific nation, the idea of war was shocking.

"Let me follow" Sophie said "Austria-Hungary wanted to investigate the murder, because they were wondering if those terrorists were the responsibles. Serbia didn't let them. They said that an investigation, if it's done, should be made by the country's authorithies. In this case, the Serbian ones. But Austria-Hungary wanted to investigate by themselves and they shot an ultimatum to Serbia that was rejected. This reject made Austria-Hungary declare war to Serbia"

"Bad idea" Gabri said "Austria-Hungary is an empire. Compared to Serbia... But both had allies, right?"

"Yes" Sophie said "Some of the German Duchies went to the Austro-Hungarians' side together with Greece, and in the middle of the war, Poland - after their governor's death, their new leader allied -. In Serbia's side, it was Russia and the other German Duchies"

«At first, the war was favoured to nobody. Both sides had their loses. The Serbian side, more. The Austro-Hungarians had like a secret elite unit, they murdered in a cruel way. They were most sent against the strongest enemy armies like Russia, Bavaria or Westphalia"

Gabri widened her eyes. Her land... in the war, with people killed in cruel ways... She couldn't picture it.

But Alexei would have wanted not to be able to picture it. He remembered some of the corpses he had seen during his stay with the militars. It had been horrible. His father had tried him not to look but he had been so curious about his father's worried glare.

"Yeah, they did" Alexei whispered for himself "Too many, Эти жестокие ублюдки" He tried to say that low enough for anyone to hear but Gabri heard. Had Alexei been into war? Or maybe some relative of him had been and he knew it by that?

"In 1916, the emperor Franz Joseph I, the husband of Sissi, died" Gabri put attention in that. Sissi was her... grand-aunt, maybe? No, even farther, she had been her cousin in some grade, hadn't she? She didn't remember, but they were relatives. "And Austria-Hungary lost their leader. They had none. Their heir's death had been the reason they were in war" Sophie said "That's when the Emperor and Empress appeared"

«It was known that that man - the Emperor - was a relative of the deceased emperor. Not sure of which one, but the main fact is that he was a Habsburg. He and his wife took the throne that year" She paused "There's not really more. The next year, the February Revolution made the Russian Tsar abdicate. The new goverment decided to retire from war"

"Brest-Litovsk" Alexei said. He avoided thinking about the revolution.

"Yes" Sophie nodded "The treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Later, the other German armies were weakening. Poland entered in war. And without Russia's help, the war's victory was far from Serbia. In November 1918, the war was over. Austria-Hungary had conquered Belgrade, the Serbian capital. Austria-Hungary and their allies won"

Gabri and Alexei looked to each other. Their countries had lost a war. Well, Russia had retired, Bavaria had lost.

"But that's when Austria-Hungary started to be a threat and became a unstoppable conquer" Sophie said "Serbia was invaded, the terrorist group executed. That was just the beginning. Their war prize" She paused "My father, who now rests in peace, believed that the German conflict had already been talked during the war. I also believe so" Sophie said, gulping

"The German conflict?" Gabri asked

"Yeah" Sophie said "Some Duchies were in the winner side, others in the loser one" She paused "Austria-Hungary told their allied Duchies that when they win, the loser Duchies had to belong to their territory. Taking those allies Duchies as vessels, when the war ended, they told them to gain control over the losers. That started a civil conflict. The loser Duchies reacted different. Some surrended and betrayed the others, making pacts with the vessel Duchies"

"Verräter" Gabri said bitterly "Feiglinge"

"Others like Bavaria" Sophie glared to Gabri "fought until they couldn't and had to surrender. After that, the German Confederation became a land ruled by Austria-Hungary in the shadows. With that, Austria-Hungary had control of every land in Europe from the French-German frontier until the Polish-Russian frontier. Poland, Greece and the Baltic Duchy - that betrayed Russia during the war - became their puppet-states" Alexei made a bitter smirk when he heard that. The Baltics had allied with Austria-Hungary? He cursed in silence. He tried to be polite with the curses, after all, he'd been educated in a pretty religious way.

"But that's not all" Sophie said "One loser country was missing"

Alexei's eyed widened "You mean...?"

"Russia, yeah" Sophie said

"But they retired" Alexei said "It shouldn't be like that. We...They" He corrected himself immediatly "had lot of troubles back then. With the revolution and all" Saying all this was tough for him.

"Yeah and Austria-Hungary took advantage of it" Sophie said "Part of the secret elite unit was sent to Russia just after they retired from war. During that time, it was unknown what they were doing but they contacted the White Army when they found out about... the execution"

Alexei's eyes widened and felt his legs being about to fail. The Whites knew...? Suddenly he remembered.

"We're going to be moved to a safer location" Doctor Botkin just answered "The Anti-Bolshevik Forces are near"

"That's it" Alexei said "The Whites knew it thanks to the Austro-Hungarians and the Reds found it out. Well, at least about the Whites"

Lilth glared at Alexei. She was worried about him. He wasn't taking it well.

"Execution?" Other of the Elder women said

"Yeah" Sophie said "The Bolsheviks - the Russian revolutionaries - put under house arrest the old Imperial Family and finally, they executed them. Or that's what the Austro-Hungarians said"

Alexei felt like falling but realized the last bit.

"What do you mean by that?"

Verräter = Traitors (German)

Feiglinge = Cowards (German)

Эти жестокие ублюдки = Those cruel bastards (Russian)