The Chaos of Albania spilling into the rest of the Balkans was a nightmare situation become reality. And Bruno did not know how he was going to contain the fire that was rapidly
spreading throughout the region.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise that this was happening. In fact, it was highly expected, if not outright inevitable. Though Bruno was caught a bit off guard with the timing. Austro- Hungary’s collapse was inevitable.
All civilizations crumbled eventually, and all species reached a point of extinction. Time had a way of bringing all that existed in this universe to utter ruin. But Austro-Hungary’s collapse was destined to be far quicker and more brutal than most stable empires.
The reason being was simple: different religions, cultures, and ethnicities could not inhabit the same lands for long before they began to fight over control of it. Forcing the various identities in the Balkans to live beneath the same banner was a bad idea to begin with, but far more so when they were being ruled over by a foreign monarch.
A German ruling over an empire primarily built in the Balkans? Apparently, the inbreeding within the Habsburg Dynasty had a far greater long-term effect on their gene pool than the mathematic equation would otherwise suggest.
It was honestly the only explanation Bruno could rationalize as to why Francis I had decided to maintain control over his holdings in the Balkans when he dismantled the Holy Roman Empire as a political entity.
What else could possibly be used to explain such a reckless idea? Building an empire on loose sand in front of a crashing tidal wave was not exactly conducive to long-term stability. Now, was it? It was pride, wasn’t it? The damn pride of a man who refused to give up his recognition as an “Emperor.”
Pride really was the root of all evil in this world, this was the only conclusion Bruno could properly come to as he looked upon the faces of the deceased who had been taken hostage by the local militants, and killed during the assault to bring them to justice.
Among them was a young girl, no older than ten, whose lifeless eyes conveyed the fear and anguish she must have felt right before her life was snuffed away, most likely not by the devils who had held her by gunpoint, but the men who had come to “save her.”
Erich was a man like Bruno who cared more about completing the objective than the collateral damage that came in the way. And shooting through a hostage to kill the target was certainly an efficient means of ensuring the militants did not escape.
But even Bruno would have a hard time justifying pulling the trigger when that hostage was a child. Something Erich didn’t seem remotely concerned about. It was true Bruno did not know the full story. He wasn’t on the team of stormtroopers sent to eliminate the religious fanatics.
However, he also knew Erich’s personality well enough, as well as the sadistic murderers and psychopaths beneath his command who called themselves soldiers. This blood was not necessarily on Bruno’s hands. He had not given the order to attack the militants as they tried to negotiate with the surrounding gendarme forces.
He was still on a train to Sarajevo and only arrived after the chaos had been more or less settled. Even so, Bruno was the one who kept Erich on a leash when the man was little more than a rabid dog in need of being put down.
As Bruno exhaled the smoke from his lungs, the rain began to fall upon the corpses of the victims and the perpetrators. All the while, the medics began to carry them off one by one in body bags.
Seemingly noticing the General simply standing there smoking as he gazed upon the aftermath of this most recent act of religious and ethnic violence committed in the Balkans, the medic approached Bruno.
His uniform was very clearly Austro-Hungarian, as were the distinctions to rank and unit on it. The medic’s German was far from fluent, but he spoke enough to make sense to Bruno. “Did you know her? The victim I mean?”
Bruno shook his head as he flicked his cigarette butt onto the ground, where he stamped it out beneath the sole of his boot. He only responded after beginning to walk away. His words were far more grim than the Medic was expecting from the man.
“Not in the slightest… I’m just beginning to wonder if this is all worth a pitiful attempt to save a dying empire…”
After saying this Bruno wandered off in the rain to go meet up with the other Generals whose forces were spread across Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro trying their best to maintain law and order as the preparations needed to begin an invasion of the Ottoman Empire continued in the background.
The building temporarily acting as the Balkan Theater’s operational command room was filled with the smell of smoke and booze, as the leadership of the Imperial Forces had long since stopped celebrating, and instead found themselves in a state of despair.
Bruno reached for the nearest bottle of vodka which the Russians had brought over from the motherland and poured himself a glass without even asking for permission. After doing so, he drank the entire thing in one go, before pouring himself another to sip on while he made a major announcement to the other generals currently acting beneath his command.
“I have decided to launch an expedition into Albania. So long as the lawlessness there can be taken advantage of by Bulgaria and the Ottomans in a shortsighted and ill-conceived proxy war, the borders of Austro-Hungary will suffer.
Law and Order must return to Albania if we wish to stabilize things here in our own territory. And since we have a few months at the latest before the preparations are concluded for our invasion of the Ottoman Empire, then I see no reason why we should sit here and wait for the next attack by fanatics of every denomination.
If anyone else has any concerns regarding this punitive expedition, speak now or forever hold your peace…”
Bruno may have complete operational authority over all Imperial Forces within the Balkans, but that did not mean that he ruled with an iron fist like some kind of dictator. These men
were generals every bit as much as he was.
Meaning that they had long stories of military careers full of experience, and knowledge he could very well make use of. After all, Bruno’s rise to the top had been over the course of roughly fifteen years, which was still a very short amount of time by the normal standards. Invading Albania could be conceived as a necessary action. The nation existed on the coastline, and while technically neutral, was in a state of total anarchy at the moment. Meaning that the Allied Powers could easily slip operatives, both of the military and intelligence variety, into the country before sending them into Austro-Hungarian territory.
In fact, Bruno suspected that was a large cause for these ongoing conflicts between ethnic and religious paramilitary groups. Normally, a formal declaration of war would be needed to invade the small Balkan Principality.
But they were currently leaderless, as the Prince had fled the country at the start of the war. And no form of provisional government had taken over during his absence. Thus, the only real justification Bruno needed to send troops into the area was having some form of evidence connecting the militant groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo to those in
Albania.
There was just one problem: they did not have this evidence just yet. And because of this, the leader of the Austro-Hungarian forces in the Balkans was quick to comment on this fact.
“I would agree with an invasion into Albania; however, we don’t have just cause to invade as we have yet to find any evidence linking the militants in our territory to those in Albania. At least not in any direct way that could justify such an expedition in accordance with international law.”
After hearing this, Bruno did not appear the least bit dismayed, instead he finished his second glass of Vodka before patting the Austro-Hungarian General on the shoulder, assuring him the man would have his evidence soon enough.
“Give me a fortnight, and I will collect the evidence required to justify an expedition into the Principality of Albania. If that is the only concern that any of you have, then I am going to go do that right this very instant.
Stay safe gentlemen, we live in uncertain times, and it is unknown whether or not these militants will begin targeting us rather than simply each other…”
Bruno would naturally take every precaution necessary to safeguard himself, the other generals and pretty much everyone else in the region of importance both to him personally as well as to the interests of the Imperial Powers and their ongoing military efforts.
As for coming up with the evidence to link the militants in Austro-Hungarian territory to those in Albania, Bruno would need to make a call for that. And because of this, he would chat with his beloved wife much sooner than he had anticipated after his very brief reunion with
his family.