Re: Blood and Iron

In many ways, German and Italian history were parallel. Both came from ancient cultures dating back to classical antiquity, and both cultures had lived as the respective hegemon of their own regions for a period of time.

Italy, for example, had ruled as the supreme hegemon of the Mediterranean during the latter centuries of Classical Antiquity, while in Germany's case, the erroneously named "Holy Roman Empire" had served as, more or less, the supreme sovereign of Europe during the High Middle Ages.

But in this world, time alone remained undefeated. Whether you were a dynasty of kings, an unrivaled Empire, or a god himself, sooner or later, all things came to an end. It was simply a matter of time.

Every civilization that had ever existed sooner or later disappeared into the annals of history. And if given enough time, every culture and language that had ever appeared on Earth would do the same. Such rules were universal in life. At the end of the day, even this universe we live in will come to an end.

It was for that reason that the ancient Roman and Holy Roman Empires were nothing more than ruins left behind, and the whispers of ghosts, whose historical records had miraculously survived until this very time.

Interestingly enough, Germany and Italy also shared a similarity in this regard as well, for when their ancient and great Empires had collapsed, they essentially splintered into a fractured culture of various petty kingdoms, principalities, and republics, all of which had fought with themselves and their neighbors until finally uniting once more into a single nation in the latter half of the 19th century.

Perhaps it was merely coincidence, but curiously enough, both the German Reich and the Kingdom of Italy united in the same exact year-1871 to be precise. While the process had begun decades earlier for both nations, it was not until 1871 that both nations unified beneath a single banner and monarch.

However, unlike the German Reich, Italy was not a nation known for its military prowess. While the Germans had a proud military history dating back to the days when they contended with Rome for control of their own borders, Italy had more or less either been occupied by foreign powers or had been seen as a joke in this regard since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.

While still considered a Great Power by the world, Italy was also known as the "Least of the Great Powers," and accurately so. In Bruno's past life, they had fought 12 battles in Isonzo with the Austro-Hungarians to determine who was the worst of the Great Powers, and in doing so, lost at Caporetto.

Had the war continued for another year or two, Italy would have capitulated as their lines were thoroughly broken through by the combined forces of the German Reich and the Austro- Hungarian Empire during the 12th and last battle of Isonzo, also more commonly referred to as the Battle of Caporetto.