Chapter 344: Kneel Before the Crown
The British parliament was in an uproar it had not seen since the American colonies had successfully defeated their colonial forces via a combination of asymmetric and regular warfare. At the time, one of the larger grievances had been the "uncivilized manner with which the colonialists conducted warfare."
Much was the same sentiment that repeated itself currently as a particularly heavyset parliamentary member cursed the Germans for the way they waged war, his jowls practically flapping in perfect tandem with his double chin as he did so.
"It is absolutely reprehensible the way these damned barbarians wage war against our soldiers? Chemical weapons, bombing campaigns from the sky and ambushes on our non-combatants? We cannot let such acts of uncivilized behavior be permitted to go unpunished!"
This was a sentiment many among the more hawkish members of Parliament had regarding the German Army, the German Reich, and the German nation as a whole. They had gotten molly walloped so badly over the course of the last two years that they simply could not admit that they were defeated by a superior foe.
No, it was the uncivilized way in which the Germans conducted warfare! That was how they had so thoroughly trounced the indomitable might of the British Empire! However, the Hawks were starting to become a minority in British politics as the Empire burned in the background.
And hostility between the various parties and ideologies was at the highest extent imaginable. So much so that one of the opposition was quick to throw his mug of water at the overweight parliamentary member who had suggested continuing the war.
The mug struck the man’s head and cut him across the forehead while its contents spilled all over the intended target. Immediately upon hurling the object, the man who had thrown it yelled at the man he struck.
"If you’re so damned insistent on sending our sons to die in this war, why the bloody hell don’t you yourself volunteer first!"
This act of violence in the halls of parliament sparked a full scale riot as all sides began throwing things at one another, and engaging in fisticuffs in the middle of the building. All the while the men at the top of the hierarchy face palmed, and wiped their eyes in exhaustion.
Three times, three times in the last 72 hours the British parliament had erupted in violence as those on both sides of how Great Britain should proceed with the war effort could not come to a single concession.
One side wanted to withdraw and leave the French hanging dry immediately, while spending their remaining military power to stabilize their own homeland and colonies. All the while the other side wanted to make the Germans pay for killing over a million of their young men.
British casualties in this war were far higher than in Bruno’s past life, nearing three million in total that were KIA, WIA, or MIA. And the French were even worse.