Chapter 428: The Gauntlet Has Been Lain
It was hard to believe that barely a year and a half had passed since the Great War came to an end. So much had happened in such a short time that Bruno often felt as though he were being swept along by the changing seasons—too consumed by action to fully grasp the pace of history as it unfolded around him.
And yet, here they were—the first Olympic Games of the postwar era, truly about to begin.
Originally scheduled for 1916, the Summer Olympics had been postponed due to the war, and then again during the chaos of the succession crisis. It was finally agreed they would be held in 1918, with the next games delayed until 1922. But even before the date was confirmed, Bruno had already begun laying the foundations for what was to come. The stage was global. And Germany would be its center.
Whether militarily, economically, or—now—athletically, Bruno had worked tirelessly to position the Reich as the pre-eminent power of the modern world.
The Olympics were still in their infancy, not yet the worldwide spectacle they would become in the century to follow. Few nations participated with true seriousness, and fewer still understood the potential of what these games represented. But Bruno did.
He remembered a different time—a different world—and he knew full well what the Games could become.
Not just a contest of strength and speed, but a display of soft power, a crucible where nations revealed their discipline, their vision, and their will to triumph through human excellence. It was a proving ground of prestige—where the champions of tomorrow were not forged in blood, but in fire and sweat and quiet sacrifice.
Of course, it was always the wealthiest and most powerful who produced the greatest athletes. Training, equipment, nutrition, facilities—these mattered. Perhaps more than anyone liked to admit.
Bruno understood this, and unlike those who sought shortcuts through drugs or unethical science, he opted for something more difficult—but infinitely more effective. He had built a system. A nationwide engine for athletic perfection. Something akin to what the Soviets would later create in another life, but cleaner, sharper, and far more dangerous in its efficiency.
Germany’s champions were men sculpted from marble—natural demigods molded through a doctrine of ruthless discipline, cutting-edge nutrition, and access to the most advanced training techniques ever devised.
They did not need drugs.They had order.
And now, with the Games to be held in Berlin of all places, Bruno and the Kaiser had quietly spent years orchestrating something far beyond an athletic competition.