Robert Conroy - 1901

VIP免费
2024-12-03 0 0 725.01KB 289 页 5.9玖币
侵权投诉
1901
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am very grateful for the support given me by my wife Diane, my daughter Maura, my mother, and
other family and friends who always encouraged my writing efforts.
I would also like to thank Bob Kane and Dale Wilson of Presidio Press for their willingness to take a
chance on a new writer, along with Bob Tate, who edited and shepherded both the novel and the author.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_ack_r1.html31-8-2007 1:14:39
1901
CHAPTER ONE
WAR, THOUGHT THEkaiser, was the natural order of the world, and only fools thought otherwise. It
mattered not whether one was referring to animals, as Darwin had, or nations, as he now was. War was
the lubricant that drove the successful to greatness and condemned the weak to a deserved obscurity. A
nation that did not grow was doomed to shrivel and die. A nation that did not take from the weak was
forever doomed to be weak herself. With so much of the world already under the jurisdiction of other
powers, it was obvious that the essential growth that would spur Imperial Germany into the twentieth
century could come only at the expense of others. Bismarck had understood that, but only to a point. To
Kaiser Wilhelm II, it was a picture seen with utter clarity. For Germany’s sake, he thanked God it was
he who ruled the empire for the past twelve years. He was the grandson of the man who had, with
Bismarck’s help, formed the state of Germany. He was the descendant of Prussian kings whose military
skills were feared; nevertheless, he had not yet fought a war. Worse, he knew that his English relatives
thought him inadequate and had mocked him since his childhood. They would learn, he seethed; the
world would learn.
The kaiser squinted and tried to see out the rain-streaked window of the small office on the second floor
of the chancellery. On the street below, a handful of people out on the ugly night scurried for cover from
the cold wet rain that had originated in the North Sea. They had, the kaiser smiled to himself, just lost a
minor war with the elements. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the window ledge. He was always
impatient of late. If he hadn’t been so impatient, he would have convened this meeting in the more
convivial atmosphere of one of his residences and resolved matters over brandy and cigars. But no, he
was in this dismal and sparsely furnished little room that would have better served as the office of a
postal clerk than an emperor.
Yet perhaps this way was more advantageous. The pomp of a formal meeting would have attracted the
noses of the swinish liberal press, or, worse, the Socialist creatures who inhabit the Reichstag.
Behind him, he heard the door open and close and the last of his invitees take one of the uncomfortable
wooden chairs. He turned and confronted the handful of men. In the poor light of the small office, they
looked nothing like the powers who ran the empire in his name and at his call. All of them, however, had
“von” preceding their surname. This indicated their stature as Junker nobility who came from that bleak
Prussia their forebears had conquered from the Slavs so many centuries ago. Prussia was the military
soul of the new German Empire.
Of the four men, the kaiser controlled three. They were all older than he by at least a decade. That fact
made him slightly uncomfortable, and he often had to fight to control his insecurities.
Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the expanding navy they both wanted to be second to none, not
even England’s. Bald, burly, and grim, his face obscured by a long and full forked beard, he burned with
an ambition for an overseas empire the kaiser shared with a passion. Their navy was now the second
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c01_r1.html (1 of 5)31-8-2007 1:14:39
1901
largest in the world, although still dwarfed by England’s.
Count Alfred von Schlieffen, a slight, gray-haired man who looked more like a scholar than a soldier,
was chief of the Imperial General Staff and led the Imperial Army, which was already second to none in
quality and fighting ability, and second only to the Russian army in size. Since the Germans considered
the Russians to be little more than barbarians, the difference in the size of their armies was not
considered important. It was significant, however, that the mighty Imperial Army, with the exceptions of
the short war against Denmark and the punitive expedition against China, had been underoccupied for
almost thirty years. That was far too long. An army that does not wage war can soon forget how to fight.
For that matter, he reminded himself, his navy had never fought in all its existence.
Mustachioed Bernhard von Bulow was the kaiser’s choice for chancellor. Although some considered
him a sycophant and a toady, the kaiser thought him loyal and cooperative. Replacing other chancellors,
particularly Bismarck, who had balked at implementing the Imperial ideas, Bulow was ideal for Kaiser
Wilhelm.
The fourth person was the heavyset, enigmatic, and mysterious Friedrich von Holstein. Nicknamed the
Jesuit because of his secretive ways and a preference for manipulation rather than confrontation, he had
run the foreign affairs of the German Empire from his office in his home on the Wilhelmstrasse for more
than a decade. The oldest of the four men, Holstein was both feared and respected, even by the kaiser.
Holstein’s favored way of deterring the will of the kaiser was to avoid receiving orders. Thus it was
rumored that the two had met face to face only a handful of times over the last dozen years, and it was
only the veiled threat of a level of force that saw the angry and uncomfortable Holstein present at this
meeting. Even so, Holstein was a loyal German. If the kaiser commanded, Holstein would obey. In his
younger days, he had been the protégé of the subsequently dismissed Bismarck. This, too, caused the
kaiser to deal with Holstein cautiously.
The kaiser cleared his throat and began his prepared comments. “Gentlemen, the empire is at a critical
point in its young history, and direct action is needed in order to ensure that the German nation continues
its inexorable journey to its destiny.”
The two military men appeared interested, Bulow looked enraptured, and Holstein seemed puzzled.
“The recent war between the United States and Spain has left the United States with an oceanic empire
and a position on the world stage as a major player. The United States is neither ready nor worthy of
such honor. It is my firm belief that what the United States has taken from the stupid, corrupt, and
incompetent Spaniards rightfully belongs to Germany.”
Now he had them, Wilhelm exulted; even Holstein looked intrigued.
“Consider the German Empire. Unlike England’s, ours is landlocked and confined to continental
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c01_r1.html (2 of 5)31-8-2007 1:14:39
1901
Europe. Of course, we have a few square miles of useless desert or jungle in Africa and a rock or two in
the Pacific, but hardly an empire when compared with the overseas possessions of England, Portugal,
Holland, Spain, Belgium, and, now, the United States.
“Yet we have the greatest army in the world.” He bowed to Schlieffen, who smiled. “And the fastest-
growing navy in the world that is now second only to England’s.” He nodded to Tirpitz, a man of
powerful build who hid a stern visage behind his beard. He never smiled in front of his kaiser. Tirpitz
was also aware that second to England was an extremely distant second, and that the German navy was
only slightly larger than those of France, Italy, or the damned United States.
The kaiser continued. “The great Bismarck did not understand this. He cared nothing for overseas
colonies and let many opportunities slip through his fingers. Fortunately, it is not too late. We are
building a great navy to protect our overseas interests. But we do not yet have many overseas interests to
protect. It is even more appalling that our warships must refuel and resupply in British-controlled ports.
We do not have enough coaling stations to permit our fleet to sail without begging permission to dock
from some other European power. If the time ever came that Britain decided to deny us entry to their
colonial ports, we would be unable to leave Germany. That, gentlemen, is intolerable!”
Holstein stifled a yawn as the kaiser recited a litany of perceived slights by the United States,
culminating in the failure of the quiet and unofficial negotiations to purchase the Philippines along with
Puerto Rico and other lands. Good lord, Holstein thought, suddenly chilled, what was the kaiser
planning to do?
The kaiser paused dramatically and rose to his feet for effect. When the men started to rise with him, he
waved them down with his good right hand. The withered left one he kept permanently resting on a
sword handle or in a convenient pocket. It was the only flaw in his physique, and he had spent a lifetime
hiding it. It was particularly difficult for him to ride a horse, since his weak hand somehow affected his
sense of balance. Daily he cursed the fool doctors who had hurt him with carelessly applied forceps at
his birth.
“Gentlemen, let me conclude. Some time ago, the Imperial General Staff was directed to develop plans
for war against the United States. It is my wish that those plans be updated immediately and
implemented as soon as possible. We will be ready to commence war against the United States in the
late spring or early summer of 1901 at the latest.”
Holstein spoke. “We will declare war?”
“No, Holstein, we will present them with an ultimatum. Our fleet will then announce war with its
presence off New York and its guns firing. The United States has had enough warnings.”
“All Highest, the United States is huge, larger even than all of Europe. We could never conquer it.”
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c01_r1.html (3 of 5)31-8-2007 1:14:39
1901
“Such is not the idea, von Holstein. The plans that were developed so long ago called for attacks at the
American jugular. As predators, we are entitled to go for the throat.” Wilhelm smiled at the picture. “We
will land near New York City, take it—thus damaging their economy—and move eastward into
Connecticut. If the Americans do not see reason and refuse to concede to our demands, our army will
continue in that easterly direction and take both Hartford and Boston.”
The kaiser laughed quickly. He pictured his invincible armies overrunning frightened Americans. “We
do not feel that it will be necessary to march all the way to Boston, although that is included in the plans.
We anticipate a quick and limited war and an early peace. General von Schlieffen’s preliminary
estimates call for only three or four corps and other supporting units—all in all, less than two hundred
thousand men. Admiral von Tirpitz has assured me that he can land at least one corps of thirty thousand
without difficulty as our initial attack force, and both sustain our army and enable it to grow through a
continuous stream of reinforcements protected by our fleet. Our ability to transport a major force to
China last year proved that beyond a doubt.”
Holstein was persistent. “But I seem to recall that the Americans, at the end of their Civil War, had
almost a million men under arms and more than a thousand warships.”
Tirpitz snorted in exasperation. “First of all, von Holstein, it took them almost four years to reach those
levels, and even then, those million men were a rabble with rifles. Our army would devastate them. As
for the thousand ships, the majority were converted merchant ships, coastal vessels, or small craft
designed for going up rivers. No, their navy will not overwhelm us. But they are now building a number
of major ships, and many others are authorized to be built in the coming years. When that construction is
finished, the United States will no longer be vulnerable.”
Holstein looked at the others in the room. The military minds were intrigued by the possibilities of the
first taste of combat in more than a generation. Bulow, of course, was looking at the kaiser in much the
same way a spaniel looks at his adored master. Holstein was cornered and would have to acquiesce in
his kaiser’s desire for his first war. But one more thought.
“And what about England? As you say, All Highest, she has been the enforcer of the Monroe Doctrine,
not the United States. Will England stand by?”
This time it was Bulow who countered him. “The English are preoccupied with wrapping up their war in
Africa against the Boers. They will not like it, but they will not interfere.”
The kaiser smiled at Holstein. “My beloved grandmother Victoria is gravely ill and likely dying. When
she does pass on, I shall grieve and miss her. But with her passing, the empire will fall to her overweight
and corrupt son, Edward, my uncle. No, England will not oppose us. They are too busy elsewhere, and,”
he laughed harshly, “my kingly uncle is more interested in parties than in warfare.”
“How long will our war last, All Highest?” Holstein asked.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c01_r1.html (4 of 5)31-8-2007 1:14:39
1901
Kaiser Wilhelm recognized the shift in attitude and smiled. Holstein would not oppose him. “It will be
over within three to six months. Along with the lands in question, we will also insist that the United
States not build a navy. After all,” he laughed hugely, “without all those islands, why would they need
one?”
They all laughed with their kaiser. The meeting concluded and they departed with their instructions.
Holstein walked the dark corridors of the chancellery alone and in thoughtful silence. What if the
kaiser’s first war lasted longer than the kaiser anticipated? Was an army that had not fought in so long
really up to the endeavor? And how would the kaiser’s shiny new navy fare? Only a little more than a
generation past, there was no such thing as a German navy. The army would certainly win battles, but it
would be the navy whose success or failure would determine the course of the campaign. Holstein could
see a land war in North America as a pit into which the wealth and manhood of the Reich would
plummet.
Holstein also knew there was no dissuading the kaiser from this unhealthy scheme; nor would he wish to
try. That could be very dangerous indeed. He could be dismissed and banished as abruptly as Bismarck
had been. Banishment from the court would be a devastating fate. What to do? Although he had avoided
personal contact with the kaiser, a coterie of aides and informants had kept him abreast of events. He felt
he had a clear picture of his kaiser: the man was desperate to reinforce his image as a warrior king in the
grand manner of his Prussian ancestors. Also, he wanted to show the English, whom he both admired
and hated, that he was their equal. His kaiser, Holstein thought ruefully, was insecure and lethal, and he
needed to prove his manhood to a world he felt did not take him seriously. As a result, thousands would
pay. What to do, what to do?
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c01_r1.html (5 of 5)31-8-2007 1:14:39
1901
CHAPTER TWO
FORPATRICKMAHAN,the first Sunday of June in the year of 1901 would be recalled as a day of many
surprises. Some of them were trivial, some were climactic, and others were decidedly unpleasant, but all
were surprises nonetheless.
First was the unexpected presence of Doctor Palmer, the aging alcoholic who ministered to the malaria
patients. He was actually present in the hospital on a Sunday morning. The good but very shaky doctor
looked puzzled and disconcerted, and seemed to be worried about something behind him.
“We’re releasing you today,” he told Patrick. “You are to get packed immediately.”
Patrick was confused. Even though the doctor was nominally a colonel and he was two ranks lower at
major, the directions were unusually peremptory.
Already dressed and ready for a morning walk, Patrick looked down at the smaller man. “Why the
change? Don’t get me wrong; I’m more than ready to leave this charming place, but wasn’t this
supposed to happen on Monday?”
Now the poor doctor looked really concerned. When he hesitated to answer, another man, this one much
younger and very fit looking, entered Patrick’s room and motioned Palmer to leave. The doctor scuttled
out as if relieved to be going.
“Now, just who might you be?” Mahan asked, trying to take the measure of his visitor. The man
appeared to be in his late twenties and was well dressed in a conservative business suit.
“Sorry, Major. My name is Welles, and I’m with the Secret Service.” With that, he displayed his
credentials. Impressed, Patrick examined them. The Secret Service was the security arm of the U.S.
Treasury and was getting more and more involved in the personal safety of the president.
Patrick forced a smile and beckoned Welles to be seated. Welles declined. “I’ve been directed to inform
you that President McKinley would like to see you at two in the afternoon in his office at the White
House.”
“And for what reason would that be?” asked Patrick.
“Sorry, sir. I don’t know, and even if I did, I don’t think I’d be allowed to tell you.”
Well, Patrick thought, it didn’t sound as though he was going to be arrested or anything. He’d never met
McKinley, although he had more than a passing acquaintance with the vice president, Teddy Roosevelt,
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c02_r1.html (1 of 14)31-8-2007 1:14:40
1901
from their days in Cuba. That relationship was enhanced by the fact that he, Patrick Mahan, was
distantly related to the noted naval theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan, and Roosevelt, as ex-assistant
secretary of the navy, had been fascinated by war at sea. Patrick recalled Roosevelt’s initial
disappointment that he knew little about naval theories, rarely spoke to his distinguished cousin, and
even pronounced his last name differently. Patrick pronounced it “Mann,” whereas his famous relative
pronounced it “ma-HANN.” Even so, Patrick and Roosevelt became friendly, although they were not
actually close friends.
Welles, it seemed, was not quite through. “Major, it would also be appreciated if you wore civilian
clothes.”
Patrick nodded. Fortunately, he had one suit, although it was in rather bad shape. Since he hadn’t
planned on getting malaria again, he hadn’t brought that much clothing with him. When Patrick
mentioned this to Welles, the man’s stern face softened considerably. “Major, from what I understand,
no one is going to be concerned that you aren’t dressed like some ambassador or potentate.” He reached
into a pocket and pulled out an envelope. “This contains your pass into the White House. You are to
present it a few minutes before two at the side entrance indicated. It’s probably just as well you aren’t
going to be all that gussied up. I think they would like you to look as inconspicuous as possible.”
“I may look like the White House gardener.”
With that, Welles actually laughed. “I’m certain, very certain, that both the president and vice president
are well aware of your predicament. Major, if you’d like, I’ll take your bag with me and you can pick it
up when you leave the president.”
“That way I won’t look like some uninvited weekend guest, will I?”
Welles again smiled. Taking Patrick’s bag further assured that he would show up, as if there were a
doubt. Patrick finished packing and let Welles take the grip. The cloth bag wasn’t very heavy, but, even
so, Welles flipped it as if it were no heavier than a feather.
When the agent departed, Patrick sat on his cot and tried to sort out his thoughts. Who was he that
McKinley would want to see him. Even in the small American army there were several thousand
officers, so why him? He cast through his largely undistinguished military career for a clue. He had
graduated from West Point in 1885 with a solid class ranking of fifteen. This was followed by a series of
short assignments out west where he was primarily involved in helping track down groups of Apaches
who, with great justification, resisted being returned to reservation life and the degradation and
starvation that would inevitably follow. Patrick did not remember these years as pleasant.
In order to pass the time—most days were a study in monotony—and to help further his chances for
promotion, he read voraciously about military history and the development of the modern army. This led
him to an interest in the German military machine that had scourged several of the nations of Europe and
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c02_r1.html (2 of 14)31-8-2007 1:14:40
1901
now dominated the Continent. He found that the German army both fascinated and repelled him.
A senior officer noticed his interest in the German army and mentioned it to Gen. Arthur MacArthur. By
coincidence, MacArthur had just been asked by the War Department if there was anyone who could be
spared for an assignment to Germany as an observer of their army. Since Patrick was both interested and
without a proper billet on the frontier, he was promoted to captain and instructed to spend the year of
1895 in Europe at the government’s expense.
After a stop in England, he devoted a number of months to observing the German army. He was stunned
at first by the size of it—casual maneuvers involved more soldiers than existed in the entire U.S. Army—
and by the precise way it was organized. This led to virtually flawless maneuvers by incredibly well-
armed and -drilled units. In a way, it made him ashamed of his own army. He knew that the Germans he
associated with looked down upon him and other Americans as military bumpkins.
Upon his return to the United States, Patrick was assigned to West Point in order to write about his
experiences in Germany and to teach classes on the German army. With his report completed, and
doubtless filed in some government archive, he settled down to continue as an instructor for as long as
he could. After being shot at by Apaches and awed by the Germans, he enjoyed teaching future officers.
He prided himself that his lectures were extremely well received. They were popular because, after the
overwhelming German victory over France, the military world was mesmerized by the success and
apparent invincibility of the German war machine.
The war with Spain intervened, and Patrick was assigned to General Shafter, directing an administrative
support staff. When the battle of Santiago began, Patrick slipped out and attached himself to Roosevelt’s
Rough Riders—with Roosevelt’s permission, of course—and joined in the charge up San Juan Hill,
which those who participated in knew actually took place on nearby Kettle Hill. During that bitter fight,
Patrick had been greatly impressed by the personal courage and leadership of Teddy Roosevelt. The man
was among the first up the hill, and he gunned down at least two Spanish soldiers with his service
revolver. That heroism had helped endear him to the American public.
In 1900, Patrick was sent to Hong Kong to observe a German expeditionary force that had been sent to
China to assist in putting down the Boxer Rebellion and lifting the siege of the European legations in
Peking.
In order to give Patrick status with the rank-obsessed Germans, he was promoted to major. Since the
promotion was premature, some professional jealousy had manifested itself, and he was confident that
his next promotion would not be for a very, very long time, if ever.
Both he and the Germans arrived in Hong Kong after the siege had been lifted, but he spent the next
couple of months watching the Imperial German Army function in a “real” environment. On his way
home from that task, he stopped in the Philippines. His malaria, previously caught in Cuba, flared up
again and he was sent to Washington to convalesce.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c02_r1.html (3 of 14)31-8-2007 1:14:40
1901
Patrick stood and stretched, deciding he had time for breakfast. Had anything else occurred that would
justify his summons? Teddy Roosevelt had visited him a couple of weeks ago, but that meeting was
purely social. In fact, Patrick was certain that the vice president had been in the hospital to visit someone
else and had simply noticed his name on a list upon arrival and decided to be polite.
Several hours later, a crumpled and sweaty Patrick Mahan found himself on a bench across the street
from the White House quietly cursing the summer heat and stifling humidity that made Washington in
the summer more like a Cuban swamp than a nation’s capital. Whatever creases and folds his clothes
had once possessed had disappeared, and he felt himself to be little more than a soggy, sweaty lump. His
tie hung limp and his starched collar, except where it chafed his neck, had collapsed. As always, there
were scores of tourists staring at the famous building, and he wondered just how so many of them
managed to look even slightly comfortable. Several adults were taking photographs using Mr. Eastman’s
new box camera, and a number of children were crying to either go home, go to the bathroom, or eat.
Maybe the tourists weren’t that comfortable after all, he decided.
He pulled his watch from its pocket and again checked the time. Almost 1:30. In about twenty minutes
he would walk leisurely across the street and present himself. Then, for the first time in his life, he
would meet a president of the United States.
For about the hundredth time, he questioned himself as to why he had been summoned. No use
speculating, he finally decided; he would find out soon enough.
“Patrick Mahan.”
He turned quickly and looked up, blinking in the sunlight that caused the man standing to his left to be a
silhouette. “Excuse me?” he responded confusedly.
“Patrick, don’t you recall me?”
The voice was British, educated, and very familiar. Recognition finally came. Patrick jumped to his feet
and grabbed the other man’s hand and pumped vigorously.
“Ian! Ian Gordon! What on earth are you doing here?”
Ian Gordon, a smallish, wiry Scot with thick black hair and a neatly cropped and equally black beard,
grinned. “Goodness, Patrick, is there a law against my being here?”
“Of course not, but you have to admit it is quite a coincidence.” Then another memory intruded. “Ian, it
is a coincidence, isn’t it?”
Gordon smiled gently. “Good, so you do remember. Why don’t we both be seated and chat.”
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Conroy,%20Robert%20-%201901%20html/conr_0345472047_oeb_c02_r1.html (4 of 14)31-8-2007 1:14:40
摘要：

1901ACKNOWLEDGMENTSIamverygratefulforthesupportgivenmebymywifeDiane,mydaughte Maura,mymother,andotherfamilyandfriendswhoalwaysencouragedmywritingefforts.IwouldalsoliketothankBobKaneandDaleWilsonofPresidioPressfo theirwillingnesstotakeachanceonanewwriter,alongwithBobTate,whoeditedandshepherdedboth...

展开>> 收起<<
Robert Conroy - 1901.pdf

共289页,预览10页

还剩页未读， 继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

相关推荐

更多
立即下载
分类：外语学习 价格：5.9玖币 属性：289 页 大小：725.01KB 格式：PDF 时间：2024-12-03

开通VIP享超值会员特权

  • 多端同步记录
  • 高速下载文档
  • 免费文档工具
  • 分享文档赚钱
  • 每日登录抽奖
  • 优质衍生服务

作者详情

相关内容

更多

热门标签

人际关系 动力学连接体 力的合成 配电装置 高考理综 全宋诗作者索引 公务员考试
/ 289
评分 收藏
分享
立即下载 VIP免费下载
客服
关注