Vienna, 23 January 1912. Fastest updates

An open-air art stall is filled with paintings, which are pressed down by a piece of glass to avoid erosion by snow and ice. On the other hand, a shabby-dressed young man sat on a low wooden stool, draped over a thick coat, and wrapped himself tightly, revealing only a pair of eyes to scan the passers-by.

He curled up to resist the onslaught of the cold winter that had not yet receded, and only the white mist exhaling from his mouth and nose was a sign of his life.

The stalls were bustling with people, but those who had just spent Christmas were not interested in looking at the work of an unknown painter, and there were many down-and-out artists like this in Vienna, who hurried past the stalls one by one, from daytime to noon, without even stopping at all.

And the young man seemed to be used to it, he looked at the glass that was gradually covered with a layer of frost, and the paintings under the glass were even a little unclear under the frost, and he bowed his head in silence.

Suddenly, a young man and a woman passed by, and the man caught a glimpse of the stall, stopped, leaned down and wiped the frost from the glass, wanting to see what the painting looked like.

A wave of surprise welled up in his heart, and the young man hurriedly stood up and introduced his painting to the man.

"Sir, may I introduce to you the idea of my painting, my painting ......"

But before the happy voice could finish, the man shook his head, stood up straight, and said to his female companion beside him.

"Let's go. ”

Loss filled the young man's heart, looking at the man and woman who had not yet gone far, he could still hear the curious inquiry of the female companion.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to take another look?"

"Look, the painting is too rigid......"

The owner of the voice faded away, leaving only the silent young man, clenching his fists tightly, the once proud and confident young man, but now his heart was full of loss and inferiority.

It's been three years, and I still haven't achieved anything in Vienna.

Instead of setting up a stall, he silently put away his paintings, and the young man prepared to go to his favorite café.

......

Cafes were very popular in Vienna at the time.

As a result of Vienna's prosperity, many artists and thinkers from all over the world gathered here, and their habits and consumption gave rise to a large number of cafes and a large number of people who practiced different ideas to discuss politics in this peaceful city.

Conspirators, politicians, scholars, medical scientists, scientists, artists...... These nearly one million people together form this bustling metropolis.

The Central Café is also famous among the many coffee houses because of its unique taste, and Adolf likes this café very much. As long as he has some extra money, he will patronize it, at least it is warm, very different from the cold outside.

In this café full of customers, the down-and-out young man sipped his coffee alone, and at the same time thought about what to do next.

"Do you want to leave Vienna. ”

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.

The thought came to me from time to time, and during the three years he spent in Vienna living in poverty, he occasionally thought that perhaps it would be better to go somewhere else. And before he could finish thinking carefully in his mind, a noise not far away disrupted all this,

"Mr. ......"

Not far away, a middle-aged man in shabby clothes was holding something in his arms, as if he was a merchant peddling something, and was talking to the guests at other tables. However, those guests who were drinking coffee were suddenly disturbed, and the unhappiness in their hearts can be imagined, and they all waved him away impatiently.

The middle-aged man was forced to rush from table to table, and finally came to Adolf's table.

"Sir, look at this thing of mine, this thing of mine ......"

The middle-aged man said earnestly, and while lifting the cloth covering the things he was holding, Adolf, who was interested, looked down, and then frowned, and immediately understood why none of the guests in front of him were interested.

I saw that among the coarse cloth was a rusty iron statue, and it could be vaguely seen that it was a girl dressed as a military dress. Obviously, it has not been maintained for a long time, and even if someone has wiped it temporarily, many corners and corners are still full of rust, which makes people lose their appetite when they see it.

Seeing that Adolf was not interested, the middle-aged man was in a hurry and hurriedly said.

"Sir, this is from my grandfather, who was a great collector and had a great collection of treasures, and this is what he cherished the most. If you don't believe me, you can ask Tobias, I believe that many people still know his name, I just think there are many artists here, and there may be people who know the goods, so they are here to sell here......"

Tobias?

Hearing this, Adolf couldn't help but turn his head.

He had heard of the name, this was a rather famous collector who was said to have collected a large number of famous paintings and treasures a few decades ago, but he looked at the middle-aged man in front of him again and couldn't help but sneer.

"Great collector, the most cherished treasure, I don't know how long you put it in the corner, you turned it out, right?"

As he spoke, he looked at the middle-aged man again and touched his chin.

"I heard that Tobias had fallen into disgrace...... Are you his grandson?"

The middle-aged man's face froze, and he smiled a little wryly, and an unnatural look appeared on his face, all of which was captured by Adolf's eyes, but he remained silent. In the body of the middle-aged man in front of him, he could feel a sickly atmosphere of a gambler, which was the temperament developed due to long-term excessive gambling.

Adolf vaguely guessed something, but didn't say anything, but looked at the iron statue again.

There is no doubt that it is a rusty statue that looks like scrap metal, but Adolf's keen eye for art has given him some clues.

It was so delicate that although many places were obscured by rust, Adolf could still detect the traces of the meticulous carving on the statue, the meticulous attention to detail in the armor, the face, and even the fingertips, which is by no means found in ordinary sculptures.

As if sensing Adolf's gaze, the middle-aged man hurriedly said eagerly.

"For a hundred crowns, I'll sell you this. ”

One hundred crowns, equivalent to two or three months' earnings of an ordinary worker, but Adolf snorted coldly.

"Hmph, a hundred crowns, I think it's only worth two crowns. ”

"Two crowns? ”

Hearing this, the middle-aged man almost shouted angrily......

But in the end, after some bargaining, the middle-aged man still sold it to Adolf for five crowns, after all, no one but Adolf really wanted to sell this "scrap metal".

When he got the money, the middle-aged man walked away happily, and went to take his money to try to turn it over, while Adolf looked at the figure, lowered his head and touched his wallet, there was no money in it, only a few small denominations of banknotes and a few coins.

The five crowns were actually Adolf's last money of the month, and he almost couldn't buy the sculpture.

"I'm going to the soup kitchen again......"

Adolf laughed at himself in his heart, he was really more and more like a beggar.

But even so, for some reason, he still bought the sculpture inexplicably, but there was an inexplicable impulse that prompted him.

After standing up and paying the money on the table, he was ready to leave.

"Bang ......"

And just as he walked out of the café, he suddenly felt a bump between his shoulder and someone. Turning his head to look, and the other party happened to look at him, it was a young man with two beards, who looked very handsome, and there was a little doubt on his face.

"I'm sorry. ”

The other man took the initiative to speak, his voice with some Russian accent.

Russian?

Adolf frowned, didn't answer, just walked away, while the young man looked straight away, as if he was a little puzzled.

"Jojo, what are you looking at?"

On the side, the young man's companion asked.

The young man shook his head.

"No, nothing. ”

With that, the two walked into the Central Café together to discuss Russian politics and Bolshevism.

During the month from December 1912 to January 1913, a young Russian named Stalin came to Vienna to discuss the communist cause in Russia with Trotsky. And because he had two jos in his name (josephvissarionovichdjogashvili), his pseudonym at that time was jojo......

......

In 1913, Adolf Hitler moved to Munich, Germany.

Decades ago, the German Chancellor Bismarck's flexible diplomatic skills allowed him to cross the European continent and unify Germany in a Europe full of powers.

From the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, during the period of Bismarck, the German Empire, which had completed the unification, ushered in an all-round rapid development, and the fruits of the Industrial Revolution were pushed to the forefront of the German Empire with the reparations in the Franco-Prussian War.

By 1914, Germany had become the world's second largest industrial nation after the United States, and it had a powerful army capable of dominating Europe while challenging the empire at sea.

However, in the complex geographical relations of Europe and between the royal families, Germany's territory is particularly small, but Bismarck is keenly aware that he cannot easily challenge the bottom line of Britain, at this moment Britain occupies one-third of the world's land and a quarter of the population, and the world is full of British colonies, so Bismarck has always maintained a high degree of vigilance and caution.

But after the death of the old emperor, the new and radical 29-year-old Emperor Wilhelm II was not willing to be controlled by the prime minister, and in the end, the iron-blooded prime minister, who was already in his seventies, went into the wilderness with anger.

And after getting rid of Bismarck, the young new emperor was able to carry out his ambitions.

"Germany's journey is a sea of stars!"

The young emperor was full of pride.

On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were on an inspection tour in Sarajevo, Serbia, when they were shot dead by the Serbian youth Gavrijo Princip. A month later, Austria-Hungary, with the support of Germany, declared war on Serbia under the pretext of the Sarajevo incident. Then Germany, Russia, France, Britain and other countries entered the war one after another......

World War I broke out.

And in the midst of this unprecedented world war, an inconspicuous young man chose to serve in the army.

......

On the Western Front, the German army advanced all the way, but was stopped by the Anglo-French forces on the Marne River in France, and the soldiers fought bloodily but could not tear their mouths. On the Eastern Front, Germany, which had declared war first, had the upper hand, advancing all the way forward, occupying a large amount of territory, and then being blocked by the treacherous environment of Russia, making it difficult to advance.

The war on the eastern and western fronts has reached a stalemate......

However, the tragedy of modern warfare far exceeded the imagination of the people at that time, and under the situation of all-out war and overall warfare, the resources of the entire society were tilted towards war. The large number of men enlisted in the army shortened the population of the rear arsenals, and countries had to hire a large number of women in the factories, and children were forced to take charge of light tasks such as shoveling snow.

The shortage of supplies, the pressure of busyness, and the heavy burden of life weighed heavily on everyone's shoulders, and the soldiers on the front line were rolling in blood, while the women in the rear were working overtime in the factory.

The enthusiasm of the beginning of the war is gone, and more and more doubts and demonstrations, and even anti-war sentiment grow.

But for the whole of Germany, it was not without good news, the Soviet revolution in Russia forced Russia to armistice with Germany, there was no war on the Eastern Front, Germany could concentrate all its energy on the war on the Western Front, and the hope of victory seemed to appear.

However......

On October 25, 1918, an order from the German naval command reached the port of Kiel.

"Fighting with the British...... If you fail, you will sink gloriously......"

After the captain read out the entire order with a complicated expression, this order was not complicated, that is, in order to cooperate with the German counteroffensive on the Western Front, the naval command forced the fleet to leave the port to engage the British army, and if it failed, it would rather die than retreat. But for these sailors, this is simply unacceptable, they have already suffered heavy losses in the naval battle, and at this moment let them force their way out of the port, let alone defeat the British fleet that is eyeing the tiger, this is completely to send them to their death.

The many sailors in front of them looked at each other, most of them were wounded, and some of them were blind and wounded, and after a long time, an angry voice rang out.

"Fuck the order!"

Not long after, the entire fleet was boiling, and more than 60,000 demoralized sailors disembarked from the fleet, refusing orders......

Mutiny in the port of Kiel.

......

With this mutiny, turmoil swept through the entire German Empire, and the mass of popular demonstrations and demonstrations finally forced the war to end, and the German Emperor had to sign the Treaty of Versailles with the Entente......

Germany was defeated.

In the eyes of many Germans, Germany was defeated not because of the collapse of the front, but because of the people who stabbed the knife in the rear.

When the news of the defeat reached a hospital, a soldier who had been wounded twice on the front line had just learned the news.

"No !!"

Angry and desperate voices rang out from the hospital bed.