Jeremy and Jamie talked about the fact that James was now the second most powerful member of the board of directors of Bradlington Thornberry Bank. He was also now a director of the Mercantile Bank of California. He had made a startling success of his new career since losing his seat as a Member of Parliament.
Yet they both felt that the man was not completely happy — inside. They had both approached him about this at different times, only to be told they were wrong, and that he — James — was quite content with his life.
They had no option but to take him at his word.
CHAPTER SEVEN - PAX GERMANICA
Baron von Altendorf was relaxing on one of the garden seats looking out over his family estate. It was a warm beautiful day. The sort of day that made one glad to be alive.
It was only the previous month that he had, with great regret, retired as Germany’s Foreign Minister, after holding that office for the past ten years.
Ten eventful years.
His successor, Konrad Adenauer, was actually older than himself, but one wouldn’t think so, the way he intensely applied himself to his work. He was a man with great energy and committed to decency, diligence, order, Christian morals and values. He had been arrested several times in the 1930s as an opponent of the Nazi regime. The Baron was satisfied that Germany’s foreign affairs were in safe hands.
Von Altendorf had been deeply saddened by the unexpected and sudden death of his old friend, Walther von Brauchitsch, through a heart attack, in October 1948. ‘Poor Walther,’ he thought. ‘He never did get to retire. Forced by circumstances to be a politician. Something he so despised. Nevertheless,he was the finest politician, and the finest man, I have ever had the honour to meet’.
The state funeral for the late Chancellor had seen the streets of Berlin thronged with multitudes wishing to pay their last respects to the man who had so ably led them out of war and into years of peace and unprecedented prosperity. The event had unexpectedly drawn more people even than Hitler’s funeral. A fitting tribute to you, Walther.
Foreign dignitaries from all over the world had been there to pay their last respects. King George VI, Prime Minister Churchill, President Truman, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and the kings, prime ministers and presidents of every country in Europe, as well as others from South America and the Indian sub-continent. Even Khrushchev had ventured outside of the Soviet Union for this sad event.
Von Brauchitsch’s successor as Chancellor had been a very reluctant General von Mannstein. The election of von Mannstein displayed how well the Governing Council worked. All of the Ministers, after being given several days to think about it, had unanimously elected the General as being the most suitable to lead Germany. He was not chosen for his politics, or because he had a personal power base. It was simply because he was the best man for the job. The others had put their country before any personal ambition they may have had.
Von Altendorf had ruled himself out for the leadership, as he intended to retire by no later than 1950. In the meantime he had remained as a sure guiding hand within the Council over the past twenty months since the election of the new Chancellor.
He cast his mind back over the past ten years.
The biggest single change, he supposed, was the absolute peace and security in Europe. A peace guaranteed by good governance, prosperity and strong military forces. It was not the illusional peace of countries with their heads buried the sand, such as existed in the mid-thirties during the time of appeasement and misguided pacifism among the political elites.
Evil takes place when good men and women do nothing!
Neither was the current world peace guaranteed by ineffectual talk shops like the United Nations. Von Altendorf believed that the Americans now earnestly wished they had avoided this entanglement. Most of its members seemed to be using it as a forum to berate richer countries and at the same time, ask for money!
Germany and Europe had stood firm and politely ignored them. It is your mess, America. You fix it.
Since the end of the European War, the ideology of communism had been exposed for what it was, and discredited around the world. It was virtually now non-existent outside of the Soviet Union. And even in that totalitarian country, things were changing, albeit at a slow pace. Nikita Khrushchev had actually advised the Soviet Politburo of the need for ‘de-Stalinisation’ in their country. The Soviet Union was no longer automatically seen as anti-western. Khrushchev had even visited the United States earlier this year.
Remarkable!
The arms limitation agreements in Europe were working. Armed forces, including Russia’s, had generally shrunk by at least thirty percent in the last couple of years. The United States was also abiding by the same principles of arms limitations, even though she had never been a signatory to the agreement.
China and Japan were co-operating more with each other, and the danger of war in the Far East had accordingly receded. They were both still viewed the Soviet Union — and each other — with some suspicion, but the outright hostility of earlier years had diminished.
It was developments like this that amply demonstrated that competitors or hostile neighbours can, over an extended period of time, learn to co-operate with each other and make war or conflict less likely.
France, Italy and Holland had shed the bulk of their empires. Britain had granted independence to India, and was also now about to embark on getting rid of other millstones around their neck in Africa.
In von Altendorf’s view the undoubted greatest success of all in the less decade was that the five most brutal dictators or near dictators in the world, had met the just desserts; Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Zedong, and Stalin. ‘And I can personally vouch that your countries and people are much happier and safer now, you evil bastards,’ he whispered to them.
The inept and corrupt politicians and governments, so evident before the European War, now found little tolerance among the populations of Europe. Perhaps people have matured since the near cataclysm!
Not only was Europe and the world a safer place, it was also more prosperous. World trade had more than doubled in the last decade, and there was no end in sight of its continued expansion.
All of these things, Germany, and its Governing Council under Walther von Brauchitsch, had featured in. A fact, of which, von Altendorf was extraordinarily proud.
Men make history, not the other way around. In periods when there is no leadership, society stagnates. Progress occurs when courageous and skilful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.
If there was anything that concerned him about the future it was ‘religious bigotry’. After studying the India situation in recent times, and world history for more years than he cared to remember, he had glimpsed the intolerant nature of many Muslim clerics. This may well develop out of control in future years unless the problem is confronted sooner rather than later!
Germany itself was now the strongest military power in the world. It also had the world’s largest economy. Its aircraft industry, partnered by Great Britain, was producing half of the world’s aircraft.
The two renowned German military aircraft, the ME262 fighter, and the Junkers Kaiseradler or Canberra medium bomber, were unsurpassed by any other country. The military version of the Starflight airliner was the workhorse of more than twenty air forces.