Price of Victory

This story, written in the genre “Alternative History,” is about two people, residents of Heidelberg Germany, in the early 1900’s betrothed and planning their future. At this time in Germany, the autocratic rule of Kaiser Wilhelm II allowed some civil disobedience, particularly from social democrats. However, when he thought the threat too great, retribution in the form of deadly force against the demonstrators, whether or not they be innocent bystanders, would be swift and decisive. In the U.S. by 1912 progressivism had lost some of the advances gained in the recent past under the leadership of Congressman, then Governor, then Senator Robert M. LaFollette. At this same time, Teddy Roosevelt’s splitting of the republican party by starting his “Bull Moose Party” resulted in giving the democrats an overwhelming advantage in the 1912 U.S. presidential election.