During the years 1890-1914, Europe produced
only one serious opponent to the Selman-Troytt family's surging
commercial development: Baron Friedrich Von Tollamachen-Tollamach,
the ruthless Bavarian industrialist. Being German, his pride was exceeded only by his reputation for extreme cruelty.
"I am sure that nobody
can as cruel as me be", he boasted in an interview with The
Times during the Leipzig Wurst Dispute, of which he was the
instigator and principal beneficiary.
From his power base close to Neuschwanstein, the castellated
folly of 'Mad' King Ludwig, the Baron launched more than a
score of offensives against
Jonah,
Jonas and John, each more
vicious and desperate than the last. They replied with only
one.
In 1913 they exploited simmering tensions in the Balkans by
encouraging Serbian nationalists to overthrow their Austro-Hungarian
oppressors.
"If things go according to plan," chortled
Jonas,
"we'll be glazing from Amiens to Sarajevo." The later assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was to plunge Europe, and then the world, into the dark abyss of war for four grueling and window-shattering years.
Even the Baron was aghast at their audacity:
"I am sure that these cold Englishmen no hearts have. They
give even their souls for putty, nein?"
"He was a thorn in our flesh," Josiah later remarked.
"We were glad when war broke out so that we had an excuse
to shoot him legitimately."
Details of
next stage of Selman-Troytt foreign expansion.