Elberhard:

Dietrich is, of course, quite right. With re-unification, we are going to get the provinces back. His inference, of course, is quite wrong. The correct inference is that since we are going to get Naples and Palermo back, why create a hue and cry over losing them now?

But to answer Dietrich's question, the answer is @#$%^&!!!ing obvious: we give them away now so that we can get unification! Then we will not merely get these two provinces back, but gain many more from Constantinople eastwards.

And, of course, Emperor Isaac is making negotiations hard. Imagine if the situation were reversed, and Siegfried were going to negotiate with the Byzantines to put the entire Reich under the control of Isaac as Augustus. You'd expect him to bargain hard, wouldn't you?

Dieter Bresch - it is a good job I am hard of hearing or you would be out of 'ere, mate. Any whispering against the Kaiser that does come to my ear will bear severe consequences. And try to keep up - Palermo and Naples no more belonged to a Duke than Rome does! They were Imperial provinces.

Which brings me to my Bavarian brothers, Lothar and Matthias. My how they wail and protest! Yet, if we read Count Lothar's orders to the Bavarian Household Army, what do we find:

Quote Originally Posted by TinCow
If he decides not to go, HA Otto will move to northern Italy, since Naples and Palermo have not been allocated to our House. If the Kaiser wishes these territories to be defended, he had better raise an army for them himself. Of course, Bavaria will be happy to take up that duty if they were to be allocated to those who fought so hard to take them...
Because Palermo and Naples were not allocated to Bavaria, the Bavarians were not willing to spare a single man to defend them. And yet how they wail at their loss now. Such hypocrisy!

Compare this with the stance of our Swabian brothers. Long have they bled and died for Paris and Caen, which the Kaiser - in his wisdom - denied to their House. But they were true members of the Reich, willing to sacrifice for the greater good and not concerned solely with the self-interest of their House.

Finally, talking of good Swabians, I must return to my friend Dietrich. Dietrich seems to think that it is against our Charter to give away territories. Yes, Palermo and Naples were incorporated into the Reich - the Kaiser even voted for that. But that does not imply they may not be gifted at a later stage. Several times have we gifted territory to secure diplomatic or other advantages. The entire point of not allocating Palermo and Naples to Bavaria was so that the Kaiser retained the freedom to dispense with them as he pleased. If the Charter Amendment had not been past, the Kaiser would have been forced to dispose of them immediately - regardless of whether their use in diplomacy was opportune.

Or, indeed, regardless of whether the Bavarians had decided to keep their honour and promised to defend what they had ever so bravely captured.