Chapter 200 Heading to Russia
Arthur's words made William II and a group of German officials think about it for a long time, and they even spent the whole night discussing the latest decision.
But early the next morning, a new day of negotiations was still held as scheduled.
Obviously, the German officials and Wilhelm II on the second day changed their previous attitude towards the German alliance. They did not insist on the birth of the German alliance, but opened a new topic, that is, the German-Russian non-aggression pact. Also called the "German-Russian Neutrality Pact".
The conditions for support to Russia proposed by Wilhelm II have not changed. Germany is still willing to give Russia 100 million marks in free aid and provide Russia with low-interest loans of 500 million marks.
If Russia needs more financial support, Germany can also mobilize private banks to raise at least one billion marks to help Russia better restore domestic production.
All these combined together have a capital of up to 1.6 billion marks. What is the concept of 1.6 billion marks?
According to the latest exchange rate of one pound equaling twenty marks, the capital of 1.6 billion marks is equivalent to 80 million pounds, which is definitely a powerful boost to the current Russian finance.
At the same time, Germany is also willing to support Russia's Far East policy and maintain permanent peace on Germany's eastern border, which is the border with the Tsarist Russian Empire.
Germany will not participate in any actions against Russia, and will remain in a permanent state of neutrality and peace with the Russian Empire during the validity period of the neutrality treaty.
Although on the surface, William II seems more like spending money to buy his suffering. Not only will it not gain any support from Russia, it will only maintain a neutral peace with Russia.
This is not the case. After the Franco-Russian Alliance lost the support of Russia, the biggest enemy Germany faced was the Anglo-French Entente.
But on the European continent, Germany has only one real enemy left, and that is France, its former defeated general.
Without the restraint of the Russian Empire on the Eastern Front, the German Empire fighting on a single front would definitely be able to defeat France, even if France had the support of the British Empire.
This is the confidence that all Germans have in their country. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the last Franco-Prussian War brought changes to all Germans.
Now it’s Germany’s turn to be the hegemon on the European continent. What about France? snort! He is just a former defeated general.
Although France has concluded a treaty with Britain, the two countries will also fight against Germany together.
But Germany is really not afraid of Britain in a land war. Judging from the strength of the British Army, it is hard to say whether it can defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The change in Germany's attitude surprised Nicholas II and Russian officials, but it was good news for Russia.
Russia does not need to break the Franco-Russian alliance treaty, but it can still receive support and assistance from Germany.
Although peace with Germany was maintained, the Franco-Russian alliance treaty had been violated.
But Nicholas II really has no idea of participating in the European situation.
At present, the Russian government's goal is to restore stability within Russia and quell the wave of rebellions and strikes that have sprung up in the country.
By realizing the expansion of the Far East Policy in East Asia, it will also make the Tsarist Empire stronger.
Facing an opponent like an island nation is much better than facing an opponent like Germany, right?
The change in Germany's attitude also greatly accelerated the progress of negotiations on the new treaty. As a bystander, Arthur also witnessed the rapid negotiation of this German-Russian neutrality treaty that had not appeared in history, and under the joint witness of the three parties, William II and Nicholas II signed their names respectively.
On August 4, 1905, just two days after negotiations, the new German-Russian Neutrality Treaty was successfully signed and officially entered into force for ten years.
This German-Russian neutrality treaty stipulated that Germany and Russia should maintain peace in both countries and maintain maximum neutrality in wars in which the other party participated.
If a war breaks out between Russia's allies France and Germany, Russia should remain neutral until the end of the treaty's final validity period unless Germany declares war.
This means that if France takes the initiative to declare war on Germany, Russia will not be able to participate in the war between Germany and France unless the validity period of the neutrality treaty ends.
Although this treaty somewhat goes against the original intention of the Franco-Russian alliance, it is indeed the external support that the Russian Empire urgently needs.
This neutrality treaty can bring at least ten years of peace to the German-Russian border. It not only gives Russia ten years of recuperation time, but also allows Germany to not have to worry about two-front operations for ten years and can concentrate on studying and dealing with France. The enemy in my heart.
After the treaty was officially signed, Nicholas II and William II were in obviously better moods. Together with Arthur, the three also embarked on a several-day publicly funded vacation.
After no longer having to discuss government affairs, the three of them were in a much better mood.
Of course, Arthur has always been in a good mood. After all, Australia is the beneficiary of the incident no matter what, and the situation in Europe has nothing to do with Australia for the time being.
In the past few days, what the three of them discussed most was actually domestic political issues.
Speaking of the identities of the three people, although the methods of centralizing power are different, Arthur and the other three are still one of the few autocratic monarchs in the world. William II, Nicholas II and Arthur, in their respective countries They also have very powerful powers.
During the conversation between the three people, the private lives of European nobles, that is, their mistresses and lovers, were inevitably mentioned.
Nicholas II and William II were surprised to learn that Arthur not only had no engagement, but also had no lovers or mistresses in Australia.
After all, these two terms are very common for European male nobles. If older nobles do not have a few lovers, they may even be misunderstood by others.
As Duke of Australia and New Zealand, Arthur held autocratic power in Australia that both William II and Nicholas II envied.
Although they also have considerable rights, they are also restricted by other forces in the country.
What they can do can only be done without violating the wishes of the domestic interest classes.
But Arthur was different. There is currently no ruling class in Australia, and Arthur is the largest ruling class.
Moreover, the public sentiment in Australia and New Zealand is quite good, which also provides more possibilities for Arthur's absolute dictatorship.
It has to be said that Arthur, who was not engaged, made both William II and Nicholas II interested.
Australia's development prospects are still very huge, and it will at least become a second-strongest country in Europe.
In particular, Australia's unique geographical location and rich domestic mineral resources allow Australia to reach out to Asia and even Africa and the Americas without internal worries, affecting the colonies of major powers in Africa and Asia.
Although the two of them didn't say anything, judging from their specific performances, they should have some plans.
On August 8, 1905, after a few days of fun and relaxation together, this negotiation officially came to an end.
Wilhelm II returned to Germany on a warship and began to discuss Germany's next policy with German officials.
Arthur, on the other hand, followed Nicholas II to Russia. The last stop of the European trip is Russia, and now it is time to arrive at the last stop of the European trip.
The current capital of the Russian Empire is St. Petersburg, and the previous capital of St. Petersburg was Moscow.
The city was named after one of the greatest monarchs in Russian history, Peter the Great.
But during the war between Russia and Germany, St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd because the word "burg" came from the German pronunciation.
Later, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in honor of Lenin, but eventually it was voted back to St. Petersburg after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Because of the happy conversation they had on Bjork Island, Arthur and Nicholas II also got to know each other a lot.
In addition, on Bjork Island, discussions on cooperation between Australia and Russia in the Far East have basically been completed. Therefore, Arthur's purpose of coming to Russia is more to establish good relations rather than to discuss national cooperation.
Nicholas II also had this plan, so he held a grand welcome banquet for Arthur, attended by many Russian nobles.
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(End of chapter)