Chapter 524 Attitude towards Germany
After being slapped in the face by representatives from Britain, France and Australia, the islanders have completely lost their right to speak at this meeting.
It is no exaggeration to say that the people of the island country were nothing but jokes at this meeting. They could do nothing and dare not do anything except hide in the dark and breathe alone.
At this time, the representatives of the island countries are already very excited. On the one hand, they are complaining and hating the Americans for their indifference. On the other hand, they are also afraid of domestic reactions. After all, the island countries have very high expectations for the development of the navy. The famous Eighth Eighth Plan. , has proved that the island government attaches great importance to the navy.
If a relatively low naval scale limit is eventually exchanged, this will be a heavy blow to the island country's government. No one can guarantee the fate of the island country's representatives who led to this result.
The island country representative's face was ashen at this time. If he had known this outcome, he would never have regarded this meeting as his touchstone, let alone thought that this meeting would make him the new foreign minister of the island.
Now, let alone the foreign minister, whether he can continue his political career is a question.
The representative of the island country, Sangu Inoue, even began to complain about the extremist forces in the country. If the domestic government had not been too radical and offended almost all powerful countries, the current situation of the island country would not be like this.
Now, the army and navy will face greater restrictions. This is a burden that the island country cannot bear, and will also have a huge impact on the island country's future development and plans.
After the islanders shut up, the meeting went much smoother.
Most other countries want to save face, and unless it involves their own vital interests, they will basically not stand up and openly refute the British.
After all, the name of the Royal Navy of the British Empire is too loud. Even France, which is currently the second largest country in terms of comprehensive strength in the world, will not easily offend the British.
The harmony of most European and American countries makes the former islanders look like clowns.
After all, the island country is the only Asian power participating in the meeting, and its relations with other countries are not very good.
On this basis, even European countries with some conflicts will basically turn their guns and target island countries intentionally or unintentionally.
Who makes the relationship between European countries too complicated? There are countless examples of people who were enemies one second and became allies the next. This complicated relationship is simply incomprehensible to islanders.
After discussions among many countries, it was unanimously agreed that the three factors of land area, industrial scale, and economic level should be the prerequisites for determining the final size and proportion of each country's navy.
The proposal put forward by the islanders to refer to the current military strength was unanimously rejected, because doing so would cause a new round of naval arms competition. After all, no country wants its navy to lag behind other countries. Expanding its own arms strength will become a problem. It has become inevitable.
This is a meeting about limiting military strength, so it is naturally impossible to adopt such a proposal that advocates military expansion.
The three factors of land area, economy and industry are not good news for island countries. They are basically weaknesses of island countries.
During the final vote, the representatives of the island countries looked ashen, but they had to raise their hands.
Because the representatives of the three countries, Britain, France and Australia have already set their sights on him, as long as he does not raise his hand, I believe that questions from the representatives of the three countries will follow.
No one knows how the representatives of the island countries communicate with the governments of the island countries, but this reference condition for determining the size and proportion of the navies of each country is a heavy blow to the island countries.
You know, the island government is far from calm. Unlike other great powers, the military strength of the island country is actually very high. A country with less developed industry and economy supports an army of the size of a great power, which is bound to cause many problems.
For example, the conflict between the island nation's army and navy even stipulated that the two parties would not intermarry or make friends. Even the screw models in the weapons supply must be different.
The contradiction between the island nation's army and navy can even be traced back to the conflict between the Choshu Domain and the Satsuma Domain during the shogunate period.
During the overthrow movement, the Choshu Domain and the Satsuma Domain formed the Satsuma Alliance and successfully returned power to the emperor, which also resulted in most officials in the cabinet government coming from these two domains.
Although they work together for the emperor, there has always been friction between the forces representing the two vassals.
At the beginning of the Restoration Movement, the island country focused on developing modern army and navy forces. The Choshu Domain established an army school, which trained talents mainly to serve the army, while the Satsuma Domain specialized in naval construction. The navy was mainly composed of Samurai warriors.
The conflict between the two vassals was also successfully transferred to the island country's army and navy, and has continued to this day, and has even intensified.
As a country with a small land area and limited mineral resources, the island country’s military investment is limited.
However, the army and navy of the island country are both the size of the great powers, and both require quite high budgets and large investments.
The annual battle for budgets has deepened the conflicts between the island nation's army and navy, and has even evolved into overt opposition.
This is inconceivable to others. As a country's military force, they are openly making things difficult for each other. Even the whole country is not surprised or surprised by this.
This is actually due to the ambition of the island country in developing military strength. When developing modern military power, the island country referred to the development of the British navy and the French army.
The problem is that the two countries are completely different in terms of army and navy. One advocates emphasizing the navy over the army, and the other advocates emphasizing the army over the navy.
The army and navy of the island country are deeply influenced by these two ideas of military development. It is strange that they can see each other in the eye.
In normal times, such a terminal may not be anything. After all, the military budget of the island country can still be guaranteed. It is just a matter of which side suffers a little loss and can take it back the next year.
But the problem is that this naval meeting is no joke. In the next many years, it is destined to form a huge restriction on the development of military power.
Neither the army nor the navy of the island country is willing to be the party with the most serious losses.
Although on the surface it seems that the island government is fighting for more shares, in fact it is a struggle between the army and the navy.
For the island government, this is bound to be a sleepless night.
The outcome of the meeting is destined to intensify the conflicts between the island nation's army and navy. In addition to appeasing the army and navy, how to deal with the current diplomatic dilemma of the island country, that is, without any international support, is also a headache for the island country's government.
The subsequent naval meeting lasted for several more days, but things were not done so efficiently.
Representatives from various countries gathered together, tasted fine wine from time to time, and held a few dances. It seemed that they were not here for diplomacy, but for romantic encounters. The island country representatives were not in such a beautiful mood. The day after the meeting ended, they said goodbye to their host, the United Kingdom, and hurried back to deal with domestic matters.
But the British didn't care. After all, the next protagonist was not an islander, and they didn't care about the whereabouts of the islanders.
After relaxing for a few days, the meeting finally ended. However, representatives of several major powers stayed temporarily for a few days at the request of the British because there was still a confidential meeting that needed to be held.
This meeting was related to the reduction of German war reparations that the British had previously proposed.
As time entered 1920, the situation of the Germans was not very good, and domestic development was in chaos.
To be more serious, the economic problems of the Germans may threaten the entire Europe at any time. After all, Germany's cheap industrial products are enjoyed by more than just one country. They have been sold to many countries including Britain, France and Italy, filling most of Europe. market.
Because of the strong demands of the victorious countries, Germany's attitude towards reparations has been very sincere since its defeat.
All German people, including the Junker aristocrats who were very prosperous before the war, are tightening their belts and living a life. Most of the industrial products are used to pay off debts, and a small amount of industrial products are used to exchange for raw materials. The daily necessities in Germany cannot even be guaranteed. .
After Wilhelm II was re-elected as the German Emperor, in order to stabilize the country, he did not take any measures to improve the domestic political situation. Instead, his primary goal was to save Germany's economy.
Wilhelm II issued directives prohibiting the use of luxury goods and imported goods to reduce Germany's foreign exchange consumption as much as possible.
But the primary crisis Germany is currently facing is actually huge inflation.
Inflation turned Germany's official currency, the mark, into useless paper overnight. The mark, which was very valuable before, is now worth less than one-twentieth of its previous value.
This is a rather exaggerated proportion. You know, one pound was equivalent to 20 German marks before, but now one pound is equivalent to 400 German marks, or even higher.
At present, the price of an ordinary piece of bread in Germany has reached hundreds of marks, which is a cost that ordinary people cannot even imagine.
If the British had not sent a batch of emergency food aid to Germany in order to maintain the German government, I am afraid that the current food prices in Germany would have skyrocketed.
Huge inflation instantly turned the money in people's hands into useless paper, and even owed a lot of debt to banks.
Banks and capitalists have become the winners of German inflation, but the German people are already overwhelmed, and Germany's crisis has arrived.
It is worth mentioning that, as the largest political force in Germany, the Junker aristocracy are also important producers of German food.
These Junker nobles are based on land, and they do not want the German government to import large amounts of grain to calm domestic food prices. After all, lowering food prices is not a good thing for them.
But the problem is that the current food crisis in Germany is already quite serious. The German government cannot give up importing food because the hungry German people cannot remain indifferent.
Under such circumstances, Germany is currently in a double political and social chaos. Just dealing with daily government affairs makes William II very anxious. The pride and confidence of the past can no longer be seen in William II.
Fortunately, it is absolutely impossible for the British to sit back and watch Germany collapse like this, because Germany is the vanguard of restricting France and the only country in continental Europe that can currently prevent French expansion.
If the Germans collapse, France will be a veritable hegemon on the European continent, which is something the British absolutely do not want to see.
Therefore, even if it is destined to be a loss-making transaction, the British will still aid Germany and push other countries to reduce the proportion of German reparations to save the current German market and economy.
Of course, the countries that can stay in London for the final talks with the British are naturally the important countries in the British plan.
To be specific, Britain, France, Australasia and Italy are eligible to participate in this final meeting.
Of course, the key countries for negotiation are actually Britain and France. The Italians have a low sense of presence and are neutrals. They will listen to whichever side is stronger.
Australasia had already expressed its support for the British at the previous meeting, so there was no need for further persuasion.
Everyone sat in their seats. British Foreign Minister Gray first clinked glasses with everyone and took a sip of red wine from France. Then he smiled and said to French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Millerand: "Prime Minister Millerand, I hope you can Have a sincere talk with you.
I believe you also understand the current situation in Germany. If we let it go, the collapse of the German economy will happen sooner or later.
No matter what conflicts we have had with Germany before, tens of millions of people in Germany are innocent Yes, we should not let them bear the consequences of the war."
At this time, French Foreign Minister Millerand was considered a relatively influential figure in French politics.
Millerand had served as Minister of War during the early years of the First World War and had been elected governor of his native France, Alsace and Lorraine, a year earlier.
He took office as prime minister and foreign minister at the beginning of this year and is already one of the most powerful figures in the French government.
If history is correct, Millerand will become the new president of France this year, which is enough to show Millerand's status in France at this time.
"Having said that, Minister Gray." French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Millerand chuckled and said: "France also has no responsibility and obligation to bear the crisis of the Germans. The damage caused by Germany to France during the war is the amount of this amount. The reparations are far from enough to make up for it, and it is even less likely that the French government will agree to reduce the reparations in order to alleviate Germany's economic problems." "
This is not just to alleviate Germany's economic problems, Prime Minister Millerand. Germany has a huge industry. system, their industrial products have flooded the European market.
If the German economy collapses, we will lose an important production base of cheap industrial products, and the impact on us will be very serious. It is even an exaggeration to say that
if the current situation in Germany leads to a Who can survive the outbreak of an economic crisis?
My friend, our sacrifice is not for Germany, but for ourselves. If we reduce the compensation ratio by a certain amount, we can avoid the outbreak of an economic crisis. , why not?" Minister Gray retorted with a smile.
The first update of 4,000 words, please vote for me and support!
Today we continue to make tens of thousands per day and have updated 4000/10000. Please vote for me and support me!
(End of chapter)