Chapter 1350 Reaching an agreement

Weak countries have no diplomacy, and this is how Serbia is being targeted. Even now, Serbia is not even a country. The government-in-exile is just a pawn that can be thrown away. The British choice to preserve Serbia is considered to be the most benevolent thing.

Friel said: "In this way, Serbia's problems will be properly handled, so any conflicts can be resolved."

"And everyone can use this as an example to gradually resolve other disputes and problems. I believe that with everyone's joint efforts, the end of the war will not be far away."

With Freer's words, this also means that the interests of many small and weak countries will be abandoned. After all, now that a balance of power has formed between the Allies and the Entente, both parties can gain even less benefits.

In order to promote peace, big countries will definitely not give up their own interests, so they can only choose small and weak countries like Serbia to operate.

Subsequently, countries launched fierce bargaining around this point.

Germany naturally wants to swallow up the results of this war, especially the results of the Eastern Front battlefield, that is, Poland and the Baltic Sea coast.

This was naturally opposed by Britain and France. After all, Germany was already at its peak and could fight Britain and France back and forth. It would really allow Germany to further expand its territory. This is not what Britain and France want to see.

France's demand is that while Germany withdraws its troops from France, Lorraine and Alsace should also be set up as demilitarized zones.

From France's perspective, it naturally hopes to regain Lorraine and Alsace, but it is at a disadvantage on the battlefield. France also knows that this is unrealistic, so it can only settle for the second best and ask Germany not to deploy troops in the two places.

The United Kingdom demanded that the naval forces of various countries be reduced, the naval standards of various countries be re-established, and the status of the Royal Navy be continued to be consolidated through the treaty. This was originally one of the British purposes before World War I.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's desire is naturally to annex Serbia and the land along the Black Sea coast. Serbia has already settled, while the dispute along the Black Sea coast is relatively large. After all, this so-called Black Sea coast involves countries such as Ukraine and Moldova in the previous life.

In general, the dispute over interests between Britain, France and Germany and Austria mainly lies in the disposal of Eastern Europe. Germany and Austria want to absorb the benefits they obtain from Russia and the Balkans as much as possible, while Britain and France are just the opposite. I would rather have these areas become independent rather than fall into the hands of Germany and Austria.

The British representative Fromm said: "Germany can obtain some Polish territory as compensation, but the Baltic Sea region and Poland should establish independent states at the same time."

German representative and Prime Minister Bateman said: "We can allow Estonia and Latvia to become independent, but the former Russian territories, including Minsk, should be integrated into the imperial territory."

Bateman can also be regarded as a lion with a big mouth. According to his requirements, he basically covered large areas of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus in his previous life.

This is obviously unacceptable to the United Kingdom. After all, if so much land is given to Germany, it will be equivalent to Germany annexing the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that existed in history. You must know that around the 16th to 17th centuries, this country can be said to have It is the country with the largest population, largest area and strong national power in Europe.

Fromm directly refused: "It is impossible. Lithuania must be independent, and even Poland must be independent. This is our bottom line, otherwise we would rather continue the war."

Germany occupied part of Poland before World War I, so Britain did not want to see complete Poland merged into Germany and Austria. However, it was obviously impossible for Germany to completely spit out Poland, so Britain could only settle for the next best thing. , try to prevent Germany from getting bigger. The UK will allow Germany to expand its area by about 50,000 square kilometers at most.

Moreover, the premise is that Germany must ensure and limit the development of its own navy. In this way, although Germany has expanded its territory, it can still only be regarded as a land power, and it is sandwiched between France and Russia. Its geographical situation is still in the UK. within the scope of intervention.

Fromm does not believe that the Russian Labor Party is easy to mess with. Because of the delay in the European war, the Russian Labor Party has basically stabilized the regime. After stabilizing the regime, the Russian Labor Party is bound to find trouble with Germany, which can form a new check and balance.

So Fromm said: "Germany will obtain the land east of Warsaw, and at the same time, in Eastern Europe, it will become independent of the four countries of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania."

Under Fromm's consideration, Poland will become a medium-sized country with an area of ​​more than 300,000 square kilometers, covering parts of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus in the previous life, so that Poland can form a certain balance against Germany and Russia.

At the same time, Fromm said: "If Germany pushes further, let the war continue. Our bottom line cannot be breached. Although you have made considerable progress on the southern battlefield for the time being, your domestic problems are on the verge of erupting. ”

"We are not afraid of confronting you at all. This will only benefit the Labor Party in the end. As far as I know, the situation in Germany is not good now, especially your economy. How long can you support the German army?"

With the new blood pack of the United States, the British are not afraid of a war of attrition. However, the fundamental reason why the British want a ceasefire is that they are afraid of East Africa's intervention.

Now, the threat from East Africa in the Indian Ocean has exceeded the critical point that Britain can bear. If East Africa joins, or even just supports the Allies, it may shake the foundation of British rule. After all, the three major British colonies are India and Canada. , Australia, where both India and Australia are threatened by East Africa.

Therefore, the British government has always maintained a cautious and worried attitude towards the Sword of Damocles hanging over its head in East Africa.

This is the fundamental reason why Britain accepted East African mediation. After all, the reason why Britain has not been greatly affected by the war is because of India's human, material and financial support.

East Africa happens to be a country that can control India, the British Achilles heel, so what the British want to do most now is to weaken the naval power of various countries to achieve a new balance, and at the same time take the opportunity to curb East Africa's military expansion in the Indian Ocean.

Of course, the British know that Germany is a thorn in their side, but compared with the threat from East Africa in the Indian Ocean, Germany's threat has become a minor problem.

After all, British hegemony lies in the ocean, not the European continent. As long as Germany does not occupy the Netherlands and other Western European countries, its navy will always be able to cruise in the Baltic Sea. In addition, if Germany limits its navy to a certain size, then Britain I am more willing to negotiate with Germany.

East Africa is completely different. East Africa is already a de facto maritime power. East Africa has military presence in all four oceans, especially the Indian Ocean, which is very critical to Britain. The strength of the East African navy even exceeds the British naval power in the Indian Ocean.

This also takes into account the increasing strength of the navies of the United States, Japan and other countries in other regions. Therefore, the most important thing for the United Kingdom now is to restrict the navies of other countries, especially East Africa, and naval powers such as the United States and Japan that are not controlled by the United Kingdom to further expand their naval scale.

Subsequently, Fromm and Bateman had a relatively intense discussion on the land issue in Eastern Europe between the two countries. In the end, the two sides finally signed a roughly acceptable plan.

According to this plan, Germany would obtain most of the territory in eastern Poland in its previous life, plus East Prussia and the Polish territory that Germany already owned, expanding Germany's area to approximately 600,000 square kilometers.

According to this plan, Germany only received more than 50,000 square kilometers of land. However, before World War I, Germany’s territory was only 540,000 square kilometers, which was approximately one-tenth of Germany’s original land area, so it was already quite considerable. Yes.

What's more, these 50,000 square kilometers of land are considered a relatively fertile area in former Russia, and are mainly plains and hills with dense water networks, which is conducive to economic development.

Therefore, although Germany is dissatisfied with this plan, it is not unacceptable. At least it can appease the emotions of its people. What's more, the acquisition of this fertile land will greatly solve the original problem of farmland tension in Germany.

To a certain extent, the German government has realized that if it does not solve its own food problem, it will be impossible for Germany to challenge British hegemony. In this world war, the lack of basic materials such as food can be said to be Germany's biggest obstacle.

Therefore, it is acceptable to Germany to a certain extent to obtain large tracts of land in Poland.

After solving the Polish issue, the focus of all countries is to solve the Ukrainian issue. Fromm proposed: "For the Ukrainian region, I propose to become independent as the new Ukrainian Republic. As for the Moldova region, it should be used as a spoil of war for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Romania and Bulgaria."

Originally, the United Kingdom planned to use the Ukrainian region as its foundation to support the old forces of Russia. The former Russian Crown Prince Alexei was a good choice.

After all, the Tsar had a large number of supporters in the former Russia and had strong appeal. Now Nicholas II was likely to encounter something unexpected, so Alexei became a good choice.

But because of East Africa, Britain does not trust Alexei. After all, Alexei and the Tsarist Russian government-in-exile led by him are in East Africa, so Britain is afraid of supporting a "white-eyed wolf".

The representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not express much opposition to this. Although Ukraine is very tempting, the Austro-Hungarian Empire simply does not have the ability to digest such a large area. There are already too many Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Mauterndorf said: "We can allow Ukraine to become an independent country, but we demand more war reparations, so Ukraine, as the former Russian territory, they should inherit this responsibility."

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In other words, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire does not require Ukraine to become its own territory, it does want to turn Ukraine into its own economic colony. This was also the plan that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had before the war began.

Regarding the Austro-Hungarian Empire's request, Fromm also said that it was acceptable. Even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire could effectively use Ukraine, it also meant that they had to bear the responsibility of helping the new Ukrainian government fight against the Russian Labor Party.

From this point of view, Russia was the biggest victim of World War I. This original member of the Allied Powers became the main bargaining chip for mutual compromise between the Allies and the Allied Powers.

After dealing with the main problems of Eastern Europe, countries finally began to debate other aspects.

Among them, France's political demands were also met. Germany and France reached an agreement that after the armistice, Germany would not deploy troops on the borders of Lorraine and Alsace and reserve a buffer area.

After the interests of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and France were basically satisfied, Britain finally began discussions about maintaining its own hegemony and the new political pattern of the world.

Fromm said: "The world war caused serious damage to the entire Europe, so for the sake of peace in Europe and the world, all countries should carry out large-scale disarmament and retain only a small number of troops."

"Especially in terms of navy, countries such as Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire do not need to retain large navies. Other countries should also make corresponding reductions, including the United States, East Africa, Japan and other countries outside the region."

"As the world's hegemon, the UK should retain the largest navy in order to maintain the fair and orderly development of world maritime trade. I don't think anyone will object!"

"Except for the Empire, the naval power of other countries should not exceed the size of the Imperial Royal Navy. This is our only demand in the UK. What do you think? Lord Freer."

Fromm asked Foreign Minister Freer, focusing on East Africa.

Regarding the navy, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire can naturally accept it. After all, the navy has not been the strength of the two countries before. Although Germany has the second largest navy in the world, Germany's geographical location meant that during the war, the German navy could not play a big role at all. , not to mention the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Therefore, Germany and Austria did not object to Britain's naval restrictions on the two countries. Judging from the course of the war, there was indeed no need to compete with Britain. As for France, it did not oppose the British plan, or in other words, Britain did not I am worried that France will exert its naval power because France's national strength is not enough to support its competition with Britain.

What the UK is most worried about right now is East Africa, the United States, Japan and other countries outside of Europe. Needless to say, East Africa and the United States have very superior marine conditions, and their size and industry are still very strong. If restrictions are not quickly imposed, then the UK's Maritime hegemony will be disintegrated by these two countries.

Countries like Japan will destroy Britain's regional maritime hegemony. In recent years, Japan has gradually got rid of its dependence on Britain, and Britain has huge interests in the Far East.

The United States and Japan were not included in this secret peace conference, so the United Kingdom naturally wanted to challenge the host of the conference in East Africa.

Friel said: "We can accept the reduction in the size of the navy, but the premise is that countries such as the United States and Japan also accept your country's plan. At the same time, the Imperial Navy must maintain at least the third position in the world in terms of tonnage. This also corresponds to today's The strength of the Imperial Navy.”

Now in terms of naval tonnage, East Africa is actually about the same as Germany, and the two countries are tied

Hearing Freer's words, Fromm breathed a sigh of relief. He said: "Of course there is no problem. As long as we major countries remain consistent, the United States and other countries that are not participating in the meeting will have no choice but to submit."

"After all, Europe is the center of the world. A few of our countries, plus East Africa, can determine the basic pattern of the post-war world. I believe the United States is also aware of current affairs."

The United Kingdom does not mind at all the size of the East African navy, as long as it can ensure that other navies cannot pose a threat to the British Royal Navy, the world's largest navy. Of course, according to the British idea, it is naturally best to continue to maintain " Two strong standards”.

That is to say, the strength of the British navy exceeds the sum of the second and third places. According to the British plan, the second and third places are most likely to be the United States and East Africa. After all, as the basis for the armistice, Germany must give up the development of a large navy, and Austria-Hungary The empire has never paid much attention to the navy, and France is a collaborator of the United Kingdom to a certain extent, and is unable to compete with the United Kingdom in the navy.

Therefore, among the world's major powers, Britain's most important priority now is to restrict the development of the navies of the United States and East Africa. Now that East Africa has chosen to compromise, the United States is powerless to prevent Britain from formulating post-war naval standards for various countries.

The reason why East Africa agreed so happily was also out of the consideration of ending the European war as soon as possible. After all, the end of the European war does not mean the end of the conflicts in Europe. Now Europe has just returned to the pattern before World War I. Peace in Europe is at best Just maintain it for a few decades. When East Africa is fully developed, it will be able to more easily take over and divide the world's hegemony.