Chapter 950 Paris Conference

"Your Highness, the Spanish government has revealed to us that it wants to negotiate with the United States. They have completely lost the confidence to continue fighting, and this war is about to end." Hermann reported to Ernst the intelligence obtained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the Spanish-American War, Spain was originally the passive party, and after the colonial navy was completely annihilated, it was completely flat.

As East Africa and France, which stood on the side of Spain before the war, became Spain's first choice for mediation.

"For this kind of thing, we just follow France. I think France can get the best conditions for Spain."

This is also the case. If there was no French mediation in the previous life, Spain would only lose more miserably.

However, Ernst was generally in a good mood. Although Spain was defeated, it also taught the United States a lesson. Even the bottom line of a great power like Spain can cause trouble to the United States, not to mention the naval powers such as Britain and France that have not shown any signs of decline. Even the navies of the two countries still have a lot of room for improvement.

Although all countries now seem to be developing in the direction of "big navy", in fact, they have not squeezed out the last potential, and to reflect this potential, at least a world-class war is needed.

November 2, 1898.

Paris, France.

Hosted by France, diplomats from Spain and the United States gathered in Paris to put an end to the Spanish-American War. Lawrence, the East African ambassador to France, also attended the mediation meeting.

After the outbreak of the war, US-Spain relations had completely fallen to a freezing point, and with the defeat of Spain, the hostility of the Spanish people towards the United States has now exceeded the limit and surpassed Britain.

Spain, a former world hegemon, has many enemies, including Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, etc., but there is no doubt that in Spanish history, Britain, which deprived Spain of its maritime hegemony, must be ranked first. Of course, this is a thing of the past few hundred years.

The impact of the Spanish-American War on Spain is no worse than the destruction of the Invincible Fleet. This time, the Spanish Navy repeated the history of being basically annihilated.

If it were not for the fact that the size of Spain was barely acceptable, it would be entirely possible that Spain would become a third-rate country like Portugal this time.

After the meeting began, the United States and Spain accused each other of being the main person in charge of this war. The entire venue was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder. In fact, the post-war negotiations were also a war in a peaceful situation.

Soon, after the two countries expressed their respective views, France began to persuade them, which was nothing more than asking the two countries to make concessions. You are good, he is good, and everyone is good.

When Lawrence spoke, the "fire of war" was ignited again. As a more determined pro-Western faction than France, Ambassador Lawrence came up and said sarcastically: "Spain is an obvious victim in this war. Although the source of the conflict between the two countries is the Maine incident, there is no conclusion about the Maine incident. Perhaps it is a drama directed and performed by a third party. After all, Cuba's illegal armed forces have always accepted support and other assistance from third countries. This is the fundamental reason for Cuba's political instability."

"And in a region like Cuba, which is already geopolitically fragile, Spain has no need to conflict with the United States. Therefore, the Maine has revealed a conspiracy from the beginning, and the Spanish government has no need and no motivation to do anything with the Maine."

No matter from which angle, Lawrence has to speak well of Spain. Of course, Lawrence's remarks directly aroused the dissatisfaction of American diplomats.

"Ambassador Lawrence, the Maine is a scar of our United States. Hundreds of American soldiers and a large number of American expatriates died. We have conducted a detailed investigation of the Maine a long time ago, and the reason has long been pointed out. The Maine was triggered by the mines fired by the Spanish."

Lawrence said bluntly: "A unilateral investigation has never been convincing. After all, evidence can be forged, and a torpedo caused the Maine to explode directly, which is obviously a bit unreasonable."

"We emphasized in advance that the Spanish torpedo hit the ammunition depot of the Maine, which caused a bigger explosion." The US side defended.

Lawrence: "The Spanish did not participate in the construction of the Maine. How could they know the hull structure of the Maine so well..."

The debate between the two sides over the Maine is naturally impossible to have a result, but this is exactly what Lawrence wants to see. It doesn't matter what the United States does. What matters is to convince other countries that the United States is really the mastermind behind the scenes. Even if it is just a suspicion, his goal will be achieved.

"Okay, Ambassador Lawrence, don't say something without evidence. The presumption of innocence is the only way to reflect the fairness of this meeting." The Belgian diplomat persuaded on the side.

The French also interrupted Lawrence's speech at the right time: "This kind of thing has been unclear from the beginning. Now our focus should return to the results of the war between the United States and Spain. As a defeated country, Spain naturally has to bear the consequences of the defeat, but this war mainly took place on Spanish territory, so no matter what excuse the war was started, the United States also did something wrong."

The French government came up and gave the United States and Spain a slap on the wrist, and then said: "As the winner of this war, I don't know what result the United States wants?"

At this time, the US government had no intention of arguing with Lawrence, the bastard, and still had to get the benefits first: "As a victorious country, we demand that Spain withdraw from Cuba, the Philippines... several colonies, and compensate our country for the losses in this war..."

The losses of the United States in the war this time were indeed considerable. Including the USS Maine, the United States lost four cruisers, five more were seriously injured, and other warships also suffered losses.

Of course, compared to the United States, Spain was even worse. The colonial navy was completely wiped out, and the local navy also suffered heavy losses in Cuba. After this war, Spain's naval strength will not be able to revive in the next few decades.

Therefore, it is naturally impossible for the Spaniards to agree to the conditions of the US government. They are already distressed enough by ceding the land, but they actually have to pay compensation, which makes the Spaniards even more unacceptable.

Of course, the United States is confident about Spain's rejection. After all, the Spanish navy has been abolished. If the war continues, it will really hit Spain's doorstep.

"The value of Cuba alone is enough to make up for the losses of the United States. As for the compensation, let alone the compensation, the losses of the Spanish Navy are much greater than those of the United States, so the United States should in turn pay the losses to Spain." Lawrence jumped out at this time and said.

Facing Lawrence, a clown who jumped up and down, American diplomats were speechless. Is Spain your biological father in East Africa? Of course, the Spanish government is grateful for East Africa's "righteous speech".

However, Lawrence's words will not cause strong dissatisfaction among Americans. As he said, the value of Cuba alone, an important sugar and tobacco producer in the world, is enough to make up for the losses of the United States.

And what Lawrence said doesn’t mean that East Africa has no objection to the United States’ annexation of Cuba! Therefore, American diplomats chose to forgive Lawrence for his inappropriate remarks.

Of course, Cuba is Cuba and the Philippines is the Philippines. East Africa can acquiesce to the United States' annexation of Cuba, but cannot tolerate the United States' easy annexation of the Philippines. Therefore, the next issue of the ownership of the Philippines is Lawrence's main battlefield.

"The Philippines should not be the subject of discussion in the first place. After all, the Maine incident occurred in Cuba. The Philippines suffered a completely unreasonable disaster. Moreover, the US Navy has been training in Hong Kong since June last year and responded quickly to the Philippines after the war. Therefore, the Philippine issue cannot be conflated with the Caribbean region, and the sovereignty of the Philippines should continue to be dominated by Spain.”

On the issue of the Philippines, Lawrence directly encouraged Spain not to make concessions. After all, being a neighbor with Spain is far more reassuring than being a neighbor with the United States. Moreover, it is somewhat inconsistent with international morality for the United States to use the Philippines as a battlefield. The fuse of the war was Maine. No. It is understandable that Cuba should bear the main responsibility. To a certain extent, dragging the Philippines into the battlefield is an act of overstepping the bounds.