Chapter 644 Begging for peace (1600 votes plus updates)

"No, it is absolutely impossible to ask the Germans for peace after they have occupied the entire territory of France. In that case, it will be of no use at all. At that time, the Germans will not need us to ask for peace at all, they can do it themselves Do whatever you want," said President Poincaré.

"Yes, by that time, we may not be calling for peace, but surrendering. There is a huge difference between the two." Prime Minister René Viviani also said.

If you want to sum up, of course the attitude is relatively low. But at least you can bargain. If it is surrender, it will become meat on the chopping board and be slaughtered by others.

"In this case, then get ready and contact the Germans as soon as possible!" President Poincaré said.

After making such a decision, President Poincaré seemed helpless. In the Franco-Prussian War more than 40 years ago, the French Second Empire was defeated and the emperor was captured, which directly led to the collapse of the empire. This time, the French Third Republic was also defeated. I am afraid that the Third Republic will soon cease to exist.

"Yes, Your Excellency. However, if we want to surrender to the Germans, they will definitely offer a lot of harsh conditions. Then, how should we reply to them?" Minister Théophile Del Casse asked.

After all, in this war, France is the losing party. If you want to end the war and achieve peace, you have to pay a price. Judging from Germany's appetite, very harsh conditions will inevitably be offered.

"Your Excellency, the Germans have a very big appetite. If Russia wanted to withdraw from the war, they extorted a large sum of war reparations and ceded a large amount of territory. If we want to make peace, the Germans will definitely kill us. We cut it straight," said Finance Minister Alexander Ribert.

"This is inevitable. Who made us unable to defeat the Germans, and now we have to ask them for peace? The only thing we can do is probably to pay as little price as possible and reduce losses!" Le Ne Viviani said.

Being slaughtered by the Germans is not very good for everyone. However, there is no way to do this! After the army is defeated, if you want not to perish, you can only pay the price in other ways.

"What terms are the Germans likely to ask?" asked President Poincaré.

"Your Excellency, after the defeat of this war, we may not be able to keep our overseas colonies. The Germans have always coveted our overseas colonies. The root cause of this war is actually that the Germans are dissatisfied with our occupation of a large number of overseas colonies. Colonies. Therefore, if we ask the Germans for peace, they will definitely ask us to transfer overseas colonies to them." Théophile Del Casse said.

Both President Poincaré and Prime Minister René Viviani merely frowned. France's overseas colonies are second only to Britain. Although not as rich as Britain's overseas colonies, it can also bring a lot of benefits to France every year. If those overseas colonies are lost, it will be a heavy blow to France.

Of course, if the Germans force France to hand over all its overseas colonies to Germany, they have nothing to do. The situation is stronger than the people, and in order to save some losses for the homeland, they can only agree to the demands of the Germans.

"It's a pity to lose overseas colonies. However, the mainland of the French Republic is our foundation. The Germans want those colonies, so let them. As long as we can keep the mainland of the Republic, our loss will not be too big ’ said Prime Minister René Viviani.

President Poincaré nodded. Indeed, the importance of the French mainland is far above the overseas colonies. Although the area of ​​overseas colonies is twenty times that of mainland France, the population is much larger than that of mainland France. But, given their choice, they would still rather have their homeland than overseas colonies.

"Your Excellency the President, Your Excellency the Prime Minister. In addition to the overseas colonies, the mainland may also have to cede some land to the Germans. It's just that I don't know how big the appetite of the Germans is." Théophile Del Casse continued.

"The territory of France is not comparable to that of Russia. They ceded a large area of ​​​​territory to the Germans, but their territory is also very large. If the Germans encroach on our territory, there will be nothing left for France." Poincaré said the president.

"Your Excellency, no one is willing to cede territory to the Germans. But if the Germans force us to cede territory, we probably have nothing to do." Théophile Del Casse said.

"Try to fight for it. We can make some concessions in other areas, but our territory must be preserved as much as possible." President Poincaré said.

"Yes, Your Excellency the President." Théophile Del Casse nodded. However, he thought it would be very difficult to do this. How can the appetite of the Germans be so easily satisfied?

"Another point is the war indemnity. The Germans extorted 20 billion marks from the Russians. If we ask for peace, they will definitely extort a large amount of war indemnity from us." Théophile Delka Se continued.

"If the Germans only ask for war reparations of 20 billion marks, that's nothing. Our overseas investment is enough to pay." Finance Minister Alexander Ribert said.

France is also known as the usury empire, and they have a lot of investment all over the world. This makes them very rich. It is precisely because of this that the industrial development of France has fallen into a bottleneck. After all, everyone has gone to usury, and there are still people who are honestly developing industries?

During this period, French overseas investment exceeded 50 billion francs. Converted into marks, it is equivalent to 40 billion marks. Therefore, if Germany only asks France for war reparations of 20 billion marks, this is nothing more than a trivial matter to them.

"The appetite of the Germans may be even greater. After all, we are much richer than the Russians." Prime Minister René Viviani said.

"No matter what, during the negotiation, we also want to reduce the war reparations as much as possible." President Poincaré said.

After deliberations, the French government appointed Foreign Minister Théophile Viviani as the plenipotentiary special envoy to conduct peace negotiations with Germany on behalf of France.