Chapter 513 Policy Towards Germany

In the current British cabinet meeting, France has become a topic that British officials often mention, and it often makes people frown.

Although the French suffered very serious losses in the war, after Russia fell into civil war, the French are still the hegemon of the European continent, and now there is no opponent.

Looking closely at all the powerful countries on the European continent, Britain is isolated from the European continent and it is impossible to actively participate in the disputes on the European continent.

After all, the British Empire is better at the continental balance policy. Compared with actively confronting the hegemon of the European continent, supporting one or more competitors is what the British want to see more.

In addition to the British Empire, Russia was originally a good chess piece, but because of the civil war, it was unable to take care of itself and could not contain the French at all.

Another victorious country is Italy. Italy is far inferior to France in terms of land, navy and national comprehensive strength, and was excluded by the British without a second thought.

At present, the only country on the European continent that really has the strength to confront France is the German Empire, even if the British have looked at all European countries.

Of course, to be precise, the current name of Germany is the German Federal Empire, and the country's system has undergone major changes at the request of the Allies.

William II won the German election for the emperor with an overwhelming advantage and kept his throne as the German emperor.

This is very different from history. The historical Germany has already entered the Weimar Republic period, and the current Germany is still a monarchy, but the domestic situation is more chaotic.

At present, the various states in Germany have considerable power, especially the Kingdom of Bavaria, the number of troops is not much different from the number of troops of the imperial government. How William II handles the relationship between the imperial government and the states is the basis for determining William II's position in the new Germany.

You know, because of the interference of the French, Germany currently does not clearly know who has the real power.

William II has a good prestige, and he is also followed by some troops and nobles.

The military government and the Junker nobles behind it still hold a lot of power in the government, but after some high-level officials who started the war were liquidated, the strength of the military government has also declined a lot.

Furthermore, under the strong support of France, the state was given a lot of power, and the situation in Germany was quite chaotic.

But there was no way. At present, the only country that had hope of curbing French expansion was Germany, which was defeated by the British Empire in World War I.

Although the enemy of the British Empire in World War I was Germany, now the main competitors of the British Empire are France and the United States, and Germany has become the target of the British.

Although this seems a bit complicated, it is actually quite normal for the interests of various countries.

The foreign policy of a country follows a truth, that is, there are no eternal friends between countries, only eternal interests.

No matter what the current relationship between the two countries is, it will not affect and determine the future relationship between the two countries.

When common interests exist, the two countries can become good allies and friends. When common interests disappear or there is a conflict of interest between the two sides, even the best allies will turn against each other in an instant.

Although the political situation in Germany has become chaotic due to the interference of France, the British are not without any countermeasures.

Under the British's insistence, Germany preserved part of its industry. Although it was only some small civilian industries and relatively basic industrial products, the total industrial scale was also quite large.

Coupled with the industrial losses of European countries in the war, these German industrial products quickly flowed into the major victorious countries.

Germany's industry has always been known for its high quality and low price. These relatively cheap industrial products have now occupied a considerable part of the market, which is why the Germans can fulfill their reparations every year.

However, compared with Germany's current financial situation, the reparations of up to 20 billion pounds are an important reason why the German economy has not been able to take off.

In order to allow Germany to have the capital to contain France, the British government has made up its mind and decided to propose a proposal to reduce Germany's reparations at the next regular meeting of the World League.

It is not difficult to realize the proposal to reduce Germany's reparations. It only needs to obtain the consent of the four major powers of the Allied Powers.

From the distribution ratio of this reparation, it can be seen that more than 85% of the reparations are occupied by the four major powers of the Allied Powers, and the other victorious countries jointly distribute the remaining 15%.

As long as the four major powers of the Allied Powers agree to reduce Germany's reparations, other countries can't say anything, after all, the four major powers have reduced more.

And now Russia is in urgent need of material support from Britain and France because of the civil war, and it is impossible to reject the proposal of Britain and France at the meeting of the World Alliance.

As long as the French agree, plus the support of Australasia, the proposal to reduce the German reparations can basically be said to be a done deal.

But the question is, how to get the French to agree to reduce the proportion of German reparations?

You know, the proportion of the reparations occupied by the French is not low, which is 5.1 billion pounds, which is not a small amount.

Even if it is reduced by only 10%, it is as high as 5.1 pounds, which is enough to build a powerful fleet. The French will definitely not give up this money for no reason.

We need to find a more suitable reason to propose a reduction in German reparations, and we also need to find an excuse that the French cannot refuse or can persuade the French.

However, this is what the diplomatic department should worry about. Fortunately, the diplomatic department of the British Empire is still relatively professional, and Minister Grey's diplomatic ability has been recognized by people at home and abroad.

In October 1919, the British representative first proposed to reduce the proportion of German reparations, reducing the original 20 billion pounds of reparations to about 15 billion pounds, alleviating Germany's domestic financial problems and preventing Germany from going bankrupt due to high reparations.

The British representative's proposal surprised the audience. Unlike before, this time the British representative's proposal did not arouse the audience's echo. Most people fell into thinking, and a few people clearly opposed it, such as the French representative.

The Australasian representative was indifferent to this, because Arthur had said at the cabinet meeting that Germany's finances could not afford the 20 billion pounds of reparations, and reducing the reparations was something that would be faced sooner or later.

The more hesitant was the Russian representative. At present, Russian representatives can obtain up to tens of millions of pounds of compensation from Germany every year, which is of great help to the Russian Civil War.

Similarly, the support of the British is also very important to Russia, which has put the Russian government in a dilemma, not knowing whether to insist that Russia maintain the compensation figure or agree to the British proposal.

"Representative John, I do not agree with your country's point of view. Germany's economic situation may be very bad, but the economic situation of all our victorious countries is not good either.

Germany's financial situation is worth taking care of, but is our financial situation not worth taking care of?

At present, many countries rely on Germany's compensation to restore their domestic economy. If the share of compensation is rashly reduced, it may save Germany's economy, but it will damage the economy of all victorious countries.

If all countries suffering from the war suffer losses in order to save the demons who started the war, I don't think this is mercy, it is cruel to the victorious countries." The French representative stood up directly and clearly opposed the British representative's proposal.

For the French, they don't want to give up a penny of the 5.1 billion pounds of compensation.

The French economy and industry suffered a lot of losses in the war, and this compensation can help the French better restore their domestic economy.

More importantly, the Germans owed such a huge amount of reparations, which would bring the German economy to the brink of collapse, and Germany would naturally no longer have the strength to compete with the French.

If Germany's reparations were reduced, giving Germany a chance to survive, for the French, it would actually be helping Germany, the enemy.

France still has some younger brothers. After the French representatives stood up and clearly opposed the British representatives, the younger brothers of France also stood up and began to agree.

"What we need to do is not to completely cancel the German reparations, but to reduce them by a certain percentage. Everyone here can still get reparations from Germany, and it will remain at a relatively good number.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are not going to give up punishing the Germans, but to ensure that all the countries present here, and all of you present here, can successfully obtain reparations from Germany.

Please imagine, if this reparation really crushes the German economy and causes the German government to declare bankruptcy, can you still successfully obtain reparations?

Reducing the share of German reparations will not only give Germany's economy a sigh of relief, but also ensure that all the countries present here can successfully obtain reparations from Germany.

This proposal is not for the benefit of a certain country, but for all weak countries to successfully obtain reparations.

I hope you can carefully consider my proposal and not be blinded by the immediate interests." The British representative did not care about the French representative's opposition, but turned his eyes to other small and medium-sized countries, and persuaded sincerely.

The British representative's statement is not entirely unreasonable. After all, everyone understands the principle of exhausting the pond to catch fish.

To put it bluntly, it's just that some people are unwilling to give up their immediate interests. After all, they can get a large amount of compensation from Germany every year, and the reduced share means their own loss.

The role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is like this. It promotes a proposal that was made for its own interests as a proposal that was forced to be made for the interests of everyone, and ties all small and medium-sized countries to the British front.

Countries like France may not worry that Germany cannot afford the compensation, but those small and medium-sized countries will always be worried.

After all, if Germany really declares bankruptcy, these small and medium-sized countries will not have the confidence to ask the German government for debts.

Although Germany failed, Germany's industrial scale and economic conditions are still at the level of great powers, which is not something these small and medium-sized European countries can touch.

Even if it weren't for the various terms and restrictions imposed on Germany by the Allies, Germany's current comprehensive strength would still exceed France, and it would still be a superpower second only to Britain and the United States.

This is the foundation of a country, and it is also the reason why Germany, once the second great power, is so powerful.

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