Chapter 769 Maginot Line

As time entered October 1930, the world situation was no longer so calm.

The pound crisis had not been resolved, and there was new news from Germany.

First, European countries led by Britain expressed dissatisfaction with the anti-Semitic actions of Germany and Italy. The World League even held a meeting to demand that Germany, which was also a member state, stop persecuting the Jews.

But unexpectedly, the pressure from the World League became a driving force for the Germans to firmly implement their own policies.

Before the British reacted, on October 12, 1930, Germany unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the World League and stated that it would not accept the World League's request.

This move immediately made the originally calm situation in Central Europe tense. Naturally, Britain and France were very surprised by this.

In the more than ten years since the end of World War I, Germany's attitude has always been very friendly, and it is also the more obedient among the defeated countries.

But what Britain and France did not expect was that after Hitler came to power, the German government seemed to have changed its face.

Not only did it become more radical and decisive in some diplomatic choices, but it also no longer had the fear of Britain and France as before.

Rejecting the World Alliance's proposal and unilaterally withdrawing from the World Alliance is actually a provocation to Britain and France.

The last country that was hostile to the World Alliance was the United States, and now the United States has been divided into more than a dozen countries.

But the situation in Germany is somewhat different. Germany is located in Central Europe and is the role set by the British to balance France's power in Western Europe.

This also makes the British unwilling to directly confront Germany, even though the Germans have shown considerable ambition.

What surprised all countries is that Germany's unilateral withdrawal from the World Alliance and its refusal to implement any proposal of the World Alliance is already a blatant provocation to Britain and France, but the British have no response to this.

As for France, although the French are very angry, they are helpless in the face of this situation.

To put it bluntly, the French will not start a war just because Germany withdraws from the World Alliance, and the French will not want the government to cause war for no reason.

Even if the previous war against the United States had not involved Britain and Australasia, the French would basically not join such a war.

Although France is known as the second most powerful country in the world, only the French themselves know how much damage the super war caused to France.

France has lost a whole generation of people and has not recovered so far. There are still a large number of widows in France, which has also caused a surge in extramarital affairs and cheating in France. The continuous divorce of the people is also one of the reasons for the decline in population.

In the case that the British are unwilling to take action, the French can actually do very little.

Especially after Germany showed a more radical ambition, the surrounding small countries are no longer willing to offend Germany. After all, the fate of being occupied by Germany in the war is still vivid.

In this case, the French did not blindly take action against the Germans, but re-regarded the Germans as their biggest competitors.

In order to avoid a crazy country like Germany from launching a surprise attack on itself, France decided to build a solid and long defense line on the Franco-German border.

In the first ten years after the end of World War I, the French always felt that they were the overlord of the European continent and the only competitor of the British.

But now the French understand that France has already consumed most of its manpower in the previous wars, and at least its status as the world's second most powerful country is undeserved.

Before World War I, France was not afraid of Germany, and even kept dreaming of using a war to wash away the shame of the Franco-Prussian War.

But now, unless it is time to decide the outcome, the French are not willing to start a war with the Germans, after all, they are the ones who suffer the most casualties.

After many proposals from the French government, the defense position similar to that in history, that is, the famous Maginot Line plan, was finally released.

This defense line, which was built in 1928 in history, did not really start construction until the end of October 1930 in this world.

The French spent a lot of money to build the Maginot Line. This defense line proposed and designed by French Army Minister Maginot has a total investment of more than 5 billion francs, which is nearly 45 million Australian dollars.

In order to achieve strategic defense, the French have also made great efforts. The Maginot Line is a defensive position, but it is better to say that it is a super fortress built by the French to defend against the German attack.

The line of defense not only has all the trenches, cannons and fortresses of a normal defensive position, but also has kitchens, power stations, hospitals and factories. The road construction is also well-connected, and there is even a tramway inside to facilitate the exchange and communication of the French troops in the line of defense.

When the French changed their thinking from offense to defense, their ideas were very crazy.

If the Belgians had not firmly opposed the construction of a defense line on the Franco-Belgian border, I am afraid that the French Maginot Line would have extended from the Franco-Belgian border to the Franco-Italian border.

It is precisely because the scale of the Maginot Line design is very large that this line of defense is expected to take more than ten years to build and will be officially completed around 1941.

There is no doubt that when the French announced the construction plan of the Maginot Line, it immediately attracted the attention of the world.

But considering that the French imaginary enemy is only the Germans, whose army is only 150,000, the European people find France's fear of the enemy a little funny.

When the construction plan of the Maginot Line was sent back to Germany, Hitler said to his subordinates contemptuously: "The former France has been defeated, and now Germany should be the hegemon in Europe!"

The French showed weakness that was completely inconsistent with their status, which also made Hitler see greater ambitions.

The current Germany is still incomplete, and a large amount of territory is controlled by surrounding countries. Alsace and Lorraine, which were ceded before, including the republic controlled by the French, are all lands that Hitler wants to re-incorporate into Germany.

There are also the Free City of Danzig, the Polish Corridor, etc. in the east, which were once German lands.

Of course, Hitler's first ambition must be the pain in the hearts of all Germans-the Rhine Demilitarized Zone.

The Rhine is an important river in Germany. The establishment of the Rhine Demilitarized Zone directly turned a large amount of land west of the Rhine into a demilitarized zone, prohibiting the stationing of German troops.

There are very important industrial bases in Germany around the Rhine River, which is equivalent to handing over the industrial lifeline of the Germans to other countries.

But then again, canceling the Rhine demilitarized zone is definitely a risky move, at least Hitler has no plans to do so at present.

Once the Rhine demilitarized zone is canceled, it means that Germany will directly confront France, and even repeat the mistakes of Germany in World War I.

Before he has mastered most of the military power and before he has dealt with the problems between the German states, Hitler does not intend to do so for the time being.

Although Germany has not taken any action, the early retreat of the French is the best encouragement for the Germans.

France is a victorious country in World War I, and Germany faced quite serious restrictions and oppression after its defeat.

Can the French take the initiative to think and build a position to defend against the Germans, which means that the French have begun to fear Germany from the bottom of their hearts?

With this idea in mind, the eyes of the Germans are full of hope again. Countless Germans want to take revenge on the French in person and let the French taste the bitter fruit of defeat.

This leads to a very strange phenomenon.

The news of France's construction of the Maginot Line reached Germany. Even though Germany and Hitler did not take any action, many people spontaneously began to worship and fanaticize Hitler.

The suppressed German people urgently needed to release their emotions, and Hitler, who led them to do all this, became their most admired target.

Hitler was still very busy at this time. After starting to liquidate the Jews in the country, the German government instantly acquired a large amount of assets and various resources.

The reason why food prices in Germany are so high is that a considerable part of the reason is that domestic capitalists have hoarded food and then sold it to civilians at a higher price.

Although there are Germans among the capitalists, who let these Jews run into the muzzle of the gun? Anyway, anti-Semitism has become politically correct in Germany now. Whether it is German civilians or senior government officials, they are prohibited from providing help to Jews.

As a large number of Jewish assets were confiscated, Hitler also had certain financial power in his hands.

Because of the restrictions on the German army in the previous contract, Hitler did not forcibly expand the size of the German army, but began to expand his own private army, that is, the famous SS.

After taking control of Germany, Hitler's stormtroopers were renamed the SS, and their numbers were still expanding.

This led to a very strange phenomenon in Germany.

The combined army of the German imperial government and the governments of the states was only 150,000, but the size of Hitler's private army had exceeded 500,000 and was still increasing.

Such a huge disparity in the comparison of armed forces has destined Hitler's power in the government to become higher and higher.

When the news that the Maginot Line was officially confirmed and began to be built reached Australasia, Arthur also understood that the world situation would indeed develop as history did.

Relying on the oppression of Britain and France on Germany after the victory, it was destined that the Germans would never be willing.

But the British, because of the strait between them and the fact that they did not split the German land, would not be the first target of revenge for the Germans.

Just relying on Germany's current hatred of France, it was destined that a war would definitely break out between Germany and France.

The French may have had good intentions in building the Maginot Line, but they still relied too much on the experience of the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War, and did not take into account the rapid development of weaponry and military theory.

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