Chapter 793: Boba Peace Talks, Franco-Austrian Alliance

Although the French were not aware of the conspiracy between Germany and Italy, it did not mean that the French had no action on the German-Italian agreement.

In fact, the French had long been aware of the crisis of the rise of dictatorships such as Italy and Germany, and tried to strengthen restrictions on the Germans with the British to ensure that the German military would not expand as fast as Italy.

But the bad news is that the current second in the world is France, and France is also the largest and direct competitor of the British Empire.

Compared with Germany, which is in chaos and has not yet recovered its strength, the British are obviously more worried about the strength of the French.

It is precisely because of this that the second restriction on German military strength planned by the French not only failed to be achieved, but also made the British loosen their restrictions on Germany.

At this point, the French also knew that the British were unreliable, so they turned the object of the alliance to Austria.

At least in terms of restricting the Germans, the Austrian Empire was still very willing. After all, Austria is a neighbor of Germany and has no conflict of interest with France. It is a relatively good ally.

After the German-Italian agreement was exposed, France urgently contacted the Austrian Empire's diplomatic department to discuss whether to formulate a potential defensive alliance plan for the relationship between Germany and Italy.

The French proposal was strongly affirmed by Austria. On Christmas Day, the French Foreign Minister urgently went to the Austrian Empire to discuss the already embryonic defensive alliance plan.

This defensive alliance plan is simply a union against Germany and Italy. According to the French proposal, the first article of the defensive alliance plan is that when any country of France and the Austrian Empire is attacked by other countries, it is equivalent to attacking the entire alliance.

Within a week, the other defensive alliance country should provide diplomatic support and carry out military mobilization at home.

Within two weeks, the defensive alliance should mobilize part of the army to the attacked country to perform the duties of the entire defensive alliance.

Although the terms of the defensive alliance do not specify which country the attack is against, the answer is obvious.

Except for the two crazy countries of Germany and Italy, no one will attack powerful countries such as France and the Austrian Empire without warning.

In addition to this defensive alliance, France also signed a series of economic cooperation agreements with Austria, with the aim of helping Austria restore its economy, return to its heyday, and better deal with the two enemies of Germany and Italy.

This complete defensive alliance treaty is actually beneficial to Austria.

It is precisely because of this that Austria signed the treaty faster than France, as if it was afraid that France would go back on its word.

In fact, France really won't go back on its word. After all, there are not many powers that France can win over at this time. In addition to Austria, the only stronger allies that France can win over are perhaps Spain and Poland.

But the problem is that neither Spain nor Poland can be considered a powerful country. Moreover, these two countries also have their own problems at home, and there is little help that can be provided to France.

Britain may be a more suitable ally. Perhaps only when Germany restores its heyday in the early days of World War I will the British realize that the most powerful opponent in Europe is still Germany.

With the public disclosure of the defensive alliance between France and Austria, the situation in Europe has obviously become more foggy.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the German-Italian Agreement and the Franco-Austrian defensive alliance are targeting and guarding against each other. Some media have even begun to boldly predict that in the near future, there is a high probability that a war will break out between Germany, Italy, France and Austria.

Whether such a prediction is bold or not is not the point, it has indeed attracted some European people.

It is not that European people are curious about war, but in fact, they are already afraid of wars like World War I.

People are afraid that another large-scale war like World War I will break out in Europe, with several major powers participating, and casualties will easily exceed 10 million.

Although the British did not make any statement on this, Australasia still contacted Britain and France, saying that it would put aside the peace talks on the Chaco War and end this war that has lasted for a long time.

Australasia's proposal was agreed by Britain and France, and the peace talks were also expected to be held in Oran, Argentina, near the Chaco region, in early 1932.

Holding peace talks in a third country that is not at war also symbolizes the impartiality of the peace talks held by Britain, France and Australia.

January 3, 1932, Oran, Argentina.

After more than a week of careful preparation, diplomatic representatives from Britain, France, Australia, Bolivia and Paraguay arrived in Oran, Argentina.

In addition, diplomatic representatives from Chile and Argentina also participated in the peace talks. Their role is to supervise the peace in the Chaco region after the peace talks are reached, and to maintain order in South America on behalf of Britain, France and Australia.

Why is Brazil not included? Because compared with Chile and Argentina, Brazil is the least close of the three South American powers to Britain and France.

The British naturally would not be willing to join Brazil in such a peace talk, lest the Brazilians benefit from the Chaco War.

On January 3, the peace talks between Bolivia and Paraguay on the Chaco War officially began.

Because the casualties on both sides of the war have reached a large number, the peace talks between the two countries are no longer as perfunctory as before, and serious negotiations have been carried out.

But it is obvious that if there is no interference from the great powers, it is impossible to end the war by relying on the diplomatic negotiations of the two countries themselves.

Because Paraguay has the advantage in the war, it has chosen to open its appetite. Paraguay demands to annex the entire Chaco region and push the front line to the De Izosog Swamp.

Bolivia will naturally not be careless under such conditions. Not to mention how heavy the loss of the entire Chaco region is to Bolivia, the casualties suffered by Bolivia in this war alone make Bolivia unwilling to bear such a huge loss of land.

After all, the peace talks only solved the trouble of Paraguay, but did not solve the emotions of the people in Bolivia.

Once the people know that this war not only killed and injured a large number of civilians, but also lost a lot of land, they are afraid that angry Bolivians will erupt in demonstrations or even armed conflicts to resist the government's ignorant rule.

However, Bolivia is indeed at a disadvantage on the front line, which is also the biggest trouble in Bolivia's peace talks.

If the peace talks fail to produce any results, the Paraguayan army on the front line will still push the battlefield to the vicinity of the De Izosog Swamp, which is basically the same as the conditions required by the Paraguayan diplomatic representatives.

As for whether the army can be restored to its vitality during the peace talks and then launch a full-scale counterattack, the plan was also rejected by the Bolivian government.

After all, while Bolivia is recovering, the Paraguayan army is also recovering.

Paraguay also has the support of the two major powers, Britain and Australasia, and the speed and scale of obtaining materials are not comparable to Bolivia at present.

Britain, France and Australia are naturally unwilling to see the peace talks between the two countries deadlocked. Under the influence of the three major powers, Paraguay and Bolivia have revised their conditions, and the peace talks have finally made some progress.

First of all, Paraguay. As the dominant party in the war, Paraguay still requires the most land in the Chak region, about 180,000 square kilometers.

With these lands as expansion, Paraguay's land area will be much larger. When facing Bolivia again, at least there will not be much difference in strategic depth and land area.

More importantly, most of the oil in the North Chaco region is in the place Paraguay requested.

This also means that Paraguay can make a lot of money from the land it has obtained, which can be used to take the economy and other construction of the entire country to a higher level.

With the rise and fall of one, it is really hard to say who will be stronger between Paraguay and Bolivia in the future.

Even if the Chaco War breaks out again, even without the assistance of the great powers, Paraguay will not be afraid of Bolivia.

The conditions offered by Paraguay are actually very reasonable. Even if Paraguay divides 180,000 square kilometers of land in the North Chaco region, there are still about 80,000 square kilometers of land in the Chaco region left for Bolivia.

At least Bolivia has also obtained land, and it seems that this war is not so unsuccessful.

But Bolivia also put forward another condition, which is to obtain the right to navigate into the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraguay River.

In the previous history and wars, Bolivia has completely become a landlocked country.

As we all know, the most important way of economic exchange is still sea transportation. Without an outlet to the sea, Bolivia's development has obviously lagged behind other powerful countries in South America, and the gap is still widening.

After losing to Paraguay this time, Bolivia is no longer a powerful country in South America. If it does not find a way to find an outlet to the sea to accelerate the development of its domestic economy, I am afraid that in the next ten years, Bolivia will be able to compete with the weakest country in South America.

Compared with directly obtaining an outlet to the sea, the Bolivian diplomatic representative also clearly knows his situation.

All he asked for was the right of navigation for Bolivian ships to enter the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraguay River.

The Paraguay River is a large river in South America, which flows through Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and finally flows to Argentina. After passing through Rosario, it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Although it takes a long river to reach the Atlantic Ocean from Bolivia, it is better than having no outlet to the sea.

After careful consideration, the Paraguayan diplomatic representative finally agreed to the proposal of the Bolivian diplomatic representative, indicating that Bolivian ships can be allowed to pass through the Paraguay River section in Paraguay.

But the premise is that these passing ships must be non-military ships and cannot carry too many weapons and equipment.

This point was also strongly requested by Paraguay to be written into the contract as a constraint on Bolivia.

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