Chapter 842: Roman Peace Conference

Seeing that the border crisis between Germany and Poland was about to break out, the French could no longer sit still.

On August 3, 1935, the French Foreign Minister personally went to Berlin and asked the German government to hold a peace conference.

At the same time, the French ambassador to Italy also contacted the Italian government, advocating that the two parties in this incident should sit down at the conference table for peaceful negotiations, rather than using force that no one wanted to see, and using the price of bloodshed to exchange for the final result.

Because it was not yet the agreed time for the attack, Germany and Italy also planned to see how the French would make a decision, so they agreed to the French request for peace talks.

As for Poland, facing the demands of France and Austria, the Poles could not ignore it at all.

If Poland lost the support of the European powers because of ignoring the demands of France and Austria, it would not have much chance of winning against Germany alone.

No matter how ambitious the Polish government is, it is impossible to lose its mind because of its ambition. After careful consideration, the Poles also agreed to sit at the negotiation table to solve the problem peacefully.

However, several countries have different opinions on the location of the negotiations.

As the initiator of the peace talks, the French wanted to hold the talks in Paris. Paris is not only the French base camp, but also far away from the disputed area, which is one of the more suitable places.

But Germany and Poland rejected all the French requests. The Poles asked to hold the talks in Poland and respect Poland's sovereignty over the existing territory.

As for Germany, they did not ask to hold the talks in a German city, but asked to hold the talks in the capital of their ally, Rome, Italy.

The French were also unwilling to have too much stalemate on the location of the talks. In the end, the location of the talks was determined to be Rome, Italy, and the participants were Germany, Italy, France, the Austrian Empire and Poland.

When the British had no time to take care of other things, France, Germany, Italy and Austria were the four most powerful and influential powers in Europe.

Therefore, this Rome Peace Conference also attracted a lot of attention from Europeans. If the peace conference can properly resolve the conflicts in Europe in recent times, it will be a good thing for all Europeans.

On August 17, 1935, the Rome Peace Conference was officially held in Rome, the capital of Italy.

The conference was of a high standard, and the candidates for both sides were the main leaders of their countries.

The French Prime Minister Pierre Laval attended the conference. Since the conflict between the French president and the prime minister broke out last time, President Albert dismissed Prime Minister Edward and Pierre Laval was reappointed as the French Prime Minister.

Pierre Laval is no stranger to the French cabinet. As early as World War I, Pierre Laval served in the French Parliament and has served as a member of the French cabinet many times in recent years.

In the French cabinet, Pierre Laval is an official who is close to President Albert's ideas. In real history, Pierre Laval not only supported Marshal Pétain's rise to power, but also attended the position of Prime Minister of Vichy France.

From this aspect, it can also be seen that Pierre Laval is a staunch peace advocate, and he does not even have much recognition of national honor and national interests.

France sent such a staunch peace advocate to attend the conference, which also proved the attitude of the French in this conference, that is, to exchange a certain price for long-term peace.

In addition to France, the members sent by several other countries to participate in the conference are also well-known figures.

On the German side, the Prime Minister attended in person, which has proved Germany's attitude. Italy also had Mussolini attend the meeting, and there was still a high degree of tacit understanding with Germany.

On the Austrian Empire, the person who attended the meeting was the Crown Prince Otto of the Empire.

After all, other countries have sent their main leaders to participate. Under the premise of not sending the Prime Minister, the only person who can match the status of these people in the Austrian Empire is the heir to the throne of the empire.

As for the Republic of Poland, the candidates sent are actually not that important.

The other participants in this conference are all great powers. Although Poland is a party to the meeting, its status is no longer that important.

Like Czechoslovakia at the Munich Conference, the biggest role of the Poles in this conference is to prove to the outside world why this conference was held.

From this point of view, Poland is still better than several other countries.

At least so far, Poland is one of the few countries that can make the four powers sit together for a peace conference. Looking at the whole of Europe, there are not many countries that can do this.

At the beginning of the meeting, Germany and Italy expressed extremely firm attitudes. Unlike the attitudes of Germany and Italy, the French are more inclined to give in, and the attitude of Austria is even more ambiguous, with no specific ideas at all.

The degree of firmness of both parties in their respective needs has largely determined the direction of this meeting.

The only dispute in this meeting is actually the territorial scope required by Germany. According to the Germans' requirements, Poland must not only cede the entire Polish Corridor, but also hand over control of Lithuania to Germany.

Needless to say, the Free City of Danzig will rejoin the embrace of the German Empire.

In this way, a medium-sized country in Central Europe, whose area is not much inferior to Germany, will directly become a small country like Hungary.

What's even more terrible is that Poland will lose all its outlets to the sea and once again become flanked by Germany and Russia.

Such a requirement is fatal to a country whose foundation is not strong to begin with. If France agrees to Germany's request, it will be difficult for the Poles to maintain independence between Germany and Russia, let alone realize the idea of ​​a greater Poland.

The French were naturally unwilling to lose so much territory to Germany. This has gone far beyond what the French had said before to take back the territory ceded to Germany.

The French said that Germany could re-establish ties with East Prussia and regain the sovereignty of the Free City of Danzig.

But the rest of the Polish Corridor, including Lithuania, should still belong to the Republic of Poland.

The French proposal retained a certain strength for the Poles. At least Poland could still be regarded as a middle-level country, rather than a fat mass that could be slaughtered by others.

As a result, the negotiations reached a stalemate.

But it doesn't matter to Germany and Italy anymore. Regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, Germany always has only one goal, which is to fully annex Poland.

The current peace talks with France are mainly to delay the French so that they can prepare for war.

This is also the reason why the Germans could have chosen the location of the peace talks in Germany, but gave up on doing so.

For the Germans, George V was critically ill, and the British were destined not to have much energy to manage European affairs.

Australasia is still being restrained by islanders, and it will be impossible to reach Europe for a while.

This also means that the only real enemies of Germany and Italy at present are France and the Austrian Empire. These two countries look powerful, but in fact they have many limitations.

Austria is flanked by Germany and Italy from the north and south, and the French are also likely to face the risk of a three-front war.

From this point of view, Germany, which only has to face France and Austria, is not as stressed as imagined.

As long as the Spanish National Army can gain an advantage in the Spanish Civil War, this two-on-two battle between European powers will be a novice level that Germany can easily win.

On the other side, news of Rome's peace negotiations also reached Arthur's ears.

Up to now, the situation in this world has completely changed compared to history.

Germany did not annex Austria and Czechoslovakia, but placed its primary expansion goal on Poland.

This resulted in Britain and France not fully understanding Germany's insatiable appetite. In the French plan, they even simply believed that as long as the current demands of the Germans were met, they could at least buy France several years of peace.

The question is, can extreme countries like Germany and Italy really maintain peace for several years?

If what these two countries wanted was peace, they would not have expanded their armies from the beginning and constantly tested the final bottom line of Britain and France.

One step back leads to another step back. Britain and France made wrong choices at the beginning, and now Britain and France can only bear the consequences of their wrong choices.

As expected by Arthur, the Roman peace negotiations came to an end in less than a month.

France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Poland jointly signed the "Rome Agreement", which also officially declared the end of the peace talks.

In Rome, French President Pierre Laval was interviewed by media from Italy and all Europe. He smiled and said confidently: "We have adopted a more peaceful way to solve the crisis in Germany and Poland. Now, let us cheer and celebrate this hard-won peace!”

This sentence even made the front page of French media reports that day, and also caused the French people to celebrate and cheer.

President Albert is also very proud. He believes that his administrative philosophy is currently the most suitable for France. The attitude of the people in Paris also proves his point of view.

For a time, media from various countries reported on the peace brought about by this agreement.

However, none of the countries or the media noticed that Germany, which had obtained the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor through the Rome Agreement, had not satisfied its ambitious appetite at all.

A large number of German troops are being mobilized. Their purpose seems not to occupy and control the newly obtained Polish corridor, but to march eastward into Warsaw and deep into Poland.

The first update of 3000 words, please vote for me and support!