Chapter 846: The Difficulty of Pro-War and Pro-Peace France

As Arthur expected, after declaring war on the Polish government, Germany quickly mobilized the whole country.

At present, the total number of German troops is only 600,000, and it is still difficult to win this war.

Under the planning of the German Army Command, Germany formulated a detailed mobilization policy, planning to increase the size of the German Army to about 1.5 million.

Although the Poles received the news of the war several hours later, the Polish government was not to be outdone and issued a national mobilization order on the same day, with an estimated number of recruited troops reaching a terrifying 2.25 million.

Compared with the Spanish Civil War, in which the total mobilization of both sides barely approached 1 million troops after more than a year of fighting, the number of troops expected to be deployed in this German-Polish War, which had just begun, reached nearly 4 million.

Obviously, this is a large-scale war in the true sense.

Starting from November 16, 1935, the war between Germany and Poland instantly became the hottest news in Europe, attracting the attention of most European countries and people.

It was also on this day that France announced a partial mobilization of the eastern region and lodged a strong protest to the German government.

In an interview with domestic and foreign media, French President Albert angrily condemned the German government for abandoning the previously signed contract. They are treacherous and cunning warmongers, the culprits of the war, and the sinners of the European people.

The reason why President Albert was so angry was that Germany's rapid declaration of war on Poland obviously ignored the contract signed a few months ago.

During this period, the entire French government, including President Albert, was constantly promoting the peace era that this contract brought to France and the whole of Europe.

Now, Germany tore up the contract in just a few months, and everything that President Albert had previously promoted came to nothing.

At the instigation of several pro-war generals and officials, President Albert even submitted a proposal to Congress to go to war with Germany.

But soon, the cruel reality slapped President Albert in the face again. The French Congress resolutely rejected the proposal to send troops to Germany and scolded the officials who proposed the proposal.

"Damn, those idiots who only care about taxes and public opinion, they don't know what France is facing!" One of the top leaders of the French war faction, Congressman Leon Blum, faced the final decision of the Congress and cursed angrily.

As a rare war faction in France, Leon Blum has not had a very high status in France so far.

The reason why Leon Blum became a war faction is also very simple. Leon Blum is a pure French Jew.

As we all know, the various cruel policies of Germany and Italy against Jews have made the Jewish community very hateful of these two countries.

As a well-known representative of French Jews, Leon Blum is very clear about his position and must firmly oppose France and Italy.

However, compared with the more traditional war factions, Leon Blum is less courageous and firm.

After knowing that Congress is unlikely to agree to start a war, Leon Blum does not intend to take any follow-up actions.

So far, France still has a large number of so-called war factions with similar attitudes to Leon Blum.

The attitudes of these war advocates were not firm, which led to the French government missing the last opportunity to confront the parliament and losing the initiative in the German-Polish War.

Since the French parliament did not agree to go to war with Germany, what right did France have to speak in this war?

If they had expected that a little threat could scare off the Germans, Britain and France would not have chosen a policy of appeasement from the beginning.

As expected, the German government did not care about the threats of the French.

When facing the questioning of the French ambassador, the German government said nonchalantly: "If your government does not recognize our just war against Poland, then just attack us.

The German Empire has never been afraid of any enemy, nor will it stop our just actions for any enemy's provocation."

As a response to France's partial mobilization, Italy announced a partial mobilization on October 17 at the request of the Germans.

Because Italy's army has already exceeded 600,000, even a small partial mobilization will make Italy's army infinitely close to the scale of one million.

Now, the pressure is back on the French government.

Although the French claimed to have carried out partial mobilization, they actually only mobilized a small number of troops. Without the support of Congress, the French government could not really mobilize the army.

On the other hand, Germany and Italy have mobilized their troops in real terms. If their military mobilization is not stopped, France will face the German-Italian alliance with a total army of millions.

Sensing the threat, the French immediately contacted their ally, the Austrian Empire, and asked the Austrian Empire to also carry out partial mobilization to prevent sudden attacks from Germany and Italy.

At the same time, President Albert urgently called British Prime Minister Baldwin to seek diplomatic support from the British government.

Speaking of British Prime Minister Baldwin, he is definitely an evergreen in British politics. The current term of prime minister is Baldwin's third term. His high influence in British politics has continued from 1923 to the present.

"Prime Minister Pierre, what do the British say?" In the French cabinet, President Albert looked at Prime Minister Pierre anxiously and asked.

"The British government said that because of His Majesty George V, they have no time to care about other things and will not participate in European affairs." Prime Minister Pierre was a little helpless in the interview and said to President Albert.

"Damn, aren't they afraid that the Germans will completely defeat us and challenge their dominance in Europe?" President Albert asked hysterically.

"The British said that they will ensure that the war is limited to Germany and Poland, and are willing to provide certain help to Poland." Prime Minister Pierre said with a strange look on his face.

"Damn it, do they expect me to believe these words to fool the people?" President Albert sneered and had lost confidence in the British: "Tell the British that Germany is not only a threat to France, but also to Britain.

France cannot become a bridgehead against Germany like the previous war. If the British are unwilling to take concrete actions to help us, we don't mind giving up resistance to avoid casualties among the people."

One of the reasons why World War I made France extremely weak was that France directly became a bridgehead against Germany.

In order to defend their homeland, the French mobilized a large number of troops to join the war, which also caused the French to suffer a large number of casualties.

But although Britain at that time also mobilized part of its troops, a large part of them were indigenous troops from the colonies.

For colonial empires such as Britain and France, the death and injury of hundreds of thousands or millions of indigenous people was not a big loss, which is one of the reasons why the British quickly restored order after the war.

But the French are different. If the French only rely on those colonial troops, it is only a matter of time before France is conquered.

The French mobilized millions of troops, and the casualties caused to the French were definitely one of the most tragic countries in World War I.

The only two countries that could compete with France in terms of casualties were Germany and Russia. Germany suffered a relatively large number of casualties because of the two-front war.

Russia simply had poor equipment, which led to low combat effectiveness of the army, resulting in a large number of casualties.

But compared with France, these two countries undoubtedly have a larger population. Needless to say, Russia had a population of hundreds of millions before World War I, and a population loss of tens of millions would not be a setback for Russia.

Although Germany does not have such a large population, its population size is much larger than that of France.

This also led to France being almost one of the most miserable countries among the victorious countries. Although it won a super-large-scale war, the benefits it gained did not match the casualties of France.

A considerable part of the reason why France advocated peace from top to bottom was that the cost of World War I was far greater than the gains.

In addition, the people were tired of the war. If the British did not take concrete actions to support France, France might really give up in the war.

"Yes, Mr. President." Prime Minister Pierre nodded, without any surprise on his face.

Prime Minister Pierre Laval had previously introduced that he was a very extreme pacifist and even opposed the First World War.

With such a background, it was natural for Pierre Laval to oppose the possible war now.

Prime Minister Pierre fully agreed with President Albert's threat to Britain. Even in Prime Minister Pierre's view, France should not face the war.

Since Germany wants to expand in Poland, let it expand. Anyway, Poland can mobilize a large-scale army of two to three million, which can consume the Germans' manpower to a great extent.

As for who will win the war between Germany and Poland, the answer to this question is actually not important.

Both sides mobilized two to three million large-scale armies at will. The winner of this large-scale war is also a failure compared to France, which did not participate in the war.

Will the British give in because of the threat of the French?

Of course not.

In the eyes of the British, although Germany and Italy are strong, France, Austria and Poland can completely resist them.

Germany and Italy's other ally is tied down by Australasia, and because of the long distance, it is basically impossible to provide help to Germany and Italy.

This also means that the worst result of the war between Germany and Poland is just a war between the German-Italian Alliance and the Franco-Austrian Alliance, plus Poland, the fat meat that is nailed on.

Such a war between two major military groups with relatively equal comprehensive strength is what the British want to see most.

The advantage is that such a war will not have too bad results, and the British do not have to worry about one of the parties becoming bigger and stronger, thus threatening their position.

In addition, the British can sell a large amount of arms and other materials in such a war and absorb enough nutrients from these countries.

In the end, a strong British Empire without any loss can act as a mediator in the war and get the biggest share of the benefits. This is simply the perfect plan.

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