Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1031 Peace Agreement

Before the end of the year, several events happened that could have an important impact on the future.

On December 12, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson put forward the far-reaching "Fourteen Points" in his speech to the U.S. Congress.

Some of the contents of the "Fourteen Points" were welcomed by the Allied Powers, such as the withdrawal of the German army from Belgium, the guarantee of Belgian independence, the return of Alsace and Lorraine to France by the German army, and the return of the occupied Italian lands by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, etc. These proposals, which are in the interest of the members of the Entente, are generally welcomed.

Others caused great controversy, such as the removal of all economic barriers and the establishment of equal conditions for trade; and the fair handling of colonial issues, which should take into account both the interests of the colonial people and the legitimate requirements of the colonial government.

Everyone knows that the current international order is established with the United Kingdom and France as the core. Britain and France have vast colonies around the world. The role of these colonies in the British Empire was undoubtedly demonstrated in the World War. It is absolutely impossible to persist until now, or to say that it is impossible to form a British expeditionary force of the current scale, so as to win the current right to speak in the Allies.

The same is true for France. After the outbreak of the World War, French colonies in North Africa and Central Africa formed servants to fight in France. Although the behavior of these servants caused some controversy, overall, the colonial servants still played a huge role. Now Woodrow Wilson's frivolous suggestion, like a "just" settlement of the colonial problem, the emotions of the British and French governments can be imagined.

What caused strong dissatisfaction in Britain and France was the removal of all economic barriers and the establishment of equal conditions for trade.

The main reason why the colonies are important is that the colonies can provide the suzerain country with cheap production materials and become a commodity sales market for the suzerain country.

The raw materials and markets here are exclusive, such as southern Africa. After the establishment of the federal government of southern Africa, American businessmen have always wanted to sell their products to southern Africa, but they were opposed by the British government, thus winning the smooth development of southern African enterprises. space.

If Woodrow Wilson's proposal came true, British industrial products would lose their monopoly in the British colonies, which would be tantamount to the complete abolition of British colonial privileges.

Needless to say England and France, Rock also disapproved of Woodrow Wilson's proposal.

Although on the surface, Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" is very beneficial to emerging economies such as southern Africa, in fact it is not, because southern Africa is also part of the British Empire, so southern African goods are being sold to Canada At the same time, overseas territories and colonies such as China, Australia, and India can be sold to the British mainland without restriction, and at the same time, they do not need to face the competition of American products. This is an unparalleled benefit for southern Africa. Once this benefit disappears , then the profits of southern African companies will immediately drop to a higher level.

Therefore, Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" is a typical example of whether it was well received or not. They all praised Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points", but no country responded to it.

On the same day that Woodrow Wilson put forward the "Fourteen Points", the "Brest-Litovsk" was reached between the Allies headed by Germany (German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Bulgaria) and the new Russian government. Peace Agreement.

This agreement is a complete humiliation to the new Russian government, according to which the new Russian government gave up all sovereignty over Courland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Livonia, Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus.

The "abandonment" here does not mean ceding the above-mentioned land to Germany, but allowing Germany to establish a puppet government to rule the above-mentioned places.

After the signing of the "Peace Agreement", Russia lost 5500 million people, equivalent to one-third of the total population of the Russian Empire. 90%, 73% industrial and 54% railway.

It can be said that after signing this agreement, the basis for Russia's existence as a powerful country no longer exists. The new Russian government paid a huge price to withdraw from the war. Some people disagree with this "Peace Agreement", but they cannot change the reality. After obtaining the above-mentioned areas, the Allied Powers, which were in desperate need of blood transfusion, could finally take a breather, but this was a huge disaster for the Allied Powers.

After the news reached Paris, high-level Allied Powers held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. It was already January 1917.

Both Winston and Clemenceau attended the meeting, along with Albert I, King of Belgium, Vittorio Emmanuel Orlando, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Alexander I, King of Serbia in exile, and Edward House, senior adviser to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

On January 1, Winston arrived at Rock's headquarters in Yamin, preparing to participate in the high-level meeting of the Allied Powers in Paris on January 10.

Rock, as the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, does not need to participate in this meeting. Winston has full powers to represent the United Kingdom. If there is any result, it must be discussed in the British Parliament, and then submitted to King George V for approval.

Winston was not optimistic about the prospects of the meeting. In front of Rock, Winston expressed his pessimism unscrupulously.

"This kind of meeting will not lead to anything at all. The only effect is to waste our precious time. If I can, I would like to have Edward (British Foreign Secretary) attend this meeting. I would rather go fishing at Woodstock. And I don’t want to come from one smoky city to another.” Winston was very tongue-in-cheek, Woodstock was Winston’s hometown, and Winston was born there.

Even without Winston's emphasis, Rock could imagine what would happen in the venue.

Looking at these people who participated in the meeting, it can basically be said that this is an early start of the Paris Peace Conference. Everyone who participated in the meeting has their own interests. How should Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire be dealt with? The Germans have not yet surrendered. How can such a meeting be fruitful.

"It doesn't matter, anyway, you don't have the conditions to attack in winter, and you are idle if you are idle. Going to Paris to quarrel is good for exercising your lung capacity." Rock laughed loudly, looking at what was once called "European steamroller" and "European steamroller". The Russian Empire of the Gendarmerie has fallen to the point it is today, and Rock doesn't know how to evaluate it.

These days, no one can look at who is making jokes. The Russian Empire is miserable, and the Chinese are not much stronger. Britain and France are now seeing victory, but the country has also become a mess. It is estimated that if they want to restore their strength before the World War It takes a dozen or 20 years.

Relatively speaking, the Allied Powers were even worse. The Ottoman Empire had already collapsed. Because Constantinople was first breached, the Ottoman Empire did not even have a government-in-exile, which was even worse than the Russian Empire.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are not much better. After the World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will definitely be split, and Germany will be dismembered.

It seems that the only benefit is southern Africa, but southern Africa has also paid a huge price to win this war. Since the outbreak of the world war, southern Africa has lost nearly one million people, and almost half of the casualties in the British expeditionary force came from the south Africa, so there is no real winner in a world war.

In another time and space, the United States became the ultimate winner.

But in this time and space, the United States still has nothing to gain, and the rewards that can be obtained after the end of the world war are extremely limited.

"How do you and Petain plan to defeat the Germans?" Winston was still concerned about the expeditionary force, and the distribution of spoils was a matter after the war, so it was a bit early to bring up this issue now.

"Pétain and I have reached an agreement. Whether it is the British Expeditionary Force or the French army that is attacked by the German army, the other party will give support to up to six divisions." Rock answered the question, and now Rock still has not changed his strategy. , even if Germany can get some supplies from the new Russian government, Rock will kill the Germans alive.

After signing the "Brest-Litovsk Peace Agreement", on the surface, Germany has gained huge profits, but it is still uncertain whether it will actually benefit. Do you still remember the Polish government that Ludendorff advocated to form? Ludendorff Haven't gotten what I want so far.

In order to form the Polish puppet government, Germany stationed about 25 troops in Poland. These troops needed about 30 wagons of food per day to meet consumption, and the supplies Germany obtained from Poland——

Less than three wagons per day.

This is just Poland, and now Germany has acquired a large number of areas that are already on the verge of collapse due to the war. These areas have complex personnel structures and many conflicts between ethnic groups. The staff of the expeditionary force predicts that only Ukraine, if If Germany wants to form a puppet government, at least 40 German troops are needed to stabilize the situation.

The current Ludendorff simply doesn't have enough troops to maintain stability, and neither can the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Germany has been unable to form more troops unless it is transferred from the Western Front.

And once Ludendorff draws troops from the Western Front, it will look good.

"And then?" Winston couldn't wait for Rock's next words, so he couldn't help asking.

"What then? That's it—" Rock didn't say anything at all. Since the defense could kill the German army alive, Rock wouldn't take the initiative to invest in troops to attack.

"Then what do you want, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, what's the difference between tying a dog behind this desk and you?" Winston and Roque didn't see each other.

"Winston, the person behind the desk is you—" Rock immediately turned his face, the Prime Minister is amazing!

(End of this chapter)