African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1352 The end of the war

After the second peace conference, the armies of Britain, France, Germany and Austria tacitly stopped large-scale wars. As public opinion turned, many people speculated that the European powers may have secretly reached a deal.

This caused uneasiness within the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. After all, in addition to the four countries of Britain, France, Germany and Austria, the Allied Powers and the Central Powers also had allies drawn from the four major powers.

The unusual actions of Britain, France, Germany and Austria have caused deep anxiety within the two camps, even for big countries like the United States and the Ottoman Empire.

Diplomats from the United States and the Ottoman Empire went to London, Berlin, Paris, and Vienna to inquire about information, and the results were not ideal.

Berlin.

"Your Majesty, the great Emperor of the German Empire, have your country and the Austro-Hungarian Empire concealed part of the truth from us? As allies, we have the right to know something." The Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire personally went to Berlin to ask Wilhelm II.

William II no longer chose to hide it at this time, or Germany did not hide it from the beginning. After all, the two peace conferences were only conducted in secret, and other allies except Austria-Hungary did not know the actions of the two countries.

"Since your country wants to know the so-called truth, I will no longer hide it. We have indeed reached some consensus with Britain and France. After all, this war continues, which is not a good thing for the major countries participating in the war." William II was very happy. The bachelor said.

The Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire pretended to be dissatisfied and asked: "We are not angry that Germany wants to adjust relations with the Allies, but why don't you inform us? After all, we are also an important member of the alliance."

As the "sick man of West Asia", the Ottoman Empire naturally did not really have the courage to challenge Germany, so when facing William II, the Ottoman Empire's Foreign Minister could only pretend to be angry.

The reason why the Ottoman Empire performed like this is actually related to the performance of the Ottoman Empire among the Allied Powers. According to the performance of the Allied Powers in the war, the Ottoman Empire only ranked ahead of Romania, not as good as Bulgaria.

In fact, if Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire really went to war, they might end up in an embarrassing situation. Although Bulgaria is the weakest among the Allied Powers, it is the country with the most martial virtues.

Although Germany has always performed well, after all, Germany's national strength is strong, but it seems not as crazy as Bulgaria. Of course, if Prussia is listed separately from Germany, it will definitely be comparable. After all, Bulgaria is the "Prussia of the Balkans."

Wei Jian II reassured: "Don't blame us for not notifying you, but this meeting with Britain and France was actually organized by East Africa. They only invited the four countries of Britain, France, Germany and Austria. In the Allied Powers camp, even the United States None of them were invited, so don’t worry too much.”

East Africa has become the "snake oil" explained by the two camps and their respective allies. If the East African government does not invite you, that is the responsibility of the East African government. They cannot be the masters of East Africa. After all, East Africa is also one of the world's major countries, and its strength is not inferior to that of the world. any country on.

Although Britain, France, Germany and Austria look down on upstarts like East Africa and the United States, in terms of specific data, they have to admit the strong national power of East Africa and the United States.

These two countries are among the largest in the world in terms of industrial size, their population far exceeds that of any of the four countries of Britain, France, Germany and Austria. They also have the longest railway mileage, the largest grain output, and the top four navies in the world. All the data are not bad.

To be honest, even a relatively conceited person like William II has to admit that East Africa and the United States have now become important political forces that cannot be ignored in the world.

William II said: "I think you should also know something about East Africa. We cannot interfere with their foreign policy decisions."

"Furthermore, a truce at this time is also extremely beneficial to you. You have already captured most of the southern Caucasus, and you entered the war relatively late. The losses you suffered are relatively small among the two camps."

Of course, this is not entirely true. Although the Ottoman Empire entered the war late, it was the only country among the Allied Powers where the war took place on its own soil.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire was counterattacked by Serbia at the beginning of the war and entered Bosnia, and Russia also crossed the eastern border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the two places were obviously leftover areas for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and even Bosnia was not considered a legitimate part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. Territory is simply a military occupation area.

The Ottoman Empire was different. Iraq, the breadbasket of the empire, was greatly damaged. At the same time, ports along the Persian Gulf also suffered great losses. The Red Sea and Mediterranean coasts were also relatively fertile areas in the Ottoman Empire.

And these are not the worst. You must know that Istanbul, the political center of the Ottoman Empire, was also hit by enemy artillery during the war. It was the only capital among the Central Powers to be attacked on a large scale by the Allies.

Of course, there were gains and losses, and the Ottoman Empire's economy was severely damaged. However, the proportion of Ottoman Empire's military losses was not high among the Allies, and it was a little higher than Romania, a country that was almost soy sauce.

William II also made this point: "Germany paid the lives of millions of soldiers for the war. Relatively speaking, your country's situation is better. Except for the Persian Gulf War in the past few months, you have not encountered any Other large-scale battles."

This is actually related to the mobilization of the Ottoman Empire. The total population of the Ottoman Empire is only more than 20 million people. With such a small population and its underdeveloped industry, the Ottoman Empire is simply unable to support the logistical support of more troops.

If Russia hadn't collapsed suddenly and countries such as Austria-Hungary had been able to send troops to support the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire would have been unable to persist.

This can be seen from the beginning of the British offensive against the Ottoman Empire. At that time, the Ottoman Empire army could be said to be on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, the Baghdad railway was open and reinforcements from the allies could arrive in time, which prevented the deterioration of the Ottoman Empire's battlefield, and In the end, with the help of allies such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, defeat could be turned into victory.

William II said: "Continuing the war is definitely not good news for you, especially when the British naval strength exceeds that of our countries."

"The economy of the Ottoman Empire is mainly concentrated in the coastal areas. If the war continues, your coastal economic centers will be further hit, if you can bear the price."

After entering the Age of Discovery, the world's economy began to shift to coastal areas or areas with developed water transportation. Even East Africa is no exception. Although East Africa pays more attention to the inland economy, the total economic volume of the east and west coasts of East Africa still accounts for the largest proportion. of.

This is true for East Africa, let alone other countries in the world. Although Germany's economic distribution is relatively balanced, its cities and industrial bases are basically distributed along rivers. It has an enviable and developed inland water transportation network.

The economy of the Ottoman Empire was naturally unable to get rid of this. After all, foreign capital investment in the Ottoman Empire would definitely choose areas with convenient transportation, and their penetration was originally from the outside in.

The Far Eastern Empire is more typical in this regard. The penetration of foreign capital into the Far Eastern Empire was to first occupy the coast, build treaty ports from south to north, and then gradually penetrate into the inland areas through rivers.

Wei Jian II said: "Now, your performance has shown that you cannot support the continuation of the war. Of course, the situation of the Allied Powers is not much better. From the perspective of our own economy and development, we believe that delaying the war is not conducive to the progress of the empire. "After all, no one knows how long this war will last. If it lasts for a few more years, the final winner will definitely not be us, but the spectators of the war, such as the United States, East Africa, and Japan."

Although the United States has joined the Allied camp, William II did not regard the United States as one of them. After all, in the position of the United States, even if the Allies could really defeat Britain and France, they would not have the ability to cross the Atlantic to cause trouble for the Americans, at least militarily.

Naturally, the Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire was very clear about these explanations of William II, but he still reminded: "But, how can you ensure that the Allies will not renege on their promises? Also, how can we protect our interests after the war?"

William II said: "You can rest assured that after these years of war, at least European countries have exhausted their patience. We have to admit that we and other countries are under tremendous pressure."

"So looking forward to peace is not just our idea, but also the idea of ​​other European countries, and they have no energy to continue to support the continuation of the war."

"As for the interests of the Allies, our situation is much better than that of the Entente. After all, we got a lot of spoils from Russia. Didn't your country get a lot of land in the Caucasus?"

"Territorial expansion can always be explained to the people, but the Allies have really achieved nothing. What we should worry about next is not the armistice, but the Russian Labor Party. After stabilizing the domestic situation, whether they will go back on their words."

William II's words also made the Ottoman Empire's Foreign Minister feel tight. To be honest, Russia, or Soviet Russia, is a more terrifying monster than Tsarist Russia.

Although the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia were feuding, Tsarist Russia's military conquests were not enough to scare the upper class of the Ottoman Empire. After all, Tsarist Russia's backward social system and brutal rule were no more decadent and powerful than the Ottoman Empire.

But the Soviet Russian regime is completely different. They are ideological "monsters". This can be seen from the previous life. It is extremely difficult for the Soviet Union to support the same type of regime in the Arab region.

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After all, Western society has been conducting military, infiltration and public opinion offensives against the Arab region for thousands of years, but it is difficult to support spokespersons in the Middle East. The United States continued this approach in its previous life, but in the 21st century, countries in the Arab region have become increasingly dogmatic. and conservatism, which to a certain extent shows that pseudo-democratic freedom has no market in Arab areas.

Of course, this is mainly for the upper-class rulers of Arab countries, for whom it is cheaper to govern the country through religion.

The Labor Party's ideological attack is completely different. It is particularly inflammatory to the lower class of society and does not follow the upper class line. This is something that countries in East Africa and other countries are unable to guard against.

The Foreign Minister of the Ottoman Empire said with a gloomy face: "The Labor Party is an evil organization. We should really worry about the trouble they will cause us in the future. After all, our allies are the first to bear the brunt and are too close to Russia."

William II said: "This is one of the reasons why we are considering an armistice. The Labor Party is very active in Europe. They have even penetrated into the army. I think this is very scary. After all, Tsarist Russia is a lesson learned from the past."

The ideology of the Labor Party has great appeal to the lower ranks of the army. During the war, it was the negligence of Tsarist Russia that led to the rise of the Russian Labor Party.

After all, if it were peacetime, the tsarist government would not have to worry about changes in the frontline battle situation. Instead, they could use the military as a violent machine to suppress the Labor Party organizations.

However, the war gave the Labor Party room for activities. In fact, referring to the last Labor Party in Paris, they also used the war to become powerful. However, the French government is obviously much smarter than Tsarist Russia. They would rather betray the country. We must first nip the labor organization in Paris in the cradle.

William II said: "In short, it is definitely not a good thing for us that the war continues. The main task of European countries now should be to stabilize the situation in their own countries and at the same time crack down on illegal parties such as the Labor Party. The same is true for you."

The Ottoman Empire accepted this statement because the threat of the Labor Party was indeed close at hand. It can be said that with Russia as the center, there were active Labor Party organizations from Northern Europe to Eastern Europe, then to the Middle East, then Central Asia, and finally the Far East.

The success of the Russian Labor Party was a very bad start. After all, if it succeeds once, it can succeed a second time. This is indeed the development of things in the previous life, and eventually a widely distributed Labor Party national alliance was formed on the Eurasian continent.

Today's imperialist powers obviously do not have mature experience in dealing with this kind of country, especially in dealing with the ideological weapons of the Labor Party.

Even Ernst is the same, but Ernst has never eaten pork and has seen pigs running away. He still has some means to use the ideological weapons of the Russian Labor Party, but if he really wants to destroy the Russian Labor Party, there is only one way, That is "isolation," and this was the method used in the United States in its previous life.

Once "isolated", such a country will easily fall into economic difficulties and eventually collapse itself due to psychological gaps.

…

Christmas Eve in 1919 was an unforgettable day for Europeans, because it was on this day that Britain, France, Germany and Austria and other countries officially began peace negotiations, which also meant that the five-year war was coming to an end.

Countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Austria held a public meeting in Paris, France, and had a heated debate on the issue of war.

Of course, this peace negotiation is for the public to see. In fact, the first two secret peace meetings have already set the general tone.

This public meeting basically represents the arrival of peace in Europe. The armies of both sides have officially ended all military operations. When the meeting is over, both sides will withdraw into the country.

Regarding the end of the war, people in various countries have very complicated emotions. Some are happy, some are melancholy, some are confused, and some are hating.

However, it was clear that most European people had had enough of the war, and large-scale celebrations took place in various European countries.

At the same time, a liquidation campaign was also launched under the leadership of various governments. A large number of people were labeled laborers, traitors, Jews... Although they were arrested, they would bear the public's anger for the war. European governments still responded to this It is very clear that the people need an outlet. If the conflicts are not transferred to these special groups, the people will learn from the people who conquered the Bastille and turn their guns on themselves.

(End of chapter)