Iron Sonata of World War II

"System, system, what should I do?" Helena asked the "Hearts of Iron" system in her mind, but she knew that the system could not give any valuable suggestions except as a weapon design consultant.So when asking questions, Helena didn't expect the system to respond.

But this time the system made an unprecedented statement: "You don't like the narrow nationalist tendencies of the Nazis, because it doesn't conform to your moral code; Is it the motherland of your previous life or the motherland of this life. Am I right?" There seemed to be a narrow smile in the system's voice.

"Well, even if you are right. But what should I do? It is almost impossible to achieve these two goals at the same time!" Helena asked again.

"Look at the piles of things you have done before, all of which are enhancing Germany's war potential. In fact, don't you already have the answer in your heart?" What is the purpose of indirect liquefaction? What is the purpose of taking away at least 3000 million pounds from the French financial system? As for how to do it? Use the king's heart and do the king's will, the system will never know about it." The system is leaving Before that, he also played a literary style.

After closing the system interface that had turned black, Helena put her hands on her chin and didn't move for a long time.

"I actually already have the answer in my heart?" Helena kept asking herself.Before that, Helena had always deluded herself into thinking that all she did was to complete system tasks so that she could go home early.But now it seems that this is not the case at all. I have already unknowingly started preparing for a world war.

"Since I have made a choice subconsciously, why bother to be hypocritical?" Helena's thoughts gradually became clear: "Yes, I don't want the United States and the Soviet Union to dominate the war after World War II, and I don't like the Nazi Germany in World War II. Genocide policy, although it is extremely difficult to change one of the two, isn’t it the joy of the traveler to have both the fish and the bear’s paw?” After confirming the future direction, Helena’s confusion was swept away.

"Anyway, in the "European Universalis" and "Hearts of Iron" that I played in the previous life, I have changed the historical trajectory countless times beyond recognition, so this time is not bad, right?" Helena comforted herself in her heart.

Chapter 21 Land and Sea Dilemma

After reading this, many viewers will definitely ask: Why doesn't Helena want the United States and the Soviet Union to dominate the world after the war?This involves a geographical issue.

Opening a world map, we can intuitively divide the world into land and sea. Since modern times, the geopolitical games of the major powers have revolved around sea power and land power.

Due to the different geographical conditions of the ocean and land, the order on the ocean is also very different from the order on the continent. The underlying reason for this difference is that the land can be exclusively occupied, while the ocean is difficult to be exclusively occupied.On land, you can draw borders, build forts, station troops, and make a certain area serve only your country; but on the sea, especially on the high seas far from the mainland, you cannot draw borders, build forts, or send fleets With 24-hour patrols, it is impossible to establish monopoly on the high seas.

It must be emphasized here that the ocean mentioned just now.Refers to the high seas far away from the land. Some closed inland seas and marginal seas can still be monopolized by coastal countries through the method of controlling the sea with land. This is why the inland sea and the sea area 12 nautical miles away from the land are designated as territorial seas internationally (12 The nautical mile is basically the range of the naval guns of the year).

Since the land can be exclusively occupied but the ocean is difficult to be exclusively occupied, land rights must be closed, while sea rights must be open.

Closed land power brings about a result: land hegemony must be multi-role.Because the land is divided into many broken geographical units by mountains and rivers, no matter how strong your military power is, other countries can also rely on the mountains and rivers to build layers of defense to offset your military advantage, which makes the cost of military conquest extremely high. accept.Taking a step back, even if the military power of a land power is strong enough to conquer all other land powers, the high cost of governance will soon force him to give up the achievements of conquest, making the mainland return to the pattern of multiple heroes.

Open sea power also brings a result: sea hegemony is generally dominated by one superpower.Because there are no mountains and rivers to rely on on the open high seas, it is impossible to establish a defensive position.You only need to defeat the main fleet of other powerful countries to force the opponent to degenerate into a coastal defense fleet, and you don't need to pay additional ruling costs for this.Even if there is a pattern of multiple heroes at sea for a short period of time, it will only be an excessive state. After a decisive battle at sea or an arms race, the pattern of multiple heroes will collapse and return to the pattern of one super dominance.

To sum up, the exclusivity of land creates the closure of land power, and the closure of land power leads to the diversity of land hegemony; the non-exclusive nature of the sea creates the openness of sea power, which leads to the openness of sea power. uniqueness.

In addition, due to the uniqueness of sea supremacy and the convenience of projecting power through the sea, sea supremacy is usually more global than land supremacy.

……

After understanding the characteristics of sea power and land power, we can roughly divide the major powers in the world into maritime countries, continental countries, and land-sea composite countries geographically.

Let me talk about ocean-type countries first.Geographically speaking, ocean-type countries are generally located on outlying islands; economically, ocean-type countries generally rely more on maritime trade; and militarily, ocean-type countries generally rely more on the navy.Typical oceanic countries are mainly the United Kingdom and the United States (the North American continent where the United States is located also has certain characteristics of outlying islands compared with the old continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.)

Let's talk about continental countries.Geographically speaking, continental countries are generally located within the continent; economically, continental countries generally rely more on internal circulation; and militarily, continental countries generally rely more on the army.The typical continental country is mainly Russia (although Russia has a long coastline, most of it is frozen and divided by geography).

In addition to the typical oceanic and continental countries, there is also a type of land-sea composite country, which has the characteristics of both oceanic and continental countries.They are generally located on the edge of the continent, and at the same time have a coastline suitable for maritime trade.China, Germany, and France are all land-sea complex countries.

It should be pointed out that the geographical attributes of a country may change due to the development of political economy. For example, Germany in the feudal era, although located on the edge of the continent and had better conditions for ocean trade, was dominated by the self-sufficient manor economy. Status, so in essence, it is more inclined to continental countries.With the advancement of industrialization and the development of maritime trade, the maritime side of Germany's geographical attributes has gradually become prominent.

The combined land-sea state combines the advantages of the ocean state and the continental state: it is not only convenient to expand maritime trade, but also convenient to integrate continental resources.This is the dual advantage of a land-sea composite country!Relying on the dual advantages, since the age of great voyages, there have been land-sea complex countries that have become world powers in a short period of time. These land-sea complex countries include: Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, etc.

Seeing the list above, I wonder if you have noticed the problem: the rise of a land-sea composite country is easy, but it is very difficult to reach the top!It turns out that there is no such thing as a free lunch in the world. While enjoying double advantages, land-sea complex countries are also facing double difficulties!

What is Double Dilemma?To put it simply, the national strength of a land-sea composite country is limited. Limited national strength cannot support a powerful navy while supporting an equally powerful army. It must focus on one side.But no matter which side you focus on, you will face difficulties.

If you go all out to develop the navy, then sorry, as I said before, the openness of the ocean leads to the uniqueness of the ocean overlord. You must become the biggest enemy of the only ocean overlord (probably also the world overlord), and the ocean overlord will do everything possible The most common way to contain you is to find forces on the mainland that can check and balance you, so that you cannot focus your national power on naval construction.

Then what do you think I will vigorously develop the army?I'm also sorry, as I said before, the closed nature of land power leads to the diversity of land overlords. No matter how strong your army is, it will be difficult to completely defeat other land powers. Even if you defeat all other land powers, you will not be able to rule. , so you can only be a regional land overlord at best.Moreover, when you vigorously develop the army, the construction of the navy will inevitably be affected, and your maritime trade security will inevitably be at risk of being stuck by other maritime powers!

If you develop the navy and the army in a balanced manner, then in the case of limited national power, neither side must have an advantage.

The above is why Helena is determined to weaken the United States and the Soviet Union. If the United States, a maritime power, and the Soviet Union, a continental power, can be weakened at the same time, then for the motherland of the previous life and the motherland of this life, the combination of land and sea can be temporarily lifted. The double dilemma of a small-scale country has gained a valuable period of development.

As for letting Germany dominate the world like in some of Long Aotian's novels, Helena said that would be an act of death!Even if Germany really won World War II, it should only pursue a limited goal, which is determined by the geographical attributes of Germany's combined land and sea!

If a maritime country wants to become a world hegemon, it only needs to pursue and maintain naval superiority (just like the British army is not very strong most of the time).However, if a land-sea complex country wants to become the world's hegemon, it must pursue both land and sea advantages. Doing so will most likely overdraw its national power and consume itself to death!

The author has something to say: This chapter talks about geopolitics throughout, and the space is limited. In fact, it talks about price comparisons in a thick line. The head of the earth (students who want to see the protagonist engage in global hegemony can only say sorry).

Chapter 22 Gas centrifugation

In a laboratory on the outskirts of Berlin, German scientist G. Rippy is in a good mood recently, and even walks much more briskly.

Sufficient research funds and gratifying experimental results made Ruipi 1 sigh with emotion that the turning point in his life came too fast.Thinking about myself, I was just an unknown scientist not long ago, but I have become the leader of an elite scientific research team in just a few years, everything seems to be dreaming.

It turned out that as early as 1919, Ruipi invented the gas centrifuge, but due to the shortage of experimental funds, Ruipi's research soon fell into an unsustainable situation.However, in 1921, Ruipi's fate ushered in a turning point. A young lady from the Junker family, who did not want to be named, expressed her willingness to fund his research, and Ruipi was able to continue the research.

Originally, Rui Pi thought that his luck was already overwhelmed, but he didn't expect that even greater good luck was yet to come! At the end of 1923, an investment institution called "Settlement Consulting Company" fell in love with its own research results, injected a large amount of money into itself through a fund called "Peaceful Development", and purchased a building for itself on the outskirts of Berlin. specialized laboratories.

The benefactor was so generous that Rui Pi, who was almost knocked out by the pie, was so grateful that he almost shouted, "Scholars are for confidantes", and signed a contract of sale and a non-disclosure agreement on the spot.

In order to prove his worth to the benefactor as soon as possible, Ruipi devoted himself to the work with 1924% energy, and soon came up with a further improved high-speed centrifuge, and successfully separated the higher Chlorine isotopes of purity: Chlorine-35 and Chlorine-37.

Ruipi excitedly brought his research results to the funder to announce the good news. As a result, a few days later, another 100 million pounds of funds entered Ruipi's laboratory account.Ruipi's team is required to continue to study gas centrifuges with higher speeds (peripheral speeds not less than 300 m/s).So Ruipi happily went back to recruit soldiers and horses, although he still hadn't figured out why the sponsor was so interested in high-performance centrifuges.

The so-called "gold master" who attaches so much importance to G. Ruipi's research results is naturally our protagonist Helena. The reason why Helena values ​​Ruipi's gas centrifuge is mainly because of the potential of the gas centrifuge in isotope separation.

Isotopes are different atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei (for example, chlorine-35 has 17 protons and 18 neutrons, and chlorine-37 also has 17 protons but 20 neutrons) .Isotopes often coexist in nature in a certain ratio (for example, the ratio of chlorine 35 and chlorine 37 in nature is roughly three to one).It is not easy to separate isotopes. Since the number of protons is the same, isotopes have exactly the same chemical properties, and they cannot be separated by conventional chemical methods.Therefore, only the slight difference in atomic mass of isotopes can be used to separate them by physical means.

Taking uranium enrichment as an example, the uranium-235 content in uranium ore that can be used for nuclear reactions is only 0.7%, and the rest are uranium-238 and uranium-234 that cannot be used for nuclear reactions. To obtain fuel capable of nuclear reactions, uranium must be -235 separation and purification.

There are two main separation methods commonly used, one is the gas diffusion method, and the other is the gas centrifugation method.

The main principle of the gas diffusion method is to pressurize the UF235 gas through the diffusion membrane. Since the UF238 molecules composed of uranium-235 are lighter, the speed is slightly faster, and the proportion of the gas passing through the diffusion membrane is slightly larger; Uranium hexafluoride molecules composed of uranium-[-] are heavier, move slightly slower, and pass through the diffusion membrane in a smaller proportion.As long as this process is repeated continuously, the isotope can be continuously enriched.After several diffusion stages, uranium-[-] with higher purity can be obtained.

The main principle of the gas centrifugation method is to let UF238 gas pass through a hollow cylinder rotating at high speed. The UF235 gas molecules composed of uranium-235 are slightly heavier and have a slightly more content at the wall of the cylinder; while the UF[-] gas composed of uranium-[-] The gas molecules of UF[-] are lighter, and the content is more in the center of the cylinder. Using this method, after multiple separation stages, U-[-] with higher concentration can also be obtained.

Although the enriched uranium needed for the Manhattan Project in the United States was produced by the gas diffusion method in history, and although the enriched uranium used in China's first atomic bomb was also produced by the gas diffusion method, Helena still prefers the gas centrifuge method .

Although the process itself of the gas diffusion method is not too complicated, there are two inherent defects that are difficult to overcome: one is that the separation coefficient of each stage of the gas diffusion method is too small, only about one percent of that of the gas centrifugation method.The second is that the energy consumption is too high, and the power consumption is almost 20 times that of the gas centrifugation method.

In contrast, the cost of gas centrifugation is undoubtedly much friendlier, although the separation efficiency of gas centrifugation depends largely on the peripheral speed and size of the centrifuge, and the peripheral speed and size of the centrifuge have a great impact on the material. high demands.

For example, to obtain 5% enriched uranium, a centrifuge with a peripheral speed of 400 m/s only needs dozens of stages, but if the peripheral speed of the centrifuge is reduced to 300 m/s, hundreds of stages need to be deployed (why later generations North Korea and Iran need to deploy a large number of centrifuges, a large part of which is due to limited technical strength, and the weekly speed of centrifuges is not enough, which can only be made up with more series).Of course, there are still great advantages compared to the gas diffusion method that often requires thousands or even thousands of levels.

In order for Ruipi to speed up the development of the high-speed gas centrifuge, Helena lobbied in many ways, and finally won funds for Ruipi's centrifuge research in the "Peaceful Development Fund" of the "Settlement Consulting Company".

The "Peace and Development Fund" is an investment fund under the "Settlement Consulting Company", which made a profit of more than 2500 million pounds in the Ruhr crisis, and part of the money was invested in the North American stock market, which is now booming , and the other part promotes the cause of peaceful development of mankind through the "Peace and Development Fund".

The investment fields of the "Peace and Development Fund" have been carefully demonstrated by experts, and Helena also indirectly participated in it through lobbying her father and Admiral Behnke.

The main investment areas of the "Peace and Development Fund" are as follows:

[-]. Agricultural technology, mainly various types of tractors and crawler transport vehicles;

[-]. Civil aviation technology, mainly various civil aircraft and civil sports aircraft;

[-]. Communication technology, focusing on the research of radio stations with crystal frequency stabilization;

[-]. Home appliance technology, focusing on magnetrons used in future kitchen heating equipment (microwave ovens);

[-]. Entertainment technology, focusing on the research of transmitting and receiving antennas and antenna arrays for broadcast entertainment;

[-]. Energy technology, mainly research on direct and indirect coal liquefaction and forward-looking exploration for the peaceful use of nuclear energy;

Seventh, tourism technology, carry out foreign cooperation through the "Ship Construction Engineering Bureau", and develop underwater sightseeing submersibles.

……

In short, the words "peaceful development" are neatly written on each page.

The author has something to say: Chapter 21 is said to be political and is being revised.

Chapter 23 Universal Patch

After the beer hall putsch, Hitler was arrested, but because the trial judge appreciated Hitler's "nationalism" concept very much, Hitler was only sentenced to 5 years in prison.But Helena knew that if the line of history hadn't shifted, Hitler would be released and the outlawed Nazi Party re-established in just nine months.

Helena thought long and hard about what to do with Mustache and his party.

According to group psychology, if members of a group have very similar views, then this view will be continuously amplified in the constant self-shock, and eventually go to extremes.

The humiliation of the "Treaty of Versailles" and the arrogance of France in the Ruhr crisis are making the nationalist sentiment in Germany continue to ferment, and the nationalist tendency has become the greatest common denominator of all social classes in Germany.In other words, any political force that wants to gain the recognition of the majority of classes in Germany must kidnap this boiling nationalist sentiment, and at the same time be kidnapped by this nationalist sentiment.

Therefore, in Helena's view, it is an impossible task to prevent political forces with strong nationalist tendencies from coming to power in Germany.Even if the Nazi Party was prevented from coming to power, other similar forces would come to power.

Since modern times, the word "nationalism" has been loved and hated by people.It is not only the basis of the existence of modern countries, but also the source of many turmoil and disasters.

Speaking of the concept of "nationalism", we must first talk about the concept of "people's sovereignty".

The ancient monarchy countries implemented "monarch sovereignty", that is, the country was owned by the monarch.Under this concept, the country is the private property of the monarch, and the integration of the country mainly depends on the rights of the monarch.

For example, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty was not only the emperor of the farming area, but also the Great Khan of the nomadic area (the full name is "Emperor Tian Khan"). Therefore, the Tang Empire became the first in Chinese history to control both the farming area and the nomadic area. The Great Empire of the Nomads.In the Qing Dynasty, due to the further expansion of China's territory, the identity of the emperor became more numerous.The emperor of the Qing Dynasty was not only the patriarch of the Jurchen, but also the emperor of the Central Plains, the Great Khan of Mongolia, and the religious leader of Tibet.

For the ancients, this would not lead to confusion about the country's cognition. If you ask the residents of this country: "Why are you from the same country?" .” That’s it.

In modern times, this situation began to change, and the concept of "sovereignty of the people" began to replace "sovereignty of the monarch". The country was no longer the property of the monarch, but the common property of all the people.To position a "country" at this time, one must first position the "people".

Only by answering who are the "people" of this country, and those who are positioned agree with this positioning, can a modern country built on the basis of "people's sovereignty" survive.Otherwise, the people's cognition of the country will be chaotic, and the country will lose its internal cohesion and can only go to disintegration.Why was the rule of the Habsburg dynasty stable in the feudal era, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by the Habsburgs had problems with cohesion in modern times?That's why.

So now the question comes, how to answer who are the people of this country?Thus, "nationalism" came into being.

The essence of "nationalism" is to distinguish the people of one's own country from the people of other countries by weaving a set of common imaginations.Let the citizens of this country believe that they are the same as other citizens of their own country and different from those of other countries.Please note that the "nation" in "nationalism" is translated into English as a nation with a strong political color, rather than the ethnic (ethnic group) as it is usually said.

As long as this shared imagination exists, the cohesion of the modern state exists.If we want to strengthen the internal cohesion of the country, we must continue to strengthen this common imagination.And this common imagination is exclusive in nature, because this imagination will tell you that our nation has excellent endowments that other nations do not have (such as a long history, good moral character, splendid culture, advanced system, etc.) etc).

Now the question comes again, since our national endowment is so excellent, why are we still living so unsatisfactorily?It must be that other nations owe us!We want to get back this debt!

did you see it?On the one hand, nationalism can enhance the internal cohesion of modern nation-states;So if nationalism gets out of control, it will inevitably make the whole country lose its mind in the competition with other nations, and ultimately harm others and itself.

The exclusive nature of nationalism has brought rigid collisions between various nations and countries.The staggering casualties brought about by the two world wars caused by this forced the major powers after World War II, especially the United States and the Soviet Union, to adopt a more flexible competition strategy.That is, in addition to hard power competition, a patch of universalism has been added to itself, and ideological competition has begun to become a new focus of the game between countries.

The universalism patch roughly means that in addition to pursuing our own national interests, our country should also pursue a somewhat higher pursuit: striving for the well-being of all mankind.Then the United States and the Soviet Union each prescribe a "universal prescription" to the world based on their own ideology, and are keen to sell their own prescriptions to other countries. .

Although the United States and the Soviet Union are still nakedly competing for national interests under the fig leaf of ideological competition, ideological competition is more flexible than exclusive nationalism, and it can be achieved to a certain extent through the ideal of universalism. Realize the transcendence of nationalism.

Helena believes that if the rise of German nationalist political forces is inevitable, at least a patch called universalism needs to be applied.It is not a big problem for Germany to improve its cohesion by promoting nationalism at home. It is impossible for you to promote German nationalism to other nations internationally to get the approval of others.

After thinking it over and over again, Helena decided to go to the prison to find out about Mustache's tone, and then see if she could influence Mustache's political views in a curve.If it works, it's good; if it doesn't, there's nothing to lose anyway.

Chapter 24 See Mustache

In a cell in the Randsburg Fortress Prison, a thin middle-aged man with a moustache was talking with a square-faced man with thick eyebrows who looked a little younger.It is said to be a discussion, but most of the time it is the man with the mustache who narrates unilaterally, and the man with the square face takes a pen to record while listening.

When the man with the mustache talked about his excitement, his voice became louder and louder. He suddenly stood up and walked towards the window. "The new empire must once again march along the path of the ancient Teutonic warriors, use the German sword to obtain the land for the German plow, and obtain the daily bread for the German people!" said the man with the mustache, waving his arms nervously.

The square-faced man listened fascinatedly, as if the most pious believer was listening to the teachings of the prophet, he stopped writing, his eyes showed a frenzied light, in his opinion, the light coming in from the prison window seemed to come from The holy light from heaven, under the light of this holy light, the thin body of the man with the moustache seemed to become tall and stalwart like a saint.

"Mr. Hitler, you have a visitor." The jailer's voice from outside the door suddenly broke the atmosphere just now.

"Who is here?" The man with the mustache stopped what he had just said.

"It seems to be a young lady of the Junkers," answered the jailer.

The man with the mustache was stunned for a few seconds before he said, "Please come in." Then the man with the mustache turned to the man with the square face: "Hess, that's all for our record today, we will meet our guests first."

……

Helena was just a small technician in her previous life. After becoming the daughter of General Sektor in this life, Helena claimed to have met many great figures in history, and her psychological construction was several orders of magnitude stronger than in her previous life.But even so, Helena was still a little apprehensive at the thought of facing the mustache that almost crushed the entire Western world.

After taking a deep breath and calming down, Helena followed the jailer into Hitler's cell.Unlike the cell in Helena's impression, Hitler's cell can be described as "bright and clean". If you ignore the iron railings on the sunny windows, it is simply a spacious hotel room.

Seeing Helena walk in, Hitler and Hess seemed to be taken aback. They had no idea that the visitor was a little loli who looked only ten years old.Helena stared at Adolf Hitler and Rudolf Hess for a long time, as if she wanted to confirm that these two unattractive-looking men were the Head of State and Deputy Head of State of the Third Reich that she had seen in books in her previous life.The two faces in front of me overlapped with the photo in memory.Only then did Helena open her mouth: "Helena Sektor came here to visit the two martyrs."

……

After revealing their identities, Hitler and Hess seemed a little excited. Although the Nazi Party had some influence in the Munich area before, this influence was only among the workers, urban petty bourgeoisie and a small number of right-wing intellectuals. It can be described as very grassroots.After the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler realized that it was impossible to overthrow the Weimar Republic by carrying out a street coup. If he wanted to gain power, he had to gain the approval of the ruling class.

However, in the eyes of the Junker landlords and the big bourgeoisie, there was actually no difference between the Nazi Party and street gangsters at this time, let alone actively contacting the Nazi Party.With Helena's appearance, Hitler and Hess seemed to see a glimmer of hope for the attention of Germany's upper class.

Hitler felt that he must firmly grasp this rare opportunity, and he warmly invited Helena to sit down at the square table in the middle of the cell.After finishing his self-introduction with a slight stammer, Hitler suddenly didn't know how to start the conversation next. For the first time, Mustache felt that his speech skills were not enough.

Now Hitler and Hess's minds are spinning fast, and all they can think about is: "How can two middle-aged uncles work together to defraud a little loli? Wait online!"

However, the arrival of a new visitor at this time resolved the embarrassment of Hitler and Hess in a very timely manner.

The visitor was Professor Karl Haushofer of the University of Munich.The geopolitical scientist known as the "Nazi Mentor" lived on an estate near Fort Randsburg Prison.In World War I, Haushofer served as the artillery brigade commander, and Rudolf Hess served as his adjutant at that time, and became a loyal follower of Haushofer's geopolitical thinking.Hess later introduced Haushofer's geopolitical thought to Hitler, and Hitler also greatly appreciated Haushofer's theory.

Now, Haushofer would come to see Hitler and his old subordinate Hess every Wednesday, and talk with them about international affairs.In the previous plane, Hitler dictated, and the part about geopolitics in Hess's book "Mein Kampf" was almost a replica of Haushofer's theory!

So what exactly does Haushofer's theory look like?