Chapter 148 Europe Must Unite

Unlike the heads of state and foreign ministers strolling in the garden, showing friendship, the delegations of various countries are nervously preparing meeting topics and negotiation materials to promote the topic of this economic reconstruction conference that is nominally aimed at revitalizing Europe.

In fact, the remaining colonial imperial newspaper groups kept warm and jointly defended each other's collective interests.

But in fact, due to the different distribution of the colonies, the threats they face vary from big to small. Although the general direction of the meeting should be the same for all countries, there must still be debates at the meeting.

Take the current Britain and France as an example, they treat the colonial issue absolutely differently.

The attitude of France after the war is naturally unquestionable suppression. It can be seen from the fact that the French army has embarked on the journey again before the meeting, and it can be seen that France, including Charles de Gaulle himself, now has the attitude of maintaining all the colonies.

And Britain, especially Prime Minister Attlee, is no longer prepared to waste time in British India. Once the local elites in British India lose patience and choose to rise up, with the current capabilities of the United Kingdom, unless they are not prepared to live well, they will break the pot and fall The wartime rationing system has been maintained, otherwise there is no way to stop it.

The most important thing is that even if the wartime rationing system is maintained, Britain may not be able to suppress the resistance of British India.

This problem has actually been around for a long time, and it's not even a recent problem.

During World War II, Britain fought against the French army in West Africa, Syria and Madagascar, against the German and Italian troops in Egypt, against the Japanese army in Australia and Burma, and at the same time maintained the North Sea, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean routes and transfused blood to Malta. It is simply an impossible task.

And the colonial empire itself is not a big empire in the traditional sense, but a component that is isolated overseas and connected with each other surrounded by powerful enemies. Defending a colonial empire means fighting with different enemies on all fronts at the same time. Geographically the worst.

When Germany declared war, Britain and France were capable of gathering and confronting troops similar to those of the German army. However, after Italy declared war and France defected, the British army was at a loss. After Japan also declared war, its troops were even more stretched.

The British Empire has never had the ability to fight multiple major opponents on multiple major fronts at the same time. The security of the Empire is entirely hoped that the so-called Imperial Promise will bring troops to build up. When a war breaks out in India and Afghanistan, troops can be mobilized from Britain , when the war in North Africa is tight, troops can be mobilized from Australia and New Zealand.

It is best to face only one enemy at a time. This is the idea of ​​the Germans when they are fighting on two fronts. It is not the idea of ​​the British. They must suppress the resistance of the colonies and guard against the peeping of the colonies by other powers. Russian confrontation,

In the Americas and the United States intrigues, in Africa and France.

After the two world wars, London finally felt that with its current national strength, it really couldn’t handle it. Prime Minister Attlee felt that it had to shrink, kick out the colonies that invested more than they produced, and concentrate on managing those with weak resistance. colony.

And British India is the burden that Prime Minister Attlee wants to kick out to complete the contraction of the empire and gain breathing time.

Allen Wilson just hoped that the British Empire would shrink and not collapse and shrink all the way to the British Isles. He doesn't think it is his life pursuit to let the United Kingdom serve as a follower behind the Americans.

If that's the case, it's better to resign and go to sea to become a rich businessman. That's more freedom. You don't have to be bound by the status of a civil servant.

At the meeting within the British delegation, Alan Wilson also worked very hard and launched an extremely violent attack on the Soviet Union, but the core argument was that the Soviet Union did not have the strength to start another war.

"According to what I found in the British-occupied area, the German generals who had combat experience in the Soviet Union learned that the German army caused extremely serious damage in the Soviet Union. It is no worse than the damage in Germany now! I believe gentlemen, you should Recently, I have learned from the newspapers how exaggerated the ratio of men to women is in Germany."

At the internal meeting hosted by Alexander Cadogan, Alan Wilson talked eloquently, saying that based on the losses suffered by Germany to infer the losses of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union’s casualties should be more than 15 million. It's a man.

"The former Prime Minister Churchill once said that we would like to see the Germans in their graves, but we would rather see the Russians on the operating table. We can conclude that this is now the case."

"The Soviet Union has not announced the losses in the war until now." A middle-aged diplomat said, "Is the estimate of the Soviet Union too optimistic?"

"This is exactly where the Soviets feel guilty. Can't count it? This is impossible. Moscow will not be ignorant of the domestic population. They have done three censuses. It is impossible to come up with population statistics now, so it is deliberate. Conceal it. And judging from the insatiable behavior of the Soviets at the Potsdam Conference, the condition of this polar bear must be very poor, so everything from Germany was accepted as it was ordered.”

The diplomats at the meeting nodded in approval, and Alexander Cadogan, the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also agreed. Alan Wilson should be the most qualified civil servant to question the Soviet Union. At the Potsdam Conference, he was the one who conducted secret operations on behalf of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

"Although Allen's estimate is too optimistic and there is no direct evidence, the evidence of various factors can also explain part of the problem. The cruelty and ruthlessness of the Germans and the huge damage caused in the Soviet Union are real. If the Soviet Union and Germany The degree of damage to the opponent is on one level, and the loss of 15 million school-age youths in the Soviet Union is very reasonable."

"That's right, Sir Alexander. The Soviet Union will certainly not be any better than Germany. If we can send a delegation to visit the Soviet Union, we can choose a few big cities as the visit, and we can communicate with ordinary people in the Soviet Union. , mentioned the issue of German aggression, if the interviewee expressed hatred, mentioned that relatives died in the war, we put these interviews together, and we can have a rough estimate.”

"By the way, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received news from Moscow that the Soviet Union wanted to conduct an art visit to London in the form of non-governmental exchanges. It seems that they will send a team called the Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe."

Alexander Cadogan listened to what Alan Wilson said, nodded and said, "The Foreign Minister means that this kind of non-governmental exchanges are welcome, and our reply is that we can conduct an exchange of visits, expressing that the British Empire has no intention of becoming an enemy of the Soviet Union and making a gesture of unity and harmony." Since it is a non-governmental exchange, the return visit team can naturally communicate with ordinary people in the Soviet Union, so that we can confirm whether the Soviet Union is really unable to start a world war in a short period of time."

"That's really great!" Alan Wilson couldn't hide his excitement. He believed that for ordinary people, the British master of speech in the delegation would be able to get the information they wanted.

The Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe is that very famous male choir, right? If there is time, he also wants to listen to it. After all, the opportunity is rare, and if you miss it, you won't have it again.

Why criticize the Soviet Union for being strong outside but for doing well in the middle? It is actually very simple to make this idea a consensus. If there is a war with the Soviet Union, according to the experience of the previous two wars, it will be enough to beat the entire British Empire within a few years without leaving a single young person.

This is the same as the Soviet Union believed that imperialism would start a world war. The United Kingdom is also afraid of the Soviet Union, and has the same thinking as the Soviet Union. They all believe that at this difficult moment, the other party must not dare to start the idea of ​​​​initiating a war.

The Soviet Union's approach was to establish a buffer zone in Eastern Europe to prevent the invasion of Britain and the United States, especially the United States. The British approach was to prevent the Soviet Union from invading and hold the US troops stationed in Europe.

If it was clear that the Soviet Union did not have the ability to start a world war and was recuperating on the operating table, the British Empire would not have to welcome the United States into Europe, at least limiting its right to garrison within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany.

You must know that the NATO was actually established by the United Kingdom and France first to persuade the United States, but this period of history in which the United Kingdom actively mentioned the establishment of NATO is not well understood.

What is also not well understood is that after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Britain's continental balance instinct broke out. It once suggested that Russia join NATO, but at that time the United States had already dominated the strength of one family, and it was very sensitive to the British tradition of breaking down fortresses from the inside. I understand, just pretend you didn't hear this suggestion.

Before the official meeting started, the internal meeting of the British delegation had come up with a consensus that the Soviet Union was only superficially strong, and the US had nuclear bombs in its hands, so the Soviet Union would not take the risk of provoking a world war.

As for the main issue, the colonial issue, is the real top priority. There has been news from the Far East that Jakarta, Indonesia, and Sukarno of Indonesia have declared independence, which makes the Netherlands, which is still on the road with a large army, very angry.

The Dutch were now the most eagerly awaited country for the conference, but it was the French who were first approached by the British delegation.

When meeting with Nino Bertrand, a diplomat of the French delegation, Alexandre Cadogan opened his arms and hugged each other, setting a tone of unity for this Brussels meeting.

"The speed of the French army is even faster. Vietnam is not a colony of the British Empire. We have no reason to stay there for a long time." Alexander Cadogan offered to show his favor.

"The unity of Europe lies in the relationship between Britain and France." Nino Bertrand gave a positive response, "How to protect the interests of Greater Europe requires the joint efforts of our two countries. I think the same should be resolved at this meeting."

"In principle, London will not object!" Alexander Cadogan said in an official tone, "Who made Britain and France allies?"