Chapter 266 Justice 1

September 12, 1939, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Dam Avenue Square, Royal Welcome Palace.

A few days later, Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister who arrived in the Netherlands again, became a distinguished guest of the Dutch royal family and stayed at the splendid Palace on Dam Avenue Square. At noon, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Princess Juliana, her husband Prince Bernhard, and Chairman of the Dutch Council of Ministers Hendrikus Klainen had a delicious meal together.

"The war is almost over, isn't it?" Dutch Princess Juliana asked Ribbentrop in German.

"Your Highness," Ribbentrop said with an elegant smile, "it depends on whether Britain and France can correctly view the unification and rise of Germany."

Unify and rise!

Princess Juliana is also a German by blood, and she certainly understands what the unification and rise of Germany means.

What the Franco-Prussian War caused was not the complete unification of Germany, but its split into two. The German Empire centered on Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Dual Empire. The Anschluss and the return of Bohemia (so the Germans think) mean the beginning of the true unification of Germany.

What the German Third Reich currently flaunts is also the inheritance of the dual legal traditions of the German Empire and the Austrian Empire. This means that the German Third Reich was the rebirth of the Holy Roman Empire!

Although the German Third Reich did not propose to restore the entire territory of the Holy Roman Empire, it was pursuing the international status of the leader of all Europe during the period when the Holy Roman Empire was strong. From Germany's propaganda of "building a European Union" that began in the 1920s, we can imagine Germany's ambition to lead Europe.

Moreover, Germany now seems to have such strength.

After regaining the lost territories of Posen, West Prussia and Silesia, the area of ​​Germany's mainland (including the Baltics, Austria and Bohemia) has exceeded 800,000 square kilometers! If you include the "legally occupied" Lithuania and Western Ukraine (these two territories are very likely to eventually become part of Germany through referendum), Germany's territory is likely to be close to 1 million square kilometers in the future, surpassing Britain, France and Europe. The sum of the native.

After incorporating some Poles, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians (referring to the population in Western Ukraine), Germany's population is estimated to be as high as 110 million, exceeding the combined numbers of Britain and France.

In addition, after obtaining Western Ukraine (including Lviv, Zakarpattia, Volyn, Rivne, Tarnopol, Stanislav and other provinces, Volyn and Rivne are not Austrian (Part of Ukraine), Germany got another "Rhine Industrial Zone". Because it is rich in coal, iron and non-ferrous metal resources, it also has oil fields, and there are large areas of black land. Germany's economic strength will be even stronger!

"So, are there any specific conditions?" Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands asked. Neither she nor her people want a war, no matter which side they take. Therefore, after the news of the armistice negotiations between Germany and Poland came (there has been no final armistice agreement yet), Queen Wilhelmina wanted to mediate the war between Germany and Britain and France.

As long as Britain, France and Germany stop fighting, the Netherlands will naturally be safe. However, the "unification and rise of Germany" proposed by Ribbentrop disappointed Wilhelmina.

Because the rise of a hegemon will inevitably mean the decline of the old hegemon! And how could the old world hegemon be willing to watch the loss of hegemony?

"Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain; Belgium returned to the reparation state; Britain and France returned the stolen German overseas colonies; allowed the merger of Germany and 'all Luxembourg' - of course, the merger must obtain the consent of Luxembourg; ceded part of Alsace The iron ore areas of Slovakia and Lorraine will be given to Germany; Britain, France and Belgium will return all the reparations they received from Germany!”

Ribbentrop stated impossible peace terms. But from the German side, such conditions are already very mild. Germany did not claim back all of Alsace and Lorraine, but only wanted some of the iron ore areas. As compensation, Luxembourg, which originally belonged to the German Confederation, returned to Germany - "all Luxembourg" instead of half Luxembourg!

Germany wants to return to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg before the Treaty of London in 1839, including half of the land that now belongs to Belgium!

"This is impossible!" Hendrikus Klein, Chairman of the Dutch Council of Ministers, frowned and said, "This is completely unrealistic..."

Ribbentrop smiled slightly and said: "Twelve days ago, it was unrealistic for Germany to take back the Free City of Danzig. But now, the second largest army in Europe has crawled at the feet of Germany and begged for forgiveness! Maybe by October When the time comes, France will also fall at the feet of Germany!”

In this time and space, because Germany did not attack the Warsaw Fort, Germany defeated Poland in 12 days. Now the front line has basically ceased fire. The Polish Poznan Army and the Prussian Army were surrounded, and the Marina Army, Lodz Army, and Krakow Army were destroyed. , the Carpathian Army and the Modlin Army lost more than two-thirds. The total number of Polish soldiers killed, captured, seriously wounded, and missing exceeded 400,000, and 200,000 people were besieged, while the German losses were less than 10,000 (because without the Battle of Warsaw and the Battle of the Buchula River, Germany's losses would not have been big).

"What about the Netherlands?" Queen Wilhelmina's voice deepened, "Am I going to crawl at the feet of Emperor William?"

If Hitler had full power now, Wilhelmina would not dare to say so, but Emperor Wilhelm was restored after all.

"No, no, no," Ribbentrop shook his head repeatedly, "Your Majesty, Germany will not forget the help given by the Netherlands in the most difficult times. We will never invade the Netherlands. We hope that the Netherlands can continue to remain neutral."

There is no big conflict between Germany and the Netherlands. From a military point of view, the invasion during World War II was just to facilitate the attack on Belgium. There is a province called Limburg in the south of the Netherlands. A part of the land of Limburg is located between Germany and Belgium. In the "Yellow Plan" and "Manstein Plan" formulated by Germany, the army must pass through Limburg.

However, the current German Ministry of Defense and General Staff do not intend to occupy the Netherlands for this reason - just borrow a passage, there is no need to occupy the whole country, and after occupying it, they have to provide food, how troublesome!

So Germany's current strategy is to maintain the neutrality of the Netherlands as much as possible.

"But how to solve the air battle on September 6?" Wilhelmina asked again, "Our neutral status has been destroyed!"

"This is a violation of International Law!" Ribbentrop said, "The Netherlands is a member of the League of Nations, and there is an International Court of Justice in The Hague. I think you should file a complaint with the League of Nations and ask the League of Nations to send an investigation team to investigate the incident on September 6, and then pass a resolution to ensure the neutrality of the Netherlands."

The League of Nations has not stopped operating yet, and the warring countries such as Germany, the Soviet Union, France, Britain and Poland are all members of the League of Nations, and the Netherlands is of course also a member of the League of Nations.

"Use the League of Nations to ensure the neutrality of the Netherlands?" Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana looked at each other.

It seems that the Germans are still reasonable.

"But Britain and France have a great influence in the League of Nations." Hendrikus Klein, Chairman of the Dutch Council of Ministers, reminded.

"You can suggest that the investigation and arbitration of the September 6 incident should exclude the participation of the belligerent countries. The investigation should be conducted by representatives sent by neutral countries in the League of Nations. In addition, you can also propose the establishment of a confirmation and guarantee mechanism for neutral countries."

"This is..." Queen Wilhelmina did not seem to understand.

Ribbentrop explained: "Any European country that wants to remain neutral in this European war can make a request to the League of Nations to confirm neutrality. If the belligerent countries agree in writing, their neutral status will be confirmed. If a belligerent country clearly violates the neutral status of the country during the war, the country can file a complaint with the League of Nations, and the neutral countries in the League of Nations can immediately impose collective sanctions on it."

There are many countries that have declared neutrality now, including the three Low Countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

But declaring neutrality is useless. If the belligerent countries do not recognize it, they will still beat you up. Therefore, before the war, Hessmann worked out a principle of "confirmed neutrality". Countries that wanted to be neutral proposed it, and then the participating countries confirmed it. Some countries, such as Belgium, occupied German land, received German reparations, and occupied the Ruhr area in the 1920s. Now a "declaration of neutrality" can avoid disaster? This is unrealistic. How can it be so good? Therefore, Germany can not confirm its neutrality, and of course it can also resolve disputes through negotiations and confirm Belgium's neutrality.

As for the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Norway, Sweden, oh, and Denmark, there is a Schleswig-Holstein issue between Denmark and Germany, but the German Ministry of Defense and the General Staff suggested not to pursue it, so the neutrality of these countries can be confirmed by Germany.

As for why Germany gave up North Schleswig-Holstein, it was actually for the neutral status of Denmark's protectorate Iceland and its territory Greenland - this is actually a trap set specifically for Britain in international politics.

Because Articles 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the 1907 Convention on the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Time of Naval War stipulate that warships of belligerent countries can anchor in neutral ports for 24 hours and refuel and replenish supplies. Of course, neutral countries can legislate to prohibit it, but Denmark certainly doesn't dare to do so.

In other words, in the future, Germany's commerce-breaking fleet can send supply ships to anchor and refuel in ports in Iceland and Greenland, which will greatly extend their activities in the North Atlantic!