The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1094 - 820: One Step Back, Steps Back
The man with the little mustache was sitting in his office, anxiously awaiting the good news from the German Foreign Minister.
Ordering the military to enter the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland was a bold decision, one that could even provoke a world war of unprecedented scale.
Though the man with the little mustache was crazed, he had not completely lost his reason at this time. However, the fact that he still took such a mad action while being rational, confirmed that in a state of complete madness, the little mustache would make even bolder and more shocking decisions.
About half an hour later, the German Foreign Minister personally arrived at the German government to report to the little mustache and indicated that the British and French envoys had already started sending messages back to their own countries.
Hitler nodded, as the development of the situation was still within his expectations.
After pondering for a while, Hitler instructed his Foreign Minister, "Invite domestic and foreign media to Congress, I want to hold a temporary speech."
Somewhat later, in the German Congress.
Surrounded by many domestic and international media, under the watchful eyes of numerous congress members, and with the attention of many curious German citizens, Hitler began his stirring speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, all great and glorious compatriots of the Germanic tribes! In my capacity as the Chancellor of the German Empire, I announce to you all a piece of great news:
France and Austria have severely persecuted our industrial production. Under the premise of having to defend against the Franco-Austrian alliance, we also face threats from that country to the east.
For the sake of the interests of all German people, three hours ago, I ordered the military to enter the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland and officially abolished the regulations of the demilitarized zone.
From now on, German citizens can move freely in any sovereign territory of Germany; the German military resolutely.
The German government will never give up any sovereignty we should possess, and we will not allow any country to provoke the sovereignty of our national territory.
If the enemy wants to restore the demilitarized zone, then let them step over my dead body! I believe the German military has the confidence to maintain the security of our national territory, even if we have to fight to the last man."
The little mustache's speech was calm yet firm, revealing his attitude toward abolishing the demilitarized zone, even at the risk of going to war with Britain and France.
Such determination also infected the members of the German Congress and the German people, undoubtedly a very successful speech.
While the little mustache's slight shaking betrayed his inner turmoil, many media and people viewed this as a result of Hitler's overly excited emotions.
One must admit, Hitler at this time was crazed yet with a tinge of rationality, possessing a gambler's greedy madness as well as an extraordinary intuition for international politics.
Before this action, the German Army Commander-in-Chief Walter von Fritsch had advised the little mustache. General Walter von Fritsch believed that although the German Army had expanded to 400,000, only the original 150,000 soldiers were truly combat-ready.
Exacerbating the tensions with Britain and France at this time was irrational; the current German Army was clearly not a match for the French Army.
General Walter von Fritsch suggested giving the German Army a year of training time. By 1935, the German Army would be able to enter the Rhineland demilitarized zone without regard for the British and French faces.
Although this proposal seemed very appropriate, the little mustache declined General Walter von Fritsch's suggestion.
He decided to make a daring gamble. If the action to abolish the demilitarized zone succeeded, the little mustache would immediately become one of the greatest heads of government in German history, firmly controlling Germany's military and politics.
But in case of failure, the German Army could only withdraw in a dejected manner. Under such circumstances, an action that the German people had pinned high hopes on might turn into the beginning of undermining the little mustache's prestige and the stability of his regime.
Simply put, Germany's strength hinged directly on the outcome of this action to abolish the demilitarized zone.
To ensure the success of the action, the little mustache paid a hefty price.
Facing Germany's only ally, Italy, the little mustache pulled out all the stops to seek Italy's consent, to get Italy to stand out and support Germany when the German Foreign Affairs Department made a statement.
With the support of Italy, Britain and France, already indecisive, hesitated even more.
While Britain and France were reluctant to see Germany abolish the Rhineland demilitarized zone, they were even less willing to launch a war over it.
Moreover, the enemies they faced in this war would be the two Powers: Germany and Italy.
Without causing serious harm to themselves, the British would not engage in a passive war on behalf of French interests.
In the face of evenly matched Franco-Austrian alliance and German-Italian accord, the British made a decision that they would regret immensely in the future, which was to let the Germans act for the time being.
At this time, the British Prime Minister was MacDonald. In the final summary reported to King George V by Prime Minister MacDonald, he mentioned: "Whether it is a Germany that has obtained the Rhineland or a France that has expanded its military might, it remains an unsolved mystery.
But for the current British Empire, the threat from France is far greater than that from Germany. German power lies in their desire for revenge against the French, French power lies in their desire to provoke the majesty of the British Empire in Europe."
Since the British became the world's dominant power, their international foreign policy has basically comprised only two parts.
The first part is the well-known policy of regional balance, which means that a region cannot have just one strong country; there must be two relatively balanced countries to check and balance each other.
The second part is the policy of the British Empire to "support the third and attack the second." Simplified, the basic meaning of this diplomatic policy is to ally with the world's third and target the world's second.
The British remained silent on the actions of the Germans, which was undoubtedly the outcome Hitler most wished to see.
As long as the British did not support France, it was impossible for France to start a war against Germany.
After all, the French were not fools. Even if France could successfully defeat Germany, post-war France would definitely not be a match for the British.
Based on this thinking, the French did not have any extreme reactions diplomatically but merely recalled all the troops managing the trust territories back to the country and continued to deploy them to the France-Germany border.
In this way, out of France's 600,000-strong military, already more than 300,000 were deployed at the France-Germany border.
Of the remaining forces, aside from the about ten thousand new recruits and the more than one hundred thousand border defense troops, there were less than one hundred thousand troops available for mobilization.
Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.
The deployment of most of the mobile troops to the France-Germany border already demonstrated the French's wariness and emphasis on Germany at this time.
Even though this diplomatic crisis was resolved peacefully, the impact on the political situation in Europe was tremendous.
The successive compromise of Britain and France towards Germany forced many European small and medium nations to face the reality of Germany as a strong country that had abolished any restrictions.
If before Germany was just lingering as an industrial nation, now Germany had fully become one of the Powers, and it was advancing toward becoming the strongest among them.
If we were to identify the country most wary of Germany at this time, it would be Germany's eastern neighbor, the Republic of Poland, which was born only after World War I.
If Germany could openly abolish the demilitarized status of the Rhineland, then might it seek to reclaim the entirety of East Prussia?
One must know that Poland was re-established as a country only after World War I following its partition by Germany and Russia Nation.
Upon its establishment, Poland had annexed many territories from Germany, and at this time, there were still numerous Germans living within Polish borders.
Facing the frenzy of the German Army, even the powerful British and French were forced to bide their time. Already having offended Germany, could Poland survive in such a European political climate?
The answer was already quite clear, it was impossible.
In history, Germany's first expansionary move should have been the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia.
But the issue was, at this time, Czechoslovakia was under the Austrian Empire, allied with France, thus Germany's target in the short term could not be the Austrian Empire.
And among the countries to Germany's west, aside from France, it was only the Low Countries left.
Among the Low Countries, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium had already declared neutrality, and Germany had no reason to provide gossip fodder before having a sufficient reason for war.
Counting the neighboring countries around, the only country that could satisfy Hitler's ambition for land and had justified reasons for war was the Republic of Poland.
The Republic of Poland still controlled areas like Lithuania and the Free City of Gdansk, which further fueled Hitler's desire to eliminate the Republic of Poland.
However, compared to the Rhineland, Hitler was not sure if Britain and France would let him have the entire Poland.
In order to successfully annex Poland, Germany had to find a strong and reliable collaborator, just like it had done decades before when partitioning Poland.
Due to Poland's eastern location, the potential targets for collaboration were limited.
Germany's ally Italy had no designs on Poland, since the entire Austrian Empire lay between Italy and Poland.
Looking at the map, the only country that might be able to divide Poland with Germany was the same Russia Nation that had partitioned it with Germany before.
After unification, the Russians had kept a very low profile so far.
They also fulfilled their commitments to Britain and France and had not actively spread their ideology to the West.
Hitler was not certain he could persuade this vast country to join his campaign, even though the countries would be partitioning the vast territory of Poland.
But regardless, action was definitely required. Even if Russia Nation did not agree to divide Poland, Poland would certainly not escape Hitler's list of territories to annex.
While contemplating his plans, a hint of excited madness flickered in Hitler's eyes. He waved his hand, summoning his trusted subordinates.
