Austro-Hungarian Empire

Since the outbreak of the world war, the internal contradictions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been stimulated, and the Hungarians who want independence have been strongly suppressed by the Vienna government.

However, this kind of suppression did not make the Hungarians dispel the idea of independence, but strengthened their determination to be independent.

However, Hungary is no longer the Hungary of the past, and a large number of ethnic minorities have been separated from the Kingdom of Hungary and become directly under the jurisdiction of the central government.

The Viennese government freed these minorities from the oppression of the Kingdom of Hungary, and they immediately became loyal supporters of the central government and were extremely hostile to the Hungarians.

With the help of these minorities, the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire has stabilized, and even if the Hungarians want to be independent, their strength is not enough now!

Ever since Britain and France wanted to support Austria-Hungary in containing Bulgaria, there was no one from outside to support their independence. The goal of independence for the Hungarians now looks farther and farther away!

It's not that they didn't want to win the support of Bulgaria and then gain independence, but unfortunately the Hungarians miscalculated, and Ferdinand now did not want to break the peace and stability of southern Europe, so he refused to support their independence!

As for whether Austria-Hungary will become bigger? Anyone who knows about the Austro-Hungarian Empire knows that they could not really be strong until the national question was resolved!

The national question of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not that there is no way to solve it, but that the Vienna government cannot make up its mind about it, otherwise this problem would not have dragged on until now!

It can be said that as long as the Kingdom of Hungary is settled, half of the national problem of Austria-Hungary will be solved, and the remaining half will be easily solved.

Now, on the face of it, Austria-Hungary has solved most of the national question.

With the exception of the Hungarians, who were restless, the rest of the nationalities were already united around the Viennese government under the leadership of the Habsburgs.

As a bystander, Ferdinand knew that these minorities, now stripped from the Kingdom of Hungary, grateful to the Habsburgs for giving them a better life, would naturally support the Viennese government.

What about the future? People's hearts always change, and it is not impossible to move towards independence if some of the policies of the Viennese government are detrimental to their interests, or if they are provoked by careerists!

The absence of a sense of national identity is the root of national independence!

This is also the reason why the thirteen states of North America broke out in the war of independence, while Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have never been independent!

The thirteen North American states are multi-ethnic, and British immigrants make up too small a minority to become a local minority, and the Irish are the majority of British immigrants who are hostile to the British government.

So when the British wanted to collect stamp duty here, they became independent, and in fact their taxes were lower than in the whole of the United Kingdom!

Canada, New Zealand, and Australia are different, and British immigrants have always been dominant.

Even in the 21st century, under the combined effect of the United States and the Soviet Union, they parted ways with the United Kingdom, and everyone thought that the Queen of England was their supreme leader!

This is the sense of cultural identity, and in the first decade or two of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, many of these peoples supported the Habsburgs after their independence.

But after World War II, with the death of the older generation, this sense of identity ceased to exist!

An Austro-Hungarian Empire that was destined not to become a threat, Ferdinand naturally did not bother to suppress it, no matter how much Britain and France supported it, their national strength could not be transformed into combat effectiveness.

I believe that any general, who is told that there are more than a dozen languages in his troops, will probably have a numb scalp. If you want the units to work together, let the officers learn foreign languages first!

This kind of army, once it is broken up, will really be dispersed, and if you want to reorganize it because of the language barrier, it is simply a dream!

Due to the world war, Austria-Hungary lost a lot of young and strong labor, and the country's economy did not recover quickly.

In addition, there is a civil war in Russia next to them, and they can export some industrial products, so they can be regarded as escaping the Great Depression in Europe.

……

France

One of the winners of the First World War, but also one of the losers of the First World War!

Defeated the greatest enemy, Russia, expanded its own territory, obtained valuable mineral resources, and gained the largest share of the enemy, becoming the hegemon of the central and western continents of Europe.

On the surface, they seem to be a big winner, but in fact, only their own family knows their own suffering!

Forget about the population loss in the war, this is not fatal, the key is that the most tragic battles of the world war were fought in their homes, and the results can be imagined.

Of course, if the French are a country where the real economy dominates, then this is not a problem either, and it will soon recover.

Obviously, this is impossible, the famous usury empire, the domestic industry cannot compete with the virtual economy.

In the face of interests, who wants to engage in industry honestly?

Everyone knows that the profits of engaging in industry for ten years are not as high as the profits of mixing in the stock market for one year, and capital is profit-seeking!

If there are fewer people in society who invest in industry, then the number of new jobs in society will naturally decrease, and the number of unemployed people will naturally increase.

The number of unemployed people in the whole of France has exceeded 5.6 million, and the unemployment rate has exceeded 21 percent, which is in sharp contrast to Bulgaria, where the number of unemployed people has been below 1 in 1,000 for a long time!

(Unemployment rate = unemployed/working-age population)

With such a high unemployment rate, the French economy is naturally not any better!

The internal political struggle in France is also the fiercest among all European countries, and politicians are singing and I am on the stage!

What about the British Empire?

The biggest winner after the World War, the biggest winner of the War of the Americas! It's like standing at the pinnacle of life, but their domestic economy is also sluggish!

Although it does not have the 21 percent unemployment rate of the French, it is still close to that number, and after the end of the world war, the British Empire has increased by an average of 1.1 million unemployed people every year.

Do you want to ask why? Similar to the French, the capitalists are keen to invest in the virtual economy and are not active in industrial investment.

Now that the three kingdoms of North America had been added, and new competitors had appeared in their colonial markets, the capitalists were surprised to find that it was more profitable to resell the cheap goods of the Germans than to produce them themselves.

The consequences of this are very terrible, driven by profits, the British Empire's investment in industry in recent years has not only not increased, but has continued to decrease.

By 1921, the total amount of new investment in local industries had dropped to £12 million, which was inversely proportional to Bulgaria's increasing investment year by year!

You must know that the equipment of the enterprise also needs to be upgraded, as far as the scale of new investment by the British is concerned, it is estimated that not to mention the expansion of industry, it would be good if the scale of their local industry did not shrink!

Of course, from the point of view of the capitalists, there is nothing wrong with what they are doing, and now that the entire market of the capitalist world is shrinking, tightening investment at this time is the best way to avoid risks.

Anyway, because of the decline in the purchasing power of the people, the processing and manufacturing industry is also facing overcapacity, and they take the opportunity to reduce and surrender, and there is nothing wrong with compressing production capacity!

As for whether this will lead to an increase in the number of unemployed people, a further contraction of the market, and feedback to the vicious circle of overcapacity in the manufacturing industry, it is none of their business!

This was the prelude to the London Conference, and as the continent experienced a recession, countries wanted to reduce military spending through disarmament and then invest that money at home.

Among them, Britain and France were the most urgent, and the total tonnage of the Royal Navy reached the highest peak in history, with thousands of warships of all sizes and nearly three million in total tonnage.

As a price, the British Empire's naval military expenditure has always remained high, and even in peacetime, to maintain this large navy, naval military expenditure accounts for 38% of their fiscal revenue!

If we add the army and air force, military spending already accounts for 43.7 percent of fiscal revenues, which is more than when there was an arms race with the Germans before the world war!

If there is an enemy, they have nothing to maintain this large navy, but now if you look around the world, there is not a single navy with a total tonnage of more than a million tons!

Even the total tonnage of the British Royal Navy > Bulgaria + France + Japan + Russia + Austria-Hungary combined!

Is it really necessary to maintain such a large fleet? This is the standard of the top five!

Now the navies of all countries in the world, all united, may not be able to win the British Royal Navy in combat effectiveness!

After discovering that there was no strong enemy, the satisfied members of Congress decided to reduce military spending, and the first slash was cut at the head of the navy, which had the highest military spending.

……

London Conference

"We propose that the Royal Navy of the British Empire retain 1 million tons of gross naval tonnage, as a base number10, and that the proportion of total naval tonnage obtained by each country is: France 2.8, Bulgaria 2.7, Japan 1.8, Russian Empire 1.8, Austria-Hungary 1.3, Spain 1.2, Holland 1.1, Portugal 1......" Gray said solemnly

Except for the fact that Japan was suppressed, the ratio given by the British was still in line with everyone's actual situation, so everyone did not have much opinion.

It's just that the total tonnage of the navy is twice as large as the Washington Conference in history, which means that the British are now more financially powerful and can afford more military spending.

Seeing that no one came out to object, Yasuya Uchida had to jump out and say:

"No, I'm against it! This ratio is too low, and the Great Japanese Empire must obtain at least 5 shares, otherwise we will not be able to accept it! ”

"Mr. Yasuya Uchida, this naval ratio is the most scientific figure that everyone calculated by combining many factors!

With your country's financial revenue, it is already very difficult to afford a naval fleet with a total tonnage of up to 180,000 tons, so why do you need to fight for one that exceeds the standard of your own affordability? Gray said earnestly

This is just a superficial meaning, in essence, it is implying that Yasuya Uchida, Japan's comprehensive national strength is like this, and it has no strength to fight for a fart!

Don't you see that the French and Bulgarians are all leisurely drinking coffee on the side? None of them jumped out to fight, why are you in a hurry?

Of course, even if Ferdinand wanted to fight, he would not fight with the British now, at least after the disarmament was completed, he would jump out and engage in an arms race!

Now the naval superiority of the British is too obvious, and although the tonnage ratio of everyone has not changed much after the disarmament, the tonnage gap between the two sides has narrowed!

From the gap of more than 2 million tons to hundreds of thousands of tons, how do you think the latter is easier to catch up?

As for the signed treaties, they have always constrained the weak, and for the strong, when they need it, it is a treaty, and when they are not needed, it is a piece of waste paper, just tear it up!

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gray just let me lose my temper, but 180,000 tons is too little, our bottom line is 400,000 tons, and China will not approve anything below this number!" Yasuya Uchida said politely

Gray was also lost in thought, and seemed hesitant to agree to the Japanese demands. After all, even if the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy is maintained at 400,000 tons, it will not threaten the sea hegemony of the British Empire!

"If Japan obtains 400,000 tons of total naval tonnage, then we also demand an increase in the proportion, after all, the size of the navy must match our international status!" Metev broke the silence with a smile

"The French Republic also needs a navy that matches our international status!" The representative of France spoke casually

He didn't care how big the Japanese retained their navy, but let the Japanese navy surpass the French navy, and the Gallic chicken couldn't afford to lose that man now, and after Metev made this request, he immediately followed!

Today's France is not a little stronger than the France in history.

The financial situation was not so embarrassing, the Americans' debts were gone, the Germans were still paying reparations, and their arrogant heads had not yet come to a lower level.

If the total tonnage of the navy of Japan and Bulgaria is allowed to climb on their heads, it is estimated that the patriotic young people in the country will have to demonstrate again, and the opposition parties will not let go of this opportunity to attack the prestige of the government!

Gray has already reacted, it is impossible for both countries to tolerate the size of the Japanese navy exceeding theirs, maybe this is just a consideration of face, but at this time, face cannot be lost at all!

This is also a reflection of international status, Ferdinand does not care about the size of the navy at all, Bulgaria can tolerate the navy is not comparable to the British, they are the world hegemon, and the domestic population can accept.

It is also tolerated that the size of the navy is not comparable to that of the French, who are an old empire, and for a long time the second naval empire in the world, and the navy is not as good as their people.

If there is no naval armaments treaty, the total tonnage of the Bulgarian navy is not comparable to that of the Japanese navy, and it can be said that Bulgaria is a land power, and there is no need to compare the navy with them.

But now if we want to sign a naval arms treaty, if the tonnage obtained is not comparable to that of Japan, it will be a big trouble, and it will hit the self-confidence of the people!

I'm afraid that many people will question the government, is Bulgaria's international status not comparable to that of Japan?

The French are naturally the same, even if they lose to the British, if they can't keep the second largest navy, how can the government explain it to the people?

"Mr. Yasuya Uchida, you should understand that the navy should match the national strength, and if your country increases the tonnage of the navy, everyone will also improve it, and in the end, the significance of the arms treaty will be gone." Gray persuaded

Japan must make concessions, this is his attitude, otherwise both Bulgaria and France will follow suit to increase the tonnage of their navies, and then the advantage of the British Empire will be weakened!

Yasuya Uchida was shocked that this would happen!

The Bulgarians and the French did not come out to fight for naval tonnage before, but they did not expect that now they have jumped out for the sake of face!

Doesn't it mean that European countries don't care about face, but only on interests? Why did the two land power countries jump out now? Isn't this a trap?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gray, this is beyond my purview, I have to ask for advice!" Yasuya Uchida said helplessly

"There's a telegram here, you can use it directly, hurry up, everyone is waiting for you!" Gray said impatiently

Everyone cast a contemptuous look at Yasuya Uchida, a plenipotentiary who exceeded his authority one after another and wanted to ask for instructions from home, isn't this a shame for the diplomatic community?

Look at the representatives of so many countries participating in the meeting, which one has not obtained the highest authorization, and has to keep asking for instructions from the country?

……