In mid-December 1927, Natsuki led a group of Irish military and political officials to Germany to receive the Nassau-class dreadnoughts "Westphalia" and "Rhineland" transferred by the German Navy, and to attend the European Summit in Hamburg. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The earliest European summits date back to the 19th century, and such meetings were held irregularly, usually only in the event of a major event, initiated by a prestigious country, such as Britain or France, and after the end of the Great War, Germany and Austria-Hungary. The German government convened the international conference for two purposes: to contain the deteriorating situation in France and to recognize Iceland as an independent and sovereign state.

After attending the handover ceremony of the "Westphalia" and "Rhineland", Natsuki and his entourage took the special train of German Crown Prince Wilhelm to Hamburg. This time, Ireland obtained two German-made dreadnoughts at a "cabbage price", completely borrowing the light of the signing of the Limerick Naval Treaty, you must know that the construction cost of the Nassau-class dreadnoughts is close to 40 million marks, although its main performance is not as good as the dreadnoughts built in the later period, but the reliability has been tested in naval battles, and any country other than Germany, the United States, Britain, and Japan is enough to act as a first-line capital ship. The world was not only envious, but also puzzled by the shape of the deal - how could the British sit idly by and watch their neighbors in opposing camps with two more powerful warships out of thin air?

The "Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Armaments" signed by the eight naval powers in Limerick was the result of painstaking negotiations and mutual concessions between the two opposing camps; according to the tonnage of the capital ships of each country determined by the treaty, the combined forces of the United States and Britain could form an overwhelming advantage over the German navy, while the capital ships of the Allied camp had an advantage over the non-Allied countries. The tonnage of the existing capital ships of Germany, the United States, and Japan has exceeded the limit and it is necessary to reduce the number of active ships, and the active capital ships of the remaining five countries are not yet under the quota, so except for the super battleships under construction in Britain that exceed the technical standards and must be stopped and dismantled, the capital ships that have already started construction in Italy, Austria-Hungary, Ireland, and Ottoman Turkey can continue to be built. Among them, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Turkey all have capital ships under construction or ordered in foreign countries, but Ireland has no plans to build capital ships, but there are a total of five aircraft carriers under construction on the slipways of various shipyards in Ireland.

With the close cooperation between the German and Irish navies, the Germans could completely transfer the four aircraft carriers ordered by their own country in Ireland to the Irish Navy, thereby circumventing the restrictions of the naval treaty, enhancing the strength of the German Navy in disguise, and destroying the naval balance brought about by the naval treaty. After separate negotiations among Germany, the United States, and Great Britain, a non-public agreement was reached outside the naval treaty: Germany cancelled the two aircraft carriers ordered in Ireland with the lowest construction progress, dismantled the completed hulls on the spot, and in compensation, allowed Germany to transfer three Nassau-class dreadnoughts to Ireland and Ottoman Turkey, respectively, and one Helgoran-class dreadnought and one Seydlitz-class battlecruiser to be converted into training ships. In this way, the total tonnage of Germany's capital ships was successfully controlled at the standard line of 800,000 tons, and the capital ships of Ottoman Turkey will be close to the 160,000-ton limit after the completion of the new ships.

It is worth mentioning that after the addition of the two Nassau-class, the tonnage of the Irish Navy's capital ships is still only half of the standard of 160,000 tons, but due to the restriction that the capital ships cannot be renewed for five years, it will not become a culvert for the German Navy to expand its strength in disguise for at least these five years.

In addition to the two non-European countries of the United States and Japan, the heads of the great powers of today gather in Hamburg. Despite the economic depression caused by the financial crisis, the prosperity of Hamburg still makes guests who have not arrived for ten years deeply sigh. Its port construction is not inferior to that of New York on the other side of the ocean, and its thousands of years of history give it a different kind of beauty, especially after dark, when the buildings along the banks are brightly lit and reflected in the flickering stars on the surface of the Elbe, forming a dreamlike picture.

As the initiators of the summit, the Germans had a firm grip on the theme from the very beginning. The so-called containment of the deterioration of the French insurrection was to prevent the spread of Marx's revolutionary ideas and the Soviet-style armed revolution to other European countries, and the Little Moltke Line, located on the German-Russian border, was no longer sufficient to accomplish this difficult mission, and behind this line - in the regions occupied by the Central Powers in Belarus and Ukraine, the revolutionary forces were thriving, mass strikes were commonplace, and attacks against the puppet regimes and occupation forces were frequent, as well as in eastern Spain, northern Austria-Hungary, and even parts of GermanyThe frequent partisan activities of the Bolsheviks, especially after the outbreak of the financial crisis, economic depression, rising unemployment and other social problems, made the revolutionary ideology quite popular among the grassroots workers.

Judging from the trend of historical development, revolution is like a flood, and containment will only play a counterproductive role, and it is necessary to dredge up social problems and class contradictions in order to obtain a stable social environment for development.

As for the recognition of Iceland as an independent and sovereign state, it was entirely a play directed by the Germans. As early as 1921, Germany leased Solaukshepburn in southern Iceland as a naval base, where cruisers and submarines were deployed, and its influence on Iceland's economy and society increased through immigration and investment. There is a way that a weak country has no diplomacy, and Germany is coerced, coerced, coerced and enticed, and the Danish government has no choice but to submit to the invitation of the United States, Japan, and Soviet Russia, and even if Britain opposes it, it is difficult to speak alone. Even before the meeting, Iceland had passed a referendum on independence, with the parliament electing Prince Oskar, a member of the German royal family, as King of Iceland. In this way, Iceland's independence was a foregone conclusion, and it was only necessary to gain international recognition through the Hamburg Conference.

Of the countries present, only Britain expressed strong opposition to Iceland's independence. Iceland is located in the North Atlantic, although it is not an important maritime relay station, but ships and aircraft are deployed here to effectively monitor and threaten the North Atlantic route, and now that the Azores are in German hands, the Faroe Islands and Ireland have German naval bases, and in the event of war, the naval connection between Britain and North America will be completely severed.

The shrewd British, who knew that Iceland's fate was irreversible, were adamantly opposed only to gain a bargaining chip - to demand that Germany withdraw from the Orkney and Shedland Islands in exchange for Britain's vote.

The Orkney Islands and Shedland Islands, located in the northern part of the North Sea, are sovereign by the United Kingdom, the Orkney Islands are closer to Scotland, the Shedland Islands are located between the British Isles and Norway, and the British Naval Base Scapaflo is located in the Orkney Islands. Under the London Armistice, Germany occupied the two islands and established military installations on them as a guarantee to the British Government to fulfil the terms of the armistice. The British colluded with the United States after the war to rebuild the navy, bypassing the express terms of the armistice treaty, leaving no handle to the Germans, and it should be regarded as a complete implementation of the treaty, so Germany's continued occupation of the Ornik and Shedland Islands was inherently untenable. Geographically, as long as the German Navy continued to use Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, the German fleet would be able to freely enter and exit the North Sea without hindrance, and impose a naval blockade on Britain if necessary.

Thus, although the German top brass was very dissatisfied with Britain's tough stance during the conflict in the Azores and was worried about the existing strength of the British Royal Navy, they weighed the pros and cons and reached an agreement with it: Britain pledged not to meddle in Egypt's affairs, to stop all aid to Soviet Russia, to recognize the independence of Iceland and the German royal family as the monarch of the country, and Germany to gradually withdraw from the Ornik and Shedland Islands within three months.

Except for the side talks between Britain and Germany, there was nothing surprising about the process and conclusion of the Hamburg Conference, Germany's European hegemony was once again confirmed, and the new generation of German military and political leaders also showed their talents - the old Chancellor Holweg von Batemann died in 1921, and the current German Chancellor is Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the German Social Democratic Party, a diligent and down-to-earth doer. During his tenure, he played an active role in Germany's economic and trade development and social reform, and was highly praised by the royal family and the people. At that time, the German foreign minister was Philipp Schertmann, known as the "little Bismarck", an old partner of Prime Minister Albert, who was quick-witted, broad-minded and aggressive.

There is another one who has to be mentioned, and that is the German Crown Prince Wilhelm Jr. Moltke the Younger died in the same year as Batemann, and the German General Staff was briefly in the hands of Field Marshal Josias von Heilingen, before entering the era of Wilhelm the Younger, who has been Chief of the German General Staff since 1922. Although he did not have the style of a general like the old Moltke, and his military quality was slightly inferior to that of the little Moltke, relying on a group of talented and energetic military staff, the German army's military construction after the war was quite effective, and the army's equipment and tactical thinking have always been in the forefront of all countries, and a number of generals who have studied new tactics such as air-ground coordination and armored assault have emerged.

The only striking episode during the Hamburg Conference was the battle in the Valence Valley in France. Inspired by the results of the friendly army's annihilation of the Italian sweep troops in Digne, a French revolutionary army attacked the German transport convoy in the Valence Valley, escorting the German soldiers with heavy baggage and the attackers engaged in a fierce battle, the French not only had the advantage of troops, but also blocked the German reinforcements by blowing up bridges and blocking roads, but the German paratroopers who fell from the sky broke the wishful thinking of the French, which was the first actual combat use of the airborne troops, which surprised the world and greatly enhanced the international prestige of the German army.

(End of chapter)