"If Europe's glory is destined to end in war, then please don't let it become history in our hands. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

These are the words of the King of Ireland in a letter to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Edward of Great Britain, both dated May 7, 1933. The diplomatic conflict between Britain and Germany over the scourge of war in Persia had developed to the brink of war, with Germany as the leader of the Central Powers and Britain as an important member of the anti-German coalition, and if a war broke out between the two countries, it would most likely extend beyond the 1914 war. In view of Germany's unforgiving posture, Britain has been forced to the point where there is no way to retreat, and the United States, Soviet Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Turkey are all mobilizing secretly or semi-openly, and international public opinion is generally pessimistic about the prospects for a peaceful settlement of the dispute between Britain and Germany, and even asserts that the countdown to war has begun. In the newspaper filled with mourning and prayers, this poetic phrase makes people feel as if they see a light in the darkness.

Ireland is a small country, but it has a significant strategic location; The British and German princes may not be the real ones at the helm of the national ship, but they have at least a great say in national affairs. Three once-personable young men have entered middle age, and they have matured to show their talents in their respective roles, and have become prominent figures who are admired by the people and respected by the outside world. In today's situation, they are three people who have the opportunity to change the fate of Europe and the world.

Either moved by the letter of the King of Ireland, or in response to the call of international public opinion, or their respective countries were not really prepared for war, the German Crown Prince Wilhelm and the British **** Edward successively expressed their willingness to resolve the war crisis through personal efforts in public. His Majesty King Joachim of Ireland took advantage of the situation and invited the two princes to Ireland for a peace meeting.

The situation is affected by various uncertainties, and the more time passes, the more likely it is that unexpected changes will occur, and in today's situation, if we want to avoid war, we must have the determination to make a decisive decision. On May 8, Edward made the decision to be invited to Ireland, and a day later, German Crown Prince Wilhelm also flew from Germany to Limerick.

The monarchy of Britain and Germany is fundamentally different from the monarchy of the feudal era, and the monarch's decision is still restricted, and the princes are even less likely to act recklessly according to their own will. No matter what agreement the German crown prince and the British **** can reach in Ireland, it will not directly change the tension between the two countries, but their meeting will still be a strong signal to the outside world: the talks are completed, and there is a great chance that war will be avoided - at least postponed, and if the talks collapse, there will be only a slim hope for peace.

The meeting place between the two princes was, unsurprisingly, arranged in the beautiful Irish royal palace.

In public, William Jr. inherited his father's arrogance and conceit, sometimes witty and applauding, sometimes open-mouthed, and made mistakes, Edward was the opposite, he was gentle and cautious, and won unanimous praise from public opinion with a good gentlemanly bearing. These two men of very different personalities had known each other for a long time and were related, but their personal relationship was far less than that of Wilhelm II and George V, and they did not communicate for many years after the war. At present, Britain and Germany are on the verge of war, and when the two princes meet, the scene is quite embarrassing, but it is not so cold and tense.

Common diplomatic mediation, generally will list the focus of the dispute between the two sides, through you to retreat or exchange interests to ease and resolve the dispute, but Xia Shu this time took an unusual path, based on the last war of the parties to the battle loss ratio, civilian casualties, property damage, facilities damage and other data, with extensive war games to inform the two princes, if Britain and Germany fight, in the end, no matter who wins or loses, the richest region of Europe, the most beautiful city will be scorched, from now on, The world's political, economic, and financial centers will shift outside of Europe.

The words of the two princes and their accompanying lieutenants were very surprised.

On the German side, Crown Prince Wilhelm was the heir to Prussian military tradition, he participated in the last major war as a corps commander, and later succeeded Moltke as chief of the German General Staff, becoming the first German royal family member to be promoted to field marshal for half a century. Since the late 20s, he has been regarded by the outside world as the de facto helmsman of German military strategy, and although he does not have the commanding talent of Moltke Sr. or the extraordinary talent of his own brother, at least the experience accumulated over a long period of time has given him a higher and broader vision than that of ordinary generals. For Xia Shu's war game deduction, he pondered for a long time without saying a word, and then retorted that the last big war was dominated by face-to-face combat on land, so the casualties of soldiers and civilians were particularly large, and in the past two decades, the development of military technology has made great changes in the mode of war, judging from the situation of the Persian conflict, the side with air and sea superiority will have a much smaller proportion of battle losses than the opponent, and their own territory is not vulnerable to the threat of the other side.

Unlike the German crown prince, who chose a military career, Edward's military experience was relatively short, and because of the opposition of the British government, he never really went to the battlefield, and his understanding and mastery of military strategy was far inferior to the two members of the Hohenzollern family who were present, but the staff adjutant he brought was not an ordinary person, but two British field marshals - Aemond Allenby and Henry Hughes Wilson's protégé, the leader of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Colonel Henry Maitland Wilson. The young English colonel studied the war games of the King of Ireland while whispering to Edward. After Crown Prince William raised his arrogant question, Edward **** quickly responded with Wilson's support: once war broke out, Britain would rely on the Channel defense line to block the German attack, and the British bomber group taking off from the southeast of England would be able to turn any German city into ruins.

Crown Prince Wilhelm said coldly that the Luftwaffe defended the German sky like a knight, and as long as the enemy sent 100 bombers, Germany would send 200 fighters to intercept them, and if the enemy sent 1,000 bombers, then Germany would send 2,000 fighters. No matter how many bombers the enemy sent, the final result was inevitably to be shot down by the Luftwaffe. In addition, the German army was confident that it would cross the English Channel and plant its battle flag on the head of London, at which point the enemy would no longer have an advance base to bomb the German mainland.

The British refuted that the Luftwaffe might be capable of defending German airspace in the sun, but at night they could do nothing against bombers flying towards Berlin.

Crown Prince Wilhelm immediately stated that the German army had a secret weapon for night air defense.

Before this controversy became out of control, Natsuki used his "killer weapon", he bluntly said that the intensification of the conflict between Britain and Germany is in the interests of some non-European countries, whether they participate in the war or not, the possibility of their own territory being destroyed by the war is very small, and the wartime arms deal can further hollow out the pockets of European countries, if the British and German military and political officials and ordinary people can see this, they may be able to view each other's disputes with a more tolerant attitude.

The princes were silent, in the core circle of power in their respective countries, they should always pay attention to the trends of the international situation, and they should also see and hear all kinds of profound analyses of the current situation, what Natsuki said, they may have seriously thought about it a long time ago. In the economic winter caused by the world financial crisis, Britain has been hit hard, and the situation in Germany is not much better, and factors such as factory closures, rising unemployment, and high prices have continued to impact social stability. On the other hand, the grievances and hatred between Britain and Germany have been buried since the signing of the London Armistice Treaty in 1915, for a long time, the military construction of the two sides has been imaginary enemies of each other, and the opposition between public opinion and public opinion has been a long time. The will of the ruling classes of countries was not always able to prevent the outbreak of war, at least in the summer of 1933, when they made active efforts for peace.

With no hope of de-escalating the conflict, Natsuki made a suggestion to the two princes, that is, no matter how far the war goes, the warring parties should abide by the terms of the two Hague international conventions, settle their grievances with a knightly war, and ensure that the political structure of the other side is not fundamentally damaged as much as possible, so that the winner can have a clear conscience and the loser can hold his head high.

Crown Prince William Jr. and Edward **** agreed.

As the tripartite talks failed to reach any substantive results, the German crown prince and the British **** both left Ireland on the morning of May 10, at this time, Germany and Britain had already launched their own formal military mobilization, two huge war machines rumbled, people's peaceful life was broken, millions of young people gave up their careers and ideals, voluntarily or involuntarily took up arms. Although the two countries have not yet declared war, the hope of peace has become extremely slim.

On 11 May, US President Herbert Hoover made a public speech in Washington, accusing the German Empire of repeatedly imposing its own will on other countries, wantonly interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, and undermining international stability, and of being a military hegemony unseen in a century since Napoleon France.

On the same day, the head of Soviet Russia made a speech with similar content in Moscow, but unlike the general mobilization of the United States, Soviet Russia only carried out a limited mobilization in the western part of Russia, and the hundreds of thousands of Soviet and Russian troops stationed on the Soviet-German border line did not make any changes, and behind the Moltke Line, a considerable number of German troops were ordered to enter the first level of alert, and were given a clear order: unless a new order was given, any active attack or reconnaissance was absolutely forbidden.

(End of chapter)