The Year of the Old Couple. For Europeans. This year is still equated with the "war", on the one hand, the war on the Western Front in Europe, on the other hand, the famine and emaciation that spread throughout Europe, this period of Europe, as if cursed, surrounded by hunger came the terrifying "Spanish flu"

The "Spanish flu" broke out in the American barracks and soon spread to Europe and even the whole of Europe, the world's thinness almost stopped the war in Europe, but it was only "almost" Although in just one week, 18,000 people died in London, England, because of their emaciation, so that the coffin in London was not enough to use, but this did not shake the British government's belief in continuing the war, in the wartime, whether it was the number of soldiers killed or the number of civilians killed, for politicians it was just a number, it did not mean victory, There was only one thing that represented victory, and that was the unconditional surrender of Germany.

But the question is, if the British government was confident enough to hold on to the war, why couldn't the German government have enough confidence in victory?

For Germany, the spring of the 8th year of the state was as hopeful as the farmland of East Prussia, a hope for victory in the war, because in the spring of the old Rising Year, the Soviet Russian government and the German government formally signed a peace agreement known as the "Brest-Litovsk Treaty", and according to this harsh peace agreement, Germany immediately possessed not only the Baltic coast, but also the territory and population of Poland, Finland, Ukraine, the Caucasus, etc., and correspondingly, Russia, for its part, lost the territory and population of these regions. And immediately withdrew from this seemingly endless European war. Got the land, got the labor, the German government was full of confidence, determined to continue the all-out offensive against the Entente on the Western Front, the sky was the roar of fighters and bombers, the ground was the step-by-step advance of tanks and infantry, in the face of a three-dimensional war, all the belligerents were almost bloody, in order to cope with the increasingly alarming military expenditures and government deficits, all the belligerents began to implement emergency economic measures, on the one hand, to devalue the currency and credit of their own banknotes, On the other hand, the gold and silver in the treasury were used to distribute war materials and even labor that were not needed to participate in the war in Europe, and in this economic context, the life of the civilians in the participating countries was even more difficult. Bread and cream have almost completely disappeared from the table, and even oats, which are used to feed livestock, have become a rare delicacy on the common table.

Because the Entente controlled the seas, the lives of civilians could be maintained. But the life of the common people of the Central Powers became very miserable, and although the German propaganda machine was always preaching the good life that the Brest-Litovsk Treaty would bring to Germany, wheat from the Ukrainian plain would not be shipped back to Germany, at least until the end of the old summer. And the oil in the Caucasus is unlikely to change the situation of the extreme lack of fuel for the German army, because there are not enough trains, there are not enough ships, and the only trains and ships must also give priority to ensuring the mobilization of the materials needed by the army on the Western Front, and as for civilian supplies, they can basically only rely on the people themselves.

The people of the Entente were calling for peace, and the people of the Central Powers were eager for peace, and although these cries for peace were very weak under the wartime system, no one could deny that any attempt by the politicians to stir up the mood for war would be ineffective when all the civilian population began to yearn for peace.

It was against this background that US President Wilson put forward his "Fourteen-Point Programme" at the beginning of the year, calling for the immediate cessation of war among the warring countries in Europe, the conclusion of a peace treaty without harsh conditions, and the redivision of Europe according to the principle of self-determination, thus laying the foundation for European peace for the next few hundred years.

However, the American proposal did not receive an immediate response, especially after Germany and Soviet Russia concluded the Treaty of Brestlitovsk, and all the belligerents of the Entente bloc suddenly realized a serious problem, that is, Germany's greedy appetite was not weakened in the slightest by this mired European war, on the contrary, with the victory of seizing large territories from Russia, the Germans seemed to see hope of victory over the Entente, so the German politicians "hold on, hold on a little more" Although many German civilians saw an alternative path in the Soviet Revolution in Russia, at least for a period after the signing of the Treaty of Brestlitovsk, the Germans were dismissive of the "Fourteen-Point Program" of the American president.

In order to force France to submit as soon as possible, the German ** team set up a class cannon on the position not far from Paris, this kind of train gun with a barrel of more than 30 meters can shoot heavy shells a hundred kilometers away, because it is specially used to shell Paris and create panic, so it is called "Paris cannon"

But the "Paris cannon" did not destroy the French spirit of resistance, France is still fighting, Britain is still fighting, the United States ** team is coming in a steady stream, fighting side by side with allies on the European continent, of course, with the US ** team came to Europe and the flu, this flu not only swept Europe, but also spread to all countries and regions in the world that have direct contact with the old play, even the foul Asia is not paid,

As a countermeasure, in the early days of the "Spanish flu" outbreak, China, Japan and other Asian countries have taken anti-emaciation measures, although they did not completely prevent the spread of influenza, but undoubtedly reduced the number of infected people, and ultimately avoided the devastating destruction of industry and economy.

However, the most striking thing about Asia in the old couple year is not the distance from the war and the plague in Europe, but several international affairs that are of great importance:

First, a few days after the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, China and the Soviet Russian government also signed a treaty on the question of the re-division of the border between the two countries, because it was signed at the same time in the Tavlida Palace in Petrograd and the Xizongbu Hutong, the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. and all the territories of Central Asia and parts east of Lake Baikal, as well as the permanent jurisdiction of Jiangdong 64tun on the east bank of the Heilongjiang River, which covered an area of more than 600,000 square kilometers, and thus extended China's western border to the west of Lake Balkhash

The Tsarist Russian government was horrified by the Tavlida Western Treaty, and thought that China was about to abandon the tsar and the regent, but it turned out that the tsarist government's worries were unnecessary, and this treaty was not exchanged for diplomatic recognition of Soviet Russia.

Second, the day after the signing of the Tavlida-Western General Treaty, the Chinese Central Government officially announced its withdrawal from military intervention in Russia and the withdrawal of all army and naval forces that had penetrated deep into Russian territory, and at the same time suggested that the two sides of the Russian civil war hold peace talks on an armistice. After the retreat of the Chinese Army, the British and American armies also immediately retreated, and the navies of various countries also sailed away from Vladivostok and participated in the military intervention in Russia. Only Japan insisted on withdrawing its troops, although eventually had to retreat from the area east of the Ussuri River under pressure from Britain and the United States, but at the same time, the Japanese government sent army and naval forces to occupy the entire island of Kataji, and this island, which was previously Chinese territory and was called Sakhalin, was later occupied by Tsarist Russia and renamed Sakhalin, and after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan occupied the southern part of the island and called it Kataji, and now. Britain and the United States have been silent about Japan's occupation of the island, and China has only reminded the Japanese government that it has a "special interest" in the long and narrow island, according to historical tradition, and that China has not taken any form of military or diplomatic pressure on Japan.

Thirdly, after ending the chaotic military intervention in Russia, the Entente continued to provide military assistance to the tsarist government, and finally assisted the tsarist government in controlling the situation in the Russian Asian territories, and as the Russian civil war continued, the Russian economy had come to the precipice of total collapse, and in the end, both sides of the civil war felt the need to rectify the internal situation and strive for respite, therefore, under the mediation of China and Britain, the Soviet Russian government and the tsarist Russian government finally reached an armistice agreement in the autumn of the old couple's year. The two sides agreed to take Omsk as the boundary for a truce for half a year.

In the end, in the face of China's rapid expansion into Central Asia, the British government finally could no longer sit still, so under the British Tsego, the Central Asian region, which had already had anti-Russian armed uprisings, was further turbulent, and armed rebellions demanding independence arose in the vast areas from the Caspian Sea to the Aral Sea, and then to the Syr Darya and Pamir Plateaus, and Russia in the civil war could not do anything about it. The British government immediately announced diplomatic recognition of seven of these countries and encouraged several of the smaller countries bordering China's western border to launch armed provocations against China, but to the British government's surprise, the Chinese air force immediately launched an air attack on the provocateurs, and then the Chinese Wehrmacht troops, under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, launched a winter offensive codenamed "Tian Khan", and wiped out the Sutan of Kokand and Tashkent in one fell swoop, drinking the Marsyl River.

In this way, when the New Year's bell of the old year rang in the flames of war in Europe, in Asia, a local war also came to an end, just like the "Far East madman" expected, due to the continuation of the war in Europe, this local war born in Central Asia did not attract much attention, even the British government, can only express "concern Although the war in Europe has been prolonged for a period of time according to the expectations of the "Far East madman", but after all, the war depends on the economy, when the European economy is in a depression, This war should indeed be over.