In the early morning of May 12, 1932, in the French Chancellery, in the Palais Martingnon, the lights were lit up all night. Meeting room, Edward. Dignitaries of the Helio government and the leaders of the French Army were all in the meeting. The flavors of cigar smoke and coffee are mixed together and are rich to the point of choking.

The door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open, and a burst of fresh air rushed in, and then a panicked secretary of the Prime Minister's Office walked briskly to French Prime Minister Edouard Edward, who had just taken office for less than two days. Beside Herio, he handed a copy of the telegram.

Certainly not good news!

Everybody thought so in their hearts. Now that France seems to be isolated, and there is no friend willing to stand up for France, what good news can be expected?

"The Poles said that the Rhineland region had belonged to Germany since ancient times, so there were not sufficient reasons to oppose the presence of German troops...... "Edward. Helio read the beginning in a hoarse voice, and there was no desire to read any more.

What is the truth of "since ancient times"? What about international politics? International law since ancient times? It's a complete mess! The basis of public international law is treaties, treaties written in black and white! The Demilitarized Zone of the Rhine is stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles and the Loga Security Treaty, what since ancient times? These Poles are so unremarkable, they have completely forgotten who raised them.

"Mr. Chancellor," Edward. Herio's confidant, Foreign Minister Edward. Daladier then said, "The attitude of the Poles does not matter, cooperation with the Soviet Union is the guarantee of peace." Without the USSR, the Germans could not have done anything. We should find a way to further woo the Soviet Union, and even make the Soviet Union a permanent member of the League of Nations. ”

"But it was up to the Poles to fight the war with Germany!" Vice-President of the French Supreme Military Council and Inspector General of the Army, who was close to Pilsudski. Admiral Weygand interjected, "The Polish Confederation can increase the number of the army to 3 million in one month, and mobilize another 3 million in six months." This number has even surpassed that of France! ”

Thanks to the right-bank Ukraine and Lithuania, Poland surpassed France in population by more than 50 million. It is the third most populous country on the European continent. Moreover, the Polish Confederation has faced pressure from both the Soviet Union and Germany since the day of its restoration. Therefore, a very perfect mobilization system has been established, which can mobilize a large number of troops in a very short time.

In addition, public opinion in Poland (mainly ethnic Poles) supported the war much more than in France. As long as Pilsudski gives the order, there will be millions of hot-blooded young people on the battlefield.

"The Poles are useless." French Minister of War, Joseph. Paul Boncour shook his head and said, "All Europe knows that Lenin's will was to destroy White Poland!" As long as the Poles declared war on Germany, the USSR would definitely be on the side of Germany, and it would be useless to win them over. That would be 220 million men against 50 million, and the Poles would definitely lose......"

How can it be 220 million to 50 million? Maxim. Wei Gang was stunned and stunned, isn't there still 40 million French, at least 220 million to 90 million.

The French Minister of War looked at Maxim. Wei Gang. He smiled bitterly: "General, I think you know very well how the 40 million French people view the war. ”

Nobody wants to fight! At least now, there are not many French who want to go to war and fight the Germans...... Since the end of the World War, war-weariness has spread and intensified in France and England.

The reaction to this sentiment in French politics is that the pacifist "Left Pai" party has been in control of France for longer and longer, while the "Great Right Pai" party, which wants to teach the Germans a lesson, has been on power for a shorter and shorter time.

In the decade of the 20s, the National Group of the Right Pai was in power for a total of 6 years, which looked quite beautiful. And by the 30s. The Democratic Alliance, which belongs to the Right Pai (reconstituted by the National Group), has been in power for only 14 months. For the rest of the time, the Left Pai controlled the regime. Either the Left Yi Coalition or the Popular Front - in fact, it was a different signboard, and it was formed by a group of white-left parties.

Later, in some history books, what was said about the right Pai engaging in appeasement and conniving at Germany's anti-Soviet Union was actually a lie. Throughout the 30s, French politics was largely dominated by a group of peace-loving socialists.

These left-wing Pai did not want to oppose either Germany nor the Soviet Union. Their foreign policy, in the final analysis, is one sentence: they really don't want to fight!

And such a foreign policy. It was also the reason why these white-left parties were able to hold power for so long in the 30s - the French who did not want to fight voted for the French government that did not want to fight, and then "all kinds of policies that did not want to fight" took turns.

Therefore, whether the French were trying to win over the Soviet Union in the 30s, appeased Germany, or spent huge sums of money to repair the useless Maginot Line, they were all trying not to fight.

And the British on the other side of the English Channel. The choice of war was similar to that of France. They were equally reluctant to fight, and both the Left Pai Workers' Party and the Right Pai Conservatives were largely unanimous on this issue, with the only exception probably being Churchill. In the early 30s, though, he didn't have much political influence.

"Mr. Prime Minister, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini called and asked about our attitude to the events in the Rhineland."

In the conference room at 10 Downing Street, Foreign Secretary John Brown. Simon had just informed the call from Italy.

Mussolini is now quite "well-behaved", he is now planning to invade Ethiopia, so he actively seeks the support of Britain and France, and tries to be as consistent with Britain and France as possible in formulating foreign policy.

But being consistent diplomatically did not mean sending troops to fight Germany. That's a Germany that fights wars like a god! The Italian leader should have the courage to roll up his sleeves and invade Ethiopia now, where is there still a need to look at the faces of Britain and France?

"Our attitude?"

Perhaps because he was tired or depressed—because the Prime Minister was very depressed—MacDonald's face was ugly, and he just snorted twice: "We don't have so many pounds for the Italians to send troops against Germany, so we don't bother the Italians." ”

"Yes, the financial situation is very bad!" Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville. Chamberlain agreed with MacDonald that "the present financial situation simply does not allow Britain to plunge into another war...... That would be the end of the British Empire. Moreover, the current situation on the European continent is in fact in line with the European balance of power policy that the British Empire has always practiced. ”

The Labour Party in Britain was anti-war because it was "progressive". The Conservative Party, on the other hand, was anti-war because it was "conservative" -- Britain's continental policy has always been a balance of power. The recent changes in Europe seem to the Conservatives to be moving towards achieving a balance of power rather than breaking it.

Of course, the British electorate now hates war too! Because of the last world war, although they were the victors, they did not see any "war dividends", the country fell into a debt crisis, and they themselves became poorer and poorer.

Chamberlain continued: "Germany's current Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, is clearly Anglophilic, and he is moving Germany away from the Soviet Union, which is conducive to maintaining the balance of power in Europe. We have no reason to fight him. ”

Compared to the German army marching into the Rhineland, really let Neville. Chamberlain was worried about the Soviet-German alliance. The close relationship between the Soviet Union and Germany is obvious to all in Europe, and the growing strength of the two countries is also felt by everyone.

If you count the Baltic Republics, Germany now has a population of 70 million, second only to the United States in terms of industrial power, and ranks second in the world. And the USSR had a population of 140 million to 150 million, and according to the propaganda of the Soviet government, the USSR was now the third largest industrial country in the world, having surpassed Britain!

Once the Soviet-German alliance was formed, Britain would have to face a military bloc with a population relative to two United States and an industrial power relative to 1.5 Americans. And the United States itself, now holding high the banner of isolationism, looks as far away from Europe as possible.

"If we remain silent on the Rhineland, there is a good chance that Germany will continue to stay away from the Soviet Union." John. Viscount Simon said to the Prime Minister. "Because the French recently signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, they will also support the Soviet Union's entry into the League of Nations...... Moreover, Soviet Foreign Minister Litvinov recently put forward the concept of 'collective security'. ”

"Collective security?" Macdonald asked, "What does that mean?" ”

"The USSR wanted to create a European collective security mechanism in which in the event of an attack on any country should automatically provide military assistance to the attacked party."

"We cannot participate in such a mechanism," MacDonald said immediately, "which is not in keeping with the national policy of the British Empire." ”

"But this mechanism could contain Germany," Mr. Chamberlain said, "and it was actually used to contain Germany, which would allow Soviet-German relations to deteriorate rapidly in the coming years." ”

He leaned back in his chair and showed a very relaxed and happy expression, "As long as the Soviet Union and Germany are separated, there will be nothing to worry about in Europe." ”

MacDonald had understood what Chamberlain meant, and the Conservatives were now reluctant to get too involved in the conflict on the continent. And he, the prime minister, must follow the baton of the Conservative Party - there is a very interesting "puppet prime minister" in British politics today, and this is MacDonald. His Labour Party suffered a massive defeat in the last election, and he himself was condemned for his policy mistakes and quit the Labour Party to form the National Labour Party. However, the Conservative Party, which won the general election, supported him, the leader of the small party, to remain prime minister. However, the power is in the hands of Neville of the Conservative Party. Chamberlain and John. Simon was the hand of these two later well-known "appeasementist" politicians. (To be continued.) )