By the time the time we entered 1918, the world war had come to an end. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Because of the several attacks launched by the Allies in 1917, although they seemed to have won and lost, they at least maintained the offensive posture. Because of the two victories won by Qin Zhiyuan led by the Foreign Legion, it seems that the situation is superior.

However, the rash attack of Niveller and Haig caused heavy casualties to the British and French armies, and coupled with the collapse and reorganization of the Italian front, the Allies did not swallow Germany's strength in one gulp.

The Germans, though tired, were not completely hopeless, and Ludendorff continued the brainwashing at home, with the Germans generally believing that if they pushed harder, the Germans would take Paris.

The crux of all the problem was the Americans, who, according to Ludendorff's projections, would have 250,000 American troops in France by mid-year, and would be the decisive force by then, and Germany would have to defeat the Allies by June if it wanted to win.

In fact, it is.

By 1918, Britain and France were finally willing to face the reality that the Allies would not be able to completely defeat the Germans without more fresh blood coming in.

Qin Zhiyuan can indeed fight, but Qin Zhiyuan can't do it alone.

In the Battle of Reims, Qin Zhiyuan's Foreign Legion once reached the banks of the Aisne River, but eventually retreated to Xupuhe, because the position was too prominent, it had been besieged by the Germans on three sides, and in order to maintain balance with other positions, Foch ordered the 10th Army, which had taken over the defense of the Foreign Legion, to retreat 20 kilometers.

At the Allied summit at the end of last year, the leaders of the Allied powers unanimously decided not to launch a major offensive in 1918, and they wanted to defeat the Germans in a more cost-effective way - to consume them to death.

Ludendorff understood the situation facing Germany and therefore would not give the Entente a chance to consume Germany.

Then where Ludendorff would choose to attack became the top priority for the Entente.

The current Western Front was still a zigzag front, with 57 divisions from Great Britain, India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Portugal, defending a long line from Flanders to 25 kilometers south of the Somme; Foch had at his disposal 104 divisions, including the Foreign Legion, of which 60 were placed in the front line, and the rest were distributed in the deep front, as well as rotational rest that began after the "mutiny".

Comparatively speaking, Foch had more troops at his disposal, but Foch was also responsible for defending on a longer front, so the pressure on Britain and France on the Western Front was similar.

Although it was known that the Germans would definitely attack in 1918, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Hague, made a mistake in the layout.

Hubert Gough, commander-in-chief of the British Fifth Army, was ordered to defend the combined positions of the British and French armies, with the Fifth Army having only 14 divisions and defending a 52-mile front, while the other two armies in the north of the Fifth Army combined with 32 divisions and were responsible for only 61 miles of defensive lines.

In this way, if the five divisions that supported the Italian front last year were removed, Haig would have only six divisions of mobile strength left in his hands.

Therefore, Haig contacted the French General Staff to establish a support mechanism in which when either side's defense line encountered the wiki, the other side had to support unconditionally. However, with only six divisions of mobile strength in Haig's hands, Pétain, the chief of the French General Staff in charge of negotiations, also promised to send six French divisions to support the British in the event of an emergency.

So when Gough complained to Haig about the need for more troops, Haig told Gough that the French would send troops to support him if there was a problem with his defense. At this time, Petain's battle order to the French army was that if the battle situation was unfavorable, the French army should retreat to Paris to ensure the safety of Paris, rather than rescue the British army.

The reason why there have been so many changes stems from personnel changes within the British army.

Haig's disrespect for British Prime Minister Lloyd George was well known, and Lloyd George also saw that Haig was not pleasing to the eye and wanted to clean it up at any time, and the two also had many different opinions on the command, and various reasons accumulated together, and finally broke out in early 1918.

At the beginning of 1918, Lloyd George forced Haig to replace his chief of the General Staff, deputy chief of the General Staff, head of the intelligence department, head of the engineering department, and head of the medical department.

At the same time, Lloyd George appointed Henry Wilson as military representative to the Supreme War Council, which had been decided to establish last year, which was another affront to Haig. Henry Wilson had a discordant relationship with Haig, who was often criticized and a rival to Haig.

Haig, of course, did not show weakness, so he enlisted William Robert Robertson, the chief of the British General Staff, to fight Lloyd George.

Because Wilson was discharged by Lloyd George and at the same time Robertson's subordinate, the question arose whether Wilson should report to Lloyd George or Robertson.

Wilson's choice of Lloyd George caused Robertson's displeasure, and Robertson proved to Lloyd George that he was faithful to principles and not to rights, suggesting to Lloyd George that if Wilson did not follow the orders of the General Staff, then Robertson would resign.

Lloyd George couldn't get it, so Robertson resigned.

Robertson can also be regarded as benevolent.

Robertson, nicknamed "The Merry Man", was the only person in the British Army to be promoted from soldier to field marshal. After his resignation, Robertson wrote in a letter to Haig, "I am tired of this life full of death."

Tired of this life full of death......

Yes, the war has entered its fourth year, and many people are tired of it, but only Robertson dares to say it, and he really deserves to be a "happy man".

After Robertson's resignation, Lloyd George wanted to appoint Plummer, the commander-in-chief of the Second Group, as chief of the general staff, but Plummer thought of Robertson's fate and decisively rejected Lloyd George's appointment, so Wilson became chief of the general staff of the British army.

Considering the poor relationship between Wilson and Haig, the reasons for Haig's missteps are self-evident.

The British were too busy to give the Dutch enough support, so when the negotiations resumed, the Dutch found that neither the British nor the French were on their side.

The attitude of the British and the French was very clear, seeing that the Germans were about to launch an attack on an unprecedented scale, the British and French were not in the mood to "uphold justice" for the Dutch, and the British and French must ensure that Qin Zhiyuan concentrated all his energy on the European battlefield, so as to increase the chances of victory for their own side.

So the triumphant Huang Fugui made a seemingly impossible demand: the Dutch could keep the tax rights and interests of Borneo, but the Netherlands would no longer directly administer Borneo, and the management of Borneo would be the responsibility of the "Lanfang Company".

Hearing Huang Fugui's request, the Dutch representative Villardum was stunned, this request is really shameless, not to mention that the territories on Sumatra and Papua are now under the control of the colonial government, and even Suravia and Kalimantan, the "Lanfang Company" has not completely occupied, and the Lanfang Company is actually greedy enough to swallow elephants and make territorial claims to the entire Dutch East Indies, which is unacceptable to the Dutch.

Although the "Lanfang Company" proposed that the Dutch could retain the tax rights and interests of the Dutch in Borneo, everyone knew what was going on, and if the Dutch could not directly manage Borneo, the specific amount of tax revenue at that time would be completely up to the "Lanfang Company", and the annual tax of 100 million guilders would be given, and 10 million would also be given.

If you take into account the shamelessness of the "Lanfang Company", it is more likely to be ten thousand ...... per year

Even this 10,000 is estimated to not be able to give a few years.

What is even more unacceptable to Villardum is still to come, after listening to Huang Fugui's request, the representatives of Britain and France actually expressed that it was very reasonable and gladly supported Huang Fugui's request!

Support your sister?

If India were independent, would the British support it?

Will the French support Algeria if it wants independence?

Villardum was kicked out of the venue after scolding him on the spot.

This was followed by a closed-door meeting......

A closed-door meeting that shut out the Dutch representative Vilardum!

When the door opened again, the agreement had been signed, just waiting for Viraldum to sign it.

"I will never sign this, the Netherlands will never agree to such an unreasonable demand, you are too much!" Villardum was indignant.

Excessively?

This is the consistent style of Britain and France, think of the Republic of China at the Paris Peace Conference, think of Poland during World War II, there is no shamelessness, only more shamelessness.

Different from the original history, Qin Zhiyuan now belongs to the ranks of shameless, and he is the most shameless one.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether Villardum signed this word or not, since Britain and France signed this word, it means that Britain and France have recognized the legal existence of the "Lanfang Company", and in the future, Britain and France will not refuse to "trade" with the "Lanfang Company".

Because of Qin Zhiyuan's existence, there is no difference between this kind of "trade" and actual support, and it is also an upright support.

The current Dutch are already at an absolute disadvantage in the confrontation with the "Lanfang Company", if there is any more support from Britain and France......

The Dutch finally felt the malice of the whole world!

The Dutch were angry, lamenting, even weeping, but they didn't know who to turn to.

This kind of malice, the Chinese have felt it in the Dutch for hundreds of years, or the Chinese have felt it from the whole world for hundreds of years, and now it has finally returned it intact.

Did the British ask the Chinese how they felt when they smuggled opium into China?

Did you ask the Chinese how they felt when the Eight-Nation Coalition invaded the Qing Empire?

When the foreign powers forced the Qing government to sign unequal treaties again and again, did they ask the Chinese how they felt?

When the Chinese wailed in the "Red Creek Massacre", the Dutch did not care about the feelings of the Chinese; When the aborigines of Borneo invaded Chinese families, plundered Chinese property, and slaughtered Chinese members, the Dutch could pretend to turn a blind eye, so now, why do the Chinese care about the feelings of the Dutch?

Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi, nothing more.

(To be continued.) )