On October 18, 1918, the Treaty of Madrid, the armistice in Europe, was signed, and the four-year-long war in Europe finally came to an end. Germany, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary led the peace talks, and the Americans appeared as mediators.

Germany and Austria finally backed down in the negotiations, and the British were able to retain their colonial rule over Egypt, while the Suez Canal was handed over to Britain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. In exchange, Germany received control of the Sultan. The British took back at the negotiating table most of the colonies they had lost on the battlefield, at the expense of the French and Italians.

The only thing that made the British angry was that the Austro-Hungarian side refused to return control of the island of Malta, and even did not hesitate to go to war with Britain again.

As defeated countries, France and Italy lost their bargaining power at the negotiating table, and France's North African colonies in Tunisia and French Somaliland were handed over to Germany for "escrow", while the French colony of Annam was transferred to Germany and Austria as part of the war reparations.

Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, received Italian Hippolytania and Cyrenaica, as well as Rhodes and Corfu. As the victorious power, the Ottomans gained nothing but great sacrifices in this war, and finally regained their rule over Mesopotamia.

The Bulgarians were also quite dissatisfied, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire refused to meet their demand for the annexation of Macedonia at all, allowing them to occupy only the Thracian region, and established a Macedonian kingdom under the austro-Hungarian Empire, including Thessaloniki. This decision of Austria-Hungary directly offended the Bolgars and Greeks, but given that the Habsburgs were now in a strong position, the two countries were only afraid to speak out, and relations with Vienna also deteriorated sharply.

Surprisingly, the Austro-Hungarian side allowed Peter I to return to Serbia, continue his rule, and promised to withdraw the garrison in Serbia and Montenegro within three years. However, since Belgrade was razed to the ground during the war, the Serbs waited for the capital to Kraljevo in the south.

Japan was so busy in the war that it had to return to Germany all the German colonies it had occupied during the war. However, with the protection of the United States and Britain, its war reparations were reduced to 1.7 billion yen. This was exactly ten times more than the cost of the battleships of the "Yamato" class that they built thereafter.

Since China "maintained neutrality" during the war, the Madrid Peace Conference naturally did not have anything to do with the Beiyang government, so it did not trigger large-scale protests in China because of the "unfair treatment" during the peace conference, which was more conducive to maintaining the stability of the Beiyang political situation.

"The Madrid Peace Conference was only a twenty-year truce, a dirty deal between the British and the German-Austrian, which sacrificed the interests of the French and Italians, and made the two countries full of hatred for Germany and Austria. The British were trying to maintain their hegemony, but it was clear that they were also deeply unhappy with the loss of control of the Malta and Suez Canals. The fierce confrontation between Britain on the one hand and Germany and Austria on the other did not end, and sooner or later it would lead to another war! ”

Since no more benefits were gained from the war, and in particular, US President Wilson's so-called 14-point peace proposal was not recognized by the Madrid Peace Conference, the American Christian Monitor was not without malice in attacking the outcome of the Madrid Peace Treaty.

Dissatisfaction with the outcome of the Madrid Peace Conference led to large-scale riots in both Japan and Turkey. In Japan, the military began to come to power, and in Turkey, this is only the beginning.

At present, all eyes are still focused on Russia, and the imperialist countries, fearful of the red Soviet power, are actively intervening in the civil war in Russia. The British were supporting Yudenich and Denikin by providing aid to the Baltic rebel Yudenich by the Guò Sea, and even sent "volunteers" and Guò Persia to supply arms to Denikin's so-called "Caucasus Federation".

The German-Austrian side supported the independence of the Ukrainians and the Don Cossacks, with whose support the Republic of Ukraine and the Greater Don Cossack Republic were established.

In Siberia, the United States and Japan were supporting Kolchak, and the insufficiently armed Americans, in order to contain Japan, pulled the Chinese together to take military intervention in the Far East.

At the Champ Palace, the young crown prince Karl receives a summons from the emperor.

"Sit down, Carl." Hayton sat behind a large desk, signed a piece of paper, and then clipped the whole text and placed it on top of a large stack of papers. He glanced up at his nephew, "I called you here this time to make you the new governor of Annam. ”

"What do you mean by this, if you have any grievances against me, I can willingly give up the crown prince to Maximilian." Archduke Karl said.

"You are wrong, I asked you to be the governor of Annam, not to deprive you of your inheritance, on the contrary, this is to train you to be a qualified heir to the throne." Lecheldon's expression was slightly annoyed, and Karl was still a little too blunt to speak, not a qualified politician, "Maximilian is interested in science and art, and he is not a qualified heir to the throne, and he is not interested in politics and military affairs at all. I asked you to go to Annam because I wanted you to know more about the East and deal more with the Chinese. The future of the empire is not in the Atlantic, it has already been carved up. The future of the empire is in the East, and I just want you to have a deeper understanding of the East. Can you understand what I'm talking about? ”

"Why the East?" Karl said, looking up.

"The market and interests, if you don't deeply experience and understand, you will never understand these. The empire had so much territory and population, and it was not very rich in natural resources. It's a big world, Carl, and I want you to have the opportunity to go to the United States every year. English-speaking people rule the oceans, but we are their enemies. Yes, as long as we want to be a world power, we will always be their enemies. "Britain and the United States, they have the most resource-rich territory in the world, and the only thing we can compete with them is the market." Now a war without the smoke of gunpowder has begun, and if we are defeated here, then in the next war, maybe in 15 or 25 years, we will be completely defeated, completely dismembered and divided. ”

"Why? The next war? ”

"Yes, unless we completely dissipate, or the British are in complete decline, and have no ambition to dominate European affairs, sooner or later the conflict will break out." "That's why I've been resisting pressure from the Empress and insisting that you inherit the throne." You already have a wealth of military experience, and what you need now is to strengthen your political mind and economic vision. ”

"Okay, I'll follow your decision, when will I go?" Archduke Karl said, "Can I bring my family with me?" ”

"Of course, next month the Navy needs to escort a batch of Chinese convoys, and it was planned to send a cruiser fleet to escort it, but now I have changed my mind and will send the 3rd Battlefleet. You go with the Grand Duke of 'Isteria', how come you are also the crown prince of the empire, and you need to maintain the face of the empire, don't you? Leadon said with a smile.

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