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Chapter 58

When Zhang Jiashi was studying in later generations, he knew a sentence, that is, "a weak country has no diplomacy". Please search (product # book...... The fastest update

At first, he didn't understand what the meaning of this sentence was, but after traveling to the Qin Empire for more than ten years, and during the nearly five years that he had been in charge of the empire's military administration, he understood the meaning of this sentence.

Of course, if Zhang Jiashi had understood the development of history in detail, then he would not have thought that this sentence was completely reasonable.

Because although this sentence is a sentence that can summarize the situation under normal circumstances, it does not mean that there are no individual examples.

For example, the foreign policy of the Third Reich in later generations was an exception.

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Germany was defeated in World War I, and its policy of further asserting and expanding its security interests failed. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, which was highly predatory, dealt a fatal blow to Germany. This will inevitably cause Germany to strengthen its defense of its own security interests.

The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of more than 70,000 square kilometers of territory, 7.3 million people, and the occupation of the Saarland and the left bank of the Rhine. Germany lost 75% of its iron ore, 44% of its pig iron production capacity, 38% of its steel production capacity, and 26% of its coal production. Germany was forced to abandon all its overseas colonies and lost its vast market space. The loss of German territory, narrowed the domestic market.

In order to restore and preserve Germany's security interests, the foreign policy of the Weimar Republic was guided by the idea that everything depended on the restoration of the power of the German nation-state. Its primary purpose was to clarify the economic and military problems in Franco-German relations, to eliminate the Franco-German "feud", and to get France to withdraw its troops from the Ruhr and the Rhineland.

As a result of the defeat in the war and the imminent collapse of the economy, Germany's security interests were reduced to the most basic level – the maintenance of security for the main elements that make up itself: territory, population, political organization, and sovereignty.

By the time Hitler came to power, German industrial capital had more than doubled by 1928, and heavy industrial production had caught up with and exceeded pre-war levels. From 1928 to 1929, Germany produced one-third of all industrial products in Europe, excluding the Soviet Union. Germany once again surpassed Britain and France in economic power and was second only to the United States in the capitalist world.

(The main contents of the Dawes plan were: the Entente countries supervised the reorganization of the Deutsche Bank, implemented monetary reform, and the Entente countries borrowed 800 million gold marks to stabilize their currency system, and set an annual limit for German reparations, starting from 1 billion gold marks in the first year, and increasing to 2.5 billion gold marks a year in the fifth year; Germany will pay reparations from customs duties, monopoly taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar, railway revenues, and taxes on industrial and commercial enterprises; and issue 11 billion gold marks of railway bonds; 5 billion gold marks of industrial bonds, and Germany's financial foreign exchange, railway operations and tax collection are internationally regulated. Germany made the withdrawal of French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr a condition for accepting the reparations plan. ）

After the implementation of the Dawes Plan, a large amount of foreign capital, mainly from the United States, continued to flow into Germany. In 1924~1929, Germany received a total of 32.6 billion marks in foreign loans and investments, of which 70% was American capital. More than 90% of the loans fall to major German companies and enterprises, and the loan interest is high, with a gross rate of 6.5%~10%. In terms of reparations, Dawes planned to reduce the total amount of reparations, increasing the amount of reparations from DM 1 billion in the first year to DM 2.5 billion in the final year for the five years from 1924/1925 to 1928/1929, which could be adjusted according to the annual prosperity index. The reality is that in the four years before September 1928, when the Dawes Plan came into effect, Germany paid only half of what they had borrowed from abroad, both in cash and in kind, and then the reparations were basically stopped, and later even the debts were refused, and the United States, Britain, and other countries made another loss-making business.

After the implementation of the plan, Germany's economy was stabilized and resumed to develop because it received a large amount of material equipment and technical help from the United States; France, Britain, and other countries received some reparations; during the same period, the US economy gradually prospered, providing capital to Europe and expanding imports, thus stabilizing the European economy as a whole.

Although Europe experienced World War I, the original concentration of capital and the purpose of production did not change, and the original way of man continued to be more than enough in the original direction, so there was no basis for high profit margins. On the contrary, the First World War and the post-war crisis also promoted the monopoly and concentration of capital, and the Dawes Plan played a similar role, for example, in Germany, where 90% of loans went to major companies and enterprises, and it was more like turning Germany into a profitable colony of the United States and Britain.

Of course, the nature of this colony was different from that of other colonies at that time, but similar to the neo-colonial form of post-World War II neocolonialism towards developing countries, but its essence was the same, that is, to obtain profits from these places to make up for the lack of domestic profits, and the result was the same, unsustainable, and its loans were difficult to recover without changing the purpose of production. In fact, the debt lent to Germany was never recovered.

For these reasons, the German economy has only been revitalized by a large amount of foreign capital and technology imports. By 1927, with the deepening of the impoverishment of the people and the basic completion of the renewal of fixed capital in industry, it was difficult for the domestic market to continue to expand, and it was difficult for foreign markets to be seized, the industrial production of consumer goods was deteriorating, and the speed of industrial development of the whole industry was greatly reduced. Before the world economic crisis in 1929, Germany asked for a postponement of the payment of reparations, even in a relatively stable period, the entire industrial production capacity was only used 60%~65%, and the average annual unemployment reached 1.5 million ~ 2 million, which was more serious than that of Britain, which was caused by the fact that its production purpose had not changed.

At the same time, because Germany's territory was incomplete after World War I, the country's most basic security interests were not safeguarded. The German economy was controlled to a certain extent by the United States, Britain, France and other countries, and when an economic crisis broke out in the United States, Germany was immediately drawn into the economic crisis.

Therefore, in order for Germany's economy to develop rapidly and healthily, it must rely on its own strength, increase the input of self-reliant production capital, and expand reproduction, so as to truly develop Germany's economy. However, as mentioned earlier, Germany lost its territory, population, colonies, and other resources after World War I. Therefore, if Germany wants to develop its economy, it must regain these resources.

The deterioration of the security environment around the country has led to the strengthening of the "security setting" of the country, which has made it more inclined to adopt confrontational behavior. In such a situation where the basic interests of national security urgently need to be restored and economic development requires the expansion of national security interests, Hitler's fascist Nazis, who advocate war and expand the "living space," came to power.

In October 1933, Germany withdrew from the World Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations. In March 1935, Germany publicly tore up the military articles of Versailles on the grounds that France had amended its constitution.

On March 7, 1936, more than 30,000 German troops were stationed in the Rhine area. In August 1936, Germany drew up the "August Plan" to prepare for the expansion of the army. At this point, the Treaty of Versailles had been completely destroyed, and Germany had taken the first step to safeguard its security interests. In the field of foreign policy, it is generally accepted that Hitler did not represent a radical break with the past, but on the contrary, his thoughts and actions were the same as those of the German leaders before him.

David Calleo brilliantly observed: "In foreign policy, the similarities between Reich and Nazi Germany are clear. ...... "Even without Hitler and his murderous ideology, Germany would certainly have become an aggressive country by the end of the 30s of the 20th century."

However, Nazi fascism is an ultra-nationalism with the aim of war. The dominance and control of the state apparatus by the powerful institutions of the state and the expansion of interests is the reason for the decision-making of the state to adopt conflict strategies and carry out conflict-based behavior.

The ruling class it dominates is too extreme in its subjective judgment of security interests, and its definition of the goals and scope of its own security interests has seriously deviated from the scope that it should cover. This led to the frenzied pursuit of its distorted security interests by the German fascists, which eventually led to the outbreak of World War II.

In essence, the state's safeguarding of security interests means maintaining the status quo that is beneficial to security or changing the status quo that is detrimental to national security. The definition of a State's security interests should be based on its own strength. Only when the state makes a correct judgment on its security interests can it succeed in safeguarding its security interests.

The evolution of foreign policy reflects the safeguarding of the country's security interests. The evolution of Germany's foreign policy has always reflected the preservation of its security interests. Germany's action to safeguard its security interests will succeed when the definition of security interests is in line with Germany's national strength at the time and the requirements of the more legitimate interests of the state. Otherwise, it is bound to fail.

The Munich Conference can be seen as a triumphant manifestation of Germany's "weak country diplomacy" at that time:

On September 29~30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Daladier, Nazi Germany Führer Hitler and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini held a four-nation summit on the cession of the Sudetenland territory of Czechoslovakia to Germany in Munich, Germany.

Before the Munich Conference, Czechoslovakia was home to more than 3 million ethnic Germans, most of whom lived in the Sudetenland. The German fascists took advantage of the inter-ethnic problems of Czechoslovakia to stir up trouble and create a pretext for aggression. In October 1933, Germany supported the Germans in the Sudetenland and Japan as an instrument of aggression.

In March 1938, Germany forcibly annexed Austria.

In April, Hitler instigated ethnic Germans to demand "autonomy" for the Sudetenland, and German troops simultaneously assembled on the German-Czech border and threatened with force, as Czechoslovakia was determined to resist. Hitler was forced to retreat temporarily.

On September 12, Hitler gave a speech at Nuremberg in which he publicly announced his intention to aid the Sudetenland Germans. Riots broke out in the Sudetenland that night, and there was a September crisis.

On September 15, Chamberlain went to Berchtesgaden, Germany, to hold talks with Hitler, and did not hesitate to back down repeatedly, saying that Britain "recognizes the principle of Sudetenland secession."

On 19 September, Britain and France pressured the Czech Republic to cede the Sudetenland. On September 21, Czech Republic was forced to accept British and French proposals.

On 22 September, Chamberlain flew to Germany again to meet with Hitler. Hitler demanded the annexation of more territories and threatened war on 26 September, creating unprecedented tensions.

The Munich Agreement, known as the Agreement on the Cession of the Sudetenland by Czechoslovakia to Germany, consisted of eight main articles, one annex and three declarations.

Its main contents were: the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany, the completion of the occupation by the German army in October 1938 of these and other German-majority areas, and the fact that any equipment existing in these areas must be handed over to Germany in good condition; An international committee composed of Czech deputies should hold a referendum before the end of November to determine their ownership and demarcate the final border; the Czech government should release the Sudetenland political prisoners who are serving prison sentences within four weeks; the relevant government must resolve the issue of the Polish and Hungarian minorities in the Czech Republic within three months, otherwise, the heads of state of Germany, Britain, France, and Italy will meet again to discuss it; Britain and France will guarantee that the Czech and new borders will not be invaded; and when the issue of minority minorities in the Czech Republic is resolved, Germany will also provide guarantees to the Czech Republic.

The Munich Conference and the Munich Agreement were a concentrated expression of the policy of appeasement pursued by Britain and France (Britain and France were the main promoters of the policy of appeasement) and were important steps taken by Hitler to intensify preparations for war. The agreement forced the Czech Republic to lose 11,000 square miles of territory, 3.6 million inhabitants, and more than one-half of its economic resources, to lose its defensive fortresses as a security barrier in the border areas, and to undermine France's alliance system in Central and Eastern Europe, thereby strengthening Nazi Germany's economic and military power and fueling the aggressive arrogance of the German, Italian, and Japanese fascists.

In March 1939, Hitler trampled on the international pledges he had promised in the pact and sent troops to occupy the entire territory of the Czech Republic. Britain and France, on the other hand, have reneged on their promises and refused to fulfill their international obligations to guarantee the Czech-Singapore border. The Munich Conference and the Munich Agreement hastened the outbreak of World War II.

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Before the establishment of the Qin Empire, Qin's foreign policy was mainly dominated by the system of "distant friendship and close attack".

And even in the unification war of the Qin State against the six countries, the diplomatic method of distant friendship and close attack still existed.

Among them, Qin's foreign policy against Qi is a manifestation of this.

And what can be said is that if it weren't for the fact that the Qin State had stabilized and had actually recovered a certain strength, and it could be regarded as the Qi State with the strongest national strength of the six Kwantung countries at that time, if the Qi State was allowed to reinforce the other five countries attacked by the Qin State everywhere, then this would undoubtedly be a considerable trouble for the Qi State.

Because even the military strength of the Qi State did not have a clear statement at that time, and the fall of the Qi State had already come to an end without experiencing a real war.

But this does not mean that the combat capability of the Qi army at that time was really unbearable.

Moreover, although the national strength of Qi was already inferior to that of Qin, or even far inferior, when the five Kwantung countries still existed, the support of Qi was a very powerful help to block the pace of Qin's destruction of the Six Kingdoms.

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