The first month of 1920 was also calm, the international situation was not so chaotic, and everything seemed to be going in a good direction.

Whether these are temporary or permanent Arthur is unknown, but the following February will be more important for the development of the world situation.

At the auspices of the British, a conference on naval arms limitation was held in London, with the participation of many countries of the World Alliance, as well as some non-World Alliance invited countries.

After all, the British Empire is still the world hegemon at this time, and the invitation of the British, except for some countries that have already torn their skins, basically no country will refuse.

Of course, not all countries can get an invitation from the British. This is a conference on limiting the size of naval armaments, and the participants are all countries with sufficient naval scale, after all, the absence of a navy is not the biggest limitation?

This also led to a limited number of countries actually participating in the negotiations, led by a few major powers, but also some small countries in Europe and the United States, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and so on.

Although the number of countries participating in the conference reached nearly 20, it was none other than a few major powers that really had the power to make decisions.

Other countries simply cannot compete with the great powers in terms of their navies, and naturally they cannot be stupid enough to engage in a naval arms race with the great powers.

It is precisely because of this that as soon as the meeting began, everyone looked to the side of the British representative, waiting for the British representative to speak first.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for the sake of peace and stability in the world, it is necessary for us to hold a conference to come up with a relatively reasonable measure to resolve the disputes and even the problems of war caused by the military disparity between various countries and regions." British Foreign Secretary Grey was the first to speak, and said with a smile as if I was for the good of you and the whole world.

After Gray spoke, the French representative shook his head noncommittally and took a sip of the coffee next to him.

"Minister Gray is right. Throughout the history of the world, every war has been a tragedy in the history of mankind, and we should try to avoid it.

If there really is a measure that allows us to avoid war as much as possible, it will be a good thing for all of us here, for the whole world and for all humanity. The Englishman's hardcore little brother, the Greek Foreign Secretary, was the first to speak and save Minister Gray's face.

"I wonder what Minister Gray has planned to prevent the entire world from going to war?" There are also some more pragmatic ones, such as the Spanish foreign minister, who have raised their own questions.

"It's simple." Minister Gray said with a smile: "Looking at the previous wars, most of the reasons were because of the huge disparity in military strength, which allowed a country's government and careerists to wage war with impunity. ”

"It is precisely because of this that we need to balance the military power of each region, to ensure that any strong country will be limited by other countries, so that war can be avoided as much as possible, and it is possible for those governments and countries that want to start a war to think carefully about the consequences of losing a war."

Minister Gray seems to be righteous, but most countries don't have much trust in what Minister Gray says.

Although this statement seems to make sense, the question is, if the military balance between regions can really be reasonably constructed, does this not mean that the privileges between the great powers will be lost?

More importantly, who should a country like the British Empire, which has a superpower at sea, be allowed to restrain it?

Let's not talk about whether there is any country that can restrict the UK, the question is, are the British willing to let other countries limit themselves?

The problems have led to the end of the circle of what Minister Gray is talking about, and what seems to be a very reasonable proposal that has no hope of being implemented is, as the representative of France chuckled, a little funny.

It is important to know that the real reason for the military differences between regions is actually the strength of the comprehensive national strength of each country.

Countries with more resources and funds are destined to spend more on the military than those with poor resources, and this cannot be changed by any external force.

For example, the British Empire and Greece, no matter how hard Greece tries, its military strength is unlikely to pose a threat to the British Empire.

The overall strength of the country depends on the economy, industry, land area, mineral resources, manpower, etc., and it is impossible to completely offset it with the proposal that Minister Gray has said.

However, although Minister Gray's proposal is somewhat ridiculous, after all, he is the foreign secretary of the most powerful country in the world, and no other country dares to stand up and dismantle it.

Even the French, with a secret chuckle, were enough to see the strength and prestige of the British at this stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for the sake of peace in the world and a better life for mankind, I feel that it is necessary to unite and adjudicate the situation of each country in order to avoid a situation in which the military power increases dramatically and leads to war." The absence of anyone was very satisfying to Minister Gray, and at the same time made Minister Gray more ambitious and took advantage of the situation to make demands on disarmament.

But the problem is that disarmament is clearly an unacceptable proposal for some countries, especially France, the current greatest adversary of the British.

France's only advantage over Britain is the size and strength of its army. To say that it is disarmament is actually to limit the size of the army.

After all, the British are certainly not willing to adjudicate on the navy, and the disarmament of the army is not much of a loss for the British, after all, the combat effectiveness of the recruits and the regular army is not much different.

"Minister Gray, can you elaborate on your plans for disarmament?" As expected, the French representative couldn't sit still, stood up directly, and asked with an unkind face.

If Minister Gray's disarmament proposals were only about the Army, the French delegates were not even sure that they would turn the tables in anger and leave, because that would have turned into a blatant attack on France.

"Of course, it's about the Army and the Navy. Wouldn't it be a good thing to propose that all of us negotiate a better approach to disarmament in order to ensure that it is on a level of fairness for all countries, which would not only reduce the probability of war, but also reduce the expenses of all countries and use them for the livelihood of the people? In the face of the question of the French representative, Minister Gray did not have the slightest panic on his face, and even did not change his face, and replied seriously.

"Your Excellency Gray, how is the proportion of disarmament determined? You know, the situation and geographical location of the countries you represent are completely different, and the relevant national conditions are completely different, so you can't maintain the same ratio, right? The representatives of the island countries also stood up and asked their own questions.

Compared to France, the current situation facing the island nation is even more extreme.

As an island country, the strength of the island country's army is far greater than that of its navy.

At present, the naval strength of the island nation ranks fifth in the world, and there are four countries in front of it: the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Australasia.

Although the naval strength has surpassed that of Italy and Russia, the problem is that one of these two countries is the last among the great powers, and the other is facing a serious crisis of civil war.

"Rather than determining the proportion of disarmament, it is uncertain what percentage of States retain armaments. Wouldn't the total disarmament of armaments, with the exception of those that need to be retained, guarantee the fairness of disarmament? Minister Gray said with a smile.

As Minister Gray's words fell, the audience fell into a brief silence.

It is clear that what Minister Gray said is unlikely to come true, because it is simply not possible for all the countries present here to accept proposals to reduce their armaments without justification, nor to find a disarmament formula that satisfies all States.

Seeing that there was not much support for his disarmament program, Secretary Gray was not in a hurry, but instead turned to the real purpose of the meeting, which was the limitation of the proportion of naval armaments.

"Let's start with the proposal to limit naval armaments. In addition to the ratio of each country's navy according to its industrial strength and comprehensive national strength, which we have previously determined, I think it is necessary to add another article, that is, the tonnage limit for new warships. Minister Gray continued.

"With the competition in naval armaments, the tonnage of warships has exceeded 30,000 tons, which is very exaggerated and incredible. I believe that it is very necessary to limit the tonnage of warships of various countries to 20,000 tons, so as to reduce the expenditure of super-large warships on various countries and the advantages of equipment. ”

Determining the specific scale and proportion of the naval armaments of various countries in accordance with their comprehensive national strength and industrial level was something that had been determined as early as the regular meeting of the World Alliance.

But the problem is that such a division is not necessarily fair to some countries, after all, countries with strong navies also have less strong industrial strength, such as island countries that have recently joined the conference.

The island country is actually very special, if you only look at it from the point of view of military strength, the island country is definitely a great power country, the army strength and naval strength are very strong, not weaker than the previous Austria-Hungary.

But the problem is that because of the limitations of its own land area and mineral resources, the industrial development of the island country has been very slow, and the industrial level and economic level are relatively low, even far less than the current Australasia.

According to the data released by the island countries two years ago, it seems that the steel production of the island countries has just exceeded 800,000 tons.

Two years of development have allowed the island country's steel output to exceed 1 million tons at most, which is not even a third of Australasia's steel production, which is enough to see the island country's industrial shortcomings.

If we really refer to the development of industry, the island countries are destined to have a large gap with other countries in terms of the proportion of naval size.

Even pessimistically, even Russia, which has a continuous civil war, does not necessarily have a lower level of industry than the island countries.

This also means that, according to the proposal of the British, the island nation has no hope of catching up with other powers in terms of navy, and as an island country, the potential for development has almost been cut off.

No matter how strong the army of the island country is, as long as the navy is not as good as that of other countries, the army can only mess around on its own territory.

Island countries must attach importance to their navies, which is a necessary condition brought about by geographical location and the fundamental basis for the strength of an island country.

Therefore, even if they do not want to offend the British again, the representatives of the island countries must argue with reason as to the basis for dividing the proportions and sizes of the navies of various countries.

At the end of the meeting, there were finally people who interrupted and refuted the British, and the delegates of various countries were also happy to have opinions on this, and they were ready to eat melons.

"Minister Gray, this plan is very unfair to the island nation, and I ask that the size and military strength of the existing navies of each country be taken into account, rather than only the comprehensive strength and industrial level of the country." The representative of the island country hurriedly stood up, and while retorting, he bowed to the British representative, not forgetting the etiquette at all.

Although the representatives of the island countries stood up and took a clear stand against Britain, the representatives of the United States, an ally of the islanders at this time, did not think so.

Although the people of the island nation will suffer a big loss by referring to the comprehensive national strength and industrial strength, the problem is that the industrial strength of the Americans at this time is definitely the first in the world, and they have a natural advantage in the division of the size of the navy.

If, as the islanders say, we refer to the existing military strength of each country, the superiority of the Americans will be handed over again.

After all, the scale of the current military strength of the Americans is actually not huge, except for the second navy in the world, the size of the army is definitely the bottom of the great powers.

"I'm afraid it's the most unfair to refer to the current military strength of each country!" The representative of Australasia stood up and said with a smile on his face: "At present, in addition to the country's defense needs, is there no element of reckless military force? If we refer to the military strength of each country, I believe that it goes against the original intention of restricting the navy, and encourages those countries that are not strong in industry and want to focus on military development. ”

"The idea of being reckless in military force is terrible, because it can't support the cost of a large army, and it's easier to create a war that shouldn't have to happen." The representative of Australasia went on to say: "We should not promote this kind of thinking, and we should try to avoid proposals to judge the size and proportion of the navy by military strength."

If the representatives of the island countries are not willing to measure it by industry, then let it be measured by the economy! Whether it can afford the expenditure required for military strength is also the basis for judging whether a country is stable and will not blindly wage war against foreign countries. ”

The words of the representative of Australasia are already obvious to the islanders.

The representatives of various countries also looked at the representatives of the island countries who were a little surprised and angry.

However, before the islanders could reply, the French stood up and expressed their agreement: "The representative of Australasia is right when he says that economic strength is the measure of whether a country can support its military strength. ”

4000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

Today, 10,000 days, it has been more 7000/10000, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

The third is about a little bit.,It's been a long time.,I didn't grasp the time.,Sorry.。

(End of chapter)