Although the French were not aware of the German-Italian conspiracy, this did not mean that the French had taken no action against the German-Italian agreement.

In fact, the French had long sensed the danger of the rise of dictatorships such as Italy and Germany, and tried to work with the British to tighten restrictions on the Germans to ensure that their military power did not expand as rapidly as Italy.

But the bad news is that the current number two in the world is France, which is also the biggest and direct competitor of the British Empire.

Compared with Germany, which is more chaotic at home and has not yet recovered its strength, the British are obviously more worried about the strength of the French.

Because of this, the second limitation of German military power planned by the French not only did not materialize, but also loosened the restrictions on Germany on the part of the British.

At this point, the French also knew that the British could not be trusted, so they turned the object of alliance to Austria.

At least in terms of restricting the Germans, the Austrian Reich was quite willing. After all, Austria is a neighbor of Germany, and there is no conflict of interest with France, so it is a relatively good ally.

After the German-Italian agreement was exposed, France urgently contacted the Austrian Imperial Foreign Service to discuss whether to formulate a potential defensive alliance for Germany-Italy relations.

The proposal of the French was strongly affirmed by Austria. On Christmas Day, the French Foreign Minister made an urgent trip to the Austrian Empire to discuss a plan for a defensive alliance that had already taken shape.

This defensive alliance was a purely alliance between Germany and Italy. According to the French proposal, the first clause of the defensive alliance was that if either country of France and the Austrian Empire was attacked by any other country, it would be equivalent to attacking the entire alliance.

Within a week's time, another defensive ally should provide diplomatic support and mobilize militarily at home.

Within two weeks' time, the defensive alliance should mobilize a part of its troops to the attacked country to perform the duties of the entire defensive alliance.

Although the terms of the defensive alliance do not specify which country is being attacked, the answer is obvious.

With the exception of Germany and Italy, two of the more crazy countries, no one would attack such great powers as France and the Austrian Empire without warning.

In addition to this defensive alliance, France and Austria signed a series of economic cooperation aimed at helping Austria recover its economy and return to its heyday of life, better dealing with its enemies, Germany and Italy.

This complete treaty of defense alliance was actually beneficial to Austria.

Because of this, Austria signed the treaty faster than France, and that speed was almost like fear that France would renege.

In fact, France really won't go back. After all, there were not many powers that France could win over at this time, and apart from Austria, the only stronger allies that France could win over might be Spain and Poland.

But the problem is that neither Spain nor Poland can be considered a great power. Moreover, both countries have their own problems at home, and there is very little help that can be provided to France.

Britain may be a more suitable ally, and perhaps only when Germany returns to its pre-World War I strength will Britain understand that the most formidable opponent in Europe is still Germany.

With the defensive alliance between France and Austria being made public, the situation in Europe has become significantly more foggy.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the German-Italian agreement and the Franco-Austrian defensive alliance are targeting and guarding against each other, and even some media have begun to boldly predict that in the near future, a war between Germany and Italy and France and Austria is likely to break out.

Such a bold prediction is not bold, but it has indeed attracted a part of the European public.

It's not that Europeans are curious about war, but because they're already afraid of wars like the First World War.

The people were afraid that another war of the size of the First World War would break out in Europe, with the participation of several major powers at every turn, and the casualties would casually exceed 10 million.

Although the British did not say anything about it, Australasia contacted Britain and France to put aside the peace talks about the Chaco War and end the war that had been going on for a long time.

The Australasian proposal was agreed to by Britain and France, and peace talks were expected to take place in early 1932 in Ciudad Oran, Argentina, near the Chaco region.

Holding peace talks in a non-war third country also symbolizes the non-partiality of the peace talks held by Britain, France, and Australia.

3 January 1932, Åland, Argentina.

After more than a week of careful preparations, diplomatic representatives from Britain, France and Australia, as well as Bolivia and Paraguay, arrived in Oran, Argentina.

In addition, diplomatic representatives of Chile and Argentina participated in the peace talks. Their role was to oversee peace in the Chaco region after the peace talks were reached, and to maintain order in South America on behalf of Britain, France, and Australia.

Why not Brazil? Because compared to Chile and Argentina, Brazil is the least close to Britain and France in the top three South American powers.

Naturally, the British would not be willing to join Brazil in such peace talks, lest the Brazilians benefit from the Chaco War.

On January 3, peace talks between Bolivia and Paraguay over the Chaco War officially began.

Because of the war so far, the number of casualties on both sides has been very large, and the peace talks between the two countries are no longer as perfunctory as before, and serious negotiations have been conducted.

But it is clear that without the intervention of the great powers, it would have been impossible for the two countries to end the war by their own diplomatic negotiations.

The Paraguayan side, because of its advantage in the war, chose to have an appetite. Paraguay demanded the annexation of the entire Chaco region, the advance of the front line to the de Issog swamps.

Naturally, Bolivia will not be careless about such conditions. Not to mention how devastating the loss of the entire Chaco region would be to Bolivia, the human toll suffered by Bolivia in this war alone made Bolivia unwilling to bear such a huge loss of land.

After all, the peace talks only solved the Paraguayan problem, but did not solve the sentiments of the Bolivian people.

Once the population knew that the war had not only killed and injured a large number of civilians, but also lost a lot of land, they feared that angry Bolivians would march and even armed conflict against the government's ignorant rule.

However, Bolivia is indeed at a disadvantage on the front line, which is also the biggest trouble in the Bolivian peace talks.

If the peace talks do not come to fruition, the Paraguayan army on the front line will still advance the battlefield to the vicinity of the Deisog marsh, which is essentially the same as the conditions demanded by the Paraguayan diplomatic representatives.

The Bolivian government also vetoed the Bolivian government's plan to rely on the peace talks to rehabilitate the army and launch a full-scale counteroffensive.

After all, while Bolivia is recovering, so is the Paraguayan army.

Paraguay also has the support of the two major powers, Britain and Australasia, and the speed and scale of access to supplies are not comparable to that of Bolivia today.

Britain, France, and Australia naturally do not want to see the peace talks between the two countries reach a stalemate. Under the influence of the three major powers, both Paraguay and Bolivia revised their terms, and the peace talks finally made some progress.

The first is the Paraguayan side. As the dominant side in the war, Paraguay still demanded the largest amount of land in the Chuck region, about 180,000 square kilometers.

With these lands as an expansion, Paraguay will be much larger in size, and when it faces Bolivia again, there will not be much of a gap in terms of strategic depth and land area, at least in terms of land area.

What's more, most of the oil in the North Chaco region is right where Paraguay requires.

This also means that Paraguay can earn a lot of wealth from the land it has acquired, which can be used to improve the economy and other construction of the whole country.

Under the circumstances of one another, it is really difficult to say who will be stronger and who will be weak in Paraguay and Bolivia in the future.

Even if another Chaco war broke out, Paraguay would not be afraid of Bolivia, even without the aid of the Great Powers.

Paraguay's offer is actually quite reasonable. Even if Paraguay divides up 180,000 square kilometers of land in the Northern Chaco region, there are still about 80,000 square kilometers of land left in the Chaco region for Bolivia.

At least Bolivia also gained land, and it doesn't look like the war was so lost.

But the Bolivian side also put forward another condition, which was the desire to obtain navigation rights to enter the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraguay River.

Bolivia has been completely landlocked in its history and wars.

As we all know, the most important form of economic exchange at present is still maritime transport. Without access to the sea, Bolivia's development has lagged significantly behind that of other South American powers, and the gap is widening.

After this defeat to Paraguay, Bolivia is no longer a power in South America. If we don't find a way to find an outlet to the sea to accelerate the development of the domestic economy, I am afraid that in the next ten years, Bolivia will be able to compete with the weakest country in South America.

Bolivian diplomatic representatives are also clearly aware of their situation than they have direct access to the sea.

All he asked for was the right of navigation for Bolivian ships to be able to cross the Paraguay River into the Atlantic.

The Paraguay River is a large river in South America that flows through Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and finally Argentina, passing through Rosario and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

Although it will take a long river to reach the Atlantic Ocean from Bolivia, it is better than not having any outlet to the sea.

After careful consideration, the Paraguayan diplomatic representative finally agreed to the proposal of the Bolivian diplomatic representative that Bolivian vessels could be allowed to pass through the Paraguayan River in Paraguay.

But only if these passing ships are non-military and cannot carry too much weaponry.

This was also strongly requested by Paraguay to be included in the contract as a binding force on Bolivia.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)