Minister Roman's first act when he arrived in London was to meet with the famous British main war faction, expressing his fear of Germany's terrifying military strength and his own firm main war ideas.

Although Winston Churchill was far from the government, he served in the British cabinet as Secretary of State for the Interior, Secretary of State for the Navy, Secretary of State for Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air Force, Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs and Secretary of State for the Exchequer.

The former cabinet member, who has turned writer and well-known critic, once said meaningfully after hearing Minister Roman's resolute attitude towards the main battle: "Perhaps the fate of the country behind you and me will be decided by tomorrow's meeting." ”

On April 10, 1936, British Prime Minister Baldwin met with Minister Roman, representing France, and a diplomatic conference was held.

At this meeting, Minister Roman referred to the German-Austrian war that had broken out two days earlier and said very bluntly: "I don't think it's just a war between Germany and Austria, it's a big war that will spread across all of Europe.

France needed the support of Great Britain, which was an important guarantee for our victory over Germany. Without support from the British, France would have lost the war, and we had to look for ways to reduce casualties and save the dying France. ”

What Minister Roman said was very simple, summed up in one sentence, that is, if Britain enters the war, I will fight, and if Britain does not enter the war, I will surrender, as a threat to Prime Minister Baldwin and the British government.

If it had been a year ago, Prime Minister Baldwin would have scoffed at the threat of the French, and would have even mocked them outright, ignoring the actions of the French.

But now it's different. Germany was far more powerful than it had been a year earlier, and it posed a far greater threat to the British. More importantly, Prime Minister Baldwin saw extraordinary composure and firmness in the eyes of Minister Roman, which also made Prime Minister Baldwin hesitate.

If Minister Roman were just one person, Prime Minister Baldwin categorically would not care about Minister Roman's words. But the problem is that Minister Roman represents the entire French government.

If this is the unanimous opinion of the French government, then the British government will have to consider it. If France was really forced to give up resistance, would Britain still be able to defeat Germany, which ruled all of Central and Western Europe?

Although there is a high probability that France will not surrender, Prime Minister Baldwin does not dare to bet on that probability. If Germany were allowed to dominate Central and Western Europe and threaten the hegemony of the British Empire, his premiership in Britain would come to an end, and he would definitely suffer the wrath of the majority.

But directly participating in the war and helping France is something that Prime Minister Baldwin does not want to see. The damage caused to Britain by the last super war is still vivid, and it has also made many leaders and factions in the British government.

For the conservative Prime Minister Baldwin, it was much more difficult to go to war against the odds than to force Edward VIII to abdicate.

After all, on the Edward VIII issue, Prime Minister Baldwin was in charge of the cause, and had the support of the Church, the colonial governments, and the British people.

But the consequences of starting a war are definitely not something that Prime Minister Baldwin can afford alone.

Seeing Prime Minister Baldwin's hesitation, Minister Roman took the opportunity to present his own plan for Australasia: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, I understand what you are worried about. But be assured that if your country is able to join the fray, France will have an absolute chance of victory.

As long as we can talk about moving Australasia into this war, with your country's alliance with Australasia, I believe that Australasians will not refuse.

With Australasia's help, we have an absolute chance of winning this war. At the same time, we can prevent any country from profiting from this war.

After the end of the war, your country will still be the most powerful country, France will not ask for more land, our aim is to maintain the status quo. ”

"Australasia?" Prime Minister Baldwin nodded silently, a little less skeptical of the absolute odds proposed by Minister Roman.

According to the current recognized ranking of countries, the United Kingdom, France and Australasia should be the top three in the world. While Germany's sudden rise has made the rankings unreliable, they are largely similar.

In the German-Italian alliance, only the Germans were in the top five. Italy and the island countries have their own shortcomings, and they can only be said to be fighting for five, but they are definitely not the top five powers in the world.

From the perspective of Britain> Germany, France> Italy, Australasia > island countries, this war does have a good chance of winning.

Although Germany also had an ally, Spain, France also had the Austrian Empire as an ally, and the overall strength was still stronger.

However, these assumptions did not prompt Prime Minister Baldwin to agree to join the war, and the conservative Prime Minister Baldwin had all sorts of problems after all.

"Although you counted most of the powers, you didn't think of the Russians." Prime Minister Baldwin thought for a moment before he spoke: "The Russians are also a threat, and if there is no way to get the Russians to join the war, I do not think this war is good for the British Empire." ”

"The Russians will not be able to avoid this war." Prime Minister Roman smiled and said: "From the Russian invasion of Poland, it can be seen that the Russians still maintain the huge territorial ambitions of the Tsarist period.

Moreover, they would never allow Germany to dominate Europe, and Germany would never allow a country so powerful in Eastern Europe that it could threaten their capital, Berlin, at will.

We have built the Maginot Line on the border, which can be relied upon to keep the German army out of the border. Once the offensive in Western Europe came to a standstill, war between Germany and Russia was not far off.

At that time, we will only need to sit quietly in the Maginot Line, and then we can sit back and watch the super-war between Germany and Russia. ”

Although he had his own unique ideas, Minister Roman's impression of the Germans was still stuck in World War I and the previous wars, and naturally he did not think that the Maginot Line, which France had worked so hard to build, would basically not play a role in the next war.

Prime Minister Baldwin, who is a contemporary, naturally has no doubts about Minister Roman's words. The Maginot Line, which the French built at great cost, was also known to Prime Minister Baldwin.

Even if the Germans were well prepared, it would take at least several months to nibble at the Maginot Line against the French.

This period could also be used to prepare for war, and it would have been great if the Germans had been forced to set their sights on Eastern Europe.

"Minister Roman, the matter of war still needs to be discussed by the Diet and the Cabinet, and I beg your pardon for not being able to give you a positive answer. If you can, I hope you will be able to attend tomorrow's meeting, and I will try to get you a chance. At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Baldwin smiled and drew a pie for Secretary Roman.

Minister Roman could only nod helplessly, pinning his hopes on tomorrow's meeting.

At present, it seems impossible to convince Prime Minister Baldwin directly that Britain will enter the war directly through Prime Minister Baldwin's power.

This also means that Minister Roman must pass the British cabinet and parliament, and get the support of the British pro-war faction in order to win Britain into the anti-German alliance.

What Prime Minister Baldwin did not expect was that he had not waited for the next day's meeting before he waited for an even more serious crisis.

On the afternoon of April 10, the famous statesman and author Winston Churchill published an article in the press, clearly expounding the ongoing war between Germany and Austria, and said very pessimistically: "Britain is gradually coming to an end, and she has made step by step concessions to a failed country, and has successfully put herself in the position of a contender for European hegemony."

If the British government does not wake up in time, and wait until Germany defeats Austria, Britain will face a terrifying continental hegemon. ”

At the end of the article, Churchill also made a vague reference to the ongoing crisis of the British throne and the constant quarrel between Edward VIII and the government over the woman who had been divorced twice.

The effect of public opinion has been achieved.

A large number of newspapers joined the news, and the news story quickly spread throughout the United Kingdom. It was impossible for the British government to block all the newspapers that reported the news in a short period of time, because it was like a premeditated operation, and all the newspapers published the news quickly and distributed the newspapers to all regions of the United Kingdom at a very fast pace.

"The crisis in England has arrived, and our king is still arguing with the cabinet over a woman." Some newspapers with ulterior motives quickly understood similar news, which aroused widespread heated discussions among the British people.

Although such newspapers and newspapers were quickly shut down by the British government, the heated discussion among the people not only did not stop it, but became intense.

Just the next day, the British people marched against Edward VIII's inaction and against Edward VIII's marriage to Mrs. Simpson, who had been divorced twice.

Well, what was originally just a contradiction between the British royal family and the cabinet has directly evolved into a contradiction between the British royal family and the people.

Although the key figure in the conflict was Edward VIII, as the king of England, he directly affected the British royal family.

The day after the march erupted, in the chamber of Buckingham Palace, inside the British royal family, a private meeting was held between Edward VIII, the Duke of York, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Duke of Kent, and the argument lasted for two hours.

The crisis between the British government and the royal family has also postponed the meeting that Minister Roman was looking forward to indefinitely.

The good news, however, is that Edward VIII is likely to be forced to abdicate. And his successor, the Duke of Albert, seemed to be a potential militant who was quite capable and did not agree with appeasement.

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

(End of chapter)