My Italy

Charlottenburg Palace is the summer palace of the Hohenzollern family. On weekdays, no royal family members live in the palace. Only when a vacation is needed, the emperor will bring his family to Charlottenburg under the protection of the guards. palace.

But yesterday, a large group of Italian guests stayed at Charlottenburg Palace. Today, Charlottenburg Palace is even more lively. Kaiser Wilhelm came here with a group of senior military and political officials.

In a large conference room in Charlottenburg Palace, led by the two monarchs, the military and political leaders of the two countries gathered together to discuss the next "peace" matters.

"Everyone, we are gathered here, and we must all know the purpose of this trip. Your country asks for our help, so we need to know some of your country's situation. Because the current situation is likely to trigger a military conflict, I ask for your understanding. .”

Italian Prime Minister Cruz asked questions at the beginning, which showed the importance he attached to this meeting.

"Please speak frankly, and we will definitely tell you the truth."

It was Prime Minister Holweg who spoke.

After getting a reply, Cruz immediately continued. "In this case, we have several questions that we need to know. First, does your country have the idea of ​​using military means when the situation cannot be calmed down? Secondly, if there is a military operation, what is your plan, at least if it requires our cooperation? Next, we must know the coordinated military operations."

Cruz's two questions are not simple, they directly hit the mark.

And these words also show that Italy is worried about the outbreak of war. Of course, this is not just a worry, but also the idea of ​​testing Germany's attitude towards Italy.

After all, a world war is coming next, and no one except Carlo knows how long this war will last. In fact, Carlo is not sure, but at least he is closer to the truth than others.

Faced with Cruz's question, after a brief negotiation on the German side, General Moltke, the chief of general staff, spoke. "I can answer the two questions you raised. To say that we have no plans for military operations would be to deceive you. However, we exercise the greatest restraint regarding military operations. Of course, if the other party firmly refuses to give in, Then this military action is very likely to happen. If a military action occurs, then our country hopes that the Italian side can hold back the French army of 200,000."

Moltke's words are already very obvious. At this time, because of the stability of the Three Kingdoms Alliance, how could the German General Staff ignore Italy under the current tense situation with France.

Besides, the military exchanges with Italy over the years have not been in vain. I have a very good understanding of Italy's military strength. That's why Xiao Maoqi hopes that the other party can hold back part of the enemy's forces in the south to reduce the pressure on his side.

Little Moltke's words did not move the Italian side. They had been prepared before coming.

"We agree in principle to the issue of the need for the cooperation of our army, but our country also has conditions. That is, if the British Empire participates in this war and becomes our enemy, then your navy needs to hold back the British mainland fleet. On the other hand, our country launches operations in the Mediterranean action."

These words caused a slight change in Kaiser Wilhelm's expression, and then he turned his attention to Marshal Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy present.

Of course Tirpitz saw the Kaiser's gaze, and he also knew the intention of the Kaiser's gaze. The current German navy is of great significance to him. Moreover, the German Navy's philosophy has always been to focus on the existence of a fleet. As he has said publicly before, as long as the German navy only has the strength of two-thirds of the British Empire, it can make the other side think twice.

However, the requirements put forward by Italy at this time were contrary to his ideas, so he was a bit embarrassed.

At this moment, holding a trace of luck, Tirpitz spoke. "Can you discuss this condition again?"

"I'm sorry, this is one of the necessary conditions for us to support your country, and it can no longer be negotiated."

The Italian navy representative, Admiral Yagier, rejected him directly without giving the other party any chance to bargain. Because unlike Germany, the navy is a matter of life and death for Italy. If Germany still stays in the port with a fleet as it did in history, Italy will suffer.

Therefore, this is also a condition that Italy must not compromise. If the negotiation fails, Italy will never join the German side. Whether it is now or possibly some time in the future, Italy needs to give priority to ensuring maritime security, otherwise it would be better not to fight this war.

In response to Italy's refusal, Tirpitz gave up taking chances, and he clearly felt the pressure from around him. At this time, he had to agree. Although the navy is what Germany needs, the army is its foundation. Although he is impatient about this, this is the essence of Germany, and even the emperor cannot change this.

"There is no problem. If a war breaks out with the British, then our High Seas Fleet will definitely hold back the British Home Fleet."

Tirpitz was confident in what he said, because the German High Seas Fleet is currently not weak, with as many as 10 combat-effective dreadnoughts in service, while the British Home Fleet currently only has 12 ships, so it is not at a disadvantage. .

Moreover, the UK currently has only 19 combat-effective dreadnoughts. Germany and Italy can already compete with them. But there is no need to think about the idea of ​​making Italy the main tank. If a war breaks out in this dispute, the High Seas Fleet will be the main tank at sea. After all, unless the British Empire went crazy, they would leave the High Seas Fleet alone and go to the Mediterranean to cause trouble in Italy first.

Tirpitz's words immediately relaxed the atmosphere in the venue. Now that the two parties have initially reached an agreement on sending troops, it will be much easier to talk next.

Sure enough, after the alliance's military issues are resolved, the next step will be much easier to talk about.

Then the two parties discussed the issue of coordination. After all, one is in the north and the other is in the south. Intelligence communication is very important. In addition, there are many issues such as the purchase of military supplies and communication with Austria-Hungary, which require negotiation between the two parties.

Generally speaking, it is difficult to negotiate a result for these many issues within a month. But this time because of the emergency, it only took the two parties three days to basically reach an agreement.

Of course, there is actually one issue that has not been discussed. This is not because the two parties have forgotten it, but because they deliberately let it go. That is the question of how the two sides should end it if a war breaks out.

Some people may ask, is it not easy to end the war by directly fighting the other party to surrender, or by forcing both parties to negotiate voluntary peace talks?

It's a good idea, but it's not that simple. This is not a war between two countries, but a war between several countries. Every country has its own needs and its own ideas.

Country A wants to carve off a piece of territory from Country B. Its ally Country C does not want to see Country B weakened. Instead, it wants to obtain a colony from Country D. Country A does not want to see its ally Country C get this colony.

There are so many tangles between the defeated and victorious countries alone, not to mention the countries that participated halfway and wanted to gain benefits, as well as the countries that wanted to make a lot of war fortune and ended up in the end.

So this is very troublesome and very difficult to handle. If you just want to talk about the preliminary results, don't even think about it in less than three months.

However, for Germany, the current negotiated results are enough to cope with the current situation. Before negotiating with Italy, Germany had already secured its ally Austria-Hungary and gained their support.

Vienna's condition was simple: Germany supported their annexation of Serbia. Berlin had no reason to refuse this small request from the Austrians.