The Rise of the Third Reich

"Mr. Renault, you shouldn't be so weak!"

On May 7, at the residence in Tours belonging to former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, de Gaulle, who had just returned from the United Kingdom, was trying his best to persuade Reynaud.

"How could you give up the responsibility given by history so easily?" He looked at the sluggish former prime minister and felt a little angry in his heart. "The fate of France is now in your hands. Should you surrender to Germany forever and become a second-rate country? Or should you? Drawing strength from failure and gaining new life depends on your choice now.”

Paul Reynaud looked at de Gaulle and said, "General, I am not Prime Minister now, what else can I do?"

"You can leave France and go to Algeria to form a free French government!" De Gaulle looked at Reno and said word by word, "The British will support you, the entire French overseas empire will be on your side, and the United States will also support you. You. The Free French government will have enough support to lead a long war against Germany."

"But no one wants a long-term war!" Paul Reynold shook his head, "Germany did not make unacceptable demands, and the prospect of France and Germany uniting to become the core of the European Community is also quite attractive... "

The establishment of the European Community was indeed not a bad thing for France, which was industrialized and had a huge colonial empire. If it can be realized, it will not only ensure the long-term security of France, but also bring many economic benefits.

“No, there is no common core between France and Germany,” de Gaulle waved his hand. “France should be the center and leader of Europe. If France does not hold a leadership position, the European Community cannot be formed. Because the French nation is used to being the giant of Europe! "

"Charles, you mean you are not against the European Community?" Reno heard the voice of de Gaulle's words.

"Of course I don't object!" De Gaulle said, "Europe should indeed unite and unify. Only in this way can it compete with continental powers like the United States and the Soviet Union! But this European Community must be led by France, not Germany!"

"But now France has been defeated..." Renault shook his head, "If it is defeated, it is defeated. The army has completely failed and has no strength to fight anymore."

"No, Germany has not won yet!" De Gaulle walked around in Renault's reception room and began to analyze the situation. "There is also a superpower on the European continent, the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, like the United Kingdom, does not want to see a powerful country. The emergence of the European Community. The United States on the other side of the ocean must also hold the same view... Therefore, the German ambition to unify Europe will be jointly attacked by the United States and the Soviet Union at some time in the future.

Germany's current strength alone cannot defeat the United States and the Soviet Union, unless they can defeat the United Kingdom before the United States and the Soviet Union reconcile, obtain British privileges in the Middle East, North Africa, and India, and obtain sufficient resources from there. With resources, Europe's productivity can be maximized, enough weapons and ammunition can be produced, Germany can win, and the European Community can truly be formed. "

De Gaulle took a deep breath, "And if Germany wants to defeat Britain in the short term, it must get the support of France, so we cannot support Germany!"

Paul Reno said: "But even if we can disrupt the good things of the Germans, we cannot replace Germany as the leader of the European Community."

"The possibility exists!" De Gaulle considered and said, "We have to drag down Germany, defeat Germany, dismember Germany, and then unite Germany when Germany has to rely on France to survive and develop. In this way, a French leadership can be established of the European Community!”

"This is really incredible..." Paul Reno looked at de Gaulle and smiled bitterly, "Charles, your idea may be right. But I am not the genius politician who can realize this idea, I am just a mediocre person. Man. I lost the war and my political life is over. If you really want to realize your vision, go ahead and realize your ideals."

…

"Why conduct peace negotiations on the train in Compiègne? What's the point of doing so?" Hersman said at the high command meeting on May 7, the day when the new French Prime Minister Pétain proposed peace. Objections were raised to Hitler's proposed location for peace talks.

"The only suitable place is Geneva." Hessmann said with certainty. "The process of peace negotiations should be open to the public, and representatives of various countries in Geneva can know the contents of the negotiations. We want the whole world to know Germany's ideals... let the whole world know We all know that we in Germany are not devils and war maniacs. We are forced to launch the war in pursuit of justice and for a better Europe and the world.”

From now on, the League of Nations was no longer a tool of Britain but of Germany, and Hessmann certainly would not throw this tool of world leadership aside.

He thought for a while and then said: "And we should not close the door to peace to the UK. Although we do not welcome the UK to join the European Community. But we should let everyone know that we have no intention to destroy the UK. If the UK agrees Abolish the unjust Treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain, Trianon, Sèvres and Lausanne, and we can make peace with England.”

"Shake hands with Britain?" Schleicher was stunned. "Ludwig, haven't you always advocated the complete defeat of Britain?"

"Yes, I still advocate the complete defeat of Britain." Hersman smiled coldly, "Because the British will never agree to abrogate the Treaty of Versailles, the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the Treaty of Trianon, and the The Treaty of Fore and the Treaty of Lausanne. But we still have to propose the abolition of these unequal treaties in Geneva, because the abolition of these unequal treaties is the basis for building a strong, united and prosperous European Community!”

Hirschmann was obviously very good at packaging aggression and expansion. The theory he proposed was that the treaties imposed on other countries by the victorious Allied Powers after World War I were all unequal and unjust and should be corrected. , to restore the situation to pre-World War I conditions (not necessarily completely, but mostly). Then, based on the status before World War I, the borders of each country will be rationally adjusted - such as merging Luxembourg and part of the Austrian crown territory that historically belonged to Germany into Germany, and restoring Greater Hungary.

After completing reasonable adjustments, Germany and the countries controlled by Germany, such as Poland (including Lithuania and Western Ukraine), Slovakia, Denmark, Belgium, etc., plus Germany's allies, such as Italy, Greater Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain, Sweden, and Norway Finland, etc., as well as France, which was defeated and was forced to choose to side with Germany, basically brought together the entire Europe.

"But Britain will not agree," said Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. "They will not even enter into peace negotiations with us."

These days, German diplomats in Geneva have been ordered (by order of Hitler's government) to contact the British delegation in Geneva, but to no avail.

"The Treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain, Trianon, Sèvres and Lausanne could be abrogated by resolution passed by the League of Nations," Herschmann said.

"But Britain is a permanent member of the League of Nations Council of Ministers," Ribbentrop said, "and they can exercise veto power."

"So what?" Hessman smiled, "As long as most of the member states in the League of Nations vote in favor, we can consider those treaties to have been abrogated. And in order to get the support of the majority of countries, we can even The Alliance proposed a resolution: Abolish all unequal treaties and liberate the colonies and semi-colonies!”

…

"Abolition of all unequal treaties? That's good... So does the Treaty of Bessarabia look equal?"

In the Kremlin, the great leader of the Soviet Union Stalin and Chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers Molotov were receiving the German Ambassador Count Schulenberg.

Count Schulenburg brought a personal letter from German Emperor William and Chancellor Hitler. The contents of the letter mainly included three points: 1. Notifying the progress of the Western Campaign (Battle of France); 2. Expressing willingness to mediate the Soviet-Finnish War; 3. Proposing A peace conference hosted by the League of Nations was held in Geneva and the Soviet Union was sought for support.

Of course, Stalin could not refuse Germany's request. The fatherly leader of the Soviet Union has been quite depressed in the past month. On the one hand, the Red Army's attack on the Mannerheim Line encountered setbacks, suffered heavy casualties, and made slow progress (actually it was much better than the historical situation, after all, it was not in winter. combat); on the other hand, the German army shined brilliantly in the Western campaign, and the once arrogant French army seemed vulnerable in front of them, while the Soviet Union had to pinch its nose and sing praises for Germany's victory in the West!

Now Germany seems to have achieved a complete victory in the war on the Western Front. Italy can't wait to defect to Germany. Most of Europe is already under German control. Moreover, there is no longer an army in the west of the European continent that can confront Germany - this means that Germany no longer has the danger of a "two-front war", and most of their powerful land forces can be used to attack the Soviet Union. .

However, even when the western part of the Soviet Union faced a huge threat, Stalin still did not forget the province of Bessarabia, which was the land that Russia seized from Turkey during the Seventh Russo-Turkish War. However, according to a document written by the British and The "Treaty of Bessarabia" signed by France, Italy, Japan and Romania belonged to Romania.