Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

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In fact, for Germany, the most ideal thing is to win over France to fight against Britain. Because Britain has an absolute advantage at sea, although its navy went astray in the 19th century, its strength is still not something that any country can contend with, let alone Germany, a country that has just begun to build a navy. Although Germany is strong, fighting France will result in a lose-lose situation for both sides. At this time, no matter who wins or loses, France and Germany will become half disabled. It is doubtful how many overseas colonies they can get. William II does not understand this. It makes sense, but the national mood of the two countries, especially the national mood of France, makes this difficult to achieve.

What William didn't know was that in his past history, after World War I, Germany's interests in the Far East and the Pacific were mainly gained by Japan. France, in addition to gaining a false title of hegemony on the European continent that even he did not, did not Didn't get much actual benefit. On the contrary, as the world's largest colonial power, Britain's interests mainly lie overseas, and its colonial area and population are second to none in the world. If France and Germany form an alliance and join forces to deal with Britain, they can transfer a large amount of army military expenditures to naval military expenditures. The benefits they will get will be unimaginable. But France's "Green Water Navy" plan, which is known for its stupidity and short-sightedness, shows that it has lost the courage to compete with Britain for maritime hegemony and has lost the French spirit that has been shouting until now. This is how William II sees it. Ridiculous. It's a good thing now that they still have the strategic thinking of trying their best to compete with Germany for European hegemony. Thinking of the French's attitude towards the Prussians, William gave up that idea, and instead, he thought of the relationship with Britain.

In fact, since the Napoleonic Wars, Britain and Germany have always regarded each other as "natural allies." Since the reunification of Germany, successive imperial prime ministers have tried to form a formal alliance with Britain. However, Britain strictly followed the diplomatic policy of "glorious isolation" and the alliance was never achieved. As Germany's strength rapidly increased, German capitalists increasingly needed vast raw material production areas and commodity markets, and Germany's weak navy was unable to achieve its overseas expansion goals. In this way, an alliance with the British Empire, with the help of its vast colonies, one standing on the continent and the other dominating the ocean, was exactly the ideal outcome that the Kaisers of all generations wanted.

Moreover, the Anglo-German alliance is more likely to succeed than the German-French alliance. The advantage lies in the blood relationship between the two royal families. After all, William II is the grandson of the former Queen of England and the nephew of the current Edward VII. The ruling party in France adheres to the tradition of Jacobinism and the belief of "in zhu, fraternity", resolutely opposes colonial activities, and especially hates the German Empire. The establishment of France's colonial empire was entirely accomplished by a small group of ambitious adventurers, high-ranking civil servants, soldiers and missionaries, more or less free from the control of the government. Germany doesn't have a good impression at all. He, William II, also tried hard, but in the end he still failed to tie the two countries into a one-step chariot. Even now he thinks about the twists and turns and feels extremely sad.

He still clearly remembered the two meetings between March 29 and April 1, 1898, when the then British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain met with the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom Hartsfeld. Chamberlain proposed straight to the point that Britain would give up its traditional isolation. Marxist policy, that is, to find an ally that would help the peace that Britain wanted, and that ally was Germany. Hartsfield's telegram to Chamberlain at that time was, in my opinion, in the interests of Germany in those larger matters. is actually consistent with our interests."

At that time, Chamberlain proposed that Britain and Germany hold negotiations on China and West Africa and establish an alliance. If Germany stood on the side of Britain, Britain would support Germany if it was attacked in the future. But William was worried that there was fraud in it, because the British had always been in this situation, and he had to guard against it. In particular, the British liked to use the trick of dividing the constitutional monarchy to use agreements that were not good for their country. The parliament did not agree and was stuck in the process of rejecting the pass, so he did not agree to the outcome of this negotiation.

After all, if the alliance conditions were agreed to and the British Parliament rejected the alliance treaty, the German Empire would immediately become the main enemy of France and Russia and the scapegoat of Britain. At the same time, he believed that the benefits provided by Britain were far from compensating for the losses caused by Germany's confrontation with France and Russia. After all, Britain was overseas, and their world's largest navy was there. No one could hit their homeland, but Germany was caught between them. Between the two sides, even if they finally defeat the other two countries, their territory will suffer heavy losses. If Britain is more ruthless and attacks Germany...

Moreover, forming a regional alliance with China in West Africa cannot eliminate the huge security threat to Germany from the time bomb in the Alsace-Lorraine region. After all, the French have a tough attitude there. Therefore, William categorically rejected the British conditions and instead demanded that Britain join the "Triple Alliance" to fight against France. The British Parliament, Chamberlain, who was responsible for the negotiations, could not agree to this alliance but reject it, so the first stage of the negotiations ended without any results.

In October 1899, the Boer War broke out for the South African colony. The British drove all other Europeans there out of South Africa. This move set off anti-British uprisings in European countries, and fought with the British in the Far East, Near East, and China. Russia, with the ongoing conflicts in Asia, took the opportunity to be active, and the shadow of the anti-British alliance lingered in the minds of British politicians. As a last resort, Chamberlain and others began to turn to Germany for help.

Chamberlain published the famous "New Three Kingdoms Alliance" theory on November 30, believing that the tripartite alliance of Britain, the United States, and Germany "will be a more powerful force in the future world." But his speech was met with a lukewarm reception in all three countries. The German Foreign Ministry emphasized the importance of the existing Three Kingdoms Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Russia, and even proposed building a powerful navy to resist Britain. The Anglo-German alliance negotiations suffered an unprecedented blow, and as a result, the opportunity once again slipped through the hands of the leaders of the two countries.

But the thing is so wonderful. When the relationship between the two countries reached a deadlock, an incident in the Far East brought Britain and Germany back to the negotiating table. That was the Chinese Boxer Uprising in June 1900. Britain, which was devastated by the Boer War, knew that it could no longer fully maintain China's integrity and openness, and it was even more difficult to resist the Russians' aggressive expansion. In desperation, Britain decided to strengthen cooperation with Germany and Japan and support the demands of their two emerging powers in Shandong and North Korea. The signing of this agreement is of great significance to both countries.

Although William II understood that Britain was using Germany's army advantage to fight the Russians in the Far East, it would eventually lead to the two countries getting closer and Germany and Russia to separate. This is what the British thought, William, but for Britain to support Germany's seizure For more overseas interests, William II and the German government still feel that they can continue to support them.

Of course, the agreement is not a simple division of spheres of influence, but a joint guarantee of China's territorial integrity and open door; finally, the two countries have made it clear that they intend to conduct foreign cooperation in China. The Anglo-German alliance has now begun to take shape.

However, a turning point appeared again, and the Anglo-German alliance once again encountered the source of destruction. This opportunity always comes very quickly, so fast that the two countries may not be able to respond.

In 1901, the beleaguered Russians proposed a vicious 12 points as conditions for withdrawing from Manchuria. Unable to resist, Britain once again thought of Germany and planned to establish a formal Far Eastern Alliance with Germany. But Germany refused. The reason for the refusal seemed a bit funny to outsiders, but it was reviewed by the government. The reason for the refusal was: Germany is a country that pursues commercial goals. The agreement between Britain and Germany a year ago "has nothing to do with Manchuria." "Germany has no major interests in Manchuria, and the fate of this region is of no concern to Germany."

Outsiders may not understand Germany's thoughts. As the Kaiser, William actually wanted Britain to give up more benefits to Germany. However, the then Prime Minister Hohenlohe rejected Britain with this kind of thinking. Of course, William agreed at the time because he had the idea of ​​​​consuming Britain and Russia. However, he did not expect that the relationship between Britain and Germany would start to take a sharp turn.

What he didn't expect was that the British would be stunned like a bolt from the blue after hearing the German statement. What he was even more worried about was that from then on, the British no longer had any illusions about Germany. Even in 1901, the British Admiralty officially listed Germany as a potential enemy of Britain. Everything that happened immediately made him feel dazzled, and at the same time, it also made William feel that the situation had changed so quickly. In 1902, Britain and Japan announced the signing of the alliance. In 1904, Britain and France formed an alliance under the watchful eyes of Germany. In 1907, with the help of France, Britain and Russia reached an agreement. Since then, Germany has become an outcast of the world's powerful powers.

This result reminded William of Otto von Bismarck, the "Iron Chancellor" who was forced to step down, and also of his grandfather William I's evaluation of Bimax and his admonitions.

"Don't be jealous of him, kid. He is a diplomatic role model that deserves your respect. Although he has always claimed that Germany's diplomacy needs to be defended with iron and blood, and is called a reckless man, Bimax is by no means a man who only knows A reckless warrior who fought wars and killed people. On the contrary, he was a master, a master of diplomacy. He benefited more from his superb diplomatic skills. If Bismarck's character and diplomatic style could be described in one sentence, it would be Tough but with an appropriate amount of room for maneuver, ambitious but measured. And these are exactly what your current style, son, lacks, uh, and what my future diplomatic successors in the community around you lack. So, son , I hope you can learn more from him instead of being jealous."

His grandfather's words still lingered in his ears, but now that German diplomacy had indeed changed drastically, his grandfather still guessed it, and William felt bitter. It really "lives up" to my grandfather's expectations!

Second update, please recommend.

Chapter 116: Three alliances between Germany and Britain? \u003cdd\u003e