The Rise of Australia

Chapter 841 Ambition for Poland

The news of George V's critical illness quickly spread to other European countries and regions.

Although the British tried to block the news, George V had not appeared in public for a long time, and it was hard not to arouse suspicion from other countries.

After all, George V was already 70 years old. After all, at this age, he was indeed at the end of his life.

Unlike the British government, which was more concerned about the succession to the throne, other European countries at this time were thinking about whether the change of the British throne would have a major impact on the subsequent European situation.

Among them, the most concerned about this issue were naturally the ambitious German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy.

These two extreme nationalist countries in the guise of monarchy could no longer hold back their urge to expand.

After careful consideration by Germany and Italy, they believed that during the period from George V's critical illness to the accession of Prince Edward to the throne, the British would basically not participate too much in the situation and affairs of Europe.

Even if Germany and Italy made some trouble for the succession to the British throne, the British would be busy with the throne crisis and would have no time to care about other things.

However, just in case, Germany and Italy decided to make other countries, including Britain and Australasia, not have enough energy to take care of European affairs.

The best way to contain Australasia is naturally to let the island country create some friction with Australasia on the border to attract Australasia's attention.

The islanders did not intend to do this. After being promised a large amount of material assistance, especially industrial equipment assistance by Germany and Italy, the island country changed its mind very sincerely.

So, the three major powers of the Triple Alliance began to act at the same time. They could no longer hold back their ambitions for expansion and their desire for more land.

For Germany, the best expansion target is actually the Austrian Empire. The Austrian Empire has a large number of South Germans, and these people are of the same origin as Germany.

Moreover, the Austrian region and Czechoslovakia region of the Austrian Empire have quite good industrial scale.

If the Austrian Empire was annexed, the industrial scale of the German Empire would reach the level of the British Empire, and the population would completely widen the gap with Britain and France, becoming a country stronger than Germany before World War I.

But unfortunately, if the Austrian Empire had to be annexed, Germany and Italy might face more than just France and Austria, and the British would never allow the Germans to do so.

There was no way, Germany could only settle for the second best and set its sights on Poland, which was of great strategic importance.

Originally, the German government planned to divide Poland with Russia in the east.

But several contacts with the Russian government were unsuccessful, and after signing an anti-Russian agreement with the island country and Italy, Germany gave up the plan to win over Russia to annex Poland.

For Germany, Poland is just a medium-sized country in Central Europe.

The German rulers once proudly announced in Congress that it would only take one month for the German army to crush Poland.

Because of the large-scale exclusion of dissidents, the current German rulers have achieved complete control over Germany.

In the current Germany, Italy and the island country, we can see more extreme blind personal worship.

This made the armies of the three countries extremely loyal to their rulers, which not only strengthened the combat effectiveness of the army, but also consolidated the power and status of the rulers of the three countries.

Why not choose the three low-lying countries as the target of invasion, but choose Poland with a larger population and a stronger army?

The most important reason is that Poland is located between Germany and Russia, and to the south is the Czechoslovakia region of Austria.

The northern part of Poland is the Baltic Sea, and the country has extremely rich mineral resources. Metallurgy, chemistry, machinery and shipbuilding technology are quite developed, which is a huge supplement to Germany, whose industry has not yet been completely perfected.

Secondly, if the whole of Poland is occupied, Germany will have a huge logistics base. The entire Polish plain can become a grain-growing area and pasture for Germany, providing Germany with a large amount of grain and meat, as well as fresh dairy products every year.

After solving Poland, Germany has no opponents in the whole of Eastern Europe except Russia, which is low-key and has no statement.

This is extremely beneficial to Germany's plan to attack Western Europe. With the food and mineral resources provided by Poland every year, even if it is a competition of consumption, it will not be afraid of France in a short time.

In order to occupy Poland, Germany and Italy made extremely detailed plans.

Although Italy could not annex Polish territory, Germany made concessions in Austrian territory and was willing to allow Italy to annex more Austrian territory and control the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Balkans after occupying the Austrian Empire.

In a meeting between Germany and Italy, the two sides made detailed plans for attacking Poland. The German and Italian governments agreed that the two sides would be ready to attack Poland at any time within 3 months and guard against possible actions by France and the Austrian Empire.

This world is still very different from history. So far, Germany has not made any territorial expansion except for regaining the Rhineland demilitarized zone.

Since no military action was launched against the Austrian Empire, the attitude of Britain and France towards Germany at this time was mainly appeasement.

This also facilitated Germany's planning of Polish territory. Germany's true ambitions have not yet been exposed, and the British and French people have not yet clearly seen the Germans' true purpose. According to the agreement reached by the German and Italian governments, after three months of preparation, the two sides would launch an attack on Poland on October 15, 1935.

If the Poles are willing to back down before then, preparations for war can be cancelled. But if either Britain or France decides to maintain Poland's independence, Germany and Italy will prepare for a super war to force Britain and France to make concessions.

On July 21, 1935, at a regular meeting of the German Reichstag, the German rulers gave a very exciting speech for two hours.

The German rulers reiterated the once huge territory of the German Empire and stated that Danzig was Germany's legal territory at all times and that Danzig's sovereignty could not be violated by any country.

Seeing that the speech was well received, the German rulers took the opportunity to reiterate the fact that Poland occupied German territory after World War I.

The transfer of national hatred to Poland greatly increased the Germans' desire for war against Poland.

The speech, without any publicity, quickly spread throughout Europe as breaking news.

Before Poland could express its position, in a media interview the next day, the German government publicly stated that Germany would take back Danzig's sovereignty by force at all costs and would defend all legal German territories to the death.

The German government's stance quickly aroused tensions across Europe. Poland, in particular, is very wary of its neighbors.

The Polish government responded quickly. The Poles said that whether it was the Free City of Danzig controlled by Poland or the annexed German territory, it was ceded to Poland by Germany as an atonement for its sins in the last European war.

The Germans' attempt to take back Danzig and its territory was not only a provocation to the majesty of the Polish government, but also a provocation to the Allied Powers' trial for Germany's crimes.

The Polish government stated righteously that the Poles would never forget Germany's crimes in the last European war and would never accept Germany's request for the return of territory.

At this time, Poland was still thinking about the Greater Poland doctrine it proposed more than ten years ago. After gaining control of the Kingdom of Lithuania from Russia, the Poles' self-confidence has increased infinitely.

Although they were facing the world's largest army power before World War I, for the Poles, Germany was not as powerful as they imagined.

What's more, as early as after Poland became independent, it had reached cooperation with many European powers, including Britain and France.

Treaties signed between Poland and European powers include the Franco-Polish Mutual Assistance Treaty, the Anglo-Polish Mutual Assistance Agreement, the Polish-Russian Contract, etc.

With the support of Britain and France, the Poles had no intention of retreating to Germany. After Germany frequently mobilized troops to the German-Polish border, the Poles announced an expansion of their troops and mobilized most of their troops to the border with Germany.

Now, Europe is no longer filled with the fog of war, but the flames of war have been ignited.

Seeing that a war was very likely to break out between the two sides, France, which had nothing to do with the conflict, panicked.

For France, the possible war between Germany and Poland is actually pushing France into the abyss.

If France does not help Poland, after annexing Poland, Germany's overall strength will completely surpass France, comparable to or even surpassing the former German Empire.

But if France helps Poland, fighting a large-scale war with the Germans at this time is not what the French want to see.

What's even more terrible is that Germany is not just Italy's only ally at this time. The National Army, which already had the upper hand in the Spanish Civil War, and the island countries in the Far East were also allies of the Germans.

At this time, only the Austrian Empire clearly supported France. The two countries of France and Austria combined were only barely in balance with Germany and Italy.

Even if they can finally defeat the Germans, the French will definitely face no less than the huge casualties of the last world war.

Having experienced two huge casualties in just over 20 years, this was a heavy loss that the French government simply could not bear, and it was also a horrific experience that the French people were simply unwilling to experience again.

For the sake of its own security, the French government decided to allow Poland, which was resolute and uncompromising, to make certain concessions.

In the view of the French peacemakers, Germany's territorial claim to Poland was justified. Just like France was extremely eager to cede the Alsace and Lorraine regions after the Franco-Prussian War, the powerful Germans had the idea of ​​regaining the ceded Danzig and other territories, which was not that exaggerated.

Even if the Germans have not yet made territorial claims to the republic controlled by France that once belonged to German territory, the French have decided to transfer the sovereignty of this republic to Germany.

If a little bit of territory can bring long-term peace, for the current French government, this is a good thing that is enough to solve its big trouble.

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