"George, you are right, our citizens are too proud now, and often cannot see clearly the changes in the world situation.
Although the British Empire is the world's hegemon, it is now facing so many challenges that we need to stand with France.
When I was young, the British Empire was invincible in the world. However, with the rise of Germany and the birth of the Allies under its leadership, the old world order has now become in danger.
In order to maintain world hegemony and fight against the Allied Powers, we, the British, actually want to ally with France and Russia. This was unimaginable before, but it has happened now."
Herbert Henry Asquith knew the British people well. He knew that many British people were still immersed in the peak of the empire. They did not understand that Britain's world hegemony had been severely impacted by the rise of new powers.
"Brazil and Portugal under the leadership of Braganza are very important to us in the UK. If they fall to the Allies led by Germany, it will be a huge trouble for us.
George, no matter what, we must have a good relationship with them, we must take action, and we must at least not let them side with Germany and the United States, who are disruptors of order challenges."
The Allies, led by Germany, and the United States in North America are impacting Britain's finance, industry, and military all over the world...
The most direct impact on the United Kingdom is the Allied Powers led by Germany. Although the United States in North America has full potential, it lacks the foundation of a true great power and is not a serious concern for the United Kingdom.
However, the United Kingdom is also doing its best to prevent the United States, and the country that can best contain the United States is Brazil.
The United Kingdom is sparing no effort to support Brazil, but Brazil is too small. Even if Portugal's millions of people are now included, it can only be partially involved in the United States, which has a population of more than 100 million.
Although the empire under the leadership of Braganza could only partially involve the United States, it was also a huge help to Britain, because sooner or later the United Kingdom would not be able to suppress the United States by relying on Canada alone.
Although the combined country of Brazil and Portugal is not very powerful now, which is equivalent to the level of Austria-Hungary, its existence is conducive to helping Britain stabilize the old world system.
The empire led by the Braganza royal family, their political demands did not challenge the old world order very much, so it was necessary for Britain to win over him.
In Francisco's edict of succession to the Portuguese throne, the future of Portugal and Brazil was mentioned.
In the edict, the Braganza royal family bluntly stated their political ambitions.
The divided Brazil, Portugal, and Algarve will be reunited and restored to create a new Portuguese-Brazilian-Algarve joint empire.
The new Portuguese United Empire has the following political aspirations for the world: leading the Latin American order, strengthening ties with Southern Europe, and participating in African affairs.
In fact, these political demands of Portugal are almost acceptable to the UK.
Under the influence of the United States, the British sphere of influence on the American continent is shrinking step by step.
Now the United Empire of Portugal and Brazil wants to dominate Latin America and confront the United States. This is something that the United Kingdom is very happy to see.
Strengthening influence in Southern Europe. Portugal's so-called strengthening influence in Southern Europe is actually to allow Portugal to completely suppress Spain, and to be able to say something about the situation in the Mediterranean and gain some benefits.
It is not that the UK cannot accept this request, because the Mediterranean is a big bathtub, and important European countries have some influence here.
In addition to the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Braganza has good relations with France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. In fact, there will not be too many obstacles if it wants to increase its influence in the Mediterranean.
The six major European powers, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, and Italy are the four giants of the Mediterranean. Russia and Germany are the spoilers and have been active in the situation in the Mediterranean. As for the originally powerful Ottoman and Spain, the two major Mediterranean powers are now in decline.
The right to speak is getting lower and lower.
As a southern European country, Portugal is reuniting with Brazil. Its strength has skyrocketed, and it is understandable to seek to increase its influence on Europe.
After all, there are not many places in Europe where Portugal can play a role.
Northern Europe, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe are destined to have no share of Portugal, and only the Southern European Mediterranean can increase Portugal's influence.
Nowadays, the sphere of influence in the Mediterranean has almost been divided. If Portugal wants to expand in the Mediterranean, it can only cut its wool from the sick man of West Asia, the Ottoman native chicken, and its mortal enemy, Spain.
In Africa, Portugal, an old empire, was the earliest country to come to Africa and occupied a lot of land. With the decline of Portugal, it lost a lot. However, Portugal also knew itself, avoided competition with major powers, and mapped out its territory in advance.
sphere of influence.
Portugal has many colonies in Africa, but there is only one major strategic colony, which is Angola, Mozambique and the pink map in between in southern Africa.
Portugal is very self-aware, and its sphere of influence is very realistic. They thought they had no competitors, but reality gave them a thunderous blow.
Unexpectedly, Britain, a century-old traditional ally with more than 500 years of historical friendship, would directly attack Portugal for the so-called two-way plan.
This blow made the Portuguese realize the betrayal of their allies, and because of the kingdom's helpless concession to the British, the originally stable political situation in Portugal was turned upside down.
The three major world political fulcrums of the Braganza royal family actually offended only two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Britain and Portugal were originally allies, but the current stalemate is entirely a big trouble caused by Britain's backstabbing.
"The two-way plan devised by those two bastards, Robert Cecil and Cecil John Rhodes, will never work.
A colony stretching from Cairo to Cape Town sounds nice, but in fact it is not realistic at all.
The German Tanganyika colony is such a large colony lying in the middle. How can Cape Town and Cairo be connected?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! What is the use of taking a large territory of Portugal? If Germany does not exchange colonies with Britain, how can Cape Town and Cairo be connected!
The so-called two-pronged plan is to deceive the people. After all these years, it is still there. The Conservative Party caused the trouble, and now we, the Liberal Party, are expected to wipe their butts."
Lloyd George was actually very happy to return the pink map of Portugal, but it was not easy to do.
"Prime Minister, you actually know that it is not difficult to ease relations with Portugal, as long as the land that was previously occupied is returned.
But if we return the pink map territory, the Conservative Party and the Labor Party will definitely jump out to stop us, accuse us of betraying national interests, and will use this to attack us in the next election."
"Yes, George, you are right. The pink map is really a big trouble. If this is not solved, it will be impossible to restore Anglo-Portuguese relations. But if it is returned, those in the opposition will be held accountable."
Although there is no problem in principle with the Liberal Party's return of the Portuguese colonies, it will definitely be criticized by the Conservative Party and the Labor Party.
In order to come to power, these opposition parties have no bottom line to draw from. Regarding the issue of the return of pink maps, they will definitely distort their newspapers, shout that the Liberal Party is traitorous, and incite the masses to oppose the Liberal government.
There are currently three major parties in the UK, the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and the newly emerged Labor Party. The Liberal Party is having a difficult time now. If it does not want to lose the power of the cabinet, it must be careful in whatever it does, and it must not be taken advantage of by the other two parties.
The biggest difference between the opposition party and the ruling party is the difference between on stage and off stage.
The ruling party on stage must be responsible for the country and cannot harm the country's interests, so be careful in whatever you do.
The opposition parties in the audience are not in power, so they are not responsible for national responsibilities. Therefore, they can make all kinds of noises and make things difficult, just to slander the reputation of the ruling party so that they can come to power next time.
As for the opposition party after coming to power, it will of course put aside many of its previous unrealistic rhetorical policies and act like the previous ruling party, which will be cautious to avoid making mistakes.
Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith and Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George both understood that the pink map territory was a sticking point in Anglo-Portuguese relations.
How to complete this matter decently? The two of them were a little troubled.
After a long silence, Lloyd George thought of a possible method.
"Herbert, I have thought of a more decent method, but Portugal may not be able to agree to it."
Hearing that Lloyd had a preliminary solution, Herbert naturally wanted to listen to it and use it if it was useful.
“The pink map must not be returned to Portugal in its entirety, and even if it is given to Portugal, Portugal must pay for it.
Portugal's pursuit of Africa's strategic focus policy is nothing more than connecting Angola and Mozambique. We can also allow them to achieve their goals by handing over Northern Rossia, north of the Zambezi River, to Portugal for 1 million pounds."
"It is a bit unrealistic to sell Northern Rhodesia to Portugal.
We occupied such a large area at the beginning, and now we only return part of it to them and ask them to spend money to buy it. This is a shame.
I think the Portuguese may not be able to accept such an insulting condition."
The robber robbed a piece of bread, and then pretended to be kind and returned half of it to the person who was robbed, but the condition was that he had to spend money to buy it.
This kind of thing is insulting no matter how you look at it!
"Portugal must buy it with money. If the British Empire gives it for free, the opposition parties will start trouble." Lloyd George said helplessly.
"Herbert, actually I didn't finish what I just said.
In this territorial sale, we in the UK can add Oman. Of course, Oman, a desert land, has no value except for dates, which may not impress the Braganza royal family.
However, we can secretly discuss with them that the British compensation will not be written in the contract, but will be given in a secret form."
There are currently no major oil discoveries in the Middle East, and Oman's current location is not very strategic.
In fact, the absence of Oman will mean nothing to the UK. Iran and Yemen are now controlled by the UK, and the control of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea is still the UK.
Portugal and Brazil simply can't challenge Britain, and Braganza doesn't need to do that at all.
Braganza has got enough things and is greedy. If he takes more, he will only provoke one more enemy.
The method of old friend Lloyd George was very feasible, which made Herbert very happy.
“Lloyd, it’s true that you are more flexible and think and do more than I do. When you were the Minister of Trade and now the Minister of Finance, you have solved big problems for our Liberal Party.
I am about to retire, and you will be responsible for the next election, and the future of our Liberal Party will be entrusted to you."
This chapter has been completed!