Germany still attaches great importance to the treaty amendment proposed by Italy. Especially after Carlo proposed it for the second time, the German government has been ready for negotiations.
On the third day after William ascended the throne, the two parties officially entered negotiations.
The negotiation location is now a conference room in the Prime Minister's Office. The two monarchs are nominally leading the negotiations. However, the actual negotiations are left to others.
The German side sent a negotiating delegation headed by Prime Minister Bismarck, while the Italian side sent a team headed by Foreign Minister Gemini Bacona.
After everyone sat down, Bismarck, as the host, was the first to speak. "The Three Kingdoms Alliance Treaty is indeed about to expire. I was a little busy before and almost forgot about it. But since your country mentioned it, we will discuss it today."
Let’s discuss contract renewal.”
Prime Minister Bismarck set the tone as soon as he opened his mouth. Facing the German Prime Minister, Bacona, as the Foreign Minister, did not get too entangled in this, even if the German side had the upper hand.
"Prime Minister Bismarck is right. What we are discussing this time is the future alliance between the two countries."
Having said that, Bacona went straight to the point.
"In the past five years, it has been proven that our alliance, together with Austria-Hungary, and the alliance of the three countries, has made a huge contribution to stabilizing the situation in Europe. In view of this, our country believes that we can deal with some issues that have not played a significant role.
The treaty needs to be revised, and the outer circle of treaties that are in line with the interests of our two countries can be appropriately deepened."
After saying this, Bacona took a document from his assistant and handed it to Prime Minister Bismarck across the table.
"This is our country's draft of appropriate modifications to several articles in the treaty. If you are dissatisfied with anything, we can talk about it in person."
After receiving the draft from the Italian side, Bismarck began to read it carefully. The Italians also carefully used the top-bottom comparison mode to compare the modifications with the previous clauses.
It was precisely by relying on the up-and-down comparison mode that Bismarck quickly discovered the differences. Of course, some of the changes may only be minor changes, but among them, Bismarck discovered a very big change.
That is Article 4 of the treaty, and its original version is: When a major power that is not a signatory to this treaty threatens the national security of one of the contracting states, and that contracting state is forced to go to war with it, the other contracting states are obliged to remain neutral and reserved toward the allies.
The right to engage in war when appropriate.
Now Italy has changed it to mean that when a major country that is not a signatory to this treaty threatens the national security of one of the contracting states and that contracting state goes to war with it, the other contracting states are obliged to provide assistance to the allies. This may not be limited to diplomatic and public opinion.
Well reserves the right to enter the fray when appropriate.
The whole article is less coercive and neutral, and has more help such as diplomatic public opinion, but the meaning immediately becomes completely different.
This will also mean that no matter who among the three parties initiates the war, the other two countries will need to help each other in diplomacy and public opinion.
As an old fox in the political arena, Bismarck immediately smelled something different from the revised treaty. "You must want to start a foreign war, right?"
The iron-blooded prime minister, who was like a human spirit, immediately pointed out the Italians' intentions.
"No, you wrongly blamed us. We are all equal regarding the amendment of this article. It is not what you think."
When Bismarck pointed out Italy's intentions, Bacona, who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, immediately denied it. Everyone is playing diplomacy. As long as there is no evidence, who will admit it? Even if there is evidence, you can deny it from all aspects, such as evidence
It's a forgery and other excuses. You can't be shameless when playing diplomacy.
Although Bacona denied it, who was Bismarck? How could he believe it just because of the other party's denial? Now he was sure that the Italians were preparing for war, but it was still unknown who the target was, but it was worthy of Italy's action.
There are not many of them, I believe they will be exposed eventually.
"If this is the case, then our country believes that it is best to change the treaty back to the original one, because this is the best choice for both our countries."
Bismarck's words immediately made the Italian delegation speechless, because they did not expect that the prime minister was completely unwilling to accept the Italian draft and did not even give him a chance to negotiate.
At this time, Carlo, who was observing the negotiations, could no longer sit still. He stood up and said, "If there are differences, you can skip them first. We can start talking with the terms that both parties are willing to accept."
Carlo's sudden intervention made the Italian delegation heave a sigh of relief. They were stunned by the German Prime Minister for a moment, so they were stunned. With Carlo's reminder, they realized that they could start from simple
Let’s start with it.
After Prime Minister Bismarck heard Carlo's words, he frowned and then relaxed.
The subsequent negotiations proceeded very quickly. There were too many terms that both parties were willing to accept. It can be said that except for the fourth article that Italy changed, everything else was easy to negotiate.
Of course, no matter how easy it is to negotiate, this still needs to be discussed one by one. After a day's negotiation (taking a break for lunch to replenish energy), other terms have basically been negotiated, and only the people below need to discuss the details to complete it.
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When the negotiations were about to come to Italy's revised Article 4, Carlo stood up again. "I think this alliance treaty is not good enough."
Facing Carlo who stood up to speak again, Bismarck didn't know what mood he was in. He said to the young Italian monarch, "Since King Carlo has new ideas, why not sit down and talk."
Obviously, Bismarck was expressing his dissatisfaction with Carlo's intervention in the negotiations.
However, there is a saying that goes as follows: follow the stick when you kill a snake. Carlo said without hesitation. "Since Prime Minister Bismarck has invited me, it would be a good time to sit down and talk."
After speaking, he ignored the expression of the iron-blooded prime minister and sat directly opposite him. Bacona, who was originally sitting in this position, could only squeeze his assistant away.
Completely ignoring the expressions of the German delegation and the somewhat surprised look in William II's eyes, Carlo directly expressed his thoughts.
"Actually, each of our three countries has its own advantages. Our country's warship design and manufacturing are very good, but your country and Austria-Hungary are weaker in this aspect. My idea is that we in Italy can use our own advantages in warship design and manufacturing.
experience to help your country and Austria-Hungary improve their strength in this area."
Carlo's words made Bismarck look even more unhappy, but besides him, several people in the German delegation showed joy on their faces. Especially Kaiser Wilhelm, who was sitting aside and looked surprised just now, was even more happy. "Warship technology
, Our country’s needs are not urgent. If your country really wants to exchange technology, then use your country’s technology in electricity.”
Prime Minister Bismarck did not take this trick. Instead, he asked for Italian power technology.
Regarding Bismarck's request, the Italian delegation's expressions became very exciting, because this is the only civilian technology that Italy can produce. This old boy has really poisonous eyes, and he took a fancy to Italy's most important technology at a glance.
"There is no problem with this. As long as your country likes it, our country can provide a full set of technology and production indicators."
