Charlottenburg Palace is the summer palace of the Hohenzollern family. On weekdays, no royal family members live in the palace. Only when a vacation is needed, the emperor will bring his family to Charlottenburg under the protection of the guards.
palace.
But yesterday, a large group of Italian guests stayed at Charlottenburg Palace. Today, Charlottenburg Palace is even more lively. Kaiser Wilhelm came here with a group of senior military and political officials.
In a large conference room in Charlottenburg Palace, led by the two monarchs, the military and political leaders of the two countries gathered together to discuss the next "peace" matters.
"Everyone, we are gathered here, and we must all know the purpose of this trip. Your country asks for our help, so we need to know some of your country's situation. Because the current situation is likely to trigger a military conflict, I ask for your understanding.
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Italian Prime Minister Cruz asked questions at the beginning, showing the importance he attached to this meeting.
"Please speak frankly, and we will definitely tell you the truth."
It was Prime Minister Hollweg who spoke.
After receiving the reply, Cruz immediately continued. "In this case, we have several questions that we need to know. First, does your country have the idea of using military means when the situation cannot be calmed down? Secondly, if there is military action, what is your plan?
What it is, at least if our cooperation is required, we must know the military operations to cooperate with."
Cruz's two questions are not simple, they directly hit the point.
And these words also show that Italy is worried about the outbreak of war. Of course, this is not just worry, but also the idea of testing Germany's attitude towards Italy.
After all, a world war is coming next. No one knows how long this war will last except Carlo. In fact, Carlo is not sure either, but at least he is closer to the truth than others.
Faced with Cruz's question, after a short negotiation on the German side, General Moltke, the chief of the general staff, said: "I can answer the two questions you raised. We have no military operations.
Plan, that is deceiving you. However, we exercise the greatest restraint in military operations. Of course, if the other party firmly refuses to give in, then this military operation is very likely to happen. If a military operation occurs, then our country hopes that Italy can delay
An army of 200,000 lives in France."
Moltke's words are already very obvious. At this time, because of the stability of the Triple Alliance, how could the German General Staff ignore Italy under the current tense situation with France.
Besides, the military exchanges with Italy over the years are not in vain. He has a very good understanding of Italy's military strength. That's why Moltke hopes that the other party can hold back part of the enemy's forces in the south and reduce the pressure on his side.
Little Moltke's words did not move the Italian side. They had already made preparations before coming.
"We agree in principle to the issue of the need for the cooperation of our army, but our country also has conditions. That is, if the British Empire participates in this war and becomes our enemy, then your navy needs to hold back the British home fleet. On the other hand, our country will launch an offensive in the Mediterranean
action."
These words caused a slight change in Kaiser Wilhelm's expression, and then he turned his attention to Marshal Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy present.
Of course, Tirpitz saw the Kaiser's gaze, and he also knew the purpose of the Kaiser's gaze. The German Navy was currently of great significance to him. And the German Navy's philosophy has always been to have a fleet.
For the Lord. As he has said publicly before, as long as the German navy only has the strength of two-thirds of the British Empire, it can make the other side think twice.
However, the requirements put forward by Italy at this time were contrary to his ideas, so it was a bit difficult.
At this moment, holding a trace of luck, Tirpitz said, "Can we discuss this condition of your country again?"
"I'm sorry, this is one of the necessary conditions for us to support your country, and it can no longer be discussed."
The representative of the Italian navy, Admiral Argier, rejected him directly without giving the other party any chance to bargain. Because unlike Germany, the navy is related to the life and death of Italy. If Germany still maintains a fleet status as it did in the original history,
At the port, Italy will suffer.
Therefore, this is also a condition that Italy must not give in to. If the negotiation fails, Italy will never join the German side. Whether it is now or at some point in the future, Italy needs to give priority to ensuring maritime security, otherwise it will not be a fight.
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In response to Italy's refusal, Tirpitz gave up taking chances, and he also clearly felt the pressure from around him. At this time, he had to agree. Although the navy is what Germany needs, the army is its foundation. Although he
I am very impatient about this, but this is the essence of Germany, and even the emperor cannot change this.
"There is no problem. If a war breaks out with the British, then our High Seas Fleet will definitely hold back the British Home Fleet."
Tirpitz is confident in what he said, because the German High Seas Fleet is currently not weak, with as many as 10 combat-effective dreadnoughts in service, while the British Home Fleet currently only has 12 ships, so it is not at a disadvantage.
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Moreover, Britain currently has only 19 combat-effective dreadnoughts. Germany and Italy can already compete with them. But there is no need to think about letting Italy become the leader. If a war breaks out in this dispute, the High Seas Fleet will
Only then would he be the master of the sea. After all, unless the British Empire went crazy, it would leave the High Seas Fleet around and go to the Mediterranean to cause trouble in Italy first.
Tirpitz's words immediately relaxed the atmosphere in the venue. Now that the two parties have initially reached an agreement on sending troops, it will be much easier to talk next.
Sure enough, after the alliance's military issues are resolved, the next step will be much easier to talk about.
The two parties then discussed the issue of coordination. After all, one is in the north and the other is in the south, and intelligence communication is very important. In addition, there are many issues such as the purchase of military supplies and communication with Austria-Hungary, which require negotiation between the two parties.
Generally speaking, it would be difficult to reach a conclusion through negotiation within a month for these many issues. But this time, because of the urgency of the matter, it only took the two parties three days to basically reach an agreement.
Of course, there is actually one issue that has not been discussed. It is not that the two parties have forgotten it, but that they have deliberately let it go. That is, if a war breaks out, how should the two sides end it.
Some people may ask, is it not easy to end the war by directly fighting the other party to surrender, or by forcing both parties to negotiate voluntary peace talks?
It's a good idea, but it's not that simple. This is not a war between two countries, but a war between several countries. Each country has its own needs and ideas.
The country wants to cut off a piece of territory from country b. The ally country does not want to see country b weakened. Instead, it wants to get a colony from country b. The country does not want to see the ally country get this colony.
There are so many tangles between the defeated and victorious countries, not to mention the countries that participated halfway and wanted to gain benefits, and the countries that wanted to make a lot of war fortune and ended up in the end.
So this is very troublesome and very difficult to handle. Just to talk about the preliminary results, don’t even think about it in less than three months.
However, for Germany, the results of the current negotiations are enough to cope with the current situation. Before negotiating with Italy, Germany had already secured its ally Austria-Hungary and gained their support.
Vienna's condition was very simple, that is, Germany supported their annexation of Serbia. Berlin had no reason to refuse this small request from the Austrians.
