After the negotiation with Reinhardt ended, Mussolini finally returned to the country happily.
In fact, the relationship between Reinhardt and Mussolini, and between Germany and Italy, has never been as harmonious as it seems.
From the perspective of the outside world, as early as 1938, just six months after Mussolini visited Berlin, Reinhard led a large delegation of 500 people to visit Rome.
In order to show respect for Mussolini's "leader", Reinhardt also specially wore the armband of "Honorary Captain of the Italian Militia" awarded to him by Mussolini.
Reinhard, Ribbentrop and his entourage took three special trains to go to Italy.
Many leaders of the National Socialist Party participated in the "Friendly March to Italy."
When Reinhard arrived in Italy, Mussolini's reception was grand and warm.
In the camera recordings of reporters from various countries, the King of Italy, leader Mussolini, and other senior officials almost all went to the station to greet Reinhardt.
At that time, the streets of Rome were decorated with colorful flags and lanterns, and the shouts were deafening.
But what the public didn't know was that after setting off from the station, Mussolini suddenly disappeared from the welcoming procession.
It turned out that Reinhard was visiting as a head of state, and nominally speaking, there was a king above Italian Prime Minister Mussolini.
According to the etiquette standards, the king should accompany the German "head of state" by car to the residence where he was staying, and there was nothing wrong with Mussolini.
At that time, although Mussolini was displeased with being subordinate to the king, he restrained his emotions and did not do anything extraordinary.
On the contrary, Italian leader Mussolini also had a full schedule, which made Reinhardt both a feast for his eyes and a feast for his mouth.
But behind this lively scene, Mussolini was somewhat melancholy.
Although no one showed it, Reinhard understood at that time that Mussolini's problem was Austria.
In order to make this ally not have any lingering fears about the Anschluss, Reinhard even said in his toast at the time: "The Alps, which stand tall in danger, are caused by nature and history. The Alps will be the two nations of Germany and Italy."
The borders of the country shall never be violated.”
The meaning behind this statement is that South Tyrol, a German-inhabited area in Italy, is still the territory of Italy, and Germany will not annex it on the pretext of ethnic issues like it did with the Sudetenland.
After Reinhardt gave some hints, although Mussolini was still unhappy with the Anschluss, he was also showing signs of attack.
However, few people know that since then, Mussolini has lost the air of "wagging his butt" when talking to Reinhard.
As Reinhard and Germany became increasingly powerful, Mussolini could only make fun of the German head of state behind his back in some small details.
He said to his son-in-law Ciano: "Reinhardt is just a nouveau riche, an ordinary person who rose to a high position by luck. People like this are usually just trash who stay at home and wait to die."
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The King of Italy simply said that his German guest was "some kind of psychological degenerate".
After all, Reinhardt's reputation at that time was not very good, and he had violated Italian interests, so he was not very popular in Italy.
Ribbentrop once wanted to dissuade Mussolini and asked him to ask the Italian king not to be too arrogant towards the German "Führer".
But at that time Mussolini replied coldly: "I tell you, the head of state, he is the one who should be more patient."
Throughout their visit, Reinhard and Ribbentrop were still looking for opportunities to have a serious political dialogue with Mussolini and Ciano.
But the fact is that the Germans still wanted to talk to the Italians, but Mussolini lacked enthusiasm.
Mussolini and Reinhard were not on the same page from the beginning because of similar ideologies.
On the contrary, Mussolini, who regarded himself as the master of corporatism and authoritarianism, always thought highly of himself and initially did not take Reinhard seriously at all.
In the deep area that most people cannot see, the relationship between Germany and Italy has gone through a process from confrontation to cooperation, and then from cooperation to alliance.
This once again proves that international politics is just a stage for national interests.
Today's German-Italian alliance is completely a Machiavellian political combination.
It is simpler than many people think, and also more complicated than many people think.
In general, German-Italian relations have probably gone through the following time points:
There were conflicts between Germany and Italy over the Austrian issue.
Italy's joining of the Stresa Front escalated the confrontation between the two countries.
The Ethiopian War and the march into the Rhineland improved relations between the two countries.
Berlin-Roman League formed.
The joint intervention of Germany and Italy in the Spanish Civil War further warmed relations between the two countries.
The signing of the "International Anti-Soviet Agreement" caused Italy to make concessions to Germany on the Austrian issue, and instead turned against the Soviet Union. (Interestingly, Reinhardt and the Soviet Union were cooperating in private at the time.
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The two countries formally formed an alliance under the Steel Treaty.
In fact, Italy defected from the German-led Central Powers to the Entente in World War I just to seize Trentino, South Tyrol, Dalmatia and Trieste, which were formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In addition,
There is also the port of Fiume and the German colonies in Africa.
However, the Treaty of Versailles did not meet all of Italy's needs. This time, Italy once again considered changing its status and joining forces with Germany.
Italy has a large population, poor resources, and a small territory. It urgently needs colonies for development, but it has no chance because of its late start. Therefore, it also has a strong motive to launch war with Europe to gain its own development space.
This forced Italy to be separated between the two major camps in Europe at this time, namely, the party led by Germany at the time, which demanded a change of the Versailles system, and the other party, led by France, which included small Eastern European countries and demanded the maintenance of the Versailles system.
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While Reinhard continued to annex various countries, Mussolini also felt that he was irrevocably tied to the German "Führer".
Unfortunately, the Rome-Berlin "alliance" was created around Reinhardt, and Mussolini seemed to be nothing more than a sidekick.
Later, in Southeast Europe, Reinhardt was gradually occupying the market in this area.
After annexing Austria, Germany almost indirectly cut off the crude oil trade line between Italy and the port of Trieste, making the port almost a dead port.
Immediately, Mussolini also did something that was sorry for Germany.
He built a new fortification along the German-Italian border.
This was something that an ally should not do at all, but at that time Mussolini still wanted to have two boats.
On the one hand, he hinted at the possibility of an alliance with the Germans, and on the other hand, he threatened the Germans with an alliance to force Western democratic countries to make concessions.
Sometimes, Mussolini still harbored a childish idea: he just wanted to use the language of war to scare other countries and cheer up the Italians.
What happened next was much simpler.
Reinhardt and Mussolini became estranged brothers. They were obviously enjoying themselves, but secretly they were always scheming against each other and considering profits and losses.
Even this seemingly friendly negotiation between the two on sharing the French spoils was just another confrontation for interests.
