Reinhardt can be said to have been depressed recently. In the past few years, Germany's military power has grown almost geometrically, but the diplomatic environment has become increasingly bad. As of the end of 1935, the German army had not been able to reach the Rhine River.
Deploy one soldier at a time on the other side of the Rhine. The increasingly fragile Treaty of Versailles is getting stronger. In particular, the relevant clauses that do not allow the deployment of troops on the east bank of the Rhine have been repeatedly emphasized by the French government. The French army may send troops at any time.
To maintain the atmosphere of the status quo on the east bank of the Rhine.
German troops cannot be deployed within German territory. This is unreasonable for any country!
However, no one in the international community expressed sympathy for Germany. In this regard, Reinhardt could only sigh helplessly that Germany really had too few friends.
Apart from its Soviet friends who have evil intentions and never want to export revolution, if Germany wants to find a real friend, it may only be Italy.
Although Italy has shown various ugly behaviors in history and seems to be Germany's worst ally. However, Italy is still Germany's ally after all.
In its original history, Italy provided a huge number of Allied troops to Germany. In North Africa, Italy provided hundreds of thousands of troops to help Germany contain the Commonwealth coalition forces. In the Balkans, Italy sent tens of thousands of troops to suppress the endless guerrilla groups for Germany.
In the Soviet Union, Italy dispatched a group army to coordinate with the German army to stabilize the defense line. On the southern front of France, Italy...well, this doesn't count.
In short, if there were not millions of Italian troops to share the pressure, the German troops would be dispersed by at least more than 100,000 people to complete the tasks completed by the Italian army in history. At least, this is what Reinhardt thinks.
The alliance with Italy is not a mindless continuation of historical development by Reinhardt. It is a final decision after a lot of careful consideration. For this decision, he has been thinking about it all the time in recent years. The result of thinking is that Germany must also
Can only ally with Italy.
From the perspective of choice, Germany was defeated by Britain, France and other Allied Powers in World War I. Therefore, Germany had irreconcilable conflicts with them, and it was naturally difficult to form an alliance with Britain and France. Historically, Hitler always fantasized about forming an alliance with Britain.
As a result, the British fought to the bitter end and wasted many good opportunities.
Although Reinhard established good relations with Soviet leaders, and the Soviet Union and Germany also had many cooperations, from an ideological point of view, the Soviet Union and Germany were two systems that could never become allies.
Italy, which has been proven by history, is undoubtedly the most "reliable" ally that Germany can find now.
Of course, from the perspective of strength, although Italy developed relatively late on the path of capitalist economy and is inferior to Britain and France in strength, its navy and air force are still the strongest in southern Europe. In terms of strength in data alone, Italy is still very confident.
From a purpose perspective, Mussolini was determined to rebuild the glory of the Roma Empire after he came to power, and wanted to turn the Mediterranean Sea into a lake in Italy. Britain and France were the biggest obstacles to Mussolini's dream blueprint.
Later, if Germany wanted to truly rise from the desperate situation, it would have to have a war with Britain and France. With the same enemy, the alliance between the two sides was a natural one.
Correspondingly, from a military perspective, if Germany wants to rise, it must first dominate the European continent. Italy, on the other hand, wants to expand its sphere of influence from the Mediterranean to North Africa. There is no conflict in the strategic development directions of the two countries for the time being, and there is no need to give up any interests after forming an alliance.
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Looking back at the geographical perspective, Germany has strong enemies in the east and west, so Germany also needs a neighboring country to help itself. By allying with Italy, Germany can avoid being attacked by enemies from the east, west, and south at the same time like in World War I.
At the same time, Italy can also be used to hold back part of the British army in North Africa from both sea and land directions to relieve future pressure on the Western Front.
The most important thing is that the alliance with Italy indirectly protected the security of Germany's southern front, allowing the intensive industrial agriculture in southern Germany to develop stably. You know, Italy historically made a significant contribution to Germany's defense against the Allied forces on the southern front.
Contribution. Without the Normandy landing, the Allied offensive on the southern front would never have been able to shake the foundation of Germany.
Of course, based on Reinhardt's traditional concept from the East. From the perspective of popular morale, if Germany does not have strong allies, challenging the whole of Europe to go it alone will probably seriously reduce the country's confidence in victory. With the participation of allies, especially
The participation of a contemporary big country like Italy can better enhance the people's expectations for victory and is also an encouragement to people's hearts. After all, Italy in 1935 was a European military power in the eyes of many countries.
Therefore, even though Reinhard knew that Italy's wealth was surrounded by external failures, he still had no choice but to form an alliance with it. Otherwise, Germany's diplomacy in the near future would be very isolated and painful. In the future, Germany's annexation of many Germanic ethnic areas will be inseparable from Italy's
support.
Unfortunately, the moment Reinhard stepped off the plane and set foot on Italian soil, he still regretted it.
Along the way, Reinhardt was completely disappointed by what he saw and heard. At the Naples naval port where Mussolini chose to receive Reinhardt, Reinhardt seemed to instantly recall Italy's actions in World War II.
All disadvantages.
Italians always seem to only make a fuss on the surface. This decadent country, led by the stupid Mussolini, no longer deserves to be called a great country.
They put all their energy into decorating the facade, and were very proud of it. The appearance of the Naples Naval Base in front of them looked full of modern technology, and its area was even larger than all German naval bases. It was the Naples Naval Base.
The garbage they piled up with money!
Apart from letting ordinary people who know nothing about military affairs marvel at the majesty of these buildings in the base and be shocked by the number and size of battleships, this base has no purpose.
Reinhardt believed that with only one newly built German armored regiment equipped with T3 tanks, this base with beautiful appearance, gorgeous decoration, so-called tight defense and could never be breached could be razed to the ground!
"Idiot!" Reinhard squeezed out the word through his teeth.
Mussolini's original intention may have been to let Reinhardt experience Italy's most outstanding naval strength in this naval base and show off. But now Reinhardt's face is full of contempt.
The two German Gestapo translators had clearly sensed Reinhard's emotional changes.
When Mussolini appeared in front of everyone, a hint of joking flashed across Reinhard's face.
I traveled back in time to Reinhard Heydrich, and his appearance was already bad enough. But Mussolini, a fat, bald man, was even uglier. Not only was he ugly, he also looked stupid!
Reinhard really couldn't imagine how this guy could think of himself as a contemporary Caesar.
Is that what he looks like?!
Contrary to his psychological activity, Reinhardt's face instantly changed into a look of admiration. If the two German translators had not seen it with their own eyes, they would never have believed that human facial expressions could be changed so quickly and so completely!