Germany's request quickly reached Romania, and after receiving the news, Edel agreed after a brief consideration.
Edel also had his own considerations for agreeing to visit Germany so quickly. After solving the threat of the Soviet Union in the future, Romania will focus on the Mediterranean. The reason is very simple. The Middle East is still a barren land. Who would have thought of it?
There is a huge amount of oil underground.
For the benefit of Romania, Romania must control the Middle East, so seizing it from the hands of Britain and France becomes the only option. As the key point for Romania to connect to the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean must be controlled by Romania.
Now it is best for him to go to Germany to negotiate with Hitler on the Mediterranean issue in person. Of course, Italy, as a Mediterranean sea power, must not forget it. Romania alone is unable to seize the region, and must win over Italy, a natural ally.
It happened that Italy was negotiating an alliance with Germany. In order to bring Italy onto the chariot, Eder planned to meet with the leader Mussolini again.
Edel acted quickly. After agreeing to Hitler, he immediately prepared to take the bus to Berlin.
When Edel set off from Bucharest, Mussolini, who was also in Romania, also planned to leave. Compared with Edel's trip, which was quiet without many people seeing him off, Mussolini's trip was simply a big fanfare. All officials, big and small, showed up.
At the scene, it was simply overwhelming. Mussolini, who loved to be in the limelight, also made a lot of remarks during interviews with the media at the station. It was as if his visit to Germany was not just to discuss the alliance treaty, but also to contribute to world peace.
Mussolini's remarks naturally attracted the attention of Europe to Munich, the venue for this meeting. This made Hitler, who originally planned to keep a low profile, curse secretly, but the naval strength of Italy prevented him from having an attack.
So when Edel arrived in Munich, he discovered that there were a large number of reporters here.
"Your Majesty Eder, these are the reporters who came with Prime Minister Mussolini."
After sending someone to understand the situation, Edel stopped talking.
He didn't care about this, because when the war broke out, it would be clear who stood with whom, not to mention that Edel had history to refer to.
Although the rise of Romania has changed the possible direction of some history, it is basically clear who is the current enemy and who is the future ally. Because the general direction has not been changed, Edel can use history as a reference for many trends.
This naturally made Edel feel like a fish in water and helped Romania get a lot of benefits from it.
Now for the next World War II, with Romania's participation in the war, Edel will no longer be able to grasp this advantage, so he can only rely more on his own judgment.
This feeling is really unpleasant, as if a person relies on the guide to play the game, and the guide is taken away halfway through the game.
Departing the station, he boarded the train for Nymphenburg Palace, where he would meet with Hitler and Mussolini to discuss issues concerning the interests of all nations.
While Edel was still in the car, Mussolini, who had arrived at Nymphenburg Palace, was discussing with his son-in-law Ciano, and Edel was arriving.
"What do you think of King Edel of Romania's visit this time?"
Facing his son-in-law and confidant, Mussolini did not appear carefree, but looked a little sad.
As his son-in-law, Ciano certainly knew the reason. He saw the smoke filling the skies over Europe, but Italy was not ready yet. Although Italy had previously announced that it would expand its military by half, anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was just an Italian plan. The establishment was changed from three regiments to two regiments, and a group of two-regiment divisions were formed.
All this was caused by lack of money.
It is said that due to the development of Libyan oil, Italy should be richer according to the road. But contrary to expectations, after the Libyan oil, Italy's resentment towards the Mediterranean became even stronger. They successively started construction of multiple battleships, including 380 and 406 large-caliber giants. The cannon is simply majestic.
However, there is a price to pay for being cool, and Italy is no exception. These giant ships with a displacement of up to 34,000 tons not only require high construction costs, but also require more maintenance costs. Although the battleships built in the previous World War I Decommissioning all will reduce maintenance costs, but the maintenance cost of new warships is already higher than that of old warships, which means that half of Italy's increased income will be invested in it.
So logically there should be half of it?
Yes, but Italy fought three wars in a row, the Ethiopian War, the Spanish Civil War (Italy was still the main force), and the Albanian War. These three wars, plus investment in colonies, completely spent the remaining half. net.
It should be mentioned here that the Spanish Civil War is now over. In December 1938, the National Army invaded Madrid and the senior officials of the Republican government fled to the Soviet Union. With the flight of the senior officials of the Republican government, the end of the civil war was declared.
However, the Franco regime that had just come to power, faced with an economy that was riddled with holes in the civil war, requested economic assistance from Germany, Italy and Romania. Among them, the amount of aid from Germany and Italy was not large, but Italy was in need of Spain, and the amount of aid was That's huge. The aid of up to 80 billion lire has made the Italian treasury even more empty.
Originally, Italy's loan could be repaid slowly as long as Spain's economy recovered. But I didn't expect that the situation would change so quickly after the Munich Conference. Europe, which was originally only a little tense, was immediately filled with thick smoke. Italy was caught off guard. , and only then did they feel the consequences of their previous wasteful spending. At a time when the situation in Europe was so tense, their treasury was empty and they were unable to complete even basic military expansion.
Therefore, at this time, Italy cannot rely on its own strength to benefit from one of them, and can only join one of them. Mussolini is actually more inclined to form an alliance with Romania. However, although Romania has always had a close relationship with Italy, it has no idea about the alliance. impatient.
Doesn’t Romania need Italy as its ally? That’s not the case. Romania has always hoped to form an alliance with Italy. However, if Italy and Romania form an alliance, it will immediately bring about earth-shaking changes to both countries. At least if Romania wants to obtain Salonika, it will It is very difficult. Because the alliance between the two countries will definitely become the target of suppression by Britain and France, and maybe it will take precedence over Germany. This is why Edel is not too concerned about the alliance with Italy.
Faced with the inquiry from his father-in-law, Ciano, as his son-in-law and foreign minister, immediately responded. "Father-in-law, I think Edel's arrival this time is very beneficial to our country's negotiations."
Ciano's words immediately pointed out that Mussolini was right. Yes, both countries have needs for the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Before the two countries finish carving up the region, they both need help from each other. So Romania and Italy are natural
Allies, not to mention that both countries are currently considered allies and quasi-allies of Germany. In the face of Germany's strong strength, only by uniting can the two countries ensure that their interests are not damaged.
Therefore, Italy is happy to see Eder's visit come to fruition.
