After reading this telegram, Edel was somewhat satisfied with the attitude of these Yugoslavs.
In fact, this is nothing. The Yugoslav government is sending a telegram, allowing Romania to recruit volunteers to join the army in Yugoslavia. Although there is no explicit text, the Yugoslav side has given enough hints.
That's right, after Germany's diplomacy hit a wall, Yugoslavia actively showed goodwill to Romania and Italy. Not only did it quickly sign friendship treaties with Italy and Romania, but it also frequently dispatched senior officials to visit the two countries. Prime Minister Svetkov alone made a short visit to the two countries. I visited Romania three times in just a few months. But except for the first time, I never had the opportunity to meet Edel.
Of course, it cannot be said that the visit to Yugoslavia was ineffective. The continuous visits have changed Romania's attitude towards Yugoslavia a lot. At least the Bulgarians have changed their attitude towards it. Although they still miss Macedonia, they are no longer clamoring for the use of force. Having captured it, it can be said that the results of Yugoslavia's visit are still significant.
But when it comes to another territorial issue, Yugoslavia is much more stubborn. Whether in discussions with Italy or Romania, Yugoslavia is extremely stubborn about territory. They refuse to discuss territorial issues. They are even willing to economically Offer compensation and don't want to talk about it.
This made Edel feel a little uncomfortable, but although it was uncomfortable, it was not enough for Romania to decide to launch a war against Yugoslavia.
Although Yugoslavia seems to be a bit stubborn at the moment, Romania and Italy are currently very busy and have no interest in taking any drastic action against it.
This also puzzled Edel as to why Yugoslavia would encounter a German attack in history. Looking at the performance of the Yugoslav government, it did not look like the filial sons and grandsons of Britain and France at all.
In fact, there is nothing to doubt about this, because Britain and France have greater influence in Yugoslavia, especially the underage King Peter II of Yugoslavia, who is the number one British fan.
After Germany defeated France, the whole European continent turned to the Axis powers. This Peter II launched a coup, abolished the agreement on Yugoslavia's accession to the Axis that had just been signed two days ago, and dared to slap Hitler in the face at the height of his power. This was not true love for Britain and France. How could a fan do such a thing?
It's just that Edel doesn't remember anything about it, it's too long ago and it's not the focus.
However, although Edel did not remember this, it did not affect his good mood, because this would allow Romania to expand its influence in Yugoslavia openly.
Since Yugoslavia was so sensible, how could Edel disagree? Naturally, he happily agreed to this. And this was not the only good news for him. Two days later, a telegram from Finland appeared in front of him.
In fact, this is just a telegram that the Finnish government plans to purchase Romanian ordnance. The Finnish government wants to purchase a batch of artillery, guns, ammunition and other weapons from Romania, but the most important one is that Finland wants to purchase 120 R20 fighter jets. This arms purchase amount reaches 6,000. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.
Now Finland is purchasing weapons from all over the world to deal with the threat from the Soviet Union. Yes, the Soviet-Finnish War, which had already started in history, has been delayed until now. The main reason is the influence from Romania.
Among them, the interference from Romania hindered the pace of industrialization of the Soviet Union, and its scale was about 10% lower than the overall scale in history.
Therefore, the current size of the Soviet army is larger than in history, but its equipment is still insufficient than in history. After all, the equipment does not have enough manpower to make up for it.
In addition, although Romania has acquiesced to the German-Soviet terms, its military strength on the border has still reached a new high. Currently, Romania has deployed 34 divisions of troops on the Soviet-Soviet border, with a total strength of 830,000 troops.
Facing the pressure from Romania, the Soviet Union also deployed 1 million troops in the Kiev Military District. Excluding the troops on the border in the Far East, plus the troops stationed in the newly occupied territory of eastern Poland, the speed of the Soviet Union's troop assembly was naturally much slower.
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Therefore, after the resistance in eastern Poland was eliminated, the Soviet Union was ready to have a good talk with the Finnish brothers. The Soviet Union has always been worried that Finland's territory in the Karelian Isthmus is too close to Leningrad. The Soviet government has always believed that Finland
It is very likely that the country's territory will be used by a third country as a springboard to attack the Soviet Union.
In addition, the Leningrad Oblast was too important to the Soviet Union, and its enterprises were of unparalleled importance to the Soviet Union.
However, the result of the conversation was very unsatisfactory to Comrade Steel, because Finland rejected the friendly request of the Soviet Union. This time the Soviet Union came with great goodwill, that is, it proposed that Finland move the Russian-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus northward by 40
In addition, several islands in the Gulf of Finland and Finnish territory on the Rybachi Peninsula were ceded to the Soviet Union, and the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviet Union at a cost of 8 million Finnish marks per year for 30 years, totaling approximately 2,000 square kilometers.
In order to compensate for Finland's territorial losses, the Soviet Union expressed its willingness to hand over land to Finland in the northwest of Lake Onega, twice the area ceded by Finland (4,000 square kilometers), which can be said to be a sign of goodwill.
It's just that the goodwill of the great Soviet Union was let down by Finland, the remnant of the White Army. They rejected the Soviet Union's goodwill without hesitation.
It's just that from Finland's perspective, the Soviet Union's demands were extremely vicious, and they just passed Finland's most dangerous Mannerheim Line of Defense. This was equivalent to lifting Finland's defense barrier against the Soviet Union, but it did not put Finland under the threat of the Soviet Union.
, so it was naturally rejected.
Faced with Finland's rejection, the Soviet Union naturally did not intend to just let it go. The Soviet Union assembled its troops without concealment and continued to provoke friction between the two countries.
Faced with this situation, the Finnish government naturally knew that this matter could not be resolved. On the one hand, they sought diplomatic help. Although people all over the world sympathized with the weak Finland in the face of the Soviet Union's oppression of Finland, there was not much at the national level.
The country provides support to Finland.
Although Britain and France promised to send 100,000 troops to reinforce Finland, various signs indicate that the 100,000 troops of Britain and France are mainly to occupy the iron ore mines in northern Sweden and Norway and cut off the supply of iron ore from the two countries to Germany. So Hitler publicly spoke about this,
If the two countries allow British and French troops to enter, then Germany will declare war on Sweden and Norway. Therefore, in order to avoid falling into war, the two countries dare not allow British and French troops to enter.
In addition, the mutual aid alliance signed by Finland, Norway, and Sweden was also rejected by the two countries for various reasons. Although the two countries did not intend to provide reinforcements at the national level, they still organized volunteers privately and provided some weapons to help Finland.
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As for why Finland came to Romania, this is another question. Romania and Finland had no intersection in the past. The two countries were too far apart to form friendly relations at all.
In the 1920s and 1930s, when Romania became stronger, the relationship between Finland and the Soviet Union heated up. At that time, in order to avoid irritating the Soviet Union, the relationship between Finland and Romania, the enemy of the Soviet Union, did not develop much.
So when Finland asked for help from all over the world to no avail, and Romania said it could help him, you can imagine how this small Nordic country felt.
Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and the Finns know it very well. But in such a critical situation, the Finns are willing to swallow even the bait first.
That's why Finland spent such a large sum of money to purchase supplies from Romania this time (it only had 30 million in cash, and another 15 million that needed to be exchanged for raw materials, and there was also a loan of 15 million from Romania).
As for why other countries are so cold to aid Finland, the reason is very simple, that is, the gap between the two countries is too big. Many people believe that as long as the Soviet army moves in, Finland will automatically surrender. Because the gap between the two countries is too big, the gap in national power is greater than
Calculated by more than fifty times.
To give the simplest example, Finland's population is only 2 million, while the Soviet Union's army alone is over 3 million. How can we fight this?
In addition, the Soviet military industry was extremely developed, while Finland basically relied on outsourcing. Apart from being better than the average per capita, Finland was almost useless.
Including the Romanian military, which was most familiar with the Soviet Union, all believed this. Relying on the experience of the previous two wars with the Soviet Union, they believed that Finland would surrender one month after the Soviet Union launched its attack because the Finnish army had been exhausted.
.So this aid to Finland can be said to be Edel's own will.
When Edel signed the arms sales terms, the arms sales to Finland on behalf of Romania began. I hope that the performance of the Finnish army this time will be worthy of Edel's full support this time.