C3271 The lethality of Frankfurt Treaty (1/2)
62 billion and 60 million Gold franc s for war reparations!
France ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany!
France ceded Annan colony to Chinese people!
Land delivery must be completed within six months. The war reparations must be settled over a period of three years!
Before all the reparations were paid, Germany would be stationed in the France with a hundred thousand troops, while the Chinese would be stationed in a three hundred man military observer mission.
In other words, if we don't have enough money, we can forget about retreating!
Such harsh conditions frightened the whole of Europe. There had never been such a contract. Not only was land ceded, but there was even an astronomical amount of compensation!
Six million and two hundred million Gold franc! Was it to prevent France from turning over for an entire generation?
The Queen, who was at Buckingham Palace, immediately knew the details of the treaty. He immediately called for the former Prime Minister Benjamin and asked him, a veteran diplomat, for his opinion.
”Bismark and Xiao Letian are too ruthless, they want to make France unable to raise their head for 30 years!”
”The world is in a state of turmoil now. New ideas are flooding the world, and there are signs of a revolution among all races. Science and technology that Europe is proud of is spreading to the world at an accelerated pace …”
”The countries of the world have already entered a phase of speeding up their races. Let alone thirty years, even ten years of national destiny is already an insurmountable gap …”
”Your Majesty, the French cannot possibly pay off this huge sum of money in three years. I think it will take at least ten years!”
”That is to say, the French must pinch their nose and let the German occupy this place for ten years. And in these ten years, the national power of both sides will disappear and from now on, I am afraid that the France will never be able to surpass the Germany!”
”Oh, Germany has become our biggest enemy! Our diplomatic strategy must be adjusted! ”
Adjust? It's very easy to say, but how do you plan to adjust it? Benjamin is not the Prime Minister, and the Queen would definitely not interfere in the politics of the court for your sake!
The Queen Victoria did not say anything, but let Benjamin leave. Three hours later, Gladstone, his son and all the ministers in the Cabinet came to pay their respects to her.
Gladstone's judgement was pretty much the same as Benjamin's, but Gladstone was even more pessimistic about France. He believed that the France would be occupied by Germany for 20 years!
”Your Majesty! That was 6.2 billion Gold franc, how could the French take it out all of a sudden? Even if our British Empire were to take out two hundred and fifty million francs in one go, that would be impossible! ”
”France is finished, they will be completely crushed by this astronomical figure!”
Queen Victoria's face did not show any expression, but her tone was a little unfriendly. ”What was your judgement before? What about the situation where both sides were heavily injured? The strategy of suppressing the two strongest has been formulated by you two, but now it has become the crippling of a wolf and the raising of a fierce tiger! ”
”Who will take on this responsibility?”
Gladstone's face was pale. ”I apologize, Your Majesty. I apologize. If the council wanted to impeach me, I wouldn't miss my position of power. I will relinquish my position as Prime Minister!”
”I didn't mean that. I didn't want to interfere in the decision of the Council …” The Queen Victoria waved her hand and said, ”What I want is a way to solve this, a strategy for the future …”
All of the ministers' faces paled. Gladstone was in fact a scapegoat. His judgement of the battle was the universal judgment of the entire upper echelons in England!