The Rise of Australia - Chapter 1002

c981 The well-fed and the starving

Regarding the part about the territorial cession of Germany, we have to mention the remaining territory of Germany after World War I.

As a country that had been ceded after World War I, the land that Germany could continue to cede was really limited.

And in the final analysis, there was only one country among the three countries of Britain, France and Australia that could effectively annex German land, and that was France, which was eager to try.

Britain and Australasia did not directly border Germany, so even if they got German land, they were destined not to turn it into their homeland.

In order to prevent the French from taking too much advantage, Britain and Australasia reached an agreement that the total land area ceded by Germany should not exceed 15% of Germany’s current homeland, and at the same time, the garrison should be the main force to effectively deal with the possibility of revenge after Germany recovered.

First of all, the land that Germany needed to cede.

The Free City of Danzig and the East Prussia region were directly incorporated into Poland. Poland would establish a royal government and become the most powerful country in Central Europe.

All the land north of the Kiel Canal was ceded to Denmark, and the Kiel Canal was jointly managed by Britain, France and Australia.

Saarbrücken, north of Alsace and Lorraine, was ceded to France, which was the only land France could get after the war.

Silesia between Bohemia and Poland was entrusted to the Polish government for 20 years, and a referendum was held 20 years later to decide whether the entire Silesia region would stay or go.

In addition to the ceded land, the whole of Germany will be divided into three parts and stationed by Britain, France and Australia.

There is a lot of controversy about the areas and specific distribution of the garrisons of various countries.

The remaining German mainland is still vast. Whoever can control the larger and more economically developed areas will gain more benefits in this war.

For such a struggle for interests, Britain, France and Australia can be said to be unyielding.

At this time, no one cared about the tacit understanding of fighting side by side in the war. The diplomatic representatives of the three parties had only one idea, that is, to do their best to gain more benefits for their own countries.

First of all, the plan proposed by Australasia was roughly divided by several rivers in Germany.

The land west of the Elbe River and north of Nuremberg is the Australian occupied zone, all German territories east of the Elbe River are the British occupied zone, and the land south of Frankfurt and east of the Rhine River is the French occupied zone.

Such a distribution will allocate the three important areas of the Ruhr, Berlin and Munich to the three countries respectively, and can also achieve the plan of Australasia occupying the Ruhr area.

But Britain and France obviously do not agree with such a proposal.

Especially the French, they are also eyeing the Ruhr area, and do not accept that they only occupy Munich and South Germany.

Although the British accept the division of Western Australia and Eastern Britain, they hope that the dividing line between the two countries’ occupation zones will become the Weser River, rather than the Elbe River, which is more easterly.

The Weser River and the Elbe River are both two rivers in Germany from south to north, but the Elbe River is located on the line from Hamburg to Magdeburg, which is already quite close to Berlin.

The Weser River is located in the central and western part of Germany, and the coastal cities are Bremen and Erfurt, which are obviously closer to the Ruhr area in the west.

The dispute between Britain and Australasia over the demarcation line of the two countries’ occupation zones is actually about the Central German region, that is, the area from Hanover to Magdeburg.

This part of the region includes Hanover, Thuringia, most of Saxony and Magdeburg, with a total population of more than 10 million.

This is also the reason why Britain and Australasia are competing. Whoever can control this area with a population of tens of millions can naturally squeeze out more benefits.

The French also have a big appetite.

The French want to occupy the Moselland region south of the Rhineland, that is, north of the Alsace-Lorraine region, and also want to occupy the entire South Germany and Frankfurt region.

Australasia has only one reaction to this, that is, to laugh at the French for being too naive.

The real reason why the British allowed Australasia to occupy a large amount of German land, including the Ruhr area, is that they can’t stop Australasia from occupying these areas at all, and secondly, they understand that even if Australasia occupies these areas, it is destined to be unable to annex them.

Moreover, Australasia cannot have too far-reaching an impact on Europe, and the hegemony of Europe is still Britain.

But France is different. If France occupies such a vast land, will France resist the temptation to become the hegemon of Europe?

The German land that the French want to occupy has a population of more than 20 million Germans, and the Moselland and Furtenberg regions are directly adjacent to Alsace.

According to the British character, the British government would never agree to let France occupy so many areas.

In addition, France’s strength has long been weakened. Although France can be regarded as a great power at present, there is already a huge gap between it and Britain and Australia.

Whether Britain opposes or Australasia opposes, or both countries oppose together, France cannot get such a vast area.

This also means that for the division of occupied areas of various countries, it is only necessary to resolve the dispute between Britain and Australasia.

In the end, Australasia chose to give in.

In fact, it is not a concession. After all, Australasia has taken great advantage in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea. Concessions in Hanover and Thuringia, where the population is not large, will not affect Australasia’s strategic deployment in Europe.

After several days of discussion, the situation of the three countries occupying Germany was officially formed.

France occupied the German region east of the Rhine and south of Frankfurt, of which Saarbrücken was ceded directly to France, and other regions were occupied militarily in the form of garrisons until it was ensured that Germany would not start the next war.

The land on both sides of the Rhine and west of the Weser River was occupied militarily by Australasia. However, Australasia’s diplomatic representatives also gained military control of Bremen in their arguments, which was not a big loss.

A large area of ​​German territory east of the Weser River was occupied by the British, including the German capital Berlin.

However, the military occupation of Britain, France and Australia would not interfere in the internal affairs of Germany, but would supervise Germany’s military power.

Moreover, the three countries had the priority to dispose of German property in their respective occupied areas. The specific amount of compensation paid by the German government and the property to be transferred would be determined according to the specific scale of compensation agreed upon by the subsequent conference.

In general, Britain, France and Australia all gained from this conference, and Germany also avoided the possibility of its homeland being torn apart.

There was only one country that suffered the greatest loss, and that was Russia. Britain, France and Australia have clearly become another interest group that has completely excluded Russia from the pie-sharing. Apart from reparations, Russia will not be able to obtain any other results of the war.