The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1123: Chapter 841: The Rome Peace Conference

With Germany and Poland on the brink of a border crisis, the French could no longer sit idly by.

On August 3, 1945, the French Foreign Minister personally traveled to Berlin to propose a peace conference to the German government.

At the same time, the French Envoy to Italy also contacted the Italian Government, advocating that the parties involved in this incident should sit down at the conference table for peaceful negotiations, rather than resorting to the use of force, which no one wanted to see, to obtain the final outcome through bloodshed.

Since the agreed time to attack had not yet arrived, Germany and Italy also planned to see what choice the French would make, so they agreed to the French request for peace talks.

As for Poland, facing the demands from France and Austria, the Poles could not possibly ignore them.

If ignoring the demands of France and Austria led to the loss of support from the European powers, Poland, facing Germany alone, actually did not have great chances of victory.

Even with great ambition, the Polish government could not afford to lose its sanity over ambition. After careful consideration, the Poles also agreed to sit at the negotiating table and resolve the issue peacefully.

However, there were differing opinions among several countries regarding the venue for the talks.

As the initiator of the peace talks, the French wanted to hold the talks in Paris. Paris was not only the French stronghold but also a considerable distance away from the disputed area, making it one of the more suitable venues.

But both Germany and Poland rejected the French proposal. The Poles demanded that the talks be held in Poland, respecting Poland’s sovereignty over its current territory.

Germany, on the other hand, did not request that the talks be held in a German city but instead asked that they be held in the capital of their ally, Rome, Italy.

When it came to the venue of the talks, the French were also unwilling to be too rigid. Ultimately, Rome, Italy was chosen as the location for the peace talks, with participants including Germany, Italy, France, the Austrian Empire, and Poland.

At a time when the British were preoccupied, Germany, Italy, France, and Austria were the European nations with the most strength and influence.

Therefore, this Rome Peace Conference also attracted the attention of a large number of Europeans. If the peace conference could properly resolve the contradictions in Europe recently, it would be a good thing for all European people.

On August 17, 1935, the Rome Peace Conference officially began in the capital city of Italy, Rome.

This conference was of a high level, and the delegates from both sides were the main leaders of their respective countries.

France was represented by the newly appointed Prime Minister, Pierre Laval. Following the outbreak of conflict between the French President and the Prime Minister, President Albert dismissed Prime Minister Edward from his position, with Pierre Laval taking up the role of the French Prime Minister.

Pierre Laval was no stranger to the French Cabinet. Already during World War I, Pierre Laval had held a position in the French Parliament and had served several times as a French cabinet member in recent years.

In the French Cabinet, Pierre Laval was an officer whose thoughts and ideas were quite aligned with those of President Albert. In real history, Pierre Laval not only supported Marshal Pétain’s rise to power but also held the position of Prime Minister of Vichy France.

From this, it can be seen that Pierre Laval was a firm advocate for peace, and even did not identify much with national prestige and national interests.

That France sent such a staunch peace advocate to the conference also showed the French attitude in this conference, which was to trade certain concessions for long-term peace.

Besides France, the representatives sent to the conference by the other countries were also well-known figures.

On the German side, the attendance of the Prime Minister himself already demonstrated Germany’s attitude. On the Italian side, Mussolini attended the conference, showing a high level of understanding with the German side.

For the Austrian Empire, the attendee was the Crown Prince of the Empire, Otto.

After all, as the other countries had sent primary leaders, the only person who could adequately match their status without involving the Prime Minister from the Austrian Empire was the successor to the imperial throne.

As for the Republic of Poland, the choice of the delegate was not so critical.

The rest of the attendees at the conference were powers, and although Poland was a party to the issue, its status was no longer as significant.

Just like Czechoslovakia during the Munich Conference, the primary role of the Poles in this conference was to demonstrate to the outside world why the conference was convened.

In that respect, Poland was still stronger than the other countries.

At least for now, Poland was one of the few nations in all of Europe that could prompt the four powers to sit together and hold a peace conference.

At the start of the conference, Germany and Italy expressed very firm attitudes. Unlike the German-Italian side, the French leaned more towards concessions, and the Austrian attitude was even more ambiguous, without any specific ideas.

The level of commitment to their respective demands greatly determined the course of the conference.

The only real contention at this conference was over the territorial range demanded by Germany. According to the German demands, not only was Poland required to cede the complete Polish Corridor, but it also had to hand over the control of Lithuania to Germany.

Gdansk Free City naturally goes without saying, as it will rejoin the embrace of the German Empire.

As such, a Central European nation with an area not much less than Germany’s will directly become a small country like Hungary.

What’s more fatal is that Poland will lose all its access to the sea and once again become sandwiched between Germany and Russia Nation.

For a country with inherently weak foundations, such a demand is lethal. If France agrees to Germany’s demands, not to mention achieving the vision of Greater Poland, it will be very difficult for the Poles to even maintain independence amidst the squeeze from Germany and Russia Nation.

The Frenchmen, of course, are not willing to let Germany gain so much territory. This has already far exceeded the range of the German-claimed territory that the French previously mentioned they would take back.

The French propose that Germany can re-establish its connection with the East Prussian Region and regain sovereignty over Gdansk Free City.

However, the rest of the Polish Corridor, including Lithuania, should still belong to the Republic of Poland.

The French proposal preserved some strength for the Poles; at least Poland could still be considered a medium-sized country and not just fattened meat for the slaughter.

This caused the negotiations to become deadlocked.

However, for Germany and Italy, it nevertheless mattered less. Regardless of the result of the negotiations, Germany had only one goal, and that was the complete annexation of Poland.

The current peace talks with France serve more as a means to distract the French, allowing time for military preparation.

This is also why the Germans could have chosen to hold peace talks within German territory but decided against it.

For the Germans, with King George V critically ill, the British are bound not to have much energy to manage European affairs.

Australasia still has the Islanders restraining, and it’s simply not possible for them to extend their reach to Europe anytime soon.

This also means that the real enemies of German-Italian at present are only France and the Austrian Empire. These two countries may appear strong but actually have many restraints.

Austria is sandwiched between Germany and Italy from the north and south, and the French are also likely to face the risk of a Three-Line Battle.

In this light, Germany, only needing to face France and Austria, does not face as much combat pressure as imagined.

As long as the Spanish Nationalist army can take the lead in the Spanish Civil War, this two-on-two amongst the European powers will be an easy beginner’s level challenge for Germany to win.

On the other hand, Arthur also heard the news of the Rome peace talks.

Up until now, the situation in this world compared to history has completely changed a great deal.

Germany did not annex Austria and Czechoslovakia, instead, it set its primary expansion target on Poland.

This led the British and French to a deficient realization of Germany’s insatiable appetite. In the French plan, they even naively think that as long as they meet the current demands of the Germans, they can at least secure several years of peace for France.

The question is, can such extremist countries as Germany and Italy really maintain peace for several years?

If what these countries wanted was peace, they wouldn’t have expanded their Military from the start, constantly probing the ultimate limits of Britain and France.

A step back will lead to further retreats; the British and French made the wrong choice from the beginning, and now they can only bear the consequences of their mistakes.

As Arthur predicted, in less than a month’s time, the Rome peace talks were declared over.

France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Republic of Poland jointly signed the Rome Pact, officially marking the end of the peace talks.

In Rome, French President Pierre Laval, smiling and confident in an interview with media from Italy and all over Europe, said, “We have resolved the crisis between Germany and Poland through a much more peaceful method. Now, let us cheer and celebrate this hard-earned peace!”

This statement even made the headlines of French media reports that day, sparking celebrations and cheers among the French People.

President Albert was also quite pleased with himself, believing his administrative philosophy to be the most suitable for France at present, and the attitudes of the masses in Paris proved his point.

For a while, the media of various countries reported on the peace brought by the pact.

But what the nations and media failed to notice was that Germany, having acquired lands including Gdansk Free City and the Polish Corridor through the Rome Pact, was not in the least satisfied in its ambitions.

A significant portion of the German Army was mobilizing, and their intent seemed not to be the occupation and control of the newly acquired Polish Corridor, but rather to advance east towards Warsaw, deeper into Poland…