The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 605 - 463: Small Meeting, Big Power

It was Prime Minister Raul George who first stood up to oppose the French proposal. Originally, Prime Minister George’s idea was to maintain a position of neutrality, as the British Empire was currently the strongest country in the world, and any distribution of interests would inevitably depend on the British Empire’s attitude.

However, unexpectedly, the French came in strong right off the bat. This was not about making Germany pay for the war, but rather trampling on Germany to re-establish French domination in Europe, making France the most powerful country in the world once again.

Germany, with its entire military force disbanded and its military industry dismissed, was bound not to be a match for the French.

This also meant that on the French mainland, especially in Western and Central Europe, the French would have no rival.

Under the influence of the French, countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, and even Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire would inevitably change their diplomatic stance.

If these countries leaned toward France, the British Empire’s painstakingly crafted European balance-of-power policy would be rendered null and void.

At that time, France would be unstoppable on the European continent, seemingly calling for another anti-French alliance to curb French arrogance.

"Mister Klemenss Cameron, your country’s terms are too harsh for Germany and do not conform to our spirit of pacifism. Completely disbanding the German military would only plunge the country further into chaos, which is not in our best interests. In addition, ceding too much German territory will only fuel German hatred toward us.

I hope this negotiation will end the war, rather than lead to the next one." Raul George stood up, explaining his views.

Teaching the Germans a lesson was necessary, but it must be done judiciously. For the British Empire, a Germany with a certain amount of strength is needed to contain French expansion.

After all, both Germany and France posed threats to the British Empire, and the relationship between Britain and France was not very good before World War I.

As two established powers, Britain and France still held tremendous prestige in Europe. Although Britain was relatively stronger and supported by more countries, the conference was held in Paris, which is French territory.

The quarrel between Britain and France turned the first few days of the negotiation into a chaotic marketplace. The progress of the talks had almost come to a standstill, with neither side able to put forward a good proposal to resolve the current conflict.

It was Prime Minister Kent who finally suggested a compromise: reducing the number of participants in the conference, and having the conflict between Britain and France resolved by the Four Great Powers of the Allies; or even having the negotiation directly led by the Four Great Powers themselves.

Countries such as the Balkan Nations and Belgium, had the right to wait for notification, but not the right to participate directly in the negotiation to fight for their interests.

As for the United States and Italy, neither of these countries share borders with Germany and have no territorial claims.

The German reparations would eventually be distributed among all the victorious nations; they only needed to leave a share for them, without worrying too much about their opinions.

It was on the proposal of Prime Minister Kent that the Chairman of the Peace Congress, Klemenss Cameron, announced a reduction in the number of participants in the negotiations.

Ten people would be chosen from the Four Great Powers of Britain-France-Russia-Australia, with three, three, two, and two representatives respectively, to determine the current conflict of interests between Britain and France and the progress of the entire negotiation.

This announcement caused a huge uproar, but the excluded countries were powerless to do anything about it.

Only Italy and the United States were truly qualified to resist, but this did not mean they possessed the strength to do so.

As for the Balkan Nations, Belgium, and other countries, these smaller nations were more sensible and could only try their best to visit the representatives of the Four Great Powers of the Allies, each clinging to their respective thighs.

After the reduction in numbers, the progress of the negotiations did go smoothly. Although there were still conflicts of interest between Britain and France, both sides were well aware that negotiations were inevitable.

German reparations were unavoidable, and after a preliminary estimate of each country’s casualties and losses, combined with Germany’s actual domestic situation, the Four Great Powers unanimously agreed on a figure of 20 billion pounds for German reparations, with the Allied Powers sharing all of Germany’s military-industrial enterprises and important factory equipment.

Australasia was also allowed priority access to some of the factory equipment and technical personnel, and all countries agreed that Australasia would be allowed to emigrate to Germany.

The shares of the 20 billion in reparations were also preliminarily negotiated among the Four Great Powers. As the true leading countries of the Allies, the Four Great Powers received the highest percentage, at 85% of the 20 billion, or 1.7 billion pounds.

Among them, the distribution of the £17 billion compensation by Britain, France, Russia, and Australia was in a ratio of 3:3:3:1, which is roughly £51 billion, £51 billion, £51 billion, and £17 billion, respectively.

Although Russia and France did suffer the most casualties, Britain currently has the strongest strength, so splitting the compensation equally among the three countries is the only acceptable outcome for all parties.

Although Australasia is one of the four great powers, its contribution to the cause was minimal, and its national strength is the lowest, so it is only natural that it gets the lowest 10% of the compensation.

Although it only looks like one-third of the compensation received by Britain, France, and Russia, it is more than the compensation received by all other countries except the four great powers, and only slightly less than their total sum, which is worthy of Australasia’s status as one of the four great powers.

After all, Australasia has a small national scale, and in theory, the £1.7 billion compensation can do a lot, such as allowing the country’s strength to rise substantially.

If the compensation received by other allied countries is also considered, Australasia’s total compensation will exceed £2 billion, which can be described as a sudden wealth.

As for the remaining 15% of the compensation, or about £3 billion, it is left to be allocated to the United States, Italy, and all other victorious countries.

This allows them to shift contradictions from the four great powers of the Allies onto other competitors, after all, £3 billion is not a small number. Being one-tenth of that is enough to make those small countries suddenly rich.

As for the most controversial issue of territorial cessions in Germany between Britain and France, the four great powers have reached a certain consensus.

Germany must cede part of its territory as compensation, and Alsace and Lorraine, which the French have long coveted, are inevitable.

In addition, a small part of the border between Germany and Belgium will be ceded to Belgium as compensation for Belgium being innocently involved in the war.

Instead of demanding for the creation of a republic on the west bank of the Rhine, the French now demand for the creation of a republic on part of the territory in the northern Alsace-Lorraine region, under the trusteeship of France.

Although the Rhine’s west bank is not at risk of being ceded, the French are demanding to set up a military restricted area there and prohibit any German troops from entering, with the Allied troops stationed in the area.

On the Eastern Front of Germany, the Russians’ appetite for annexing East Prussia, German-occupied Poland, and Silesia will certainly not be satisfied by Britain and France.

Originally, the French were not against Russia’s demands, but since their own demands were largely rejected by the British, the French were also unwilling to see Russia annex such large territories for nothing.

In the end, the Russians compromised during the negotiations among the four great powers, abandoning their territorial claims on East Prussia and Silesia, and turning to annex the entire Polish region.

At this point in history, the famous Polish Corridor should be called the Russian-occupied Polish Corridor. In addition to ceding Poland, Gdansk, a major city in the East Prussian region, will be jointly managed by the four great powers of the Allies, as a free city nominally belonging to Germany but with Allied forces stationed there.

Because the Austro-Hungarian Empire has not yet disintegrated and is one of the defeated countries, the Silesian region is not given to the yet unborn Czechoslovakia but remains under German rule.

However, this is not good news for Germany, as the Allies will make up for it elsewhere.

First, the German Army and Navy will be disbanded, with only small warships of 300 tons or less remaining.

All German warships are taken over by Britain and France, with the main warships being allocated to them in a 6:4 ratio.

The German Army is allowed to maintain only 150,000 troops and is not allowed to equip any weapons other than rifles.

Machine guns and firearms are illegal in Germany, and neither the German government nor civilians are allowed to produce them privately. Violators will face severe punishment.

The £20 billion war compensation will be distributed over 80 years, with £1 billion to be repaid each year for the first 10 years and handed over to the Allies for distribution.