The Rise of the Third Reich

"What? Austria has sided with Germany? What's going on?"

Mussolini, who had just gotten off a "hunchback plane" that symbolized the most advanced technology of the Italian aviation industry, the S.M.79, a three-engine, eight-berth passenger plane produced by the Savoia-Marchetti Aircraft Company, heard something from his son-in-law Ciano that made him laugh and cry.

The Austrian Republic, which needed his protection to resist Germany, had already thrown itself into the arms of Germany and was now protected by the German big brother.

"Is the news reliable?" Mussolini asked again.

"Very reliable!" Ciano said, "German Chancellor Hitler and Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss have just issued a joint statement... The statement said that Austria is a German country, and the relationship between the Austrian Republic and the German Empire is a close brotherly relationship." "They are brothers, and Italy is an outsider?" Mussolini muttered, "Damn Germans, this matter can't be let go, this is a violation of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Italy must respond!" Just as Mussolini was thinking about sending a few divisions to the Brenner Pass (Italy and Austria) During the demonstration at the border, Ciano said, "The Germans have sent a deputy chief of staff to explain the situation to you. He is in the airport terminal."

"Deputy chief of staff? Who is it?"

"Count Ludwig von Heinsberg-Hessmann."

"It's him." Mussolini thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll go see him. I'll meet him at the airport. I want to hear his explanation!"

The Warsaw airport is very small and shabby. It doesn't have the style of a European power. Even the VIP lounge for bigwigs is very shabby, with only a few loose leather sofas and a few coffee tables. When Mussolini arrived there, Hessmann was standing at the door with Natalie Lesinskaya to greet him.

"Leader, it's a pleasure to meet you in Poland." Hessmann went up and shook hands and hugged Mussolini. They were actually quite familiar with each other. Because Germany and Italy have been cooperating in military technology for the past ten years, Hersman often went to Italy, and Mussolini was a very easy-going person - except that he talked a lot, liked to make some exaggerated movements and expressions, was a little lustful, and had poor skills in fighting, he was basically a good person.

"Me too," the Italian leader found Natalie Lesinskaya next to Hersman, "This is..."

"Natalie Lesinskaya, Secretary General of the National Socialist International, she is a member of the Polish National Socialist Party." Hersman introduced, "This time I went back to Poland to attend Piłsudski's funeral."

"Oh," the leader kissed Natalie's hand, and then said comfortingly, "Please be sad, although Poland has lost a good father, it still has countless good children."

"Thank you for your encouragement." Natalie replied politely in Italian.

The Italian leader smiled gently at Natalie, then said to Hersman with a stern face: "What's going on with Austria?"

"Nothing," Hersman said, "It has been resolved. We are brothers with the Austrians... This is our own business as Germans, and Italy does not need to intervene."

"But Italy has been humiliated!" The Italian leader seemed very unhappy. He always regarded Austria as Italy's sphere of influence.

"No, this is not a humiliation," Hersman said, "This is Europe restoring the normal international order. Germany has always been the master of Central Europe and the Balkans, starting with Charlemagne. And Italy should become the hegemon of the Mediterranean, just like the Roman Empire. Germany fully agrees with this!"

The Italian leader's face looked a little better, but he was still very angry. He said: "I know that Austria's acceptance of German protection is the first step in the merger of Germany and Austria. The Austrians now miss their former glory and they want to go back to the past. But the Austro-Hungarian Empire can't come back, and the only choice is Germany. But Italy still opposes France and Britain will also oppose the merger of Germany and Austria! "

"Actually, Britain and France have no time to oppose it," Hessman paused and said to Mussolini in a very serious tone, "because you Italy will soon invade Abyssinia... Leader, you don't really believe that Britain and France will stand idly by, right?"

The Italian leader looked at Hessman coldly, "What do you want to say?"

"Reliable information, when Italy and Abyssinia go to war, the League of Nations will decide to impose collective economic sanctions on Italy."

"What?" The Italian leader was stunned for a moment, looked at Hessman with some suspicion, and then looked at his son-in-law.

Italy is not as strong as Germany, which has the Soviet Union as its economic partner. Mussolini is only leading a country that is strong on the outside but weak on the inside and very scarce in industrial resources. The most basic industrial resources such as oil, coal, and iron ore are all dependent on imports, and the import channels are controlled by Britain and France!

And Britain and France certainly don't want to see the Kingdom of Italy upgraded to the Roman Empire, so they will not sincerely support Italy to deal with Abyssinia. Especially Abyssinia is close to the Middle East controlled by Britain and close to the Red Sea outlet.

Once captured by Italy, Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea and Italian Abyssinia will be connected to form an Italian East African Empire that controls the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Red Sea happens to lead to the Suez Canal, a chokepoint that is related to the survival of the British Empire. If Somalia, Eritrea and Abyssinia were occupied by Germans instead of spaghetti soldiers in history, the British Empire would most likely have occupied Somalia, Eritrea and Abyssinia in 1940. They were beaten to pieces.

But even if it were the Italians who pinched the throat of the British Empire, the British would not be happy. Therefore, Britain is still very wary of Italy's ambition to conquer Abyssinia, and in history, Italy's invasion of Abyssinia actually became an important reason for the reversal of Anglo-Italian relations.

League of Nations sanctions against Italy during the war, British and French controls on Italian oil imports after the war, and Italy's huge expenditures in Abyssinia from 1936 to 1940 alone Nearly 8 billion lire was spent (including military expenses and construction costs) - all of which seriously affected Italy's war preparations. In fact, Italy later entered World War II with no preparation at all and no financial resources to prepare. .

"The incoming French Prime Minister Mr. Laval personally promised me that he would not intervene and would also persuade the UK to adopt a bystander policy." The Italian leader did not know at this time that he was making a huge and unimaginable mistake.

"But they will still label Italy an invader and then propose a resolution of economic sanctions. Leader, you don't really think that Britain and France are willing to see the revival of the Roman Empire, do you?" Hersman looked at Mussolini , the latter showed no change in expression, as if he didn't care about the sanctions at all, or didn't believe what Hersman said.

"The League of Nations is useless," Mussolini said contemptuously, "otherwise your Germany wouldn't be here today."

In this time and space, from 1931 to 1932, France once accused Germany of illegal military expansion in violation of the Treaty of Versailles to the League of Nations. However, due to the support of Italy and Japan, two permanent members of the League of Nations, and the inaction of the United Kingdom, France's accusation had no effect. As a result, Germany remained in the League of Nations and is still a permanent member.

"Leader, you are wrong," Hessmann shook his head. "The reason why Germany is where it is today is because the League of Nations made a ruling in favor of Germany. The failure of France's accusation was tantamount to recognition of our expansion. The military was legal, but it also undermined the legitimacy of the Treaty of Versailles. In fact, the Treaty of Versailles was an illegal treaty because neither the United States nor the Soviet Union, the major participants in the world war, signed the treaty. Germany was also forced to sign this illegal treaty!”

Mussolini looked at Hessmann who was "talking nonsense" and said, "General of the Infantry, what do you mean by this? What do you want to do?"

"I think," Hessmann said, "Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union should control the League of Nations!" He waved his hand and said, "We cannot let Britain and France control what they want to pass. It is not right to pass whatever resolution is required!”

The situation of this Space-Time International Alliance is also very different from that in history. Not only did Germany not withdraw, but Japan also did not withdraw - because no one sued Japan to the League of Nations. Therefore, there are currently six permanent members of the League of Nations: Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union.

"Control the League of Nations...with the Soviet Union?" The Italian leader was surprised. "Do you really want to form an alliance with the Soviet Union?"

Hersman shrugged, "We can't even talk about an alliance, but there are no permanent enemies in the world, right? We can cooperate with the Soviet Union, what can't we cooperate with Italy?"

"cooperate?"

“Cooperate on the Abyssinian question!”

Hersman said: "The League of Nations should bring an international arbitration to the Walwal incident (the border conflict between Italian troops in Somalia and the Abyssinian army) and rule that Italy is the victim. Demand compensation from Abyssinia, Punish the perpetrators, implement demilitarization of the north-south border, reduce the army directly under the Abyssinian emperor and the central government to less than 20,000 people, and be prohibited from possessing advanced weapons such as aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, and modern artillery, and accept international supervision.”

This is equivalent to disarming the Abyssinian Emperor Haile Selassie! Taking into account the national conditions of Abyssinia, it is equivalent to the collapse of the emperor's rule - so Haile Selassie will never agree, and the result of his disagreement is that Abyssinia will be expelled from the League of Nations...