Chapter 1650 Balancing Relations with East Germany

The reason for emphasizing Bulgaria lies in the conflict between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, which mainly stemmed from the conflict between the former Serbia and Bulgaria.

At the same time, Bulgaria also has access to the sea along the Mediterranean coast, so it is easy for it to develop trade with the Kingdom of Dalmatia via sea routes.

Strategic interaction with Bulgaria was an important diplomatic strategy for Dalmatia in response to the threat from Yugoslavia.

...

After determining the general development strategy, the government of the Kingdom of Dalmatia acted very efficiently, sending diplomatic envoys to communicate with Yugoslavia at the end of February.

As expected, Dalmatia was rejected without hesitation by the Yugoslavs.

According to the Yugoslav government...

"If the two disputed territories are not returned, there is absolutely no possibility of cooperation between the two countries..."

Yugoslavia wanted even more; they wanted to "reclaim" nearly half of northern Dalmatia, including the port of Fium.

Some irrational Yugoslavian extreme nationalists even claimed that only war could resolve the issues between the two countries, and that Yugoslavia had no need to cooperate with Dalmatia, let alone compromise.

The Kingdom of Dalmatia was also furious with these "barbarians" from Yugoslavia.

Therefore, they had no choice but to turn their ships around and focus on Adriatic trade and development.

The lack of possibility of economic cooperation with Yugoslavia has hampered Dalmatia's economic development, and it also means that the previously hoped-for inland market and raw material supply are now fraught with uncertainty.

In addition, Yugoslavia's attitude exacerbated the Dalmatian Kingdom's wariness.

To prevent these extreme "madmen" from acting impulsively, the Dalmatian Kingdom's defense construction tasks had to be intensified.

This will inevitably trigger a chain reaction. Strengthening the military is not a one-way street. If the Kingdom of Dalmatia increases its defense spending, Yugoslavia will inevitably follow suit.

Therefore, Prime Minister Eurydian advised Karl I.

"In response to the military pressure from Yugoslavia, we should adopt a passive defense strategy."

"To avoid over-provoking Yugoslavia, we are currently incapable of engaging in an arms race with Yugoslavia."

Yugoslavia's population was nearly six times that of Dalmatia. The size difference between the two countries was too great. Unless Dalmatia completely adopted militarism and abandoned economic development, it would be impossible for it to compete with Yugoslavia.

He continued, "With the Dinara Mountains, we can deal with the Yugoslavian threat with as few troops as possible."

"There was absolutely no need for Yugoslavia to abandon economic development."

"At the same time, we should also make full use of diplomatic means to mislead Yugoslavia, so that they mistakenly believe that Germany and East Africa are behind us."

In fact, Yugoslavia has been able to tolerate the Dalmatian Kingdom without taking action until now.

It's not that Yugoslavia "loved" peace, but rather that it was wary of pressure from East Africa and Germany.

East Africa explicitly supports the independence of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, and the East African Navy also has the only military base in the entire Mediterranean in the Kingdom of Dalmatia.

In Yugoslavia's eyes, Germany was also "in cahoots" with Dalmatia, both belonging to the German people. Although Adolf publicly disapproved of this "mixed-race" population, Yugoslavia dared not gamble on Germany's true intentions.

This mentality also applied to the Kingdom of Dalmatia, which also dared not fully trust Germany.

Compared to East Africa, Germany is too close to the Kingdom of Dalmatia, and Germany itself is one of the sources of security pressure for the Kingdom of Dalmatia.

They feared that Germany would find an excuse to annex the Kingdom of Dalmatia, just as it had done with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This led to a very strange situation: both Yugoslavia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia, two hostile countries, dared not take any rash actions because of Germany.

If Germany had clearly expressed its support for Dalmatia and had no interest in its territory, perhaps the Kingdom of Dalmatia wouldn't be in such a dilemma.

However, Germany's lack of a clear stance only made the Kingdom of Dalmatia feel uneasy.

Chancellor Julius Erlier said, "Germany is also a country we must be wary of. Historically, Germany's greed for land has been insatiable."

"Since the mid-19th century, Germany has been the fastest expanding country in Europe in terms of territory."

"The annexation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not mean the disappearance of Germany's expansionist ambitions; on the contrary, it intensified their inheritance of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire's hegemony and ambitions."

"During the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Balkan Peninsula was regarded as its backyard and a core interest."

"After Germany annexed Austria-Hungary, it would inevitably inherit this idea, and even more maliciously speculate that Germany might want to see us go to war directly with Yugoslavia."

"This way, when we go to war with Yugoslavia, Germany will have an excuse to intervene and thus restore the southern territory that was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

Charles I also agreed with Julian's idea.

Karl I said with a stern expression, "We must be very careful in our relationship with Germany. We cannot make any mistakes, we cannot exclude Germany, nor can we trust Germany too much."

Both Charles I and the people of the Dalmatian Kingdom preferred to maintain their independent status.

As a monarch, Charles I feared losing his throne if Germany annexed the Dalmatian Kingdom, a scenario that was not impossible.

Just last year, Adolf carried out a "purge" of the nobility in Germany, including those from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although he did not wipe them out completely, he still severely damaged them.

His reason for doing this was to further consolidate power, as there were many opponents in Germany and the former Austro-Hungarian Empire under Adolf's rule.

These opponents, including liberals, were dissatisfied with many of Adolf's policies, so they set their sights on Wilhelm II.

It should be noted that Wilhelm II, as the nominal head of state and spiritual leader of Germany, still wielded considerable power and influence. Therefore, these people, who were Adolf's opponents, attempted to incite Wilhelm II to fight against Adolf.

This violated Adolf's taboo, and he ruthlessly carried out a thorough overhaul of these people, including the German and former Austro-Hungarian noble classes, solidifying Wilhelm II and others' status as "mascots."

Therefore, Charles I's concerns were by no means unfounded, even if Germany could tolerate him continuing to be the King of Dalmatia.

It's probably just an "animal" that's been confined.

The reason why the people of Dalmatia could not accept German rule was Adolf's racial views.

Nobody wants to be a second-class citizen who is discriminated against, or worse.

Therefore, the rulers and ministers of the Dalmatian Kingdom maintained a consistent attitude towards Germany, namely, to always be wary of Germany.

Prime Minister Yuritan said, "For the sake of the Empire's security, we still need to increase cooperation with East Africa, especially in the field of defense and security."

"We cannot afford to offend Germany, but our cooperation with Germany should be limited to the economic sphere."

"With the support of East Africa, we can make neighboring countries, including Germany and Italy, extremely wary."

"Unless Germany disregards East Africa's attitude and completely breaks with East Africa, choosing to antagonize it, but I think the probability of this happening is very low."

The Kingdom of Dalmatia was essentially a sphere of influence in East Africa, and the two countries were allies.

The former refers to the actual relationship between the two, while the latter refers to East Africa's attitude towards the Dalmatian Kingdom.

This also served as another layer of "insurance" for the Dalmatian Kingdom.

As one of the world's most powerful nations, any country must be cautious in its approach to East Africa, even Germany under Adolf's leadership.

Leaving aside East Africa's strong national power, Germany is also highly dependent on East Africa economically, especially in terms of energy, minerals, and some strategic materials.

Germany's heavy reliance on East African oil has not changed despite its acquisition of oil-producing regions from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The oil reserves of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as those of Germany's ally Romania, were far from sufficient to meet the current needs of German industry.

In addition, the tense relationship with the Soviet Union was also an important factor contributing to Germany's increased reliance on East African oil.

In the previous life, until Germany began implementing Operation Barbarossa, Germany was able to alleviate its energy shortage by importing oil from the Soviet Union.

In this timeline, the long-standing animosity between Germany and the Soviet Union would inevitably affect Soviet oil exports to Germany.

In the mineral sector, Germany also imports a significant amount from East Africa. It is impossible for Germany to reduce its dependence on East Africa in the short term, especially in the non-ferrous metals sector.

Germany is also one of the main buyers of other strategic materials, such as tobacco, cotton, and rubber, in East Africa.

In conclusion, if Germany wants to completely offend East Africa, it must be fully prepared to ensure that its economy and industry suffer unbearable costs if relations with East Africa sour.

To achieve this, Germany had only one option: to defeat the Soviet Union. This would allow Germany to access Soviet resources and ensure a sufficient supply of most of its own materials and raw materials.

Prime Minister Yulitian shared this view, so he told Karl I, "Strengthening relations with East Africa is at the heart of all our Dalmatian diplomatic efforts."

"This could also serve as a deterrent to Yugoslavia, but the effect might not meet our expectations."

Yugoslavia certainly wouldn't dare to directly challenge East Africa and offend this world superpower, but what if Germany supported Yugoslavia?

This was also what Prime Minister Juliusz Oulitean was worried about, which is why he previously mentioned creating the illusion that the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Germany had a good relationship in order to mislead the Yugoslav government.

Even if Germany truly supported Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav government would likely harbor resentment.

Karl I said, "In that case, our foreign policy work will have three main lines: first, to continue to deepen our comprehensive alliance with East Africa; second, to remain vigilant against Yugoslavia militarily; and third, to do a good job in diplomacy with Germany."

"As a result, the workload of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is quite heavy. If any link goes wrong, it could lead us to an abyss."

He then sighed and said, "Actually, compared to the direct threat from Yugoslavia, what troubles us more is how to reconcile the relationship between East Africa and Germany."

"If these two countries could put aside their differences and unite, we wouldn't have to be so conflicted."

For the Kingdom of Dalmatia, the complex relationship between East Africa and Germany is currently the most perplexing aspect of its diplomacy.

East Africa played a leading role in the independence of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, thus the relationship and interests of the two countries are highly intertwined.

However, for Germany, Dalmatia is a thorn in the side of East Africa, planted in the Balkans and the Adriatic Sea.

As the saying goes, "How can one tolerate another snoring beside one's bed!"

The alliance between East Africa and the Kingdom of Dalmatia, for Germany, is as displeasing to the Americans as the Soviet Union and Cuba were in the past, or as NATO's use of Ukraine against Russia makes Russia wary.

To gain a more tangible understanding of this sentiment, one can refer to the relationship between the Far Eastern Empire and its unliberated southeastern islands in the previous life.

Even though they are both German countries, Germany would find it difficult to tolerate East Africa encroaching on its backyard, let alone the fact that Adolf did not consider East Africa as "one of his own".

Prime Minister Yuritan said, "In order to balance East Africa and Germany, what we need to do is to make Germany not see us as a threat as much as possible."

"Therefore, in the next stage of economic development, we must be prepared to relinquish some of our interests in order to improve relations with Germany."

"In particular, our exports of aluminum products to Germany must be kept stable, and we must also ensure that Germany has a certain degree of participation in other industrial and agricultural sectors."

“If possible, the size of the Dalmatian Kingdom’s troop presence in East Africa should also be kept within a certain range. This requires us to discuss it with East Africa.”

Prime Minister Yulitzan was well aware that if the Kingdom of Dalmatia wanted to avoid Germany's displeasure, it had to get Germany to choose to "ignore" it.

This necessitates that the Dalmatian Kingdom's military forces in East Africa not pose a threat to Germany's interests in the Adriatic and the Balkans.

However, achieving this was not something the Dalmatian Kingdom could decide on its own.

Charles I said somewhat uncertainly, "Whether East Africa will accept our proposal is also an unknown."

"After all, a major reason why East Africa supported our independence was to plant a thorn in the side of the Adriatic, the Balkans, and even the Mediterranean and Europe."

"In order to maintain East Africa's military presence in Europe, it is not easy to get East Africa to back down to Germany on this issue."

"Besides, even if we persuade East Africa to reduce its military presence in the Kingdom, who can guarantee that Germany will completely abandon its concerns about us?"

"We are a piece of fat meat to Germany, not a brick, like Switzerland, which is neither tasty to eat nor a pity to throw away."

"Therefore, Germany's feelings toward the Kingdom of Dalmatia were not merely due to fear of East Africa, but also stemmed from its inherent greed."

Switzerland, sandwiched between Germany and France, is like a fully armed "hedgehog." Even if you manage to take a bite out of it, you won't get any meat on your hands, and you'll only end up with a lot of wounds.

The Kingdom of Dalmatia was a completely different story. Controlling it would allow Germany to more confidently manage the region's abundant aluminum resources and consolidate the German navy's dominance in the Adriatic Sea.

Prime Minister Yulitian rubbed his nose and said in a solemn voice, "For the Kingdom, diplomacy is no different from walking a tightrope. I just hope that nothing unexpected happens next."

(End of this chapter)