Chapter 1700: The Treaty of Warsaw
The more Chamberlain thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. So he decided to persuade France, like Britain, to make some sacrifices for peace in Europe.
Chamberlain interrupted their argument, saying, "Prime Minister Benito and Foreign Minister Bonne, you two shouldn't be so agitated."
He first advised Benito, "Prime Minister Benito, Foreign Minister Bonnet is not the highest leader of France, so your aggressive approach will not solve any problems."
"I think you should communicate with French Prime Minister Daladier on this topic later. He is not in Warsaw right now, and without his commitment, you obviously won't get the answer you want."
Benito straightened his collar, puffed out his chest, and snorted.
"Prime Minister Chamberlain, I can give you face for now, but I also hope that you will communicate more with Prime Minister Daladier later and confirm a definite answer on this matter."
Chamberlain felt disgusted and contemptuous of Benito's shameless behavior, but his expression remained unchanged.
“That’s natural. I think Prime Minister Daladier is a reasonable person who understands the big picture. He will make the choice that is most beneficial to both of your countries for the sake of France’s own interests.”
Having temporarily calmed Benito down, Chamberlain then began to reassure Foreign Minister Bonnet.
"Foreign Minister Bonne, after the dinner, you can communicate with Prime Minister Daladier first. I think it's best to let the French government in Paris discuss and analyze the final decision."
"This way, your work will be easier to carry out. You won't feel anxious or impatient over this little problem. We are all civilized people, and naturally we should have the demeanor of civilized people."
Foreign Secretary Bonne was completely unimpressed by Chamberlain's remarks. Even though both men were supporters of appeasement, he now felt that Chamberlain was being too weak.
In fact, the French people's current diplomatic and political activities are largely influenced by Britain. Even the appointment of French officials is subject to pressure from Britain, and the French government may be replaced.
For example, Bonnet's predecessor, former French Foreign Minister Boncourt, had British influence when he stepped down from the post, replacing him with the more moderate Bonnet.
This also illustrates that France's current foreign policy is actually subservient to Britain.
Similarly, Britain's advocacy of compromise and concessions to the Axis powers greatly influenced France's diplomatic policy and attitude towards the Axis powers.
But precisely because of this, France has exhibited some insincere behavior and statements in foreign affairs.
From another perspective, if Britain had consistently taken a hard line against the Axis powers instead of compromising and backing down, France's performance in European affairs might be quite different now.
Ultimately, it's because France is currently too weak, especially in its fear of facing Germany alone. Only if Britain can provide unreserved support to France can they have the confidence to confront Germany.
However, within the Anglo-French alliance, since the British themselves chose to "yield" to Germany, France had no choice but to bow down to its hostile neighbor, Germany.
However, there is no doubt that even if France bowed down, this was not the true thought of the vast majority of French people. France still had a sense of pride in the face of Germany, but they were also genuinely afraid of the disasters that war would bring. This was not a contradictory mentality.
Foreign Minister Bonne is now even more indignant for three reasons. First, France has to be subservient to the Prussian barbarians like Germany. Second, Italy, a country that used to grovel before France, is now provoking France. Finally, Britain is betraying and distrusting France.
Needless to say, relations between the two countries have not deteriorated any further in the half-century since the Franco-Prussian War.
Italy's current provocations against France are also very infuriating to Bonnet. If Italy were as powerful as Germany, making it almost impossible for France to challenge them, he wouldn't feel so frustrated.
The reality is that Italy is only a second-rate country in Europe. Even though France has declined significantly, it is still not comparable to Italy.
However, Benito, backed by Germany and the Axis powers, was able to bully France, which was unacceptable to Minister Bonnet.
Finally, Chamberlain's earlier words also made him somewhat disappointed with Britain, even though Chamberlain seemed to be acting as a fair peacemaker.
But Foreign Minister Bonne saw it differently. If Chamberlain, this Englishman, truly cared about France, he should at least have secured more negotiating leverage for France.
After all, Britain and France are allies now. Admittedly, this alliance has always been questionable, but it shouldn't be too much to say a few more words in support of France, right?
However, Chamberlain did not do that. In the eyes of the Foreign Minister Bonne, his neutrality was tantamount to favoring the Axis powers and Italy, since we were on their side!
Foreign Minister Bonne said with a frustrated look, "Prime Minister Chamberlain, I will convey your message to Prime Minister Daladier."
Despite his resentment, Foreign Minister Bonne relented verbally.
Having reached this point, Foreign Minister Bonne no longer wanted to rack his brains over this mess.
Chamberlain once said something harsh, but it was true: Foreign Minister Bonne was ultimately not France's diplomatic leader.
Therefore, in this banquet confrontation, he himself would find it difficult to take the initiative against the other three countries.
Moreover, engaging in contact and negotiations with the Axis powers was essentially putting oneself in a precarious position. Facing the powerful Axis bloc, even a mere French minister like myself, let alone Prime Minister Daladier himself, would not fare well in Warsaw.
After all, the compromises made by Britain and France to the Axis powers were inevitable, and the final outcome was simply a matter of the extent and scope of the compromises.
Therefore, France will inevitably be the one to suffer losses in the end, which is obviously very unfriendly to the future political careers of the French politicians who came to Warsaw this time.
Regardless of how much benefit is ultimately ceded, Foreign Minister Bonne can already foresee how many people will attack him for this matter after he returns home.
Upon returning to Britain, Prime Minister Chamberlain could not escape this fate. Many Britons criticized his trip to Warsaw and its ultimate outcome, even labeling him as "weak and incompetent" and a "traitor."
Even a prime minister of a country cannot escape this situation, which actually made Bonnet feel a little better.
Moreover, by using Chamberlain's words, he could shift some blame onto Chamberlain, and upon returning home, he could use Britain's performance at the Warsaw Conference to shirk his own responsibility.
Moreover, we can now hand this hot potato over to Prime Minister Daladier and let him and his cabinet deal with it.
At that time, he could easily say that the decision was made by the Prime Minister. Even if the country insisted on assigning responsibility to him, he could still say that he had argued his case in Warsaw, but Chamberlain had hindered his efforts to secure more favorable terms for France.
Adolf, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: "Since you have a disagreement, it seems we can only stop here for today."
"Foreign Minister Bonne, I think Italy is willing to give France more time to consider, but I must emphasize that it is best to let the French government make a decision as soon as possible. If we miss this window of opportunity, it will be difficult to bring our countries together for negotiations again."
In response to Adolf's words, Foreign Minister Bonne nodded and said, "I will urge the country to expedite the process, Prime Minister Adolf."
Benito did not voice any objections at this point, so the four of them continued chatting, each lost in their own thoughts, waiting for the dinner to end.
...
The banquet ended relatively late, around 9 p.m., with dignitaries from various countries leaving one after another. Prime Minister Chamberlain and Foreign Minister Bonne left together.
Prime Minister Chamberlain said to Foreign Secretary Bonnet: "Mr. Bonnet, tonight's dinner has not been a pleasant experience for us, but I think that as mature politicians, we should not make wrong judgments because of personal emotions."
"When you return to the mansion, report to Prime Minister Daladier that you can truthfully report the situation at Villanueva Palace and the details of the conversation to Paris today."
Foreign Minister Bonne sighed and said, "Prime Minister Chamberlain, rest assured, I would not ruin the peace plan of the entire free world of Europe because of some unpleasantness."
"The Axis powers are currently very powerful, which is an indisputable fact. Even if our two countries were combined, we would be powerless to deal with the threat from the Axis powers."
Chamberlain said, "It's good that you think that way. We should take a long-term view instead of worrying about immediate gains and losses."
"The benefits that the Axis powers are currently extorting from us through military expansion are only temporarily in their hands."
"This situation will not last long. Once the war between Germany and the Soviet Union officially breaks out, our hard times will be over. Therefore, our two countries should now show submission to Germany and the Axis powers, thereby creating conditions for Germany to declare war on the Soviet Union."
"I think Prime Minister Daladier would agree with my view."
From beginning to end, what Britain and France most wanted to see was a direct war between Germany and the Soviet Union. For Britain and France at that time, both Germany and the Soviet Union were the two biggest security threats in Europe.
If we can provoke a fight between two tigers, then England and France can become spectators watching from the sidelines, and all our current troubles will be easily resolved.
If handled properly, Germany and the Soviet Union could be weakened to the point of exhaustion, and the final say in Europe could be returned to Britain and France.
Of course, Britain clearly has the upper hand. After all, Britain is currently in a dominant position in the alliance with France, and France cannot compete with Britain now. Once the threats from Germany and the Soviet Union are eliminated, Britain will naturally be the one to call the shots in Europe.
At the same time, Britain's ability to demonstrate such patience in handling the situation in Europe is also due to its relatively safe strategic environment.
Germany is powerful now, but it is always separated from Britain by the English Channel, and the British Royal Navy is still far superior to Germany in terms of hard power.
Therefore, Britain is more at ease with its current policy of appeasement and leniency towards Germany than France is.
France was in a much worse situation. They faced a direct land threat from Germany, and the German army was far stronger than France. In terms of population and industry alone, France was destined to be no match for Germany.
Therefore, France has no confidence in Germany, which is one of the reasons why Britain has been able to take a dominant position in the cooperation between France and Britain.
France is facing a direct life-or-death crisis, so at this stage, there is no more important political matter than maintaining the security of the French mainland.
Unable to defeat Germany in the war, France could only hope to maintain peace with Germany.
When Foreign Minister Bonne sent back to France via telegram the conversation from the Villanueva Palace dinner that day, he quickly received a response from the French government.
Ultimately, after analysis by French Prime Minister Daladier and the government cabinet, they predictably chose to back down to Italy and Germany.
Of course, although a compromise was chosen, what needed to be fought for still needed to be fought for. In its reply to Foreign Minister Bonne, the French government made France's bottom line clear, namely that the scope of negotiations could only be limited to French Libya and Tunisia.
As for Algeria and Morocco, France is clearly unwilling to relinquish them. Algeria can be considered France's most important colony, or even half of France's "homeland".
Of all the many French colonies, it is clearly difficult to find any region that can be compared to Algeria.
Therefore, France would rather sacrifice its colonies in Southeast Asia and West Africa than use Algeria as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Italy.
The same applies to Morocco; its importance is lower than that of Algeria, but still greater than that of Libya and Tunisia.
Morocco is an important part of "French Africa," and it is also a key piece in France's influence in the Strait of Gibraltar, as well as an important region for France's mineral resources and military manpower.
Therefore, authorized by the French government, Bonnet and the Axis powers, after a new round of arduous negotiations, finally reached the following agreement:
France completely relinquished French Libya and withdrew from the region, handing over the related interests to Italy.
France did not completely relinquish Tunisia; instead, it transformed from a French protectorate into a region jointly administered by France and Italy.
Benito eventually accepted the French proposal and took control of the entire Libyan region with almost no effort.
With the resolution of Italy's demands, relations between the Axis powers and Britain and France were temporarily resolved.
Thus, a brand-new Treaty of Warsaw was officially produced, which clearly defined Germany's leading position in Europe and Italy's status as a newly emerging European power.
At the same time, it clarified the new interests of Germany and Italy in the Middle East and North Africa.
In addition, according to the treaty, Britain and France made many compromises to Germany in other parts of Europe, especially in terms of economic and political "compensation".
The sacrifices made by Britain and France resulted in guarantees of peace in Europe from the two core leaders of the European Axis powers, Germany and Italy.
Of course, this "Europe" obviously does not include the Soviet Union. The Warsaw Pact was entirely dominated by Britain, France, Germany and Italy, and excluded the Soviet Union, becoming a new model for the current European liberal world order.
The signing of the Treaty of Warsaw also signified a major change in the current European landscape, with the Axis powers replacing Britain and France as the dominant forces in European affairs.
(End of this chapter)
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