Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 553 Ten Conditions
Unlike the previous small-scale peace talks held in Madrid, this peace conference in Paris was attended by dozens of countries from around the world. Even countries that had previously signed peace agreements, such as Britain, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, sent diplomatic representatives to participate in the conference.

Amidst widespread attention, then-French Prime Minister Aristide Briand righteously and forcefully proposed ten sanctions to Germany, advocating that the Allied Powers impose the most severe sanctions on Germany, the culprit who started the war for the Central Powers.

First, Germany must immediately and unconditionally disband all its troops.

Second, Germany should unconditionally hand over all heavy weapons, including machine guns, artillery, tanks and warships, to the Allied Powers for safekeeping, and promise not to manufacture any heavy weapons without the permission of the Allied Powers.

Third, Germany should immediately shut down all military facilities and defense industry enterprises.

Fourth, apart from the territories originally controlled by Prussia, the remaining states that were forcibly incorporated into the German Empire had the right to seek national independence after the signing of the peace agreement.

Fifth, Germany should immediately return the Alsace and Lorraine territories it had previously occupied, and integrate the land on the left bank of the Rhine into an independent Rhineland-Left Republic, which would be temporarily placed under French control.

Sixth, the German government should hold all those involved in the war accountable, arrest all criminals who started the war, and hand them over to the Allied Powers for trial by a joint international tribunal.

Seventh, Germany shall bear all responsibility for initiating the war and shall compensate all Allied Powers for the losses incurred. If the German government is unable to repay its debts to other countries, the Allied Powers shall jointly administer the German government and urge Germany to repay its debts.

Eighth, Germany ceded all its overseas colonies to the Allied Powers and pledged never to expand again.

Ninth, the Kiel Canal, built by Germany, shall be a public canal, and Germany shall not obstruct any country from passing through the Kiel Canal, nor shall it collect any tolls or maintenance fees.

Tenth, in addition to compensating the Allied powers for losses caused by the war, Germany was also required to pay an additional 3500 billion pesetas in war reparations. If Germany was unable to repay its debts, the Allied powers had the right to use Germany's railway and highway management rights, as well as its mineral resources, to offset the debts.

If necessary, all factories and businesses in Germany could be confiscated to compensate for the losses caused to the Allied powers by the war.

After French Prime Minister Aristide Briand put forward these ten demands at the peace talks, the demands immediately sparked heated discussions among diplomatic representatives from various countries.

These ten conditions are undeniably harsh; even just one of them would have been enough to cause Germany significant losses.

If all ten articles are implemented simultaneously, Germany will immediately fall apart, and the once-dominant German Empire will inevitably vanish.

Although the French side put forward these terms under the pretext of providing a permanent guarantee of the security of the French mainland, the diplomatic representatives present were all intelligent and knew that France's demands could not be fully met.

It is true that we need to guard against Germany's resurgence, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to completely plunge Germany into the abyss.

According to France's proposal, Germany would lose all hope of rising to power in the coming decades and would naturally pose no threat to France or the other Allied powers.

The question is, will Germany still be the threat to Europe after this?
To other European countries, a France that had won the World War and gained considerable benefits from Germany posed a far greater threat than Germany.

According to the French proposal, France would not only reclaim the Alsace and Lorraine regions occupied by Germany, but also control the land on the left bank of the Rhine.

Although French Prime Minister Aristide Briand spoke eloquently about a temporary French-controlled republic on the left bank of the Rhine, all the diplomats present knew that once France took control of these territories, they would ultimately be annexed by France.

This demand alone was met with opposition from Spain, Italy, Russia, and the Balkan countries.

There's no way around it, the French have just too big an appetite.

The value of Alsace and Lorraine goes without saying, and the land on the left bank of the Rhine is also of extremely important value.

If France were to control these lands, even if it couldn't recreate the glory of the Napoleonic era, it would certainly be enough to make France the most powerful country on the European continent.

Spain does want to weaken Germany, but the prerequisite for weakening Germany is definitely not to let France become too powerful.

Another issue is the independence of the various states in the German region, which the Spanish government also does not want to see.

To put it nicely, it was about giving the German states the right to decide their own destiny, but did these small countries really have the right to control their own fate?

Actually, no. If the independence of the various states in the German region were truly promoted, the only ones who would ultimately benefit would be the neighboring countries of France and Austria-Hungary.

France's purpose is self-evident: they hope to fragment the German region and then use France's influence on the European continent to control these newly independent German states.

Once France expands its sphere of influence into the German region, its position in Europe will be greatly strengthened.

While Austria-Hungary was a major competitor, its own strength had been weakened, making it difficult to compete head-on with France.

Although Spain is powerful, it is far from the heart of continental Europe. Separated from the European continent by the entirety of France, it was clearly impossible for Spain to extend its influence into the German region across France.

In this scenario, the only country that would truly benefit from the independence of the German states would be France. Based on this alone, Spain would not agree to France's proposal. Even without Germany to counterbalance postwar France, Spain could not allow France to become so powerful as a result of these peace negotiations.

On this point, Spain shares the same stance as Britain in its historical context. Neither side wants an overly powerful nation to emerge on the European continent, especially given that neither side can extend its influence deeply into the continent.

Of course, this does not mean that we should completely oppose the French proposal.

Apart from granting independence to the various states in the German region and establishing the so-called Left Bank Republic of the Rhine, Spain was relatively accepting of the other demands.

Germany, after all, was the instigator of the war, and it also caused heavy losses to most of the Allied powers, including France and Russia.

This reason alone was enough to justify Germany taking on a huge debt to help the Allied powers revive their economies and industries.

Admittedly, the 3500 billion pesetas in war reparations proposed by the French Prime Minister, along with Germany's assumption of a series of Allied wartime losses, is extremely harsh, and the German government's finances simply cannot afford such a huge sum.

But in any case, Germany at least needs to show some attitude.

Surprisingly, while diplomatic representatives from many countries were shocked by the ten conditions proposed by French Prime Minister Aristide Briand, Russian diplomatic representatives were the first to express their support for France.

It is clear that prior to the Paris Peace Conference, France and Russia had already met and hoped to stand together in the peace negotiations to secure more benefits for each other.

The reunion of France and Russia was a move that made many Allied nations, including Italy, wary.

Although these two countries suffered the most severe losses among the Allied Powers, France and Russia, despite their heavy losses, were still great powers.

As the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. The reunited France and Russia, having just defeated Britain and Germany, were extremely powerful.

The only country capable of confronting France and Russia today is Spain, which has been observing from the sidelines.

The good news is that Spain did not disappoint the other Allied nations.

After the Russian diplomatic representative took the lead in publicly supporting French Prime Minister Aristide Briand's proposal, Spain immediately raised some objections to the French proposal.

The Spanish Prime Minister Andreu was the one participating in the peace talks. The diplomatic representatives of various countries participating in the Paris Peace Conference were also mostly prime ministers or chancellors, which shows the importance that countries attach to this Paris Peace Conference.

While most foreign diplomats were looking at him, Spanish Prime Minister Andreu stepped forward and said with a smile, "Prime Minister Aristide, I understand your country's hatred towards Germany."

The losses caused by this war to Europe and the world were enormous, and Germany, as the main culprit of the war, should also bear the losses of the war.

However, I do not support such harsh conditions, especially since these conditions are not simply demands for war reparations.

Whether the various states in the German region have the right to independence is another matter. If a new country were to be established on the left bank of the Rhine, it might not necessarily be a republic.

We must consider Germany's national circumstances, as well as the prevalence of monarchy in Europe. More importantly, we must fully respect the opinions of the entire population of this new nation, rather than incorporating this still-unestablished country into our territory without prior discussion.

Spain may oppose its proposal, something French Prime Minister Aristide Briand had already considered when he made the proposal.

Clearly, Aristide Briand already had a corresponding solution in mind: "I cannot agree with your point of view, Prime Minister Andrew."

France's temporary control of the Rhine-Left Republic was also intended to better compensate for the suffering France had endured in the war.

As an ally of France, Spain should have been well aware of the immense devastation this war had inflicted on France. In the first two years of the war, large swathes of French territory were occupied by Germany.

The German invasion of France not only caused enormous damage to French industry and economy, but also caused immense suffering to the French people.

France temporarily took over the soon-to-be-established Rhine Left Bank Republic only to better compensate the French people for the harm caused by the war.

The people of the region would be willing to accept the reparations if they could be assisted in making the payments.

Of course, we will not take control of the Republic on the Left Bank of the Rhine for long. Once we have compensated the French people, we will return power in the Republic on the Left Bank of the Rhine to the local people.

If your country is still not at ease, we can sign an agreement in which France promises never to annex the Republic on the Left Bank of the Rhine, since our aim is not to occupy this place, but simply to compensate France and all French people.”

　First update, 3200 words! Please support me! Please vote with monthly tickets!
　　There will be another update later, please vote with your monthly tickets!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)