Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 554 Billion-Dollar Compensation
Although French Prime Minister Aristide Briand spoke in a grand and dignified manner, Prime Minister André knew very well that it was all just an excuse used by the French.

If France were to gain control of the so-called Left Bank Republic of the Rhine, even if France did not annex the area in the short term, it would inevitably seek opportunities in the future.

Spain may allow the establishment of the so-called Rhineland Left Bank Republic, but it will never allow France to control the region on its own.

Prime Minister Andrew smiled and offered his opinion: "Prime Minister Aristide, I am aware of the damage this war has caused to France, and I understand your government's urgent desire to compensate the people."

However, all of this does not support your country's control of the land on the left bank of the Rhine, after all, we must also take into account the losses of other Allied countries in this war.

I propose that if a new country is to be established on the left bank of the Rhine, then the people of that country should decide on its composition.

Of course, as part of present-day Germany, this new nation will also be responsible for a portion of the war reparations. If your country so desires, the war reparations paid by this new nation can be prioritized for payment to France, to compensate France for its losses in the war.

Although Prime Minister Andreu expressed Spain's bottom line, more countries began to oppose the proposal put forward by France.

Seeing that an agreement could not be reached on the direction of the Republic on the left bank of the Rhine, French Prime Minister Aristide Briand stopped insisting and instead sought to reach a compromise with Spain on other conditions.

Putting aside other issues, France and Spain were able to reach an agreement on war reparations and compensation for war losses.

For the other Allied powers, they naturally wanted to get more war reparations from Germany. On the one hand, they wanted to revitalize their domestic industry and economy, and on the other hand, they wanted to invest these war reparations in industries that their countries needed, so as to make their countries stronger.

This is an opportunity that cannot be missed. If it weren't for this world war, most European countries would not have been able to obtain such a huge amount of funds to develop their nations.

How outrageous is the 3500 billion pesetas war reparations demanded by the French government? It is 70 times the war reparations France paid in the Franco-Prussian War, 70 times the total annual fiscal revenue of Britain before World War II, and far more than the total fiscal revenue of all European countries combined.

Based on the current cost of a super battleship, this war reparations, totaling 3500 billion pesetas, would be enough to build nearly five thousand super battleships.

While this calculation certainly doesn't apply in practice, such examples are sufficient to demonstrate the sheer size of the war reparations.

Although Germany had signed an unconditional surrender agreement, this did not mean that Germany would actually agree to the demands made by France.

Putting everything else aside, the war reparations alone, amounting to a staggering 3500 billion pesetas, would have been enough to cause Germany's finances to collapse.

Even without considering the impact of the war on Germany, based on Germany's total annual fiscal revenue before the World War, it would have taken roughly a hundred years to repay this war reparations.

This is only one of the war reparations demanded by France. In addition to war reparations, Germany was also required to compensate the Allied powers for their losses during the war.

This sum would be more than the war reparations, which means that if Germany had agreed to these reparations, its finances would not have been able to recover to pre-World War I levels for centuries.

This clearly shows that they have no intention of letting Germany off the hook, let alone letting Germany off the hook outright.

The German diplomatic representative vehemently rejected French Prime Minister Aristide Briand's demands, stating that even if Germany sold everything it owned, it could not possibly repay such a staggering debt.

Although the Allied Powers all wanted to extract more reparations from Germany, this was contingent on Germany actually being able to pay the reparations.

Even if every country demands hundreds of billions of pesetas, what good will it do? If war reparations are not received, such an amount is ultimately just a number.

This is why the German diplomatic representative's impassioned speech ultimately garnered support from some countries.

The 3500 billion pesetas war reparations may seem like a lot, but most countries know that Germany simply cannot afford to pay them.

Unless it was pre-World War II Germany, which had to sell off all its assets and businesses, it might have had a chance to pay off this debt within a decade or so.

But now it is Germany, ravaged by war. Germany has not only severely damaged the industry and economy of the Allied Powers, but also severely damaged its own domestic industrial and economic production.

Under such circumstances, Germany's fiscal revenue is destined to decrease significantly. Even if Germany were to accept this reparations, it would likely take more than a few decades to repay.

Rather than that, it would be better to reduce the reparations appropriately. Although each country would receive less in reparations, these are the reparations that each country actually receives, and that is what they need.

Unlike previous peace negotiations, the Paris Peace Conference saw a very slow pace of peace talks due to the large number of participating countries.

The issue of German war reparations alone took nearly half a month to reach a compromise.

At Spain's suggestion, the Allied powers significantly reduced their respective demands for reparations, ultimately arriving at a figure that Germany could barely accept: 570 billion pesetas in war reparations.

This war reparations amounted to £22.8 billion. While far less than the countries' contributions to the war, it was enough to recoup a significant portion of the costs for those receiving reparations. In addition to this 570 billion pesetas in war reparations, Germany also had to pay an additional 115 billion pesetas in war compensation.

These two sums combined amount to a staggering 685 billion pesetas. Even if they were divided among the Allied powers, the reparations each country would receive would be no small sum.

With an agreement reached on reparations, at least one-third of the peace talks have been completed.

Germany has also basically demonstrated its sincerity. With the situation on the front lines completely collapsing, Germany indeed has no intention of continuing the fight.

Under such circumstances, subsequent peace negotiations will proceed more smoothly.

Soon, the Paris Peace Conference adopted the second solution to Germany, which was the complete partition of all of Germany's colonies.

In fact, Germany did not have many colonies, so even if it lost all of them, the impact on Germany itself would not be significant.

Germany's colonies were largely a facade to enhance its status as a great power. The reason Germany maintained so many colonies was simply to make its image more presentable.

After all, among the world's eight major powers, the stronger ones all had vast colonies. In particular, Britain and France, as long-established powers, had colonies all over the world.

As a newly emerging superpower, Germany certainly needed a sufficient number of colonies to fill the gap.

Perhaps because all the countries knew that Germany's colonies were not of great value, after reaching a compromise on the partition of Germany's colonies, the Allied Powers quickly began discussions on other options.

The third item discussed and passed was restrictions on the German armed forces.

Although a high degree of vigilance was required against Germany, all countries knew that it was utterly impossible to completely disband the German army.

Despite the importance of dividing Germany's territory, Germany remains one of the major powers in continental Europe. With such a vast territory and dense population, Germany needs a substantial military to maintain national unity and stability.

After discussions within the Allied powers, it was ultimately decided to strictly limit the number of German troops to 10.

The German army was limited to 10 personnel, with no more than 4000 officers. This 10-strong German army was to be used only for maintaining domestic order and border patrols, and was prohibited from participating in any form or scale of war.

Furthermore, the German General Staff should be dissolved immediately and may not be re-established without the permission of the Allied Powers.

Germany's 10-strong army was also prohibited from producing and equipping any heavy weapons such as tanks and armored vehicles.

Even the number of artillery pieces and machine guns was strictly limited for the German army.

The German army, if it wants to equip itself with artillery and machine guns, must import them from the Allied Powers. Germany should also immediately abolish conscription and dismantle all fortifications and fortifications along its borders.

Such conditions are quite harsh for Germany. Germany currently has millions of troops, and the difficulty of reducing them to 10 at once is unimaginable.

Disbanding the military is not an easy task. It not only means that Germany will suddenly have millions more unemployed people, but also that these millions of discharged soldiers will have difficulty receiving their salaries, allowances, and other benefits earned during their service.

With the German government burdened with enormous debt, the payment of compensation to the families of fallen soldiers is destined to be suspended.

This alone could easily cause major problems within Germany. Coupled with the significant reduction in the size of the German military, it's truly uncertain whether Germany will be able to suppress the domestic unrest in the future.

Although France knows that doing so will plunge Germany into chaos, it will not show any leniency towards Germany.

The other Allied powers also unanimously agreed to weaken Germany's military strength, mainly because Germany's military strength in this world war was simply too great, and apart from Spain, no country could match Germany's powerful army.

Furthermore, part of the reason why the Spanish army could match the German army's strength can be attributed to its weaponry. Aside from Spain's aircraft and tanks, the Spanish army still lags behind the German army, albeit not by a significant margin.

It was precisely because of the German army's formidable fighting power that neither France nor other Allied nations wanted Germany to maintain a sufficiently large army.

Even the 10-strong army was a compromise reached after lengthy discussions within the Allied Powers.

If the French proposal had been followed, Germany would not have been able to retain an army of 5 men, but only a small force of less than 3.

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(End of this chapter)