novelhk Chapter 256
Chapter 256
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Italians’ move was not small, and they poked the powder keg of the Balkan Peninsula, so this matter suddenly became the focus of attention of European countries.
Mainz was right. After the exiled government of Alba fled to Gaul, the Gauls immediately realized that their opportunity had come!
This is a great opportunity for them to intervene in the Balkan Peninsula!
However, the Gauls’ own navy is not very strong. If they directly clash with the Italian navy, it is difficult to say who will win or lose. Italy is very close to the Balkan Peninsula because it is right at their doorstep, while the Gauls are far away from here. If they really fight, the Gauls will suffer because of the distance. After all
, if they go to the Balkan Peninsula, they must bypass Italy and cross the Mediterranean, and this supply route is almost entirely within the threat range of the Italians. Therefore, if the Gauls really want to deal with Italy, they have to think twice before acting. With their own strength, they may not be able to deal with Italy.
The feud between Gaul and Italy has a long history.
As early as the Napoleonic Empire, Gaul sent troops into Italy and controlled the situation in Italy.
Napoleon’s trusted general Murat even became the king of southern Italy for a time.
This shows the extent to which the Gauls controlled Italy!
It was not until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 that Gaul withdrew the French troops stationed in Rome in order to concentrate its forces to deal with the threat of Prussia, and Italy had the opportunity to get rid of the control of the Gauls.
After getting rid of the control of the Gauls, Italy quickly unified the north and south and began to expand outward, but the border areas between them and Gaul, especially the borders in the Alps, have always been unclear. The Italians believe that the Gauls used to occupy a lot of Italian land when they relied on their own strength, and these lands that have belonged to Italy since ancient times should be returned to them!
The Gauls sneered. You Italians are not from the Roman Empire at all. What right do you have to say that it has been since ancient times?
You are just occupying the Romans’ territory. How dare you claim to be the descendants of Rome? The real descendants of Rome are in Sina, okay?
Moreover, why should we give back the land that we have taken by our own ability?
The two countries have never stopped fighting for the ownership of Corsica Island and Savoy. However, because Gaul is the traditional European overlord, it has a great psychological advantage over the Italians. Moreover, Gaul is stronger than the Italians in terms of population size, industry and military combat effectiveness at this time, so the Italians dare not challenge Gaul for a while.
However, they have never given up on these lands. The contradictions between the two countries over these lands have always existed. Before World War I, when the Italians first joined the Allies, they had plans to use Hans’ power to help them recapture the lands occupied by the Gauls!
However, the Italians who were good at defecting later saw that the Mediterranean Fleet of the Sun Never Sets was coming to their doorsteps. They were worried that their fleets could not resist the threat of the Mediterranean Fleet of the Sun Never Sets, so they quickly changed their strategy and defected to the Allied Powers, directly pushing the Allies to
Gaul. Gaul was one of the founding countries of the Allied Powers, so it was high in the Allied Powers, and Italy was a defector, so its status was naturally far inferior to that of Gaul. The Allied Powers was a military alliance, and the member states could not oppose each other, let alone war. Therefore, during the First World War, the contradiction between Italy and Gaul was temporarily hidden!
However, the war had been going on for five years at this time, and the Allied Powers were on the verge of dissolution. With the deterioration of the situation in Eastern Europe, the Allied Powers, especially the Sun Never Sets and Gaul, had already given up the idea of negotiating with the bear. Once he negotiated with the bear and recognized the red bear as the only legitimate regime of the bear, then the Allied Powers’ external interference in the war would stop completely.
At that time, the Allied Powers would definitely be completely dissolved.
In this situation, the contradictions that were originally hidden began to gradually surface!
Since they no longer have a common enemy, there is no need to continue to accommodate the Gauls.
Moreover, after the squid came to power, Italy began to become more and more dangerous, which made the Gauls feel very uneasy!
Therefore, after the Gauls learned that Italy had sent troops to Alba, they immediately sent people to contact the British Empire, intending to inquire about the attitude of the British Empire and see if they could seek the support of the British Empire!
After all, the naval strength of the British Empire is much stronger than that of Gaul and Italy, and the Balkan Peninsula has always been the scope of activities of the British Empire. They can’t just sit back and watch this matter!
The British Empire is also very concerned about this matter at this time. Although Prime Minister Stanley, who replaced Prime Minister George, did not serve for a long time in history, only seven months, he himself did not know that he only had such a short term. After replacing Prime Minister George, Stanley was ambitious and planned to rebuild the glory of the British Empire and let the whole world feel the strength of the British Empire!
The best way to show strength is to wage foreign wars and defeat an enemy with clean means, just like they once defeated the arrogant Celestial Empire with only 20,000 troops. As long as they can start a war and win the war, they can continue to maintain the powerful appearance of the British Empire, so that countries around the world will continue to be in awe and submit to them!
At this time, the Gauls came to ask for help, which just gave them an opportunity to intervene in the Alba incident!
So, on August 21, 1923, the British Empire formally proposed to the League of Nations, asking the League of Nations to stop Italy’s actions, completely withdraw troops from Alba, and return the power of Alba to the people of Alba!
The British Empire did not directly come forward to ask the Italians to make concessions, but used the League of Nations to do this kind of thing, in order to avoid directly stimulating the Italians’ nerves, so as to prevent the Italians from short-circuiting their brains and causing a direct conflict between the two great powers!
As for the Sun Never Sets, they are quite afraid of the Italian Navy, whose strength is gradually increasing. The Mediterranean is so big, and Italy’s position is extremely important. If the Italian navy is too strong, they can completely divide the entire Mediterranean into two areas, so that the activities of the Sun Never Sets Navy in the Mediterranean are severely restricted! Therefore
, in the Mediterranean region, the Mediterranean Fleet of the Sun Never Sets has always regarded the Gauls and Italians as their imaginary enemies. If a war breaks out between the two countries, then the Mediterranean Fleet does not mind sinking all of this competitor and sending it to the bottom of the sea to completely cut off this threat!
Therefore, if the Italians choose war, then this situation is actually what the Sun Never Sets wants to see!
Of course, if they do not choose war and choose to give in, then the Sun Never Sets will defeat the enemy without fighting, and without spending a single soldier or a group, they can make the whole world feel their powerful influence!
After all, this is Italy, one of the six major powers of this era. They are so awed in front of the Sun Never Sets. Can other countries still be tough?
Prime Minister Stanley was somewhat complacent about his decision. He thought he had made a good move. No matter what the Italians did or chose, the result would benefit the British Empire.
But he never considered that if the Italians really did not give in, a battle broke out between the two sides, and the British Empire’s Mediterranean Fleet lost, what would they do?
This kind of thing was unlikely to happen, because the Mediterranean Fleet was stronger than the Italian Navy!
However, this is only the case when they fight alone, but there is a third possibility: Hans intervenes with his troops?