1900, so what if we go through war, descendants of other Europeans?
Only 50 years later, rich people went upstairs and downstairs, lights and telephones went out, and cars and trains, especially Britain, France and Germany, were even more proud. Reading newspapers every day, we will find that our motherland is taking over the world step by step. The ancient civilizations of Ottoman Empire and India have either disappeared or survived.
The early European hegemons such as the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal were left behind and had to drag out an ignoble existence in the corner. However, in such a good situation, Europe is actually full of undercurrents and dangers. Later, US Secretary of State Kissinger said that the incubation period of World War I was too long.
Europe has always been in the danger of explosive war. It is a miracle that the outbreak of World War I can be postponed to 19 14. On the surface, there are many contradictions in these European countries, mainly three pairs, namely, the contradiction between France and Germany, the contradiction between Russia and Austria, and the contradiction between Britain and Germany. France and Germany have the longest contradiction and the deepest hatred.
In 768 AD, Frank Charlemagne, the king of hearts in poker, unified the whole of Western Europe and established Charlemagne Empire. After his death, his grandson carved up the empire. In 843 AD, it was divided into Western Frankish Kingdom, Eastern Frankish Kingdom and Central Frankish Kingdom, which is the embryonic form of today's France, Germany and Italy.
1000 years have passed, and France and Germany have experienced many dynasties and changed many country names. The only thing left is the tradition of mutual dislike. In the past 1 100 years, there have been more than 200 conflicts between the two countries, once every four or five years on average. Therefore, it is truly worthy of the name that Germany and China are feuds.
In so many conflicts, most of them have been used by France. However, in the last conflict before World War I, that is, the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 187 1, France lost everything, the French emperor and Marshal McMahon were miserable, and all 24 generals were captured in the Battle of Sedang.
King William I of Prussia conveniently established the German Empire and was crowned the German Emperor in the Mirror Hall of Versailles, France. This humiliation of the French can be said to be extreme. The French will pay 5 billion francs, equivalent to 65.438+300 million taels of silver in China. I have to say that the French are really fierce and are industrialized countries.
In three years, the compensation was paid off. The total compensation paid by the Qing government for foreign wars was11000000 taels of silver, which was not paid off until 1936. The French paid off1300,000 taels of silver in three years, but the shame of Alsace Lorraine was hated by the French, who all learned a text "The Last Lesson" at school.
More important than feelings, Alsace Lorraine is the most important coal and steel producing area in France. The absence of coal and steel in the industrial revolution almost meant that there were no warships and cannons. At that time, posters in France painted Arthas Lorraine as two maids, who were taken away as slaves by vicious Germans, and it was the common goal of all French people to recover these two territories.
As for Germany, the most important purpose is to suppress France and never let it turn over, so the feud between France and Germany has reached its climax and is completely irreconcilable. They were the first and second powerful countries in the world army at that time, and this contradiction was very dangerous. The two children are not afraid to quarrel every day, and the two older brothers will not want to live a quiet life.
Let's look at the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire. In fact, Russia and Austria-Hungary have always been at odds. But later, in order to grab territory with Britain and Central Asia, Russia needed to find a powerful country in Europe as an ally. If Germany looks good, I will take my little brother Austria-Hungary with me. For my sake, you two should stop arguing.
So in 1873, the German Empire, the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formed the san huang Union. This Huang San refers to the two enemies, Emperor William I, Austrian Emperor Francis I and Russian Emperor Alexander II, the Tsar and Austria-Hungary, who became allies in the chaos.
Only four years after the signing of the Three Emperors Alliance (1877), a war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Turkish Empire. As a result, Austria defeated Turkey, and Russian troops arrived in Constantinople, the capital of Turkey, which is today's Istanbul, forcing Turkey to sign an alliance under the city, stipulating that Russia could dismember Turkey alone and inherit all its territories in Europe, mainly the Balkans. As soon as the news came out, Britain, Austria and Hungary were all big.
Turkey should belong to all of us. How can you eat alone? So 1878, Britain, Austria, France, Italy and Russia held a meeting in Berlin. At the meeting, Britain took the lead in putting pressure on Russia, forcing it to spit out some benefits it had already eaten. At this meeting, Germany did not support its ally Russia, but remained so-called neutral. This kind of betrayal of teammates makes Russia super unhappy.
The two countries began to blame each other and relations deteriorated rapidly. In this year, when the san huang League contract expired, Russia stopped renewing the contract, leaving two emperors for Huang San. In this way, the contradiction between Russia and Austria-Hungary can no longer be suppressed, and the biggest contradiction between the two countries is the Balkans.
The Balkan Peninsula is located in the southeast of Europe, bordering the Black Sea in the east, the Mediterranean Sea in the south and Italy across the sea. Most of more than a dozen ethnic groups live in Yugoslavia, all of which are called Skinovich. The Balkan Peninsula was originally the territory of Ottoman Turks, but with the continuous decline, those Schino Vickers began to refuse to accept it, and the situation became increasingly chaotic, which made Russia and Austria-Hungary feel that their opportunity had come.
Russia thinks that I am related to the Slavs in the Balkans, and I am still strong, so I should naturally be the protector of the Balkans. Some ultra-nationalists in Russia are more radical. They believe that all Slavs should use only one language, that is, Russian, because Russian and Yugoslav are also Cyrillic letters, and the Orthodox Church should have only one belief. There can only be one country, that is Russia, and there can only be one leader, that is, the czar. Anyone who refuses to admit it is a traitor.
This situation made Austria-Hungary very unhappy. Members of the royal family of Austria-Hungary came from the Habsburg family. They first gained the hegemony of Europe through marriage. For example, the Austrian king married the Hungarian queen and his son was the Austrian-Hungarian king. The Habsburg family ruled Europe for hundreds of years by getting married and having children. They have a famous saying that let others fight and let us get married.
Until the19th century, European nationalism rose, so the Habsburg family's authority in Europe gradually declined. Only Austria-Hungary still belongs to them, and now there are only a few points left, so we are bent on restoring the former glory and expanding the territory of the empire. At this time, the Balkan region was in chaos, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire regarded it as the best time for itself to enter the Balkans.
Russia and Austria-Hungary pay close attention to the Balkans. In addition to land, there is another important reason, that is, in order to obtain the sea passage here, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is very huge, and it was the second largest country in Europe after Russia at that time, but when it really went to sea, its mouth was only a little narrow in the Adriatic Sea. If Italy doesn't nod, they can't get out, while Russia only has Sevastopol in the Black Sea. If they want to go to the Mediterranean, they must pass through the Turkish Strait. As soon as Turkey implemented traffic control, they were blocked within the Second Ring Road in Beijing.
Therefore, if Russia can have a seaport in the Balkans, it can penetrate its vision into the Mediterranean and even get its hands on North Africa, in his words, into a warm ocean. This temptation is so great that Russia and Austria-Hungary have formed irreconcilable contradictions around the Balkans.
1900, the contradiction between France and Germany, Russia and Austria, has become very serious, and a new pair of contradictions was born, the contradiction between Britain and Germany. When Germany was just founded, Prime Minister Bismarck always pursued the mainland policy. To put it bluntly, the most important thing for Germany to be the hegemon is two things. One is to restrain France, and the other is that it is impossible to form an alliance with other countries in continental Europe.
1888, the German emperor William I died, and so did the 9 1 year-old emperor. His successor, Friedrich III, was emperor for only 99 days. Because of the death of laryngeal cancer, the new emperor William II ascended the throne. As soon as he took office, he found the old prime minister Bismarck very annoying and kept nagging all day. I had to abolish him first, and the opportunity came soon.
1890 was divided because William II promulgated a series of humanitarian laws, such as prohibiting child labor, restricting female workers, and having a rest on Sundays. Bismarck said it was no good to play like this, but who will work after the break? When this was said, the whole German people denounced the inhuman Prime Minister, the young emperor William II, and became the savior of the working people.
With the support of the masses, William II showed his cards on the table. This time, William II decided to send a message to the old general, either abolishing the regulations or resigning. At this time, Bismarck was 75 years old, and he had already lost his old blood. He once had a big fight with William I. He was silent for a while and said, I don't feel well. I will go to the palace tomorrow to pay my respects to your majesty. In this way, the bloody prime minister finally left his post.
William II did enough superficial work and said that I was in pain, as if I had lost my grandfather again, but it was God's arrangement and I had to obey it. Bismarck played with people's hearts for decades and didn't buy it at all. Later, his epitaph was written by the loyal minister of the German emperor William I, who wanted to rush out of the European continent, occupy the colonies and carve up the world again. German public opinion began to publish editorials, and German Foreign Minister Bello officially declared that the era when Britain owned the sea, France owned the land and Germany only had the dream sky was gone forever.
We also want a website in the sun. Now that you mention it, you are most afraid of the British. You also want to own the largest land in Britain, 33.5 million square kilometers. If you want to have a place in the sun, you must ask me for it, and the Germans are not megaphones, so take action at once.
First of all, he will build a railway, which will start from Berlin, the German capital, then pass through Austria-Hungary and the Balkans to Constantinople, cross the English Channel from Ankara to Baghdad, and be completed in less than two years from Berlin to Ankara. Once the railway is completed, German forces will go deep into the Middle East, seriously threatening British colonies in Asia, and there will also be conflicts between Britain and Germany in Africa. Germany's plan extended to the equator, cutting off Africa's links with West Africa and East Africa. Britain's goal was to build a railway from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt, but Germany blocked it everywhere in Britain and Britain never completed it.
On the colonial issue, Britain and Germany reached an issue, and Germany touched another forbidden area of Britain, the navy and the colonies, which were two pain points of Britain and could not be touched. William II firmly believes that if German wants to seize world hegemony, it must establish maritime hegemony.
So we must send a navy. Germany can quickly establish a navy that can threaten Britain and force Britain to recognize Germany's maritime hegemony. The navy cannot be built overnight. 1904, King Edward VII of England visited the Kiel military port in Germany. Later, at the state banquet, he said that I welcomed your majesty from afar with the majesty of the guns of the German fleet. As a result, the British were afraid, because the navy was the most important force for me to become the world hegemon.
No one dared to challenge the British navy for years. Now the Germans not only want to compete for colonies, but also build a navy, which Britain can't tolerate in any case. So British newspapers said in horror that the country with the most powerful army in the world has the most powerful navy in the world. As a result, there has been another contradiction between Britain and Germany. Although this contradiction was formed at the latest, it was the sharpest, even surpassing the feud between France and Germany.
So the irreconcilable contradiction is getting more and more serious. If we want to avoid defeat in future wars, we all start to form a team for ourselves. To be continued.