At this time, France's Joseph Caillot was another politician who realized the horrors of total war between the great powers in the industrial age.
And this was mainly due to one of his friends.
This friend is currently sitting with Caillot in an elegant alley on the side of the Champs Elysées, drinking outdoor coffee. Jean Jaurès is a slightly stout middle-aged man, not yet fifty years old.
You can already see streaks of silver on his head. His appearance gives the impression of a typical middle-class gentleman, and no one would have thought that he was actually a labor leader.
France is a country rich in revolutionary tradition, and workers' parties are legal in this country. The socialist camp led by Jean Jaurès has considerable influence in the political situation in Paris, and Joseph Caillot is watching it.
At this point, he took the initiative to approach this fat gentleman.
But now, Caillaux regards Jaurès as his best friend and adviser. The finance minister, who is an accountant, respects Jaurés' attainments in economics, likes to discuss fiscal policy with him, and often listens to his opinions.
"In other words," Caillot was trying to summarize the previous discussion between the two of them, "Once it enters a full-scale war, France will likely go bankrupt?"
“All the countries participating in the war will face bankruptcy,” Jaurès emphasized in an unquestionable tone. “I have gone to China before to inspect the workers’ welfare policies implemented by Lin Youde, but what attracted me most in China was not the Oriental genius’s
A wonderful idea of the social system and economic system, but the horrific material consumption of his army in the Mexican War. Do you know how much ammunition the Chinese consumed in Mexico? Referring to their consumption rate, the French army currently reserves artillery shells
I’ll have a clear shot within a week.”
"Isn't this because the accuracy of Chinese artillery is not good?" Caillaux was somewhat disapproving. He did not understand military affairs. In his opinion, the Chinese still lagged behind Europe in military terms: they once defeated Russia by luck, and were later defeated by Russia.
A severe lesson - at least in Caillot's view. The finance minister believed that the Chinese were ahead only of those magical props for ladies. And this was because the beautiful French lady Josephine married
Gave it to Lin Youde.
But Raolus obviously didn't think so.
"Man," he used the term he used for people he knew, "the Chinese are not stupid. They drop so much ammunition to destroy the enemy and reduce their own losses. If Europe goes to war, the same Europeans who are not stupid will do the same."
Do it. We cannot afford to fight such a war. At least if the war lasts for more than a year, all participating countries will go bankrupt and die. In the best case scenario, this will become a war without a winner. Everyone will tear down everything and start anew.
We have been here before, and in the worst case scenario, this war will allow some countries with ulterior motives to remain neutral to gain a lot of benefits. It may be the United States, the Federation of China, or the Soviet Union."
Jaures's last words made Caillot fall into deep thought. He raised his head and looked at the clear sky of Paris in summer. The air was filled with the fragrance coming from the direction of the Champs Elysees.
Finally, Caillaux said to Jaures: "Yes, we cannot let France fall into such a war. Let alone the war, the ongoing arms race is already enough for us."
The French Parliament has just approved a large amount of money for the French army to build sky battleships. It was easy for the Parliament to approve the money, but it made the Ministry of Finance responsible for raising the money very depressed. This further strengthened Caillot's determination to reform the French tax system to increase the government's income.
determination. So now, although Caillaux does not agree with Jaurès's estimate of the material consumption of the war, he still quite agrees with the view that "the war will bankrupt France." For Caillaux, who was born in accounting, bankruptcy is
One of the scariest things.
"The cabinet is now facing a reorganization." Caillot told Jaurès. "Poincaré may step down in the next few weeks, and I am preparing to run for the new French Prime Minister. Now it seems that I am very likely to be elected."
In the last time and space, Caillaux was indeed elected, and then his tough performance in the Moroccan crisis of 1911 earned him great reputation.
"I promise you," Caillaux continued to his friend, "that after being elected, I will do my best to prevent the situation from changing towards war, and try to persuade European countries to stop this damn arms race."
Jaures showed obvious disappointment on his face: "No, this is not something you will do after you are elected. Now the Balkans are on the verge of losing control. We must do something now."
Caillaux shook his head and said to Jaures: "Even if you say so, I can't do anything. I am the Minister of Finance and my influence on foreign policy is limited. More importantly, there is no room for us France to intervene in the Balkans. We do not
The Ottoman Empire captured many colonies, but those were too far away from the Balkans."
Caillot was telling the truth. At this time, France was the only country among the European powers that remained aloof from the incident. The Parisian public was most concerned about a domestic political scandal. The protagonist of the scandal was a playboy who abandoned his ex-wife and married another wealthy man.
Then the vindictive ex-wife provided the editor of Le Figaro, Gaston Calmet, with the politician's letters when he pursued her, showing the whole process of his violent fight for love in front of the public.
He also predicts that politicians will abandon their current wives and find new loves in the future.
This news has been buzzing in Paris for about a week. Just when the lively and romantic French people were cooling down their enthusiasm for the incident and were preparing to turn their attention to other things - such as the Balkan crisis - the incident unfolded.
The politician's current wife was so angry that she bought one, broke into the editorial office of Le Figaro, and fired six shots on the floor in front of Gaston Calmet, intending to scare the editor. Unlucky
Yes, as soon as the editor saw it, he followed the knowledge he had learned about gun defense and threw himself to the ground. He happened to be lying under the muzzle of the lady's gun. The most unfortunate thing was that the lady pulled the front handle of the trigger.
My eyes are closed...
So a strange situation occurred. From various circumstances, the lady drew the gun when Calmet faced her, but the bullet holes in the editor's body were shot in from behind and out in front of her, and
The angle of entry is very strange.
Everyone in Paris was debating whether this lady was guilty or not. It was only recently that the grand jury declared the lady not guilty in a very chivalrous spirit. This verdict immediately aroused a large-scale discussion. In the whole incident, there is God
Turns, divine unfolding, political scandals and sex, the French love this kind of thing the most. As for the distant war in the Balkans, who cares?
(Note: This incident was not fabricated by the author, but it happened to Joseph Caillaux. The shooter was his second wife Henriade Caillaux. The incident happened about half a year before World War I. Here is what the author has done
some processing)
The public did not care, and the politicians' attention was focused on the selection of the new prime minister. It is no wonder that Caillaux could not promise his friends to do their best to prevent the war.
Jaures was also aware of the current situation. He sighed and said: "Fortunately, the situation is not bad now. Vienna has not decided to join the war and Germany is also very quiet."
"Yes, we can only hope that nothing bad will happen again before the new prime minister is determined."
Compared to France, which was relatively tolerant of socialists, in Germany, controlled by the Junkers and elites, no one had the chance to realize the horror of total war.
While Caillot was drinking coffee with his friends, the Kaiser was losing his temper at the Posten Palace - he seemed to be losing his temper all the time lately, as if Wilhelmina's absence made him feel some kind of emptiness, and he had to fill it with anger. And this
Over the weeks Wilhelm II's unwarranted outbursts became more frequent as news returned from the Netherlands.
In the eyes of the conservative Prussian aristocrats who followed the rules, the bikini invented by Lin Youde was simply an extremely obscene garment, no different from being naked. So when Wilhelmina appeared on the beach of Luzon Island wearing a bikini with Lin Youde,
The entire German government and opposition parties were shocked.
The vain William II collected many hats of various styles and colors, but he obviously did not like green hats.
However, Wilhelmina was his beloved wife who he loved deeply, so while he suppressed the dissatisfied voices in the government and the public on the grounds of maintaining his union with the Netherlands, he also used irritability to express his inner aggrievedness.
"Ferdinand, you bastard!" Originally, the Kaiser and Archduke Ferdinand had a very good relationship, and they were good friends in private. However, Wilhelm II, who was so angry, threw their friendship away. "In the past, we still had to worry about Russia.
Supported the Slavs in the Balkans, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not afraid at that time. Together with the British, they defeated the Russians in Crimea and thwarted Russia's plan to move south! But now Russia has disappeared, leaving only one person hanging on.
They dare not fight against the Soviet Union! We must take measures to put pressure on Vienna and make them understand our determination to protect the Berlin-Baghdad Railway!"
"Perhaps," said Foreign Secretary Zimmerman, "they are afraid of confrontation with Britain?"
"Nonsense, Britain doesn't even have an army!"
In fact, Britain had an army. Kaiser Wilhelm II said this just to retaliate against the British for their contempt for German maritime power - this contempt was mostly imagined by William II himself.
Facing the angry emperor, all the officials were silent and silently waited for William II to make a decision.
"Tell Vienna! If they don't open up the Balkans, we will open them up!" William II almost roared and gave the order.
But just as the ministers hesitated, he withdrew the order.
"No," he stopped Zimmerman, who was about to leave, and sat back on his big chair, "it's better not to do this. Give them a strong statement first, and I will draft another draft for Archduke Ferdinand.
Personal message to persuade him to change his mind." (To be continued...)