This is a harsh word that has become popular in the diplomatic community recently, referring to the recent series of balls in the Tuileries Palace and the Palace of Versailles. They were supposed to be quarreling at the negotiating table, throwing cups, smashing stools, and performing full-scale diplomacy.
Officers hung out on the dance floor all day long, turning the Naval Disarmament Conference into a dance party with no end in sight, so the disparagement became widespread.
Such a situation is due to the tit-for-tat confrontation between Charlemagne and Albion regarding a series of issues such as the upper limit and proportion of the total tonnage of naval ships, the proportion of capital ship tonnage, and the performance of battleships. Charlemagne hopes to reconcile with
Albion was on an equal footing, and Albion hoped to contain Charlemagne's navy through a treaty.
Styria is a passer-by. The only person who can control the situation is Cardinal Leopold of Ymir's Foreign Affairs Bureau. He neither understands the navy nor lacks a feasible plan that can be accepted by both countries, as well as the ability to strategize. The stalemate.
They couldn't live up to their expectations and couldn't break their skin, so diplomats and admirals used continuous dances and banquets to pass the time.
This is true for the upper class, and the performance of the grassroots people is generally similar.
Suppressing rebellions and blocking corpses at intersections are nothing new to the Lüdes people who have the talent and enthusiasm for riots. Many people hide behind windows with coffee in their hands to watch the riot suppression, and then do whatever they have to do. Compared to monotony
The boring queue to be shot, the "About" staged that day
"The Wedding of Knight John" has been discussed more. After the first day's performance was a success, the famous theater company accepted the new version of the script. The cast was also top-notch, but the rumored witch surrounded by golden butterflies never appeared on the stage again.
.It somewhat disappointed the audience.
The world is peaceful and everything remains as usual——
How could such a cheap thing happen? After crushing a few overconfident praying mantises, the situation continues to move forward along the pre-paved track, and the results will not be revealed for a few more years. At the moment, it is more uncertain than
In the future, most people will pay more attention to the clear present.
Especially a guy who managed to stay out of the army's turmoil and stay alone.
"Apart from the battleships, the biggest problem is the cruiser part."
Navy Captain Anna Hilarion de Cotten de Tourville frowned and said with an unhappy look on his face.
During the negotiation, the main battleships could still bargain for a while. But when it came to the cruisers, the Albion man immediately bared his teeth and put on an expression of "You dare to touch me".
The proud Charlemagne found it hard to understand why the Albion bulls were so excited on a "second-class battleship". As a land-power country, Charlemagne didn't understand. For Albion's absolute
For maritime power countries, cruisers are used during non-war periods.
It is an existence beyond the capital ship. It is responsible for ocean patrols, colonial liaison, declaration of control, emergency crisis management and other tasks. It directly represents a country's control of the ocean. It is said that the huge cruiser group single-handedly supports Albion's
It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the cornerstone of sea power.
Charlemagne's ideal goal was for the fleet to reach the same size as Albion. The two countries would determine a "mutually recognized maximum limit". Within this tonnage, the two countries could freely equip their navies.
This request was obviously unacceptable to Albion and Castile, and Charlemagne was aware of this, so on the basis of insisting on this request, he also prepared a second and third plan.
The so-called second plan is to settle for the next best thing when the first plan is impossible to achieve. By making partial concessions in the tonnage of the battleship, it is agreed that the scale of the battleship is smaller than that of Albion. In exchange, Albion should
On cruisers, frigates and other auxiliary ships
"Compensation" was made in terms of tonnage, that is, the tonnage ratio of the two countries' main ships was 10:6, and the tonnage ratio of auxiliary ships was 7:10. On this basis, the two sides divided their overseas forces, stopped expanding overseas military bases, and "opened the door" to the colonies.
reach a comprehensive agreement on other issues.
On the surface, the plan made concessions to Albion, demonstrating Charlemagne's sincerity in swearing peace, but in fact it contained evil intentions. At first glance, it seems that Charlemagne's naval combat power is inferior to Albion, but in fact, Charlemagne's control of sea lanes during peacetime
On the contrary, its control power has become stronger. In wartime, this large-scale cruiser can become an executive
The important force of "cruise warfare" can not only hunt with a single ship and attack the enemy's lone merchant ships, but also form a strike group to attack the merchant ship group and conquer the enemy's colonial islands with insufficient troops. Albi is fortified everywhere and cannot be defended.
The Albion navy can only respond passively to the enemy, and Albion, which has been exhausted for a year or two, will be defeated without a fight.
Naturally, Albion refused to comply with this deceptive proposal. The Duke of Marlborough made it clear that Albion's navy should maintain at least 80 cruisers, and Charlemagne's cruisers should be maintained at around 33 to 40. The Duke gave this response
The reason given was that "Charlemagne did not have so many colonies and overseas interests to
To protect, 20 cruisers are enough. If you insist on building more cruisers than Albion, we can only think that Charlemagne is preparing for war with Albion and has no sincerity to maintain peace through negotiations. If
As a result, the peace talks failed, and Charlemagne must bear full responsibility for this."
This is an accusation and a threat. Castile did not play soy sauce this time and jumped out to agree with Albion's proposal. Obviously they have similar concerns. Lapland, which has no colonies and is not a naval power, continues
To make matters worse, the negotiation table suddenly became 2:1.
Although neither side can be said to be sincere about peace talks, and they are secretly plotting to deceive their opponents and deceive the negotiations, but out of sophisticated calculations, no one has taken the initiative to say, "I'm not going to talk anymore, you guys are going to have fun." They actively pretended to deceive the negotiations.
The "bad guy" will attack the recipient from the moral high ground. Under the interaction of various factors, the peace talks become an endless waltz.
The representatives were busy on the dance floor and in the boxes of the palaces of Lüdes, and the workers in the shipyard were not idle either. On the contrary, they were busier than before the war. Because if the peace talks failed, the two sides would have a war, and there would be a need for more warships.
It is self-evident; if the peace talks succeed, you can also use the fait accompli that "the warship has been completed and entered service" to take advantage.
Amidst the melodious waltz on the dance floor and the sonorous din of the shipyard, no one knew that Charlemagne was slowly advancing the third plan under the table. Compared with the first two aggressive plans, the third plan was much "softer".
Even cruiser tonnage
Compensation has also been given up, and it seems to be a proposal that Charlemagne fully surrenders to. But only by carefully studying the details, people will discover what kind of calculation is behind this sophisticated plan with the style of a certain company. (
To be continued...)
ps: Sorry, I was busy with work during the day and forgot to update. There will be double updates in the evening. Please stay tuned.