In March 1939, the war situation in Spain took a turn for the worse. The Battle of Catalonia, which lasted for more than three months, was basically over, and it also declared the failure of the Spanish Republican Army. On January 26, Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, was captured by Franco.
The National Army captured. On February 8, Figueras, the last stronghold controlled by the Republican Army, was captured. After 250,000 Republican troops escaped across the French border, they were disarmed. On February 27, the British and French governments announced their recognition of Franco.
regime and severed diplomatic relations with the Spanish Republican government.
Following Britain and France, on March 1, the Ming government also announced that it recognized the Franco regime and severed diplomatic relations with the Spanish Republican government. On March 3, an uprising broke out in Cartagena, the naval base of the Republican Army, in response to Franco.
On March 28, the National Army and the Intervention Army entered Madrid, ending the war.
The nearly three-year Spanish Civil War is finally over. The German-Italian intervention forces, especially the "Condor Legion", the most elite and most experienced German army, can finally be transferred back to Germany. Hitler's plan was to attack Czechoslovakia in April. Originally,
The Condor Legion was not included in the plan. Now that the Spanish Civil War has ended abruptly at the end of March, it can be said to have ended at the right time. However, the German army's combat plan is as precise as a clock. Once it is formulated, it cannot be easily modified.
Come on. In addition, it will take time to transfer the Condor Legion back to the country. So Hitler decided not to use the Condor Legion in the battles against the Czech Republic and Poland, and would wait until June to use it against the Soviet Union.
Facing the coming to power of Franco and the Falange, Germany and Italy were naturally rejoicing, while the Soviet Union was saddened by the death of the rabbit. However, Ming Dynasty's mood was very complicated. As a constitutional country, it was always sad to see another world power becoming fascist.
But as a capitalist monarchy, seeing the victory of the bourgeois royalist forces in another country always makes me feel better no matter what.
Franco is very likely to restore the Spanish monarchy. A traditional, even autocratic monarchy, is much better than an autocratic republic controlled by the Bolsheviks. Even if the king is not in power, the power is in Franco's hands, but
After all, with a monarch as the symbol of the country, it would be difficult for Franco to engage in personality worship, and many things would have a bottom line, so that he would not be like Stalin, who killed a fraction of the country's people at every turn. And even if he
The fascist dictatorship is only political. Economically, it does not violate economic laws like the Soviet Union. For the sake of romantic ideals, it forcibly implements utopia in the economic field, causing mass famine tragedies to be staged over and over again. From this perspective, the Spanish can be said to be
Dodged a bullet.
…
At three o'clock in the morning on April 2, 1939, German troops poured into the German-Czech border. The original "seventh military power" was betrayed by its allies and cut off from the Sudetenland. After enduring a series of insults and tramples, it has now become
A desperate native dog lost all fighting spirit. The Czech army surrendered after only weak resistance.
The news that Germany brazenly occupied Czechoslovakia and blatantly tore up the Munich Agreement shocked the whole world. All major powers began to condemn Germany, and Germany was almost drowned in saliva. The United Kingdom condemned it, France condemned it, the United States condemned it, the Soviet Union condemned it, and Ming Dynasty also condemned it.
Hitler's true nature as a political gangster was finally exposed for the first time.
"Do you understand why we can't hang out with Germany?" Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the newspaper headline about Hitler's blatant breach of contract and sighed to Shi Shige, "This kind of country is basically a gangster. If you hang out with gangsters, you will not suffer. Say, over time, others will treat you as a gangster."
Fourteen Gege disapproved and said with a smile:
"Oh, who encouraged Germany to become hooligans? In the beginning, we encouraged others to act like hooligans for the sake of benefit. Now they do it, and we also benefit from it. Instead, we think they are hooligans."
Xiang Xiaoqiang said seriously:
"Yes, so Germany is a hooligan. If you give him a favor and encourage him to act like a hooligan, he will see the benefits and immediately agree to act like a hooligan without any psychological burden. Then this kind of person is a hooligan, and he is a pure-bred professional hooligan. .A decent person will never act like a hooligan. No matter how much you try to persuade him, he won't. If you don't believe it, try teasing Shen Rongxuan?... Of course, it doesn't matter whether the old boy is decent or not, at least he is not a hooligan. He cherishes feathers very much. .Hitler, that old boy, has no feathers at all. He has a whole attitude of "I am a gangster, who am I afraid of? If you don't accept it, I will fight." If such a person gets together with him, how about we? Germany has been good to us in the past few years. , that is when he has just emerged and needs us, Ming Dynasty. If you don’t believe it, in a few years, when he no longer needs us, he will fall out faster than turning over a book, and if he doesn’t, he will stab him in the back.
"What kind of country is our Ming Dynasty? We didn't want to support the Anschluss with Austria last time. Didn't we still hinder the "Mingde Secret Treaty"? In the end, we still pinched our noses and issued a statement in support. This shows that we care about treaties and so on. Take it seriously. Why was it so easy for us to negotiate terms with Britain, France and Germany this time? It’s because people believe in us. You want Germany to try to negotiate with Britain and France on its own? There’s no point in being able to negotiate a deal. This thing , just like people trying to mingle in society, although you are all considering your own interests, at least you can’t make people think you are a gangster, otherwise you won’t be able to mingle.”
Fourteen Gege stopped laughing, and after a while he laughed and said:
"De Xing. I think you have been influenced by that girl Zhu Yourong, and you are almost no longer you... You are not allowed to go to her place tonight, do you hear me? You have to come to my place."
"ah?"
…
In Britain and France, many of the original appeasers were awakened and began to turn around. Public opinion was also angry, and everyone felt that they had been fooled. Chamberlain's approval rate began to drop sharply, and the old man began to be overwhelmed, urging Ming Dynasty to fulfill its obligations all day long. He made a promise and also urged Ming to urge Germany to fulfill its promise and withdraw its defenses from the Rhineland. If it were one night later, he might be forced to resign and step down.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty immediately took the lead and invited Britain and France to hold talks on the world situation. The talks were held in Nanjing, and the ambassadors of Britain and France participated as representatives. The theme of the meeting was to form a three-nation entente between Ming, Britain and France to form a military guarantee alliance to ensure any If one country is invaded, it will be regarded as a joint aggression against the three countries, including the mainland and overseas colonies.
This is obviously of great benefit to Britain and France. The British and French parliaments are debating enthusiastically. At the same time, exciting news comes from Germany. The German defenders have withdrawn from the Rhine River defense area, and the Rhine River has been restored. An undefended state.
Two events happened one after another, and public opinion in Britain and France immediately took another U-turn, and the joyful and peaceful atmosphere once again dominated the mainstream. The British and French people who were originally unwilling to get involved in the war now have an excellent reason. Chamberlain promised "a generation of "Peace" seems to have become a certainty again. Chamberlain's position has become stable again.
The German army effortlessly occupied the entire Czechoslovakia. Now, Poland is still unaware that its death is coming, but the Soviet Union, which has always had a keen sense of smell, immediately felt great uneasiness.