章節 27: Chapter 106 The Czech Rebellion (1)
In the aftermath of World War I and the collapse of the ancient order, Europe began to plan its nations according to modern concepts, building them on the principle of national self-determination, and the famous unsolvable equation arose: "Is a nation a piece of land or a group of people of the same race and origin? And if it is a homogeneous people, which common factor should take precedence, race, religion or language?"
The Sudetenland became one of the focal points of the conflict, as in 1921, Czechoslovakia had a German population of 3.12 million, or 23.4% of the total population, the third largest after the Czechs and Slovaks; and in the Sudetenland, the Germans were the absolute majority.
The Germans and the Czechs have been in conflict since ancient times, and have always been deeply hostile and oppressed, and have long been living in dire straits, so they could not be fully integrated into the Czech mainstream at all, but instead, they were in their own minds and hearts, and strongly longed for a return to the former German-Austrian family. However, the newly established Czechoslovakian government sought territorial integrity, wishfully hoping that the Germans could be fully integrated into mainstream Czech society.
If the Czech government could treat these Germans well, then Czechoslovakia could be stabilized. Unfortunately, the ideal was beautiful, but the reality was cruel.
The Czechs at this time, who had finally got rid of the Habsburg rule for hundreds of years, went from one extreme to the other, and the air was filled with contempt and insults for the Germans, and even barbaric and vicious incidents occurred from time to time.
On this day Wilhelm summoned the top military and political officials to discuss some matters, and an angry-looking Foreign Minister Ribbentrop came in hurriedly. "Your Highness, something has happened in the Sudetenland!"
As soon as they heard about the Sudetenland region, the faces of the others clouded over.
Wilhelm asked. "What is it?"
Ribbentrop took a breath and reported. "The Germanic workers in the Sudetenland launched a strike march this morning."
On the sidelines, Prime Minister Schwartz also sensed the seriousness of the matter and hurriedly pursued the matter. "And then?"
"The Czech government sent the local garrison to suppress them, the army used heavy weapons, and there were quite a few casualties among the workers."
"It's really outrageous, we have to solemnly protest and strongly condemn this behavior of the Czech government!!!"
Wilhelm skimmed over Prime Minister Schwartz who was foaming at the mouth with righteous indignation. This Prime Minister Schwartz was appointed by William II, although his loyalty was reliable, but his ability, well, could only be considered mediocre. However, Wilhelm did not find a suitable candidate, so this prime minister has been in office.
Waiting for this Schwartz prime minister sprayed a pass after Wilhelm only coldly said. "The one-dimensional protests and condemnations are only done by countries and governments that have no bones. Now that we have tanks and airplanes, not only can we defend our country, but we can also protect each and every one of us Germans from persecution by others. Since the Czech government oppresses our fellow Germans there, it is our duty to free our compatriots!"
Prime Minister Schwartz immediately chimed in. "Your Highness is wise, we must solve the problems in the Sudetenland as soon as possible and rescue our compatriots from their misery. We must let Beneš know that there is a price to pay for bullying us germans!!!"
"..." Wilhelm would have laughed out loud ironically if the topic being talked about wasn't too serious. That was probably one of the reasons why the prime minister hadn't been jerked off, the guy was just too damn good at following the wind and kissing ass, he was a godlike answering machine!
After Austria had been successfully annexed, Wilhelm's next target was Czechoslovakia!
And what happened today was a real snooze.
"Mr. Ribbentrop, raise a warning for me. Warn the Czech government to either cede the Sudetenland to us and let the Germanic people there return to a normal life, or wait for the demise of the entire Czech Republic! General Rundstedt, mobilize troops to the Czech border at once."
Wilhelm's snap decision froze everyone in the room.
If the Czechs don't cede their territory, then the Czechs will be annihilated?
Even the ass-kissing Prime Minister Schwarz felt that this decision was too hasty and could even be described as crazy; although he was mediocre, he was not an idiot. Czechoslovakia, a French protectorate?
Once they attacked Czechoslovakia, it might be another world war, and Germany was not ready to start a second world war now.
The last World War changed the world landscape, it broke up the once huge Austro-Hungarian Empire into Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was diplomatically in the British and French camp, as it was dependent on them for its independence. France, being very jealous of Germany, formed a Triple Alliance with Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1923 in order to keep the first place in the European continent. In 1923, France formed a triple alliance with Poland and Czechoslovakia so that the three countries could attack Germany in three directions if there was anything wrong with Germany.
At that time, France could be said to be holding a good hand, but this advantageous situation only lasted for 10 years. After ten years, Poland withdrew from the Triple Alliance for its own interests, which led to the disintegration of the Triple Alliance, but France and Czechoslovakia were still in an alliance!
Most importantly, even without the French protectorate, Czechoslovakia was not a soft touch, or even a hard rock!
Before the outbreak of World War II in the original time and space, the comprehensive national power ranking of the world's countries was like this: the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, Britain and France, which was the world's top five, a level that was hard to surpass, and the sixth was Italy, which was a 10,000 year old soy sauce. Seventh place is Czechoslovakia, in the comprehensive national strength even Japan ranked loads of its back.
Therefore the ass-kissing Prime Minister Schwartz made an unprecedented proposal of his own. "Your Highness, I mean no offense. The issue of Sudetenland, I hope you will think twice again, after all, it is different from Austria, the Czech Republic and France, have signed a treaty, once we go to war with the Czech Republic, then France will declare war on us. Your Excellency General Rundstedt, can our army cope with both Czechoslovakia and France?"
"Your Highness, I'm afraid we are still a bit short on troops." General Rundstedt also felt that Wilhelm's order was a bit inappropriate, while he was thinking about the issue from a military perspective.
Because Czechoslovakia inherited the military industry and localized economic zone of the Austro-Hungarian Empire back then, it was a solid and powerful industrial country, not to mention, in the original time and space on the battlefields of China, that famous machine gun, was a water of Czech-made. The Czech Republic is now the world's second largest arms factory.
Czechoslovakia is not a weak shrimp with no power to be slaughtered, on the contrary, it has a strong army, with forty divisions of well-equipped combat troops!
Also, as mentioned earlier the Sudetenland was located in the Sudeten Mountains in the north of Czechoslovakia, and these vast mountainous areas would have severely hampered the progress of the German mechanized forces.
What's more they were going to attack Czechoslovakia, and that was destined to have to draw down their forces to defend against the French.
In this way Germany's forces were stretched to the limit. If they did strike, the mountains of the Sudetenland alone would be enough to keep them tied up for months.
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