On April 5, 1920, less than one year after the end of the war, the nations of the world sat down again and began a battle without gunpowder. Representatives of China, the United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and other countries gathered in Beijing to begin negotiations aimed at ending the naval arms race. Naturally, the negotiations between two hostile groups of states were so full of gunpowder that they were brought to an impasse at the very beginning.

The first issue in the negotiations is, of course, the tonnage of capital ships that each country can have and the proportion of each country. In this regard, the British and the United States, among the Entente powers, demanded the highest tonnage limit, and the reason of the British was simple: as a sea power, its minimum requirement was to ensure the security of its own homeland and the security of its colonies, and Britain must have a sea power that could confront any of its countries. Not to mention that Britain had colonies all over the world and needed a strong navy to surround them. The Americans' reasoning is also very reasonable, after all, as a navy that relies on two oceans at the same time, its pressure is also very great.

In this regard, the Allied bloc led by Germany naturally could not allow it, and Germany said that it must have the same naval power as Britain. "We have built the railroad to the Middle East, where there are German factories, oil fields, our allies in the Atlantic, on the Mediterranean coast, and Germany is in the closed North Sea, and we must have free access to the North Sea. The safety of maritime traffic and freedom of passage in Germany must not be interfered with. "The Germans understood very well that now the German Navy was also going to the world, and the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Oceans were all closely related to German interests. Therefore, Germany said that it must have a navy of the same tonnage as its "potential enemy", and this is the bottom line that cannot be changed.

Finally, Germany also said that if the outcome of the negotiations did not satisfy the "allies" at all levels. Then Germany will launch negotiations, and the German representatives will be confident in the face of the British, and the strong industry will not make Germany afraid of getting involved in the arms race with the British. Even if the Americans repeatedly explain that they have no intention of competing with China in the Pacific Ocean, China will certainly raise its armament level to maintain equal strength.

But to the surprise of the Germans. When Britain and Germany were at loggerheads over the tonnage ratio of their ships, the British took a step back and said they could accept the British and German demands for reciprocity. But the United States must have more maritime power than Britain and Germany! It was the first time in centuries that Britain had pinned its security at sea on its allies, and after a few days of arguing, the British knew that Germany, with its strong industry, absolutely demanded parity with Britain. Since everyone doesn't want to completely tear their faces yet, then they can only change directions. The Entente were a whole. Since it's a whole. Then support allies when necessary.

And at this time, the representative of the United States also said that if the negotiations broke down, the US Navy would continue to expand its military plan, and 10 of the 6 South Dakota-class battlecruisers and 6 Lexington-class battlecruisers would be deployed on the Atlantic coast! And that was only the first step in the plan, and members of the U.S. delegation later said informally "if the negotiations fail." If the Germans build 2 more new ships, then the United States will build 3! The United States will definitely not tolerate Germany having 7% of the combat strength of the US Navy! ”

And so. Once again, the Allies were struck by the American "trenches"! Not to mention anything else, just 12 new ships equipped with 16-inch naval guns were enough to make the Allies fearful. Once it is completed, it will almost be the rhythm of the United States single-handedly taking on the allies! Germany is not afraid of Britain and France, but now it can't play with the United States! As a result, during the recess, the German delegates had many exchanges with the Chinese side, hoping that China, as a neutral party, could stand with the Allies and fight back against the "hegemonic" behavior of the United States.

"Your country's capital lies in the dozen super battleships that are being built on the slipway, but after all, they are in the process of construction, and they have not yet been completed, even if it is a qiē shun lì, it will not be completed until 4 years later, and the 7 fast battleships in China have been completed one after another, at most by the end of next year, all warships will be in service, if your country is willing to continue this arms race, we will carry out the second round of expansion from next year. Maybe when our second batch of warships has been launched and outfitted, I'm afraid that the first batch of warships of your country has just been completed, right? "For the United States this kind of behavior, Huaxia also does not like, although from the current point of view, Huaxia's industry is not as good as the United States imperialism, but after all, the other party does not want to burn money endlessly, and in the eyes of the Americans, Huaxia's 7 fast battleships are completed faster, and the completed and under construction are not the same concept, moreover, many of the new batch of warships in the United States have just begun to lay keels, although the number of Huaxia ships is less, but its deterrent effect is real!" Otherwise, how about China and the United States having equal naval power? In a private exchange, Xu Jie said this to Benson, the representative of the United States.

"Actually, we all know that we can't threaten each other, and at the same time we don't want to be under each other, whether it's Britain or now Germany, it's worse than our two countries, China has the largest territory and the largest population in the world, and the United States is the bearer of the Americas. We respect the authority of the United States in the Americas and the Atlantic, but at the same time I hope that your country will respect our authority in Asia. Xu Jie paused after finishing and asked the other party to digest what he said, "But we all know that the so-called empty words are unfounded, and respect is based on the supremacy of strength, so our requirements are not too much." ”

Only now did Huaxia intervene. But this time is very important, the Americans, after some weighing, agreed to have the same highest tonnage of ships as Huaxia, the main enemy of the United States is Germany, not Huaxia, Huaxia can negotiate with the United States, naturally it can also seek to join forces with Germany, in this case, why do you have to push Huaxia to the enemy's side? Naturally, Britain and France would not oppose it, after all, without the support of the United States, Britain and France would not be able to compete with the allies at all. Surprisingly, the Allies led by Germany also accepted this result, but in exchange, Germany added an additional clause on the basis of demanding reciprocity between Britain and Germany, that is, Britain and Germany must have eighty percent of the tonnage of the United States and the Chinese navy!

This seems to be an acceptable condition, the Americans have obtained the most powerful navy as they wish, and Britain has also obtained a tonnage in line with their own national strength, the behemoth of China has the same power as the United States, and he has consolidated his dominant position in Asia, while the Germans have obtained the same naval power as our country, but if you look at it as a whole, at present, the power of the Americans is 10, and that of Britain and Germany is 8. As long as we can restrain the other small countries, then we will win! The British were also more satisfied with this, because the Entente now had a 10-point advantage!

After the first first-class powers had negotiated, the remaining were the second-rate countries, France and Italy and Austria-Hungary, and in the second round of the tonnage war, the Central Powers demanded that Italy and Austria-Hungary have a tonnage equivalent to France, and considering the national strength of the three countries, the German representatives thought that it would be better for Italy and Austria-Hungary to have a tonnage of 3.5 points. After all, even if there are more left, these two buddies don't have enough national strength and funds to support the construction! Subsequently, the Entente countries refused, and the French government said that it should have a weight of 5 points, and said that the French Republic had the ability and determination to complete the expansion plan.

"Strong on the outside and dry on the inside." The Italians did not pay much attention to the statements of the French, and how could France, which had lost blood in World War 1, have the extra strength to build such a powerful fleet? And even if there is money in the future, the first thing to do is to defend on land rather than to build a navy, and Germany has much more pressure on land than on the sea, and the French are nothing more than a bluff in doing so.

And it was, and after some talking, the French accepted a tonnage equivalent to that of Italy, with a weight of 3.5. As a balance, Austria-Hungary was reduced by 0.5 weights, resulting in a 3 weight. For this concession, the Allies also said that it was understandable, because the Austro-Hungarian fleet was almost equivalent to the total destruction of the navy after the end of the war, even if it reached the weight of 3 points, it needed to build many more new warships than Italy, you know, now Italy has 4 capital ships with a total tonnage of 100,000 tons, while Austria-Hungary only has a 25,000-ton super dreadnought! According to the estimation of the Germans, it would be good if Austria-Hungary could complete these 3 points of weight of battleships!

The last part is the third-class countries. Russia, Spain and Turkey. These countries have average economic strength, and some do not even have the ability to build new super-dreadnoughts. In view of the special situation of these countries, the Entente agreed that other countries would provide them with warships, and the tonnage restrictions on the capital ships of these countries were also relatively general, except that the three countries were required to share a weight of 4.5 points. Originally, the Entente wanted to press it again, but the Allies thought that so far Spain still had three super dreadnoughts, and Turkey had two more (after many naval battles, one of Turkey's two capital ships sank, and I have to say that it was really lucky.) These warships have a tonnage of 125,000 tons, and with the addition of Russia, the weight of 4.5 points is not too much. In return, Canada and Australia, among the Entente countries, were also allowed to build one additional warship with a displacement of no more than 20,000 tons.

The total tonnage of warships that countries can have is determined, and the rest is the key issue, the negotiating parties will decide the actual tonnage of various warships and the replacement arrangement of capital ships, and what Xu Jie did not expect was that at the beginning of the second round of negotiations, the Entente and the Allies pointed the finger at Huaxia together!

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