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Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in hlnovel.com -> Historic -> The Young Marshal s Spring and Autumn Period Through the Republic of China Chapter 744 Dawes Plan
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- The military is based on the economy. The strength of a modern country's economy is closely related to its industrial capabilities. Even if Germany maintains its most advanced weapons research and development in China by borrowing chickens and laying eggs, without strong military industry capabilities, it cannot become a great power with just a few advanced weapons instead of thousands of large-scale weapons.
A good tiger can¡¯t stand up to a pack of wolves.
Since the First World War was not fought in Germany, even if it lost the war, it retained a strong industrial base and a team of qualified workers. The key is that the country generally held its breath for the defeat and the huge compensation. There is a risk of restoration.
When Germany's financial and economic situation further deteriorated and it was no longer able to repay the Allied Powers' reparations, the conflict between Britain and France over the reparations issue in Germany became increasingly acute: France insisted on asking for money, and Britain was afraid of forcing Germany to side with the Soviet Union.
At that time, France advocated that it would do its best to weaken Germany, or even let Germany collapse, so as to enhance its own strength and compete with Britain for European hegemony. After the Paris Peace Conference, French President Poincar¨¦ said: "Germany was born in injustice and deserves to die in shame." There are also those within it who "burned Berlin, hanged the other party's generals, and demanded large tracts of land along the Rhine." clamor.
In order to prevent France from overexpanding its power, Britain adheres to its long-standing balance of power strategy and does not advocate excessively weakening Germany in order to contain France.
The United States¡¯ intentions are basically similar to those of the United Kingdom. They are both unwilling to see France become stronger, so they acquiesce in the rise of Germany.
Germany¡¯s political circles are well aware of this. It is impossible for the outside world to know about such a close military interaction between China and Germany, but it involves a wide range of areas, and the People's Army's approach to strengthening the army does not hurt the eyes of Britain, which has always attached great importance to the navy.
"The British didn't say it, and France said it wouldn't work. In addition, they didn't want China to fall into the arms of the Soviet Union, so they half-opened their eyes to this.
The reason why the victorious countries retained Germany's industrial capabilities to the maximum extent was because countries such as Britain, France, and Italy still wanted to obtain war reparations from a Germany whose economy was not bankrupt. A impoverished Germany in the heart of Europe was not good news for neighboring countries.
But the squeeze on Germany has caused its economy to lose its vitality and is in urgent need of blood transfusions. However, Europe, which has been crippled, cannot shoulder this task. On the contrary, by the end of World War I, European countries owed the United States a total of $10.34 billion in war debt. Among them, the UK is 4.3 billion, France is 3.4 billion, and Italy is 1.65 billion US dollars.
Although the Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Britain, France, etc. could receive war reparations from Germany, because they also had to repay the debts of the United States, they advocated linking the discussion between reparations and war debt issues, which is a bit like a serial debt.
So in May 1920, the heads of government of Britain and France issued a statement advocating the simultaneous cancellation of war debts to the United States and compensation requirements to Germany. This is their little calculation: The United States wants us to give up our claims against Germany, so can our debt be written off in one go? At this time, the United States ignored it.
German finance has collapsed, but the two countries have not collapsed? Brothers are brothers, and accounts must be settled clearly. Uncle Sam is indeed an outstanding representative of a capitalist country, and he knows his way around money.
In this way, Britain and France could only turn to squeeze Germany, but the German government was also determined to stop losses. Because the war reparations that Germany was required to pay were calculated using the German gold mark, the government allowed the gold mark to depreciate starting in 1920. ¡ª¡ªAfter all, every time the country is devalued, the country loses one less point.
The German mark devalued crazily, and even if all the compensation was paid back later, its actual value would not be much. Rather than receiving a sum of money that is actually not much in this case, it is better to send a favor to Germany. This is the consideration of the United States and Britain.
Out of fear of the surging communist movement in European countries, they were also worried that due to Germany's defeat in the war, the fall of the Kaiser, the collapse of the economy, and the emergence of a communist Germany for the first time in Europe, they secretly supported Hitler to come to power, crack down on communism, and further Containment of the Soviet Union's plot to the east.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, European ideas awakened and inspired Americans and Russians. The opposite is true now. Europeans are looking elsewhere for leaders, for ideas.
The millions of dead and wounded and the smoky ruins of cities and countryside made the masses receptive to calls for revolution and a new social order. If they are not given a way out quickly, the Balkans will once again destabilize Europe.
On August 1, 1922, British Foreign Secretary Balfour issued a note to the six Allied Powers including France and Italy - the famous "Balfour Note", stating that the UK was "prepared to give up all future rights to reparations to Germany and the payment of war debts" All requirements. As long as this waiver becomes part of a general plan that enables this momentous issue to be dealt with as a whole"
The implication is that the United States is required to join efforts to abolish the war debt requirement.
The United States also has no response, but it has been thinking about this issue for two years. By December 26, when the Paris Conference controlled by France decided to impose sanctions on Germany, the United States sent a "participation" signal on the 29th.
On this day, US Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes delivered an important speech to the American Historical Association in New Haven, Connecticut, stating that an "impartial" international expert committee should study the issue of German reparations, including reimbursement to Germany. Ability to make new estimates. He also stated that American citizens will participate in the work of this committee.
After the French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr region, Germany's industrial and economic center, on January 11, 1923, the contradiction between Britain and France on the German issue became more acute, and Germany also stopped compensation to Britain, France and other countries.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, U.S. President Coolidge made a statement to the press on October 11, stating that the position expressed by Hughes in his New Haven speech was still valid, and that he also opposed the discussion of war debts and reparations.
Even if a debt is a debt, you still have to pay back what you should pay, but it depends on how I say it; reparations are another matter. Germany owes you, so it is best not to be aggressive anymore, right?
The UK also agrees to form an expert committee to re-discuss the issue of German compensation. In order to force France to submit, Britain and the United States exerted various pressures on France, resulting in the Compensation Commission announcing c©q in Paris on October 15, 1923. g©q Dawes and Owen©q d©q Young was an American expert who investigated Germany's financial situation and later formed an expert committee led by Dawes.
The "Dawes Plan" was one of the crystallizations of Dawes' superb economic and political talents. It was also an important step for the United States to move toward an "independent cosmopolitan" policy after World War I.
On March 4, 1921, Republican Warren g©q Harding became the 29th president of the United States and swore that the United States would never get involved in foreign disputes. On April 12, Harding told a joint session of Congress that the United States "will not participate in the League of Nations." But at the same time, the president pledged that his administration would work with foreign governments that want to form what he sees as an apolitical coalition of countries and revive ravaged European countries.
This means that the Harding administration's so-called "non-involvement" and "non-participation" are nothing more than exerting influence on Europe in the American way.
Because they knew that the United States did not yet have the "ability" to control the "League of Nations" at that time, but they also knew that the United States already had influence, and it was obviously impossible not to participate in European affairs. This is the American background in which the "Dawes Plan" emerged.
The United States¡¯ intervention in European affairs, especially German affairs, is not political interference, but economic intervention. To be more precise, it adopts an economic diplomacy method of official-business cooperation in which the government formulates policies and is implemented by unofficial private representatives.
From a formal point of view, the "Dawes Plan" is just a report and plan. Its content is the results of the investigation of Germany's finance and economy and the solutions proposed accordingly. As for its approval and specific implementation, the United States does not assume no responsibility.
From the perspective of the political background of the United States, the United States was affected by the strong "isolationist" trend in the country at that time, and in principle it did not interfere in European affairs. "Isolationism" means not joining any form of alliance or getting involved in any international disputes. However, this does not mean that the United States has no political ambitions. It just does not want to assume obligations.
From this perspective, the "Dawes Plan" is in line with the diplomatic principle that the United States has always followed, which is to obtain maximum benefits with minimum effort.
As a solution to the German compensation problem, the emergence and implementation of the "Dawes Plan" has a more specific background.
As we all know, the "Plan" not only ended the chaotic state of the German economy and solved a series of technical problems related to Germany's continued reparations, but also greatly alleviated the conflicts, struggles and stalemates between the United States and France surrounding the issue of German reparations.
Another problem is that the issue of Germany¡¯s war compensation to the Allied Powers in the 1920s is linked to the issue of the war debt repayment of the Allied Powers to the United States by the Allied Powers after the war.
The implementation of the Dawes Plan played an important role in the recovery and development of the German economy in the second half of the 1920s. From 1924 to 1929, Germany paid 11 billion gold marks in compensation, but received about 21 billion gold marks in various foreign loans. It was not until 1928 that Germany claimed that it was on the verge of financial bankruptcy and was unable to implement the plan. It was replaced by the Younger Plan in 1930.
Because of Zhang Hanqing¡¯s help when Germany was in dire straits, and the extraordinary friendly relationship that China had resolutely established with Germany, Germany tended to tilt its economic policies toward China during its industrial development.
In addition to actively completing various forms of barter transactions with China, after the start of the "Dawes Plan", Germany actively financed China, participated in the development of many strategic materials in China, and supported the establishment of many factories and mines in the southwest region. enterprise and exported advanced German technology and management experience. China has benefited a lot from the rigorous style of the Germans.
In addition, due to the rapid improvement of China's domestic industrial capacity, but the domestic consumption capacity is far from enough, if a large number of primary products produced have no market, it will greatly constrain the economic development.
Although due to various constraints, China cannot directly obtain cash income from Germany, through barter, Chinese products can be marketed overseas, and Germany consumes more than half of the exports.
As a result, in the 1920s, China also passed the most important bottleneck stage of industrial development and recovered. (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com)The region supported the establishment of many factories and mines and exported advanced German technology and management experience. China has benefited a lot from the rigorous style of the Germans.
In addition, due to the rapid improvement of China's domestic industrial capacity, but the domestic consumption capacity is far from enough, if a large number of primary products produced have no market, it will greatly constrain the economic development.
Although due to various constraints, China cannot directly obtain cash income from Germany, through barter, Chinese products can be marketed overseas, and Germany consumes more than half of the exports.
As a result, in the 1920s, China also passed the most important bottleneck stage of industrial development and recovered. (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com - Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report
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