On September 1, 1940, the Arbitration Conference on the Balkans between Germany, France, and Italy was held in Vienna, the original capital of Austria. General Weygand, Chief of General Staff of the French Army, attended the arbitration conference on behalf of France. This was also a move that Germany took to tell other countries that as traditional powers on the European continent, although Germany and France have gone through some unpleasant experiences, they are now on the same front. challenge accepted. Coupled with the attendance of Italian Foreign Minister Ciano at the meeting, the move by the three most powerful militarily powerful countries on the European continent showed that Europe is now more stable than ever before. The Axis Powers, represented by the three countries, now have more than 15 million troops. It can be said that any action taken by the three countries will be enough to scare the world. Therefore, this meeting has attracted the attention of many countries from the very beginning. , people secretly wanted to know what the Axis powers' next move would be.
Vienna, which had been quiet for a long time, became lively again. Hidden forces from various countries entered Vienna. According to Gestapo statistics, there are now at least 700 people whose origins the Gestapo could not find out. These people were reported layer by layer, and finally this A list of suspicious persons was handed to Lin Wei. After Lin Wei had a second to think about it, he decided to pretend that he had not seen anything. It is impossible for such a large-scale arbitration conference to completely keep the news secret. Since it is impossible, there is no need to become enemies with other countries that want to inquire about information. Besides, arresting these hundreds of people will be useless, and Germany will still have to take care of the food.
Now Vienna once again has the flavor of a spy city, where Soviets, Americans, British and even Japanese can be seen. The arbitration conference held here also gave the streets of Vienna plenty of talking points. In the beer hall, the topics discussed by the men and women were all related to this conference. After all, this kind of conference involving the entire Europe, Vienna has nearly a hundred Haven't experienced it in years. The last time they met on such a grand occasion was the Holy Alliance that suppressed the bourgeois revolution a hundred years ago. Since the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria's status has gone from bad to worse, and people have forgotten its prominent history. Now Germany's actions remind people in Vienna of the time when the Holy Roman Empire dominated Europe.
The National Socialist Party has regarded the congress held in Vienna as a big gathering of fascist parties from various European countries. Although the issue of mediating the Balkan countries is equally important, it also took this opportunity to discuss with Italy and France Dealing with the problem of the Soviet Union. This congress will be the same as Wilhelm II's invitation to European royal families in Berlin, integrating European forces to prepare for the coming war.
This time the National Socialist Party also fully proved its sincerity for the arbitration conference. Except for Goering who still needed the help of the air force for the British Campaign and did not leave Berlin, Goebbels, Hess, Linwei and Ribbentrop will attend this meeting. Let this congress be more like a gathering of fascist parties, like the World League of Social Democrats and the Communist International.
In addition to France's General Weygand and Italy's Ciano, many heavyweights appeared at this conference. Among them, Lin Wei's old friend General Rano of Spain and Romania's military leader General Antonescu were the most attractive. Attention. Although the arbitration conference has not yet started, the news that this conference is prepared to sacrifice Romania's interests has spread like wildfire. How General Antonescu will react to this is also the focus of people's attention, because just two months ago, Hungary almost went to war with Romania over the border issue, and this arbitration conference was held as an excuse.
As for Spain's General Llano, it was entirely because of the promotion of Germany and Italy. As we all know, Germany and Italy gave their full support to General Franco. After the war began, although Spain did not directly join the battle, after Germany successfully attacked Gibraltar, Spain He still showed his determination and joined the Axis powers to declare war on Britain, and also led Portugal, which had always had a good relationship with Spain. Wilhelm II was very happy about this, so General Lanaud quickly received unusual courtesy from Germany when he attended the conference, except Germany. After France and Italy, Spain is placed in fourth position.
The venue for the arbitration conference was not the Hofburg Palace in the center of Vienna, the capital, but the Schönbronn Palace in the southwest of the city. This is a relic of the prosperous period in Austria's history. It can arouse the beautiful memories of the glorious history of Viennese people. In fact, the original location was the Belvedere Palace in the southeast of the city, because this palace was built by Emperor Karl in the early 18th century for Prince Eugen, who made great achievements in resisting the Turkish invasion. Both Germans and Austrians resonated, but due to the size of the congress, the larger Schönbronn Palace was ultimately chosen.
In the middle of every window of Schönbronn Palace, a huge swastika flag was hung from the top floor. The long swastika flag hung from the top floor to the ground. When people walk through the garden in front of the Schönbronn Palace to the Schönbronn Palace, they can see the symbol of the German National Socialist Party, the blood-red swastika flag.
The hall of Schönbronn Palace is now filled with chairs, and political parties from more than 20 countries will participate in this arbitration conference. At 9 o'clock in the morning, everyone began to enter the venue. Under Lin Wei's strict order, all National Socialist Party members participating in the conference must wear the original stormtrooper uniforms, just like when the National Socialist Party got up early to march to Berlin. . So where the German representatives were seated, the gray stormtrooper uniforms and red swastika flags were still a sight.
It seemed that they had discussed it with Germany. All the Italians were wearing Italian black shirt uniforms and sitting on the right side of the Germans. On the left side were the French People's Party wearing French army uniforms. Although the French People's Party was not the largest fascist party , but was still allowed to attend the conference. This is mainly the suggestion of General Weigan, because unlike Germany and Italy, the largest fascist in France is not a political party, but a group, that is, the army. Even General Wei Gang was very stubborn and did not take democracy seriously. I am not willing to send a group of soldiers to participate in such an event. As for what to wear to attend, it is secondary.
"Welcome to Vienna!" Goebbels stood up first and said after all the people attending the conference had taken their seats, "This is the day when the National Socialist Party holds a conference, and comrades from more than 20 countries have been invited. Come to Vienna! I am very happy that we have met new friends at this conference. Let us welcome the comrades of the Integral Action Party from Brazil, South America!”
Bang bang bang..., amidst the applause of thousands of people, several members of the Brazilian Integralist Action Party stood up and bowed slightly to the surrounding people. Although they also knew that the applause was not for them, but to give German Propaganda Minister Goebbels face, they still felt a little proud after receiving support from so many European countries, especially Germany.
When the applause ended, Hess stood up as deputy head of state and said, "The situation in Eastern Europe and the Balkans has always attracted great attention in Europe, especially the Balkans. The last war was due to the changes in the Balkans. Cause!" When he said this, Hess glanced at the Yugoslav representative slightly and continued, "So this conference is also to find a peaceful solution to the problem, rather than to solve the problem through war!" Hess was quite righteous at this time, forgetting that the German Wehrmacht was still fighting in Britain.
No matter what others think, Lin Wei feels that it is very nonsense now, but seeing Hess's impassioned look, he is really embarrassed to interrupt him, and then Ribbentrop talks a long nonsense, which is basically all diplomacy. Finally, it was Lin Wei's turn to speak. Looking at the crowd of people below who were obviously very irritable but pretended not to be enlightened, Lin Wei smiled bitterly and said helplessly, "Since it is a problem we face together, then all Europeans must We have the right to discuss issues in the Balkans, which of course extends to neighboring countries like us. Now we invite Italian Foreign Minister Comrade Ciano to speak and see what the Italian comrades think!"
Amidst the applause, Ciano stood up slowly, with a flash of arrogance on his face and said slowly, "Italy's attitude is very simple. If the countries in the Balkans are not enough to maintain local order, then Italy will We have to take necessary measures for the local people to regain peace!”
"As we imagined, Mussolini is still not ready to give up the Balkans!" Goebbels saw a trace of disdain on Ciano's face who was speaking, curled his lips and said to Lin Wei, "It seems that Italy is not Ready to give in!"
"It's too early to draw a conclusion now! It's not clear whether Italy wants to gain benefits through blackmail or is really going to attack!" Lin Wei replied in a low voice, "Now Mussolini and the Italian King Victor Emmanuel The Third Emperor is in Berlin, and Ciano in front of him is just a pawn. Regardless of how aggressive he is now, if Mussolini is forced to surrender, his attitude will change immediately. Now it depends on the situation on our Majesty's side!" After hearing this, Peer nodded and remained silent. Lin Wei asked him to pay attention to the situation in Berlin, while the old god closed his eyes and listened to the speeches of the representatives of various countries.
After the representatives from Germany, Italy, and France finally finished speaking, the meeting entered into the first topic, which was the border issue between Hungary and Romania.