On April 5, 1920, less than a year after the war ended, countries around the world sat together again and began a smokeless battle. China, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Representatives from other countries gathered in Beijing and began negotiations aimed at ending the naval arms race. The negotiations between the two hostile groups of countries were naturally full of gunpowder, so much so that the negotiations reached a deadlock at the beginning.

The first issue in the negotiation is naturally the tonnage of capital ships that each country can possess and its proportion. In this regard, the United Kingdom and the United States among the Allied Powers require the highest tonnage limit. The British reason is very simple. As a maritime country,

Its minimum requirement is to ensure the security of its own territory and colonial

To ensure the security of its people, Britain must have maritime power that can confront any of its countries. What's more, Britain's colonies are spread all over the world, and it also needs a powerful navy to surround it. The Americans also have a good reason. After all, as a country that relies on

The navy facing two oceans is also under great pressure.

Naturally, the Allies led by Germany cannot allow this. Germany stated that it must have the same naval power as Britain. "We have built railways to the Middle East, where there are German factories, oil fields are in the Atlantic Ocean, and we have ours on the Mediterranean coast."

allies, and Germany is in the closed North Sea, we must also be able to freely enter and exit the North Sea.

The strength of the sea. Germany's maritime traffic safety and freedom of passage must not be interfered with." The Germans are very clear. Now the German Navy has gone global. The Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Oceans are all closely related to Germany's interests. So Germany said it must cooperate with itself.

Only if the "potential enemy countries" have navies of the same tonnage, this is the bottom line that cannot be changed.

Finally, Germany also stated that if the results of the negotiations cannot satisfy the "Allies", then Germany will launch negotiations. German representatives are confident in facing the British. Its strong industry makes Germany not afraid of getting involved in arms competition with the British.

Among them. Although the United States is powerful, because it shares the Pacific Ocean with China, any changes by the Americans will inevitably lead to China's reaction. Even if the Americans repeatedly state that they have no intention of competing with China in the Pacific, China will definitely upgrade its armaments.

levels to maintain parity in strength.

But what surprised the Germans was that when Britain and Germany were first at loggerheads over the issue of ship tonnage ratios, the British took a step back and stated that they could accept Britain's and Germany's demands for reciprocity. But the United States must have more ships than Britain and Germany.

Sea power! This is the first time in hundreds of years that Britain has placed the security of the sea on

After a few days of wrangling, the British knew that Germany, with its strong industry, absolutely demanded equality with the United Kingdom. Since everyone did not want to completely break up, they could only change the direction. The Allied Powers were a whole.

.Since we are a whole, we must support our allies when necessary.

At this time, the U.S. representative also stated that if the negotiations break down, the U.S. Navy will continue its military expansion plan, and 10 of the 6 South Dakota-class battleships and 6 Lexington-class battlecruisers will be deployed on the Atlantic coast! And!

This was only the first step of the plan. Members of the U.S. delegation later expressed in an informal setting, "If the negotiations fail and the Germans build two more new ships, then the United States will build three! The United States will never tolerate Germany owning the United States.

70% of the navy’s combat effectiveness!”

As a result, the Allies were once again shocked by the "trench spirit" of the United States! Among other things, the mere 12 new ships equipped with 16-inch naval guns were enough to make the Allies fearful. Once completed, they would almost be the sole power of the United States.

Pick the Allies' rhythm! Germany

We are not afraid of Britain and France, but we can't play with the United States now! Therefore, during the recess, the German representatives had many exchanges with China, hoping that China, as a neutral party, could stand together with the Allies and resist the "hegemony" of the United States.

behavior to fight back.

"The capital of your country lies in the dozens of super battleships that are being built on the slipway. But after all, they are in the process of construction and have not yet been completed. Even if everything goes well, it will not be completed until four years later, and China's seven fast ships

The battleships have been completed one after another, and it will not be until the end of next year at most

, all warships will be in service. If your country is willing to continue this arms race, we will start the second round of expansion from next year. Maybe when our second batch of warships have been launched and outfitted, I am afraid that your country’s first batch will

The battleship has just been completed, right?" Regarding this behavior of the United States,

China doesn't like it either. Although from the current point of view, China's industry is not as good as that of the American emperor, after all, the other side does not want to burn endless money. Moreover, in the eyes of the Americans, China's seven fast battleships are completed faster.

What is completed and what is being built are not the same concept, and beautiful

Many of Guoxin's warships have just begun to lay down their keels. Although the number of Huaxia's ships is smaller, their intimidating power is real! "How about if China and the United States have equal naval power?"

In a private exchange, Xu Jie said this to U.S. Representative Benson.

"Actually, we all know that we cannot threaten each other, and at the same time, our two countries are unwilling to be inferior to others. Whether it is the United Kingdom or now Germany, they are worse than our two countries. China has the world's best

With a vast territory and the largest population, the United States is the leader of the Americas.

We respect the authority of the United States in the Americas and the Atlantic, but at the same time, I also hope that your country will respect our authority in Asia." After Xu Jie finished speaking, he paused to let the other party digest what he said, "But we all know that the so-called empty words are groundless.

"Respect is based on strength, so our demands are not excessive."

It was not until now that China intervened. But this time it was crucial. After some weighing, the Americans agreed to have the same highest ship tonnage as China. The main enemy of the United States was Germany, not China. China could

If we talk to the United States, we can naturally seek to join forces with Germany. In this case, why do we have to push China to the enemy's side?

?The United Kingdom and France will naturally not object. After all, without the support of the United States, Britain and France cannot compete with the Allies. Surprisingly, the Allies led by Germany also accepted this result, but in exchange, Germany demanded equality between Britain and Germany.

On the basis of this, there is another one, that is, Britain and Germany must have 80% of the tonnage of the US and Chinese navies!

"This seems to be an acceptable condition. The Americans got what they wanted and obtained the most powerful navy, and the United Kingdom also obtained a tonnage in line with its own national strength. The behemoth of China has a power equal to that of the United States. He has consolidated himself

dominance in Asia, and the Germans got their wish

We have obtained a naval power equal to that of our country, but if we look at it as a whole, the current power of the Americans is 10, and the power of the United Kingdom and Germany is 8. As long as we can restrict other small countries, then we will definitely win!"

The British are also relatively satisfied with this, because the Allies now have a 10-point advantage!

After the first-rate powers reached an agreement, the remaining two-tier countries were France, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the second round of the Tonnage War, the Allies demanded that Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have tonnage equivalent to France. Considering that

Regarding the national strength of the three countries, the German representative believes that Italy and Austria-Hungary have 3.5

A point of tonnage is better. After all, even if there are more left, these two buddies do not have enough national strength and funds to support the construction! Later, the Allies refused, and the French government even stated that it should have 5 points.

weight, and shows that the French Republic has the ability and determination to complete this military expansion plan.

"Strong on the outside but capable on the inside." The Italians did not pay much attention to the French's statement. How could France, which suffered a heavy loss of blood in the First World War, have the extra strength to build such a powerful fleet? And even if they have money in the future, the first thing to do is to build a fleet.

Focus on defense instead of building a navy. Germany's land pressure on France is greater than its sea pressure. This is nothing more than a bluff by the French.

This is indeed the case. After some talk, the French accepted a tonnage equivalent to Italy and a weight of 3.5. As a balance, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was reduced by 0.5 weight, and finally had a weight of 3 points.

The Allies also said that this concession was understandable, because the Austro-Hungarian fleet was almost completely empty after the war.

If the navy is completely destroyed, even if it reaches a weight of 3 points, it will need to build many more new warships than Italy. You must know that Italy now has four battleships with a total tonnage of 100,000 tons, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire only has

A 25,000-ton super-dreadnought! According to German estimates, it would be great if the Austro-Hungarian Empire could complete this 3-point warship!

The last part is those 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 response to the special circumstances of these countries, the Allies agreed to other countries providing them with warships.

The capital ship tonnage restrictions of these countries are also relatively general, and they only require the three companies to share a weight of 4.5 points. Originally, the Allies wanted to impose more pressure, but the Allies believed that

So far, Spain has three super-dreadnoughts, and Turkey has two (after many naval battles, it must be said that it is very lucky that one of the two Turkish battleships was not sunk.) These warships have a tonnage of 125,000 tons.

, plus Russia, having a weight of 4.5 points is not excessive at all. In return, Canada and Australia, among the Allied Powers, are also allowed to build one additional warship each with a displacement of no more than 20,000 tons.

The total tonnage of warships that each country can possess has been determined, and what remains is the key issue. The negotiating parties will determine the actual tonnage of various warships and the replacement arrangements for capital ships. What Xu Jie did not expect was that in the second

When the first round of negotiations had just begun, the Entente and Central Powers jointly pointed the finger at China!
Chapter completed!