"No, no, no, the marshal misunderstood. The problem in Paris must be resolved, because the compensation conditions given by Trochu are too low and do not match our psychological expectations at all!"
"But this matter is completely different from the elimination of the Paris Commune. If we come forward to eliminate the Commune, then we will get nothing!"
"Please remember that the Commune is not only the enemy of Prussia, they are also the enemy of the French Republic. Those nobles and capitalists have long wanted to destroy them!"
"Why do we want our people to die? Those people are obviously enemies of the French aristocratic capitalists. Isn't it good to let them die?"
"You mean to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight?" Steinmetz nodded. "It is true that letting the enemy fall into civil war is indeed a good way to weaken France's national power!"
"But if the Republicans eliminate the left, what benefits will we gain? Will they increase the amount of reparations for us then?"
"In addition, I also doubt that with a foreign enemy like Prussia, will a full-scale civil war break out between the left and the right in France?"
"Of course, there have been conflicts in Paris these two days, but with all due respect, according to the military's understanding, such a level of fighting can only be regarded as a riot, not a civil war!"
"Those are your two problems!" Xiao Letian held out two fingers. "The first problem is that you don't believe that a large-scale civil war will break out in France, and the second problem is that you are afraid that the French will end the civil war on their own. We’ll get nothing, right?”
"Yes, I have these two worries!"
"Dear head of state, you must know that France is the first nationalist country in Europe, and the people here have been completely transformed by nationalist ideas!"
"In the face of foreign enemies, will people of the same nation engage in a life-and-death civil war? Don't forget that the cohesion of nationalist countries is indeed terrifying!"
This is the limitation of historical perspective. The biggest difference between people like Xiao Letian and Steinmetz is that they have completely different memories. He has more than a hundred years of historical knowledge. He knows about the human race in the next hundred years. How they kill each other!
People like Steinmetz are contemporary people. They can only analyze and judge from the past history, and then interpret the current situation.
The basic database for analyzing the problem lacks more than a hundred years of data. Of course, the results of the analysis will be too biased.
At the end of the 19th century, the whole world, mainly Europe, had a very subtle attitude towards France. On the one hand, other countries were monarchies, and they were very resistant to the birthplace of the Revolution, and they were also very hostile to the empire of the Bonaparte family. A sense of alertness.
On the other side is fear, a fear that comes directly from the French Revolution and the reign of Mars.
Nationalism is a completely unfamiliar and frightening new thing for kings and emperors. Nationalism has strong internal inclusiveness, but at the same time it is also very exclusive.
This is not conducive to the multi-ethnic rule of kings and emperors, and nationalism will inevitably be accompanied by the opening of people's wisdom. Once people's wisdom is opened, the ability of the feudal system and religious theocracy to control the people will become weaker and weaker.
In other words, once nationalism spreads widely, the privileges of feudal aristocrats will inevitably weaken, and even some large empires will be worried about falling apart.
It is based on this kind of thinking that after the French Revolution, all European monarchs united to strangle this emerging alien country. This is the deep internal reason for the establishment of several consecutive anti-French alliances.
War is the best teacher. The bloody killings on the battlefield dumbfounded all European monarchs. They finally understood how terrifying the combat effectiveness of a country blessed by the aura of nationalism is!
The God of War Napoleon was indeed a hero, and his commanding art was very superb, but his successive victories were not solely his own personal credit.
That country that has been baptized by the Great Revolution and whose entire people believe in nationalism is the source of terror!
Just imagine, Europe still had a military recruitment system at that time. The king had to give the peasants enough money before they would take up arms and fight as soldiers.
In the final analysis, the numerous tax conflicts between the British king and the capitalist parliament were not because the king needed military funds to support his troops in wars?
At that time, the armies of the United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria, and other countries were composed of two groups of people. One group was officers from noble families. They fought for merit and rewards, while the other group were peasants who fought for military pay.
In essence, the attitude of those peasant soldiers is the same as that of Chinese soldiers who eat food and serve as soldiers.
But the French Legion under Napoleon was not like that at that time. It was an army in which the whole people recognized the spirit of nationalism and had a sense of national pride.
You can have military pay and so on, but without military pay, people can still fight!
Once the Marseillaise is sung and patriotic slogans begin to spread, passionate young people will go to the battlefield without regrets, following the banner of the God of War and fighting to the death.
On one side are peasant soldiers who live for money and have no faith in their hearts!
On one side are the nationalist warriors who are shouting "Long live France" and will fight you even if they don't have enough to eat!
How to fight this kind of battle? The place where the French Legion terrifies European countries is actually here!
Napoleon, the God of War back then, actually had an endless supply of troops. Even if his empire had financial problems, he would send IOUs to soldiers across the country, and those soldiers would work with him.
That's really working hard, not just deceptive sloganeering!
In the sixth anti-French alliance, Napoleon was betrayed by many small states, which ultimately left the defense line empty, allowing the coalition forces to find a loophole and capture Paris.
The entire parliament and the vast majority of the aristocratic group, including Napoleon's own relatives, fell into the hands of the enemy, which allowed the arrogant French emperor to surrender.
But it didn't take long for the God of War to be restored. At that time, he was completely the embodiment of French nationalism, which means that he himself represented the national spirit of France.
When he set foot on French soil, armies from all over the country and government officials from various provinces turned their backs on him. The entire restoration process was as relaxed as a journey.
Then came the last anti-French alliance. Although Napoleon failed in the Battle of Waterloo, his officers still refused to surrender.
They asked the emperor to issue an order to resist the war in France. As long as the emperor raised the flag and issued an order to resist the war, millions of young people in France would still join the military camps to fight the enemy.
These Europeans have personally experienced the terror of nationalist countries. Their fear of Napoleon and the fear of the Revolution exist deep in their souls.
Napoleon failed twice and was exiled twice in the end. Who dares to kill his head? Does the UK dare?
At that time, all European kings knew that if anyone dared to execute Napoleon, the hornet's nest of nationalism in France would completely explode, and the whole of France would regard him as a mortal enemy.
The war will become endless and endless!
This is the experience of history, which is cruel and bloody. People like Steinmetz have studied history very deeply, and they are very familiar with everything that happened in that era.
Would such a country where nationalism is prevalent really break out into civil war when a formidable enemy is present?
What about the internal cohesion of nationalism? Did it all disappear?
"Führer! Is the civil war you are talking about really just this small scale? How many people die in such a riot in one day?"
