"Portugal is too powerful, and it is too difficult for us Uruguay to save ourselves and maintain independence." Jose Batlle Ordonez said sadly.
Portugal is now a great power, an authentic imperialist hegemony, while Uruguay is a standard small country with few people and little land. Without external assistance, resisting Portugal would be like a mantis trying to help.
Jose Batlle Ordonez picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the number connected to Foreign Minister Marcelo.
"Marcelo, how is Argentina's parliament now? Has there been a decision to accept Uruguay and become a province of Argentina?" Since the beginning of the war, Uruguay's main aid source has been Argentina. With continuous aid from Argentina, Uruguay can persist on the front line of defense. .
Uruguay and Argentina have a long history. They were both part of the Viceroyalty of La Plata. When the United Provinces of Argentina became independent, they planned to bring Uruguay with them, and Uruguay agreed.
However, Portugal and later Brazil had been eyeing Uruguay for a long time. They directly sent troops to Uruguay and posed a great threat to the newly independent United Provinces of Argentina. In order not to make enemies, Argentina sold Uruguay and became independent.
After independence, Argentina saw Uruguay's resistance to Brazilian rule, so it took up the idea of Uruguay. In the end, the two parties fought over Uruguay. Later, because of British intervention, Uruguay gained independent status.
Now that Uruguay has been invaded by force from the Portuguese again, and Uruguay did not receive substantial help from the United Kingdom this time, it is natural that the idea of merging into Argentina has arisen.
Compared to being ruled by Portugal, Uruguayans certainly hope to be with Argentina, who share the same culture and race.
Shortly after the war began, Uruguayan President Jose Batlle Ordonez sized up the situation and submitted a bill to merge the two countries with Argentina.
In the merger act, the Uruguayan government was willing to become a province of Argentina, give up its status as an independent country, and submit to the Argentine government.
The provinces of Argentina actually have a lot of autonomy. After all, their predecessors were a number of United Provinces. Although Buenos Aires, as the center, has established its own central authority through various centralization methods, each province still maintains its own authority. great independence.
Uruguay became a province of Argentina. In fact, it did not lose much, except that it had to pay taxes to Argentina regularly. Uruguay was still managed by local people, and the local council elected its own people.
"Mr. President, the Argentine Parliament is still quarreling. Most members of the ruling party and some members of the opposition party agree to the merger plan, but there are still many members of the opposition party and some members of the ruling party who oppose the merger plan. Now, the power of the opposition The Argentine president is trying to convince more people to support the peace law than the pro-yes side, but he is making little progress, so parliament is still bickering."
"Are the reasons for the opposition still fear that we will divert trouble to the east and drag Argentina into the war?" José Batlle Ordonez asked.
"Yes, Mr. President!" Josero replied.
"Well, now the opposition has not only mentioned this point many times, but now there is another point that they have mentioned as the main point. They believe that they can increase support and use Uruguay as Argentina's shield to drag Portugal into a protracted war and consume Portugal. national strength, so we must not accept Uruguay’s merger conditions. If it accepts, Portugal’s anger will tend towards Argentina, Argentina will be involved in the war, Argentina will pay a heavy price, and it cannot be sacrificed because of Uruguay.”
"What do these opposition think? Are they so afraid of Portugal? They have never thought that if Uruguay is gone and they are only separated from Portugal by Uruguay and Portugal, the heart of the country will fully expand to Portugal. Now accept us Uruguay, Portugal Concerns about the impact on the world are likely to stop the war, because the major powers in the world are not willing to let Portugal go to war with Argentina. Argentina is the second most powerful country in South America, and it is also the country that the United Kingdom and the United States value most. In order to stop Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States will ignore Support Argentina at all costs. Launching a war against Argentina, which has a vast territory and rich resources, will be a great political test for Portugal. The Portuguese emperor has always emphasized economic development, and he will not take that risk." José Batlle Ordonez proposed The merger plan was of course meant to divert disaster to the east, but it was more about letting Portugal stop the war and allowing countries around the world to prevent Portugal from further expansion in South America.
Argentina's role in South America is undoubtedly very important, and it also has close relations with European countries, providing Europe with a large amount of food and minerals.
If Portugal attacks and annexes Argentina, Portugal's growth in strength will be extremely terrifying, which is not good for anyone.
"The President of Argentina has mentioned this many times, but the main force of opposition is the parliamentary representatives of the provinces bordering Argentina and Portugal. These parliamentary representatives are afraid of causing a war. They are firmly opposed to our joining Argentina and are only willing to increase aid." Argentina is a The Caudillo deputies in the patchwork country, a province bordering Brazil, would certainly not risk offending Portugal by accepting Uruguay.
Although what the president and the Uruguayan representatives said is very reasonable, if Portugal really launches a war against Argentina, these parliamentarians who border Argentina will suffer great losses.
Don't be afraid of anything, just be afraid of ten thousand. What's more, Portugal seems to have a disciplinary plan to deal with Argentina.
Since Uruguay proposed the merger plan, Portuguese public opinion has been that if Argentina dares to accept the merger, it will go to war.
In addition to public opposition, Portugal gathered troops to conduct large-scale exercises in the border areas. During the exercises, some artillery shells even fell into Argentina.
Even Portugal told Argentina that two of their soldiers were missing during the exercise and asked Argentina's border provinces to help find them.
The patrol forces of Argentina's border provinces mobilized collectively and actually found the two soldiers from the Northern Military Region who were unfamiliar with the roads and disappeared into Argentina.
When Argentina's border province repatriated two soldiers, the Portuguese expressed their gratitude and said they would take notice during a drill next week.
Representatives of the Argentine Border Congress do not want the exercise to turn into a war, and they are firmly opposed to accepting the merger of Uruguay.
"They are really short-sighted and afraid of provoking a war. Don't they know that Portugal wants to dominate South America? Portugal and Argentina must have a battle. Now while European power can still influence South America, Argentina still has the power to check Portugal. Wait someday When the two major military groups in Europe cannot take care of South America in the war, Argentina will be vulnerable to Portugal, which annexed Uruguay." The two major military groups in Europe are in contact everywhere, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that they will definitely have a war, although no one can tell at this time uncertain.
Jose Batlle Ordonez clearly understood that as long as the Europeans went to war, the Portuguese would probably take action against Argentina, which threatened his dominance of South America.
