The opening ceremony of the 1936 Berlin Olympics was undoubtedly the most spectacular ever, with a capacity of 110,000 spectators.
When Ludendorff and Hitler appeared on the rostrum, everyone stood up and saluted, chanting the slogan "Long live the German Empire".
Italian leader Benito Mussolini and his son-in-law, the new Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Ciano, were also on the rostrum of the Imperial Stadium, feeling the resurgence of Germany, a barbaric country that had long been "riding" on the neck of Italy.
Although Italy's fascist leaders were reluctant to admit it, Germany was a powerful industrialized country that Italy could not reach.
The country is outstanding in industry, science and technology, and education is outstanding in the world, and as early as the second half of the last century, the German Empire took the opportunity of the second industrial revolution to become the first industrial country in Europe and the second in the world.
Despite the crushing defeat of a world war, the Germans' industry is still growing rapidly, and they are always closely following the industrial giant America across the ocean.
No matter how hard Italy tries, it will eventually rank at the bottom of the list of industrialized countries.
In Mussolini's view, the weakness of Italian industry is not due to the lack of technology, the Italians are able to produce the best cars and airplanes in the world, although Italy's air-cooled engine technology is much worse than Germany's, but Italy's liquid-cooled engines are not lagging behind, and in the field of military aircraft design and manufacturing, Italy is at the world's leading level.
But seeing Germany, which was already ahead of the developed world, advance by leaps and bounds from 1931, Mussolini felt some unfair fate.
He worked hard for Italy for more than ten years, but what he achieved was far less than one-tenth of what Hitler had given Germany in just a few years.
Moreover, due to the rise of Germany, Britain, France, and the United States also began to expand their arms war.
The era of naval holidays is over, and countries are brewing new battleships and aircraft carriers.
All kinds of new aircraft and new tanks and armored vehicles are also emerging one after another.
The theory of a mechanized army also began to gain popularity in Britain, France, and Germany.
Judging by current trends, the amount of money needed to arm a powerful future mechanized army will be astronomical Such a mechanized army would also need to be backed by a strong industrial power, which the Germans produced in 1935 with 23 million tons of steel, while Italy produced only 2.3 million tons, a tenth of the former.
Only slightly more than the 1.7 million tons of the Bohemian Commonwealth, which had just come under German control, and the 1.5 million tons of Poland.
And because Italy is desperately short of all the resources needed to develop heavy industry.
It's hard to get it any further.
Therefore, Italy's fascist leaders believed that if the major European powers began to expand their armaments, they would soon be able to catch up with Italy by virtue of their strong industrial superiority, just as they had been after Germany began to expand their armaments.
In a few more years.
Italy's military superiority is in danger of being wiped out Therefore, it is necessary to expand the sphere of influence in and around the Mediterranean as much as possible, while Italy still has military superiority.
Now that Abenicia has been trampled under the feet of Italy, if the Spanish Civil War can be used to turn Spain into a vassal of Italy, then the revival of the Roman Empire will probably be half the battle With all his thoughts in mind, the Italian fascist leaders did not pay any attention to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
I don't know how long it took to hear the voice of my son-in-law Ziano: "Leader, Chancellor Hitler will talk to you in the VIP lounge." ” Mussolini then realized that the opening ceremony of the Olympics had ended, that Ludendorff and Hitler had left the podium, and that the Germans in the stadium stands were leaving the stadium in an orderly manner, which was not at all the same style as the Italians who liked to disperse Mussolini stood up, looked around, and saw his "old friend" General Hersmann standing in the aisle, smiling and waving to him, and beside him was a plump blonde beauty, his wife Chloe.
"Okay.
Let's go to the VIP lounge with Count Hersman.
Mussolini straightened his uniform, "I think the First Quartermaster Hersmann is the deputy chief of the General Staff, but his current power is almost comparable to that of the First Quartermaster Ludendorff in World War I, and he will definitely attend the talks." ” "Leader, the General Staff of the Wehrmacht told me that Spain's Defence Council says the rebels have suffered a great setback in the last 10 days."
After exchanging a few words with visiting Mussolini in a well-decorated lounge, Adolf Hitler told him everything he knew about the Spanish Civil War, speaking German with a strong Austrian accent.
"The uprising failed in most of the densely populated and industrially developed provinces, and the National Defense Council lost its leader, General San Huljo.
The republicans also formed a large militia.
In addition, Spain's navy and air force were mostly on the side of the republicans.
Without strong external intervention, the defeat of the ruling Council of National Defense is inevitable. ” Hitler spoke in a very cold tone.
As if there was little interest in interference.
However, this attitude reassured Mussolini, who had long regarded the Mediterranean coast as the territory of the "Roman Empire".
"So Italy is ready to intervene," Mussolini replied in clear, standard German, "and before coming to Berlin, I had agreed to General Franco's request to become the leader of the Spanish rebels after he fell to his death in a plane at San Hurhue." ” It's more than 10 billion lira again, and Hesman sits alone on a leather sofa.
The mind was calculating how much Italy would spend in this war, first in the Second Abynesian War, and then in the Spanish War.
Before World War II, Italy fought two costly wars and spent too much money on colonization of Abynesia.
So much so that by 1940, the national treasury was empty, and the strategic reserves were seriously insufficient, and during World War II, it could only be used as a drag oil bottle for Germany.
However, Hersmann did not intend to dissuade Mussolini, which could not be done.
And Germany really needed a battlefield to test weapons.
In addition, a weak Italy would help Germany establish itself as the leader of the Axis powers.
"Actually, we and the Portuguese have already begun to intervene in the war."
Mussolini added, "Our planes have transported 14,000 Spanish soldiers from Morocco to Spanish proper."
The Salazar government in Portugal is also on our side, allowing us to transport weapons and troops through Portuguese ports, and with our and Portugal's support, I am confident that the Spanish Defense Council will soon reverse the unfavorable situation. ” The Italian leader cleared his throat, clasped his hands, leaned forward and said, "If Germany had been willing to stand with us, victory would have come sooner." ” "Britain and France know about your actions in Spain, do they approve of them," Adolf Hitler asked.
"Of course they do, Mr.
Prime Minister."
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Mussolini smiled contemptuously, "You should know what kind of democracy, freedom, and peace are the systems of these two countries, and this useless idea has turned their people and governments into soft bones."
They clearly hated the Spanish Bolsheviks, but they did not dare to send troops.
So we can only rely on Italy Moreover, the Ecumenical Church is on our side" The revolutionary action of burning churches and killing priests in Spain certainly had progressive significance, but it also turned the powerful Roman Catholic Church into a sworn enemy.
In this era, the Roman Church had an influence on the politics of many countries in Europe and the United States, and many devout Catholics would listen to the opinion of the church and vote "Mr.
Prime Minister, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union are preparing a non-interference commission."
German Foreign Minister Niu Wright, who was present, told Hitler.
"Apparently their attitude is hands-off."
"Hmm," Hitler nodded, and looked at Hersmann again.
Hersman smiled slightly and said, "Mr.
Chancellor, the Soviet side hopes that we will not interfere as well.
As a condition, they could recognize our union with the Baltics, Bohemia, and Austria, and restore the monarchy."
Mussolini, as if he had anticipated these problems, immediately smiled and said: "We, the Kingdom of Italy, can support the restoration of the German monarchy, which is the internal affair of Germany."
As for the Baltic, Bohemian and Austrian questions, South Tyrol has always been an obstacle. ” "It is possible to move the Germans there to Germany," Hitler said, "and after the merger of Bohemia, Austria and the Baltic, Germany will be a large European country with 750,000 square kilometers, and we will have a lot of empty places."
So don't care about a few hundred square kilometers of South Tyrol. ” "There is also the German- and Slovenian-speaking population of the Trieste region" Mussolini saw that Hitler was very good at talking, so he played on the spot and added to the situation.
"It's all ours," Hitler said, waving his hand, "but we need to sign a treaty with Italy."
Our two countries should establish a special relationship, which will be the political basis for our participation in the Italian-led intervention in the Spanish war" Hersman added: "We will send to Spain a volunteer army of no more than 10,000 people, including the air force and army armored units and artillery." ” This figure is just right, it will not steal the limelight from Mussolini, and it is enough to test the effectiveness of Germany's new weapons and tactics, and it can also allow up to 100,000 key members of the German army to go to Spain to smell the smoke of gunpowder before the start of the world war. t1706231537: