African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1413: Wishing

In terms of population alone, Italy after initial unification is no less than France, and in terms of industry, Italy has automatically surpassed Spain and other countries, becoming the sixth country in Europe with comprehensive strength.

Since Spain became the goalkeeper of the great powers at the end of the last century, it has been the slowest development among the great powers in recent years. To be honest, it has been relying on its old capital.

Therefore, just by initially completing the unification, Italy will automatically surpass Spain to become the sixth most powerful country in Europe. After Benito officially integrates Italy's resources, the gap between Spain and Italy may be widened.

Today, the rankings of European powers are the seven countries: Britain, Germany, Russia, France, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and Spain. However, compared with the first five traditional European powers, Italy and Spain are both controversial.

However, compared with Italy and Spain, the development of countries below them is even more terrible.

For example, the annual steel production of Italy and Spain, which were initially unified, was at the level of hundreds of thousands of tons, while the annual steel production of the Far East Empire only floated at the level of tens of thousands of tons, and may even be less than ten thousand tons in special years.

The annual steel output of the Ottoman Empire was even only a few thousand tons, but the population of the Ottoman Empire was only more than 20 million, which surpassed the Far Eastern Empire in terms of per capita steel output.

But even so, their steel output is only a fraction of the great powers, but even this fraction exceeds most parts of the world. After all, among non-powerful countries, the Far East Empire and the Ottoman Empire are already the most powerful.

As for data such as railways, textiles, and military strength, they are even more terrible than Italy and Spain.

In short, the lower limit of European countries in this era was very high, so even Italy, which had begun to take shape, became a member of the great powers.

In this way, the world pattern has officially entered a state of "ten-day sky". In addition to the seven European powers, the United States, Asia and Africa each have one powerful country, namely the United States, Japan and East Africa. These ten major powers can be regarded as the "blessings" of the people of the world in the 20th century.

Of course, among these "blessings", there is also an alternative Russia. It is undeniable that Russia is excluded from imperialist countries, but its size and strength are fully in line with the standards of the great powers.

 …

June 18, 1924.

London.

MacDonald, the first British Labor Prime Minister, soon received information from Italy, and MacDonald also served as the British Foreign Secretary, so he could receive news soon for changes at the international level.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Italy was one of the allies that Britain had always attached great importance to, and the two countries had stable and long-term cooperation, so on the second day after Benito unified Italy, the detailed process of the "June Incident" was placed on his desk.

"I didn't expect that Italian Prime Minister Benito was so bold and dared to go deep into danger with such a great risk and achieve Italian unification. He is indeed a hero!"

MacDonald was amazed at the news of Italian unification, and at the same time, it also made him realize the extraordinary ability of Italian Prime Minister Benito.

British Chancellor Philip also agreed with this point, saying: "Benito's action can be said to be very risky and even seems a bit ridiculous, but this is the way of playing the same thing, which unexpectedly led to the unification of Italy."

"This shows that Benito has the ability to grasp the overall situation, especially his organizational ability. Through the strict organization of the Blackshirt Party, he fanned the flames on the Apennine Peninsula, while avoiding the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he caught everyone off guard."

"In such a short time, everything was settled. This is obviously not something that ordinary people can do. It's a pity. This Benito's black shirt party is obviously not the same as us."

The British Labor Party considers them to be a member of the "Labor Party". Although they oppose the violent means of the Russian Labor Party, they are even more disgusted with bed bugs like the Blackshirt Party.

McDonald was also very clear about this. He said: "This Benito was once a member of the Italian Labor Party, so he also learned some methods of the Labor Party, but his ultimate goal was to strengthen his power and become a dictator."

"And he is extremely hostile to the Labor Party. He has already launched a strict suppression of Labor Party members in the Kingdom of Italy. This countercurrent may be brought to the original Pope and the Kingdom of Naples with the unification of Italy."

The British Labor Party obviously has no good impression of the Blackshirt Party. Although the Labor Party also has factions, the Blackshirt Party, an extreme nationalist party that regards the "Labor Party" as its enemy, obviously will not identify the difference between them.

To a certain extent, Italy has even become a quagmire for the Labor Party, because some of the policies and means of the Blackshirt Party are completely copying the Labor Party, and this situation is also the most terrifying. For some ordinary people who don’t know the truth, it is difficult to distinguish the difference between the two.

Therefore, for Labor organizations around the world, the Blackshirt Party is more terrifying than some purely capitalist parties.

Secretary of Finance Philip asked: "So, what should we do with the current Italian government? I am worried that this Benito will affect our relationship with Italy because of his personal emotions."

"After all, Benito is a dictator, and his thoughts and emotions can basically determine the attitude and way of the Italian government's foreign exchanges. He is extremely hated by the Labor Party, which may have some negative impacts on our government and Italy."

Secretary Philip's concerns are not without reason. After all, Benito regards Labour as an enemy, and the embarrassing part of the UK is that this government happens to be formed by the Labor Party. Will Benito's relations with the UK deteriorate because of the British Labor Party leading the government!

McDonald was optimistic about this and said to Philip: "We should not be biased against Benito, maybe he is just a more extreme patriot."

"The reason why he is so hostile to the Labour Party is perhaps because of his ideological differences, just like the differences between us and the Russian Labour Party, after all, he was once a member of the Italian Labour Party."

"And, judging from the situation of the 'June Incident', he may be a pacifist, after all, he did not directly use force and roughly annex the Pope and the Kingdom of Naples."

Prime Minister McDonald did not maliciously speculate on Benito's character, but instead said a few good things to him. Perhaps it was precisely because of this reason that he became the leader of the British Labor Party.

The British Labor Party is obviously not as extreme as the Russian Labor Party. One big difference between the two is that it has different attitudes towards the current world.

For the British Labor Party, Britain is still saved at present. After all, society has been constantly improving, even if the progress is small, so they oppose violence, which may make the situation worse. Therefore, in the view of the British Labor Party, they should be more of a reformer who actively promotes society. The Russian Labor Party is completely different. They think that old Russia is hopeless, so it is better to smash the old society and then rebuild it.

In fact, under this kind of difference, according to the Russian Labor Party, the so-called British Labor Party and the Labor Party are completely different.

Ernst also agrees with the latter. After all, to be honest, some active capitalist parties can also do what the British Labour Party is doing now. In addition to ideas, the difference between the so-called British Labour Party and other capitalist parties in the UK is not very obvious.

For example, the United States implemented the Roosevelt New Deal, which adopted many Soviet economic means, but Roosevelt was obviously not a member of the Labor Party.

But no matter what, MacDonald's attitude is already very clear, that is, he can first contact with Italian Prime Minister Benito.

Prime Minister MacDonald said: "Italian unification is a good thing for us, which is conducive to promoting peace in Europe. A unified Italy can restrain the Austro-Hungarian Empire to a certain extent, thereby avoiding the outbreak of large-scale wars in Europe."

This is not a lie. Prime Minister McDonald is indeed a prime minister who actively promotes peace in Europe. Since he took power, he has further promoted disarmament among European countries. At the same time, he called on Germany and Russia to cease war to match peace between the two countries, call on countries to oppose war and strengthen international cooperation.

As the early leader of the British Labor Party, MacDonald was still full of idealism. However, some of MacDonald's policies were still restricted by the British Parliament and could not play a role, such as improving and fighting for the rights of domestic civilians, promoting more fairness and expansion of elections, etc.

"Now, the situation in Europe is still full of contradictions and conflicts, and what I am most worried about is the imbalance of European power, which will trigger a new war."

"And Italy is unified, so there will be another regional power in the southern European region, which will help us balance Europe's political power."

MacDonald's subtext is also very simple, that is, he believes that before Italy's unification, Europe's power was at risk of imbalance. After all, the decline of Britain and France and the rise of Germany are irrefutable facts.

What he was most worried about was that Germany was unwilling to accept the outcome of the last war and launched another war. At this time, the emergence of Italy was undoubtedly conducive to the balance of European power, especially for Western Europe.

Italy's unification can at least make the Austro-Hungarian Empire stop some of its little thoughts. Italy was divided into three countries before, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire was very threatening to the Apennine Peninsula. Faced with a unified Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not interfere with the situation on the Apennine Peninsula as in the past.

As for France, France may have had some thoughts about Italy in the past, but France, which had experienced World War I, was basically in a state of sluggishness.

Nowadays, Italy has a population of nearly 40 million without Venice and part of Lombardy, which is almost the same as France, and France is even more unlikely to invade Italy like the Napoleon era.

Philip asked: "So, according to the Prime Minister's intention, should we give Benito some support?"

MacDonald said: "Of course, we must not only support, but even congratulate Italy on its unification with great fanfare and send a congratulatory message to Mr. Benito, so as to ensure that there will be no changes in the subsequent unification of Italy."

"At the same time, we should invite unified Italy to rejoin the League of Nations, rather than the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Naples as in the past."

As for the Pope, it is naturally impossible to join the so-called League of Nations. After all, the situation between the Pope and the Pope is special. The Vatican was not a formal member of the United Nations in his previous life, but it was just an observer state because of this.

Therefore, before this, only the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Naples joined the League of Nations, and now that Italy is unified, the Kingdom of Naples no longer exists, but after unification Italy will obviously gain greater voice in the League of Nations.

MacDonald said: "After unified Italy, it can be called a non-permanent member of the League of Nations, that is, the same position as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Brazil."

Previously, neither the Kingdom of Italy nor the Kingdom of Naples were considered major powers, so both countries were ordinary members of the League of Nations. After unified Italy naturally became a non-permanent member and could play a huge role in the decision-making of the League of Nations. In the future, if Italy can grow further, it is not impossible to become a permanent member of the League of Nations.

Overall, the MacDonald administration intends to win over the initially unified Italy. In fact, as far as the current situation in the UK is concerned, no matter which political party is in power, it will win over Italy.

The difference is that McDonald is more concerned about the overall peace in Europe, while other ruling parties may be more inclined to check and balance Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After all, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are indeed too strong, which can easily cause the British to worry, and a unified Italy can greatly alleviate the British diplomatic dilemma.

In this way, Britain has one more chess piece available in balance Europe. After all, countries with insufficient size cannot become chess pieces, but it is easy to become the experience package for Britain to check and balance goals.

So, at the end of June 1924.

Benito had just consolidated the victory results when the British Prime Minister's congratulations were sent to Italy, and at the British government level, he publicly praised Benito's peaceful reunification of Italy.

At this time, no country can find Benito's fault on the moral level. After all, Benito's way of unification is peaceful, and this has further enhanced Benito's personal prestige throughout Italy.

Immediately afterwards, France also expressed its positive views on Benito's unification of Italy. After all, at this time, France was even more eager to block the Austro-Hungarian Empire's passage to the westward advance.

Once upon a time, France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to swallow Italy's strategic location, but now France has declined, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire at least looks glorious and still firm on the surface.

Therefore, in Europe now, no country can hope to see Italy's unification more urgently than France. France is destined to be unable to eat the cake, and it is even less likely that the Austro-Hungarian Empire can eat it.

Germany's attitude towards Italy's unification was quite ambiguous, only the Austro-Hungarian Empire was very distressed and disgusted with Italy's unification. However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost the best opportunity to intervene and could only watch Italy's rise.

(This chapter ends)