African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1394: Chapter 373: Soldiers’ ”Struggle

November 4, 1919.

After weeks of debate and compromise, the UK, France, Germany, and Austria have finally made significant progress on peace issues.

”Your Excellency Frier, after this meeting, peace should really be achievable, right?” said the Dutch Prime Minister Kaiboer somewhat sentimentally.

With a slightly weary face, Frier smiled faintly and said, ”It should be. In fact, this world war is essentially yet another round of European wars. So as long as European society reaches a unified consensus, peace will naturally come.”

Throughout history, Europeans have either been at war or on their way to war. From the Roman Era, through the Middle Ages, to modern times and even the future, large-scale wars in Europe have never ceased.

The Hundred Years’ War, the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars, the Byzantine-Arab Wars, the Roman-Persian Wars, and the Reconquista in Spain all lasted over a century. England’s conquest of Wales spanned eight centuries, or eight hundred years.

In modern times, European wars were even more frequent, with more nations and armies involved, and with weapons of greater destructive power. This world war, seen by Ernst as World War I, once again pushed European warfare to a new peak.

Frier sighed deeply: ”In order to advance the meetings, I haven’t slept well in over a month. It’s hard to imagine what the last peace conference was like.”

Prime Minister Kaiboer smiled wryly: ”I experienced the first peace conference and it was much more difficult than this one. At the time, the tensions between the Allies and the Entente were running high.”

”Because of the war, everyone had only hatred in their hearts. The representatives of the UK, France, Germany, and Austria were like explosives ready to detonate at any moment.”

”Back then, my colleagues and I, as mediators, stayed close to them, filled with anxiety and unease. And sure enough, on the first day after the conference began, a full-scale brawl broke out on-site.”

”The German and French representatives tore into each other right there. Austria-Hungary and the UK also joined the fray, and we had to exert all our efforts to pull them apart.”

”During almost the first two months of the conference, both sides did not stop their insults and violence. It wasn’t until the third month that things calmed down a bit. By the end of the conference, we finally had a rough result...”

Frier could feel the full extent of Kaiboer’s resentment in his words. These two conferences took nearly half a year and were held in the Netherlands. Without support from East Africa, the Dutch government might have collapsed since the UK, France, Germany, and Austria are not countries a small nation like the Netherlands can afford to offend.

With Kaiboer’s complaints, Frier felt much better. He comforted Kaiboer: ”Your Excellency and your country’s contributions to peace will surely go down in history. Ending this world war has saved tens of millions of lives, and the people of Europe will surely be grateful to you and your country for your efforts.”

The civilians of Europe suffered the most from the war. As a country mediating peace, the Netherlands has thus become one of the key players in ending the tragedy of World War I. At least for the next decade or so, the European populace, especially those who love peace, will surely be grateful to Kaiboer. As for those who do not love peace...

There are certainly such people, as the lives of civilians mean nothing in the eyes of politicians. Moreover, there are some war extremists with extreme ideologies, like the leader of Germany in the past life.

However, there is no place for their voices on the current stage of history. The second peace conference has essentially confirmed the end of the war, at least for the time being.

...

After November, the public opinion in European countries began consciously shifting, with discussions surrounding the topic of peace gradually increasing.

Of course, suddenly ending the war would certainly cause public dissatisfaction. Therefore, under manipulation from European countries, topics would occasionally diverge towards the Labor Party, certain special social groups, or individual pro-war politicians and soldiers abandoned by the government.

In a hospital on the German rear lines.

A soldier with an amputated leg was reading the latest newspaper to a comrade with an eye injury.

”...Progress on the front lines remains slow. Major General Lunsite of Bavaria complained that due to collusion between unscrupulous merchants at the rear and internal army parasites, war supplies are being smuggled, which could lead to the failure of the war...”

”...Activities of the Labor Party have sold out German intelligence. They have collaborated with Labor Party members from other European countries, infiltrated the military, and sold front-line intelligence...”

”...His Majesty William II personally visits the front lines to console the families of martyrs...”

”Enough! Stop reading!” shouted the young soldier on the hospital bed with a twisted face. ”Those damn traitors caused the Empire to fall into such a passive situation.”

”The war must not stop, but we must first eliminate the parasites at home. Before dealing with external threats, we must first secure the internal situation, and as for that useless government group, they really ought to...”

This soldier was very agitated, especially with the current newspaper reports about possibly considering a ceasefire, which made him very dissatisfied.

And the soldier holding the newspaper had to stop reading due to his comrade’s emotions. He said to the comrade on the hospital bed: ”Corporal, I understand your feelings. Actually, now ending the war is also good news.”

”No, you don’t understand at all!” shouted the blind soldier loudly. ”The Empire has sacrificed too much for this war. We must make a concerted effort to completely defeat England and France and gain world dominance.”