Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 575 Deconstructing Russia
In Rome, the capital of Italy, the League of Nations has held several meetings regarding the upcoming peace talks with the two Russian governments and has also developed preliminary plans for the partition of Russian territory.

These plans were primarily influenced by the attitudes of the three major powers: Spain, France, and Great Britain.

Although Italy is also one of the permanent members of the League of Nations, its strength is slightly inferior to that of the three major powers. In addition, due to its distance from Russia, Italy is unable to compete for interests, which ultimately leads to the Italian government having little say.

First, there was the demand from the French. The French government proposed that Poland fully recover its territory and establish a strong Greater Poland between Germany and Russia to help European countries better resist the expansion and threat of Soviet Russia.

This point did indeed receive support from many European countries. Especially given the size of Greater Poland, it was indeed a realistic possibility that it could replace other European countries in resisting the expansion of Soviet Russia.

Furthermore, Poland's relations with Germany and Russia must be taken into account. While Poland's demise also bore some internal responsibility, foreign aggression was the primary cause of its downfall.

In the late 18th century, Prussia, Austria, and Russia united to divide Poland into three parts, which ultimately led to the disappearance of this historically significant kingdom from the annals of history.

The French wanted to rebuild Greater Poland partly to gain the support of the Poles, thereby better extending their influence throughout Europe.

On the other hand, it also reflects the deep-seated animosity between Poland and Germany and Russia. If Poland were to rise again, it would become France's most important ally against Germany, and Poland would likely not ally with Russia.

Under these circumstances, Poland's only option to counter Germany and Russia was to rely heavily on France. France would gain a reasonably strong ally without worrying about the ally's loyalty—a very advantageous deal indeed.

Although Carlo didn't think Poland could be of much help to France, he naturally wouldn't stop the French from doing so since they were willing.

France, which spearheaded the establishment of the Greater Poland, was destined to become a thorn in Britain's side. Poland's recapture of German and Russian territories and restoration of its independence was also destined to incite hatred from Germany and Russia.

For France, there is still a huge mess to clean up, so Carlo naturally has no need to stop the French plans, and is even happy to fan the flames from behind the scenes.

Unlike France, which aspired to establish a Greater Poland, Spain and Britain were not so ambitious.

On the one hand, there are not many suitable lands to divide nowadays, and Russia cannot give up the more core parts of the land.

On the other hand, both Britain and Spain were quite far from Russian territory. Even if they could forcibly seize a large tract of land from Russia, what difference would it make?
It will either benefit other countries, or it will inevitably be reclaimed by Russia at some point in the future.

Spain and Britain focused their attention more on the Baltic states and the Grand Duchy of Finland.

These four countries are all located along the Baltic Sea coast and are typical examples of sparsely populated areas. Although the land area of ​​the three Baltic countries is not large, only tens of thousands of square kilometers each.

However, considering that their population ranges from a few million to just over three million, it is not an exaggeration to say that their land is vast and sparsely populated.

The combined population of the Baltic states and the Grand Duchy of Finland is less than ten million, and their mineral resources are relatively limited, so their overall value is less than half that of Poland.

Poland is located on the Polish Plain, and the value of developing agriculture there alone far exceeds the combined value of the Baltic states and Finland.

Although Finland has a large land area, most of its land is located within the Arctic Circle, where it is constantly exposed to extremely low temperatures, making it unsuitable for agricultural development.

Although the three Baltic states are located slightly south, their temperatures are very low, which is inherently unfavorable for agricultural development.

There wasn't much for Britain and Spain to fight over among these countries, and in the end, Spain took Finland and Estonia, while Britain took Latvia and Lithuania.

As compensation to Romania for its role in the intervention war, Romania was to receive a small portion of Russian territory, which roughly constituted the division of Russian territory.

With the League of Nations already in agreement on the partition of Russian territory, the upcoming peace negotiations are merely a formality.

Neither Tsarist Russia nor Soviet Russia could overturn the outcome of the peace negotiations once the League of Nations had reached a consensus.

Moreover, for Soviet Russia, this division of Russian territory was not of much concern to them; it was mainly aimed at Tsarist Russia.

Of course, the League of Nations wouldn't take these territories for nothing. Having confirmed that Tsarist Russia posed little threat, the League of Nations would naturally do everything in its power to help Tsarist Russia win the civil war.

After all, the threat posed by Soviet Russia was significantly greater than that posed by Tsarist Russia.

On February 17, 1916, amidst great anticipation, peace talks between the League of Nations and the two Russian governments officially began.

Besides ending the League of Nations' intervention war, another major objective of this peace talks was to mediate the Russian civil war, or at least to limit it to a certain extent.

All member states of the League of Nations sent representatives to the conference, along with two diplomatic representatives from the Russian government, making it a conference that attracted representatives from almost all of Europe.

With Russia practically reduced to fish on a chopping block, the major powers of the League of Nations naturally wouldn't be polite and presented their conditions to the two Russian governments on the very day the peace talks began.

The first condition is to end the interventionist war.

Soviet Russia must promise the League of Nations that it will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries for any reason, will not incite workers or other groups in other countries to hold demonstrations, and will not spread the political propositions of the workers' union to other countries.

These conditions were a prerequisite for the League of Nations to tacitly accept the existence of Soviet Russia. In other words, if Soviet Russia did not agree to these conditions, the League of Nations would continue to intervene in the war and completely eliminate the threat by destroying Soviet Russia.

What else could the diplomatic representatives of Soviet Russia do in response to the demands of the League of Nations?

In fact, the large-scale demonstrations that broke out in Hungary were indeed instigated by Soviet Russia.

But things unfolded in a way that completely exceeded Soviet Russia's expectations. Hungary did indeed become a republic, but power was not held by the working class or a workers' party, but by the former Hungarian Prime Minister, István Tisza. The only difference between this Hungary and the original one was the absence of a monarch; otherwise, there were almost no major changes.

Soviet Russia took on the responsibility of instigating the Hungarian workers' demonstrations, but gained nothing from it; it was a complete loss.

The League of Nations could even use Soviet Russia to incite Hungarian workers' demonstrations to force Soviet Russia to make greater concessions. Soviet Russia could only swallow its pride and refute them in vain.

The good news is that as long as Soviet Russia fulfills its commitments, the League of Nations will not launch an intervention war against Soviet Russia.

This also means that there will not be any major surprises in the future Russian civil war. As long as Soviet Russia can hold out for a period of time, it will still be able to gain the upper hand in the civil war.

With this in mind, the Soviet Russian diplomatic representative no longer hesitated. In any case, Soviet Russia was no longer capable of penetrating other European countries, and doing so would be a losing proposition for Soviet Russia.

Under the watchful eyes of the diplomatic representatives of the League of Nations, the Soviet Russian diplomatic representative personally promised the League of Nations that Soviet Russia would never again incite workers' demonstrations in other countries and would not expand its political agenda to countries outside of Russia. Only then did the peace negotiations move to the next stage.

When the Tsarist Russian diplomatic representative learned of the demands of the three major powers of the League of Nations, his face immediately turned ashen.

Whether it's Russia's occupation of Poland, the Baltic states, or Finland, the territories involved are considerable. Furthermore, with the three major powers of the League of Nations demanding that Russia cede all these lands, it means that Russia is about to lose at least several hundred thousand square kilometers, if not millions.

This was clearly an extremely demanding requirement for Russians, who value land highly. Russia had never experienced such a devastating situation before; the loss of nearly one million square kilometers of land was, in the eyes of Russian diplomatic representatives, more heartbreaking than the casualties of the World War.

"We can accept ceding some territory to Poland and promise never to invade Poland again. But we absolutely cannot accept ceding the Baltic states and Finland at the same time; such a demand is extremely harsh!" The diplomatic representative of Tsarist Russia retorted with a hint of indignation at the peace talks, rejecting the demands put forward by the three great powers.

"Russia was an important member of the Allied Powers during the World War and a key ally of France and Spain. Russia suffered the highest casualties among the Allied nations, and neither France nor Spain had any reason to demand that Russia cede these territories."

As for Britain, with all due respect, it was a defeated nation in the World Wars. How can a defeated nation demand that a victorious nation cede territory?

Therefore, I am sorry, but I cannot agree to these demands. We came to Rome to attend a peace conference on the intervention war, not a conference to partition Russian territory.

We consider France and Spain to be true friends and hope to receive help from our allies, not extortion and blackmail.

If your country only wants to carve up Russian territory, then I think such peace negotiations are completely unnecessary, and Russia absolutely cannot accept these conditions.”

The Russian diplomatic representative genuinely did not expect the League of Nations to make such an exorbitant demand of Russia at this moment. Even more unexpected was that the League of Nations would target Tsarist Russia, rather than the Soviet Russia that had previously been besieged.

Although somewhat surprised, the Russian diplomatic representative knew that these conditions could not be agreed to under any circumstances at this time.

The representatives of the League of Nations wouldn't do anything to him if he refused these conditions, but if he agreed to them, he wouldn't be able to return to Russia.

Hearing the Russian diplomatic representative's stern question, the French representative to the League of Nations smiled and said, "You're right, Mr. Ambassador. But you've forgotten one thing: this is not a peace conference after the World War II, but peace negotiations concerning the Russian Civil War."

Russia's contributions in the World Wars have earned it substantial war reparations and other compensation. On this point, I believe that neither your country nor the other Allied powers have any objection to the proportion of war reparations.

In this intervention war, both we, Spain, and Britain sent large numbers of troops to Russia to help your country stabilize the situation of the civil war.

Not only did your country fail to fulfill its initial promises of military expenditures and supplies, but it also repeatedly defaulted on its military payments. If it weren't for Romania's strong support, the interventionist forces we sent to Russia probably wouldn't have even received their normal salaries, let alone been able to fight against Soviet Russia.

Furthermore, our demand that your country cede the occupied territories of Poland and other countries is not an act of harshness towards Russia, but rather an expression of the League of Nations' original intention of promoting national freedom and liberation.

Poland, which is now occupied by your country, was an independent nation with a long history over a century ago. Poland's demise was the result of the partitioning by Germany and Russia.

On this point, we should have a relatively clear understanding. During the World War, large armies composed of Polish soldiers also played a significant role.

We should acknowledge the contributions of the Polish people in the World Wars and respect their choices. Therefore, I believe it is entirely reasonable for your country to cede the Polish territory you occupied and return it to the Polish people to form a Greater Poland.

As for the Baltic states and Finland, they share a similar history with Poland. Surely, Mr. Ambassador, you are aware of Poland's history of being annexed by Russia?
I won't go into too much detail here. Rather than waiting for the Polish people to seek independence and launch a war of independence in the future, it's better to completely avoid the war now.

"If your country truly has objections, you can also hold referendums in these regions, allowing the local people to decide for themselves who they belong to," the French diplomatic representative to the League of Nations said with a smile.

Despite the Russian diplomatic representative's seemingly reasonable arguments, Russia was actually in the wrong in the first place.

In short, Russia's history is a long history of invasion. The vast majority of Russia's current territory was acquired through the invasion of other countries.

Whether it's Poland, Finland, or the Baltic states, each has its own long history.

Even though these regions have been annexed by Russia for a long time, if the people in these areas were to hold an independence referendum, it is believed that the majority of the local population would still be willing to gain independence from Russia.

After all, compared to Tsarist Russia during the autocratic period, there are not many differences between present-day Russia and Tsarist Russia, except that the Tsar has lost power and the government has a high degree of control over power.

After the merger of the original Russian Provisional Government and the Tsarist Russian Government, although it was somewhat streamlined compared to the Tsarist Russian Government, it could not escape the bloated and corrupt bureaucratic system of Tsarist Russia.

Russia entered a civil war immediately after World War II, leaving it with no time to recover. Large numbers of people in Poland, the Baltic states, and Finland were forcibly conscripted into the army to fight for their countries.

The local population was already deeply dissatisfied with the Russian government. Even if the League of Nations did not partition Russia at this time, Russia would not be able to escape the fate of fighting another civil war in the future.

(End of this chapter)