Chapter 1048 From Community to United States 4

In addition to the German Empire, the current European Community has three major powers, Britain, France and Russia. Britain and France are not the "Little Britain" that was broken into pieces and the "Little France" that was about to become Francestan as people knew them later. If you look at the world map of 1944, these two countries are undoubtedly still two world empires.

The territories of the two countries are composed of their homeland and colonies. Among them, the homeland of France now includes Algeria and French Morocco in North Africa. The colonies include large tracts of territory in West Africa and Central Africa and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. In addition, it also has countless overseas islands and small territories in India. The total area of ​​the homeland plus colonies exceeds 12 million square kilometers. It is 5 times larger than the total territory of Germany and its dependent countries, and the population ruled is close to 100 million.

As for the British Empire, although it is now divided into two, the colonies loyal to London still include India and all of Britain's territories in Africa, as well as countless islands in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The total area of ​​the territory is no less than that of the French World Empire, and the population ruled is even greater than that of the entire Europe.

Moreover, London also received a promise from Berlin: there is only one Britain in the world, and it opposes any form of two Britains or one Britain and one Canada. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the British islands in the South Pacific are all integral parts of the British Empire.

That is to say, once the United States is defeated, the British Empire will still be an empire on which the sun never sets from the map!

For most of the British living on the British Isles in 1944, the glorious and prosperous empire on which the sun never sets does not only exist on the map, but also exists in their hearts and dreams, and it is still so real.

Because just a few years ago, this glorious and prosperous empire still existed in the world and was still "ruling" the world!

So this generation of British people is different from this generation of French and Russian people.

After the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War, the French no longer had the idea of ​​ruling the world, and the Russians, who had been educated by the Bolsheviks for more than 20 years, also knew that imperialism was wrong. As for the idea of ​​liberating all mankind, it is no longer there now - as long as the young Russians go to Germany, France, and other wealthy countries in Europe, they will know that it is themselves who need to be liberated, not the people in Paris, Berlin or London in their lives.

Therefore, the French and Russians today are more willing to accept a Europe dominated by the Germans, as long as they can get more benefits from it.

But most British people do not want this. They still fantasize about returning to the past, or withdrawing from the European Community (the British dislike the United States of Europe even more) and establishing their own Commonwealth.

The current British Prime Minister Mosley is very clear about this idea. However, the reality facing more than 40 million British people requires them to bow to Europe and integrate with Europe.

Only in this way can the pampered British continue to maintain their decent and elegant gentleman life in the future. Otherwise... Mosley does not know how to be the Prime Minister of the British people.

In the suburbs of Europa Castle, in a villa originally belonging to the Hohenzollern Dynasty, Prince Friedrich, who was visiting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, and Prime Minister Mosley were having a secret conversation in a magnificently decorated study room in the afternoon of June 17.

At this time, both of them already knew that the Germans wanted to take advantage of the atomic bomb and the opportunity of blackmailing the Americans to push the process of European unification forward and turn the European Community into the United States.

This is not as simple as changing the name! The European Community is just a customs union plus a monetary union, which is basically a national alliance, not even a confederation. Therefore, the process from the European Community to European unification is reversible.

The United States of Europe is different. It is a "country" with a unified constitution, a unified parliament, a unified government, and a unified navy, air force and atomic bomb army!

Although each country can retain its own army, this is meaningless to Britain. Because Britain has never relied on the army to dominate, the navy is the pillar of the British Empire.

Although the British Royal Navy in London has no ships to show off, the spirit of the Royal Navy is still there, the developed British shipbuilding industry is still there, and most of the British Navy's soldiers are still alive.

As long as the economy recovers at some time, the British Empire will still have the opportunity to continue building ships and restore the navy.

In fact, the revival plan of the British Royal Navy has already been implemented. The new generation of "Dauntless" class aircraft carriers was designed before October 1942, and the first ship "Dauntless" was put into construction at the Harland-Wolf shipyard on October 24, 1942. Although the construction of this large fleet aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of 33,500 tons was stalled due to the defeat of the British mainland, the aircraft carrier under construction was not bought by the Germans, but continued to be owned by the British. As long as the finances are slightly more abundant, the project can be resumed.

In addition, the development of the "Sea Fury" carrier-based fighter and the "Sea Mosquito" carrier-based torpedo bomber for the "Dauntless" class aircraft carrier has also progressed smoothly due to the support of Germany.

Now the "Sea Fury" carrier-based fighter has been put into production, that is, the Fokker 636 of the German Naval Aviation, and the "Sea Mosquito" is undergoing flight tests.

But just as the Royal Navy was quietly beginning to revive, the Germans suddenly accelerated the process of European unification, and also gained the support of the leaders of France and Russia.

"Your Highness, the United States of Europe has taken too big a step forward." Prime Minister Mosley said with great embarrassment, "The community is barely acceptable to the people, but the United States has gone beyond what the people can accept..."

When Prince Friedrich heard this, he smiled mockingly and interrupted: "Prime Minister, can the people accept that the United States is only your personal opinion and does not represent the people?"

If the Prime Minister cannot represent the people, then who can? Mosley looked at the prince with some confusion, "Your Highness, I know the British people..."

"Let them vote!" Prince Friedrich waved his hand, "We just agree to Hitler's request, but the final choice should be left to the British people."

"You mean a referendum?" Mosley asked.

"Of course!" Prince Friedrich said, "Such a big thing must be subject to a referendum. Not only the United Kingdom must vote in a referendum, but Germany, France and other countries preparing to join the United States of Europe must vote."

Europe is Europe after all, and the process of unification cannot completely go against public opinion. The referendum process is necessary, but referendums can also be manipulated by politicians and political parties.

Especially now, the democracies in Germany, Russia and France are not high, the ruling parties are very powerful, and there are no truly beneficial legal opposition parties. But the situation in Britain was different. The fascist alliance was not very popular.

"But if the referendum fails..." Mosley asked, "I think this possibility exists. What will happen then? Can Germany really accept the result that we do not join?"

This possibility not only exists, but is very large!

Not only might the British people vote against joining the United States of Europe, but the French and Russians might also vote "no."

In this regard, Germany has given another option - not to join the United States of Europe, but it can remain in the European Community.

The European Community will of course exist alongside the United States of Europe for a long time to come. Theoretically, the European Community is the primary stage of European unification, while the confederal United States (similar to the United States before the Civil War) is the intermediate stage of European unification, and the federal United States is the final form of European unification.

However, these three stages can coexist. It is unrealistic to require all European Community countries to choose to become the United States at the same time. In fact, there are still three countries including the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland that Germany wants to join. Countries that have joined the European Community have remained outside the community and have not yet joined.

In addition, although Spain under Franco officially joined the European Community in 1942, it repeatedly delayed on joining the European Mark Area and the European Customs Area. At this meeting of European Community leaders, although Franco also expressed support for the United States, he still refused to join the Euromark Zone and the European Customs Area on the grounds that "the country's economy is too fragile."

Portugal, Spain's neighbor, was simply "ignored" by the European Community and remains a "free and easy" independent country.

As for the Roman Empire, which could be "parallel" with the European Community, there was even less possibility of joining the European Community or the United States of Europe - in the eyes of the Caesar of the Roman Empire, the European Community was just an alliance of Germanic barbarians and Slavic barbarians. The Romans didn't even bother to join.

The British also have a similar plot to Rome. They have always had a tradition of "coming from outside Europe". If the British could make their own choice, they would want to withdraw from the European Community, let alone the United States of Europe!

But can the Germans really allow Britain to withdraw?

In response to Mosley's question, Prince Friedrich just smiled bitterly and said: "The Queen will definitely respect the choice of the British people on this issue. As long as the British people are willing to choose a path full of suffering and hardship, I think the Germans will They will not use force to intervene, but they will not make it easy for us. After all, we have lost the war, and if we lose... we have to pay the price!"