My Italy

Paris, which exudes a romantic atmosphere, is so charming. As the largest city in the world, the people of Paris have enough reasons to be proud of it.

Not to mention other places of interest in Paris, there are too many to count. Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, etc. are simply too numerous to count. (The Eiffel Tower has not yet been built, and the scenery along the Seine is comparable to the Ganges)

But although the scenery of Paris is so charming, there are still many people on the street looking sad. It can be said that it is all dragged down by the economic situation, which makes life in France difficult at present. The current high unemployment rate in France is a huge challenge for the newly elected Juffelli government.

This French figure, who is well-known to many Chinese, is also forming a cabinet for the first time. The Prime Minister who has just taken office naturally needs a new government and a new atmosphere. First of all, he needs to provide solutions to the current economic situation.

This Juffelli belongs to the republican left and once served as the French Minister of Education and Foreign Minister. In terms of education, he first eliminated the influence of clergy in universities, and then he established a new education system. Ruffelli also reorganized the Committee on Public Education and introduced a bill to change the university's governing charter.

This was a huge impetus for France to establish free, secular and compulsory primary education. In addition, he designated French as the language of instruction, which brought some dialects to the verge of extinction, and was later criticized by some people. However, Juffelli's decision also united people across France and consolidated the status of the French nation-state.

If Ruferi has achieved outstanding results as Minister of Education, he has disgusted many people as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Speaking of which, this has a lot to do with his unusual diplomacy. He does not advocate direct confrontation with Germany, but is extremely interested in expanding colonies.

This was completely contrary to the views of his political enemy Clemenceau. You must know that this man has an unusual dislike for Germany and wants to push France to regain Alsace-Lorraine. He can be regarded as a radical in France. The two men not only disagreed to the left on the issue of Germany, but also on the outside world.

He believed that using violence to conquer "uncivilized" peoples would only reduce the moral prestige of the French nation. The government should not use France's vast manpower and material resources on colonial expeditions, but on various urgent domestic reforms. In his view, the colonial enterprise was only conducive to the enrichment of a few people and was not in the interest of France.

But regardless of Clemenceau's objections, it is Juffelli who is now prime minister. The first task before him now is to find a way to make France satisfied with him. Among them, the ideas of the capitalists are easy to solve, but the needs of ordinary people are somewhat difficult. Of course, no matter how difficult it is, it needs to be done. Who makes him the Prime Minister of France?

Ru Feili has his own way to do this, but before that he needs to hold a meeting to discuss it.

Looking at the cabinet members in the meeting who were waiting attentively for his speech, Ruferi began his speech. "Everyone, we all know the purpose of convening a meeting. This is the first meeting of our cabinet. You are all powerful people. I believe that I don't need to say more to understand the importance. So no matter who it is, Remember, France is above all else.”

Following Rufeli's far-sighted speech, the audience burst into applause. Although the Prime Minister did not say any methods or measures, it is necessary to give priority to setting the tone.

And Rufeili looked at the cabinet members he selected with satisfaction. These people were basically in line with his preferences. Of course, many positions were given to support his own party, so he was basically satisfied.

In the next meeting, they focused on the development of industrial production, people's livelihood projects and other major domestic issues. The meeting lasted for more than two hours.

After the meeting was over and everyone was getting ready to stand up, he spoke again. "Foreign Minister Gambetta, wait a moment."

Rufeli's words made Gambetta stop. The others were not fools and knew that the two had important matters to discuss, so the entire conference room vacated after a while.

After everyone else had left, Rufeli spoke. "Come and sit in my office."

"As you wish, Your Excellency Prime Minister."

Faced with Rufeili's invitation, Gambetta, as the foreign minister, would certainly not refuse.

After the two arrived at the Prime Minister's Office, Ruferi picked up the phone and ordered to go down. "Simon, let General Laurent come over." Juffelli's words moved Gambetta's heart. He remembered what the prime minister said to him before. Is this what he wanted to do?

Without letting Gambetta think too much, the door opened in less than two minutes, and General Laurent, the Minister of War, appeared in front of them, and this also confirmed Gambetta's thoughts.

He didn't let him think too much. After the door was closed, Rufeli immediately expressed his thoughts. "You two, I hope to bring Tunisia under the protection of France next."

Faced with the shocking words of His Excellency the Prime Minister, General Laurent, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gambetta and the Minister of War, still showed a somewhat surprised expression.

The two of them were able to show surprised expressions, thanks to Ru Feili, who was the Prime Minister, giving them hints before this. They had thought about it, but they didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

Facing the surprised expressions shown by the two people, Rufeili, as the Prime Minister, saw it and was very satisfied with his method. Before he had just won the election and before he ascended to the position of prime minister, he was already thinking about his future.

He first needs to let France see the difference between himself and other prime ministers. Speaking of which, the republican government has been in existence for ten years, but there are countless people who have served as prime ministers. In the past ten years alone, there have been eleven prime ministers. On average, there is one more prime minister every year.

Frequent changes of prime ministers are not good for France. He came to power with one idea, and I came to power with another idea. This has also led to the French government often changing orders overnight, which will have a very bad impact on the French economy, diplomacy and other aspects. , and Rufeili is determined to change this situation.

However, it is very difficult to change. Not to mention that he still lacks some qualifications. However, he already has some plans for this, and Tunisia is the breakthrough he is preparing for, so he is determined to win this. Since Tunisia is at stake, it is inevitable to make thorough preparations, the most important of which is not to let the Italians know.

Speaking of which, Italy's operation in Tunisia will not be much later than France's attack on Algeria. When it was still the Kingdom of Sardinia, Italy started operations in Tunisia on the other side. Of course this is nothing more than an individual or company's behavior. But then, the Kingdom of Sardinia took over and ended personally. Even though it was busy fighting the war to unify Italy at that time, it did not reduce its penetration into Tunisia.

What makes Italy attach so much importance to Tunisia is not only the distance (Tunisia is less than 500 kilometers from Sicily), but also the fertile land of Tunisia.

Tunisia only has a territory of more than 160,000 square kilometers, but its arable land reaches 9 million hectares (90,000 square kilometers). This is an irresistible temptation for Italy, which has less land and more people.

In addition, although this area belonged to the Ottoman Empire, it was only a vassal. Its people are mainly semi-nomadic and semi-cultivating, with a population of only more than 700,000, which is very suitable for Italian annexation. Therefore, Italy chose it as its first colony in Africa early on.

However, Italy has a long way to go if it wants to conquer Tunisia, because to the west of Tunisia is Algeria, which belongs to France, and Tunisia is also favored by France.

Italy had tried it as early as France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. An armed force was sent to take advantage of France's defeat and capture Tunisia first. However, the operation failed, and pressure from Britain and France made it abortive.

In fact, just look at the map and you will know how wary Britain and France are about Italy occupying Tunisia. As long as Italy takes Tunisia, it can basically divide the Mediterranean into two halves, which is unacceptable to Britain and France. Of course it is not unacceptable, but Italy needs to pay a sufficient price. But now Italy still doesn't know this, or it can't come up with it.

Of course, I have enough strength, so I can’t accept it, but with Italy’s size, I might as well forget it after thinking about it.

Therefore, Tunisia has been delayed in such an environment, and no one has yet taken it into their pocket.

Of course, Rufeli now plans to make changes, and the reason that gives him the confidence is that France is stronger than Italy, and France also has the support of Britain and Germany.

At the Berlin Conference in 1878, in order to mediate the dispute between France and Britain on the island of Cyprus, the two countries made France give up Cyprus on the condition that Britain supported France in seizing Tunisia.

In addition, in Germany, Prime Minister Bismarck also supported this in order to divert France's attention.

In addition, after Germany formed a defensive alliance with Austria, it further began to save the "Three Emperors Alliance" of Germany, Austria, and Russia against France that had long existed in name only.

Germany and Austria claimed that their alliance was only to prevent Russia's attack and had no additional ill will towards Russia. Therefore, they were willing to continue their rapprochement with Russia. As a result, Russia was first surprised and then relieved. It quickly made amity with Germany and Austria, and the "Three Emperors Alliance" was resurrected for a while.

At the same time, in order to appease France, Germany expressed its firm support for France's acquisition of Tunisia, which temporarily eased the contradiction between Germany and France. (The iron-blooded prime minister is very resourceful)

As for Italy's opinions, Italian representatives achieved nothing at the Berlin Conference, which represented the partition of Africa. The diplomatic consequences of not relying on France and being at odds with Austria were vividly demonstrated. (Book friends who want to rob Congo, now you know why Italy can’t do it)

As the representative of Italy, Count Courti left Berlin in anger, completely unaware that his possessions had been traded.

After that, Fa Guo has been preparing step by step to capture Tunisia. However, something happened last year that made France wary. That was Italy's purchase of the railway from Tunisia to Goletai from the British. This greatly increased Italy's influence in Tunisia, which forced France to compete for Tunisia as soon as possible. footsteps. (The shit-stirring stick deserves its reputation)

Under such circumstances, Rufeili really planned to take Tunisia first with a preemptive strike. Besides, due to its strength, France is not afraid of Italy at all, and it will be offended if it offends it.

Faced with Juffelli's idea, Gambetta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and General Laurent, the Minister of War, were a little surprised, but of course they were willing to do things that would bring sufficient benefits to France.

Rufeli's plan was just a quick word, creating an established fact and leaving Italy nowhere to vent.

So after he expressed his thoughts, he specifically requested that they be kept confidential. The two ministers are not three-year-old children, so they naturally know how to keep it secret. It is up to them to prepare separately.