After World War I, Germany and China were in the same boat under the exclusion of the Allies. Therefore, there was considerable economic, military and political cooperation after the war. (Germany is more concerned about obtaining resources from China), so when Japan strongly attacked China, it acquiesced in Japan's actions, because it didn't care who controlled China, as long as its interests were not lost (China and Japan are both its allies), which also led China to lean toward the Soviet Union and confront Japan with the support of the Soviet Union. Germany also began to support Japan, because both Germany and Japan hated the Soviet Union.
The specific information is as follows: Hitler's coming to power slowly lifted the last link between China and Germany.
First, the early Weimar Republic Sino-German relations
19 14 to 19 18 The defeat of World War I made Germany fall from the position of a world-class power, and its overseas markets and colonies were completely deprived by the victorious countries led by Britain and France, and its international status plummeted. Because the Paris Peace Conference, despite the strong opposition of the representative of China, transferred all German rights and interests in Shandong, China to Japan, and the representative of China did not sign the Treaty of Versailles. The common dissatisfaction with the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles made Germany actively seek to get close to China, the United States and other non-Versailles countries and try to rebuild its former status as a great power. 1920 In July, the former German Consul General in China, Feng Boqi, came to China as a government representative to negotiate with the China government to restore diplomatic relations and rebuild trade relations between the two countries. The German side indicated that although China did not sign the Treaty of Versailles, Germany would still recognize the provision in Article 128~ 134 of the Treaty that Germany completely gave up the privileges of the former empire in China. 1921On May 20th, China and Germany formally signed the Sino-German Agreement, announcing the restoration of friendly and commercial relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Germany renounced its consular jurisdiction in China and recognized China's principle of tariff autonomy.
Driven by the improvement of political relations, Sino-German economic and trade relations have been restored and developed to a considerable extent. By 1925, German imports from China reached 229 million marks, far exceeding the pre-war level; The export volume was 65438+1800 million marks, which was 90% of the pre-war level, among which the arms trade was the most prosperous. According to the statistics of China Customs, the total value of German weapons shipped to China in 1925 was 13 million marks, accounting for more than half of all foreign weapons imports, and this does not include weapons smuggled and re-exported through third countries. German companies have also won contracts for the construction of some arsenals. Both Kunming Arsenal in Yunnan and Shenyang Chemical Arsenal were designed and built by Germans.
192 1 In September this year, Germany plans to reopen its consulate in Guangzhou. On September 25th, Vice Consul wilhelm wagner paid a courtesy visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen.. During the conversation, Sun Yat-sen raised the issue of cooperation with Germany, hoping to get recognition and support from Germany. Although Wagner has a good impression on Sun Yat-sen and is very interested in his idea of reunifying Germany, he believes: "Considering the overall situation, especially considering the relationship with the Beijing government, we should properly handle this." Bourcy also believes that only unofficial relations can be maintained with Sun Yat-sen's southern regime. Germany also said that it would not provide "official support" for Sun Yat-sen's activities in Germany, such as recruiting consultants and lobbying German entrepreneurs, so as not to cause "misunderstanding admitted by the Beijing government".
During the period of 192 1 ~ 1924, Sun Yat-sen actively formed an alliance with Germany, sent representatives to Germany for lobbying three times, and made representations with three German consuls in Guangdong for many times, but all achieved little results. German officials have never accepted Sun Yat-sen's initiative, but only provided limited support for his economic proposition within an unofficial framework. Although Sun Yat-sen's idea of unifying Germany was not realized, his idea "set the tone for the development of relations with Germany under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, which had a far-reaching historical impact".
Second, Sino-German relations in 1930s
1925 On February 28th, Albert, the first president of Weimar Germany, died of illness. On April 26th, Hindenburg was elected as the second president of Weimar Republic. On August 1928, Weimar Germany announced its recognition of Nanjing National Government. The relationship between China and Germany has entered a new era.
10, max bauer, a former German army colonel, led a 25-member advisory group to visit Nanjing, and was hired by Chiang Kai-shek's government to assist China in its military modernization in a private capacity. The advisory group consists of 25 people, including 10 officers in charge of military training, 6 ordnance logistics officers, 4 police experts and 5 experts in economy, municipal management, railway management, medical care and chemical industry, in order to "help Chiang Kai-shek destroy warlords from all over the world and turn China into a German market".
From 1928, when Bauer came to China, to 1938, when Hitler Germany withdrew all its advisers in China, a total of 135 German military advisers were officially recognized and sent to the Nanjing National Government, not including 8 civilian advisers and many provincial military technical experts. Most of these German military advisers were officers of the Prussian Imperial Army and later became officers of the General Staff of the National Defence Force. Their activities in China are closely related to the interests of German economic and political leading groups, and have played a very important role in restoring the economic and political influence that Germany has lost in China since the Treaty of Versailles.
1933 before Hitler came to power in June, Germany's China policy lacked clear guiding ideology and strategic objectives, so the activities of the military advisory group at that time were not fully integrated with the official policies of the National Defence Force or the German government. Colonel Bauer, the first military adviser, played a great role in the military modernization of the Kuomintang government. At his suggestion, the Nanjing government set up a teaching team, including an infantry team, a heavy weapon team, an artillery team and a communication team, equipped with German weapons and trained by German consultants. This is the embryonic form of the multi-arms modern troops in the Kuomintang army. When the teaching team was first established as a regiment, it was expanded into a division in the 1930 regiment, and then expanded into 87 divisions, 88 divisions and 36 divisions. Not only weapons, but also drums of military bands were provided by Germany, which became the backbone of Chiang Kai-shek's own army.
Bauer not only contributed to the modernization of the Kuomintang army, but also played an important role in the growth of German steel and chemical industries' trade with China. In the advisory group led by Bauer, economic and technical experts occupy the core position. In his "Proposal on Organizing China Army" to Chiang Kai-shek, he pointed out that China "must first have a complete arms industry, transportation, telecommunications, postal services, and even municipal and health facilities, and the lack of any party will hinder the construction of a modern national army". Bauer, as a consultant, had many direct talks with representatives of famous big companies in China, such as German French Chemical Company and Steve Stoffer Syndicate, to discuss the expansion of trade between the two countries, and made the German monopoly consortium directly contact Chiang Kai-shek. 1929 In March, Duisberg, President of the German Industrialists Association and President of the French company, visited China and held talks with Chiang Kai-shek, indicating that German industry is willing to deal directly with the Nanjing government and jointly develop trade between the two countries. At Bauer's suggestion, Chiang Kai-shek sent a China delegation headed by Chen Yi to Germany to inspect politics, military affairs and military technology, and signed intentional contracts with Krupp, Siemens and other big companies to purchase weapons and ammunition worth nearly 654.38 million Deutsche marks.
The economic crisis that began in June 1929 first broke out in the United States. After the war, the United States lent a lot of money to European countries that were in urgent need of economic recovery but lacked funds, and became the world's largest creditor in one fell swoop. In response to the economic crisis, the United States began to withdraw funds from Europe, which shook the economic foundation of Europe. In May, Austria and Germany, which were heavily dependent on American funds, took the lead in the outbreak of the European economic crisis. Previously, Germany and Austria had planned to establish a German-Austrian customs union to jointly cope with the economic crisis, but it was resolutely opposed by France. On may 1 1, the Austrian credit bank, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of Austrian banking business, declared bankruptcy; On July 13, Dart Bank of Daams, one of the three largest banks in Germany, announced its closure. By August 5, all banks in Germany were closed. German domestic workers' movements broke out one after another, Weimar regime was teetering, and extreme political forces appeared one after another. Bruening government is deeply troubled by social problems such as inflation, financial collapse and mass unemployment. During this period, Germany's foreign policy had obvious characteristics of "conservative cooperation and low-key participation". After the September 18th Incident in Japan, it deliberately maintained a neutral attitude. On June 10, 10, German Foreign Minister bernhard Wilhelm von Billow told German Ambassador to the League of Nations Gerhard von Mutius: "In principle, Germany's attitude towards the Manchuria incident should be within the framework of the Washington Nine Nations Convention, and its participation should be minimized."
Since the era of President Albert, Weimar Germany has always adopted an equidistance foreign policy towards China and Japan, unwilling to offend either of them, so as to maximize its own interests. Although the German government carefully remained neutral in international public opinion after the September 18th Incident, and even guided the public to support China's thought through public opinion, at the beginning of 1932, major Japanese newspapers lashed out at German military advisers in China for their participation in the military operations in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression on China1February 18, forcing the German government to please Japan diplomatically.
On March 1932 and 1 day, the Japanese Kwantung Army established the Puppet Manchukuo. Yukichi Kobayashi, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, visited the German Foreign Ministry many times and proposed to establish a memorial hall in Manchuria and the cooperative relationship between the two countries on different occasions. Germany accepted this proposal, but "it will never take any special measures". Obviously, Germany didn't want to offend China, a more economically advantageous Asian partner, by admitting the puppet Manchuria issue. 1930, the total trade volume between Germany and China and Japan was 347.5 million imperial marks and 234 million imperial marks, respectively, and Germany's oil industry relied almost entirely on soybean exports from Manzhouli, China. On September 14, George W. Ji You submitted a memorandum to German Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath, who argued that he could only give a reply after consulting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the matter fell through with the collapse of Babu's cabinet.
President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Prime Minister and Babu as Deputy Prime Minister to form a new cabinet. With Hitler's coming to power, new changes have taken place in Germany's internal affairs and diplomacy. In his autobiographical work Mein Kampf, Hitler proposed that Germany must expand outward in order to win "living space", land and resources for the Aryan nation, and the means of expansion is foreign war. There is no doubt that a war of attrition without strategic thinking like World War I was quite unfavorable to Germany, and Hitler designed a new and different type of war-Blitzkrieg. This kind of war needs to do two things: quickly rearm and isolate the potential enemy countries one by one, and use the temporary military advantage to carry out a short-term divide-and-conquer war against the enemy. Such a war will expand Germany's population and industrial base, enable the German army to gain useful experience and scare potential enemy countries, thus enhancing Germany's strength for the next such war.
In Hitler's strategic conception, both China and Japan occupy a place. As Germany's largest trading partner and supplier of raw materials in the Far East, China is the source of many important strategic resources such as tungsten, antimony, manganese, lead, soybeans and cotton, and also an important market for German industrial products. At the same time, Germany can get a lot of foreign exchange from its trade with China. On the other hand, Japan is an important bargaining chip for Germany to contain Soviet forces and attract British attention in the Far East. The common dissatisfaction between Germany and Japan with the Versailles-Washington system makes Japan a potential ally of Germany. In addition, Hitler's diplomatic focus was mainly on Europe. As long as China and Japan maintain peaceful relations, German relations with these two countries will not be a problem. Therefore, in the early days of Hitler's power, Germany still practiced the Weimar government's "equidistance diplomacy" principle towards China and Japan.
1In the summer of 933, Hans von Seicher, a former German army general, visited China. In April of the following year, he was employed by Nanjing National Government as the general adviser of Chiang Kai-shek's government. Sechet is the chief of staff and commander-in-chief of the German Defence Force. Under the condition that the Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany could only keep 6.5438 million troops, he blessed and reorganized the German Defence Force, and thus won the title of "Father of the Defence Force". Many people, including Churchill, believe that Germany's great disarmament after the war is actually a hidden danger of European security, because it has greatly enhanced the elite of the German army, and Sechet's role in it cannot be underestimated.
Sechet is closely related to the German military, political and economic elites. He handed over the reorganization of China's army to his deputy, Alexander von Falkenhausen, while I devoted myself to military industry and arms trade. I trumpeted the role of weapons in his Proposal for Army Reform (1933) submitted to Chiang Kai-shek on June 30th, but the equipment currently provided by China Arsenal is far from meeting the needs. "With the help of European arms companies,1May, 934, Chiang Kai-shek made a decision to buy only German arms in the future, and authorized Sechet to negotiate with Yu Dawei, director of the Engineering Department of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, to decide the types and quantities of arms to buy. Soon, Sechett introduced Hans Klein, a German arms dealer in China, to Chiang Kai-shek, intending to let him carry out a plan to help China build the army.
1934 65438+1On October 24th, Crane set up a private limited company in Berlin, namely, Hapro (abbreviated as "Handelsgesellschaft fü r industrial le produkte" in German), with a total capital of DM 200,000 and a total investment of DM/kloc-0.90 million. Its main trade goal is to develop trade in weapons and strategic raw materials with China. Long before the cooperation negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek's government, Klein signed the Sino-German Goods Exchange Contract and Jiangqiao Hekou Arsenal Construction Contract with Guangdong warlord Chen, with the value of HK$ 5.4908 million and HK$ 657,000 respectively. In fact, the establishment of Herbru Company was secretly supported by the German Ministry of Military Affairs (later renamed the Ministry of Defence). An indirect evidence is that with the signing of the Dehua credit loan contract, Crane and his partners transferred all the shares of Buhe Building to the Ministry of Military Affairs. In the same year, Germany surpassed Britain, France and Japan to become China's second largest trading partner.
On August 23rd, after four weeks of negotiations, Crane and Kong Xiangxi, the representative of the National Government, secretly signed the Sino-German Implementation Contract for the Exchange of Industrial Products and Mineral Products, and started the barter trade of agricultural products and mineral products and raw materials with Germany in China. However, due to the secret agreement between Chen Henian and Chiang Kai-shek, he was dissatisfied. After the German military department stopped sending arms to the Guangdong authorities at the end of March, China and Germany signed the "Dehua Credit Loan Contract" in Berlin on April 8. The German government gave the German government a credit loan of 654.38 billion marks for goods, and stipulated that the German government would hand over the loan of 654.38 billion marks to Deutsche Bank and the Central Bank of China to carry out the payment business of goods exchange between the two sides. From then on, the Nanjing National Government raised minerals such as tungsten and antimony from the Resources Committee, and the Central Trust Bureau raised agricultural products such as tung oil and raw silk in exchange for a large number of German arms, arsenals and heavy industry equipment.
Sino-German barter trade is of far-reaching significance to Germany. In the border areas after World War I, coal was the only self-sufficient war raw material in Germany. 85% of oil, 80% of iron ore, 70% of copper, 90% of tin, 95% of nickel, 98-99% of tungsten and antimony and 20% of grain come from abroad. With the international disarmament conference and international alliance initiated by Germany at 1933 and 10, Hitler's intention to expand his army and prepare for war became more and more urgent. In order to give Germany the economic endurance that it lacked in the First World War, it is necessary to mobilize the national production capacity and store raw materials in a planned and long-term way to cope with a sudden, lasting and "all-round" war. China's agricultural products and mineral products were exchanged with German industrial products. After the contract was signed, Hitler sent a thank-you letter to Chiang Kai-shek through Sechet, and German Minister of Economy schacht and Defense Minister Bloomberg also sent a congratulatory letter to Chiang Kai-shek and others. Since then, Sino-German relations have entered the so-called "honeymoon period". The British newspaper commented: "Compared with other big countries, China has a closer relationship with Germany, and Germans are the best in economic, political and military relations." In the late 1930s, an official of the British Foreign Office commented on Germany's foreign trade like this:
Germany purchased1000t iron ore from Sweden through accounting settlement to smelt 500t iron. Germany bought 10 tons of tungsten from China by barter and 20 tons of chrome sand from Turkey by settlement. Germany made 500 tons of high-quality steel from these materials without spending a penny in cash. For example, Germany used its own auxiliary raw materials, fuel, electricity, labor and skills to build ten tanks, two turbines and one hundred typewriters. Tanks are put into active service; Germany (because its tanks are almost enough) transferred four tanks of last year's model for export. Two of them were sold to China and two to Turkey; The Germans not only paid the price of tungsten and chromium, but also got ten bundles of cotton and one hundred tons of soybeans. The turbine was sold to Sweden, and there was a surplus after the iron ore price was compensated. Ninety-nine typewriters were sold in Britain for 200 pounds, and the money was used to buy a small amount of raw materials, such as coconut kernels that could not be bought by bookkeeping. In this way, the German army will get ten brand-new tanks to replace four outdated old tanks; German industry got 10 package of cotton, 100 tons of soybeans, a typewriter (trying to save in difficult times) and 200 pounds of coconut kernels, and bought all these things without losing any foreign exchange. It is true that Germany does not need to enjoy Turkish soft candy and China bird's nest soup, because Turkish cotton and China tungsten are more important to Germany. But it added six tanks, which can make 1000 workers have two months' work; Because Sweden wants to charge the price of iron ore, it has to buy German turbines, while Sweden may prefer to buy British turbines.
On the other hand, the close cooperation and exchanges between the Chinese and German governments during this period also contributed to China's preparations for the war of resistance. German military advisory group helped the Kuomintang government to consolidate and build the army, accelerated the pace of military modernization of the Kuomintang government, enhanced the military quality of the Kuomintang army and improved its comprehensive combat capability. On the eve of the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, about 300,000 troops in China were trained and rearmed by German consultants-most of them were under the direct command of Chiang Kai-shek, and the Central Army of China, which was trained by Germany and suggested by Secher, was the most elite. Most of the remaining 176 divisions are only composed of light infantry, and the assembled weapons are only rifles, light machine guns and mortars. In War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, these new troops constitute the main force and backbone of the frontal battlefield against Japan.
In addition, German military advisers directly put forward many useful strategic and tactical suggestions for China's anti-Japanese war, and partly participated in China's war against Japan. Admiral Alexander von Falkenhausen, in particular, has made outstanding contributions to War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. 1935 On August 20th, he wrote "Falkenhausen's Suggestions on Dealing with the Current Situation" and presented it to Chiang Kai-shek, and made suggestions for China's war of resistance. Even when the German government ordered all German consultants in China to return to China in May 1938, he refused to do so until the Hitler government threatened the safety of his family in Germany and left China in July of the same year.
Finally, a large number of German arms exported to China improved the backward situation of China's weapons and equipment to a certain extent and enhanced China's anti-Japanese war strength; Germany also provided machinery, equipment, technology and capital support for the construction of China's heavy industry and national defense industry, which laid a certain material foundation for China's protracted war of resistance.
Third, the transformation of Sino-German relations after the July 7th Incident.
1936 1 1 The signing of the Anti-Communist International Agreement between Germany and Japan once aroused the strong concern and anxiety of the China government. Chiang Kai-shek asked Germany many times through various ways and channels whether there were any secret clauses related to China in the German-Japanese agreement, and was assured by Germany that the German-Japanese agreement was only anti-communist and anti-Soviet, and would not affect Sino-German trade and cooperation. On February 28th, German Defense Minister Bloomberg specially called Chiang Kai-shek to congratulate the peaceful settlement of the Xi Incident. During Kong Xiangxi's visit to Germany in June, he denied to Hitler that there was a threat of communism in China. Hitler told the former that Germany and China were only commercial relations, and that Germany had no political territorial purpose in the Far East, and its only wish was to carry out commercial activities.
1On July 7, 937, the Japanese army created the Lugouqiao Incident and launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. On this important event, Germany did not get any news from Japan in advance, so it was very confused and shocked, and it was impossible to reach an agreement on foreign policy for a while. At first, Germany echoed Britain and the United States and issued a statement accusing Japan of violating the Convention on Non-War, hoping that China and Japan would negotiate and resolve the dispute as soon as possible. On July 20th, the German Foreign Ministry publicly declared its neutrality in the Sino-Japanese War, and privately told Japan "don't expect Germany to approve Japan's actions". On this issue, there are also differences within the German government. Generally speaking, Defense Minister Bloomberg, Foreign Minister Niu Wright and Economy Minister schacht are pro-China, ribbentrop and his ribbentrop office are enthusiastic pro-Japanese, and the interest of the Foreign Policy Department is only focused on Afghanistan. The foreign organization department of the Nazi Party did not even have a clear tendency and policy on this issue. Goering himself sympathized with the Japanese, but he was very interested in the huge profits of trade in China, so he was undecided. As far as Hitler was concerned, he was annoyed that the Japanese went to war with China without warning. Germany is unwilling to support Japan, especially after Chiang Kai-shek expressed his firm determination to resist Japan. Hitler was afraid that favoring Japan would push China into the arms of the Soviet Union, thus enhancing the latter's strength; If the Sino-Japanese war becomes a protracted war, it will undoubtedly reduce Japan's value to Germany, and western countries and the Soviet Union may take action freely in Europe. In addition, Germany does not want to conflict with Britain and the United States prematurely because it supports Japan, so it still hopes that the two sides can resolve the conflict through consultation.
On July 22, Japan once again proposed to Germany to stop arms sales and withdraw its military advisers in China. The German government said that these trade and employment relations are private and the government cannot stop them. German officials told China that the international agreement between Germany and Japan to defend the Communist Party had nothing to do with the Sino-Japanese conflict. On August 6th, schacht told Kong Xiangxi who visited Berlin again that "as long as China and Japan formally declare war, all contracts between China and Germany will remain valid".
/kloc-in August of 0/3, Japan attacked Shanghai, and a full-scale conflict between China and Japan was inevitable. Germany began to realize that the policy of reconciliation was useless. But at this time, in the German cabinet, Niu Wright, Bloomberg and schacht all thought that the time for Germany to launch a world war was not yet ripe, and the time for openly uniting Japan and Italy against Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and France was not yet ripe. Therefore, although Hitler's China policy has been adjusted, he still continues to pursue a neutral policy in the Far East. On August 6th, when Hitler met with Neureiter and Bloomberg, he said that he "insisted on cooperation with Japan in principle", but he would continue to provide weapons to China, and China would pay for the expenses with raw materials and foreign exchange urgently needed by Germany. According to statistics, in the early days of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, about 80% of China's weapons against Japan came from Germany.
On August 2 1927, the Soviet Union took the initiative to conclude the Sino-Soviet Non-aggression Treaty with China, becoming the only country that publicly assisted China in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. After it provided the Chiang Kai-shek government with anti-Japanese aid in material, technology and manpower, Chiang Kai-shek expressed warm welcome and praise to the Soviet government. China's proximity to the Soviet Union made Hitler extremely angry, at the same time, his views on cooperation with Japan were strengthened, because "the Far East issue is not the first priority, and there is no need for Germany to risk supporting China and offending Japan". On September 3rd, Kong Xiangxi wrote directly to Hitler, explaining why China and the Soviet Union concluded a non-aggression treaty, pointing out that this was only the need of China's anti-Japanese strategy, and China would never turn to communism. However, this explanation failed to impress Hitler.
With the prolongation of the war, under the pressure of the situation and international public opinion, Japan attempted to seize China by diplomatic means. 10 10/2 1 day, Japanese Foreign Minister Kōichirō Genba met with German Ambassador to Japan Dixon and expressed his willingness to negotiate with China, hoping that Germany could mediate. Therefore, from the end of 1937 10 to the middle of 1938 10, Catherine Trautmann, the German ambassador to China, ran around between China and Japan as a "messenger". During Thordeman's mediation, Japan put forward so-called peace conditions three times, but at the same time it did not relax its military aggression against China. In addition, the peace conditions proposed by the Japanese government, such as the autonomy of Inner Mongolia, the specialization of North China, and the transfer of Shanghai to international condominium, have seriously damaged China's sovereignty. Instead of expressing any objection, the German government urged China to accept it. 1From October 26th to 29th, Catherine Trautmann met with Kong Xiangxi three times in a row to persuade China to accept the Japanese terms. On February 2, 65438, he personally met with Chiang Kai-shek and persuaded him to surrender. On the other hand, Germany also sent a special envoy to Japan to remind Japan that enough is enough and not to take urgent action to cooperate with Catherine Trautmann's surrender.
However, with Japan's victory on the battlefield, Japan's attitude has changed. After the fall of Shanghai, their initial conditions were unexpectedly agreed by Chiang Kai-shek on February 3, 65438. However, the further victory in Nanking prompted the Japanese to make further demands that China could not accept. The specific terms are as follows:
First, China should abandon the policy of tolerating republicanism and resisting Japan's Manchuria, and cooperate with Japan's Manchuria to jointly implement the policy of preventing communism.
Second, establish demilitarized zones and set up special regimes in necessary areas.
Third, sign a close Japan-China economic agreement.
Article 4: China shall make necessary compensation to Japan.
Before the further talks between Catherine Trautmann and Chiang Kai-shek produced any substantive results, the Japanese side issued an official statement on February 6, 2006, saying that the talks had ended. Tokyo formally thanked Germany for its "mediation" and revoked its recognition of the national government, because Japan established an "interim government" in North China and a "reform government" in Nanjing. Since then, although Japan pretended to put forward the third peace condition in June 5438+the following year 10, Todd's efforts to mediate the Sino-Japanese war have actually failed.
During Thordeman's mediation, German policy has obviously turned to Japan. Hitler hoped that by suppressing China, he would make great sacrifices, partially meet Japan's aggression requirements, end the Sino-Japanese war, and achieve reconciliation between the two countries, thus safeguarding Germany's Far East interests. During the mediation, Japan repeatedly asked Germany to recognize the Puppet Manchuria, withdraw its military advisers in China, and stop providing military supplies to China, but the German government failed to implement it.
After Thordeman's mediation failed, the German government had to choose between China and Japan, which was actually not difficult to make. At this time, the situation in the east and west has changed obviously. On the one hand, in the Far East, the Sino-Japanese war will continue. With the continuous expansion of the Japanese war of aggression against China and the fall of most of China's territory, Germany believes that China's position in the Far East strategy and Germany's economic interests in China have become insignificant. On the contrary, it is increasingly important to further develop economic and political relations with Japan.
On the other hand, in Europe, Hitler held a "leaders' meeting" on1937165438+10.5, asking the generals of the three armies to prepare for the war quickly. Since the implementation of the four-year military expansion plan in September (1936), Germany's armaments have become increasingly powerful. Churchill has long noticed this, he wrote in his memoirs of the Second World War:
According to the figures published by German official materials, the main account expenditure from the end of March 1933 to the end of June 1935 is: 1933 is close to DM 5 billion; 1934 is close to 8 billion marks; 1935 is close to 1 1 billion marks-a total of 24 billion marks, about 2 billion pounds. Look at these figures. The ratio in three years is 5:8: 1 1. These figures give you a very accurate understanding of the common progressive expenditure in the process of all-round development of weapons production.
At the same time, the "friendly relationship" with the Franco regime in Spain enabled Hitler to obtain the strategic raw materials such as copper, tungsten, lead and manganese he needed from Spain. Hitler is ready to expand eastward and start a world war. At this time, the value of Japan is particularly important. Especially on February 5th 1938, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirota summoned Dixon and strongly urged Germany to stop all military cooperation with China, otherwise Japan would consider abolishing the Anti-Communist International Agreement. Therefore, in February 1938, Hitler made a series of adjustments to the German government. Former defense minister Peng Bo was dismissed for marrying a woman with suspicious life. Hitler himself became Secretary of Defense, brauchitsch as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and ribbentrop replaced Niu Wright as Foreign Minister. At this time, all the pro-China factions in the German government, led by Bloomberg and Neuwright, were replaced or excluded, and Hitler cleared all obstacles for his new Far East policy.
On February 23rd, Germany recognized the puppet Manchuria. On April 22nd, Berlin instructed German Ambassador to China Catherine Trautmann to stop working in China and return to Germany immediately. On May 3rd, the German government ordered an arms embargo on China. On February1day, the German government officially ordered all German consultants employed in China to return home, otherwise they would be regarded as treason. On July 5th, all German military advisers left China for home. Sino-German cooperation has come to an end, and relations between the two countries have basically broken down.