Time Slip Reiwa Japan

080 - Yugoslav Conflict - 1

"In thy breast are the stars of thy fate."

- Schiller

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The development of jet fighter aircraft marked the starting point for enhanced cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union. The issue that arose thereafter was the distance between the two countries. It wasn't so much a physical distance as it was in terms of logistics. In fact, with the establishment of the Third Reich in their territorial regions, Germany and the Soviet Union did share borders. However, since it had only been two years since they started sharing borders, a comprehensive transportation network, including roads and railways, had not yet been established to facilitate the exchange of large numbers of people and goods. Both countries were allocating budgets for the development of transportation networks, so it was expected that the problem would eventually be resolved, even if it took some time. However, changes in the international situation began to undermine this relaxed attitude.

It was the withdrawal of Germany from the League of Nations and the economic sanctions (blockade) imposed on Germany under American leadership.

With domestic instability *1 and frequent armed conflicts with neighboring League of Nations member countries, Germany was actively selling weapons to China. In response, the League of Nations demanded Germany to stop doing that. Of course, since Germany had already withdrawn from the League of Nations, it refused the demand. Consequently, the Security Council instructed all League of Nations member countries to impose unlimited economic sanctions on all items, except humanitarian ones, until Germany accepted the demand to stop selling weapons.

This situation posed a challenge for both Germany and the Soviet Union. Even the Soviet Union, as a League of Nations member, had no choice but to comply with the instructions, at least on the surface. In bilateral discussions, it was decided that military supplies and technology exchange would continue in the future, and they also contemplated how to deal with this situation.

For example, there was a jointly developed fighter aircraft on the verge of reaching the flight stage, although it had different names. If the League of Nations Security Council raised it as an issue, it was decided that they would argue that it was similar to someone else's design because it was made using jointly researched technology, and although separate, it was inevitable that they would resemble each other. However, even if they claimed to have stopped the sale of non-humanitarian goods such as military supplies, if the actual transportation routes were monitored, it would still be a problem.

The border between Germany and the Soviet Union was short, with few railways and roads. Certainly not enough for the League of Nations Security Council to consider it easily monitorable. Germany and the Soviet Union had to engage in finding a solution to this challenge.

. . .

East European Treatment

The largest country straddling both Germany and the Soviet Union was Poland, but both countries deemed it impossible to bring Poland into their alliance. They chose to form solidarity against Germany with France, and an agreement (alliance) against the Soviet Union with the Siberian Republic, a nation in collaboration with Japan. Both countries believed that trying to persuade Poland with sweet words was impossible, and manipulating Polish public opinion would also be difficult. Therefore, their target was the nations in the region centered around the Balkans, south of Germany and the Soviet Union.

Nations like Yugoslavia and Bulgaria had already fallen under the influence of Germany for a long time, so it was believed that it would be relatively easy for them to join (be annexed) the grand alliance organized by Germany through simple public opinion manipulation. As for Romania, a right-wing anti-Semitic political party held the dominant power, and although it was a member of the League of Nations, it adopted a pro-German stance. There was a recognition that it wouldn't be difficult to bring Romania into the fold as well.