Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 129: Extra
Subtitle of this chapter: To defend against the left, you must protect the right.
At the end of March 1921, Mr. Yuan Yanshu published a signed political commentary article entitled "Beware of the Danger of Germany's Communism" in The Washington Post.
The article elaborated in detail that the Weimar Republic at the time was facing a great risk of communist revolution.
If the Weimar government and the international community did not pay attention and take precautions, a second Soviet state would appear in Europe.
At that time, the free world will have to fight a life-and-death struggle with the red country.
In the article, he also pointed out that if America did not help Germany, it would likely face the risk of default. This problem must be resolved immediately, otherwise it would hinder the gold standard system that America was preparing to implement.
Although some people at the time denounced it as alarmist, "Beware of the Danger of Germany's Communism" soon attracted the attention of knowledgeable people.
The most important person among them was Mr. Charles Evans, then Secretary of State of the United States.
During his tenure as Secretary of State, Hughes formulated foreign policy based on realist considerations. He dealt with international affairs based on national interests and sought to maintain the United States' leadership in the world after World War I more from the perspective of economic interests.
As an expansionist with a global vision, Hughes believed that foreign policy could only serve and reflect national interests.
At that time, isolationism was once again spreading in the United States. The European war had cast too many shadows on Americans, so much so that the people were unwilling to see the United States get too involved in international affairs and assume military obligations.
On the other hand, the United States, which made a lot of money from the war, saw its national strength increase, while the European powers were weakened to varying degrees. This increase and decrease in strength allowed the United States to dramatically improve its international status and have a greater say in international affairs.
At this time, Hughes abandoned the policy of isolation despite opposition from domestic isolationists and became more deeply involved in international affairs.
The most significant diplomatic move during his tenure was the Washington Conference held in late 1921, and another important measure was the "Hughes Plan" for war reparations against Germany.
The Harding administration initially adopted a policy of non-intervention regarding German reparations, but after Mr. Yuan's reminder, they soon realized that non-intervention was not an option.
The European war made the United States leap from a debtor country to the largest creditor country at that time.
European countries owed a large amount of war debt, but they were unable to repay it.
Countries like Britain and France had to obtain war reparations from Germany before they could pay their debts to the United States.
Mr. Yuan pointed out incisively that America’s debt actually came from Germany’s reparations.
In the article he said that America's prosperity depended greatly on the resolution of the economic problems of European countries, and the key to the latter was the issue of reparations.
Solving the debt problem is not only related to Europe's security, but is also closely related to the economic development of the United States.
In the final analysis, saving Germany is saving America itself!
This wise and enlightening statement has profoundly influenced the economic and diplomatic relations between the United States, Germany and other European countries.
It also made German conservatives praise William II's Chinese secretary and believe that he was a good friend of the German people.
On August 1, 1922, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a note to the six Allied Powers including France and Italy.
That is the famous "Balfour Note", which stated that Britain was "ready to renounce all future rights to reparations from Germany and all demands for payment of war debts. This renunciation is part of a general plan...by which this great question can be dealt with as a whole."
The implication is that the United States is being asked to join in the effort to abandon war debts.
Against this background, Hughes proposed the Hughes Plan at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association held in New Haven at the end of 1922.
This plan contained two elements: first, the question of German reparations should be handled by a committee of financial experts who would not bear official political responsibility;
Instead, American experts are allowed to work with the committee in a private capacity, and the U.S. government does not directly participate in the committee's work.
He took two major measures. First, he prohibited Americans from lending to countries and citizens that failed to repay their debts. Second, he tried his best to persuade governments to re-establish a reparations payment plan based on Germany's ability to repay.
This is the "Dawes Plan", and Mr. Yuan Yanshu is also one of the American experts on the committee.
On January 14, 1924, Yuan addressed a rally in Paris, saying that the European continent would face disaster unless "everyone respected common sense." He also warned people to beware of the national arrogance of those who had struck Germany in the recent war.
He also accused them of "having evil intentions and being blinded by greed" and "taking advantage of others' misfortunes and adding insult to injury". The French representative was so angry that he almost walked out of the meeting. On April 8, the Dawes Commission submitted and published its report to the Reparations Commission in Paris.
The French and British governments expressed support for the plan submitted by Dawes and his special team to the Allies.
In an open letter published in Paris, German officials also called the proposal "a practical basis for a prompt resolution of the reparations question." On June 6, the German National Assembly accepted the Dawes report by 247 votes to 183.
On July 16, the Allied International Conference to discuss the Dawes Plan opened in London.
The US government broke the practice of sending only observers to attend the Allied Conference in the past few years and sent Ambassador to Britain Kellogg to formally attend the meeting.
The final protocol was adopted on August 16.
On August 30, the German Imperial Bank became independent from the government and adopted a new mark currency.
On September 1, Berlin will make the first payment under the Dawes Plan.
But by 1928, Germany, which was burdened with heavy economic burden, demanded that the Dawes Plan be revised, the total amount of reparations and the payment period be re-determined, foreign financial supervision be abolished, and the troops stationed in the Rhineland be withdrawn.
In 1929, Germany used the excuse of an economic crisis, saying that its finances were on the verge of bankruptcy and it was unable to implement the Dawes Plan.
From February 11 to June 7 of the same year, representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries formed a committee chaired by American financial expert Owen Young. However, Mr. Yuan Yanshu refused to serve as an advisor to the committee again.
Later historians believed that it was his absence that led to the failure of the "Young Plan".
A side effect of the Young Plan was that the German Nationalist People's Party (DNVP) and the Nationalist Defense League (Stahlhelm) established a so-called "National Executive Committee for Popular Opposition to the Young Plan" on July 9, 1929. The leader of this movement was the new chairman of the German Nationalist People's Party, Alfred Hugenberg.
This man was a Pan-Germanist. He had previously worked as a manager under Krupp and was then the head of a huge news and film concern.
He held considerable sums of money, had influence in many factories and enterprises, controlled most of the press groups and was also the owner of Ufa, Germany's largest film company.
He and his accomplices believed that they could use Hitler as a capable "drummer" to achieve their own goals, and they also believed that they could subdue him.
In this campaign, both sides launched a large-scale offensive against the Weimar Republic.
Hugenberg's press also worked closely with Hitler, providing him with a widely read daily newspaper that published Hitler's various views in great detail.
The alliance with the German nationalists freed the Nazi Party from its isolation, and Hitler made a lot of money from the heavy industrial groups in Rhine-Westphalia.
Moreover, he could continue to count on the Hugenberg press to help him with publicity.
Later generations who read the history to this point can't help but sigh: There is one less Yuan Yanshu, and one more Hitler.
——Excerpt from "Yuan Yan in the 1920s"
