Reiwa Chemist Yōko Takatsukasa Reincarnation: Saving Japan with Plastic Material

The Missing Golden Goose

Here is the next part, as requested (the Ottoman Turks are not mentioned, but this is because they are not relevant to Japanese history).

- Toshitsugu Utei

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With all of the Central Powers having either signed an armistice or surrendered, negotiations for a peace treaty were reopened in Versailles, France.

"The damage that our country (France) has suffered from Germany in this war is immeasurable! Germany must be made to compensate all of it!"

"A country that uses barbaric weapons such as poison gas in violation of the Hague Convention on Land Warfare should be crushed completely and never allowed to recover."

France, which had been unilaterally trounced by Germany and had come close to having its capital occupied, and Russia, which had suffered great damage from poison gas, demanded harsh retaliatory measures against Germany. Japan and Britain objected to this.

"There is a Japanese saying that goes, 'Going too far is the same as not going far enough.' If we try to punish Germany too much, they will hold a grudge against us for generations and eventually try to overthrow us (the Allies) at all costs. If that happens, a tragedy even greater than this war will occur."

"Perhaps this saying has been lost in your country, which burned everything down during the French Revolution, but here in Europe there is a children's story called The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, which originated in Germany. Do you want the goose meat more than the golden eggs?"

Japan emphasized the danger of a cycle of revenge leading to destruction, while Britain emphasized Germany's ability to pay. John Maynard Keynes, a British economic authority, estimated that Germany's maximum payment capacity was "4 billion pounds at best." He wanted to prevent France and Russia, whose demands far exceeded this amount, from gradually squeezing out Japan and Britain's share.

Russia, on the other hand, was also desperate. The country's finances were strained by war costs, the people were groaning under heavy taxes, and the flames of revolution were beginning to smolder again. They needed money to put out the fire before it burned down the country.

In the end, the main items of reparations were as follows:

Germany

- Wilhelm II abdicates.

- Cession of East Prussia to Russia.

- Cession of colonies facing the Pacific Ocean north of the equator to Japan, and colonies facing the Pacific Ocean south of the equator to Great Britain.

- Pays reparations to Russia, France, and Great Britain.

- Assumes Japan's foreign debts sold to Britain between January 1903 and April 1915

- German companies provide free technical guidance and technology to Japanese, British, French, and Russian companies.

- Provides submarine technology and know-how to Britain free of charge.

Austria-Hungary

- Franz Joseph I abdicates.

- Cession of the plains of Galicia and Lodomeria, excluding the city of Krakow, to Russia.

- Provides submarine technology and know-how to Japan free of charge.

- Shares the cost of Serbia's reconstruction with Bulgaria.

Bulgaria

- Makes Serbia a protectorate.

- Shares the cost of Serbia's reconstruction with Austria-Hungary.

Bulgaria alone seems to have the terms of a victorious country, but this is because Russia strongly opposed giving Serbia to Austria-Hungary, and a compromise was reached to give Serbia to Bulgaria, a country of the same Slavic ethnicity. It was Russia that instigated Serbia to start the war in the first place, and since Serbia had been occupied by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria throughout its territory, it was necessary to make a reasonable ruling.

Many historians believe that this was when Japan prepared for the "final decisive battle," and highly praise the skill of Lieutenant General Hiromichi Takatsukasa, Chief Military Attache to the Imperial Japanese Army, who worked hard to induce this outcome.

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So, I tried summarizing it like this. While France and Russia are plundering tangible assets, Japan and Britain seem to be receiving technology and know-how. Although I didn't describe specific amounts of compensation, it's significantly less than OTL, so it's safe to say that extremist groups are unlikely to emerge.

By the way, that one Corporal should have avoided inhaling poison gas. It's fortunate his voice didn't become hoarse.

- Toshitsugu Utei