Reincarnated as Nikolai II-Chapter 235: The Turning Point (1)

Like any country, France had two main public opinions that divided like the Western political sphere into left and right.

The first was where the heart overcame the head.

Perhaps because the heat of war hadn’t cooled yet, revenge burned stronger than fear, leading to the opinion that they needed to continuously beat Germany when they had the chance to prevent another war.

The other was where the cold head calmed the heart.

No matter how much they beat them up, eventually time would pass and the student would graduate, possibly returning to their alma mater with a sharply honed blade.

While politicians delicately navigated this precarious balance between rational restraint and instinctive retribution, trying to satisfy both camps, the French military establishment and right-wing factions had already planted their flag firmly in their chosen ground. They had made their decision with unwavering conviction, leaving little room for diplomatic nuance or moderate positions.

"We reduced it from 226 billion marks to 132 billion marks by half and they won’t pay?"

"We’ve already lost our industrial zones and can’t even provide pensions for veterans!"

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"The factories stopped to pay with raw materials? Then we should search those factories to verify!"

From the moment the League of Nations, which was supposed to collect and distribute these reparations, became nominal, France intended to resolve the issue on their own.

When Poincaré’s plan to impose economic sanctions with Britain was blocked, he immediately ordered military action.

"General Alphonse Caron. Take an infantry division right now and occupy the Saar region. And General de Gaulle."

"Yes, Marshal."

"Deploy troops to advance into the Rhineland and occupy the Ruhr."

Foch took action as soon as he received political permission.

So would occupying the Ruhr industrial region, Germany’s heart, help France’s economy?

Definitively, this would not help France’s reconstruction.

While military action could be justified under the Treaty of Versailles, this would clearly invite international criticism and above all, halt Germany’s economy.

No matter how sweet the reparations were, an economic crisis in a neighboring major power could not be good for France.

However, such economic reasons were unimportant to Foch.

’Go ahead and resist. Raise your army and take up arms again. Then I’ll bring my tanks straight from the Rhineland and sweep everything away.’

While Britain chose welfare over growth, investing in social programs and domestic reconstruction, France had already chosen security over growth - a decision forged in the fires of three devastating invasions across a single century. The scars of war ran deeper in French soil than British.

This Ruhr occupation demonstrated that choice with crystal clarity. Every soldier positioned, every checkpoint established, every factory controlled showed France’s iron resolve. And it proved that France’s national security ultimately meant Germany’s downfall - there could be no true safety while their eastern neighbor retained the capacity for war.

Foch and Clemenceau didn’t raise the army without any thought. Years of careful planning and strategic assessment had gone into this moment. They had calculated every risk, weighed every potential response, and found the scales tipped decisively in their favor.

Britain would only voice nominal opposition, their protests barely rising above diplomatic whispers. Their own population was too focused on domestic concerns to support intervention. And America had withdrawn from European affairs, retreating behind its ocean barriers with a determination to avoid entanglement in Old World conflicts.

The Russian Empire would not intervene outside the Slavic world, their attention fixed firmly on their traditional spheres of influence. And with recent friction with Italy over colonial ambitions and Adriatic influence, they wouldn’t help Germany if they didn’t want to add France to that list of deteriorating relationships. The diplomatic chessboard was perfectly arranged.

Now was the opportunity, with Germany cornered both militarily and diplomatically.

"But Marshal, if all the Ruhr factories stop, won’t we end up not receiving reparations anyway?"

"Marshal Pétain, that’s precisely the point. Having their factories actually stop and being unable to pay reparations."

"...Looks like we need to prepare for a long-term occupation."

If they’re going to beat them up anyway, why not shatter every bone below the pelvis and cripple them?

Recovery? Revenge? Those require being alive first.

"If they pay like this, we can hold them accountable for deliberately neglecting reparations, and if they can’t pay, we can extend the occupation until they do."

Foch hesitated no longer.

==

The collapsed Ottoman Empire was reborn as a republic in exchange for transferring all strait sovereignty to Russia. Continue your journey on novelbuddy

Italy raised its youngest Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, who declared territorial expansion by advocating Spazio vitale, the origin of Lebensraum.

Britain had no time to look elsewhere with the Irish Civil War, control of Egypt, and Gandhi’s resistance movement.

After the Ruhr occupation, Germany reached unprecedented hyperinflation, printing trillion-mark banknotes.

And I...

I had not yet intervened in this predictable flow of history.

Since the Empire survived the Great War, Russia had not projected power abroad except for organizing the Balkans.

This was natural, if natural. My chosen purpose was Pan-Slavism slightly expanded into national self-determination.

The Slavic peoples had already formed their sphere of influence, and we succeeded in playing king even in the Balkans through active internal interference.

With Pan-Slavism’s foundation already complete, why would the Empire strive for further expansion?

"It was from ’17, wasn’t it? From the moment victory was certain that year, I’ve only thought about maintaining this country."

Looking back, it was undeniably a self-limiting thought, but truly back then I believed it was the best option.

Because I thought if we went one step beyond Pan-Slavism, the Empire would become the Soviet Union.

By becoming the Soviet Union here, I don’t mean a revolution occurring.

It means the possibility of the Empire taking the position of the original timeline’s Soviet Union the moment it touches non-Slavic peoples beyond the Slavs.

The Soviet Union - surrounded by enemies on all sides, playing only with its followers, that half-century of isolation, the nation with Cold War trauma. I had no intention of letting that history unfold.

"The Soviet Union began facing containment as soon as it demonstrated its power in World War II."

The reason the Soviet Union made enemies of the whole world wasn’t because they were Reds.