After cutting that private deal with the Americans, Crown Prince Wilhelm finally let out a sigh of relief.
Out of the three big powers in the Entente, he’d already locked down the U.S. and Britain. Only France was left.
But France and Germany were sworn enemies — the bad blood between them ran way too deep for any kind of reconciliation. So he wasn’t gonna waste his time on the French.
With America and Britain in his corner, that was enough. If the French didn’t like it, let them try to come at him.
He couldn’t beat the whole Entente coalition, sure. But just France? That he could handle.
Still, with millions of Entente troops still sitting on the front lines, now wasn’t the time to pick a fight with the French.
If he spooked the whole coalition and they rallied together to invade German soil, everything would go up in smoke.
Britain, France, America, Russia — plus Italy that flipped sides, and those little Japanese bastards taking advantage of the chaos.
All of ’em needed to go on the list. Once he built up enough strength, he’d deal with them one by one.
For now, just lay low and grow. Don’t make a move unless absolutely sure of victory — otherwise he’d end up like the Führer.
Compared to the Americans’ restraint, Japan — another rising power — had way bigger ambitions.
Not long after World War I broke out, Japan used its alliance with Britain as an excuse to declare war on Germany.
Then they sent troops to seize Germany’s colonies in China’s Jiaodong Peninsula, plus a bunch of island territories in the Pacific.
Since the Beiyang government later also declared war on the Central Powers, they were technically Japan’s ally.
So after the war, Japan was supposed to hand those German colonies in Shandong back to the Chinese government.
But Japan? Once they swallow something, they don’t spit it back out.
To grab Shandong and use the Jiaodong Peninsula as a springboard to swallow all of China, the Japanese government cut secret deals with Britain, France, and Russia — bribing and buying off each government to back Japan’s claims after the war.
So at the Paris Peace Conference, Britain and France ignored the Chinese delegates’ fierce objections and unilaterally decided Japan would inherit Germany’s privileges in Shandong.
That decision made the Japanese happy as hell — but it lit a fire under the Chinese people.
When the news hit China, waves of students, workers, and citizens flooded the streets — protesting, striking, boycotting Japanese goods.
But China was way too weak back then. They had zero say on the international stage.
Britain and France couldn’t feel their anger. Even if they knew, they didn’t give a damn.
After multiple protests and failed attempts to meet with British and French leadership, the Chinese delegation stormed out of the Paris Peace Conference in fury and started packing to go home.
But the night before they were set to leave, an unexpected guest knocked on their door.
"Sir, you said you’re from where?"
"Germany!"
Ribbentrop’s expression didn’t change at all — not even slightly offended by their attitude.
"But Germany already lost the war..."
Wang Zhengting, a delegate from the Southern military government, couldn’t help muttering.
"Losing doesn’t stop us from doing business with your country. In fact, it’s because we lost that this deal can even happen!"
The Chinese delegates were confused by that statement, all of them mulling over what he meant.
Lu Zhengxiang — head of the delegation and Foreign Minister of the Beiyang government — caught on fast and asked:
"What exactly do you want to trade with us?"
"Rice, flour, eggs, tea — agricultural products. Tungsten, antimony, tin, mercury, bismuth, molybdenum — minerals. Raw silk, raw cotton, hides, wool, licorice — industrial materials. Your country has tons of what we need, and we have what you need!"
Lu and the others’ eyes lit up at that.
China desperately needed foreign currency to buy advanced weapons, production equipment, and finished industrial goods.
But their industrial base was weak as hell. Their exports were basically all grain, minerals, and raw materials — they couldn’t produce higher-value industrial products to save their lives.
The problem was, raw materials didn’t sell for much. Old-school industrial powers like Britain and France had massive colonial empires — anything they needed, they just stripped it straight from their colonies. Their demand was limited.
So China’s annual foreign trade volume was pitifully low — customs revenue was even lower than it was under the Qing Dynasty.
So when a big buyer like Germany suddenly showed up, they were thrilled.
But then the Chinese delegates’ faces clouded over with hesitation:
"We’ve got all that stuff. But what currency are you planning to settle in? Just so you know — we don’t accept your marks."
Even though they’d walked out of the Paris Peace Conference, they’d been there long enough to know exactly how harsh the treaty the Entente was drafting would be on Germany!
The defeated Germany wasn’t just losing huge chunks of territory — they had to pay the Entente 132 billion gold marks in reparations. That’s about 96,000 tons of gold.
That number was so big most people couldn’t even wrap their heads around it.
The delegates did the math against the Boxer Protocol reparations and found Germany’s war reparations were 300 times what the Qing Dynasty had been forced to pay!
With that kind of debt hanging over their heads, the Germans couldn’t pay it back even if they sold their underwear.
So the Chinese didn’t think Germany had any money left to buy anything.
"Don’t worry about that. We’re not using marks. We’re using dollars."
Dollars?
The delegates blinked. Where the hell was a defeated Germany gonna get dollars?
Unless...
They couldn’t help but think back to the conditions President Wilson had put on the table a few days ago.
The delegates exchanged glances and quietly compared notes.
These were all veteran diplomats — they could easily piece together what the guy had just "accidentally" let slip. But it wasn’t their business. They didn’t need to know how the Germans were getting dollars.
As long as the Germans could actually get dollars, the deal could go through.
Because back then, the dollar was literally called "gold dollars" — under the gold standard, you could exchange dollars for actual gold.
At this point, China was an agricultural and resource country, and Germany was an industrial one. Their economies were a natural match.
Even without dollars as the settlement currency, they could just barter directly — trade would still flow fine.
Pulling out dollars was just to put the Chinese at ease.
Besides sending Ribbentrop to make contact with China, Crown Prince Wilhelm also wanted to reach out to South American countries — and even the Soviets to the east. Those places were loaded with natural resources and would be ideal partners for Germany.
Industrial development needs tons of resources, and Germany was a resource-poor country.
After losing so much territory and all their overseas colonies, the Germans couldn’t get cheap resources easily anymore. They had to find resource-rich countries to partner with.
Britain and France were out of the question — sure, their colonies had everything.
But buying raw materials from them meant handing them a chokehold. If relations soured down the road, they could squeeze Germany’s throat and its industry would collapse overnight.
Germany was definitely gonna flip the table and tear up the Treaty of Versailles in the future.
So they had to cut their dependence on Britain and France as much as possible.
That way, when war finally broke out, the negative impact on Germany would be minimized.
But then again — partnering with the Soviets came with huge risks too. Whether Germany launched Operation Barbarossa or the Soviets pulled off Operation Thunderstorm, war between them seemed inevitable.
Once that war started, the Soviets would cut off supplies to Germany. Other materials could be managed, but oil? That was a death sentence.
Without oil, German tanks and planes couldn’t move. Their military power would take a massive hit.
So you can’t blame the Führer for charging into the frozen wasteland of Russia — without oil, you’re done.
Japan’s ambitions didn’t just stir up Chinese resistance — they also set off alarm bells across the ocean in America.
From that point on, the Americans started treating Japan as their main threat in the Pacific.
While pouring resources into the Atlantic Fleet to compete with the European powers, they also started beefing up the Pacific Fleet to counter the threat of the Japanese Combined Fleet.