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Background


The victory of the Central Powers in 1919 changed the balance of power in continental Europe in a dramatical way. The UK however, with American support, opted for a parallel negotiation which produced some advantages for them which preserved its worldwide supremacy, like the handover of most of the German colonies or the British limitation imposed to the German navy.

Of course these generous German concessions to the Brits were not for free: the UK and the US did not oppose the creation of the Central European Confederation (CEC or Mitteleuropa) and thus the former allies broke apart, as France and Italy accused the UK of treason.

Germany even conceded, in an apparent goodwill gesture, to celebrate a referendum in Alsace-Lorraine. Rigged or not, the pro-Mitteleuropean side won by 72%; anyway, France did not accept the results and moreover, the German had previously added some occupied territories like Longwy or Belfort. In Italy, some territories also remained occupied after the armistice.

The former Empires decided in the Compromise of Stuttgart (1920) to abolish their former structures, while the Hohenzollerns retained the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburgs the Grand Duchy of Austria. Most of the minor entities were also abolished; the free cities like Hamburg became autonomous cities inside Prussia and the minor Thurigian states formed a Swiss-like confederation between them.

Thus, in May 1921 twenty-one states signed the Treaty of Salzburg, thus creating the first Central European Confederation. Finland and Ukraine, initially intended to join, finally got only an associated status. Other countries like the Netherlands (1923), Switzerland (1928) and Denmark (1932) also got this status during the following years.

The financial crisis of the 1930s triggered further steps in a higher unification, especially with the adoption of the Central European Mark (CEM) in 1934. But the increasing unification of the Central European sphere was not welcome by their former enemies. France and Italy wanted to resume war with the CEC, but the UK did not support them.

The Soviet Union suffered a lot of internal turmoil for many years and avoided any kind of international conflict. However, by the late 1930s it has recovered most of its military capacity and expressed increasing hostile intentions towards the CEC.

By 1940, a solid anti-CEC alliance was already formed between France, Italy and USSR as main powers, with both Serbia and Greece publicly supporting them. There was just needed a simple excuse for resuming the war, the World War 2.

Map of Europe in 1940

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