Romanian Eagle

The news of Greece's defeat had a huge impact on Yugoslavia, as well as on other countries, except that Britain and France had the greatest impact.

Churchill, who had been Prime Minister for less than a month, hurriedly boarded the car. With a tired face, he still had a conversation in Paris with French Prime Minister Daladier.

"What's the matter, Your Excellency Prime Minister, did the negotiations with France go well?"

Halifax, the Foreign Secretary who greeted him in the same car, asked.

Churchill rubbed his sore eyes and answered. "It's not going well. The French did not agree to incorporate the Syrian region into our Middle East command system. They believe that their forces are enough to stick to the coast. It's just that on the Libyan issue, they agreed to cooperate with our country's pace."

Speaking of which, Churchill couldn't help complaining. "What's the use of this, our forces in the Middle East need to prioritize securing Egypt rather than attacking Libya, where oil is vital to the Axis powers, but we don't have much to do right now."

Having said this, Churchill thought that the Air Minister Sinclair was preparing a plan, and skipped this. "Now our country needs troops everywhere, but there is a shortage everywhere. If only this damn war could break out three years later."

Churchill said here, suddenly thought of something and asked Halifax. "By the way, how did the United States respond to my country's request?"

"Not yet. At present, President Roosevelt cannot approve the Lend-Lease proposal at all, because there are too many opposition voices, and his Congress does not approve it."

Churchill didn't feel the blow from Halifax's words, but he continued to speak. "Then keep talking, we must not let the United States stay out of the game, they should have come out sooner. This is not the last big war. There is not so much time to prepare."

It's true that after the outbreak of World War II, he had plans to bring the United States into the field, but he was the Secretary of the Navy at that time and had no right to dictate foreign affairs. After he came to power, he became more eager to seek American aid. Because the addition of a Romania will put more pressure on Britain and France, they also urgently need a weighty ally.

The fact that the three countries of Sudro divided Poland also told them that the Soviet Union could no longer become an ally to declare war on the Axis, so there was only one choice for the United States.

At this time, America's foreign attitude was also changing, and its foreign policy was gradually changing from isolation to intervention. It's just that Churchill thinks that the change of US policy is too slow, so he intends to speed up the change of US foreign policy.

In fact, Chamberlain had already done this before. In June,

The British King George and his wife visited the United States and were warmly welcomed by the American people.

And US President Roosevelt is also promoting a change in foreign policy, because he has long foreseen changes in the situation in Europe.

From 1935 to 1937, three consecutive neutrality laws were promulgated. The main content of the first neutrality bill stipulates that an embargo on arms, ammunition, and military supplies will be imposed on all countries that have delivered it, and it will be valid for 6 months. The bill also shows that the US foreign policy is strictly neutral and implements a policy of isolation.

And Roosevelt was not satisfied, and he continued to demand greater presidential dispositions. After a month of discussions, the second neutrality bill was introduced. In addition to the above, a clause prohibiting the granting of loans was added, while also denying the president's free disposition of the arms trade.

And Roosevelt did not give up, he later made another request, and this time it was rejected, maintaining the previous terms. Just added a cash and carry clause.

This was mainly due to the major European countries, the major trade rivals of the United States at that time, and the mainstream idea of ​​the United States at that time was to make a fortune in the war with their armed forces.

This naturally made Roosevelt very dissatisfied, so he first delivered a speech on epidemic prevention, unnamed condemning the aggression of certain countries. At the same time, warn against the illusion that the United States can stay out of the picture.

And later with the annexation of the Czech Republic by Germany, Roosevelt even said in Congress. "The current neutrality law may help the invading state against the victim state."

With Germany's declaration of war on Poland, after studying the strengths of the two sides, the attitude of the United States began to change. Especially after the Romanian air raid on Alexandria, the attitude of the United States was even more relaxed, and Roosevelt took this opportunity to promote the revision of the Neutrality Law.

In fact, Roosevelt had intervened in arms sales before. After Germany annexed Czechoslovakia, Britain and France also began preparatory work for the war. The French government once requested the United States to order 600 aircraft in early 1939, and requested an expedited order. President Roosevelt personally approved the order and lowered the loan price, so France placed a second large order.

At the same time, Roosevelt put pressure on the military leaders to provide the British with the strategic supplies necessary for the war, so that the British could fight against the Dro League. He ordered the Department of the Army and the Navy to "whole boxes" and hand over all available weapons and equipment to private companies, which would then be sold to Britain through them.

It's just that this kind of assistance does not satisfy Churchill, the large warship that Britain lacks most now. Because of the loss of the Mediterranean fleet, the detour distance of ships has increased by nearly 70%, reducing the efficiency of British and Asian transportation.

The current shortage of British and French warships made Churchill especially want to lease warships from the United States. To this end, he proposed to exchange islands for warships. It intends to exchange 4 US battleships and 2 aircraft carriers for 6 islands including the Bahamas and Jamaica plus 300 million US dollars in marketable bonds and precious metals.

Facing Churchill's proposal, Roosevelt was stunned. Although the United States is making money from all aspects, he is not optimistic at all about selling its own warships, especially the large warships it uses, to the United Kingdom.

Although he very much wanted to make this a success and help the British make up for the loss of the Mediterranean warships. But reason told him that the chance of success in this matter was very low. Because this is too much stimulus for the current United States and can't stand it, because the American people are not even prepared at all.

Sure enough, after the British proposal was handed over to the Parliament, it immediately caused an uproar. Faced with the British proposal, these parliamentarians rejected it without hesitation.

Because although the isolation has subsided, most of the people and public opinion are still not ready, and they dare not agree to such a proposal. Because the sale of warships represents too much political significance, the United States is not ready for the end.

Although rejected this time, Churchill will not give up, and he will think of other ways to drag the United States into the water.