The wrangling between the Russians and the Austro-Hungarian Empire continued. There was no helping it—the sums involved were simply too enormous, and neither side was willing to let go. The United Kingdom, France, and Bulgaria mediated from the middle, but with everyone holding different positions, they could not force either side to make concessions.
On October 30, 1917, the Paris Peace Conference reopened negotiations over the German question. French Prime Minister Clemenceau once again reiterated France's proposals for dealing with Germany. At their core, the same three points remained unchanged:
1. Disarm the Germans and forbid them from possessing an army;
2. Dismember Germany and split it into four, including France recovering Alsace and Lorraine, moving France's border eastward to the Rhine River, and merging the German provinces on the Rhine's left bank into an independent state;
3. The German government must pay 800 billion gold marks in war reparations.
France's other demands could all be said to serve these three points, yet these very three points were unacceptable to the British. The meeting fell into deadlock from the very start.
It was not only Britain and France that had reached a standstill. Other nations also found themselves deadlocked over conflicts of interest in many areas—for example, the Far East!
There was no helping it. Too many countries were seeking reparations from Germany, so naturally their interests clashed in countless ways. Some of those conflicts even concerned core interests. It was clearly impossible to sacrifice German interests in exchange for mutual support of one another's demands, followed by a trade of benefits. Great powers and small nations had never been equal!
Konstantin knew this could not go on. They were all heads of state; they could not possibly keep throwing themselves into the Paris Peace Conference forever. There were still