18th century total war

Chapter 285 The Third Anti-French Alliance

"With Li Wei's mercenary and unscrupulous way of doing things, there is a high probability that he will reach a strategic alliance with the Ottoman Empire.

At that time, the Tsar of the Russian Empire will become the most loyal ally of Great Britain! "

The foreign minister on the side said with a smile.

"Perhaps, Paul I of the Russian Empire wanted to use this method to pull Austria and Prussia into the water and form a new anti-French alliance together.

After all, the expansion of the French Empire and Li Wei's humble status as a tyrant were very disgusted by Paul I. "

Prime Minister Pete said meaningfully.

The smoothness of the British diplomatic work this time is inseparable from the cooperation of Paul I. You must know that many nobles and generals in the Russian Empire opposed the plan to expand the army by 200 million because it was simply unrealistic!

The Russian Empire is quite satisfied if it can support an army of 100 million!

It's not that the Russian Empire doesn't have enough soldiers, but it doesn't have enough money!

To this end, Paul I also promulgated the Spoils of War Act, which stopped paying military salaries to ordinary Russian serf troops, and allowed them to obtain 100% of all spoils of war during the war as personal items.

This law is nothing to the low-level soldiers of the Russian Empire. After all, they have never seen military pay. The so-called military pay has always stayed on paper data, and it is an additional income for noble officers.

Therefore, this bill to reduce military expenditure was immediately opposed by a large number of traditional military nobles!

Paul I is depriving them of their jobs!

No one would dislike themselves for getting more money, even if this bill only deprives soldiers of their military pay and does not affect the officers' military pay!

However, Paul I was the only son of Empress Catherine. His childhood experience made Paul I timid and suspicious, but he was self-willed. This is not the first time he has played against the traditional nobles of the Russian Empire.

Paul I has always been keen on strengthening the autocratic monarchy and centralized power system. He is very disgusted with the corruption of the aristocratic bureaucratic class and requires the aristocratic bureaucrats to restrain themselves with the spirit of medieval chivalry!
This caused Paul I's supporters to leave one after another, but Paul I still adhered to his political philosophy, using the privileges of the tsar to arbitrarily fire noble ministers who opposed him and implement his own policies!
Therefore, with the support of the British, Paul I successfully implemented the Spoils of War Act, which saved a large amount of military expenditures.

This undoubtedly made Paul I's opponents in the Russian Empire stronger.

Unbeknownst to Paul I, his opponents had already begun plotting his assassination.

Of course, Paul I's power remained supreme in the Russian Empire until his death.

This is Russia!

"Paul I was a very good monarch, and in the eyes of artists, a real wise one.

It is a pity that because of this, Paul I, who was full of idealism, did not understand that no matter how high the power is, it needs the support of the cornerstone. It is certainly a good thing for the Russian Empire that Paul I continues to be so willful, but For him personally, I am afraid it is a disaster. "

Prime Minister Pitt suddenly sighed.

The London government was not completely unaware of Paul I's crisis in the Russian Empire.

In fact, even Paul I knew that many nobles were secretly opposing him!
It's just that if you know this kind of thing, if you really want to investigate it, it will be very difficult.

After all, it is people who investigate cases, not machines!

The court infighting at the top of the Russian Empire is not a big secret in the European high society.

"The behavior of Paul I is understandable. After all, his blood did not come from Peter III, but was born to Ekaterina and her lover. This has always been a taboo of Paul I. He wants to do something in the Russian Empire. To show some glorious deeds enough to be recorded in the annals of history to wash away the pollution brought by his blood, it is natural to act too aggressively.

At least, in the war against Livy, the existence of Paul I was still very beneficial to Great Britain. "

"That being the case, let's toast to the third anti-French alliance!
May this be the last anti-French alliance! "

In the autumn of 1799, the French Empire, which was ready for war, called on the Rhine League, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Swiss Confederation to collectively make territorial claims to the Austrian Empire!

After being unsurprisingly rejected by the Austrian Empire, it officially declared war on the Austrian Empire.

Subsequently, the second London Conference was held, which established the establishment of the third anti-French alliance!

In just one week, all Central European countries, including the Kingdom of Prussia, joined the third anti-French alliance.

The Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden and other countries in Eastern Europe also joined the anti-French alliance one after another.

In addition, there are small countries in the Mediterranean Sea.

For example, the Kingdom of Sicily, the Knights of Malta...

The Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal also stood firmly on the opposite side of the French Empire!

All countries in Europe that believe in God have joined the third anti-French alliance and declared war on the French Empire and its vassal states!

The Kingdom of Spain is the happiest here. Originally, they only had the support of the British and Portuguese. They waited for the invasion of the French Empire with trepidation, and tried their best to build border fortifications. Unexpectedly, the invasion of the French Empire did not come, and the Li Wei government once again attacked Central Europe. The mighty Austria declares war!
The Madrid government of the Kingdom of Spain couldn't help wondering whether Li Wei of the French Empire had lost his mind. He obviously didn't need to fight against this continent, but he insisted on pushing himself to the opposite of the entire continent!

In the eyes of other countries, the French Empire's territorial claim to the Austrian Empire is a rogue act, and naturally it is not a normal reason for declaring war...

All countries in continental Europe were drawn into the third anti-French coalition, thanks to the diplomatic work of the London government.

They hyped up the French threat theory, with the main reason of defending the monarchy, curbing the spread of French revolutionary ideas, and resisting the unlimited expansion of France. Even the Kingdom of Sweden, which is far away, was persuaded!

Of course, Li Wei had already made psychological preparations. When the entire European countries declared war on him, there was no disturbance in his heart. He just asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cooperate with the Ottoman Empire to disclose the alliance treaty between the two parties.

The Ottoman Empire finally found an ally of a big country in Europe, and naturally it would not violate the secret agreement signed by the two parties. After the French Empire made the alliance treaty public, the Ottoman Empire immediately declared war on the Russian Empire!

The Ottoman Empire has always wanted to recover the land lost in the Russo-Turkish War during the last Catherine period.

Now with the powerful ally of the French Empire, naturally it will not give up the opportunity to attack the Russian Empire.

As for the news of an army expansion of 200 million, the senior officials of the Ottoman Empire who knew the Russian Empire very well regarded it as a joke.

Nowadays, the regular army of the Russian Empire does not even number 50!

And there is a serious shortage. Wanting to reach 200 million is purely a dream, unless the army is only equipped with wooden sticks as weapons...

In fact, in the eyes of Paul I, the 200 million army expansion plan was just a cover to drag Prussia and Austria into trouble. He was content with establishing a regular army of one million soldiers.

Not surprisingly, the French Empire took the initiative to declare war, which completely annoyed the Austrian Empire, and the Kingdom of Prussia, which was united in spirit and understood the truth, soon stood on the same front as the Austrian Empire.

The two major powers in the German region have formed an alliance, and other countries are naturally unwilling to be annexed by the French Empire, and they have thrown themselves into the arms of the anti-French alliance.

However, according to the secret agreement between the French Empire and the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire still needed to declare war on the Austrian Empire, but the Ottoman Empire did not fulfill the treaty!

This was not just because Austrian diplomats had secret contacts with the Ottoman Empire.

There is also the worry that the Ottoman Empire does not want to watch the infinite expansion of the French Empire and unify the European continent.

The alliance between the Ottoman Empire and the French Empire was only to deal with the Russian Empire, not to make the French Empire the overlord of the European continent.

The Ottoman Empire, which is now in decline, can't even beat the fragmented continent, let alone a unified continent?
The sultan of the Ottoman Empire knew very well that the day when the European continent was unified was the time when the Ottoman Empire fell!

Of course, the Austrian Empire is the main force in the front line of resistance against France, and the Ottoman Empire naturally does not want Austria to collapse quickly. Even if it wants to attack the Austrian Empire on both sides, it will have to wait until the Ottoman Empire defeats the Russian Empire.

The Ottoman Empire did not want to be bordered by the French Empire, which had a strong desire for expansion.

After the establishment of the third anti-French coalition, both sides responded quickly.

The First Army led by Carl, together with the Jungle Field Army led by Lesarite, the Prussian Foreign Legion, the Italian Foreign Legion, and the Sardinian Foreign Legion, were temporarily merged into the East Army, and the troops were divided into three groups to attack Central Europe.

The defense of the Piedmont region, which the Sardinian Legion was responsible for, was handed over to a division of the Second Army, and the defense of the Italian peninsula was handled by the Kingdom of Italy's own army.

Today, apart from the Italian king who has been enlightened by the administration, the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy is Pius VI who is in charge of the Vatican.

The European religious world at this time is very funny. There are two popes on the heads of the believers, namely Pius VI and Pius VII.

Pius VI was the religious leader within the sphere of influence of the Livy regime, and Pius VII was the orthodoxy recognized by Catholicism in continental Europe at this time.

Although the army of the Kingdom of Italy is relatively poor, it can still be used to deal with the Italian guerrillas of the militia level.

Yes, like the Piedmont region, the guerrillas in the Italian region have never been completely wiped out. Even if all the guerrillas were driven into remote mountains and jungles, these guerrillas who had a blood feud with the French Empire just couldn't be wiped out. From time to time, they will pop out to rob supplies.

After the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, the main opponents of the Italian army were these guerrillas.

Most of the armies of the Kingdom of Italy were adapted from the original state armies after the Italian region surrendered, eliminating the need to train new recruits.

It's just that Li Wei doesn't have enough glory points to brainwash them.

Rome, the capital of the Kingdom of Italy as a vassal state of the French Empire, the original Papal State has disappeared, and Li Wei did not divide an independent Vatican.

However, Pope Pius VI in the Vatican retained most of the military power. The Kingdom of Italy was more like a two-king system, with the King of Italy and Pius VI jointly managing the country.

The military force controlled by the King of Italy is the Italian Army, and the military force controlled by Pius VI is the armed Christians.

Also called a guardian.

Originally, the number of armed Christians controlled by Pius VI was about the same as that of the Italian Army, and the combat effectiveness of the armed apologists who relied on faith to unite was still possible.

However, since the French Empire continued to introduce religious reforms that violated the wishes of traditional believers, the number of armed believers has dropped rapidly.

Because the apologists can only be regarded as paramilitary armed forces, Pius VI's restraint on them is not too strong. With the implementation of the religious reform measures of the French Empire, the number of Christians who support Pius VI is decreasing day by day!

Up to now, the armed believers controlled by Pius VI can only serve as the Pope's guard...

The first battle that broke out was not between Li Wei's army and the army of the Anti-French Alliance, but the battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.

Then came the bad news that 1 people were annihilated in the Ottoman Empire!
Of course, this is just bad news on the official side. For Li Wei, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire are in full-scale war, no matter whether they win or lose, it is good news. This means that the Ottoman Empire can hold back most of the military power of the Russian Empire.

Sure enough, after the full-scale war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, St. Petersburg only sent a little over [-] Russian troops to the Vienna area. If there were more, it would be powerless...

Since the Anti-French Alliance is afraid of the combat effectiveness of the French Defense Forces, it has been adopting a defensive posture and desperately gathering troops.

Especially in the vast Austrian Empire, all the regular troops in the east, south, and north were withdrawn, leaving only a regular army in the early [-]s on the border with the Ottoman Empire, and the rest depended on the militia to maintain order.

As for the small Central European countries that faced the French Empire, they mobilized their entire country to recruit troops.

The army is filled with a large number of recruits who have only been trained for a month...

Obviously, in order to deal with the self-destruction tactics of the French Defense Forces, the Anti-French Alliance played the tactics of the sea of ​​soldiers,

Can't the French Defense Forces self-destruct?

We will gather a large number of troops and send them up in waves to see when you can finish the bombing!

Crushing the French Empire with military superiority is the safest battle mode that the Anti-French Alliance has come up with.

According to the intelligence estimates passed by the General Administration of Military Intelligence through various sources, the anti-French alliance can gather a maximum of more than 110 million troops in Central Europe!

Of course, the militia is also included here.

For the French Empire, aren't those recruits who have only been trained for a month the militia?

When the frontline troops on both sides were increasing, Li Wei ordered the Secret Service Division to launch the Lindenwan plan!
(End of this chapter)