Holy Roman Empire

Fudman's face darkened. He knew very well that Felix was tempted just now, but he still refused, not even giving him a chance to negotiate further.

Chapter 262 I'm in a hurry

Rejection is inevitable. No matter how attractive the conditions offered by the Berlin government are, they are essentially empty hands.

Moreover, the Russo-Prussian War was not as simple as it appeared on the surface, and was full of games between Britain, France and Austria.

At first, Britain and France supported the Pubo Federation, and Austria supported the Russian Empire. Now, the positions of Britain and Austria have not changed, but the French have been passive and slow down.

It is all determined by interests, and it can attack competitors, so why not do it?

The French did not invest many resources in this war. Even if the Pubo Federation was defeated, their losses were limited.

These economic losses can also be made up for in other ways.

For example: British companies are affected by debts, and their operations are in trouble or even bankrupt.

Not to mention the damage to competitors, the benefits brought.Just looking at the bad luck of the British, the French have reason to be happy.

With the growing strength of the French Empire, the era of Anglophiles was over.The ever-increasing conflict of interests has driven the two countries further and further apart.

From the standpoint of France, it was also in their interests that the Russians win the war in the long run.

The spheres of influence of the two countries are far apart, and the possibility of a conflict of interest is almost zero.A powerful Russian Empire can also contain Austria from behind.

No matter how good the relationship between Russia and Austria is, as long as the Russian Empire becomes stronger, the two countries will part ways, and national interests cannot be reversed by individual will.

If you do nothing, you can attack two competitors at the same time. The French government naturally knows how to choose.

The British have calculations, the French have calculations, and Austria is no exception.

A strong Russian Empire is indeed a threat, but it is a potential threat in the future, and it does not need to be considered for at least 30 to [-] years.

In the short term, Austria's biggest competitors are Britain and France.The defeat of the Popo Federation made debt default inevitable, and the British economy would definitely be greatly affected by this.

The French economy is not much better. On the surface, it seems that they have not invested much, and the losses are within controllable range. Unfortunately, the French economy itself has problems.

The market was prosperous during the war, and the high cost of industrial raw materials was not a problem. After the Russo-Prussian War was over and these international orders disappeared, this problem should erupt.

It just so happens that this period is the peak of industrial overcapacity in the world, and when the market competition is the most intense, cost will become one of the core factors of market competition.

With the cost remaining high, what can the French industrial and commercial circles do to compete with Yingao for the market?

Capital is profit-seeking, and profit will drive them to flow from the unprofitable manufacturing industry to the financial industry, thereby changing the economic structure of France.

This is not the first time that Austria has laid out its layout. After almost every economic crisis, the proportion of French manufacturing in the economy will decline.

Fortunately, no one realizes the importance of manufacturing these years, otherwise the Paris government would have been impatient.

Of course, now the distance is also fast.In the era when the tertiary industry has not developed, it is the manufacturing industry that can create jobs.

Shrinking industrial production capacity will inevitably lead to a decline in the employment rate. These people can't all rush to farm, can they?

The land in mainland France has long been owned, but there are many overseas colonies. The question is, are the French people willing to go?

Unfortunately, influenced by the marine culture, the French people prefer to stay in the city rather than go to the colony to open up wasteland.

This has been proven long ago. No matter in the original time and space or now, the enthusiasm of immigrants in France is not high.

The economy is not good, everyone spontaneously controls the birth, and Condum's invention has made a major contribution to the family planning work in France.

The pressure of having fewer children will naturally be less. Anyway, the life expectancy of the lower class is short these days, and there is no need to consider the issue of pensions. It does not matter whether there is a next generation.

The decline in the birth rate is a long-term problem, and the harm will not be reflected in a short period of time.The social crisis brought about by the economy cannot be avoided.

It has been less than ten years since the merger of France and Italy. During the good economic development period, many contradictions were covered up.Once the economic crisis breaks out, it will erupt.

In a sense, this is also France's weakest moment.In just a few short years, the Italian people have not returned, and the rule of Napoleon IV is not stable at all.

If they are really allowed to work together for decades and find out a set of governing methods that suit them, Great France will be the real "Mediterranean Empire", and the threat will be great.

……

The battlefield was at a disadvantage, Austria could not be persuaded diplomatically, and the French refused to increase their investment. For a while, the pressure on the Berlin government increased greatly.

On October 1880, 10, the Berlin government launched an expanded mobilization plan. All healthy men between the ages of 12 and [-] were required to participate in militia training and be ready to be recruited at any time.

It can be seen that the Berlin government is really impatient, and they don't trust Moltke that much.Although extreme mobilization has not been carried out, relevant preparations have already begun.

"Extreme mobilization" is a test of a country's organizational capabilities. Not everyone is willing to go to the battlefield, which requires a lot of work.

Either in the primitive feudal era, the ruled area was limited, and all the serfs took up arms and went to the battlefield at the order of the lord.

Either they have been seriously humiliated, nationalism is flourishing, and everyone is willing to fight for the country; or they have encountered difficulties in survival, and they must use the weapons in their hands to obtain living space for themselves.

These Pubo Federations cannot be relied on, so it can only rely on the government's organizational capabilities.After all, war is not just about gathering people together, but also conducting military training, and at the same time must ensure the supply of logistical materials.

Vienna Palace

Putting down the information in his hand, Franz asked: "If the Pubo Federation carries out extreme mobilization, how many troops can it mobilize at most?"

After contemplating for a moment, Chief of Staff Albrecht replied slowly: "According to the analysis of the data we have collected, the Popo Federation can mobilize a maximum of 600 million people."

"600 million people" is not 600 million troops. People and troops are two concepts, and not everyone can become a qualified soldier.

The "600 million" simply excludes physical disabilities and illnesses, proving that there are 600 million men of school age in the Pubo Federation.

It is impossible to train all these people into the army.The reason is very simple. There are still many positions in society that require people, and they are still indispensable.

Government agencies, hospitals, schools, military enterprises, scientific research institutions...

In addition to these positions, there are a large number of special classes.Not nobles, European nobles will go to the battlefield, and the glory of nobles cannot allow them to shrink back at this time.

Those who are unwilling to serve in the military are mainly capitalists, the middle class, small businessmen, experts and scholars... These people have money and social status, and they are unwilling to serve their lives on the battlefield.

If the Berlin government included them in the scope of service, it is estimated that the whole country would be turned upside down.

After deducting all these, it is the Berlin government that can really mobilize.After the mobilization, there is still a screening process to kick out some who are not suitable for military service.

In the end, how many people are left depends on the selection criteria of the Berlin government.Maybe 300 million, maybe 400 million. Before there is no limit mobilization, no one knows how many troops the Pubo Federation can mobilize.

However, whether it is 300 million or 400 million, this number will shock the world.

The area where Prussia and Russia are at war is also limited. When the input of troops reaches a certain level, it will reach the limit of the battlefield, and it is impossible to increase indefinitely.

After reaching the limit of the battlefield capacity, the Russian army can no longer maintain its superiority in strength on the battlefield, and it is difficult for Ivanov's conservative tactics to play a role.

Theoretically speaking, as long as the Prussian army has 300 million troops, not only can it put 200 million troops on the front line, Moltke can defeat the Russians.

Franz asked suspiciously: "Why, you are not optimistic about the extreme mobilization of the Pubo Federation?"

Chief of Staff Albrecht nodded and explained: "Army of the same country has different combat effectiveness. Once the Puppo Federation has undergone extreme mobilization, the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army will drop sharply.

There are not enough officers, the lack of training of soldiers, and the decline in the quality of soldiers. With so many factors added up, the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army may be pulled to the same level as the Russian army.

What the elite troops can do, the ordinary army can't do at all.

The combat effectiveness of the troops has dropped significantly, and the commanders also need to adapt to the appropriate time, and the most lacking thing on the battlefield is time.

The tsarist government can exchange sons with the Popo Federation now, and it can do the same in the future.It doesn't even need to win the battle, as long as it can cause heavy casualties to the Prussian army, defeating the battle can also win the war.

Unless Moltke can play an amazing exchange ratio, or sooner or later they will be piled up by the Russian crowd tactics.

On this issue, I agree with Moltke. The advantage of the Prussian army lies in its mobility, and blind expansion is tantamount to giving up this advantage. "

This is also a warning to Austria. If you want to play crowd tactics, you should learn from the Russians who emphasize quantity and not quality.

Perhaps Austria can reserve officers of two or three million troops in advance. Once this number rises to 300 million, 500 million, or even tens of millions, let's reserve in advance and dream!

Train all active soldiers to become officers?It's a beautiful idea, but in fact there is a gap between people, not everyone can become a qualified officer.

An excellent soldier does not mean that he can also become an excellent officer. Many people are only suitable for soldiers.

Even if it costs resources to cultivate, at most it will even be capped at the platoon level.A few years after retiring and returning home, he was beaten back to the prototype again.

This distress did not bother Franz for long, and he was relieved to think of his competitors.The advantages and disadvantages are all compared. It does not need to be the best, as long as it is better than the competitors.

Franz was not prepared to be the second Napoleon. Austria did not need to fight the entire continent of Europe alone. When it encountered a single enemy, it would not need so many troops at all.

After a little thought, Franz made a decision: "The Pubo Federation hasn't reached its limit yet, and this war still has to be fought. The weapon technology originally planned to be sold is temporarily put on hold."

Although the new weapons can make the war more tragic, Franz did not dare to release it rashly. What Austria wants is that both Prussia and Russia will suffer, not that the Pubo Federation will come back.

The same weapons and equipment, placed in the hands of different people, can display completely different combat effectiveness.

You can tell from Ivanov's use of troops that he is a proper conservative.What kind of leader there is, what kind of subordinates there are, and the use of new weapons by the Russian army is definitely not as good as that of the Prussian army.

Whether it is a "machine gun" or a "mortar", these weapons that seem to have little force can burst out with amazing lethality.If Moltke finds an opportunity, he may be able to reverse a major battle.

The Russians have a strong family background, and it is not terrible to lose once on the front line. What is terrible is that the failure of the war caused the tsarist government to change generals.

Although Marshal Ivanov doesn't have many bright spots, he is still the most suitable commander for commanding the Russian army. If there is another person, who knows what the hell will come out.

It's not that Franz underestimated the Russians. The overall quality of their officers is slightly lower, which is specifically reflected in the level of education.

The high-level military officers are good, and most of them have received a comprehensive education. Many middle- and low-level military officers have only received family military education, and the proportion of officers trained in military schools is very low.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for an Austrian military student like Arden to become a general in just a few years. (As mentioned earlier, the Kovel garrison commander)

It's not that foreign monks are good at chanting scriptures. The key is that compared with others, his abilities are indeed excellent, at least in terms of theoretical knowledge.

When conservative tactics are adopted, they are always fighting sluggishly, and the space for officers to display their personal abilities is limited. This disadvantage is not obvious.

If a new commander is replaced, the combat mode is changed, and the front-line officers are required to freely display their personal command capabilities, the Russians will suffer.

Maybe some genius commanders will emerge, but more of them are stupid.

In a battle of millions of people, the power of an individual is small, and it is often not a very few geniuses who decide the outcome of a war, but countless stupid ones.

If there is no fool to set off, where is the genius?Miracles in military history are often created jointly by these two types of people.

……

Foreign Secretary Weissenberg: "Your Majesty, when I met with the British Minister yesterday, he brought news.

As long as we stop supporting the Russians, the British government will recognize our post-war annexation of the Russian Balkans, including Constantinople. "

Franz rolled his eyes directly, what is this?Austria's annexation of the Russian Balkan Peninsula, does the British still need to recognize it?

It's not that Franz is proud. Since the opening of the Suez Canal, the influence of the British in the Mediterranean has gradually declined, and it is not their turn to intervene in the Balkans.

If Austria really wants to annex these regions, the only real obstacle is the Russians, and the British "recognition or not" will not affect the final result at all.

It's about the same for the French, at least they have the ability to interfere.As for the British, when will the main force of the Royal Navy dare to go deep into the Adriatic Sea.

However, this can also prove from the side that the London government is in a hurry.The French, whom they had placed high hopes on, now choose to sit on the sidelines, and the British don't have enough bargaining chips.

Franz: "No Ukrainian region?"

"No!" replied Wesenberg

Franz shook his head: "It seems that the consciousness of the London government is still 30 years ago, and it wants to dictate everything.

Tell the British that Russia-Austria relations have a long history, and we are not interested in Constantinople, and let them not sow discord. "

Interested or not, now Austria must have no interest.Constantinople is not easy to take. Taking it means fighting the Russians and sharing the hatred for the Pubo Federation.

Austria has occupied the Dardanelles, and Constantinople can only add to the cake.Besides Constantinople, what else is there in the Russian Balkans?

Bulgaria?

It is now 1880, not 1850, and Bulgarian nationalism has blossomed.

The cultural customs of Bulgaria are very close to those of Russia, and the language is more interoperable. The tsarist government has not digested it. Franz does not think that Austria can assimilate the locals so easily.

To put it bluntly, apart from rose essential oil, Bulgaria has no shortage of other resources in Austria.The input and output are not directly proportional, so it is naturally difficult to arouse interest.

Chapter 263 The Shocking Plan

Franz's decision meant the end of the Anglo-Austrian honeymoon period, and conflict between the two countries was bound to increase in the years to come.

This world is so big that it can support billions of people; this world is so small that it cannot accommodate two overlords.

The whole world can't accommodate it, let alone the European continent?

With the revival of Austria, it will sooner or later have a conflict of interest with the British.Even without the Russo-Prussian War, the two countries would still be on opposite sides elsewhere.

If the Suez Canal was not opened, Franz would still be afraid of the British.It's different now. The Austrian navy can directly enter the Arabian Sea, and there are colonies to rely on along the way.

If Britain and Austria really turned their faces, Austria can completely adopt a lose-lose approach.Drive the British out of the African continent, and burn the war to the Indian Ocean by the way.

The significance of India to Britain can be seen from its productivity, which is almost equal to that of the British Isles.

Undoubtedly, this balance is limited to the total economic volume, one is agriculture and the other is industry, and the two are completely incomparable.