Chapter 728: Every Family Has Its Own Difficult Experiences
Chapter 711 – A Family Has a Difficult Sutra to Read
The British proved to have overestimated their influence. Against the background of Austria’s silence and France’s passivity, the willingness of European countries to intervene in the Russo-Prussian War was not as strong as they expected.
Diplomatically, we all hold up the banner of “peace”, and actively call for a truce between Russia and Prussia, but when it comes to the need to intervene by force, one by one, they are not on the line.
“Sending troops” did not exist, and even when the British offered to make a gesture to intimidate the Russians, no one was willing to buy it.
Essentially everyone wanted to restrain the Russians for fear of threatening their own national defense.
Things are different now, with the revival of Austria, it’s simply impossible for the Russians to move west.
Without enough benefits, people are naturally not motivated to participate. The face of the British was only enough for everyone to diplomatically shout a few times, sort of pressurizing the Tsarist government.
The London government actively interfered, that is, they invested too much resources in the Pupo Federation, the interests involved were too great for the London government to let go.
In a sense, it was also a result of Britain’s declining influence in Europe. The presence of France and Austria weakened the hegemony of the British.
Without the cooperation of France and Austria, the British alone could not make the Tsarist government compromise. The international mediation became a real “mediation”, without the ability to influence the Russo-Prussian War.
The international intervention promised by the British was delayed, and the Berlin government, which wanted to get out of the war in one piece, became anxious.
Poland had been lost, Poznań had been turned into a battlefield, and East Prussia did not seem to be able to hold out much longer.
The once powerful Prussian-Polish Confederation was now left with less than 30% of its territory, less than 40% of its population, and the morale of the people in the country had dropped to the freezing point.
In recent times, strikes, market strikes, tax resistance …… and other vicious incidents have continued to appear in the Kingdom of Prussia.
For the sake of this war, the Prussian people have already paid too much, and the heavy burden is weighing them down.
Berlin was already under martial law, and if the war continued, Wilhelm I feared that he would one day be sent to the guillotine.
This is the disadvantage of “****ism”, the proportion of military expenditure is too high, seriously affecting the livelihood of the people.
In order to support this powerful army, the Berlin government had to exploit the country, the Prussian people need to bear the tax, has always been the highest in Europe.
The constant victories could be supported by patriotic fervor, but now that they were losing on the battlefield, the conflicts could not be suppressed.
William I asked with concern, “What do the British say?”
It was a compulsion to pin hopes on the British. The only remaining Kingdom of Prussia had limited strength and was no match for the Russians.
To get through this, it was necessary to turn to the international community. The only thing that lasts between nations is profit, and apart from the British, who were kidnapped by debt, the Berlin government did not now have enough interest to buy off other nations.
Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman replied bitterly, “The government in London is trying to find a way to convince the French, and they are suggesting that we use the power of German nationalism to find a way to gain the support of the government in Vienna.”
Upon hearing this news, Finance Minister Gorman, as if stimulated, stood up at once: “No way! The power of German nationalism must never be used, or there will be endless consequences.
For so many years, we have constantly promoted Greater Prussianism, and it was with great difficulty that we were able to suppress German nationalism; a compromise at this time would be all for naught.
Austria is not a good match either; if we compromise with them now, it will be difficult to get rid of them in the future.”
Nationalism was a double-edged sword, and while utilizing nationalism to gain Austrian support, the Kingdom of Prussia would also be bound by nationalism.
As the saying goes, “it is easy to invite the gods but hard to send them away”, and Austria’s power was not easy to borrow. By that time, with the burgeoning German nationalism inside and Austria holding the banner of German national unity outside, it would be difficult for Prussia to refuse.
For ordinary people, perhaps the unification is also a good result, but for the Junker nobility, that is the sky falling disaster.
Under the Austrian-dominated Shinra Empire system, the military and government were strictly separated. With the central government to rely on, the first thing the Berlin government had to do was to kick out the military led by the Junker nobility.
After the unification itself, the Prussian army would be marginalized, and then losing control of the Berlin government, it would be difficult for them to live so well again.
When class interests were involved, people naturally could not compromise.
Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman: “Your Excellency, calm down a little. The British don’t want to see Austria united any more than anyone else, and things are not as simple as they seem.
Don’t forget that we have a restless neighbor next door, and seeing that we are now down and out, they want to fall on their sword as well.
According to the information from the embassy, there have been frequent contacts between Britain and Germany in recent times, the details of which are not known, but which can be roughly inferred to have something to do with the merger of Prussia and Germany proposed by the British earlier.
German nationalism is also categorized, in addition to the Austrian-led Greater Germanism, there is also the North Germanism proposed by Hanover.
All indications are that the British want us to join forces with Hanover to establish North Germany and prevent Austria from unifying the German region.”
It is not a simple operation to first use German nationalism to gain the support of the Vienna government, then turn around and sell Austria and play North Germanism.
Even if they succeeded, they would have a feud with Austria, and with the enemy to the east, the Russian Empire, they would have no choice but to hug the British.
Failure would be even worse, either Russia and Austria would be carved up, or swallowed by Austria, and possibly even annexed by the Comedy Empire.
Now the Kingdom of Prussia, long gone from its peak, without the Rhineland region, there is the possibility of losing the original Prussian duchy area, and then be split up a little bit will be nothing.
William I shook his head: “The British plan, the risk is too great, but also can not protect our interests, not to the last resort can not be used.
How about the contact between the Foreign Ministry and the French, what do they want before they are willing to make a move?”
The cunning rabbit still knows three holes, the Berlin government naturally not only Britain a road, the French is also one of the alternative back roads.
Long before the war broke out, the Berlin government was trying to find ways to improve relations between the two countries. If the British hadn’t taken too many benefits and left the French with only scraps, France wouldn’t have withdrawn in the middle.
Of course, the Berlin government itself was also responsible for not being diplomatic enough and not being able to balance the British and French interests.
Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman replied, “The Paris government has not given a clear answer, they are still in hesitation. It may have something to do with the diplomatic activity of the Russians not long ago, which shook the French resolve to support us.
A long time ago, there were people within the French government who proposed an alliance with the Russians to curb Austrian expansion.
But this call was not very loud, partly because of the good relations between Russia and Austria, and the difficulty of drawing in the Russians to play a role, and partly because of the arrogance of the French, who don’t see the need for an ally to contain Austria.”
A Franco-Russian alliance to contain Austrian expansion? This argument might have been believed by ordinary people, but William I would never have believed it.
Austria had been at peace on the European continent for many years, with a harmless face to the outside world and good relations with most countries, and there was no market for the Austrian threat theory on the continent yet.
If there is a Franco-Russian alliance, the first target is definitely not Austria.
At least until the end of the Prussian-Polish Confederation, after all, Prussia and Russia are fighting, before getting them killed, the Tsarist government is unlikely to invite new enemies.
William I said seriously, “The Franco-Russian alliance must be stopped no matter what, even if it is possible.
We don’t have enough power, so we’ll poke the news to England and Austria, and release some more rumors to get their attention.”
Oversensitive, speaking of William I now. There was no way for him not to be nervous, if France and Russia were really allied, even if the Puppo Federation was powerless, even the Kingdom of Prussia could not be saved.
……
The government of Berlin was in a hurry, and the Russians were in a bad way. Alexander II had not yet rejoiced in the recovery of Warsaw for a few days, when a new trouble came.
The capture of the Polish area was not the end of the problem, but rather the beginning of it. The large enemy forces were gone, but the small ones were everywhere.
It could be said that “where there are Poles, there are partisans”.
To call them “partisans” is in fact to insult the “partisans”. In essence, these armies, large and small, were a rabble.
They are mainly composed of defeated soldiers, plus refugees who are roaming around. Not only do they have no political program, they do not even have a goal or direction for their operations; they are just a “mess”.
Most of them were not established to fight against the Russians, but more for the sake of survival.
The Russo-Prussian War produced a large number of refugees, who were resettled in the Warsaw area by the Berlin government, and except for a few who found work again, the rest had to live on government food aid.
When Mauch retreated, he left even the wounded in Warsaw in order to steal time, not to mention taking these refugees with him.
Before the end of the Battle of Warsaw, the defenders, seeing that the tide had turned, voluntarily trashed the food supplies. Without obtaining enough captures, the Russians did not have enough supplies in hand, so naturally it was impossible for them to come up with any more food relief for the refugees.
The stomach couldn’t be fooled, and disaster soon struck in order to survive. Human ugliness began to be exposed, the chaos in the city was suppressed by the Russian army, and the outside of the city could not be taken care of for the time being.
With this delay, the problem became serious. The Polish region was now full of roving bandits, partisans, mountain thieves, and bandits.
Needless to say, Marshal Ivanov ordered the extermination of them at the first opportunity. These people are all local snakes, not at all hard with them, fight if you can win, if you can not win, then run.
After some battle of wits, now the Russian army hands only control a few major cities, other areas are these messy armed in the cut.
St. Petersburg, Alexander II sternly questioned: “What’s going on here, why hasn’t the Polish region been stabilized after so long?
The enemy’s main force has been annihilated, and now actually can not help a group of chaotic people, is it possible that the army has been in the gentle land for a long time, have forgotten how to fight?”
The military discipline of the Russian army has always been not good, Marshal Ivanov can only restrain the military discipline during the war, after the war or how to indulge in how to indulge.
After the recapture of Warsaw, naturally, there will be no exception, the Russian soldiers to indulge in a good time.
Today’s world is different from the past, the world still has newspapers this thing. The atrocities committed by the Russian army in the Warsaw area were naturally exposed by enthusiastic and righteous people, and the reputation of the Czarist government became even more infamous.
For the sake of winning the war, Alexander II did not hold the frontline officers responsible, but only warned them.
Alexander II now put forward the “gentle country”, not to reopen old scores, not because of anger, to the tsar of the Polish region of the chaos is only a small problem, but more still to knock the military.
Victory is easy to inflate people, after the recovery of the Polish region, the Russian military has inflated a little too much, so Alexander II is very unhappy.
Ivanov frowned and stepped forward stiffly, explaining: ”Your Majesty, the problem in the Polish region is not in the routed soldiers or the chaotic bandits, and it would not take much effort at all to exterminate this rabble.
The real trouble is the refugees, and right now all this chaos is caused by the refugees. If the refugee problem is not eradicated, the banditry will not be eliminated.”
It’s not that the Russian army doesn’t make an effort to eradicate banditry; millions of refugees are running amok in the Polish region, and bandits, mountain bandits, and partisans are like leeks, cutting one crop after another.
As long as the roots could not be broken, the Polish region could never be stabilized. It is also very simple to completely eradicate it, just solve the refugee problem.
The refugee problem seems simple, but in fact it is the most troublesome problem.
Theoretically, now that the war in the Polish region has ended, it is straightforward to let the refugees return to their places of origin to resume production and subsidize the rations for the first half of the year.
The Russian Empire is not short of food, to come up with these food is not a big problem.
However, this is only theoretical. In the original time and space of the first war period, the Russians are not short of food, the front line soldiers are still freezing and starving.
Ivanov didn’t even mention relief for refugees, not that he was really hard-hearted, but mainly because it simply couldn’t be done.
The Russian Empire had enough food, but the problem was that the food was not in the Polish regions. The tsarist government’s logistical capacity was limited, and to be able to satisfy the troops at the front, the logistical departments had used all their strength.
It was too much of a hardship to settle the rations of several million more refugees. Unless the tsarist government gave up the subsequent battle plan and saved the capacity for transporting strategic materials to transport food, there might be a few possibilities.
Alexander II shook his head, “When you encounter a problem, you have to find a way to solve it, I don’t care what method you use, the Polish region must be stabilized as soon as possible, and it mustn’t affect our next spring offensive against the enemy.”
To make things difficult for people perhaps, but it was more for the sake of shrugging it off. Alexander II was not willing to take the blame for the “butcher”, so naturally, his men had to take the responsibility.
Now that Poland was still on the front line and the government had not taken over, the blame was destined to fall on the military.
As for who should take the blame, that is the internal problem of the military. Not letting himself take the blame, Marshal Ivanov secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After a little thought, Ivanov replied, “Your Majesty, please rest assured. The General Command has already given a death order to the Fourth Army guarding the Warsaw area, ordering them to clear the place within two months, and we will soon see the results.”
No one objected, bad luck always needed someone to do it. The Fourth Army had acted without authorization not long ago and almost wiped out their entire army, and they hadn’t had time to settle the score yet. It was just right to let them be the backstabbers now.
(End of chapter)