Chapter 780: The Great Chessboard
Chapter 763 – The Great Chessboard
Albrecht: “Judging from the current situation, the allied forces will be able to successfully meet on the Kyzyl River next month, and the first phase of the allied forces’ combat mission is basically complete.
In order to better adapt to the battlefield situation and end this war as soon as possible, the coalition command has decided to adjust its military deployment.
After the division of the Ottoman Empire is completed, the forces of each country will be redivided.
In the next round of the strategic plan, the Russian army was responsible for the strategy west of the Kyzyl River, focusing on taking the enemy’s capital – Ankara – as soon as possible.
The Austrian army was responsible for the strategy east of the Kyzyl River, with the strategy centered on taking the Two Rivers Valley and further dividing the Ottomans.
In view of the fact that the Greek and Montenegrin armies had suffered heavy losses on the battlefield and were no longer capable of taking on the next phase of combat missions, the Allied Command decided to cancel the next combat missions of the two armies and carry out a month-long recuperation.
After the completion of the restoration of the troops, the task of the two armies was to be responsible for the purging of local guerrillas and the maintenance of the stability of the newly occupied areas, and the specific places for which they were responsible were to be deployed later according to the actual needs.
Does anyone have any questions?”
The last question was obviously directed at Greece and Montenegro, and the division of labor between the Russian and Austrian operations, at a glance, it was clear that it had been coordinated in advance.
The heavy losses were just a pretext, kicking the Greek and Montenegrin armies out of the combat sequence also meant that they lost their say in the distribution of the spoils.
Marshal Maxim Trentiev, Montenegro: “No problem, our army has been reduced by more than six hundred men and really needs to recuperate.”
Having all but knocked out two battalions, if the troops are not repaired, Maxim Trentiev’s reinforced regiment will be scrapped.
Publius wanted to say but stopped, this time is not the time to show off, otherwise annoyed the allied command, a mission to death down, Greece this little family must be all lost.
Russia and Austria can afford casualties in the tens of thousands, that is, they can afford to lose more soldiers, but Greece can not.
In the previous battle, the Greek army paid more than 5,000 casualties, this ratio is not much lower than Montenegro, military morale has been greatly reduced.
……
The situation on the battlefield became clearer, and the division of spoils after the war was also put on the agenda of the Vienna government.
The pre-war agreement is only a verbal agreement, at most it can only be used as one of the reference standards, the decision to share the spoils of war still depends on the strength.
The performance of each of the four countries of the Anti-Turkish Alliance on the battlefield and their contribution to the war will become the core criteria for the division of the spoils after the war.
On top of that, the political impact and the feelings of the allies will have to be taken into account to satisfy all parties as much as possible.
Prime Minister Felix: “Although Greece and Montenegro didn’t put in much effort on the battlefield, their joining brought a political plus to the alliance.
In particular, the death of a Greek minister adds to our legitimacy to wage this war. These added effects must be taken into account by the government.
When we instigated the Armenians to launch their independence movement, we promised them independent statehood, and we need to give them a piece of our mind after the war as well.
The other peoples within the Ottoman state who responded to the alliance need to be given an account as well, and the outside world must not be made to look the other way.”
Not yet the world’s boss, the Austrian government is moving closer to world domination in many of its practices.
When the boss can not be no little brother, want to get the embrace of the little brothers, we need to let everyone see the tangible benefits.
While taking into account the interests of the little brother, but also can not harm their own interests, or it will become a wrongdoer.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “The peoples who responded to the alliance were mainly Greeks and Slavs, instigated by the Greek and Russian governments respectively.
After the war, the two countries will be able to resettle them, and those who do not want to leave can also stay, anyway, the number of people is not too big to constitute a problem.
The trouble is that the Armenians have established an independent state, which involves our future strategic deployment.
Austria needs to set an example and convince people that they can achieve national independence if they cooperate with us.
Independent statehood is naturally territorial, and carving out a piece of land from the Ottoman Empire to allow the Armenians to become independent will inevitably diminish our gains and those of the Russians.
The most crucial thing is that this place is not easy to choose, we can’t give up the two river basins, and the Asia Minor Peninsula can’t afford to have a state within a state.
The best choice is the Caucasus Mountains generation, where the land is barren and of the lowest value, and where Armenian independence would also serve as a buffer, reducing our borderline with the Russians.
Only now that it is in the hands of the Russians, we are bound to pay a big price if we want the Tsarist government to spit it out.”
Support for independent Armenian statehood was actually directed at Britain and France, and in a sense hit the Russians as well.
There are not many peoples in Europe who desperately need independence, and the Irish, Italians, and Poles are definitely in the top three, followed closely by the Bulgarians, Scots, and Baltic peoples whose sense of independence has to go down a few notches again.
The Poles can be ignored for now, having been killed in the Russo-Prussian War, and won’t be able to slow down for a while.
The Irish and the Italians are the peoples of Europe most likely to break out in an independence movement, and are the focus of the Vienna government’s operations and development.
Armenia is the magnet that attracts the independence organizations of the two countries to cooperate with Austria, and when Austria and Britain and France face each other, this is the best killer app.
Minister of the Navy Castagni proposed, “Perhaps we can make a deal to help the Russians develop their navy, it’s the age of the sea now, and there’s no fear that the Russians won’t be moved.”
“But the Tsarist government has no money!”
Finance Minister Karl’s words directly put Castagni’s numerous reasons, all of which were dead in the water.
The navy was a gold devouring beast, and it was a disaster for a poor country to play with it.
With the tsarist government’s revenue situation, to be able to balance the books is the result of God’s blessing, the development of the navy is simply unrealistic.
Seems to think of something, Franz suddenly spoke: “Russians have no money, then let them become rich.
Before that, we have to tempt the Tsarist government to take the bait.
A technological revolution is breaking out in the navy, and it won’t be long before our bunch of battleships are obsolete.
It’s a good idea to put them to good use by giving the Tsarist government a fleet of ships as compensation for giving up their land to the Armenians to establish an independent state.
With the Kingdom of Prussia finished, and the Danes a traditional ally of the Russians, the last obstacle in the Baltic Sea no longer exists.
Constantinople was firmly in the hands of the Russians, and after the Near East War, the Black Sea became even more of an inland lake for the Tsar.
We were still allies of the Russians, their gateway into the Mediterranean was open, and the strategic situation for the Russians was arguably as good as it had ever been.
All the obstacles are gone. Now all that’s left is the navy. This is a golden age for the Russians to develop their navy, and someone within the Tsar’s government is sure to see it.
Sending a fleet to the Russians to ignite the Czarist government’s enthusiasm for naval development will be of great significance to our next strategy.
Montenegro and Greece can also follow this example, without land to divide them, just reward them with warships.”
The government in Vienna had already decided to provoke a new naval arms race as the pre-dreadnought era descended, and now these battleships were bound to be eliminated.
To keep them in hand would be a burden, and to try to sell them all, there were no such dirt-cheap gold masters on the international scene.
According to past practice, these warships can not be disposed of, usually can be converted into merchant ships will be converted, can not be converted into a school training ship, the final destination is not to become a target of naval target practice, or dismantled and sold for scrap metal.
Giving to allies can not be said to pit people, Austria’s backward goods, to the Russian Navy hands is still the main force.
Minister of the Navy Castagni reluctantly said, “Your Majesty, so white to give warships, we are too much of a loss, at least to recover the cost, right?”
No matter whether it is selling used warships or converting them into merchant ships for sale, it will be able to provide the navy with a sum of money for military expenses, but giving them away for nothing won’t even fetch a penny.
Franz laughed, “Collecting the cost price, our allies can’t afford it. Even if the price is lower, I don’t think the Tsarist government has the courage to buy a fleet.
Besides, it’s not really for nothing, we exchanged political benefits. As for the Navy’s loss of military expenses, won’t it come back by doing after-sales service?
If that’s not enough, you’ll market some of the smaller warships to them again, help them with port upgrades, and extend the Austrian standard to allied navies.
The Duchy of Montenegro has a near-zero navy, so you can toss it around; the Greek navy is still British, and it’s necessary for you to help them correct that; the Russian navy is still stuck at thirty years old, and you’ve got a lot of business to do.”
There was a time when Franz thought that free was the conscience of the merchant, and having suffered a social beating, he was forced to admit that free goods are the most expensive.
It might seem that no money had been paid on this one service, but in fact it had been paid for elsewhere, long ago.
The benefits of giving away warships and, incidentally, promoting the Austrian naval standard, were definitely not low.
Just look at the Army to see that, through a series of maneuvers by the Vienna government, Austrian equipment has become the most popular weapon in the world.
More than half of the countries in the world have adopted the Austrian armament system, and Austria occupies 73.6% of the share of the international arms market in the export of army weapons.
In contrast, the navy is much more miserable, in the international arms market by the British pressure to death, occupies less than 10% of the market share, completely and the strength of the mismatch.
“Your Majesty, the Tsarist government’s finances are so bad that it’s almost impossible to want them to become rich.” Finance Minister Karl reminded
Franz nodded, “We can sign a long-term supply contract for raw materials with the Russians, overdraw the Russians’ future earnings, and increase the funds that the Tsarist government can mobilize in the short term.
Helping the Russians upgrade their military port, we can also fool them into making it dual-use, and take the future earnings of the port to cover the initial investment.
Launch our influence in Russia to create momentum, so that the age of the sea is deeply rooted in people’s hearts, exaggerating the important letter of sea power.
Let the Tsarist government believe that the reason why the Russian Empire is poor is due to the abandonment of the sea and deadlocked on the continent.
Wait for the tsarist government to take the bait and then talk to them about territorial deals. For the territory of the Russian Ukrainian region, quoted a high price, so that the tsarist government’s pockets a little more bulging.
Maybe we lose out on the surface, but the money will still flow back to Austria after it’s tossed around.
If we can stimulate the Russians’ maritime ambitions and induce the Tsarist government to shift its strategy to the Indian Ocean, we will have won.
If necessary, a false market boom can be created in Russia to make the Tsarist government think it has recovered ……”
It was a big game, arguably even the biggest chess game Franz had opened since his succession.
It doesn’t just frame the Anti-Turkish League, but most of the world’s countries are pawns on the chessboard.
The strategic baiting of the Russians was an insignificant part of this grand strategy. This big game was opened more than a decade ago.
Because of the fluctuating international situation, several fine-tunings were made in the middle of the game, and it is only now that Franz has barely completed the layout.
It is not necessary for all strategic plans to succeed, as long as one-third of them have achieved their purpose, Austria is the victor.
(End of chapter)