Chapter 189: Cracking the Cracks and Countering the Dilemma

  Chapter 186: Caught and Countered

On June 12, 1852, the British Parliament passed the Army Expansion Bill.

The 120,000 expansion proposed by Maximilian was still discounted, and the shrewd MPs limited the final expansion to 80,000 troops. The reason, naturally, was to arm according to actual needs and not to waste taxpayers’ money.

This thrifty sense of ownership led directly to the fact that in the British Army dragged its allies behind in the Near East War.

Compared to the slow-moving British, the French were much more efficient. After determining the increase in troops, Napoleon III opened the road of explosive troops, the total strength of the French Army land forces climbed to 620,000 in one leap.

As if the year that the vertical Europe, invincible France is back. Europe, in addition to the hairy bear, counts the most of their standing army.

In order to expand France’s international influence, Napoleon III was very active this time, and at the same time as the great expansion of the army, French reinforcements had already departed from the country.

At this time the military power of the French mainland, has dropped to the lowest point, the number of troops has increased, but the veterans and new recruits are completely two concepts.

After the end of the war against France, the Orléans dynasty in order to ease the international pressure, slowed down the development of the French army, only retained a small number of elite troops, only after the Revolution to recover.

Napoleon III’s talent was not in the military, and in expanding the army, he neglected the construction of reserve forces, and the rationalization and reform of the mobilization mechanism.

In the Franco-Prussian War, the French conceded defeat in the first battle. It was because France’s mobilization mechanism at that time was not perfect, and it was not able to mobilize enough troops to defend Paris in time.

This is the weakness of the French development model, the country’s core industries are mostly placed in the vicinity of Paris, once the fall of Paris want to make a comeback are difficult.

After the Battle of Bulgaria, the Russian army pushed its front to the Balkan Mountains, and the time came to test the Russians.

At this time the Russian Balkan Expeditionary Force internal disagreement, General Bach Ivanov as the leader of the generals, advocating the first capture of Sofia; to Gorchakov as the leader of the generals, advocating the Balkans over the mountain range, straight to the Edirne region.

The ultimate strategic goal was the same – the capture of Constantinople and the blockade of the Bosphorus.

The reason for favoring the capture of the Sofia region first was that the Ottoman Empire had just suffered a major defeat and was weak in this region, making it militarily less difficult.

Sofia was the most influential city in the Bulgarian region, and once it was conquered, it was politically very important to rally more Bulgarians to rise up against Ottoman rule.

There is another reason that can not be said, is that the capture of Sofia, the Russian army, even if not able to capture Constantinople, but also occupied half of Bulgaria, for the next war to lay the foundation.

This was the traditional force, this was the ninth Russo-Turkish war, and many believed that if the Ottoman Empire could not be exterminated, there would certainly be a tenth Russo-Turkish war in the future, and it was important to save for a rainy day now.

Swallowing the Ottoman Empire in one bite is just idealism, not many people really think that Russia can swallow the Ottoman Empire in one bite.

Political slogans can be shouted, the slogan of exterminating the Ottoman Empire, the Russians have been shouting for almost a hundred years, and now the Ottoman Empire is still standing where it is.

The reason for advocating a direct kill to the Edirne region is: in order to catch up, this is the closest route to attack Constantinople, while the British and French reinforcements have not arrived, advance the attack on Constantinople has a better chance of winning.

Of course, the odds are great and the risk is also great, do not go to occupy the surrounding areas, the Ottoman army is likely to outflank the Russian army’s rear road, if you do not capture Constantinople, there is a risk of total annihilation.

The troubles of the Russians were of no concern to Franz. Whether or not the Russian army would be completely destroyed, he was not concerned at all.

In the case of the Ottoman Empire, unless they were open, even the best tactics, they would be discounted in their execution.

Theoretically cutting off the Russian army’s logistical supply lines at any of the key locations midway through the war, they would win the war.

However, the unit responsible for carrying out the mission must also be strong enough to fight, or else the Russian army would have been fucked over in three, five or two hits, so what’s the point?

Not only that, but also the surrounding Ottoman army, local government close cooperation. As long as there is a problem in one part, it is impossible to close the door.

This kind of high degree of difficulty, or do not expect the Ottoman Empire can be completed, at most, will be used to cut off the logistical line, scare the Russians to retreat, and then both sides honestly began to fight consumption.

……

Prince Wendischgretz said smilingly, “Your Majesty, the Ottomans withdrew their troops from the Serbian region. It seems that the Russians put too much pressure on them, and now they are preparing to concentrate their forces against the Russians and couldn’t care less about these regions.”

It was obvious that he was in a very good mood. The feud between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans had been going on for hundreds of years, and it was naturally refreshing to watch the enemy go down.

Of course it was more important politically. Do not look at the present Field Marshal Radetzky as Chief of General Staff, he, the Minister of War did not react, in fact, Prince Windischgreiz has been looking for an opportunity to break the situation.

A strong man militarily is not the same as a strong man politically, and Archduke Karl is an example of a man who went home in disgrace to write a book.

In fact, the Austrian army in the respected Marshal Radetzky, before the Austrian mix is not good, long-term in the local service is not valued, but was excluded from the core of power.

Only after Franz came to power, the situation changed, in order to be able to guarantee the smooth implementation of the westward strategy, Marshal Radetzky transferred back to the central as chief of general staff.

Against this background, even if Prince Wendischgraetz had ten thousand reasons, it would be useless, no matter what the reasons, Franz could not give up his support for Field Marshal Radetzky at this time.

Knowing this, Prince Wendischgraetz naturally wouldn’t mess things up. In fact, the deterioration of his relationship with Field Marshal Radetzky was still due to the conflict of power between the General Staff and the War Ministry.

The ass determines the position, the General Staff and the Ministry of War are supposed to be the existence of mutual checks and balances, if the relationship between the two sides is good, Franz will have to be replaced.

Suppressed by Field Marshal Radetzky, Prince Windischgraetz had no recourse. But now the opportunity came when the Ottomans withdrew their troops from the Serbian region, which meant that Austria could get a large area of land without any trouble.

The main war faction of the military was not so easy to suppress, and they didn’t know the real strategy of the Austrian government, so it was natural to ask for war when the opportunity arose.

At this time if Marshal Radetzky can not suppress his men, the matter to the emperor, that is a great loss of points; even if suppressed, but also will make the military generals dissatisfaction.

Franz naturally knew all about this little calculation. But he had no intention of interfering; all these struggles could only be considered petty. Prince Wendischgraetz is using the Yang conspiracy, belongs to the rules within the scope.

It was better for ministers to fight each other than for them to collude and unite to fight the Emperor. As long as it does not delay the business, not openly ganging up, the secret struggle Franz pretend not to see.

Where there are people, there are factions, Franz will not expect the Austrian government bureaucratic group is pure and flawless.

Franz asked, “What about Belgrade, have the Ottomans given up?”

Belgrade has always been known as the gateway to the Balkans, and as long as it is mastered, no one will be able to ignore Austria’s opinion in future Balkan affairs.

But now the strategic center of gravity of the Austrian government is not in the Balkan Peninsula, and the Ottoman Empire has stationed heavy troops over there, which is why Austria has not attacked Belgrade.

If the Ottomans voluntarily give up, send 10,000 or so troops can occupy, Franz is not likely to give up, Austria is still not lack of such a small amount of troops.

The more chips you have in your hand, the more benefits you can get after the war, so simple reasoning everyone understands.

If you want to annex the Balkan Peninsula under the unification of South Germany, Austria does not have such a good appetite.

Unless the Russians hang on, able to conquer Constantinople, then Britain and France to take the Russian-Austrian alliance did not discount, Austria swallowed these fat meat also swallowed.

“No, but the Ottomans still drew troops from Belgrade, and now the garrison over there is down to 20,000 men.” Prince Windischgraetz replied

After wandering around for a while, Franz opened his mouth and shouted, “Jenny, send someone to notify the Cabinet and Marshal Radetzky to come over for a meeting.”

Plans always fail to catch up with changes as quickly as they are made, the fact that Austria withdrew after occupying the two duchies in the Danube Valley could still be explained as sitting on the sidelines and watching the tigers fight.

Now that the Ottoman Empire has withdrawn its troops from the Serbian region, it would be odd for Austria to not even send troops to occupy it. Not to mention the Russians, even the European countries would be suspicious.

But all the way through the occupation, Austria occupied more and more land in the Balkans. Then the question arises, originally the southward strategy was just to cover the westward strategy, but it actually turned out to be a fake out.

Don’t think that eating a lot of meat is necessarily a good thing, but also may make people fat, weight loss is the most headache.

Now Austria is almost the same, this time if more take more occupation, after the war European countries can promise?

Jealousy will make a person’s heart twisted, if everyone is jealous, Austria will have no friends, Franz does not want to appear that passive situation.

But the problem now is that the situation on the battlefield is not under Franz’s control at all. The Ottomans were too cowardly and did not have the fighting spirit of their ancestors.

Even if they symbolically formed a group of militia out of the momentum, Franz can pretend to be deceived, did not discover the enemy’s plot in time, missed the opportunity to fight.

Now it is good, the Ottomans are very honorable withdrawal of troops, make Franz is in a dilemma.

(End of chapter)