Chapter 558: The Second Near Eastern War
Chapter 546 – The Second Near Eastern War
There was never a lack of smart people in this world. The Austrian military’s plan was quickly recognized by the Russians, and both sides reached an agreement on the issue of war against the soil.
After a fierce struggle, the commander of the allied forces still fell into the hands of Austria. It was not because Austria contributed much, but mainly because the Tsarist government was poor.
“Take what you can get and eat what you can get.” The Russian army’s combat supplies had to be paid for by the Vienna government, and the tsarist government was naturally underprivileged in the negotiations.
It was said to be a joint war, but in reality it was still each fighting its own battle. Austria is responsible for solving the enemy’s navy, and cover the landing of the Russian army, to ensure that the sea transportation channel is open.
On land, the Russians will be able to play freely, and Austria has nothing to do with the fight to death. If necessary, both sides to cooperate on the line.
For example: the enemy was mobilized, suddenly shifted the battlefield, attacking a new target, which requires Austria to send ships.
Time rushed by, March 1, 1874, Franz in the name of “revenge”, declared war on the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg dynasty and the Ottoman Empire once again went to war.
On the same day, the Tsarist government also declared war on the Ottoman Empire on the grounds that “the Ottoman Empire interfered in Russia’s internal affairs and plotted the Bulgarian rebellion”.
The Sultan’s government has not yet replied, but this is no longer important. The outbreak of the Second Near East War was a foregone conclusion, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.
Franz’s excuse of “revenge” was still criticized internationally. Compared to the Russians’ excuse for war, this one seemed to be a mere coincidence.
Fortunately, the enemy was the Ottoman Empire, which was the public enemy of Europe. With the exception of a few individuals, the majority of the European population was still a happy eating public.
The few who complained on behalf of the Ottoman Empire did not wait for the Vienna government to pay attention to it, but some people started to spray in the newspaper. Franz greatly appreciated this kind of enthusiastic crowd, just do not know, this is not the newspaper’s trust.
News always needs hype, all only one voice, how can the newspaper have sales? So usually, when it comes to big news, European newspapers like to split into two waves, and everyone gets rich together.
……
In the Balkans, the Russian army is massing. I have to say that the tsarist government is just honest, said 150,000 people, is 150,000 people, not to mention weaponry, even uniforms they have saved.
Looking at the 150,000 Russian troops with bare hands in front of him, General Arest was speechless for a long time. No matter what, as the commander-in-chief of the allied forces this time, he still has to solve these problems.
The Vienna government promised to provide the 150,000 troops with half a year’s worth of combat supplies, then it had to be honored.
After contemplating for a few moments of effort, Arest said to the Russian general: ”General Ivanov, the weapons and equipment have already arrived, you can send people over to receive them now.
But the uniforms must wait, Austria does not have the Russian army standardized uniforms, they are currently being rushed into production, you guys still need to wait.”
As he said this, Arest was crumbling inside. Rush production my ass, they didn’t even think of this beforehand, who knew that the Tsarist government even saved on uniforms?
Well, 150,000 men’s uniforms was not a small number. According to Austrian standards, a one-time issuance of three sets is standard for new recruits, and another three sets must be issued in the event of a seasonal change, and can be replaced if accidentally damaged during training.
Preliminary estimates, to the 150,000 Russian troops issued uniforms, which is also several hundred thousand guilders. It’s not that the uniforms are expensive, it’s that there are supporting equipment such as water bottles, boots, rucksacks and tents. ……
Don’t be skeptical, just look at this situation and you will know that the Russians are not prepared for anything except people. In order to save money, the Tsarist government could no longer care less about saving face.
Arest understands the Russian approach, 150,000 troops came empty-handed and could have gotten at least six or seven million shillings worth of equipment.
The Russian Empire at its peak might not have cared, but now it was almost a month’s worth of revenue for the Tsarist government. Compared to the actual benefits, what was face worth?
“When the cannon goes off, there are ten thousand taels of gold.” This saying is not wrong at all, after entering the era of hot weapons, the cost of war is also increasing dramatically.
For the sake of this Near East War, the Vienna government had prepared a war fund of 150 million God’s Guilders. This war funding, at most, would support a year’s time.
If the war continued, it would end up having to continue to increase the money. This was also the reason why the Vienna government was reluctant to go to war, it really hurt the money too much.
Hearing Arest’s explanation, the Russian commander Ivanov blushed. Not wearing uniforms this was an order from the government, the purpose was not just to save this small amount of money, but more to cry poor.
The Tsarist government was unsure about raising enough money for the war, and Alexander II was worried that if the war continued, the government finances would not be able to cope.
From the beginning, it was ready to rely on Austria. Russia and Austria are allies, halfway through the war, the tsarist government suddenly ran out of money, Austria can do?
Want them to continue to contribute to the war, the Vienna government must lend money out. Otherwise, they will be reasonable paddling, followed by Austria to rub the fruits of the final victory.
As one of the concrete implementers, Admiral Ivanov’s skin was obviously not thick enough. Listening to Arest’s statement, there was some embarrassment.
“No problem Your Excellency Commander, not having a uniform doesn’t affect combat, and there’s no problem with replacing it after a while.”
Ivanov didn’t think there was a problem, Admiral Arest didn’t see it that way. If he really let the Russian soldiers go into battle just like that, he, the Commander-in-Chief, would probably be laughed at for hundreds of years along with him.
“Don’t worry, the uniforms will definitely be issued before the landing operation, for now you guys take a rest. You will only be allowed to go on the field after the naval show.”
Arest was an Admiral and was able to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, mainly because Austria was mainly in charge of the sea in this coordinated operation.
Franz did not like to command remotely from thousands of miles away, the Allied Commander-in-Chief was in Constantinople, thousands of miles away from the Middle East, and if the Middle East was put under the name of the Allied Commander-in-Chief, there was no difference between that and commanding remotely from Vienna.
So in this war, the Coalition General Command is actually just a coordinating organization. The main task is to ensure the smoothness of the sea transportation channel and to cooperate with the Russian army to attack the Asia Minor Peninsula.
Combat? The land battles the Russians will command themselves, and what kind of result they fight will not be Arest’s responsibility.
The only thing that came under his command was the naval battles, and if the Ottoman Empire’s ragtag ships counted as an enemy, the Austrian navy would have a naval battle to fight.
……
Vienna Palace, received the telegram from Arest, Franz was instantly bad. The unbeatable Russian Empire was gone, and now only a calculating Tsarist government remained.
This transformation was a sure sign that the Tsarist government was becoming more rational. The thing called face is sometimes very important and sometimes worthless.
Undoubtedly, for the present tsarist government, “money” is the most important thing, and face is not something that can be eaten.
From the moment of defeat in the Russo-Prussian War, the face of the Tsarist government was worthless. Being able to change his mentality proved that Alexander II had grown up.
“Just do what Arest wants, there’s no need to affect our plans for this little matter.”
A batch of military uniforms was just a batch of military uniforms, standing in the position of the Vienna government, it was indeed a trivial and insignificant matter, so naturally there would be no opposition.
Minister of War Albrecht: “Your Majesty, according to the plan, we launched our attack in the Middle East only after the war in Asia Minor was fought.
Influenced by the Bulgarian rebellion, the troops initially prepared by the Russians were sent to suppress the rebellion, leading to some lack of preparation.
The current batch of soldiers, who have not been trained in transitional sea combat at all, along with having only just gotten their new equipment, will need to break in for a while, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to launch an attack in the short term.”
Franz retracted his previous thoughts, the Tsarist government was as unreliable as ever. The war has started, suddenly told him that the Russian soldiers did not receive transitional sea combat training.
What had happened? You know, this war but the preparation of half a year, equipment, logistics are responsible for Austria, the tsarist government only contribute people.
If not to leave time for the Russian army to train for sea crossing, why wait for half a year? Could it be that the Russian Empire couldn’t even get 150,000 active land troops and needed to recruit new ones?
It was naturally not without reason that the Battle of Asia Minor was fought first. For the Ottoman Empire, Asia Minor is the core territory.
Once the war broke out, the Sultan’s government would inevitably have to focus on defending the Asia Minor Peninsula. The troops deployed in the Middle East are unlikely to increase, if not decrease. This is very favorable to Austria who wants to grab territory.
“Don’t worry about that much, proceed as planned. The Russians didn’t train for cross-sea combat, that’s their own business. Our department will just send them ashore as agreed beforehand.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs the countries to evacuate as soon as possible, after half a month we will launch a full-scale attack, in case it causes any mistaken injuries we can only express our regrets.”
Declare war and go to war, that’s a special case. This Near East War, Austria will definitely shell the Ottoman coastal cities, and civilian casualties are inevitable.
In this case, it was necessary to leave time for countries to evacuate. Otherwise a large number of foreigner casualties were caused, and the government in Vienna would find it tricky.
Franz did not want to be criticized by a thousand people, spittle can sometimes kill. There was no hurry to attack the Ottoman Empire, they couldn’t get away anyway.
Don’t look at Franz said easily, if the Russian soldiers really heavy casualties, did not complete the established combat task, then Austria will have to send troops to help after the incident.
Allies are used to pit, this sentence is not wrong at all. The war has just begun, Franz has a feeling of being pitched.
Push the book: “Ming small literati”, the author is a ruthless person, found a typo reward a piece.
This is a good way to deepen the impression, why don’t we learn it too?
Every time I find a typo, you guys give me a reward of a piece, Hai Yue will surely memorize it. In order to deepen the impression, it is best to reward a little more!
(End of chapter)