Chapter 662: Preparing for War

  Chapter 647 Preparing for War

The end of the Russian-Australian alliance was like a thunderclap on a flat earth, instantly sensationalizing the world.

What Pacific War, free trade system dispute, Queen Victoria’s secret history, all these hot news were suppressed.

Anyone with a little bit of political savvy knew that the international situation was about to start shuffling again.

Without the Russo-Austrian alliance, the last obstacle restraining the Prussian-Polish Confederation, no longer existed. There was no way the Berlin government could wait for the Russians to be ready to go to war.

Over the years both Prussia and Russia had been preparing for war, and both countries had made leaps and bounds in their military industries and transportation.

Because of the Russian-Austrian alliance, the Russians and Austria cooperated intensively in the field of military industry. To maximize cost savings, bureaucrats in the Tsarist government directly copied the Austrian military-industrial system.

In the long run, the consequences of this exact copying, which cut off Russia’s independent research and development capability in the field of military industry, must have been disastrous.

But in the short term, it greatly enhanced the strength of the Russian military-industrial power, directly over to the world’s top level.

What does the development of the military industry depend on?

There are a lot of comprehensive factors to be considered here, but it can be summarized in two words – smashing money!

Czarist government has self-awareness, know that their own R & D capabilities can not, pocket and not enough funds, simply and Austria cooperation.

Prussian Federation is not the same, from the beginning of the Kingdom of Prussia is the road of self-help research and development. Restricted by funding, Prussia’s domestic military industry has actually fallen behind.

The British couldn’t help them in this regard, and John Bull’s army equipment was average. It is not that their technology does not work, but mainly because the number of British army is too small, the equipment purchase order is too small, the military industrial enterprises are naturally not willing to spend a lot of money to engage in research and development.

This situation lasted until the Prussian-German territorial deal. With the change of ownership of the Rhineland, the obstacle between Prussia and France no longer existed, and it was natural for the Berlin government to move closer to the French.

In recent years, there have been more and more military technology deals between Prussia and France.

Of course, Prussia and France are not allies, and the French have no need to take care of the Prussian-Polish Confederation; the cooperation between the two countries’ military industries is not as deep as that between Russia and Austria.

The cooperation between the two sides was limited to technical exchanges, and going further was impossible. At least not until the Prussian and French had harmonized their industrial standards, there could be no perfect convergence.

Theoretically, the unification of Russian and Austrian industrial standards and the direct copying of Austrian military industry by the Tsarist government should have given it an advantage in the arms race.

Unfortunately, the Russian industrial base is too poor, and the lack of sufficiently good industrial workers, the same production equipment, the Russians produced products, which is always higher rate of defective products.

The gap between the Russian and Prussian military industries was brought down to the same level. Even if there is a gap, it is limited to individual weapons and equipment, there is no era gap.

Compared to the military industry, the changes in transportation were even more pronounced.

After the establishment of the Prussian-Polish Confederation, only a few years ago, the Berlin government started construction of 10,000 kilometers of railroads in the Polish region, one-third of which has already been opened to traffic, and the remaining sections will be completed one after another within two or three years.

Not only is the Polish region in the big construction of railroads, Prussia’s other regions have not been idle, such as Lithuania, for example, the region, the planning of the 2 lines of the main line, together with the subsidiary branch line, the total length of up to 4,000 kilometers.

Up to now, the total mileage of the Prussian-Polish federal railroad has been as high as 26,000 kilometers, once the Berlin government’s plan is completed, the Prussian-Polish federal railroad mileage will exceed 37,000 kilometers in total.

This number, can make the total railroad mileage of the PBF exceeds that of France, and become the third largest railroad country in Europe after Russia and Austria.

The PBF was working hard to build roads, and Alexander II, who saw the importance of transportation, was not idle.

In just ten years, the tsarist government has started 34,000 kilometers of railroads, of which 26,000 kilometers have been opened to traffic, coupled with the previous railroads, the total mileage of railroads put into operation in the Russian Empire has been close to 30,000 kilometers.

In purely numerical terms, the Russian Empire clearly surpassed the Popo Federation, but in reality the opposite was true.

The Russian Empire’s territory was more than twenty times that of the PBF, but the difference in the total railroad mileage between the two sides was less than 15%, so the gap in transportation between the two countries could be imagined.

Now both sides are in the rush for time, there is no doubt that the PBF should have the upper hand. Restricted by geographical conditions, the Russians are destined to be at a disadvantage in the construction of railroads.

Don’t look at the Russian Empire’s total railroad mileage seems to be more, but the capacity still can’t compare to the Pupo Federation. This was due to the climate, and as long as it was winter, the Russian railroads could not be guaranteed to be fully loaded.

In terms of transportation, the Russians would have to build at least 150,000 kilometers of railroads to reach the current level of the Pupo Federation. This is limited to connecting the major cities of the European part of Russia, and doubling it may not be enough if Asia is taken into account.

Obviously, this is impossible. The Berlin government wouldn’t leave the Russians that much time, and really, if the Tsarist government solved the transportation problem, they wouldn’t be able to fight the war at all unless they could turn on the heat.

The whole world paid attention to the news of the dissolution of the Russo-Austrian alliance, in addition to the political impact of this alliance, the most critical is because the dissolution of the alliance is tantamount to proclaiming: the Prussian-Russian war has entered the countdown.

The masses couldn’t help but point their fingers, not to mention the Tsarist government, which was the main protagonist. As soon as the bad news came, Alexander II smashed N artifacts in anger.

“Damn Habsburg scum, a bunch of treacherous traitors ……”

Angry curses rang out in the Winter Palace. No wonder Alexander II was so angry, in order to continue the Russo-Austrian alliance, they had already made obvious concessions, releasing goodwill to the Vienna government through multiple channels.

However, it had all been done in vain. Not to mention the renewal of the alliance for another thirty years, even the extension of the alliance beyond five years was rejected by the government of Vienna.

The reforms of Alexander II were essentially complete; all that now remained was the time to translate them into national power. It could be said that every day now was crucial for the Russian Empire.

The Russo-Austrian alliance had bought Austria time to develop peacefully, and now that time needed to be bought for the Russian Empire, Austria suddenly declared that it would not play, how could this embarrass Alexander II?

It didn’t take much, just five more years of delay, and the Russian Empire would be able to have the strength to hang on to the Popish Confederation.

This is the gap in volume, but also in development potential. Now both countries are developing at a fast pace, however, the ceiling cap of the Pupo Federation has already hit the top, while the Russian Empire has just begun.

The Tsar in anger was terrifying, and none of the ministers wanted to touch that. Seeing that the situation was not right, Alexandrovich persuaded stiffly:

“Father, this is not the time to be angry. Since the Russo-Austrian alliance will not be renewed, the obstacle that restrained the Pupo Federation from waging war no longer exists.”

“Hmph!” Alexander II shouted angrily. “What are you afraid of, could it be that by leaving Austria, the great Russian Empire would not be able to defeat its enemies?”

Alexandrovich: “Of course not, it’s just that the situation is very serious now. We have made major concessions and the Vienna government still refuses to budge, there must be an unknown deal behind this.

We can venture a guess that there is insider trading between Prussia and Austria. The Berlin government has limited leverage in its hands, and the only thing that can move the Vienna government is ……”

In one breath, Aleksandrovich himself was almost convinced. Of course, in essence this was just a step, people still wouldn’t believe that Prussia and Austria would hook up.

Politicians control their emotions, just the most basic operation. Alexander II was angry, no doubt, but not to the point of being unable to control himself; the anger was just a cover for his misguided foreign policy since coming to power.

It can’t be helped, who made him pro-Prussian in the first place? With Peter III as his pitiful predecessor, the tolerance for such things within Russia dropped a few notches.

Even though Alexander II made the right choice and decisively shifted his political stance, the pro-Prussian and anti-Austrian foreign policy in the early days was still questioned from within.

Now that the Russo-Austrian alliance was terminated, a group of people in the country would surely put the blame on him. The nobles, who had suffered from the reforms, were always looking for an opportunity to make a fuss, and Alexander II had to put an end to this possibility.

This was the reason why Alexandrovich put the blame for the termination of the Russo-Austrian alliance on Prussian-Austrian collusion.

The Russian heart was still in the right place, and in any case, the Russian Empire could not tolerate Austria’s unification of Central Europe, which would have meant a break in their dreams of continental supremacy.

The Tsarist government could not concede on German unification, so the breakup of the Russian-Austrian alliance is explained. It was nothing more than that the Berlin government had a much lower bottom line and could compromise on the issue.

It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, as long as it makes sense politically.

After a moment of silence, Alexander II seemed to be regulating his emotions, “Alas!”

“It’s just that the matter has come to a head, let’s discuss how we should cope with it!”

The breakup of the Russian-Austrian alliance was also anticipated by the Tsarist government. From the time the Tsarist government chose to join the pound-gold system, the two countries were considered to have broken up.

Minister of War Heramed: “Your Majesty, without the Russo-Austrian alliance, the initiative of war is no longer ours alone.

Judging from the current situation, the railroad plan of the Puppo Federation will be able to be completed in three years at the most, two years at the fastest, while our railroad plan will take at least five years.

In terms of time, we no longer have the advantage. The enemy will not give us that much time, and there are only two paths before us now.

Either we start the war early while everyone is unprepared, or we do a good job of defense and wait for the Pupo Federation to get ready to launch an attack on us.”

“Five years’ time” was just a theoretical figure, practically everyone knew that the transportation in the Russian Empire couldn’t be solved in five years, and at most, it would be connected to the major cities.

Of course, if it was possible to make it that far it was already enough. It was almost close to catching up with the transportation in the European part of the Russian Empire before World War I.

It’s a little bit worse, but at least it can support millions of land forces fighting on the front line, and this number is already enough to fight with the Pupo Federation.

The population of the Russian Empire is 2.8 times that of the Popo Federation, so the casualty tolerance is much higher, and the chances of winning a war of attrition are very high.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have that much time and now had to make a choice. This war is extraordinary, the Tsarist government can’t afford to lose, once the war is lost it will mean that the Russian Empire will not be able to turn around for decades.

The crowd’s breathing became heavy all of a sudden, obviously this choice question is not good to do.

Interior Minister Mikhail: “We can’t wait for the enemy to complete the plan, now the enemy is busy repairing roads, a large amount of money is taken up, the financial resources that can be put into the war are limited.

Once the enemy is allowed to complete their plans, the situation will be different, and then they will be able to concentrate all their financial resources on the war.

Times are different now, the international situation has changed drastically, we are no longer enough to scare Britain and France, and the British will not be as supportive of the PBF as they were in the last war.

As far as I know, the financial situation of the Pope’s Confederation is also very bad, if not for the sale of the Rhineland before, they would have gone bankrupt.

As soon as war breaks out, the Berlin government will soon be in financial trouble. It’s not easy for a government with limited repayment ability to raise funds from the outside world when it encounters a war where victory or defeat is undecided.”

War fighting is all about money. After the Near East War and the last Russo-Prussian War, the Tsarist government had come to its senses and did not think that the Second Russo-Prussian War could be ended in a short time.

Once the war continues, what both sides will fight for is financial strength. As for the army, the Tsarist government was not short of money, as long as the money has soldiers.

The finances of the Prussian-Polish Commonwealth were not good, mainly because the Polish government had financial problems. Prussia got rid of its financial crisis after selling its land.

Anyone could see that the Polish region could fall into a battlefield at any time, so naturally no capitalists were willing to invest in railroads there.

Now the railroads built by the Prussian-Polish Confederation were basically financed by the government. This is obviously not enough to rely on the government’s annual tax revenue, debt is inevitable.

In contrast, the Russian Empire was a bit better off. The territory is large enough, even if the outbreak of war is also on the border, the railroad in the hinterland area there are people who dare to invest.

For example: the railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow was a project invested in by Austrian Railways.

It’s quite normal that even those who were more favorable to the P&P Confederation didn’t think they could fight all the way to Moscow. It’s not like William I was Napoleon, his fighting ability wasn’t that sick.

Finance Minister Kirksal shook his head, “Your Excellency, don’t forget that our finances are no better.

Despite having made preparations in advance, the Ministry of Finance still can’t come up with enough money for the war in a short period of time.”

War was a gold swallowing beast, a war that knocked out several years, or even a decade’s worth of fiscal revenue, was normal operation. It can be said that large-scale wars are the biggest financial disaster.

Unfortunately such a disaster has been experienced twice by the Russian Empire in just thirty years, and now a third is about to take place.

It is true that the Russian Empire has a large family, but even a thick family foundation cannot withstand such a toss.

Revenues were clearly insufficient, and no amount of tyranny would allow the government to raise enough money from taxes to finance the war.

The best way to finance the war was on the financial markets. Unfortunately, the Tsarist government did not have enough credibility to finance the war on the international market, which was a dream.

Interior Minister Mikhail was unmoved: “If you don’t have the money, raise it. If you can’t raise enough money at home, find it abroad.

London, Paris, Vienna, any financial market is capable of giving us enough money. As long as the interest offered is large enough, is there any fear of not being able to borrow money?

No need to consider the cost, this war is not something that can be avoided just because we don’t want to fight it.

The price we pay now is no greater than the loss that comes from losing the war.”

(End of chapter)