Chapter 670: The Unstoppable War
Chapter 655 The War That Couldn’t Be Stopped
Roughly flipping through the information, Dumbledore directly put down the document and sneered: ”Your Excellency the Earl, such an obvious means of stirring up trouble is too low-end.
Everyone knows that we are allies with Austria, why should we worry about the threat of Austria? Is it just based on this information?”
Austria’s threat, the French government naturally could not be ignorant of it, and it was not the first time that Dumbledore had seen this information provided by Jeffrey Friedman.
There was just a difference in the data. This aspect is the same in all countries, because of political and personal will, the collection of information on competitors is often artfully processed.
In Dumbledore’s opinion, it was just that the Pope Federation wanted to emphasize the “Austrian threat theory” and deliberately exaggerated Austria’s strength.
These data compared the data of France and Austria, and Austria had an overall advantage. After looking at a few sets of data, Dumbledore lost interest.
As the arrogance of the French, he also did not believe that this is true. The Paris government has also collected Austrian intelligence, and you conclude that the comprehensive strength of France and Austria is comparable, and even France has a slight advantage.
Jeffrey Friedman’s heart sank, secretly wondering if the data was too exaggerated, so that Dumbledore found the problem.
After all, this has no satellite, no Internet, even if it is to collect the information of their own country, it is very difficult, need to consume a lot of human and material resources.
Gathering information from other countries let alone, really send someone to count, it is estimated that just started the action, it will be dealt with by others as spies.
Usually, information was collected through open channels such as estimating the number of imported and exported ships, or the economic newspapers of various places, or the annual reports published by large companies.
Based on these data, economists then “probably + probably” equals the answer. Errors are inevitable, and different economists arrive at different conclusions.
Whether out of national pride or political necessity, the French are not allowed to conclude that they are inferior to Austria.
Dumbledore is the Foreign Secretary, not the Minister of Economics, look at the surface of the report is enough, the specific details do not need to concern him.
After a pause, Jeffrey Friedman said helplessly, “Well, putting aside this information. There can only be one hegemon on the European continent, and Austria is your country’s greatest rival in the European hegemony.”
Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
Jeffrey Friedman: “In recent years, the Austrians have developed the Balkan Peninsula, and their strength has grown rapidly, with a population of nearly eighty million on the European mainland alone, and their economy has surpassed the British as the world’s number one.
These figures are well known, and I’m sure Your Excellency won’t have any objections.
From 1870 to the present time, the Vienna government has expanded its army three times, and the total strength of the army and navy is as high as 714,000 men, of which 608,000 are in the army.
This number of standing armies can be compared with no other country in all Europe except the Russian Empire. As far as I know, the standing army of your country is also only 476,000 men.
In addition to the standing army, Austria also has a large reserve force. The exact number is unknown, but in any case, more than a million people are trained in the reserves every year.
Who is the target of such a large military force?
Apart from your country, I can’t think of any other country that requires such careful treatment from Austria.
If you don’t make preparations, once the Austrians are ready, I’m afraid your country will have to face an attack by millions of enemy troops.”
Dumbledore shook his head, “Your Excellency, don’t steal the concept. Can a group of folk be considered an army? If war really breaks out, France also has enough strength to defeat all enemies.
Modern wars are no longer won by the number of people. If we compare numbers, the Russians have the largest army, is your country going to bow down and admit defeat?
As for the Austrian threat, that’s France’s own family business, so I don’t need Your Excellency to worry about it. With this energy, Your Excellency should think about how to deal with the Russians!”
After a pause, Dumbledore added, “To remind Your Excellency, if we want to talk about threats, your country is also a potential rival of France, even before Austria.
This world has already been divided up, Britain, France and Austria are able to ally themselves, that’s because we all have vested interests, and it’s enough to maintain the existing interests.”
There was no doubt that Dumbledore was very unhappy that Geoffrey Friedman had stretched his hand too far before he made a direct warning.
Even if the Austrian threat was greater, that could only be discovered by the French government itself. Jeffrey Friedman’s reminder was clearly intended to provoke a Franco-Austrian conflict.
As the foreign minister of France, how could Dumbledore accept being taken advantage of?
……
On the way back to the embassy, seeing that Jeffrey Friedman had been worried, the deputy ambassador, Lt. General McPhee, comforted, “Jeffrey, there is no need to be sad. You’ve done a good job, and this mission failed mainly because we misjudged the French.”
Jeffrey Friedman shook his head, “The mission did not fail, Dumbledore has accepted our point of view.”
Seeing Lieutenant General McPhee confused, Jeffrey Friedman explained, “Don’t be surprised, Dumbledore wouldn’t have lost his temper if he hadn’t poked the French where it hurts.
His last warning, while true, that lid was never lifted. Now that it’s come right out, it seems that the relationship between England, France, and Austria is worse than we expected.”
McPhee became even more puzzled and asked directly, “Jeffrey, since our plan has succeeded, why do you still …… want to do it?”
Jeffrey Friedman replied with a bitter smile, “Because what Dumbledore said is true, England, France, and Austria don’t want to see a new great power rise up and divide the cake with them. Neither the Russians, nor us for that matter.
It’s almost at the peak of what we can develop now, and even if we defeat the Russians, it’s hard for us to gain much.
If we want to go further, we’ll have to face the joint suppression of Britain, France, and Austria, our future is worrying!”
Jeffrey Friedman had come to his senses, it was not true that Britain, France and Austria were in conflict, but on the issue of suppressing the later, the interests of the three countries were the same.
The current Pupo Federation was no longer a small country, and if they defeated the Russians again, they would take over the Russians’ position in Europe.
A new Russia that Britain, France and Austria did not want to see rise, so the good times of the Pupo Confederation would come to an end after the war.
If the international situation didn’t change and the Anglo-French-Austrian alliance didn’t collapse, the Pupo Confederation would always have to live under the shadow of the three great powers.
If the authorities hadn’t been so confused, the Berlin government should have seen these problems a long time ago. However, everyone had been so preoccupied with how to defeat the Russians that they had not considered what would happen after the war.
Deep down, a voice kept telling Jeffrey Friedman that the best option was for Prussia and Russia to end their strife, and that the outbreak of war would only cheapen the fishermen.
Thinking about it, but saying it out loud was never an option. The Pupo Federation now has more than 800,000 square kilometers of territory, most of which was acquired from the Russians, so how could it possibly stop?
Even if the Berlin government is willing to reconcile, the Tsarist government will not agree! Without suppressing the Pupo Confederation, how can the Russians be ashamed to call themselves a Great Power?
Even knowing that a continuation of the war would be detrimental to both countries, the two sides could not stop.
The Junker aristocrats wanted to gain more profit, the Russians wanted to be disgraced, and the battle of interests simply could not be reconciled.
Lieutenant General McPhee smiled slightly, ”Jeffrey, you’re thinking too much. Even if we have to encounter suppression, it will be after we defeat the Russians, who knows about the future?
I just don’t believe that the alliance between Britain, France and Austria can be maintained forever. As long as the three countries are in conflict, we’ll have a chance.
If the world is divided up and we don’t get our share of the colonies, then we’ll just give up. Britain, France and Austria are worried that we will replace Russia, so let’s show them.”
In this day and age, overseas colonies were symbolic of wealth and naturally wanted by anyone, but unfortunately the Berlin government’s attempts ended in failure.
Facts proved that the navy could not be developed overnight, and the Junker nobles were all dry ducks, and it really did not work when they went into the water.
Since the experience of the navy in the Baltic Sea by the Danes hung over, the Berlin government has extinguished the unrealistic dream of the sea.
Mike Fei, such a firm land rights faction, no longer fantasize about how many colonies to open up, catching the Russians to beat them up is the best choice.
Territorial expansion on the European continent has never been smooth sailing. Junker aristocrats developed a strategy to gradually eat up the Russians’ land, but there is no original time and space of the kind of dominance of the European continent.
(End of chapter)