Chapter 740: The Closest Day to Hegemony
Chapter 723: The Closest Day to Hegemony
The Austrian casualty report released by the Russian Federation quickly triggered public opinion, “eight million” this number is too shocking, everyone’s attention was immediately attracted to.
Countless people are marveling, another “Thirty Years’ War”, but unlike last time, the Russo-Prussian War lasted less than two years.
Was there a winner?
The uninformed layman might say that the Russians won, but those who really know the Russo-Prussian War know that it was a lose-lose situation.
Both Russia and Prussia were losers, and the victors were the three fishermen, Britain, France and Austria, whose position as the three great powers became even more unbreakable after the war.
As the nominal victor, the Russian Empire, seemingly called by the media, “Europe’s fourth power”, but in fact only to get a name.
From the three big countries to the political pattern of the four big countries, say also on the line, who if seriously that would be silly.
Now the Russian Empire has only the potential to become the fourth foot, but not the strength. If the future development goes well and the national strength catches up, then there is a chance to recreate the pattern of the four great empires of Europe.
Before the start of the First Russo-Prussian War, the Russian Empire was one of the four great empires of Europe, and was still the top seeded contender for world hegemony with the British.
Tossed around, went through two Russo-Prussian wars, lost millions of troops, paid tens of billions of rubles in military expenses, beat up the accumulation of successive tsars, and carried a huge debt.
The final gain was a fall from continental supremacy to fourth in Europe, and a throwback territorial expansion that the Russian Empire didn’t need.
“Reflection,” that is perhaps the greatest virtue of the European public. Looking at the lists of Prussian and Russian losses inventoried in the newspapers, everyone subconsciously came to the conclusion that war is fucking horrible!
Not only was the general public shocked, but politicians were also frightened by a set of data. For a time, the hawkishness of the countries was greatly reduced, and anti-war thinking began to spread around the world.
Versailles, the cold casualty figures of the Russo-Prussian War, gave Napoleon IV, who was full of ambition, a blow to the head.
Napoleon IV was very confident in the combat power of the French army, and the French people were equally confident, everyone thought that the French army was the first in the world, and the hegemony of the European continent would be France’s sooner or later.
As for the Austrian Empire in front of the road to hegemony in France, if not the international situation does not allow, they would have fought up.
Well, that’s just talk. War is not child’s play, and France has been busy digesting the Italian region all these years.
Now that the Italian region has stabilized, the Paris government has the energy to consider the issue of expansion, but they are still not ready to go to war with Austria.
Although the continental hegemony is important, the prerequisite is that its own strength is strong enough to preserve the fruits of victory. Since the annexation of the Italian region, France has begun a long career of planting.
Originally prepared to wait for the Prussian and Russian defeat, then expand to the central European region, to take the coal mines that France needs the most.
Napoleon IV believed that after the defeat of Russia and Prussia, Austria did not have the strength to prevent them from taking this step, or else France would not have the opportunity to annex the Italian region.
The plan was to use the Rhine River as a border, with France eating up areas such as Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Rhineland, and using the remaining territories of the German Federal Empire to appease Austria.
It wasn’t fear of Austria, it was tactical. In military parlance, it was clipping the enemy’s wings.
Without Belgium and the German Federal Empire, when the Franco-Austrian war broke out in the future, Austria had two fewer allies, increasing France’s chances of victory.
After digesting these regions, France’s shortcomings were made up, and then defeating Austria to seize the hegemony of the European continent was a perfect strategy.
Military Napoleon IV has the advantage of heart, his ancestor Napoleon bully ah, the European continent one by one to beat a whole, but also almost won, there is no reason to turn to their own here on the not work.
Now the situation is much better than at that time, the Italian region has been occupied, Spain and allies, Prussia and Russia because of the war was greatly wounded.
There are not many independent countries left, except Austria a can fight are not, basically negligible, there is no reason not to win in single combat.
However, the plan did not change quickly, see the casualty figures of the Prussian-Russian War, Napoleon IV’s dream of supremacy for the first time shaken.
There is no way, as an old adversary of the French government is still very deep understanding of Austria, that a huge number of reserve forces, can not hide from their eyes.
Originally, Napoleon IV did not take the reserves seriously, the number of rabble again, in front of the French army is a stab in the face.
The Russo-Prussian War changed his view, the Paris government also sent a military observer mission, the cruel reality told them that the reserves are also able to fight.
As long as equipped with qualified officers, the reserves will soon be able to integrate, combat effectiveness is only a little worse than the regular army, quality defects can be made up with the number.
Considering the number of French standing army, Napoleon IV thought it might not be enough. If they really fought with Austria, their precious land forces would probably be piled up by the enemy’s numbers.
If the army was expanded, the French advantage in fighting strength would cease to exist.
Once the war can’t be decided quickly, the shit-stirrers across the channel will intervene, and even if they barely win the war in the end, France won’t have the strength to dominate Europe.
There was no fault, when France and Austria were doing their strategic planning, they both classified the British on the enemy side, because the risk you need to take to be an ally with them is just as big.
The original plan is bankrupt, Napoleon IV is hesitant to “cut off the wings of the enemy’s strategic plan” to continue to implement, or change it.
As for the promise of British support for the establishment of the North German Empire, it was a joke. How could they be paralyzed without releasing goodwill?
You should know that most of the German Federal Empire’s troops were used to guard against France, and other areas were almost undefended, almost as if they had decided that no one would invade them except for France.
As it turned out, this judgment seemed to be really right. Prussia and Austria wouldn’t invade the German Confederation, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland couldn’t beat them, and there was really only one threat, France.
Without waiting for Napoleon IV to make a decision, the French public made the choice for him. Anti-war thinking broke out again, and it started in Paris and spread all over the world.
It was all a matter of youth and inexperience, or Napoleon IV would have thought of it long ago. Europe’s various trends, new ideas, new doctrine …… did not start in Paris, the “Holy Land” is not for nothing.
Napoleon IV should be glad that he did not act in advance, otherwise the anti-war wave broke out, the French people will teach him how to behave.
In a sense, Austria also missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as the hegemony of Europe had never been so close to them.
If he had known about the French plan, Franz would have found a way to delay the exposure of the Prussian-Russian casualty figures until the French took military action.
Anyone who knows the fighting strength of the army, and the thinking of the people is closely related to the anti-war wave of the French army fighting strength is undoubtedly the lowest.
The French invasion of the German region, affected by anti-war only the French army, the German Confederation’s army in the defense of the country, the soldiers will not clamor against the war.
The Austrian army could be equally unaffected, defending the territorial integrity of the German region, that was a national duty. No matter how anti-war, it’s impossible for the enemy to come over and not fight back.
Anyone who has studied French history knows that usually when a wave of ideas breaks out, it is often followed by a period of rapid spread of revolutionary ideas.
Against the backdrop of universal anti-war, if the French army on the front line suffers another major defeat, it is unlikely that people will want to revolutionize again.
The success or failure of the revolution is not important, the most important thing is that revolutionary ideas are contagious, as long as a revolution breaks out internally, the bullish Great French Empire will be finished.
The Italian people’s enthusiasm for independence is also not low, the outbreak of internal revolution in France, and caught up with the Franco-Austrian war, the Italian independence organization is difficult not to break out.
So many people pull back, not to mention Napoleon IV, even if Napoleon himself is powerless.
Winning the Franco-Austrian War, it would be hard not to unify the German region. At that point, no one but God can stop it.
With the unification of Germany, the hegemony of Europe would be assured. Even if France and Russia were able to slow down, it would be a decade or two later.
That long is long enough for a lot of things to happen, such as: making the Italian region independent, pulling Spain over, or creating an alliance to tie the bean counters of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and the Nordic Confederation to the ship.
There are no ifs in reality, and Napoleon IV, who was sulking, didn’t realize that the anti-war wave that depressed him saved his dynasty.
……
Foreign Minister Dumbledore reported, “Your Majesty, the government of Vienna has sent us a diplomatic note, wishing to join us in spearheading a Convention on European Army Armaments to avoid another continental war.”
It must be said that now is a good time to limit the armament of the army, the Russo-Prussian War has just ended, and everyone is still immersed in the figure of “8 million” losses.
The anti-war wave was still spreading, and the fear of war was at its peak, both among the public and among the politicians.
Hearing this news, Napoleon IV’s depressed mood was slightly relieved, pretending to despise: “Austrians are afraid, it seems that their guts are not big!”
Everyone is an old man, naturally can see that Napoleon IV’s words do not mean anything. Everyone is a normal person, seen the cruelty of the Russo-Prussian War, who can not be afraid.
The most typical is the members of the military observer mission sent out, many members of the main war faction, after personally feeling the cruelty of the war, one by one became the vanguard of anti-war.
It’s not that they were afraid of the war, it can only be said that they matured, became rational, and knew to weigh the pros and cons.
Soothing the depressed mood, Napoleon IV continued to ask: “What else, Austria is not short of money now, they can’t just limit armaments for the sake of world peace, right?”
When he mentioned the words “not short of money”, Napoleon IV still had a trace of unnatural. He could not help it, he was jealous, now the world’s strongest financial resources are Britain and Austria.
Although France is one of the three big countries, but in the financial strength has fallen behind. Don’t look at the financial income France is not less than Britain and Austria, that is everyone’s calculation is not the same.
Take Austria as an example, the central government finances and state government finances are separate, included in the financial income on so many kinds of taxes, most of the financial income stays in the hands of the state government.
The same is true of Britain, where the London government’s taxes are similarly split. Otherwise only 70 to 80 million pounds a year revenue, the Navy took half, the rest of the fear that even the salaries of public officials must not be enough.
Other than that, the Indian colonies alone cost tens of millions of pounds a year to maintain, and the colonial overhead of the British Empire is an astronomical figure.
On the surface, France has the highest revenue, almost the sum of Britain and Austria, in fact, they are the poorest.
High revenue, that is unified into the central financial settlement of the result. What expenses need central government funding, it seems that the government has more money, in fact, just over a hand.
Foreign Minister Dumbledore replied: “The embassy in Vienna sent word that the Austrian Navy Ministry submitted a plan for military expansion to the government not long ago, and it has entered the government’s discussion stage.
Perhaps stimulated by the Russo-Prussian War, the Austrians have given up the European continental struggle for supremacy, and their proposal to limit the armament of the land forces at this time may be a precursor to the shift of the strategic center of gravity to the sea.”
The Austrian strategic center of gravity shifted outward, Napoleon IV did not find it strange, in fact, the Paris government was likewise proposed to give up the European land hegemony and shift the strategic center of gravity to the sea.
“What do you think, do we need to follow up?”
There was no doubt that the result of following up would be to agree to the Austrian proposal, and together we would limit the size of the army and invest the money saved in the navy.
Naval Minister Hamdi Halbauerwey jumped the gun and replied, “Your Majesty, the European continent is just too small, there are more than a dozen countries in just one corner of the region, and the most powerful countries in the world are all piled up here.
It’s too hard to make a difference in the European continent, the same amount of resources invested overseas we can gain ten times a hundred times.
Facts have already proved that the world’s future is in the ocean, whoever controls the power of the sea will master the world.”
“If Your Excellency’s so-called gains are territorial, then I have nothing to say. The cost required to expand on the European continent is more than enough to gain ten times the area of colonies overseas.
It is just that there is also a difference between land and land; can the land of a colony be compared to the land of continental Europe?” Secretary of State for War Patrice McMahon retorted
The theory of value, that was the most common view. Almost all Europeans, felt that the land in Europe was more valuable.
Minister of the Navy Hamdi Halbauer shook his head, “The land overseas is not inferior to Europe, it is just not developed. All the resources we need can be obtained from overseas, but this is impossible in mainland Europe.
Even if the inability to develop it reduces the value of the overseas colonies, but quantitative changes cause qualitative changes. For the same amount of investment, the gain from overseas colonies definitely exceeds the expansion on the European continent.”
This is a fact, inputs on the European continent don’t always pay off, overseas colonial expansion basically pays off.
On the European continent France must be careful and cautious, if you are not careful, you will be beaten by the group, the Paris government does not even dare to take a big step.
Overseas is different, the strength of France to the overseas is sweeping, basically can not touch a decent opponent, rivals only a few colonial empire.
Compared to the fearfulness of the European continent, overseas can start a war at the drop of a hat. Anyway, there are many colonial conflicts, as long as they do not play too high, can not trigger a major war.
……
(End of chapter)