Chapter 468 The Outbreak of the Anglo-Boers War

On May 12, 1870, the Governor of Delphi led an army of 30,000 troops to invade the Orange Free State, and the South African War broke out.

After the news spread, the Boers instantly fell into a panic, and the manor where Viscount Fickney temporarily lived was flooded with guests.

The Transvaal and the Orange Free State are almost one, and the two countries have always been united against the enemy when facing the British.

The strength gap between the two sides is too great, and no one has the confidence to defeat the British. In the face of the British, the Boer Republic has always chosen to be patient.

But that was before, and now things have changed. Now that everyone is going to join Austria, naturally they will no longer be afraid of the British.

At this time, there are two main reasons for everyone to visit: first, to express their position to Viscount Fickney and to stand in public; second, to hope that Austria will intervene in the war.

Viscount Fickney said confidently: "Don't worry, everyone, the British army looks powerful, but in fact it is strong from outside.

The British garrison in Cape Town will not exceed 3,000, and the London government has not made any major troop movements recently.

Even if the Cape Town colonial government recruited civilian armed forces, the combat force could not exceed 5,000. In addition, you can imagine what the rest of the British army is. "

Those who know themselves best are always enemies. The competition between Britain and Austria in South Africa has not been a day or two, and they are both collecting intelligence on each other.

There is no way to monitor the civilian armed forces scattered in various places, but the mobilization of the army is still closely watched.

Ying and Austria are all colonial powers, and it is impossible to station a large number of regular troops in one area, otherwise even a million troops will not be enough.

The responsibility for maintaining local stability naturally falls on the colonial army and civilian armed forces. The British were more reliant on colonial companies, while the Austrians were mainly aristocratic armed forces.

Of course, there is no difference in essence between the two. The main force of the British colonization is also the children of the nobles. The difference is that British capital is stronger, while Austrian capitalists are in a subordinate position.

There are advantages and disadvantages between the two, which cannot be generalized. This is determined by their respective national conditions and cannot be changed by individual strength.

The Austrian model has an advantage in safeguarding the imperial power. It has been supplemented by new blood, the power of the noble class has been strengthened, and the status of the emperor will naturally be more consolidated.

When expanding to the outside world, the outbreak of combat effectiveness is also stronger, and fighting for oneself is naturally more diligent than working for others.

This point can now be proved that the British must negotiate the conditions in advance if they want to recruit civilian armed forces to the battlefield. If the interests are not enough, the sabotage is indispensable.

The Austrian aristocracy is actively seeking war, and this is a problem of distribution of interests. A large part of the British colonial gains fell into the pockets of the capitalists, while the Austrians were taken away by the nobility.

It's not that the capitalists in the Austrian colony didn't participate, it's mainly that in the process of getting results, they've already completed the transition to aristocracy.

The class has changed, and the position has naturally changed. People tend to have interests and will naturally choose the most favorable side of themselves.

Now that the war has broken out, Viscount Fickney, although not visible on the face, is actually happy in his heart.

Even if the war is temporarily defeated, it does not matter, just take the opportunity to attack the local vested interests, so as not to make these upstarts bigger.

Anyway, Austria will definitely win, this is the confidence brought by strength.

Viscount Fickney is not in a hurry. He has already negotiated with the nobles who came to seek military exploits. Before gaining local power, everyone will not take action.

The Orange Free State capitalist Markoslin said anxiously: "Your Excellency Viscount, this British army is nothing to your country. But to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, this is nothing. Doomsday.

If your country does not interfere, we are simply no match for the British by our strength alone. We cannot fight this war. "

Seemingly panicked, but in fact expressing dissatisfaction.

However, when the words came to Viscount Fickney's ears, the taste changed, and he had already marked Markoslin as unavailable in his mind.

A word of "your country" shows that Makoslin has not yet identified with Austria. The latter "there is no way to fight", in the view of Viscount Fickney, is a threat.

If Markslin knew what Fickney was thinking, it would be too late to cry. His estate was mainly in the Orange Free State, and he would suffer heavy losses if the war broke out.

In a hurry, I blurted out, and I never thought that Viscount Fickney would think so much.

Although Markoslin is also playing politics, how can the politics of the Boer Republic be compared to Austria? They don't think too much about the details of these expressions.

Seeing the expressions of everyone, Viscount Fickney mistakenly thought that these people were forcing the palace. This wonderful misunderstanding caused many people present to pay a heavy price in the subsequent war.

Now these people are still useful, Viscount Fickney will not turn against them, and immediately assured: "Don't worry, everyone, if the war is unfavorable, Austria will not sit idly by.

Since the British dare to act now, they just ignore Austria. We must take revenge and teach them a bloody lesson.

However, both Britain and Austria are big powers. If there is a direct conflict, it is likely to detonate a full-scale war in Europe, and everyone does not want to see it.

So the next step is to go to war with the British in the name of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. don't care

Bogey, any means can be used.

No matter what the consequences are in the end, Austria will bear it, and you don't have to worry about the British retaliation.

The Vienna government has mandated to teach the British a lesson in South Africa. It won't be long before reinforcements arrive, and everyone just needs to stick with it for a month or two. "

This assurance reassured many that as long as Austria did not abandon the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, the war would have to be fought.

The Boers did not lack the courage to fight the first battle. They dared to fight the British in the original time and space. Now that they have Austria as their backing, they will not be afraid of war with the British.

At this time, Scoman suddenly asked: "Your Excellency Viscount, if you don't turn against the British, what about the reinforcements? If you use African indigenous troops, I'm afraid it won't be a match for the British."

Among the 30,000 British troops now, there are more than 20,000 troops composed of local indigenous people, otherwise the Cape Town area will not be able to produce 30,000 troops.

The combat effectiveness of these indigenous troops is very limited. Perhaps these people are not lacking in blood and courage, but their overall quality is too far behind.

The Boers also trained the indigenous army, but no matter how hard they tried, the trained troops were not very effective.

Now that he heard the reinforcements, Skorman's first reaction was the indigenous army. After all, it is easiest to hide your identity with the indigenous army without turning your face.

Even if they were captured and captured by the British, they could not be used as evidence on the table.

Viscount Fickney shook his head and said very calmly: "The fact that the government army cannot be dispatched does not mean that we have no army available.

The total number of civilian armed forces in Austrian Africa exceeds 300,000. You give them a new nationality, and then go to war as the regular army of the Transvaal. "

Viscount Fickney is shameful and never mentions the private army of the nobles. Otherwise, everyone will know that this is to mix military achievements.

Although the British army has a lot of water, there are a large number of indigenous troops, but after all, they bear the sign of the British Empire, and defeating them can be regarded as defeating the regular army. This kind of military merit is much higher than that of African natives.

There is no way to classify military merits. If there is no such difference, Austria would have produced famous generals in large numbers, and nobles would fly all over the sky.

If you find a battle report, it says that a small army of several hundred people fought hard for dozens of times, annihilated thousands of enemy troops, and captured tens of thousands of enemies.

Don't be surprised, this is normal on the African continent. A colonial team of several hundred people broke through several indigenous tribes, and this kind of anti-sky record was released.

This kind of "defying the sky" has more records, and the gold content will naturally drop. Now if you don't have a record of defeating tens of thousands of enemy troops, you are embarrassed to say that you are a colonial team.

Take Viscount Fickney as an example, so many years of colonial career, it is also a hundred battles, and the record of defeating the enemy army adds up to hundreds of thousands.

If he had achieved such a record on the European continent, he would have long been regarded as a military god. However, the enemy is the colonial natives, and this record is greatly reduced.

This is also the reason why everyone is keen to come and pick up cheap goods. Yes, these nobles who bring their own dry food regard the British as "cheap".

Whoever made the British navy too powerful, the army gave the impression that it was not good. In the last few wars, the performance of the British army was very rubbish.

In the eyes of many people, the combat effectiveness of the British Army was not very good at first, and now there is still a group of indigenous troops who make up the numbers. Many people regard them as soft persimmons and are ready to step on them.

If there are 30,000 British regular troops, it is estimated that the nobles who come to pick up the heads will have to think carefully about whether they can eat it.

...

In Vienna, the news of the outbreak of the Anglo-Bosch War surprised Franz, and he could not understand why the British would do it now.

The secretive actions of the nobles will not be reported to the emperor. Everyone wanted to take advantage of the British, and if the emperor ordered to stop them, they would be busy.

Nobles have many advantages, but also many restrictions, one of which is that they cannot refuse the emperor's name, at least they dare not.

Today is different from the past, even several kings in the country have no ability to compete with the emperor, let alone the emperors who are directly under the vassal.

Even if it is impossible to abolish the title, it is still possible to transfer the title, for example: to go to the desert to eat sand;

Even if the emperor wanted shame and gave them a wealthy fief, he would have to start the business again, and his vitality would be severely damaged.

If you don't understand, you can't be bothered to think about it. Franz's mentality is still very good. There are so many people in this world who have convulsions and all kinds of ridiculous farces. He has also seen a lot.

Colonial bureaucrats would take care of such little things. So far, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not been proposed to intervene, which means that the situation is still under control.

Maybe there was a colonial government involved, none of that mattered. Franz isn't the type to be picky, the process doesn't matter as long as the outcome is good.

The gold in South Africa has not been exposed yet. As an emperor, if he cares too much, it is easy to attract the attention of those who care.

At his current position, Franz's every move will be interpreted as a political signal. If he showed an extraordinary interest in South Africa, many people would think it was aimed at the British.

Rather than this, it is better to imply that the subordinates will do it well, so as not to cause unintended consequences.

The annexation of the Boer Republic is what Franz meant.

The above casually mentioned: "The Boers are part of the empire."

As a result, someone ran to implement it. This is the advantage of being the boss. Give out a signal, and there will be a younger brother to complete it.

If you do a good job, you can't do without the emperor's leadership; if you mess things up, it doesn't matter.

Of course, Franz is a good leader. This kind of person who does things according to his will, even if he messes up, the final result will not be too bad.

After hesitating for a while, Franz ordered: "Send a message to Stephen, secretly teach the British a lesson, and let them remember."

This kind of obscure order is naturally just verbal. Specifically how to do, the following people will think more thoughtfully.