Chapter 692

Rejection is inevitable, no matter how attractive the conditions offered by the Berlin government are essentially empty-handed.

Moreover, the Prussian-Russian war was not as simple as it seemed, and was also full of games between Britain, France and Austria.

At first, Britain and France supported the Commonwealth of Pope, and Austria supported the Russian Empire. Now the positions of Britain and Austria have not changed, but the French have been slow to work.

It is all determined by interests, and it can attack competitors, so why not do it?

The French invested few resources in this war, and even if the Commonwealth of Pope was defeated, their losses were limited.

These economic losses can also be made up in other ways.

For example: British companies are affected by debt, run into difficulties, or even go bankrupt.

Not to mention the loss of competitors and the benefits. Just seeing the British unlucky, the French have reason to be happy.

As the French Empire grew stronger, the days of the Anglophiles were over. The ever-increasing conflict of interests has pushed the two countries further and further apart.

From France's standpoint, it was also in their better interest for the Russians to win the war in the long run.

The spheres of influence of the two countries are far apart, and the possibility of conflict of interest is almost zero. A powerful Russian empire can also contain Austria from behind.

No matter how good Russia-Austria relations are, as long as the Russian Empire becomes stronger, the two countries will part ways. National interests cannot be reversed by individual will.

By doing nothing, you can attack two competitors at the same time, and the French government naturally knows what to choose.

The British have calculations, the French have calculations, and Austria is no exception.

The growing Russian Empire is indeed a threat, but it is a potential threat in the future, and it does not need to be considered for at least two or three decades.

In the short term, Austria's biggest competitors are still Britain and France. With the defeat of the Commonwealth of Pope and the inevitable debt default, the British economy will definitely be greatly affected.

The French economy is not much better. On the surface, their investment is not great, and the losses are within control. Unfortunately, the French economy itself has problems.

During the war, the market was prosperous, and the high cost of industrial raw materials was not a problem. When the Russian-Prussian war was over and there were no such international orders, this problem should erupt.

Just at this period, it is the peak of industrial overcapacity in the world. When the market competition is the most fierce, cost will become one of the core factors of market competition.

With the cost remaining high, what can the French business community do to compete with Yingao for the market?

Capital is profit-seeking, and profit will drive them to flow from unprofitable manufacturing to financial industry, thereby changing the economic structure of France.

This is not the first time Austria has made a layout. After almost every economic crisis, the proportion of French manufacturing in the economy will decline.

Fortunately, no one realizes the importance of manufacturing these days, otherwise the Paris government would have been anxious.

Of course, the distance is fast now. In the era when the tertiary industry has not developed, it is the manufacturing industry that can create jobs.

Shrinking industrial production capacity will inevitably lead to a decline in the employment rate. Can't all these people rush to farm?

The land in France has long been owned, and there are quite a few overseas colonies. The question is are the French people willing to go?

Unfortunately, influenced by maritime culture, French people prefer to stay in cities rather than go to colonies to open up wasteland.

This has long been proven. Whether it is in the original time and space, or now, the enthusiasm of immigrants in France is not high.

When the economy is not good, everyone spontaneously controls birth control, and Condrum has made a significant contribution to the French family planning work.

If you have fewer births, the pressure will naturally decrease. Anyway, the life expectancy of the people at the bottom is short these days, so you don’t need to consider the issue of pensions. It doesn’t matter if you have the next generation.

The decline in the birth rate is a long-term problem, and the harm will not be reflected in a short period of time. The social crisis brought about by the economy is unavoidable.

The French-Italian merger has been less than ten years, and many contradictions have been covered up when the economy is developing well. Once the economic crisis breaks out, it will erupt.

In a sense, this was also the weakest moment for France. In just a few short years, the Italian people have not returned to their hearts, and the rule of Napoleon IV is not stable at all.

If they were allowed to run in for decades and figure out a set of governance methods that suit them, Grand France would be a "Mediterranean Empire" in the true sense, and the threat would be too great.

...

We were at a disadvantage on the battlefield, we were unable to persuade Austria diplomatically, and the French refused to increase investment. For a time, the pressure on the Berlin government increased greatly.

On October 12, 1880, the Berlin government launched an expanded mobilization plan. All healthy men between the ages of 16 and 50 should participate in militia training and be ready to be recruited at any time.

It can be seen that the Berlin government is really anxious, and it does not trust Mao Qi so much. Although there is no extreme mobilization, relevant preparations have already been made.

"Extreme mobilization" is a very test of a country's organizational ability. Not everyone is willing to go to the battlefield, which requires a lot of work.

Either in the primitive feudal era, the area under rule was limited, and all the serfs took up arms and went to the battlefield under the order of the lord.

Either they were severely humiliated and nationalism flourished, and everyone was willing to fight for the country;

These popular federations can't be relied on, so they can only rely on government organizations

ability. After all, the war is not just about gathering people, but also for military training, and at the same time, it is necessary to ensure the supply of logistics materials.

Vienna Palace

Putting down the information in his hand, Franz asked: "If the Popo Federation conducts extreme mobilization, how many troops can it mobilize at most?"

After pondering for a while, Chief of Staff Albrecht replied slowly: "According to the analysis of the data we have collected, the Popo Federation can mobilize up to six million people."

"Six million people" is not an army of six million. People and an army are two concepts, and not everyone can become a qualified soldier.

This "six million" simply excludes physical disabilities and illnesses, proving that there are six million school-age men in the Popo Federation.

It is impossible to train these people into the army. The reason is very simple. There are still many jobs in society that need people, and they are still indispensable.

Government agencies, hospitals, schools, military enterprises, scientific research institutions...

In addition to these positions, there are a large number of special classes. Not aristocrats, European aristocrats will all go to the battlefield, and the glory of aristocrats will not allow them to back down at this time.

Those who are unwilling to serve in the military are mainly capitalists, middle class, small businessmen, experts and scholars... These people have money and social status, and are unwilling to go to the battlefield to give their lives.

If the Berlin government included them in the scope of service, it is estimated that the country would be able to make trouble.

After deducting all these, the Berlin government can really mobilize. After the mobilization, they will also be screened, and some of them who are not suitable for the army will be kicked out.

In the end, how many people there are depends on the screening criteria of the Berlin government. Maybe three million, maybe four million, no one knows how many troops the Popo Federation can mobilize before extreme mobilization.

However, whether it is three million or four million, this number will shock the world.

The areas where Prussia and Russia are at war are also limited. When the invested troops reach a certain level, they will reach the limit of the battlefield, and it is impossible to increase them indefinitely.

After reaching the limit of the battlefield capacity, the Russian army can no longer maintain the superiority of troops on the battlefield, and it is difficult for Ivanov's conservative tactics to play a role.

In theory, as long as the Prussian army has three million troops, not only two million in the front line, Mao Qi can defeat the Russians.

Franz asked suspiciously: "Why, you are not optimistic about the extreme mobilization of the Popo Federation?"

Chief of Staff Albrecht nodded and explained: "The combat effectiveness of the armies of the same country is also different. Once the Pubo Federation conducts extreme mobilization, the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army will drop sharply.

There are not enough officers, the soldiers lack training, and the quality of the soldiers is declining. All these factors add up, and the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army will probably be pulled to the same level as the Russian army.

What the elite army can do, the ordinary army can't do at all.

The combat effectiveness of the troops has dropped significantly, and the commanders also need to grind the time to adapt, and the most lacking thing on the battlefield is time.

The tsarist government can now exchange money with the Pope Federation, and it can also in the future. You don't even need to win the war, as long as it can cause heavy casualties to the Prussian army, defeating the war can also win the war.

Unless Mao Qi can play an amazing exchange ratio, or they will be killed by the Russian crowd tactics sooner or later.

On this issue, I agree with Mao Qi. The advantage of the Prussian army lies in mobility, and blind expansion is equivalent to giving up this advantage. "

This is also a warning to Austria. If you want to play crowd tactics, you should learn from the Russians that they focus on quantity rather than quality. If you want to balance the two, you should wash and sleep!

Perhaps two or three million army officers, Austria can reserve in advance, once this number rises to five million, six million, or even tens of millions, reserve in advance and dream!

Train all active-duty soldiers into officers? It is beautiful to think, but in fact there is a gap between people, not everyone can become a qualified officer.

An excellent soldier does not mean that he can also become an excellent officer. Many people are only suitable for being soldiers.

Even if it takes resources to cultivate, at most, it will be capped at the platoon level. It would be a few years before he retired and returned home, and was beaten back to the prototype again.

This distress did not trouble Franz for long, and he was relieved to think about his competitors. The pros and cons are all compared, and you don't need to be the best, as long as you are better than your competitors.

Franz was not ready to be the second Napoleon. Austria did not need to fight the entire European continent alone. When encountering a separate enemy, it simply did not use so many troops.

After a little thought, Franz made a decision: "The Pope Federation has not yet reached its limit, this war still has to be fought, and the weapons technology originally planned to be sold is temporarily put on hold."

Although the new weapons can make the war more tragic, Franz did not dare to let it go.

The same weapons and equipment, placed in the hands of different people, can exert completely different combat power.

Looking at Ivanov's military use, you can see that he is a proper conservative. What kind of leadership there is, what kind of subordinates are there, and the use of new weapons by the Russian army is definitely not as good as that of the Prussian army.

Whether it is a "machine gun" or a "mortar", these seemingly insignificant weapons can burst out with amazing lethality. If Mao Qi found an opportunity, he might be able to reverse a major battle.

The Russians have a solid family background, and it is not terrible to lose the front line once. What is terrible is that the defeat of the war led to the change of the tsarist government.

Don't look at Marshal Ivanov, there are not many bright spots, but

He is still the most suitable commander in command of the Russian army. If there is another person, who knows what the hell will come out.

It's not that Franz underestimated the Russians. The quality of their officers was slightly lower as a whole, specifically in terms of education.

The high-level officers are good, and most of them have received a sound education. Many of the middle- and lower-level officers have only received family military education, and the proportion of officers who have received military school training is very low.

Otherwise, it is impossible for an Austrian military academy student like Arden to become a general in just a few years. (As mentioned earlier, Koveli Garrison Commander)

It's not that foreign monks like to recite sutras. The key is that compared with other people, his ability is really excellent, at least in terms of theoretical knowledge.

When conservative tactics are adopted, they are all fighting dull battles anyway, and the space for officers to exert their personal abilities is limited. This disadvantage is not obvious.

If a new commander is replaced, the combat mode is changed, and the front-line officers are required to freely exercise their personal command capabilities, and the Russians will suffer.

Maybe a talented commander will emerge, but most of them are stupid.

In the war of millions of people, the strength of the individual is insignificant, and it is often not the very individual genius who decides the outcome of the war, but countless fools.

If there is no idiot as a foil, where is the genius? Miracles in military history are often created by these two types of people.

...

Foreign Secretary Weisenberg: "Your Majesty, when I met with the British Minister yesterday, he brought news.

As long as we stop supporting the Russians, the British government recognizes our postwar annexation of the Russian Balkans, including Constantinople. "

Franz rolled his eyes directly, what is this? Austria's annexation of the Russian Balkans, does it still need the British to recognize it?

It's not that Franz is proud. Since the opening of the Suez Canal, the influence of the British in the Mediterranean has gradually declined, and it is not their turn to intervene in the Balkans.

Austria really wants to annex these areas, only the Russians are the only obstacles in the real sense, and the "recognition" of the British will not affect the final result at all.

For the French, it's almost the same, at least they have the ability to interfere. As for the British, when will the main force of the Royal Navy dare to go deep into the Adriatic Sea?

However, this can also prove from the side that the London government is in a hurry. The French, who had high hopes for them, now choose to sit on the sidelines, and the chips in the hands of the British are not enough.

Franz: "No Ukraine region?"

"No!" Wesenberg replied

Franz shook his head: "It seems that the consciousness of the London government is still 30 years ago, and it wants to point fingers everywhere.

Tell the British that the Russian-Austrian relationship has a long history and that we have no interest in Constantinople. Let them not sow discord. "

Whether there is interest or not, now Austria must have no interest. Constantinople is not easy to take. Taking it means you have to fight with the Russians to the death and share the hatred for the Popo Federation.

Austria has occupied the Dardanelles, and Constantinople can only be the icing on the cake. Besides Constantinople, what else is there in the Russian Balkans?

Bulgaria?

It is now 1880, not 1850, and Bulgarian nationalism has flourished.

The culture and customs of the Bulgarian region are very close to those of Russia, and the language is more interoperable. The tsarist government has not digested it. Franz does not think that Austria can assimilate the local people so easily.

To put it bluntly, in addition to rose essential oil, Bulgaria has no shortage of other resources in Austria. Input and output are not proportional, so naturally it is difficult to get interested.