Chapter 945

Compared with Spain, Switzerland, sandwiched between Fao, is even more tragic. There is no need to think about neutral horses, small countries have no right to choose.

If it is said that Austria attracts Russia and Spain because of political needs, then Switzerland is completely for the sake of making up the numbers.

It doesn't matter if you don't stand in line, Austria is peace-loving and will not force everyone to join. It's just that the establishment of the international order after the war does not require non-participating countries to participate.

Don't look at the fact that Switzerland was very happy to be neutral in the original time and space, and even the EU was too lazy to join. It was based on the rise of the United States and the decline of Europe. Now it is outside the system, and the final outcome is nothing more than a question of how to die.

If nothing else, a grain embargo will make Switzerland hungry for less than a year; a tariff barrier will make Switzerland's nascent industry soon return to the Middle Ages.

There is no doubt that post-war Austria was absolutely capable of this. Neither the defeated France nor the independent kingdom of Sardinia could compete for Switzerland and Austria.

To put it bluntly, a hegemonic country also needs to stand up. Generally speaking, a chicken is chosen to be killed to serve as an example to the monkeys. Austria is no exception, the only uncertainty now is who will be the unlucky chicken.

The first way to survive in a small country is to be aware of current affairs. After Spain declared war on France, the Swiss government, which could not stand the pressure, followed by declaring war on the French.

The members of the anti-French alliance were assembled, and Austria finally gathered an unparalleled general trend.

In Vienna Palace, looking at the map full of flags, Franz said slowly: "The time for a decisive battle has come. With the participation of Russia, Spain and Switzerland, the morale of the French has dropped to the lowest point.

Order the front-line troops to launch a full-scale counter-offensive. My request is only one, to weaken the French as much as possible.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued its efforts to bring all the neutral countries in Europe into the water before the French surrendered, laying the foundation for the reconstruction of the international order after the war.

Except, of course, the British. "

Yes, Franz never counted on the strength of these new allies,

There are only two main purposes for pulling them in:

First, tie more countries to the chariot, create as many enemies as possible for the French, and share the hatred together.

The second is to attack the morale of the French, weaken the French's sense of resistance, increase the odds of winning the decisive battle, and minimize the casualties of one's own side.

Of course, there are more additional benefits. There are only so many countries on the European continent, and the more countries participating in the war, the fewer countries that can become mediators. Even if the British wanted to interfere, they could not draw enough allies.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg: "Your Majesty, there are only three neutral countries left on the European continent, and they have little interest in the French.

The temptation is simply unrealistic. If they are forced to declare war on France, they may be forced to agree to the situation, but they will definitely be dissatisfied.

At the same time, we will give the outside world the impression of being domineering, which is not conducive to the establishment of the post-war international order.

Anyway, their strength is limited, and participating in the war cannot bring practical significance. It is better to let them go. "

There is no doubt that the three neutral countries do not include Britain. From the beginning of the deterioration of British-Russian relations, the Austrian government subconsciously excluded the British from the European continent.

Looking at the map, Franz nodded thoughtfully. The current neutral countries are Portugal, the Netherlands and the Nordic Commonwealth. Even if they participated in the war, they had no chance to go to the battlefield.

Not only them, but even Franz of Russia and West Rui are not ready to give them a chance to participate in the decisive battle.

Because of the geographical location, if the two countries respond quickly, there may still be a chance to join in the fun and participate in the game of beating the underdogs. Other countries that do not share borders don't have to think about it.

The French have a very rich family background, and participating in the decisive battle certainly requires a certain price, but compared with the generous benefits, it is not worth mentioning at all.

It is not easy to be the boss, especially when distributing benefits. If you want to convince everyone, the most basic fairness is still to be achieved.

Franz has made a plan to implement the principle of equal benefits and contributions, and as much as he contributed to the anti-French war, he took as much spoils as possible after the war.

Those who make little contribution, except for the initially promised benefits, the rest of the distribution of benefits has nothing to do with them.

This is something that can't be helped. Austria wants to swallow French Africa, so naturally it can't let too many countries participate in the Armageddon, otherwise it will be too ugly to eat alone.

In addition, there is another purpose to show the muscles to the outside world, so that everyone can understand that this boss is well-deserved, not a pretentious one, and put his eyes on the bright spot when doing things in the future.

...

In the Central European battlefield, the aged Marshal Patrice McMahon dragged his exhausted body for the final mobilization.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the old marshal is about to run out of oil and burn out. If it weren't for strong beliefs, perhaps he would have fallen.

Since the news of the Russians' participation in the war, despair has spread in the French army camps, especially the Italian soldiers who are the most violent, and some people even blatantly spread anti-war ideas in the army camps.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, McMahon immediately ordered a crackdown and executed hundreds of people successively before stabilizing the situation.

Iron-blooded means can shock people, but there is no way to restore morale. Perhaps the domestic officials did not understand, but the front-line generals knew that the French army had fallen into a situation of internal and external troubles.

"As you all know, the international situation suddenly changed, and the Russians declared war on us.

Now, Spain and Switzerland also jumped to the ground.

This is just the beginning, if we can't defeat the enemy in front of us on the battlefield and smash the enemy's ambition, then more enemies will jump out.

France has reached its most dangerous moment, and now it is time for us to take up arms and defend our homeland.

Don't look at how many people they are, they are actually a group of rabble. As long as the leading Austria is defeated, the international anti-French forces will retreat.

 …”

Marshal Patrice McMahon used a loud voice to instill chicken soup for the souls of the officers that he could not believe, just to inspire everyone's belief and win a ray of life for France.

As for the effect, the benevolent sees benevolence, and the wise sees wisdom.

Perhaps the Russians are far away and cannot reach them for a while; but Spain and Switzerland are right next to them. Even if the two countries do not send troops, they will also contain a large number of French troops.

Spain is good to say, separated by the Pyrenees Mountains, as long as ten or two hundred thousand French troops are deployed, they can guard the door.

Switzerland is different. The border area between France and Switzerland is flat, and all natural dangers are in Switzerland. Once the Austrian army broke out from Switzerland, it directly entered the heart of France.

Not exactly "once", but already happened. At the same time as Switzerland was entering the war, an Austrian army had already set off from the Principality of Liechstein and entered Switzerland, apparently aimed at France.

Unlike the anti-French alliance, which has a large number of people, France's war mobilization has reached its limit. The total number of French troops lost in the war has exceeded two million. Including the 800,000 to 900,000 lost on the African continent, and the more than 1 million lost on the European battlefield.

Although not all of these people died in battle, and a large number of officers and soldiers were disabled and captured on the battlefield, the essence was the same and they could not go to the battlefield again.

However, this is just the beginning. From the time the Paris government decided to fight the war quickly, the French army had to pay tens of thousands of casualties every day.

No matter how big the family is, it can't stand such a toss. In the face of brutal casualties, front-line officers and soldiers have long complained.

In the situation of the grass-roots officers and soldiers, McMahon had no skills, and could only rely on the top officers to do ideological work down to the next level, so as to stimulate the fighting spirit of the soldiers as much as possible.

Before McMahon could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a young officer who burst in: "Marshal, the Austrians are attacking.

According to the telegram sent from the front line, the Austrian army's attack was very powerful.

Our first line of defense has been broken, and troops from the 7th, 16th, 23rd, and 42nd Divisions on the front have sent telegrams asking for help. "

Hearing the "Iron Bump" monster, McMahon's face sank. It seemed that the documents that someone reported to him had mentioned that it was in the Austrian's secret weapon.

It's a pity that Austria has too many secret weapons, most of which are smoke bombs released. No one knows what this thing can do before it is put into the battlefield. Coupled with the incomplete information, it was directly ignored by McMahon.

Of course, even knowing it in advance is useless. Before seeing the power of the armored force, in everyone's concept, it is the heavy cavalry, it is nothing more than a little behind the armor outside.

With the order of Franz, the torrent of steel that had been hidden for many days spewed out, and tanks and armored vehicles were seen from southern Europe to central Europe.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Armageddon between France and Austria has broken out. On the one hand, there is the French army who wants to fight quickly, and on the other hand, the Austrian army in the torrent of steel, staged the most exciting scene on the European continent.

fighting?

No, it should be a massacre to be exact.

The confrontation between flesh and blood and the torrent of steel is inherently unfair. In addition, the French army has always been the offensive party before, and its own fortifications are not very strong, and the result is tragic.

...