Chapter 396 The Crisis Brought by Victory

While the Battle of East Prussia was going on, the Russian-Austrian border was not idle. At the urging of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire assembled three armies, totaling 48 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry divisions, preparing to launch an attack on Russia.

On the Russian side, the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Army Groups were also stockpiled, attempting to annex the entire Galicia in one battle.

If the Battle of East Prussia was a hasty war that Russia had to launch under the pressure of Britain and France.

Then the encounter on the Russian-Austrian border can show the ambitions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia in this war.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to defeat Russia, go south to become the only powerful country in the Balkans, and take over all the Balkan countries.

And Russia, naturally, wanted to annex the fertile land of Galicia and reduce the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Balkans.

The number of troops deployed by Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the border area was as high as one million, to be precise, close to two million.

This also made the number of soldiers on the Eastern Front no weaker than that on the Western Front. If we only look at the size of the soldiers on both sides, there may be more soldiers on the Eastern Front.

But in fact, this is just a false prosperity. Everyone knows that the combat capabilities of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian armies are far inferior to those of France and Germany. If the main force of the German army is on the Eastern Front, Russia has no room to fight back.

On February 1, the First Army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Fourth Army of Russia encountered each other in the Krasnik area and immediately started a fierce melee.

But the combat capability of the Russian army is much inferior to that of the Austro-Hungarian army. After a fierce battle, the Russian army was successfully repelled.

But this battle is far from stopping. Soon, Russia organized the Third and Eighth Armies to attack in the direction of Lviv and Galich.

At the same time, the Fourth and Fifth Armies encircled the left wing of the Austro-Hungarian army, cut off the route of the Austro-Hungarian army's retreat to Krakow, and surrounded the main force of the Austro-Hungarian army as much as possible.

The real war started on February 3. The Russian Third and Eighth Armies soon fought with the Austro-Hungarian Third Army. The Fourth Army successfully delayed the Austro-Hungarian First Army, forcing the Austro-Hungarian Empire to transfer the Second Army from Serbia.

The gunfire continued until the afternoon of February 7. After suffering heavy casualties, the Austro-Hungarian Second and Third Armies were forced to retreat.

The Russian army also took advantage of the victory and occupied Galic and Lviv.

Thanks to the personal command of Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian army burst out with strong combat effectiveness. They fought every enemy and won every battle. They soon occupied the entire Galicia region.

This battle, which lasted for more than half a month, also caused the Austro-Hungarian army to suffer more than 400,000 casualties, while the Russian casualties were less than 230,000.

Such a result was a huge blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Allies. After Russia occupied Galicia, it posed a threat to Germany's Silesia and Austro-Hungarian Hungary.

Faced with such a dangerous situation, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no choice but to ask Germany for help.

Germany could not ignore the dangers of its hinterland and allies, so it could only transfer troops from the Western Front to strengthen the Eastern Front and temporarily delay the Russian offensive.

Arthur looked at the war report sent from Europe and couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Arthur didn't expect that the Russian army could easily defeat the Austro-Hungarian army.

After all, the domestic system in Russia was too corrupt, and it was not easy for this ancient enemy country to burst out such a strong combat power.

But thinking about it again, after the outbreak of the war, Australasia had transported weapons and equipment to Russia many times, and Arthur suddenly didn't find it strange.

One of the most important factors that determine the combat effectiveness of soldiers is the soldiers' weapons and equipment and logistical supply.

The main force of the Russian army on the front line is currently equipped with a large number of military weapons produced in Australasia, which has also invisibly improved the combat effectiveness of the Russian army.

But the victory on the Eastern Front is not a good thing for Russia, because Germany has summoned a large number of troops to the Eastern Front.

Although Russia can show off its power to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it does not have much resistance to the German Army, the most powerful army in the world.

More importantly, the situation in Russia is not so stable. If a crisis occurs in Russia because of Germany's reinforcement of the Eastern Front, I am afraid that Russia will have an early civil strife compared to history, or even a greater crisis will break out.

Without Russia's Allies, the strength will also decline by a considerable amount. Although the three countries of Britain, France and Australia have the strength to defeat Germany together, the price paid by the Allies to defeat Germany will definitely be much higher.

You must know that Russia mobilized more than 10 million troops in the First World War in history, and the casualties were close to 2 million.

These figures are still because Russia's domestic statistics are very backward, and the actual casualties will definitely be higher.

This also means that more than 10 million troops need to be filled by the other three countries of the Allies. Unless Australasia can organize millions of indigenous troops, otherwise, it can only reluctantly send conventional troops to promote the victory of the war.

This also means that no matter what, the stability of Russia and the stability of the Eastern Front are very important.

Russia can share a considerable part of Germany's military burden. Judging from the current war situation, neither Britain, France nor Australia can afford Russia's withdrawal from the war.

Thinking of this, Arthur also felt that he could not sit still and wait for death. It happened that the new weapons and equipment of the Royal Arsenal had been produced, and it was time to send some of them to Russia to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Russian army.

February 17, 1915, St. Petersburg, Russia.

The defeat of the East Prussia Campaign made Nicholas II angry for a few days, and the great success of the Galicia Campaign made Nicholas II smile again.

More importantly, Russia directly occupied the entire Galicia region. This direct expansion of land area is more worthy of joy than the victory of the campaign.

It has been nearly half a year since the start of the war. Because Russia has been unknown, Nicholas II, who has been holding his breath, can finally raise his eyebrows and point to the war situation map hanging on the wall and start to point out the situation.

Nicholas II's appetite is not just a small Galicia region. If possible, Hungary, East Prussia and other regions are also within Nicholas II's consideration.

Of course, the Polish region that was previously divided with the Germans should also be taken back.

In this way, Russia almost occupied half of Eastern Europe, and with the Balkans, which it indirectly controlled, half of Europe was controlled by Russia.

The Russian military and officials who seemed to be listening attentively on the side also showed smiles on their faces at this time.

For an old country like Russia, the expansion of its territory is worth celebrating, and it is also worth celebrating to show its strength to the outside world.

You know, since the beginning of the 20th century, the decline of old powers like Russia has been a commonplace topic.

Especially facing a new country like an island country with obvious shortcomings, Russia almost tied, which is enough to prove Russia's weakness.

Coupled with the rise of Germany and the formation of the Allies, Russia became the fourth in Europe, ranking below Britain, Germany and France.

After the outbreak of this war, Russia did not make any achievements in the first few months of the war, and even the slow progress of the general mobilization, the poor weapons and equipment of the soldiers, and the poor logistics and transportation system made Europeans call the steamroller old, rotten, and degraded.

This is not good news for the Russians. People will die when they get old, machines will be scrapped when they get old, and countries will be oppressed and annexed by new countries when they get old.

This victory over the Austro-Hungarian Empire is a re-declaration to the outside world for the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Tsarist government. At least Russia is still the European steamroller, and it is still a crushing force against the inferior powers such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Although it is not enough to make people look at the Tsarist Russian Empire again, at least people should sigh that a dead camel is bigger than a horse, and no matter how corrupt the top powers are, they are not comparable to a small inferior power.

Of course, there is another reason why the entire Tsarist government is happy, that is, Russia has made great contributions in this battle, and the Germans were even forced to send more reinforcements to relieve the pressure on the Western Front.

And merit is also an assessment of the distribution of benefits after the war. For the Tsarist government, the greater the merit now, the greater the benefits it can get after the war.

For the hundreds of thousands of casualties since the outbreak of the war, who would care about the Tsarist Russian Empire with a population of more than 100 million?

Was it Nicholas II or the Tsarist government? Was it the Russian high-level officials or the capitalist gentry?

None of them. Except for the Russian civilians, no one would care about these casualties. In the eyes of the Russian high-level officials, these casualties are just a string of numbers, a string of numbers that can be changed at any time and are constantly increasing.

Just look at the annual birth figures of Russia to understand that the number of newborns alone is as high as millions or even tens of millions each year.

Hundreds of thousands of casualties are completely insignificant to the Tsarist Russian Empire, which has no effect on Russia's annual population growth rate.

"Your Majesty, since the Germans have sent a large number of reinforcements, why don't we rest here and turn the front battlefield into a completely defensive state. In this way, we can not only defend the Galicia region we have occupied, but also complete the task of delaying the German army required by the French, and reduce our domestic casualties and consumption." Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander of the Galicia Campaign, arrived at the St. Petersburg conference room early and put forward his own views.

As the commander of the front line, Grand Duke Nicholas has a clear understanding of the gap between the strength of the Russian army and the strength of the German army.

Although the garrison and reinforcements in the East Prussia region of Germany will not exceed 500,000. But these 50 troops are enough to hold back the Russian army of nearly 2 million, and even cause a large number of casualties to the Russian army.

Anyway, Russia has already relieved the crisis of France by mobilizing troops from the Western Front, and Germany has also met France's requirements. There is no need to continue to consume with the German army.

Although the Russian army is not short of soldiers, the weapons and equipment, bullets and shells consumed in the war are still a huge expense.

From a military point of view, Grand Duke Nicholas' proposal is completely correct.

Russia has no strength, and there is no need to consume with Germany. Unless there are no unstable factors in Russia, but this situation is impossible now.

However, for Russian officials who consider political factors more, Grand Duke Nicholas' proposal is a bit of nonsense.

Since the victory has been achieved, why not pursue it?

Isn't it good to have the East Prussia region of Germany, the Silesia region and the Hungarian region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Why did Russia join the war? Just to gain expansion in land, is it also to increase political power and status?

If it is satisfied with winning a battle, how can the government compete for more political status and rights?

Before Grand Duke Nicholas could explain further, the current Prime Minister of Tsarist Russia, Ivan Goremekin, immediately interrupted and retorted with a smile: "Mr. Chief of General Staff, the plan cannot be entirely based on military considerations. From a political perspective, We have to fight, and we must have another large-scale war and win, in order to stabilize our position among the Allied Powers and seek more benefits in the future. "

"If we stand still and switch to defense on the spot, we may be able to save a lot of resources and manpower, but the prestige accumulated by the empire over the past century will be destroyed, and our status in the country and the world will also be destroyed!"

"Mr. Prime Minister, prestige and status are stabilized by strength. Even if we use a big victory to stabilize our prestige and status according to what you said. After our troops and soldiers paid a lot of casualties, our post-war status Who can guarantee the distribution of interests? It is better to just let it go and turn the front line into a defensive state. We only need to use a group army to hold back all the German troops, and then we can complete the tasks given to us by our allies.

When the benefits are distributed in the future, wouldn't it be better if we still have enough troops to protect our interests and status than making unnecessary sacrifices now? ” Archduke Nicholas responded with a sneer.

There is another more straightforward factor that Grand Duke Nicholas did not mention, which is the current frequent uprisings and civil strife in the Tsarist Russian Empire.

People marched, workers went on strike, revolutionaries made trouble, and the navy revolted. One thing is enough to destabilize a country, not to mention that the Tsarist Empire has already gathered enough people to form a table of mahjong.

Grand Duke Nicholas didn't know whether the government could withstand such heavy casualties, but Grand Duke Nicholas knew that if he continued to engage in this senseless war and consume his own army and national power, when a large-scale rebellion and crisis breaks out in the country in the future, But there really was no army to suppress it.

No matter how good the international status and territorial expansion are, they must be carried out on the premise of national stability and unity. Because the war caused internal instability in the empire, and some revolutionaries even took advantage of the chaos to split it up, it would be a source of laughter for thousands of years.

That’s it for today. It’s 4,000 words. Please take a day off.