Chapter 458 The Gunfire Finally Dissipated

October 11, 1917, was a big day for the Allies and the entire war.

Under the full-scale attack of the Allied forces, the Second Battle of the Marne made good progress.

It took only ten days to push the German army back more than 50 kilometers, not only completely solving the dilemma of Paris, but also making a counterattack into Germany.

Although the German army's defense did not stop at all, it could no longer stop the attack of the Allied forces.

The state of the German army at this time was one go, then decline, and then exhaustion. The soldiers seemed exhausted, and most people were not optimistic about this doomed war.

The success of the Second Battle of the Marne also gave the Allied headquarters an opportunity.

On the premise of maintaining the offensive on the northern front, the French army mobilized a large number of troops stored in Verdun, and cooperated with the southern front to advance directly towards Alsace-Lorraine.

For the French, being able to recapture Alsace and Lorraine as soon as possible was definitely one of the best rewards in this war.

On October 27, 1917, after a half-month-long battle, the Allied forces broke through Nancy and pushed the German army back to the pre-war Franco-German border.

But restoring the pre-war order was obviously not what the French army pursued. Even without any rest, the high-spirited French army shouted the slogan of recovering Alsace-Lorraine and rushed directly to the Alsace and Lorraine regions.

Behind them was the land, and the German army's willingness to fight was restored. But it was obvious that the German army at this time could no longer stop the attack of the Allies. Even if the Germans were fearless, the French enthusiasm for fighting was even higher.

At the end of October, with the first French soldier officially entering the Alsace region, the region also re-planted the French flag after decades.

Along with Alsace, the Lorraine region was also recovered. These two regions were annexed by Prussia in 1871 and were also the knot of all French people.

You know, it was also in this year that Prussia established the German Empire under the feet of France. This is a shame in the hearts of all French people and one of the cores of the Franco-German conflict.

Now that they can regain this land, for most French people, it is even more exciting than winning the war.

General Thomas was also very tactful. He not only gave the opportunity to enter Alsace and Lorraine first to the French army, but also proposed that France directly manage this area.

In the tacit consent of all the Allied Powers, this land has been under the management of the French, and no one can compete with France for the ownership of this land.

The occupation of Alsace and Lorraine not only excited all French people and French media, but also all Allied newspapers, media and people.

This is the first time since the outbreak of the war that the Allied Western Front has entered Germany, and it is also the first piece of German land that has been truly occupied, which is of great significance to this war.

It was also on the day when the French army officially entered Alsace and Lorraine that all the Allied media adopted a unified title: "Victory is coming!"

The fall of Alsace and Lorraine overwhelmed the Germans, but they had no troops to mobilize at this time.

Both the Belgian region and the Eastern Front were facing the fierce attack of the Allied forces.

Even if a division was mobilized, it was very likely that these two fronts would be in danger. But if reinforcements were not sent to southern Germany, I am afraid that Bavaria would fall next.

The political system of the German Empire is quite special. It is an empire formed by the original Kingdom of Prussia and the states in the German region.

King Wilhelm II of Germany was not only the emperor of the German region, but also the king of the real core region, the Kingdom of Prussia.

In addition to the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire has important states such as Bavaria, Hesse, Baden, and Hanover.

These states not only have autonomy in normal times, but also have their own armies. It's just that they must be under the unified management of the imperial government during the war, which is also a restriction on these states.

Bavaria has its own king. If Bavaria faces a crisis, it is unknown whether it will seek independence like Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But for the Allies, the more chaotic Germany is, the better. The more chaotic Germany is, the less manpower and material resources the Allies will consume to defeat Germany.

After completely occupying Alsace and Lorraine, the Allied army split into two groups. One group went north to Frankfurt and the Rhine River, occupied Frankfurt and the Ruhr area, which are more important in Germany, and joined the British army in Belgium to surround the German front-line troops.

The other group continued to move eastward and occupied the entire southern German region.

The German states include Bavaria, Futtenberg, Hesse, and Baden, and the relationship with the northern German region is not so close.

You know, the reason why the German Empire was established was because the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Austria, which was also a German region, was excluded from the German Empire.

Before the establishment of the German Empire, the states of Bavaria and other southern German states had better relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and opposed the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia.

On November 11, 1917, after the Allied forces captured Offenburg, they advanced towards Stuttgart.

The army responsible for the northward march headed north to Mannheim and surrounded Mannheim, Mainz and Frankfurt in the nearby areas.

Although the German army fought desperately, the Allied forces were already unstoppable. Even though the German army suffered more than tens of thousands of casualties every day, it still could not stop the Allied forces from advancing.

On November 27, Stuttgart was broken, and the Allied forces headed east to Munich and Nuremberg.

A few days later, Mannheim was also broken, leaving only the German troops in Mainz and Frankfurt to hold on.

The news that other countries' armies were unstoppable in Germany also stimulated the British. The British increased their offensive in Belgium, and during this period, they also recaptured the Liege Fortress and advanced towards Aachen, Germany.

The predicament faced by Germany at this time made the German General Staff numb, and Hindenburg felt helpless.

More importantly, the fall of the country has put Germany in a material crisis. Workers' uprisings have broken out in many areas to protest the government's drastic reduction in material supplies to the people.

Although such a small-scale workers' uprising was quickly extinguished by the government, a pessimistic atmosphere has begun to spread among the people.

The German people began to criticize the military government's rule, angrily saying that it was because of the extremism of the military government that Germany faced such a dilemma.

It is worth mentioning that many media and people in Germany directly pointed their attacks at the military government and Hindenburg. The target was so clear that people had to suspect that someone was behind it.

In fact, William II, who lived in the Berlin Palace, was the most likely person behind these attacks, but Hindenburg had no time to deal with William II at this time.

On December 1, 1917, under the orders of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, the German General Staff asked the High Seas Fleet to force the battle and try to obtain more favorable conditions for future German peace talks.

But such a request from the General Staff undoubtedly sent the soldiers of the High Seas Fleet to die. With the addition of the Americans, the gap between the number of the German Navy and the Allied Navy was already very large, and the High Seas Fleet could not be the opponent of the Allied Navy.

Led by some middle-level naval officers and soldiers of the High Seas Fleet, the German Navy, unwilling to die in vain, launched an uprising, directly occupied the port, and publicly telegraphed the German government, demanding Hindenburg to return power to William II.

The navy's resistance and uprising made Hindenburg lose face, and also made more German people dissatisfied with the rule of the military government.

As the Allied forces recklessly attacked cities and plundered land in Germany, the Bavarian Kingdom Government finally couldn't hold on. Bavarian King Ludwig III sent envoys to meet with the Allies frequently, and his intention to unilaterally end the war was already very obvious.

On December 7, Munich was broken under the siege of the Allies, and Ludwig III also publicly announced Bavaria's unconditional surrender.

The surrender of Bavaria opened the prelude to the surrender of the German states. Hesse, Baden, Württemberg and other states also all announced their surrender in early December.

This also led to the entire southern German region falling under the rule of the Allies, and also caused chaos in the states in the northern German region.

Hindenburg did not care about the war on the front line at this time, and hurriedly ordered the army to withdraw to the northern German area and concentrate on defending the most important areas of Germany.

On December 9, with the fall of Frankfurt, the Allied forces began to advance towards the Ruhr area.

The British army also officially broke through Aachen and joined forces with the French army, aiming directly at the entire Westphalia region.

Before the Allied troops approached the Ruhr area, the workers and troops in the Ruhr area had already erupted in an uprising.

A large number of workers shouted slogans for bread and no war, rebelled against some German soldiers, and directly occupied most of the factories in the Ruhr area.

At the same time, rebellions broke out all over Germany. The people could no longer eat, and naturally no longer cared about the government.

On December 11, the Allied troops landed in Hanover, and the Hanover state immediately announced its surrender.

At this time, Hindenburg sat in the General Staff with a pale face. He knew that Germany was doomed, so he could only bitterly give his order to the messenger and announce a ceasefire on the front line.

On the same night, William II, under the protection of his personal guards, quietly went to the Netherlands, Germany's neighbor, for refuge.

After Germany's defeat, Hindenburg's military government would inevitably suffer liquidation from the Allies, and William II did not think that the Allies would let him go easily.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to go to the Netherlands early and wait for the situation in Germany to develop.

On the next day, December 12, 1917, the news that Germany announced an armistice spread to every corner of the Allies and the world, and also brought all the people of the Allies together to rejoice and encourage.

At this time, Europeans were surprised to find that the Allied media's previous advocacy of ending the war before Christmas was really not a lie, and there was still half a month before Christmas.

Arthur heard the news of Germany's armistice in Australasia, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

This war that has lasted for three years has finally ended, and people in Europe and even the world can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But the end of the war does not mean that everything is easy. The next peace talks between the Allies and Germany are the top priority, which concerns the interests of all countries.

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