Chapter 1134 Disputes within the Austro-Hungarian Empire
While the East African government is anxiously waiting for changes in the situation in Europe, Vienna is undecided. The attitude and past life of Franz and the ministers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire towards the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand Very different.
A big reason why the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in his previous life triggered the war was that Archduke Ferdinand in his previous life was the crown prince, but now Archduke Ferdinand does not have the blessing of this identity.
This put Archduke Ferdinand in an awkward position in the political situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. News media, including newspapers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, did not react as strongly to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as in his previous life.
In Schönbrunn Palace, Franz was sitting on the sofa, tapping the documents on the table with a gloomy expression. His brows were furrowed, while the people around him held their breath, waiting for the emperor's instructions.
After a long while, Franz finally spoke: "Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo. This was a serious provocation to the empire. What attitude do you think we should adopt in negotiating with Serbia?"
General Staff of the Imperial Army Chief Conrad said: "We should severely punish Serbia. This is a provocation to the dignity of the empire. The funds behind the Black Hand organization are entirely provided by Serbia. Now that Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated, Serbia cannot do without it."
As a hawk, Conrad has always supported the war and advocated a defensive war against Serbia, so it is not surprising that he advocated this.
The ability of a strong nationalist like Conrad to occupy a high position in the imperial political situation was naturally closely related to his abilities. Conrad played an important role in the modernization of the Austro-Hungarian Army. .
And his opinions naturally cannot determine the empire’s final strategy. Franz naturally understands Conrad’s extremeness.
So Franz turned to the crown prince and asked: "Rudolf, what do you think!"
The imperial crown prince Rudolf has finally passed the age of rebellion, and this also made him start to participate in imperial government affairs .
Rudolf frowned and said: "I don't completely agree with the Chief of General Staff's view. In my opinion, the war with Serbia must be fought, but we must be fully prepared. "
Hearing the Crown Prince denying himself, Conrad frowned. After all, the old emperor was old. If a war breaks out, Rudolf is likely to become the person in charge of the war next. If and It's definitely not a pleasant experience if you disagree with yourself.
However, Rudolph's next words did not completely deny his idea, which made Conrad relax his brows a little.
However, he still said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's worries are completely unnecessary. The gap between Serbia and us is still very wide. We are confident that Serbia will be completely defeated in the war."
Rudolf said Said: "I do not have a good impression of Serbia, but this does not mean that we should despise the enemy."
"Just during the First Balkan War, Serbia Asia has mobilized more than 200,000 troops, and Serbia also performed well in the Second Balkan War. This means that Serbia has accumulated at least more than 200,000 veterans with rich combat experience and a group of outstanding military capabilities. "
"Although the empire is powerful, it faces a lot of pressure from more than 200,000 combat-experienced troops, and Serbia's performance in the Balkan War also illustrates this twice. Serbia's potential in the war is not small. After two wars, Serbia has accumulated high morale. Facing this kind of army, if we have a contemptuous attitude, it will inevitably have a negative impact."
"And Serbia. By promoting the concept of 'Yugoslavia', it aroused the sympathy and even support of many Slavs in Bosnia and Croatia. The assassination of Ferdinand this time brought great concern to Serbia in Bosnia. This means that when the imperial army enters Bosnia, it is very likely to be backstabbed, which is not conducive to the development of military operations. "Finally, if we go to war with Serbia, it will inevitably trigger the intervention of the international community, Britain, France, Countries such as Russia may give Serbia support to consume us, and Russia may even declare war on us, which will make the situation we face even more passive.”
Conrad said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is overly worried. We have received a guarantee from Germany that as long as Russia declares war on us, Germany will not stand idly by. There will definitely be risks for us to deal with Russia alone, but the two sides If a big German country joins forces, Russia will definitely be unable to do anything to us."
Conrad is a typical supporter of Greater Germany, so he did not shy away from describing the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a German country. Of course, this is also inconsistent with it. related to his work experience.
As an important person in charge of the imperial military and the main driver of the military modernization of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he will inevitably feel disgusted with the Hungarian Parliament. After all, Hungary has always been opposed to the expansion of the imperial army. Conrad said The modernization of the army will inevitably be subject to financial constraints, so let alone Conrad, many military personnel are actually dissatisfied with the Hungarian Parliament.
Rudolf was not complacent because of Germany's support. He still said: "We cannot be superstitious about Germany. It is true that the German military has a tendency to become the first in Europe, but Germany is also facing pressure from France. These days France has been thinking about revenge against Germany, and France and Russia have a relatively close relationship, so it is impossible for Germany to fully support us, and they will be dragged into France.”
"The imperial army is far less powerful than Germany. As a world military power, Russia is fully capable of withstanding the pressure between our two great powers at the same time."
"Today, the imperial military expenditure has long been at a long-term level among the major European military powers. at the bottom, and our The army has been at peace for a long time. If it goes to war with Russia, it is difficult to predict the outcome. "
The disputes about the war within the Austro-Hungarian Empire will eventually discuss Russia, which is an unavoidable mountain, so the conversation between the two was unconscious. China still shifted to the topic of Russia.
Rudolph continued: "If there is a war with Russia, we must be prepared for a long war, and this means that we must be prepared for the military. After all, Russia's ability to bear the war is Above the empire, every time Russia intervenes in a dispute between European powers, it will almost always be a long-lasting dispute. "
"In recent years, all countries have been frantically expanding their armies. Only the empire has been at the bottom in terms of military support for various reasons, even less than East Africa and the United States. Do we have the ability to support it? A long-term war is a very questionable issue.”
"The form of war today is completely different from that of the last century. Major countries almost always maintain huge armies of hundreds of thousands, equipped with more lethal and powerful weapons, and each major country also has huge reserve forces. This is not what we "
As a multi-ethnic country with no main ethnic group, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has a population of more than 50 million, but the combined population of the two core ethnic groups, German and Hungarian, is less than 4%. 10. This will inevitably have a serious impact on the Austro-Hungarian army reserves.
Rudolph continued: "We can take the Balkan War as an example. The Balkan Alliance alone mobilized millions of troops in the two wars, and wars between major powers will obviously be more cruel. We Facing Russia's millions of troops, starting a war at this time will inevitably be in a disadvantageous position. "
After all, Austria-Hungary not only has to face pressure from Russia, Serbia and Italy must not ignore it. It will also disperse the forces to a certain extent.
As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there were also problems with the internal command system and logistics system due to language and national issues. Rudolf pointed out these one by one.
Both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia had serious ethnic problems, but the situation in Russia was much stronger than that in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Russia at least had a dominant ethnic group, and the languages and customs of Ukraine and Poland were in common, which was far different from the various ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That makes a huge difference.
(End of this chapter)