Chapter 1135 The First World War breaks out
And Russia is still actively promoting "Great Slavism" propaganda, which can unite Poles, Ukrainians, and Yugoslavs around St. Petersburg. After all, they all belong to branches of the Slavs. .
The Austro-Hungarian Empire could not even reach an agreement with its own Hungarians. Hungary also actively promoted various privileges of its own nation within the empire, which further divided the consensus within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Rudolph's words also made the atmosphere in Schönbrunn Palace become tense, including the hawk Conrad, who had to think carefully in the face of a large amount of factual evidence.
Franz only spoke at this time: "Having said so much, Rudolf, what plan do you think the empire should choose to be the safest?"
Since Rudolf has said so much, there should be a solution. After all, Austria-Hungary cannot choose to do nothing just because of too many disadvantages. Just like Serbia, such a small country is so jumping in front of the Austria-Hungary Empire. If it does not Punishment is obviously an insult to the dignity of the empire.
Rudolf: "According to my idea, it is natural to actively expand the army, especially to improve the army's finances, first to fill the gap between us and other big countries, and then declare war on Serbia."
< br>Said is basically the same as not said. After all, the military expenditure issue cannot be decided unilaterally by Austria, and Hungary cannot be bypassed. If Hungary can be persuaded, it will not be so indecisive now.
Conrad said: "In terms of military expenditures, we can only launch a war first and slowly negotiate with Hungary. In a state of war, everything will not be a problem. Of course, it would be better if we could avoid Hungary to raise military expenditures. . ”
As one of the cores of the empire, Hungary is definitely opposed to the empire’s annexation of Serbia. After all, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia, the original dual core of the empire’s political map, may change. , which is equivalent to sharing the original political power of Hungary.
And what Conrad said is contradictory, but there is one factor in the middle. Conrad did not name it, and that is Russia. If Russia goes to war with the empire because of the Serbian issue, then Hungary will be tied to the chariot. After all, Russia was in the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Hungary was the first to bear the brunt of the Russian threat.
After summarizing the two people’s views, Franz thought for a long time and finally said: “In this case, let’s put pressure on Serbia first! After all, putting pressure on Serbia does not mean that we must If Serbia can compromise, it may not need to take further radical measures.”
Franz’s idea is good, but a country like Serbia that made its fortune through extreme nationalism obviously did not compromise with the big powers during this period. However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no choice, and the war between the two countries was only a matter of time.
As expected, in July, after Austria-Hungary made its political demands to Serbia through the Sarajevo incident, the Serbian military government refused.
The two countries have entered into tense relations, which was considered a provocation by hawks in the empire, and the extreme media also increased their exaggeration of the Serbian threat theory.
Originally, because Archduke Ferdinand was not dead, the plan proposed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire this time was much looser than that of the same period in history. However, under the choices of Serbian ultra-nationalism and the military government, the situation began to develop in the worst direction.
The last public opinion in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was patient, and after further fermentation, it completely broke out. The national main war wave was huge, demanding severe punishment for Serbia.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire is actually the same as Serbia, with equally serious internal nationalism, but Hungary is involved in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so it is difficult to form a joint force. This time, public opinion within the Austro-Hungarian Empire portrays Serbia as a common enemy. It can barely be regarded as a preliminary consensus.
At the same time, as the crown prince, Rudolf also went to Hungary to lobby. With the help of his mother's influence in Hungary and the exchange of some interests, the Hungarian government finally made concessions.
This was something that Archduke Ferdinand, the previous Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had difficulty accomplishing. After all, Archduke Ferdinand himself had a poor reputation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially the establishment of the Three Yuan Empire that he advocated. The idea of integrating Slavs into the core of the empire was sure to cause dissatisfaction among the Hungarians. Rudolf was completely different. Under the influence of Ernst, Rudolf was originally dissatisfied with the dualist empire, but Hungary had already become a trend, so Rudolf pinched his nose and tolerated it, but he would never allow it within the empire. There will be a second "Hungary", Ferdinand's idea, unless Hungary is divided into two.
For Rudolf, it was basically impossible to implement Germanization within the empire. He could only settle for the next best thing and engage in a weakened version of "Austro-Hungarian imperialization", that is, unifying Austria and Hungary into a A new nation can at least form a dominant national concept in its own country.
This is two things combined into one, so Rudolf can no longer grant any privileges to other peoples to prevent the second "Hungary" from appearing within the empire.
Of course, Rudolf's thoughts are just thoughts. After all, the emperor is still Franz. Before he took power, these thoughts only appeared in Rudolf's mind.
July 26, 1914.
Austria-Hungary issued a final war ultimatum to Serbia. Two days later, Serbia refused again and began its final war mobilization.
On the 28th, Austria-Hungary finally declared war on Serbia, and only one day later, Russia announced its support for Serbia, and the tsarist government issued a mobilization order.
At the same time, Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany, stirring Germany into troubled waters, because Germany's wooing of Bulgaria and the Ottomans completely reduced Russian-German relations to a freezing point.
After Russia declared war, Germany led by Wilhelm II did not immediately hope for the outbreak of war, but hoped that Russia would stop military mobilization. However, Russia refused, and Germany could only choose to declare war on Russia. Subsequently, Germany Declaring war on old rival France, Britain followed suit on August 4 by declaring war on Germany.
A war sweeping the five top powers in Europe has completely broken out. Other European countries, except for Serbia, Belgium and other countries, are temporarily in a wait-and-see mode to prevent themselves from being spilled.
The United States, East Africa and other countries outside the region were very excited. The governments of the two countries hypocritically advised Europe to stay calm and expressed their neutral attitude not to participate in the European war.
After confirming that major European countries were involved in the war, the East African government restarted its own naval expansion plan. The shelved naval construction plan restarted funding and factories worked overtime to cope with the possible consequences of the European war. of large orders.
With the war in Europe a foregone conclusion, East Africa began to set its sights on the world market outside Europe, including German colonies.
Of course, the East African government does not want to occupy Germany's overseas territories by force. However, at the height of World War I, Germany is no longer able to guarantee the security of its overseas territories. Under such circumstances, the East African government is naturally willing to be Germany's successor. .
A region including German Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon) and German Pacific Islands (New Guinea, Mariana Islands). Among them, East Africa is the most interested in German Central Africa. As for Germany’s Pacific The territory can continue to accumulate East Africa's advantages in the Pacific region, so that in the Pacific region, East Africa's territory can cover most places, from Alaska in the north to New Guinea close to Australia, further spreading East Africa's influence in the Pacific region.
On the day Germany declared war on Russia, the East African Embassy in Germany took immediate action to discuss with the German government.
At this time, Germany had no other choice. Even if it held these overseas territories in its hands, it would be difficult to guarantee its security. It would be better to exchange them with the East African government for relevant support.
(End of this chapter)