Chapter 582 A world war must also make way for harvesting crops
George asked himself, if Ferdinand of Romania was assassinated, could George be like William II, who would not hesitate to provoke a world war to avenge his friends?
George asked himself that he couldn’t do it.
However, William II's purpose was not simple, and it was not necessarily to avenge his friends.
With the strength of the United Kingdom, it still feels overwhelmed by the arms race.
The Germans fared no better.
Last year, the military expenditures of various countries in US dollars were 680 million for the UK, 670 million for France, and 850 million for Russia.
On the Allied side, Italy has 400 million, Austria-Hungary has only 380 million, and Germany has 880 million. It has the highest military expenditure in the world.
Last year Germany’s gross national product was US$12.477 billion.
The reason why we emphasize the homeland is because Germany also has overseas colonies.
However, Germany's overseas colonies not only failed to generate income for Germany, but required German funding to maintain the colonial order.
Therefore, most of Germany's overseas colonies are scraps that Britain and France despised, and it was Germany's turn.
This can also explain why William II must overthrow the world colonial system established by Britain and France.
Germany has only been unified for a few decades. In terms of wealth accumulation, it is definitely not as good as Britain, or even the Russian Empire.
Germany’s military expenditure ranks first in the world, so what is hidden under Wilhelm II’s crazy appearance is a deep economic crisis.
To put it simply, if we don’t fight, Germany will not be able to hold on.
The Imperial Chief of General Staff Sukhomlinov made two combat plans. One was that the Russian Empire would be on the defensive, never take the initiative to attack, wait for the German-Austrian Alliance and the Anglo-French Alliance to suffer losses, and then clean up. Endgame.
One is that if the Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on the Kingdom of Serbia, the Russian Empire will declare war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire in accordance with the alliance, defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire first, and then join forces with Britain and France to attack Germany.
In both plans, even if the Russian Empire attacks, it will only happen in the Balkans.
So Nicholas hopes that George will serve as the commander-in-chief of the Balkan Theater.
The commander-in-chief of the European Theater of Operations is Nicholas Jr.
The Baltic Fleet was under the command of the European Theater during the war, and George was responsible for all Russian forces in the Balkans and the command of the Mediterranean Fleet.
As a strategic force, the Air Force is directly under the command of Nicholas.
"I have no problem, what about you, George?"
Little Nicholas was very ambitious, he finally got the chance to prove himself.
This opportunity is not limited to proving yourself on the battlefield.
It also lies in the competition with George.
“I don’t have a problem either——”
George is not afraid of competition, he just hopes that little Nicholas will not get the upper hand.
If Nicholas strictly follows Suhomlinov's plan, George is not worried.
The Guards have armored fighting vehicles as a tactical fulcrum. In the absence of anti-armor weapons, the German army can hardly pose a real threat to the Guards.
What George is afraid of is that if little Nicholas is eager to prove himself on the battlefield, his opponents will catch him.
If George were to deal with Little Nicholas, George would set a trap for Little Nicholas and let Little Nicholas take the initiative to attack.
In this way, even if Nicholas Jr.'s troops have the equipment advantage, they will fall into an offensive quagmire.
Alexander Millerand returned to France immediately after Ferdinand was assassinated.
George sent a telegram to Millerand, reminding Millerand to prepare for war in advance.
In his call back to George, Millerand thanked George for the reminder.
Then it was gone.
The French have a good reason.
Since Germany has not mobilized, France does not need to mobilize either.
George sent another telegram to Jia Fei, reminding Jia Fei to pay attention to the movements of the German troops.
Xiafei also thanked George for the reminder.
After thanking me, I did nothing.
George believes that he has fulfilled his responsibility as an ally.
Peter came to George and complained that little Nicholas stretched his hands too far.
When George was in charge of the Baltic Fleet, Kirill was restricted to receiving a salary and not holding any specific positions.
After assigning the Baltic Fleet to the European theater of operations, Nicholas Jr. ordered Kirill to be responsible for the logistics supply of the Baltic Fleet.
This is an absolutely fat job. It was previously in charge of Colonel Alexei, an officer from the Amur Military District.
Alexey was one of the children adopted by Ye Luoxin and married Ye Luoxin's eldest daughter Nina. George could only be thankful that little Nicholas could not reach out to the Kronstadt naval base.
Kronshtadt Naval Base is the gateway fortress of St. Petersburg and is still under the direct jurisdiction of George.
Alexei has good abilities and works conscientiously. When he was in charge of the logistics of the Baltic Fleet, the accounts were clear and there were no problems.
George simply transferred Alexei to Constantinople and asked Alexei to participate in the management of Constantinople.
George's headquarters was in Constantinople.
Andre has arrived in Constantinople with the Youshi Division, and George will also transfer the Hashin Division to strengthen the military strength of Constantinople.
After the fall of the Qing Empire, domestic warlords separated themselves and fought endlessly. The Amur Military Region had no defense pressure. After the Ha Division was also transferred, only the Ni Division was left in the standing army of the Amur Military Region.
George transferred most of the Nepalese division to Chita, leaving only one infantry regiment in Vladivostok.
Three servant divisions were transferred at the same time as Master Ha.
As a result, there are only four divisions of the Far East Servant Army left, and George needs to mobilize if he wants to recruit troops again.
After arranging all this, George noticed that there was still no movement in Vienna.
This is strange.
The crown prince was assassinated, and William II was filled with indignation and asked the old emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to avenge the crown prince.
The old emperor had no intention of revenge for the crown prince.
What is this for?
What George didn't know was that the old emperor was not only not angry, but also a little relieved.
After the assassination of the Grand Duke and his wife, Joseph I said to his personal secretary: "A higher power has restored order, which is difficult for me to do."
Okay, it seems that Fiji Dinant disobeyed Joseph I and insisted on marrying Sophie, which indeed seriously affected the relationship between Joseph I and Archduke Ferdinand.
Joseph I did not even attend the funeral of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, who were hastily buried in their own family cemetery.
Vienna did not hold any mourning activities for the Archduke and his wife, which is unimaginable.
After all, even the Russian Empire held a three-week mourning event for the Grand Duke and his wife.
Unlike the calm in Vienna, Berlin has been in uneasy turmoil since the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.
After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the German Ambassador to Vienna, Henrik von Cherschky, sent a telegram to Wilhelm II, claiming that he himself had asked Austria-Hungary not to take premature measures against the Kingdom of Serbia. action.
William II was furious and wrote on the telegram: Nonsense! Who gave you the authority to do this? Serbia must be punished, immediately!
After learning about William II’s instructions, Chershki complained to his friends: Is this country with all its joints creaking worth our continued dragging?
In Berlin, there were many people who had the same attitude towards the German-Austrian alliance as Chershky.
Rational Germans hope to dissolve their alliance with Austria-Hungary and instead ally with the Russian Empire in order to maximize their interests.
The only problem with forming an alliance with the Russian Empire is that the Russian Empire is too powerful. If it forms an alliance with the Russian Empire, it may cause Germany to lose its dominant position in the alliance, which is unacceptable to William II.
Compared with the peaceful Vienna and the turbulent Berlin, Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Serbia, fell directly into madness after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.
After the news of the assassination of the Archduke came back to Belgrade, Belgrade fell into a sea of joy. People took to the streets to hug each other and cheer to celebrate the death of the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
These people did not realize that the Kingdom of Serbia was in great danger because of the death of Archduke Ferdinand.
Belgrade newspapers and magazines added fuel to the fire, claiming that the Serbs in Bosnia were being retaliated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Tens of thousands of Serbs were killed, and women were raped.
After Ferdinand was assassinated, there was indeed some chaos in Bosnia. Many non-Serbs paraded in Sarajevo holding the flag of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the portraits of the Archduke and his wife.
Some Serb living facilities were attacked by gangs of gangsters. Most of the attacks were limited to smashing the glass on the windows with stones.
These attacks were quickly stopped and only one person died in the process.
So the Belgrade newspaper’s claim of tens of thousands of deaths is completely false news. In a telegram sent to the UK, a British diplomat believed that the behavior of the Belgrade newspaper was “shameful”.
George also noticed the madness in Belgrade. He personally sent a telegram to Peter I to remind him not to over-stimulate Vienna.
In his reply to George, Peter I believed that if people's celebrations were stopped at this time, it would hurt the patriotic enthusiasm of the Serbian people.
George finally felt a headache. Some teammates were really annoying.
However, the situation does not seem to be as serious as George imagined. The Russian ambassador in Vienna claimed in a telegram to St. Petersburg: The assassination did not bring about changes. Austrians continued to listen to music and drink wine as if it was nothing. Happens the same.
The news that George received was that after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the top leadership of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was very busy, meeting one after another, including Foreign Minister Bechtold, Field Marshal Kondela, Hungarian Prime Minister Ismail The meeting between Tevan Tisza and the old Emperor Joseph I lasted four hours.
This is the limit of Joseph, who has been emperor for 60 years.
At this critical moment, George did not dare to overly stimulate Vienna, so the exercises scheduled for June were cancelled, and the troops from various countries that had arrived in Sofia returned one after another.
George sent telegrams to all Balkan countries to make plans for mobilization at any time.
Ferdinand of Romania called George back, saying that it would be impossible for Romania to mobilize before August because the Romanian soldiers had to go home to harvest crops.
Harvest the crops!
George had never imagined that a world war would be postponed for this reason.
(End of this chapter)