Chapter 601 Let’s see how high you can jump
It doesn’t snow in Constantinople, the average daily maximum temperature is 20 degrees, and the minimum temperature is only about 5 degrees. The winter coat that George prepared has not been used yet.
The lowest temperature at night in the Kingdom of Serbia has dropped below zero, and winter clothes are in short supply. Many soldiers are still wearing summer singles, which is miserable.
After repelling the German attack, Nikolai could only care about Serbia.
So Werther came to Constantinople as Nicholas's special envoy to learn about the relevant situation.
Witte was very sad. He only served as finance minister for four months before he was kicked out of Petrograd.
"The situation is like this. Even without the help of the alliance, the Kingdom of Serbia can defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so Serbia will leave. This is a peaceful breakup."
George knows what Peter is thinking What.
It is no secret that the Kingdom of Serbia has long been coveting Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If Peter accepts George's command and allows the armies of the Balkan countries to join the fight against Austria, the result will be the same as the First Balkan War. Even if Bosnia and Herzegovina is captured, the two places will be divided among all the Balkan countries. .
So Peter wanted to eat alone.
“Without the help of the alliance, the Kingdom of Serbia would not have been able to defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire.”
Witter even the finance minister did not understand that the situation in the Balkan Alliance was too complicated for him.
Witt did have abilities, but he needed a relatively simple environment, such as East India, for Werther to fully utilize his abilities.
“You need to make His Majesty Peter understand this too.”
George waited to see Peter's joke.
Now that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has learned that the Kingdom of Serbia has withdrawn from the Balkan Alliance, it is almost clear what Conrad will do next.
Although the Austrian army cannot defeat the Russian army, it will still have no problem defeating Serbia.
After the German army intervened, the defense in the direction of Galicia was no longer a problem. Conrad would definitely concentrate his forces on attacking Serbia to avenge his previous humiliation.
Now all parties are basically on the same page. As long as the German army does not attack, George's army on the Tisza River front line will not advance.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire is undergoing its second mobilization. This mobilization is an improvement over the previous one in that the number of officers speaking German has increased sharply.
The proportion of German used within the Austrian army is already high, but the proportion of Magyar and Czech is also not low.
The second mobilization of the Austrian army, almost all officers spoke German.
Opportunities are really fleeting.
A month ago, if the Serbian army followed George's request and launched an attack on the Austrian Sixth Army, then the Serbian army would really have the possibility of winning.
Now that the Sixth Army's reinforcements have arrived, its strength is rapidly recovering, and due to the increase in the number of German-speaking officers, the Sixth Army's strength is stronger than before.
Combining this information, George had reason to suspect that those officers who spoke German were simply Germans.
"George, have you ever thought that every decision you make will lead to the death of thousands of people."
Weakness is Werther's biggest shortcoming.
If Werther can be as tough as Stolypin, then Werther's achievements will not be much lower than Stolypin.
"No, you are wrong. The deaths of these people were caused by Peter and Conrad."
George was indifferent. The Russian Empire had lost more than 700,000 troops after the war.
Serbs are human beings.
Russians are not human beings?
Peter was entirely to blame. He did not get Nicholas's support in St. Petersburg, so he took a detour to London, hoping to get support from London.
I wonder how many rifles Peter can bring back this time.
After Peter left St. Petersburg, some rumors about George appeared in St. Petersburg.
George did not have many troops directly under his command, with the four armies adding up to less than 700,000.
If you add the Balkan Alliance, George will have a lot of troops at his disposal. Romania alone has mobilized 500,000 troops.
Romania also has a way to mobilize.
The Kingdom of Romania is certainly not strong enough to support an army of 500,000, and 150,000 is the limit.
So Romania has mobilized 500,000 people, and the Russian Empire, as the big brother, has to show off no matter what.
The Romanian army in Transylvania is indeed 150,000 people.
The situation in the Kingdom of Greece is similar to that in Romania. Before the war broke out, Georgi claimed that he could mobilize 600,000 troops to participate in the war, but the actual number of troops mobilized was only 200,000.
The number of troops available for George to mobilize is only 100,000.
On the contrary, Bulgaria, which suffered a severe beating during the Second Balkan War, had 200,000 people join the army in just one phase of mobilization.
And George can mobilize all 200,000 people.
70, 15, 10, 20——
Excluding Serbia, the rough calculation of the troops that George can mobilize has reached 1.15 million.
The results of the Battle of Transylvania showed that George was fully capable of causing greater damage to the German-Austrian Alliance if he wanted to.
So there were rumors in St. Petersburg that George supported the army and respected himself.
This rumor is not necessarily spread by Peter.
More likely to be French and British.
Although the "Schlieffen Plan" failed, the process was full of ups and downs. If Moltke had enough troops, the outcome is hard to say. This was the first time that the Russian Empire saved France.
The results of the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of Masurian Lake showed that there was still a gap between the Russian army and the German army.
Due to the heavy losses of the Northern Front and the Western Front, only the George Corps was left with the ability to launch an attack on the German-Austrian Allied Forces.
After Falkenhayn becomes the German Chief of Staff, the German army will definitely launch a new attack.
Now the people who most hope George will attack are not Peter, but the British and French.
George will certainly not obey the interests of Britain and France.
Therefore, Britain and France could only launch a public opinion offensive, forcing George to attack.
George doesn't attack.
Anyway, the Kingdom of Serbia is in front.
Witt reminded George not to force the Kingdom of Serbia into the other camp.
George laughed.
Let’s not talk about whether Austria-Hungary will accept the Kingdom of Serbia.
Brushinov is looking forward to the Kingdom of Serbia joining the opposing camp.
The Eleventh Army led by Brusinov has been at the border of Serbia and Bulgaria since the outbreak of the war.
If Serbia changes sides, Brusinov will attack Serbia with his army, and then George can make an honest substitution.
Witt stayed in Constantinople for three days.
Not surprisingly, George faced criticism from London.
In the context of the World War, George, as the theater commander, not only failed to provide the allies with due support, but also expelled the Kingdom of Serbia, which had defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire some time ago, from the alliance. quick.
George was very curious and didn’t know where the confidence came from in London.
If the British are smart, they should say something that George likes to hear now, or give George enough benefits in exchange for George giving a greater blow to the German-Austrian forces on the battlefield, thereby reducing the pressure on the Western Front.
What can you gain by blaming George?
Can Nikolai be allowed to remove George from his position?
Since George cannot be moved, the accusation against George is meaningless.
George was not polite and warned the British not to interfere in the decision of the Balkan Alliance.
Subsequently, the Balkan Alliance released news that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in contact with the Balkan Alliance.
Conrad was indeed wrong. The best way of expansion for the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not war, but marriage.
So if the old emperor was smart and invited Grand Duke Yuriev to be the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Balkan problem would be solved.
After losing Transylvania, Conrad corrected his mistakes and corrected himself. He really wanted to contact the Balkan Alliance.
George will definitely not negotiate peace.
The purpose of releasing this news is to warn the British not to talk nonsense, otherwise George will have many ways to make the British uncomfortable.
After Peter left London, he went to Paris.
In comparison, the French were much smarter. They only expressed sympathy and support for the Kingdom of Serbia and did not mention the Balkan Alliance and George at all.
The British are happy because if the war goes against them, the British can flee France at any time.
Paris cannot be moved, where can the French flee?
North Africa?
So after Xiafei learned that Constantinople was short of rifles, he took the initiative to send 20,000 rifles to George when his own military supplies were extremely tight.
Look at this attitude.
Chong Xiafei was so loyal that the next time the Germans attacked, George was so high that Vasily and Andrei couldn't move.
While Peter was traveling around the country, Conrad was not idle either.
After the second mobilization, the Austro-Hungarian Empire newly formed the Seventh and Eighth Armies. The assembly points of these two armies were in Bosnia, and they were obviously prepared to attack Serbia.
What frightened Alexander and Putnik was that this time Conrad not only concentrated nearly 300,000 troops, but also mobilized a 305mm cannon produced by Skoda.
It's speechless to say that Skoda has the world's leading artillery, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire only ordered 12 because the price was too expensive.
The artillery equipped by the Austro-Hungarian Army was bronze cannon designed and produced in the 1970s, and they were all light field artillery, without heavy howitzers.
In the Battle of Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire suffered heavy losses, and there was a big gap between the power and range of its artillery and Russian artillery.
Now Conrad finally realized that if we no longer pay attention to weapons and equipment, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be doomed, so the artillery that the Austro-Hungarian Empire now orders from Skoda are all new artillery.
The Austrian army before changing their uniforms had beaten the Serbian army into a state of disarray.
After the Austrian army changed its equipment, the Serbian army was even more unable to withstand it.
On October 25, Conrad dismissed Potiorek from his post and came to Bosnia in person to direct the war against Bosnia.
With the lessons learned from Potiorek, Conrad could finally follow his plan this time, cross the Rhine, and launch a direct attack on Belgrade.
Before Conrad, the Germans took the lead in launching the Battle of Ypres at the end of October.
Ypres is the last city in Belgium that has not yet fallen, and it is also the most important supply point for the British Expeditionary Force.
The German army launched the Battle of Ypres to mobilize the French army in preparation for the next attack.
(End of this chapter)