Chapter 605: The Dance of Demons
Compared with the Romanov family, the harmonious relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in Grand Duke Yuriev’s family was enough to make Nikolai envious and jealous.
Beginning in mid-November, representatives from various countries attending the wedding of Polis began to arrive in Constantinople.
The kings of the Balkan countries were present in person. Although George V did not come, he sent Crown Prince Edward.
Colonel House, the personal representative of US President Wilson, came to Constantinople in early November. Even William II, his opponent, sent Duke Carl to serve as the Hohenzollern family representative.
Carl dei William II congratulated George. This congratulation was not personal to George, but also belonged to Ferdinand.
After all, Ferdinand and Anne were both from the Hohenzollern family.
“I never imagined that we would be reunited under such circumstances.”
Karl was very sad. After he returned to Germany, he worked hard for peace, but unfortunately it had no effect.
“Nothing is permanent——”
George didn't know what to say, he could only say that fate plays tricks on people.
If we say that before the outbreak of the world war, all countries were complacent and decided to decide the fate of the world in a war.
Now, all countries have tasted the bitter fruits of war.
Before 1914 was over, Russia's casualties had exceeded one million. Although France's losses were slightly smaller than Russia's, France's population was smaller than Russia's, so the French's losses were more serious.
Germany was not much better. The losses on the Eastern Front alone were more than 300,000, and the losses on the Western Front were about double that of the Eastern Front.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was the worst. Less than three months after the war began, the 550,000 standing troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the war had been lost. Now all the people on the front line were mobilization troops.
Karl stayed in Constantinople for a full week before heading to Adrianople.
While in Constantinople, Karl visited the city of Constantinople.
George did not restrict Karl's movements. Even when Karl asked to visit the arsenal, George let Karl watch as he pleased.
Then Carl understood why the German generals were so afraid of George.
George's fame is so great that no one can ignore George's existence.
The British and Germans blew little Nicholas into the sky before the war, so George came to the Balkans.
The Germans played Nicholas Jr. in order to choose a more suitable opponent.
The British praised Little Nicholas because they were worried about the Russian Empire gaining greater benefits.
With George's strength, if George is allowed to serve as the commander of the European Theater, then if the Russian Empire defeats Germany and the two merge into one, Britain will be completely marginalized.
Even if George did not attack, it would be a disaster for Britain to sit back and watch the German-Austrian alliance and the Anglo-French alliance consume according to the plan made before the war.
George's capital was too strong. Not only did he have Amur as a rear area, but he also gradually restored Constantinople's industrial strength in a very short period of time. This made Karl increasingly confused about the future.
At the Constantinople Railway Station, Karl experienced a new round of shock.
The situation of the Russian army is inherently complicated. The uniforms of the Guards, Cossacks, Steppe Army, and Turban Army are all different.
As the seat of George's headquarters, Constantinople has very frequent exchanges of people from various countries. The Bulgarians, Romanians, Greeks, and the Serbs who were expelled from the Balkan Alliance some time ago are all George's ally.
The troops directly under George include regular troops from the Amur Military District, servant troops from Japan and Korea, and now reinforcements from the Russian Empire.
These troops are also easy to distinguish. The regular troops from the Amur Military Region usually have various fur hats, mainly white.
The hat of the servant army is a steel helmet paired with a woolen hat, which is both warm and defensive.
Imperial reinforcements come in a variety of hats and are usually self-equipped.
Now Karl just hopes that the Russians will not be fooled by the British and French.
If Nicholas is incited by the British and French, ask George to take the initiative to attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Nakar really didn’t know how many German reinforcements were needed to withstand the attack of George’s Army.
George does not hate Karl, everyone is his own master, there is nothing wrong with that.
Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia is more annoying.
After the fall of Serbia, Peter was severely mentally damaged. After an overdose of alcohol, he became seriously ill and was hospitalized. He was almost blind and was receiving treatment in St. Petersburg.
A week ago, Alexander officially became the regent of the Kingdom of Serbia.
Part of the Serbian army withdrew to Bulgaria, and part of it withdrew to the Greek island of Corfu via Albania.
The Serbian troops retreating to Bulgaria are resting and recuperating.
The Serbian soldiers who evacuated to Corfu were directly requisitioned by the Mediterranean Fleet to participate in the construction of Corfu port facilities.
Alexander was very dissatisfied and hoped that George would provide weapons and equipment for the Serbian officers and soldiers on Corfu Island and conduct training so that they could return to the battlefield as soon as possible.
George didn't communicate much with Alexander. After the first meeting, Alexander came to see George again, but George refused to meet him because he was busy with official duties.
George really doesn’t care about Alexander.
Because of the wedding in Polis, all kinds of people from Constantinople and Adrianople gathered together, and there was a lot of information that George needed to focus on.
After Karl arrived in Adrianople, he met the Ottoman Sultan's brother, and the two had a pleasant conversation.
After Alexander left Constantinople, he did not get off the train in Adrianople, but went to Sofia to visit the Serbian officers and soldiers who were resting in Sofia.
British Crown Prince Edward told George that if George needed it, he could send an expeditionary force to the Balkans to assist the Balkan Alliance in its operations. George was curious, could the British mobilization be completed so quickly?
No.
Kitchener’s million-dollar mobilization plan is less than half complete.
The reinforcements Edward called were the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
George really didn't know what the combat effectiveness of the ANZAC was like.
"The descendants of criminals and robbers should not have high expectations."
Demeter looked down upon the Anzacs.
Dmit has officially become the Chief of General Staff of the Balkan Alliance. This position does not require the consent of Petrograd.
Dmit's first order is to require Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria to continue mobilizing. Before next spring, each country can mobilize an additional 100,000 troops.
That means there will be a new offense next spring.
George suddenly remembered that in another time and space, the ANZAC had fought in the Battle of the Dardanelles.
The result was that the 500,000 British and French troops could not defeat the 85,000 newly recruited troops of the Ottoman Empire.
This is why Britain still has the nerve to celebrate the day when the Anzacs landed as Anzac Day.
I don’t know what to celebrate.
It's really a happy funeral.
Considering the attributes of Britain, George decisively refused.
The Balkan Alliance has finally broken a thorn. If the British come over, George is worried that the good situation will be ruined.
In view of the fact that Britain's thunder after the outbreak of the World War was heavy but little rain, George hoped that the British Royal Navy would take the initiative to destroy the German High Seas Fleet and demonstrate the strength of the Royal Navy.
It cannot be said that the Royal Navy did nothing. In August, the Royal Navy and the German Navy still had a battle.
This battle, promoted by the British as the most important naval battle since the 20th century, resulted in 712 German casualties and 336 prisoners.
The British army only had 35 dead and 40 wounded.
But this cannot be blamed on the Royal Navy.
Don't listen to Tirpitz's loud shouts before the war. As the initiator of the arms race, after the war broke out, Tirpitz began to implement the strategy of "avoiding war and preserving ships" and strictly prohibited the German army from going to sea to fight.
So Germany spends hundreds of millions of marks on shipbuilding every year. Why?
Of course, Tirpitz cannot be blamed for this, because the German navy really cannot defeat it.
The German High Seas Fleet is okay, at least it has retained its strength.
After the war broke out, the German East Asia Fleet was immediately wiped out by the Russian Pacific Fleet, and the entire army was wiped out.
The Baltic Fleet was not much better.
I would also like to thank Denmark for its neutral policy.
Denmark declared neutrality after the war broke out, and subsequently blocked the Denmark Strait, prohibiting the entry and exit of navies from all countries.
This prohibition is very spiritual.
It is known that the strength of the Russian Baltic Fleet is far stronger than the German Baltic Fleet.
So after the Denmark Strait was blocked, Germany was unable to provide support for the Baltic Fleet, and the Baltic Sea became the inner lake of Imperial Russia.
While the Pacific Fleet was attacking Jiao'ao, Peter personally led the all-heavy artillery battleships of the Baltic Fleet to attack the German Baltic Fleet.
The Germans were very practical and knew that the fleet could not defeat them, so they used mines to blockade the port and relied on forts to prevent the Russian fleet from attacking.
Traditionally speaking, once the opponent uses mines to block the port, the fleet does not dare to challenge the fort.
But now that Peter had bombers, the shape of the war was completely changed.
On September 3, bombers of the Imperial Russian Navy bombed the home port of the German Baltic Fleet.
The Germans were very smart and transformed their heavy machine guns into anti-aircraft machine guns to resist bomber attacks.
Heavy machine guns are very powerful when dealing with infantry, but are severely insufficient when used against large bombers.
The bombing was very effective and most of the German forts were destroyed.
Peter took the opportunity to order the fleet to approach for bombardment, and sent torpedo planes to attack the German warships docked in the port.
On September 6, as the last cruiser was sunk in the port, the German Baltic Fleet followed in the footsteps of the Far East Fleet and was also wiped out.
Since September 6th, the most powerful Baltic Fleet in the Russian Empire has been idle.
In another month, the first ship of the "Queen Maria" class battleship will be commissioned.
Nicholas is discussing with his cousin Christian X, hoping that Denmark will open the Denmark Strait to the Russian Baltic Fleet.
Christian X did not agree. During this time, both sides of the Danish Kingdom were very busy doing business, and they could not even count the money. No one wanted to offend.
Denmark is now a middleman between Germany and the UK, with Germany buying industrial products from the UK via Denmark and the UK buying chemicals from Germany via Denmark.
George felt that he could do such a business.
(End of this chapter)