Chapter 614 Careerist
In fact, George was not qualified to laugh at the Italians. The performance of the Russian army at Lake Masuria was not much better than that of the Italians.
But if you look at it this way, the performance of the British and French forces is not much better than that of the Russian army.
Even the German army, which had the best overall performance after the outbreak of the war, caused the complete failure of the "Schlieffen Plan" due to Moltke's mistakes.
If Moltke did not divide his troops between the Crown Prince and Hindenburg, the German army might really capture Paris in one fell swoop.
During the Battle of the Marne last September, the German army was once only 60 kilometers away from Paris, scaring the British so much that they almost staged the Dunkirk evacuation ahead of schedule.
The soap opera between the Italians and the Austrians has just begun. George reminded Demeter not to place too many expectations on the Italians.
When the Kingdom of Italy first entered the war, the Allied Powers reveled collectively, believing that Italy's participation would become the X factor in the war.
On the surface, this is indeed the case.
Under the attack from both sides by the Russian army, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has begun to show its defeat.
After Italy joins the war, the Allies will form a three-sided siege on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If Austria is defeated, Germany will fall sooner or later.
Even Conrad probably didn't expect that the Italians' long-planned offensive would end in such an anticlimactic way.
“The Italians wanted to pick peaches, but their butts were bitten by the peach watchers’ dogs.”
Wang’s brother Nicholas’s evaluation of the Italians was correct, but inappropriate. .
The day after the Battle of the Isonzo River, the editor of the "Constantinople Times" quoted Nicholas's evaluation of the Italians in his report.
George asked Demeter to remind Nicholas not to say anything that is not conducive to unity.
No matter how bad the Kingdom of Italy is, it is still an ally of the empire. In order to prevent the Italian army from raiding, Conrad must strengthen the defense in the direction of Italy. This is somewhat beneficial to Russia and the Balkan Alliance.
As both are part of the Entente, how can Nicholas complain? The Italians should be encouraged to make persistent efforts to launch a new offensive against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and regain the occupied territories.
Nicola took the initiative to come to George to explain the situation. Those words were not what Nicholas said in an interview with reporters.
The liaison officers from the Balkan countries stationed at the theater headquarters have many gatherings in private.
After the Battle of the Isonzo River, Nicholas ran into the Greek prince Nicholas at the theater headquarters. The two chatted casually, but the reporter found out about it for some reason.
George ordered Demeter to investigate in detail.
Military liaison officers have access to military secrets.
Demeter is very efficient and quickly investigated what happened.
George attaches great importance to the role of public opinion and propaganda. The Constantinople Times was founded by George, as well as the Daily News and the Evening News. George regarded these newspapers as important sources of public opinion and propaganda. position.
The newspapers at this time were not like the big stacks of newspapers in later generations, but only one.
There are so many countries in the Balkans, and there are three battlefields alone. So many things happen every day, and one newspaper is simply not enough.
The purpose of establishing three newspapers at the same time is to nourish Gu, allowing them to fully compete and give full play to the role of public opinion propaganda.
In order to obtain first-hand news, all three newspapers sent permanent reporters to the theater headquarters.
When Nicholas and Nicholas were chatting, there happened to be a Times reporter next to them.
The editor probably thought Nikolai’s comments about the Italians were wonderful, so he quoted them in the report.
George instructed Demeter to set up a press office to review the content of news reports.
Demeter finally realized the heavy workload of the chief of staff.
George just makes many decisions and then leaves them to Demeter. Demeter is responsible for all subsequent work.
While preparing the press office, Demeter also planned a counterattack against the Ottoman Empire.
After the Ottoman Empire entered the war, the 14th Army was always on the defensive due to insufficient strength.
A week ago, the reinforcements mobilized by George from the Far East arrived in Constantinople. The reinforcements drawn from the Kingdom of Greece and the Kingdom of Romania have also been assembled and are ready to go to the battlefield at any time.
Demeter planned to land reinforcements from the Black Sea coast, advance from north to south, and eventually join the British and French forces landing in the Mediterranean to defeat the Ottoman Empire.
George revised Demeter's plan and requested to send a force to land on the Persian Peninsula to open a second battlefield against the Ottoman Empire.
Most of the Persian Peninsula is desert and uninhabited, and even the Ottoman Empire does not pay attention to it.
George knew the value of that land.
"Landing on the Persian Peninsula is a huge test for our logistics."
Dmit does not recommend this. The Russian army has no supply points in the entire Indian Ocean.
Nowadays, the logistics requirements of war are getting higher and higher. The reason why the Balkan Theater can face the attacks of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire with ease is mainly because of the stable rear area of Constantinople.
If a second battlefield is opened, the Russian army's supply points will be extended to more than 2,000 kilometers, which will be a huge disaster for the Russian army, which is alone in the depths.
"Do you know how much supplies a container ship can carry?"
George reminded Demeter that the Russian army's logistics capabilities are no longer the same era as they were during the Tenth Russo-Turkish War.
With an outlet to the Black Sea, George no longer relies on the problematic Siberian Railway. Goods produced in Amur can reach Constantinople smoothly through the Suez Canal. Although the speed of sea transportation is a bit slow, the cost is low and the transportation volume is large.
After using containers, the efficiency is also higher than that of railways.
George's plan was not complicated. He only mobilized an army from the Far East to seize as much territory as possible before the British and French forces.
It would be best to capture the entire Persian Peninsula.
The Russian Empire itself is rich in resources. If it owns the Persian Peninsula again——
George wants to ask who else!
“Okay, I’m ignorant——”
Demeter had to admit that his knowledge system needed to be updated in time.
From a traditional perspective, sending a partial division to open a second battlefield far away from the homeland would be a disaster for any country.
The key reason why the British army was disgraced during the Second Boer War and became the laughing stock of the world was that it was far away from home.
George has more resources than Demeter could have imagined.
If the troops set off from East India, they are not actually that far away from the Persian Peninsula.
Desolation is indeed not a good thing for the attacking troops, because they cannot follow the Cossack tradition of fighting to support war.
But George’s purpose was not to seize the loot, but to occupy the territory.
The Persian Peninsula is surrounded by sea. You can choose a landing point at will. With Amur's construction capabilities, it only takes a few months to build a supply base.
Port construction is complicated because there are so many factors to consider.
If it is just supplies, it is not complicated. After all, it takes time for the Ottoman Empire to mobilize its troops.
What is more likely to happen is that the Ottoman Empire does not care about this partial division at all, so George only needs to consider whether the locals will cooperate.
If this issue is not considered, the Russian army that landed on the Persian Peninsula might be trapped in an endless security war like the Italian army in Tripoli.
Sometimes George will be curious, obviously very simple things, but make the Italians very complicated.
If it were George, George would not fight guerrilla warfare with the nomads.
The weaknesses of the nomads are obvious. They are small in number, weak in strength, have no fixed settlement, and have no stable rear. Like the Cossacks, they rely on war to support war.
If it were George, he would cultivate a suitable agent from the nomads and let the agent deal with the rebellious nomads.
This is the essence of using barbarians to control barbarians.
If you go to the Persian Peninsula with this idea, the problem will be easily solved.
The nomads in the Persian Peninsula were certainly not willing to be ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Don’t look at the map published by the Ottoman Empire. The entire Persian Peninsula is the territory of the Ottoman Empire. In fact, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Persian Peninsula. Only the coastal areas, large areas of the inland area are blank areas, and the influence of the Ottoman Empire has not penetrated deeply at all.
To put it bluntly, the Persians in the interior of the Persian Peninsula are allowed to fend for themselves.
George only needed to find a suitable tribal chief from the interior of the Persian Peninsula, give him some benefits, and promise to give him a place to establish a country after defeating the Ottoman Empire. There were many people who were willing to work for George.
As for where to draw it, it must be George who has the final say.
The Persian Peninsula is full of deserts. There is nothing but sand. Where birds don’t poop, they don’t want it for free.
How about the beautiful and rich peninsula of Asia Minor?
So go ahead, take your citizens, go to the Asia Minor Peninsula to build a country, and leave the desolate Persian Peninsula to the Russian Empire, which is not picky about food.
As for whether he can establish himself after arriving on the Asia Minor Peninsula, that is not a question for George to consider.
After hearing George’s plan, Demeter’s eyes became a little straight.
“It sounds like it’s easy to build a country, but why don’t they do it?”
George laughed.
If you want to do something, you also need capital.
There are only a few countries in the world now, and the future is far away. The level of chaos in the Persian Peninsula alone is no less than that of the Balkans.
To put it bluntly, George said that there are not many people in the Persian Peninsula now. A thousand people are considered a big tribe. The war between tribes involves bows, arrows and spears. How ambitious can you expect them to be? .
With the strength of the Russian Empire, as long as it lands on the Persian Peninsula, it will definitely be devastating.
“This is the worst of times, and it is also the best of times.”
George admitted that the fundamental reason why so many careerists were born in this era is that there are countless opportunities in this era.
Demeter nodded repeatedly and looked at George with the same look that George looked at those careerists in Europe when he was mocking them.
You keep saying that others are careerists, but you don’t even look at yourself.
I’m afraid you yourself are the biggest careerist of this era.
(End of this chapter)