Chapter 645 The Great Cleverness of the Academy
Different from the reforms of Mikhail and Rodzianko, Kerensky’s way of saving the empire was to overthrow the tsarist rule and establish a democratic government in Russia similar to France.
It cannot be said that Kerensky was wrong. His ideals were very good, but he did not think about whether the French system was suitable for Russia.
George did not pay much attention to Kerensky. There are too many people like Kerensky in St. Petersburg nowadays. In fact, they do not want to overthrow the tsarist rule, but want to be "tsar" themselves. ”, transforming Russia in its own way.
With the arrival of spring, reinforcements from Amur began to arrive in Constantinople.
This time the reinforcements are mainly Amur people, with a total strength of more than 300,000.
George is preparing to add an army group to Brusinov so that Brusinov can take over the entire Croatia.
Vasily and Yankov also needed reinforcements. The Budapest defenders contacted the Russian army shortly after the Russian army laid siege to the city, hoping to withdraw from the war in a peaceful way.
In fact, it is surrender.
The prerequisite for surrender is that the Russian army must withdraw from the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary.
The connivance of the old emperor in Vienna gave the Hungarians an illusion. Charles IV (King of Hungary) probably thought that in order to win over the Kingdom of Hungary, George would, like the old emperor, satisfy the arbitrary demands of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Vasili decisively rejected the Hungarians' wish and refused to accept the Hungarians' surrender.
You can surrender if you want.
By first compensating the Russian Empire for all losses caused by the war, and then ceding Transylvania to the Kingdom of Romania and Croatia to the Kingdom of Bulgaria, George could accept the surrender of the Hungarians.
Transylvania and Croatia account for nearly half of the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary.
This condition was unacceptable to the Hungarians.
Vasily was not in a hurry. He and Andrei spent a leisurely winter in Budapest. They had nothing to do all day long. In their spare time, they went to Budapest to fire a few shots to torture the Hungarian people's nerves.
After the Russian offensive ceased, the German army gradually resumed its offensive in the direction of Verdun.
The German army used 1,200 artillery pieces and bombers to drop poison gas bombs onto the French positions.
The resistance of the French army was fierce. Jiafei also mobilized 1,500 artillery pieces to fight the Germans.
The French suffered a loss in the caliber and range of their artillery.
In the early years, the performance of French artillery was comparable to that of German artillery.
In 1897, the 75mm towed field gun called the "Miss Seventy-Five" produced by the French Schneider Company changed the strength comparison between the two sides.
Miss Qiwu is a rapid-fire cannon with a rate of fire of up to 30 rounds per minute.
The rapid-fire cannon produced by the Germans five years after the appearance of the "Miss 75" had a rate of fire of only six to seven rounds per minute.
"Miss Seventy-Five" was regarded by the French army as a national treasure. While equipping it in large quantities, it blocked technology from Germany.
The Germans were then forced to develop large-caliber, long-range, and powerful artillery.
In close combat, "Miss Qiwu" really has the advantage.
However, in large-scale battles, the firepower intensity that the "Miss Qiwu" can provide is far inferior to the large-caliber artillery equipped by the German army.
Due to insufficient artillery strength, the French army suffered heavy casualties. A division sent to the front line was disabled for no more than a week at most and had to retreat to the rear to rest.
Xiafei endured the huge casualties of the French army and refused to retreat, constantly rotating his troops. By May, the casualties of the French army had reached 300,000.
Louis Bardoux came to Constantinople again and begged George to launch an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Empire to disperse the German forces.
The last time Louis Bardo came to Constantinople, the way he communicated with George was not a plea, but an order similar to that of a creditor to a debtor.
Now Louis Bardo finally understands that he is the one who owes the debt.
"After holding on for a month, at most, my troops will be ready to attack."
George really did not lie to Louis Baldo, the Balkan Theater will launch an offensive in June.
The goal of this attack is to capture Budapest, Ankara, and Zagreb.
The above three regions are the capitals of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, as well as the capital of Croatia.
Just say it means a lot or not!
Normally, the capture of the capital means the end of the war, followed by negotiations, reparations, territorial cession, and peace.
Louis Baldo's eyes darkened and he almost fainted.
The French army is in danger and may not be able to hold out for even a week.
If the German army maintains its current intensity of attack, the French capital may fall earlier before George takes over the Hungarian and Ottoman capitals.
"Grand Duke, if you can launch an attack on the enemy within a week, our country will consider exempting part of the loan to the Russian Empire."
Louis Bardo showed his trump card and used his attack on George I understand that this person is a master who will not let go of the hawk when he sees the rabbit.
The British were indeed right, barbarians are barbarians and not civilized at all!
George smiled, noncommittal.
What does the empire’s loan have to do with George? It was not borrowed by George. If you want the account, please go to St. Petersburg.
"We are going to order a batch of new rocket launchers from Amur for use in fighting the German army."
Louis Baldu continued to give benefits.
George laughed dumbly, wake up, hey, he is still making a wish at this time——
The French have been coveting the Amur rocket launcher for more than a day or two. Rocket launchers are powerful, low-cost, easy to move, and can run away when hit, which has many benefits.
But it doesn’t have much technical content. If you leave it to the French, they can copy it in minutes.
At this time, you are still playing these little tricks, which has angered George, and you have run out of food and coal.
Although Britain and France could import resources from their colonies, the colonies' affordability was limited.
For a long time, in order to ensure control over the colonies, Britain and France promoted a single economy in the colonies and controlled the economic development of the colonies.
So the resources that the colonies can provide to the mother country are very limited, and more strategic resources still have to be imported.
Last winter, because the British intensified their search for India, a large-scale famine broke out in India. It is said that more than 20 million people starved to death.
Look clearly, it’s not 200,000, nor 2 million, but 20 million!
Even if the Indians haven't rebelled yet, don't blame the British for looking down on the Indians.
After the war broke out, France also stepped up its search for North African colonies. Not only did it recruit a large number of colonial soldiers to fight in France, but it also increased the tax revenue of the colonies by 2.5 times compared with before the war.
The major taxpayers in the French colonies were actually French immigrants to the colonies.
It’s just a matter of squeezing the colonial natives.
If taxes are imposed on the French, are the French in the colonies not human beings?
Since the beginning of this year, France has encountered increasing resistance in recruiting troops in the colonies. Moreover, the foreign legions fighting in France have suffered heavy losses, their military morale is low, their fighting spirit has been weakened, and their situation has become increasingly unstable.
In this case, France can only increase imports from the Russian Empire and the United States.
The United States and France are separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The journey is long and expensive, and French merchant ships also face the threat of German submarines.
The Austrian navy entrenched in the Adriatic Sea has been eliminated, French merchant ships can sail unimpeded in the Mediterranean, and the proportion of imports from Russia is increasing.
It should be noted that when France imports materials from the Russian Empire, it needs to pay in gold, not in francs.
Paying off debt is a no-brainer.
Russians are not as easily fooled as they seem.
As long as there is an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, Russia will be more ruthless than anyone else.
In the process of trade with France, Amur also benefited a lot.
Amur has strong industrial strength and can provide all the strategic materials France needs.
After the war broke out, France imported supplies from Amur worth more than 13 billion francs.
This was 13 billion in 1916.
And it was not paid in francs, but in equivalent gold.
George still has to give face to big customers.
George must also fulfill his obligations as an ally.
Based on this premise, both Georges and Louis Bard reached an arms purchase agreement. France will purchase a series of materials from Amur, including aircraft, armored fighting vehicles, artillery, shells, cans, medicines, etc., with a total value of more than 10 billion francs.
10 billion francs sounds like a lot, but in fact it is only about 400 million pounds.
But it’s not a lot, because France’s military expenditure last year totaled only 2.7 billion pounds.
Louis Baldu wanted to buy more, but George refused to sell.
The reason for not selling is because France can no longer afford more gold, and the French treasury has been exhausted.
From this, it is not difficult to see that this battle is basically unwinnable.
France’s treasury is depleted, and Germany is no better.
Germany mainly imports from the United States and some South American countries such as Argentina, which sympathizes with Germany.
The United States and Argentina are not good people either, and also require Germany to pay in gold.
The French Revolution happened more than a hundred years ago.
The Germans have only been unified for a few decades, and their primitive accumulation is far inferior to that of France.
Although the situation in France and Germany is not good, George is not qualified to laugh at the French and Germans, because the situation in the Russian Empire is even worse.
At the beginning of the war, the Russian Empire did make some jokes due to lack of preparation, resulting in a shortage of supplies on the front line.
With the promotion of industry by the wartime economy, the Russian army's material shortage dilemma has been greatly improved. Three people on the front line using one gun did not happen in Russia.
At least not in present-day Russia.
Russia's problem is that the newly mobilized troops have far less fighting will than the Cossacks at the beginning of the war.
At the beginning of this year, mobilization continued in St. Petersburg, with approximately 200,000 new recruits training in St. Petersburg.
Among these 200,000 people, it is unknown how many Hebrews have received training in the United States.
In March, after the Russian army stopped attacking, Nicholas dispatched reinforcements from St. Petersburg and rushed to the front line. Some soldiers made demands, hoping to improve the food and treatment of soldiers, increase their salaries, and cancel punishment methods including death penalty and corporal punishment. .
General Yanushkevich, the former dean of the General Staff Academy, agreed to these requests of the soldiers without hesitation.
In Yanushkevich's view, these demands were reasonable and should have been abolished long ago.
(End of this chapter)