Chapter 699 Old Friend
The Germans don’t need natural gas, they need bread.
As early as the winter of 1917, the staple food of Germans became cabbage. Since then, Germany’s food crisis has not been relieved.
After the United States entered the war, the German coastline was completely blocked and it was no longer possible to obtain food from abroad.
Since the Paris Peace Conference has not yet ended and the Allied blockade of the German coastline has not been lifted, a serious humanitarian crisis broke out in Germany in the winter just past. Herbert Hoover, who was responsible for relief in Europe, estimated that, At least 250,000 people died from disease and starvation.
A significant number of these are infants and children.
The last time George saw Karl was in 1914.
Old friends reunited, looking at each other without words.
Compared with 5 years ago, George has changed little, but Karl has become much older, and George is almost unrecognizable.
“At least I’m still alive——”
Karl's voice was hoarse, and the smile he tried to force out was uglier than crying.
"How is Maria?"
Karl's wife is George's cousin.
"It's not good. Maria got sick last year and almost lost half of her life——"
What Carl was talking about was the American flu.
The influenza epidemic was one of the reasons for the end of the world war.
Last year alone, the death toll from the pandemic exceeded 25 million.
Some people say that this number should be 50 million people.
Whether it is 25 million or 50 million, the death toll caused by the pandemic has exceeded that of the world wars.
The situation in Russia is not bad and the impact is not great.
Germany has been particularly affected.
“Berlin has become a hell on earth, all the animals have been eaten by people, even the bats have not been spared——”
Karl burst into tears and asked George to provide aid to Germany .
"Your Majesty has paid the price for the mistakes he made. The Germans spend every day in pain and regret. We made mistakes and deserved it. But do we have to starve all Germans to death in order to redeem ourselves? Forget about our sins——"
Karl was full of grief and indignation. The situation in Germany was urgent.
Germany's surrender was based on Wilson's Fourteen Points.
When Germany surrendered, there were still 2.5 million German troops on the front line, and they were not without the power to fight.
The Germans thought that the Allies would punish Germany on the basis of the "Fourteen Points".
Unexpectedly, even Wilson had gradually abandoned the "Fourteen Points", and the Germans' wishes were completely frustrated.
The German army was now disarmed and unable to fight anymore.
After the German surrender, the Allies did not lift the naval blockade on Germany, causing Germany to fall into a serious humanitarian crisis. The German army blamed the defeat on the betrayal of the German government, which sows the seeds of hatred in the hearts of all Germans.
"Russia lost 20 million people in the world war. What do you want me to do-"
George sympathized with the Germans, but only in sympathy.
The Germans are certainly pitiful.
Aren’t Russians pitiful?
Don't listen to what Karl said. If Russia was defeated in the war, Russia would not even be as good as Germany today.
In troubled times, no one has the right to pity anyone.
Karl stood up holding on to the armrests of the chair, his body trembling, his head lowered, and he slowly knelt down facing George.
“George, please—”
George wanted to help Karl up, but Karl refused George’s help, his eyes full of pleading. This——
Alright.
When George was reading this history in his last life, he was very curious about why Mustache wanted to attack Russia.
If Mustache does not attack Russia, but integrates resources and focuses on attacking Britain, will Britain really move its capital to Canada?
Before the outbreak of the World War, George's strategy for the Russian Empire was to focus on defense, allowing the German and British and French forces to consume each other, and the Russian Empire reaped the benefits.
Due to the mistakes of Nikolai Jr. and Zhilinsky, the Russian army did not resolutely implement George's strategy and was eventually defeated.
The contradiction between Russia and Germany is mainly based on the contradiction between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Germany and France are feuding.
Now, in the minds of Germans, the hatred towards France has not only not decreased, but has continued to grow.
If Russia takes action at this time, it will be grateful to the Germans to a certain extent.
Of course, George did not regard the Germans' gratitude as a talisman.
If Russia wants to protect its own interests, it still needs to have strong strength.
"Old friend, I hope you understand that the situation in Russia is also very bad now, so the help I can provide will be very limited."
George told the ugly story first.
"Thank you George, thank you, thank you very much, God is my witness, Germany will never forget all this."
Carl held George and cried loudly. The emotions that had been accumulated for 5 years were finally released at this moment.
Karl did not expect to receive enough aid from Russia, as long as it could prevent the Germans from starving to death.
In fact, before Karl arrived in Constantinople, contact between the Russian army and the German army had already begun.
When the ceasefire agreement began, there were approximately 600,000 German troops on the Eastern Front.
After surrendering, these German troops were imprisoned in prisoner-of-war camps by the Russian army and participated in the reconstruction of Russia.
Warsaw was severely damaged during the World War, with less than 100 intact houses remaining in the city.
Russia does not raise idle people, and the German army must work to obtain food.
An incident also happened during this period, which almost killed all the captured German soldiers.
During the World War, more than 2 million Russian soldiers were captured by the German army.
After the armistice, fewer than 1.4 million prisoners of war returned to Russia from Germany.
Brusinov was very angry and decided to take revenge on the German prisoners of war and avenge the dead Russian prisoners of war.
Brushinov’s adjutant reminded Brusinov that the conditions of the prisoners of war captured by Russia were not much better.
Not all of the missing prisoners of war were executed by the Germans. A considerable number of these deaths were caused by the American influenza pandemic.
Russian prisoners of war did not stop in the prison camp. They often rioted collectively and tried to escape back to Russia. Kornilov, who was once appointed by Kerensky as the supreme commander of the Russian army, once served as a soldier of the Germans. captive.
In 1915, the German-Austrian Allied Forces launched a counterattack against the Russian Army. Kornilov, then commander of the 48th Division, was seriously injured and captured.
In the prisoner of war camp, Kornilov failed to escape twice. The third time he drank a lot of water and his heartbeat increased and he was transferred to the prisoner of war hospital. Here he changed into an Austrian military uniform and escaped from the hospital, hiding day and night. , swam the Danube River to Romania with the help of shepherds, and finally returned to Russia.
Kornilov’s escape caused a sensation. Nikolay personally met Kornilov and awarded Kornilov a Heroic Medal. The media even regarded Kornilov as a national hero. Heroes come to spread the word.
Russian soldiers who escaped from prisoner-of-war camps would all be executed as long as they were caught by the Germans.
Brushinov accepted this explanation, but did not give up revenge.
There were also many German, Austrian, and Ottoman prisoners of war captured by Russia.
How many of them can return home alive depends on God's will.
(End of this chapter)