Greece to roman road

In fact, Constantine learned about Mr. Nobel through the Greek ambassador in Paris.

After learning that France had developed the world's first rifle using smokeless gunpowder, Constantine urgently contacted the ambassador in Paris and asked him to inquire about smokeless gunpowder and Lebel rifles.

Coincidentally, the recent legal battle between Nobel and the British government has caused a stir in Europe.

As a diplomat, the Paris ambassador had the responsibility to inquire about important information, so he paid special attention to this matter.

After Constantine inquired about it, he told him about Nobel, and by the way, he found a way to get a new rifle from France, the Lebel rifle, which was just equipped by the French army, and sent it back to Greece for testing.

Nobel began researching smokeless gunpowder in 1887. After a long period of experiments, he finally developed the world's first double-base smokeless gunpowder and applied for a patent in France in 1887.

But by the time Nobel went to sell his advanced smokeless gunpowder to France, it was too late. As early as 1884, the single-base smokeless gunpowder invented by Viehler (its performance was not as good as double-base gunpowder) had been widely used by the French military. , and was therefore rejected by France.

The United Kingdom, which also recognized the importance of smokeless gunpowder, was also seeking the production technology of smokeless gunpowder. Nobel's technology naturally entered the British field of vision, and then directly copied Nobel's technology.

Now the two sides are engaged in a lawsuit over this matter, which is well known in Europe.

And Nobel’s double-base smokeless gunpowder technology is still in hand.

"In this case, it is up to you to personally invite Mr. Nobel for a trip to Greece," George I said after Constantine relayed Nobel's information.

"It would be best to invite Mr. Nobel to come to Greece and set up a factory to produce gunpowder," Chamiis said.

Obviously, this officer in charge of military technology had heard of Mr. Nobel's name.

The Nobel family opened factories in various European countries to produce gunpowder and was an important gunpowder manufacturer in Europe.

"Whether it's smokeless gunpowder or small-caliber rifles using smokeless gunpowder, these Greek armies will have them sooner or later. They are all minutiae. I want to say something more important."

Constantine saw that the main leaders of the Greek army were here today, so he wanted to take this opportunity to explain his ideas to everyone.

"Greece and Ottoman Turkey have a hostile relationship. It is obvious that Greece is absolutely weak in terms of population, finance, territorial area, number of troops, etc."

"Under such circumstances, if Greece's military development continues to follow the rules and follow the footsteps of major countries, it is foreseeable that this absolutely weak situation will not change."

Constantine said solemnly to the top brass of the Greek army.

"If this situation continues, if there are no major changes in Europe, whenever a conflict breaks out between the Ottomans and Greece, Greece will not be able to win."

In the confrontation between the strong and the weak, the weak side will always appear weak in some aspects. For example, the Greek army does not have as many troops as the Ottomans, and the Turkish army will be the first to equip advanced rifles. These are all concrete manifestations of the confrontation between Greece and Turkey. It is a confrontation between the weak and the strong. .

If the Greek army overcomes the gap in the number of troops and technical weapons, it will not be called a confrontation between strong and weak.

But to achieve this, unless Greece's national power narrows the gap with Turkey's hard power, there is no way to change Greece's weak situation.

"Therefore, if we want Greece to have the possibility of winning in the conflict with Ottoman Turkey, we must put aside some fixed prejudices, actively carry out military reforms without sticking to one pattern, and boldly use the latest and most advanced military tactics and "military technology"

Although in the history of world military affairs, people can always hear about the weak defeating the strong and the outnumbered war, this gives people the illusion that it is easy to achieve the case of weak defeating the strong.

In fact, in most wars, the weak defeating the strong is a minority and a miracle, while the strong defeating the weak is the norm in war.

Precisely because the case of the weak defeating the strong is legendary, people's impression will be more profound, giving people the illusion that it is not difficult to defeat the weak.

As for the war in which the strong defeated the weak, because it was commonplace and without any suspense, people naturally had no interest in remembering it.

"If the Greek army responds in an upright and orderly manner in a war with Turkey without other allies, Greece will lose but not win."

"We can only actively seek changes and win by surprise."

Everyone listened carefully to Constantine's speech without saying a word.

"So, Constantine, since you said so, are there any specific measures?" King George asked.

Greece is weak and Türkiye is strong. This is no longer a matter of one or two days.

"First, regarding the military system, we should actively learn from Western Europe, especially Germany. The German general staff system is an important institutional foundation for the German army to win three out of three battles. Although the Greek army also tried to establish a staff system, due to Due to its limited strength, Greece cannot train a large number of high-quality officers like Germany. Therefore, the Greek staff system is just a superficial imitation of a cat."

"Therefore, it is no longer appropriate for the Greek Army to expand its forces. We do not have enough high-quality officers."

The number of the Greek Army is about 50,000. Although it is about double the number of Turkish troops deployed on the northern border of Greece, the geographical location is very awkward because Turkey’s territory in the Balkans is sandwiched between Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria. , the Turkish army needs to be on guard against the armies of the three countries.

Compared to Greece's population of more than one million, this militia ratio is already very high.

"On the basis of the current military, with the help of the compulsory education of the Royal Educational Foundation, we will select the best from the children of the right age to improve the quality of the students admitted to the Athens Military Academy."

Greece did not have a compulsory education policy before. Basically, students entering military academies were children from wealthy families. This also resulted in an insufficient selection base for officers in the Greek army.

"Furthermore, the army should actively carry out military theoretical innovation. For example, new rifles have appeared now. Since technical weapons have changed, infantry tactics have also changed accordingly. This is the law of war."

"So what should we do about the numerical disadvantage of the Greek army?" Chief of General Staff Emmanuel asked.

"No matter how elite the soldiers are, when they are outnumbered, even if they use new tactics, they will still be in a passive situation."

Constantine had already responded: "If the situation requires it, we can recruit indigenous soldiers from Africa. The Congo region has a population of 20 million. It is still possible to recruit tens of thousands of people to fight in Greece, provided that there are enough qualified officers."

"In this way, the gap in the number of people will not be so serious to a certain extent."