Mediterranean Hegemony Road

With the order of Ferdinand, most of the grain originally shipped from Russia to the European continent was intercepted by Bulgaria.

No, I bought it! Anyway, for Mao Xiong, food is to be sold, so who is not to sell it to? As long as Bulgaria has the money, it's no big deal to go home early.

As for what will happen in Europe? Still need to think? Of course food prices are rising!

Bulgaria is increasing its grain storage, and other countries are not idle either!

The British are not in a hurry. Relying on the presence of the Royal Navy, the colonies have some food that can be shipped. It is just that the freight is a little higher, and the international food price will rise. !

The French don't care. They are a big exporter of food. The price increase is just right, and you can make a lot of money! It's a pity that now is not the time to make money, but it doesn't matter that the Gallic Chicken is not short of this money!

Compared with the Allied countries, they can be self-sufficient in food. The British have insufficient local food, but there are many colonies. Bulgaria is a food exporter for the purpose of preparing for war. It is also a food exporter, but the export volume is small.

The Allies are struggling. The Ottoman Empire can still achieve self-sufficiency. As for grain exports, their agricultural production technology is still stuck in the last century, so don’t think about it!

Romania and Austria-Hungary are not bad, both are major European grain exporters, otherwise Ferdinand suspects that Germany and Italy are going to be hungry now.

Bulgaria's move has caused a chain reaction. Britain and France have tacitly restricted the flow of grain into the Allied countries, and the Russian grain has been cut off by Bulgaria.

Only the grain of Austria-Hungary and Romania can make up for the shortage of grain in Germany and Italy, but it is not enough to make strategic reserves, and then several European grain exporters such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc. have made a lot of money.

However, none of this has anything to do with Ferdinand. Right now, he is leading a group of dignitaries and staff to analyze the strength comparison between the Allied and Allied countries.

The population comparison is as follows: (estimated population of each country in 1914)

Allied countries: Germany about 66.9 million, Austria-Hungary about 54.2 million (plus Serbia), Ottoman Empire about 21 million (minus immigration and war losses, historically 23.8 million), Italy about 35.1 million, Romania 6.85 million , Montenegro Kingdom 1.26 million (plus the population expelled by the protagonist), total: 185.31 million population.

Allied countries: about 165 million in the Russian Empire (excluding population reduction caused by immigration), about 45.6 million in the British Empire, about 39.7 million in the French Republic, and about 27.8 million in Bulgaria,

Total: 278.1 million people.

Obviously, the Allies have an advantage in manpower, with more than 90 million people more than the Allies, and this is on the premise of not counting the colonies. Otherwise, the population of the colonies of the Everbright British Empire will be more than 400 million. There is no comparison.

In terms of economy, Bulgaria has been exploding production capacity in recent years, and the Germans have not been idle, and have also taken aggressive measures to increase production capacity.

...

From the gross national income, it can be seen that:

Germany $12 billion

UK $11 billion

Tsarist Russia $7 billion

France $6 billion

Italy $4 billion

Bulgaria $3.8 billion

Austro-Hungarian Empire $3 billion

US $13.7 billion

$2 billion in Japan

Remarks: Gross national income is not equal to industry. Many things in it are false and pushed up. If you can't understand it, you can see it by looking at the stock market.

Comprehensive national power ranking:

1. UK

2. Germany

3. France

4. Russia

5. United States, Austria-Hungary

6. Italy, Bulgaria

7. Japan

8. Republic of China

9. Ottoman Empire

10. Kingdom of Spain

Don't be absolutely surprised. At that time, the Americans did not have a high voice in the world, and they were not even comparable to Italy. The military powers were at the bottom, and the comprehensive assessment was naturally not high. Putting them in the fifth place was considered by Ferdinand many times. Emphasize the importance of the economy, otherwise the ranking of Americans will be forgotten.

In 1910, in a ranking of the comprehensive strengths of various countries by the London Daily, the United States was ranked at the bottom of the major powers with Japan after several major powers in Europe. In the eyes of Europeans in this era, the upstarts in the United States have no status!

The number of men of the Great Powers in 1914

Russia 1.468 million

France 967,000

Germany 943,000

Austro-Hungarian Empire 736,000

UK 63.9

Italy 603,000

Bulgaria 596,000

Ottoman Empire 581 thousand

Japan 306,000

Romania 201,000

US 164,000

Kingdom of Montenegro 76,000

Share of world industrial production by country:

US 31.8%

Germany 14.8%

UK 13.6%

Russia 8%

France 6%

Austria-Hungary 4.4%

Bulgaria 4.3%

Italy 2.3%

Japan 1%

Steel production by country:

31.8 million tons in the United States

Germany 17.6 million tons

UK 7.78 million tons

Russia 4.91 million tons

France 4.68 million tons

Bulgaria 2.62 million tons

Austria-Hungary 2.61 million tons

Italy 930,000 tons

Japan 320,000 tons

Coal production by country:

530 million tons in the United States

Tsarist Russia 360 million tons,

292 million tons in the UK,

Germany 277.2 million tons,

Austria-Hungary 54.2 million tons,

France 40.8 million tons

Bulgaria 33.6 million tons

14.15 million tons in Japan

Italy 700,000 tons

...

After some comparison, Ferdinand found that the advantages of the Allied countries over the Allied countries were mainly concentrated in the three aspects of population, resources, and shipping, far from the disparity between the strengths of the two sides who did not want the nonsense of network experts!

In fact, the military strength of the Allied countries and the Allied countries is very close now, mainly in the army, and the staff has also come up with a coefficient through the comprehensive record score.

Calculated by taking the average combat power of European armies as 1:

Germany 1.8 (the first recognized no explanation at the time)

France 1.6 (the world's former No. 1)

Bulgaria 1.6 (two Balkan wars)

Russia 1.2 (European rollers, the Far East performed too badly)

Japan 1.2 (Russian-Japanese War)

Kingdom of Montenegro 1.2 (Balkan Wars)

Austria-Hungary 1.1 (points deducted for suppressing the Serbian revolution)

Ottoman Empire 1.1 (new army trained by Germans)

Romania 1 (average performance in the Second Balkan War)

UK 0.7 (points deducted from the Anglo-Boers War)

0.7 in the United States (point deduction for the Spanish-American War)

Italy 0.5 (deduction for Ethiopian war)

Well, the staff is entirely based on record, and it also integrates the commanding ability of officers, the fighting will of soldiers, and weapons and equipment.

Of course, Ferdinand knew that this ranking was very unreliable. At least the British were not ranked so low. After the lobster soldiers went through the Boer War, their combat effectiveness was still greatly improved.

Moreover, every country has elites and cannon fodder. If you use elites to fight the opponent's militia, maybe the Italians can press the Germans to fight. Of course, this is unlikely to happen. Under normal circumstances, the commander on the battlefield only needs to fight. If you are not stupid, you will not use the militia as the main force!

However, the comprehensive combat effectiveness ranking of the army, Ferdinand thinks it is still very reliable: (The ranking is based on a comprehensive estimate of the number of active troops, combat effectiveness, and equipment)

1. Germany

2. Russia (human sea tactics are still very good in this era)

3. France

4. Bulgaria

5. Austro-Hungarian Empire

6. UK

7. Japan (equipment is too backward)

8. Ottoman Empire

9. Italy (by equipment and quantity)

10. Romania

11. Kingdom of Montenegro

The United States (don't expect the combat effectiveness of the only tens of thousands of troops)

In contrast, the ranking of the navy is much more reliable, and it is directly based on the tonnage of the warships. The situation where the weak wins the strong is based on the situation that the opponent is not in the state, or the strength is close and the luck is against the sky. Otherwise, the main factor that determines the outcome of the battle between the technical services of the Navy is the ship!

After all, in a battle between a destroyer and a dreadnought, you can know the result without thinking about it!

The total tonnage of the warships is as follows:

1. UK 2.71 million tons

2. Germany 1.3 million tons

3. 980,000 tons in the United States

4. France 900,000 tons

5. Russia 710,000 tons

6. Japan 670,000 tons

7. Italy 490,000 tons

8. Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria each have 260,000 tons

Of course, in fact, there is still a big error in this ranking, that is, the performance of warships is ignored. For example, the tonnage of the Russian Navy is very large, but they do not have dreadnoughts, and their actual combat effectiveness should be after Japan, and maybe even Italians. Nothing compares.

According to the plan of the General Security Department, when the war broke out, the Bulgarian army had to expand to 1.5 million within a week, and to 2 million within half a month, so as to be able to catch the Austro-Hungarian Empire by surprise. Lower Belgrade.

At that time, you can send a cannon fodder unit to fight the war of attrition with the Austro-Hungarian army; after completing this strategy, launch an attack on Romania and seize the Wallachia Plain once and for all to solve the war. If the war continues, food may appear. question.

After completing these two strategies, it is time to attack the Asia Minor peninsula and capture enough living space for Bulgaria.

Of course, in practice, these three strategies must be implemented at the same time. After all, the enemy is not a fool, so why wait for you to attack?

It’s just a matter of focus. Compared with Belgrade, the urgency of the other two strategic goals is definitely not so serious. After all, it took time for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to react, and it became a decisive battle between the two countries!

And even if Romania and the Ottoman Empire reacted, they must have strength? As long as the battlefield is put on their vitals, the two countries will have to fight with Bulgaria!

Ferdinand didn't want a decisive battle with the Austro-Hungarian Empire too early, mainly because he was afraid that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would end in advance and cause a chain reaction.

In contrast, it would be much safer to lock the Balkan portal and do nothing, just bully the Kingdom of Montenegro, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire, and at the same time, you can explain to your allies.

Obviously, this strategic plan was not formulated according to the intention of the military, and it is not the best choice militarily, but politically it is in the best interest of Bulgaria!

This is naturally the result of Ferdinand's personal intervention. If you consider the overall situation of the Allies, Bulgaria's first choice is to directly defeat the Austro-Hungarian Empire and join forces with Russia to kill him first.

In theory, facing the full blow of Russia and Bulgaria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will not be able to support it for long. Even if the Allied countries other than Germany come to the aid of all forces, this result will not be changed!

Once Germany dispatches its main force to reinforce the Austro-Hungarian Empire and fights on three fronts at the same time, no matter how strong the German army is, it cannot do it, at least they will not have enough troops!

There is no doubt that there are not two or three million troops in the defense of the Western Front, and William II will not be able to sleep. There are not many other things in the hands of Britain and France, that is, there are too many cannon fodder! Once there is a loophole in the defense line, Britain and France would not mind sacrificing millions of cannon fodder to win this war!

In this case, there are not many troops that the Germans can use on the eastern front, at most two or three million. If only one direction is against Bulgaria or the Russians, it is fine; but if the troops are divided into two directions, then it is not It's the same, even with the cooperation of the Allied troops!

As for one against two, or one against three, that can only happen when the combat capabilities of the two armies are very different. Obviously, this situation does not exist.

...

The strategy of winning the war is military, but it is a failure politically. Ferdinand does not have the spirit of internationalism. The Allies won this war too easily, which is not a good thing for Bulgaria!