Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 129, On the Best Pit

Compared with the insistence of the Vienna government, the Hungarian Independence Party leader Count Oboni is quietly sending away the representatives of the British.

This is also an inevitable result. In the winter offensive launched by the Russians last year, the Kingdom of Hungary has been hit hard, and even their national capital has been shaken!

Who told Mao Xiong to be responsible for the main attack of the Southwest Front just next to Hungary? Who do they beat? To defend their homeland, the Kingdom of Hungary can't even pretend to be a coward!

Then the Hungarians fought a battle to defend their homeland. As a result, the Kingdom of Hungary lost seven layers of field corps, as well as a large number of militia reserves, and also lost half of the country!

Although the counter-offensive launched by the Allies in the second half of the year brought these sites back, after all, they were still plagued by hairy bears. The economic losses were immeasurable, and the civilian casualties were in the hundreds of thousands.

In addition, when the Russians retreated, they also deliberately created millions of refugees, which caused a devastating blow to the economy of the Kingdom of Hungary!

At the same time, the sequelae of the Hungarian Kingdom's usual oppression of ethnic minorities also appeared. Due to the heavy losses of the main army, other ethnic groups in the country saw an opportunity, and the ruling foundation of the Hungarian government was already unstable.

After the previous food crisis broke out, the Hungarian government's request for the Vienna government's investment to buy food from the food capitalists was also rejected, so many interest groups who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune failed.

In this context, the dissatisfaction with the central government in Hungary has reached its peak, and Count Auboni, who originally wanted the Kingdom of Hungary to break away from the Austro-Hungarian Empire-independence, naturally jumped out!

It's normal for them to hook up with John Bull. Geopolitics determines it all.

The two neighbors of Russia and Bulgaria, Oboni, naturally did not dare to provoke them. There were no bones left to be swallowed by others. He still knew that he could not do anything with tigers!

The rest of them don't have much choice. It's nothing more than a choice between Britain and France. Obviously, the French people don't have the energy to control them now. Can't even catch it!

It can only be said that everyone is not a fuel-efficient lamp. The Yugoslav nation is mixed with Bulgaria, and the Hungarians are mixed with the British. Originally, the Russians also voted for their younger brothers, but they were swayed by their appetite. scared away.

...

On the battlefield from the front, the battle situation became more and more intense. The Hindenburg government found that it was impossible to count on the victory of the battle on the southern front and then join forces with the Austro-Hungarian Empire to deal with Britain and France. more appropriate.

At the end of December 1916, Hing launched the Somme Offensive. Unlike history, this time the losses on both sides were much greater, and the Germans won the battle.

Unfortunately, this does not change the overall situation. Although the Germans won the victory, they were unable to continue the attack because of their own casualties.

After waiting for a day, when the German reinforcements arrived, the British and French reinforcements also arrived at the front line, and the best time for the decisive battle had been missed.

Then in January 1917, the Hindenburg government launched the Leith River Offensive, which ended the same way. In the end, due to lack of stamina, the German offensive was blocked by the British and French forces.

Just these two battles,

The Anglo-French coalition has paid nearly one million casualties, and the Germans have also paid a painful price of more than 500,000 casualties. The casualty ratio of the two sides has reached an astonishing 1.8 to 1.9. In this regard, the Germans have won a complete victory!

It is a pity that the tactical victory cannot change the strategic defeat.

Marshal Foch, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French Allied Forces, is having a tough time now. Although he has smashed the Allied strategy, it is not enough if he does not fight back if he is beaten.

The government has already blown out the bullshit. To end the war in 1917, even if the Germans cannot surrender at that time, at least they have to hit the German mainland to give the Chinese an explanation, right?

Politicians don't care about the actual situation on the front line, they just want to see victory, it doesn't matter how many casualties on the front line, they must launch a counterattack, anyway, they have cannon fodder!

Under this guiding ideology, the British and French forces had to adopt the most rigid tactics to launch a counterattack against the Germans. The purpose was very simple, just to overwhelm the Germans in terms of momentum.

While it is not advisable to do this militarily, it becomes even more important politically.

Especially for the British, they have just changed the recruiting system to the recruiting system. At this time, unfavorable news continues to come, and the life of the London government will not end!

If it is not good, the people will resist the conscription system, then it will be a disaster for the Allied countries. Now that the war is going on, everyone has discovered that it is unrealistic to use the colonial troops to fight the war of attrition with the Germans and directly consume the Germans!

No way, although everyone doesn't care about the life and death of the colonial troops, recruiting them and sending them to the European continent after training will cost a lot!

The most important thing is that the cost of recruiting a division from the colony is not much lower than that of training a native division; and in terms of combat effectiveness, the colonial army is not half as much as the native army, which is very economical. Not worth it.

At the beginning of the war, Britain and France were rich and did not care about this consumption, but now that the war has hit, everyone's family has been consumed almost.

The French have lost ten provinces in the northeast, and the domestic industry has been hit hard. They have to tearfully sell overseas assets to raise funds. Even so, they have to rely on consortia and international loans financially.

The British are not much better, don't forget that in addition to their own war costs, they are also providing loans to Bulgaria and Russia.

At the beginning of the war, the French also did it, but with the fall of the country, they had to withdraw, leaving the usury business to John Bull to complete.

However, John Bull's family is rich. It has only been two years since the war started, and their heritage has not been exhausted, but it is inevitable to save money.

Inflation has begun to spread rapidly, and now the currencies of the major warring countries have depreciated in different degrees. Although everyone's wages have risen on the surface, prices have risen faster.

Due to the large number of workers conscripted into the army, the majority of women and children were forced to enter the factory to perform heavy labor, working overtime to the point of collapse, but the income was very meager.

Various necessities of life were strictly rationed, so that most of the ordinary people lived in a state of semi-starvation, which was particularly prominent in the Allied countries.

Essentially, the Allied countries are supplemented by supplies from overseas trade. If the domestic capitalists colluded with the bureaucrats to hoard, their food would still be sufficient.

But the Allies are different. Even if they can concentrate all the food, they still cannot meet the basic needs of the people.

In this context, politicians naturally want to end the war as soon as possible, so everyone unanimously chose a quick decision.

On February 16, the long-prepared Allied forces launched an attack from the Italian region to the Austrian and Slovenian regions. Following the western, eastern and southern fronts, the two sides opened up a new front.

There is no doubt that the military pressure faced by the Allies has been even greater, especially the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they are almost unable to hold on.

Since the end of the winter battle of 1916, the demonstration has become a part of Vienna, and was temporarily suspended after the victory of the Eastern Front.

The mayor of Vienna wrote in a report to the cabinet: "The people are being dominated by anger and despair. I don't know how long they can bear it. I feel that the tragedy we are now in Hungary is about to be staged in Austria!"

(Note: This refers to the Hungarian Revolution of 1848)

Austro-Hungarian Prime Minister Leopold von Berchtold, who received this report, did not do anything, because he could not do anything. The first thing that came to mind when talking about the Austro-Hungarian Empire was his national issue. The corruption problem of the old empire is more acute than the national problem.

If the old emperor Joseph I was still there, with his prestige, he could still make the capitalists fear three points, but unfortunately it would not work if it was replaced by Ferdinand II.

Who made this guy die a big death, married a queen from a commoner, and became an alternative among the nobles, even Ferdinand II's political skills are not bad, but he has lost the allegiance of the nobles!

Without the support of the aristocracy, can Ferdinand II still be able to attack the capitalists? At least not in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where most of the army was in the hands of the nobles.

The capitalists who let go of the restrictions are terrifying. Fortunately, Nicholas II helped him a big gang. He directly killed most of the capitalists in Russia, killing St. Petersburg with blood and deterring the capitalists all over the world.

The Russian army has told the world with practical actions that the emperor is not to be messed with, and the army is not to be messed with. When one day offends the emperor and the army at the same time, the end will come.

Therefore, these capitalists also know that they have reduced their military supplies a little, so that the Austro-Hungarian army on the front line is not hungry.

No, it should be said that it has not yet reached the point of starvation. Since Bulgaria bombed the railways of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the logistical system of the Austro-Hungarian army, which was already very pitiful, has become even more pitted.

For example, flour was supposed to be shipped, but a batch of potatoes was shipped by mistake, and the soldiers on the frontline were not picky, so everyone should eat potatoes.

It's not that they are really not picky eaters. In fact, they don't dare to let the logistics department pull it back and make flour again. It is estimated that they are really starved to death. This is the lesson that the seniors exchanged their lives for.

Anyway, as long as it is your food, it will be wrong if it is shipped to the wrong place. No one dares to do it again. If the logistics department replaces the potatoes with grenades next time, it is estimated that they will really be blinded. This is also a precedent!

Of course, this is not a big deal. Last time, the logistics department mistakenly turned all the food into ammunition for the Oolong troops, and they were so hungry that they went directly to the enemy's prisoner of war camp to eat, and then they were advertised. That's it.

Later, when Conrad looked at it, he felt that it was not good to continue like this. People surrendered without food. This is in line with the moral code of Europeans, and there is no way to blame it?

Even the unfortunate colonel who took the lead in surrendering did not have to bear any responsibility after the war, not to mention going to a military court, not even criticizing and educating him. People used their wit to save the lives of the young men. This is worthy of praise. of!

If it wasn't for his tactful choice to surrender to the Bulgarian army, if he surrendered to the Russians next door, they would all starve to death before the war!

As a last resort, Conrad made a ruthless effort to rectify the transportation system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and separated food and other materials for transportation, so as to avoid the appearance of this deadly oolong.

This is already a very big progress. Historically, the Russian army and the Austro-Hungarian army on the eastern front were once not more powerful in combat, but who was more resistant to freezing and who was more able to starve. With amazing physique, victory was won!

There was also a funny anecdote here. A Russian army and an Austro-Hungarian army were on the front line. Due to the slippery road in winter, everyone's supplies were not delivered on time.

After being hungry, the Russian army decided to surrender to the Austro-Hungarian army on the opposite side. After they held a meeting to discuss and make a decision, a scout brought back a message, which made them instantly dispel the idea of ​​surrender - the enemy ran out of food!

The Austro-Hungarian army made the same decision almost at the same time, but after they sent the officer who had negotiated surrender with the Russians to the Russian camp, they asked the Russian army for food that matched his identity on the grounds that it was lunchtime. He only got a piece of bread, so he judged that the Russians were also out of food, so he fooled the Russians back to the camp to report the "good news", and then the two sides stopped fighting, and started a competition to see who was more hungry. abdomen!

Interesting facts, anyway, if the Austro-Hungarian army had a choice, they seldom surrendered to the Russians, because they knew that the life of the Russians was not easy, so they should not fight for rations with the Russian soldiers.

Well, there is no worst pit but more pits. In fact, the pit of Maoxiong's logistics supply system is the crown of Europe. It can be said that Maoxiong was killed by logistics in World War I!

If the German railway transportation is 100, then the French railway transportation is at least 95. After the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War, the French changed their minds and vigorously developed railway transportation;

How come the British have 85, but they are an island country, and they can make up for it by sea to meet the transportation needs; Bulgaria's railway transportation also has 93, and the sea and road systems can also meet the needs;

In this regard, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has lost the face of the European powers. There are only 61. This railway level is only slightly higher than that of Italy. However, Italy is a peninsula country, which can be compensated by shipping. In this respect, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not as good as Italy;

As for the Russian Empire, this is a joke, even if the Far East and Siberia are deducted, they are also a joke among the great powers.

Don't look at them, they also have more than 70,000 kilometers of railways, which is 70% higher than the total railway mileage of Bulgaria, but their territorial area is also more than 40 times that of Bulgaria?

This average score is only a few percent of Bulgaria's, which means that the Russian railway transportation score is less than 5 slag, only 4.2!

Although railway transportation is not the whole of transportation, the proportion of railway transportation in this era can be at least 70 to 80 percent. It is not surprising that Russia has insufficient transportation capacity.

Even a nationwide railway transportation network has not been established, so Maoxiong has always been at the bottom of the powers in the transformation of war potential.

Because Maoxiong is not only a railway pit, but their logistics management is even more pitiful. It is normal for materials to arrive at the front line on time. Many times the troops on the front line wait, wait, and wait until they finally get it. , or that the capitalists can't use it at all because they are shoddy!

For example: the shipped flour has become moldy dough; the shipped rifle has become a part, which needs to be assembled by yourself; the shipped tent needs to be sewn by yourself; the shipped medicine is processed from flour; Ammunition is Squib...

The logistics are not concerned about the custody of the materials, and they are completely irresponsible for the quality of the materials.

This is also the reason why Nicholas II was able to respond to all requests. The resentment of the officers and soldiers on the front line to the capitalists has reached the extreme!

...

Genius website address: . Mobile version reading website:

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like