My Italy

Italy is carrying out secret mobilization, but the Austrians are a little bit public. They directly announced that in view of the current tense situation in Europe, they announced partial military mobilization. The Austrians' actions caused tension in another country, which was Serbia. Although Serbia had made great gains in the previous Balkan War, its strength was much lower than that of Austria-Hungary.

And unfortunately, Serbia, which had obtained a small half of Macedonian territory, now had ideas for another piece of territory. This territory is Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a region with a large number of Serbs, Serbia has mixed emotions towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.

First of all, this area was annexed by Austria-Hungary as early as 1891. Although Serbia had objections at that time, no one was willing to listen despite its weak strength.

As for why they have ideas now, it is not simple. The strength has increased and there are supporters behind them. In addition, Serbia has to face the surging nationalism.

Over the years, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has indeed ruled Bosnia and Herzegovina much more strongly than Türkiye. However, the national ideology has taken root in the minds of the Bosnian Serbs, and they do not accept the grace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at all. There was always something going on every now and then, whether it was demonstrations against taxes and donations, or attacks and looting of various government agencies, which made the Austro-Hungarian Empire very annoyed.

Of course, Austria-Hungary also knows the situation of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so it is also eyeing the Serbian Kingdom behind it. If they weren't afraid of Russia behind them, the Austrians would have taken action long ago. At this time, Austria-Hungary's mobilization naturally made Serbia very nervous, not to mention Russia behind it.

As an ally of France, Russia had actually made preparations when the Moroccan dispute broke out between Germany and France. However, seeing the growing scale of the two parties, Russia actually hesitated. However, hesitation is of no use. You must know that Russia currently owes tens of billions of francs in debt. Unless the Russians dare to default on their debts, they will have no choice but to follow the footsteps of the French. So Russia also carried out partial mobilization.

Now that the European powers are mobilizing one after another, the sky over Europe is filled with smoke. Tickets to leave Europe have suddenly become popular. It seems that there are many smart people.

As countries involved in this crisis, Germany and France are in a difficult position facing the current situation.

That's right, it's hard to get off the tiger. For the two countries, for the benefit of a little bit of Morocco, each of them called on their friends to rectify the army and looked like a big fight, which is a bit inconsistent with the identities of the two major countries. But in the current situation, no one can take a step back, which leads to the situation developing in an uncontrollable direction.

There is nothing good that the two parties can do about this, and no one is willing to make any relenting moves first. It is like the two parties are on a train rushing towards a cliff, but neither one is willing to jump off the train first, lest they be called cowardly.

Led by France and Germany, the great powers divided into two camps, the Entente and the Alliance, also stared at each other with daggers drawn.

The situation in Europe became so tense that the British, the instigators, were somewhat unprepared.

At No. 10 Downing Street, a cabinet meeting is being held.

"The current situation in Europe is very tense, and it is very likely to trigger a war that will affect the entire Europe. What attitude should we take in the UK to face this problem."

Prime Minister Asquith looked at the important ministers in front of him and spoke about the theme of today's meeting.

Speaking of which, the British government somewhat regrets this move to support the French. That's right, regret.

This time, the British Empire originally only wanted to suppress the momentum of the Germans. It did not want to go to war with Germany, let alone provoke a war between the two camps. And considering Morocco's interest disputes, it is not qualified to let the two camps fight over it.

As for the meaning of the Prime Minister's words, there are all human beings present. Who can't understand it? But if you understand, you don't need to be so impatient about some things.

"Sir Gray, what do you think about this?"

The Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, who was called upon, put on a worried expression and spoke. "Everyone, the current situation in Europe is very tense. All countries are mobilizing or preparing to mobilize. For our country, there are currently two problems; the first is the strength of support for allies. Paris has sent several letters to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The telegrams are all asking about our support for it.”

"You can tell them that we will send our navy to support them."

The speaker was Lord of the Admiralty Churchill, who had just become Lord of the Admiralty and was in high spirits and wanted to do something big, so he often talked about the British Empire's navy.

Gray ignored Churchill's words. Although this young man of noble birth was very courageous, his methods were not suitable for the current tense situation.

“So what kind of support should we give?”

Prime Minister Asquith understood the Foreign Secretary's intentions and asked directly.

"It depends on how far are we going to go?"

Gray's words are in line with the Prime Minister's psychology. The British Empire should not take chestnuts from the fire for other countries, but should let other countries use it for its own use.

The current situation in which various countries are planning to fight is not in the interest of the British Empire. Although it has already participated in the alliance between France and Russia, decision-makers in London are still very confused about what to do next.

The reason is simple: Britain is not ready for war. Although the scale of British Empire's shipbuilding is getting larger and larger, and the slogans are shouting loudly, the actual reserves of military supplies such as weapons and ammunition, the procurement of raw materials, the formulation of military mobilization plans, and the expansion of the army are involved. The British Empire was simply not ready for all the demands of a major war.

In other words, Britain is currently not ready for war, either materially or psychologically.

Since we are not ready yet, we need to consider more when the situation in Europe is about to break out. Not to mention that the British Navy is currently facing more problems.

First of all, Germany spent a lot of money to build a high seas fleet, and the British Empire needed to gather elite warships to prepare for it. In addition, the Mediterranean faces the threat of Italy, which also requires the British Empire to divert its energy.

Maybe you can say that there are still French people.

If you look at the French's maritime construction, you will know that most of their energy has been put on land, and they are no longer able to do what they can at sea. Under London's repeated urging, the construction of the first class of its dreadnoughts, the Guba class, only started the year before last. It will take two years for it to have combat effectiveness.

The French are unreliable on naval issues, and the Russians are even less reliable. Its first class of dreadnoughts, the Gangut class, only started construction the year before last, and was limited by technology and facilities and equipment. The construction of this class was slow and it is expected to take two years before it can be launched. God only knows when it will become combat effective.

The unreliability of the two allies requires the British Navy to bear the maritime pressure from the Allied camp alone. This is what London is most worried about. Because the British Empire Navy currently does not have the advantage, it is currently impossible to suppress the opponent. Not to mention the importance of the Mediterranean. Goods from Asia and Oceania need to go through the Mediterranean to enter Europe.

"Perhaps we should give Paris some advice so that it does not need to trigger a war in Europe over Morocco."

The suggestion from Finance Minister Lloyd George was immediately echoed by others.

"This is good advice. We should not start a war that spreads to Europe over a small piece of African land."

"Yes, it is simply unreasonable to do this for a small piece of land in Africa. It will trigger a humanitarian disaster in Europe."

"I very much agree."

Well, since the gentlemen of the British Empire are not willing to see humanitarian disasters in Europe, they are naturally willing to contribute to peace. It doesn't matter at all who started the dispute.

"Then it will be up to Gray to inform our allies of our perspective."

"It's a great honor and I will let Paris know about our concern for peace."

In the eyes of everyone's expectations, Gray, as the Foreign Secretary, completed the task.

The matter was settled, but no one got up because there were still things to discuss next.

Prime Minister Asquith took a document and said. "Okay, now that we have decided to express our concern for peace, then we need to pay attention to our important navy. According to Mr. Churchill's report, our country's navy can no longer keep up with the development of the times, so I think we need to discuss Let’s talk about the next shipbuilding plan..."