I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 611 Italian Ottoman

On January 1, George returned to Petrograd.

At this time, the Russian New Year had not yet arrived. The Julian calendar used by the Russian Empire was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.

Petrograd during the war was not much different from before, after all, the front line was 1000 kilometers away from Petrograd.

It can be seen that the local government of Petrograd put a lot of thought into creating a festive atmosphere, and peasant delegations from all over the country arrived in Petrograd to celebrate the New Year.

But compared with the chaotic front line, the prosperity and peace in Petrograd was particularly ironic.

Three days ago, in retaliation for George's "bombing" of Berlin, Hindenburg launched another attack on the Russian army.

In just three days, the Russian army lost another 8 people.

George didn't even notice that he was beginning to become numb to these numbers.

"All the elite troops of the Northern Front were lost in Tannenberg. Since then, the front has been in a vicious cycle. New recruits arrived at the battlefield and were defeated by the German army before they were even familiar with the environment—"

The Guards Division that Demeter brought back from Tannenberg was completely wiped out in the Battle of Warsaw.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Russian army has lost more than 120 million people, almost the same as the population of Petrograd.

From this perspective, the loss does not seem to be that great and is still within an acceptable range.

Sukhomlinov was very dissatisfied with the performance of the Russian army. The conflict between him and Nicholas the Younger broke out at a military meeting. Nicholas the Younger accused Sukhomlinov of failing to ensure the logistics of the front-line troops, and Sukhomlinov believed that the Russian army had wasted too many opportunities.

George had long been notorious for his indifference to the Kingdom of Serbia.

However, the performance of the Russian army in the Balkans has become the only bright spot for the Russian army in the past six months.

The first day of the meeting produced no results other than mutual blame.

In the evening, George invited people to dinner at the Winter Palace as usual.

Nikolai asked George whether Sukhomlinov's position should be adjusted.

The conflict between Nikolai Jr. and Sukhomlinov has a long history. One is the front-line commander and the other is the chief of the general staff in charge of logistics. The discord between the general and the commander is simply a disaster.

When Nicholas raised this issue, George thought that Nicholas wanted to replace little Nicholas.

The performance of the Russian army on the northern and western fronts in the past six months has fully demonstrated that Nicholas the Younger had great ambitions but little talent.

As early as after the Battle of Warsaw, some people in Petrograd suggested that George should be appointed commander-in-chief of the European theater of war and that little Nicholas should be sent to the less important Balkans.

This is a bad suggestion. Replacing a theater commander is not as simple as writing a piece of paper.

The army commanders in the Balkan theater were all George's confidants.

The same was true in the European theater. When George went to the European theater, he could not trust Ruzynski and Alexeev 100%.

Relatively speaking, replacing the Chief of General Staff will have less impact on the front line.

However, as the most senior general in the Russian Empire, Sukhomlinov also had a huge influence in the military.

At least a suitable reason is needed to justify the dismissal of Sukhomlinov.

If George had a choice, he would have Sukhomlinov replace Nikolai Jr. as commander-in-chief of the European theater.

Although Sukhomlinov did not directly blame Nicholas the Younger, his words implied that the defeat of the Russian army on the front line was caused by Nicholas the Younger's incompetence.

Currently, the only royal family members holding senior positions in the Russian army are Nicholas the Younger and George.

If Nicholas ignored the facts and sided with little Nicholas in the conflict between the two, the chain reaction it would trigger might be even greater than replacing little Nicholas.

Witt later said that in George's position, George should not have given any advice.

Witt was wrong, George's side was not with the Romanovs, but with the Russian Empire.

The Winter Palace held no secrets from Petrograd.

So at the military meeting the next day, George was attacked by State Duma Speaker Rodzianko.

Rodzianko attributed the demise of the Kingdom of Serbia and the loss of 30 Serbian troops to George's indifference.

While the meeting was taking place in Petrograd, the Battle of Belgrade was underway. The 11th Army led by Brusinov had already entered Belgrade and was engaging in fierce street fighting with the Austrian army.

Rodzianko believed that with the strength of the Russian army in the Balkans, if the Russian army had entered the Kingdom of Serbia and fought together with the Serbian army as soon as the Austrian army launched an attack, the Kingdom of Serbia would not only not have perished, but might have already taken Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"You sound so nice, why don't you be the commander-in-chief of the Balkan theater?"

George directly retorted that if you are not a professional, you should not give advice in areas you are not familiar with.

Sitting in an office in Petrograd, the front-line troops were just pennants on a sand table, and anyone could talk about war on paper.

At George's level, war is no longer pure, but an auxiliary means to serve politics.

"I'm sorry, Grand Duke. I didn't mean to blame you. If my wording was inappropriate and you misunderstood me, I apologize."

Rodzianko's initial arrogance and subsequent subservience were simply ridiculous. The victor did not accept blame. Nicholas said nothing at the meeting the next day, did not communicate with George, and left directly after the meeting.

George had nothing to say. Even if he was not the commander-in-chief of the theater, young Nicholas was still the Grand Duke and had a high status.

If we fail to win this war, everyone in this room will lose everything.

not always.

Back at Yuriev Palace, Alexander came to visit. George felt a little hungry, so Anne had dinner brought over. George and Alexander talked while eating.

"After St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd, many things changed. Your Majesty has been touring various places most of the time over the past six months. Now it is the Queen who controls St. Petersburg."

Alexander is not very satisfied with the current St. Petersburg.

Nicholas was indeed conscientious and responsible. Since the outbreak of the war, Nicholas either went to various places to supervise the mobilization work, or appeared in the military camp to visit the mobilized troops preparing to go to the front line, or inspected production work in the factory.

Alex also did something. With her help, the Russian army set up 60 field hospitals on the front line. She and the two princesses often went to the hospitals to help, and also organized charity fundraising for the Russian army on the front line in the Winter Palace.

However, Alex's desire for power was so terrible that due to her intervention, the empire's chancellor was almost replaced in the past six months, including the finance minister twice.

Before leaving, Alexander told George: "That guy is back again--"

Alexander was referring to Rasputin.

George was curious, why wasn't this man dead yet?
Really not dead.

Rasputin had a very strong vitality. Last year, he was stabbed in the abdomen by a maid and almost died, but miraculously survived.

After the outbreak of the war, in order to improve the hospital's medical capabilities, Nikolai sent Alexei's private medical team to the front line to help, which gave Rasputin the opportunity to return to the center of imperial power.

"This person is very discreet, has no fixed place to stay and never appears in public."

Anne also knew about this, but she had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem.

Before George could learn the details of the matter, news came from Constantinople that the Ottoman Empire tore up the agreement and sent troops into the demilitarized zone on the east side of the Bosphorus.

The Treaty of St. Petersburg stipulated that the 50-kilometer area east of the Bosphorus Strait was a demilitarized zone, in which the Ottoman Empire could send officials to manage it, but the army could not enter.

Muhammad V's reason was that there were remnant rebel forces entrenched on the east side of the Bosphorus. In order to eliminate these remnants of the rebels, Muhammad V had to send troops into the demilitarized zone.

This reason seems appropriate.

George viewed this move as a test by the Ottoman Empire.

If the Balkan war zone did not respond and allowed the Ottoman Empire to enter the demilitarized zone, then the next step would be for the Ottoman Empire to set up artillery on the east side of the Bosphorus and launch a direct attack on Constantinople.

This was also very cleverly timed.

George is currently in St. Petersburg, attending a conference, not in Constantinople.

The 11th Army is in Serbia, the 12th and 13th Armies are in Transylvania, and the 14th Army stationed in Constantinople, although nominally an army, actually only has two armies and four divisions.

George sent a telegram to Yangkov, ordering him to lead the 14th Army across the Bosphorus and enter the east bank of the strait.

Since there are rebels on the east bank of the Strait, it makes sense for the Balkan theater to send troops to suppress them.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Yankov retired and no longer held an official position.

After the outbreak of the war, Yankov served as the head of the East India Mobilization Committee and was responsible for the mobilization work in East India.

Ye Luoxin is stationed in Amur and cannot leave.

Yangkov is still strong and active, and he took the initiative to apply to go to the front line.

The Ottoman Empire reacted strongly to the landing of the 14th Army on the Anatolian Peninsula. Instead of restraining himself, Muhammad V continued to send troops into the demilitarized zone. In just one week, the number of Ottoman troops entering the demilitarized zone had reached 30.

The total strength of the 14th Army is only 6.8.

Seeing that the situation was becoming increasingly dangerous, George dispatched two divisions from the Kingdom of Greece to provide reinforcements.

Compared with the Balkan theater, the mobilization speed of the Greek army was relatively slow. The two divisions dispatched by George had not yet boarded the ship in Thessaloniki when the Ottoman First Army launched an attack on the 14th Army.

The Ottoman Empire officially entered the war.

Almost at the same time as the Ottoman Empire entered the war, the Kingdom of Italy proposed to the Austro-Hungarian Empire that it return the occupied territories to the Kingdom of Italy.

The old emperor rejected the Kingdom of Italy's request without hesitation.

King Vittorio Emanuele III was angry and determined to take back the occupied territories by force.

On January 1, the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the longest, cruelest, and most ridiculous soap opera during World War I broke out.

During World War I, there were hundreds of battles of varying sizes between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including 12 large-scale battles.

These 12 battles were all named the Battle of the Isonzo River.

(End of this chapter)