Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 343 Bismarck Resigns

The first great change brought about by this war has come.

German Emperor Wilhelm II forced Germany to join the war against all odds, but his quarrel with Prime Minister Bismarck before the war became a topic of even greater concern than the war itself.

The new emperor was not his grandfather. Because of his congenital disability, William II had extreme self-esteem. Naturally, he would not allow the existence of Bismarck, a prime minister who openly refuted or even scolded him in cabinet meetings.

As for Bismarck, he gave everything for this country. The creation of the German Empire is inseparable from the contribution of the Iron Chancellor Bismarck. It was also under the leadership of Bismarck that the former Kingdom of Prussia defeated Denmark, Austria and France successively and built a powerful German Empire.

After more than 20 years of ruling Germany, Prime Minister Bismarck was shocked to find that there was no place for him in the empire he had worked so hard to build.

Prime Minister Bismarck, disappointed with the current situation, submitted his resignation to German Emperor Wilhelm II, which was also considered as the final warning to Wilhelm II.

William II did not respond to the resignation of Prime Minister Bismarck, and silence at such moments often meant acquiescence.

In endless disappointment and grief, German Chancellor Bismarck formally submitted his resignation to the cabinet and submitted a six-page resignation letter to William II.

After doing all this, Prime Minister Bismarck did not stay any longer. He left Berlin angrily and went to live in seclusion in his own estate.

After Bismarck left the German cabinet, the German cabinet was officially controlled by the new emperor William II. The person who succeeded Bismarck as German Chancellor was Leo von Caprivi, a senior military official with some experience.

In fact, this point also shows the reason why William II forced Prime Minister Bismarck to leave. The main reason was that Prime Minister Bismarck had great prestige in the German government and the military. This prestige and status had already affected William II's power.

This situation is similar to the situation in Spain when Carlo first arrived in Spain. However, Carlo did not have much power at that time and could only develop in a sloppy manner.

In addition, Prime Minister Primo at the time was not as strong as Prime Minister Bismarck. Prime Minister Primo was still willing to give Carlo, the new king, a certain say in many aspects. This also made Prime Minister Primo's ending much better than that of Prime Minister Bismarck.

Prime Minister Bismarck's sad departure became the biggest news in Germany, and even became the hottest news in the whole of Europe for a short period of time.

As a prominent figure in Europe in the late 19th century, Prime Minister Bismarck had always been the most important person in Europe. His departure immediately attracted the attention of European countries, and countries like France, which had a relatively poor relationship with Germany, cheered for him.

Everyone understands that the departure of Chancellor Bismarck is a weakening for Germany. As one of the greatest contributors to the establishment of the German Empire, Chancellor Bismarck plays a vital role in Germany.

He controlled Germany's politics, diplomacy, military and economy, and single-handedly created a situation in Europe that isolated France, making the newly established German Empire one of the four major powers in Europe, with a tendency to become the European hegemon.

From this point of view alone, it is not an exaggeration to praise Bismarck's political achievements. Before Bismarck became the Prime Minister of Prussia, Prussia was just an ordinary second-rate country on the European continent, and it could not even compete with Austria in the German region.

After he became the Prime Minister of Prussia, he carried out various reforms and made Prussia quickly become a European power.

It was also because of Bismarck that Prussia was able to exclude Austria from Germany and establish its own German Empire.

Why are Austrians also Germans? The most fundamental reason is that Austria also belongs to the German region. The German region was ruled by the Holy Roman Empire hundreds of years ago, and the Habsburg family that ruled Austria was also the royal family of the Holy Roman Empire hundreds of years ago.

If it were not for Bismarck, the royal family in the Holy Roman Empire would still be the Habsburgs, and the German Empire would not have much to do with Prussia.

Compared to Bismarck, his successor, Prime Minister Leo von Caprivi, did not have as much prestige and power.

The main reason why William II appointed him as the Prime Minister of Germany and Italy was that Leo von Caprivi had certain abilities and did not have any party identity, so he was a relatively easy-to-control candidate.

After replacing the prime minister, William II issued an order to the new cabinet, requiring the cabinet to make comprehensive preparations for war and strive to defeat Russia in this war.

As soon as Prime Minister Leo von Caprivi took office, he accelerated Germany's investment in the war.

During the reign of Prime Minister Bismarck, he had always opposed Germany's joining the war, which also led to Germany's lack of preparation for the war.

Although war has been declared on Russia, the only troops Germany can mobilize are about 20 on the eastern border, and it is obviously impossible to win this war.

In just a few days, Prime Minister Leo von Caprivi came up with a comprehensive military expansion plan, which was quickly approved by William II.

According to this new military expansion plan, Germany will deploy at least 50 active troops in this war and mobilize at least 50 reserve troops.

This also means that in this war, the total number of German troops will soon exceed one million. Germany's goal is not only to defeat Russia, but also to occupy the Polish area occupied by Russia.

It can also be seen from the map that the Polish region occupied by Russia is a bulge, located exactly between the territories of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Germany's war plan was also very simple. That was to split its troops into two groups with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, directly surround the Polish region, wipe out the Russian defenders in the Polish region, and directly occupy the entire Poland.

If the whole of Poland could be occupied, the Galicia and Lodomeria regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would also be secured, and it would not be so easy for the Russian army to attack Germany or the Austro-Hungarian Empire from this salient area.

Germany's combat plan also meant that Poland would be the main offensive and defensive location for Germany and Russia, and also the main battlefield of this war.

As for the war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, although the war between these two countries was the source of the war, the scale of this war was destined to be small. After all, the Russians could not support Serbia.

For Serbia, apart from being able to obtain Russian weapons and equipment, they are almost isolated and helpless.

It was precisely because of the successive statements made by the British and Spanish that European countries gave up the idea of ​​intervening in the war.

Romania was located between Serbia and Russia, and they also declared neutrality and did not interfere in the war. This made it impossible for the Russian army to borrow a passage from Romania, and the Russian army could not support the isolated Serbia.

About half a month after the outbreak of the war, the Spanish military observation group officially arrived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and planned to go to Galicia and Lodomeria to observe the war situation between Germany, Austria and Russia in detail.

Compared to the small-scale war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, the Spanish military observation group was clearly more focused on the battle between the three major powers.

The battle between the three great powers did not disappoint the Spanish military observation group. On the day when the military guidance group arrived in Galicia and Ludongmeria, a large-scale battle broke out between Germany, Austria and Russia. Because Russia was slow to mobilize, it was in a defensive posture at the border, and the attacking parties were Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Germany and Austria-Hungary prepared more than 30 troops in southern Poland. The mission of this army was to move northward from southern Poland and cut off the retreat route of the Russian troops stationed in Poland.

Another army of less than 20 people will move south from northern Poland and encircle the Polish region together with this southern army.

The offensive and defensive battles in Poland clearly demonstrated the different characteristics of the armies of the three countries.

In terms of military combat effectiveness, the German army has the strongest combat effectiveness and the best equipment. The actual combat loss ratio also shows that the German soldiers are more highly trained and did not panic too much during the war.

Compared to the German army, the Austro-Hungarian army is on the same level as the Russian army. Although the overall combat effectiveness of the Russian army is relatively poor, the border defense army is still worthy of recognition.

Especially the troops on the German-Russian border, these troops are the main force of the Russian army, and their performance in the battle is worthy of recognition.

The more elite part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's army was composed of Austrians. The combat effectiveness of the rest of the army, which was composed of Hungarians, Czechs or soldiers of other nationalities, was difficult to describe, and their levels could be said to be uneven.

Such an army can still play a certain role in defensive battles, but it can be said to be of no use in offensive battles.

If the German army had not performed so bravely, the German-Austrian coalition would probably not have been able to advance the front line very far.

Because they are on the front line, the military observation group has a relatively clear understanding of the war situation.

Germany and Austria-Hungary mobilized a total of more than 50 troops in the entire Polish region, while Russia had less than 40 troops.

Although Russia still had a large number of troops rushing to the front line, Germany and Austria-Hungary were also mobilizing continuously.

This also shows the outcome of the Battle of Poland, as the balance of victory has gradually tilted towards Germany and Austria-Hungary.

This is also Russia's biggest flaw, that is, the war mobilization speed is indeed too slow. Not only is the war mobilization speed slow, but Russia's transportation environment is also the worst among the European powers.

In addition, because the land is relatively vast, it takes several times longer for troops mobilized from all over the country to reach the front line than it did for Germany and Austria-Hungary.

This also means that Russia will be at a disadvantage in the early stages of any war, unless Russia has made sufficient preparations and mobilization is almost complete before the war, perhaps it can change the disadvantage in the early stages of the war.

Obviously, this war broke out suddenly for Russia. This also led to Russia's insufficient preparation before the war. Not only was the army mobilization slow, but even various strategic materials took a long time to transport to the front line.

Carlo takes this war very seriously.

The military observation group sent by Spain is composed of two groups of officers. One group is relatively young colonel-level generals, and the other group is young officers who have just graduated from military academies a few years ago or are still studying in military academies.

These people are the future of the Spanish army, and many future military generals may emerge from them. Carlo also has high hopes for them, hoping that they can learn more knowledge and gain more experience from this war.

It is worth mentioning that even though Carlo blocked information related to machine guns, European countries still had their own explorations into machine guns.

The German army was equipped with some automatic firearms similar to machine guns, which also played a certain role in the war.

The world's first truly fully automatic machine gun was designed by Maxim, but before Maxim, the American Gatling had already designed a hand-cranked semi-automatic machine gun.

European countries have obviously also paid attention to this semi-automatic hand-cranked machine gun, and are exploring the design of fully automatic machine guns based on the principles of this machine gun.

As an ally of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also had this type of machine gun. However, it is obvious that there are still some differences between the German machine guns and the Austro-Hungarian machine guns, which also means that the two countries have their own progress in the research and development of machine guns.

Unlike Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Russian army had no trace of machine guns at all.

The Russian army was still equipped with the same old two things, namely standard rifles and cannons. Because Poland was close to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the two countries were fighting at their doorsteps, and logistical supplies were relatively easy.

But for Russia, although occupied Poland is Russia's own territory, this land is too far away from the core of Russia.

The Polish region is nearly a thousand kilometers away from the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, and even farther away from other cities.

This also led to the fact that although Russia was fighting on its own land, its logistical pressure was even greater than that of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

As the saying goes, a cannon shot is worth a ton of gold. In addition to the worries of logistics, the Russian military also has a lot of worries about military expenditure.

Although Russia has a larger population, its economic environment is still much worse than that of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The longer the war drags on, the greater the logistical and economic pressure on Russia. To a certain extent, this is also a war that Russia cannot delay.

Within a week after the Spanish military observation group arrived at the front line, Germany, Austria and Russia launched a fierce offensive in the Polish region.

In just one week, the total casualties of the three countries exceeded 10. This fully reflects the cruelty of war. Any war is a huge loss for the people of all countries.

The Russian side suffered the highest casualties, with over ten thousand Russian soldiers killed alone.

Under the continuous attack of Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russia's defense line in Poland was constantly retreating. As one victory report after another was sent back to Berlin and Vienna, Germany and Austria-Hungary became more and more optimistic about the war.

Italy, which was also a member of the Triple Alliance, only felt regret for this war. If Italy had joined the war earlier, they would have been the winner now.

Moreover, by joining the war, Italy can demand more benefits, and it can also set foot in the Balkan Peninsula instead of continuing to shrink in the Apennine Peninsula as it is now.

(End of this chapter)