Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 348 Serbia Collapses
Carlo originally thought that the war in Europe would last a long time, but he didn't expect that there was still a long time before the start of the school year at San Primo High School, and the war seemed to be over.

The breakthrough point of the war is still here in Serbia.

There is no way. Compared with Germany and Austria-Hungary, Serbia is too weak.

Under the premise that the Russian army cannot reach Serbia, even if Serbia musters all its strength, it can only delay the time of defeat.

It took only a few days for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to capture Loznica, which also resulted in a hole in Serbia's western border.

Later, Serbia wanted to counterattack Loznica in order to plug this gap, but unfortunately they were lagging behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of manpower and weapons and equipment.

After the counterattack failed, the Serbian army retreated towards Belgrade. Their original intention was good, that is, to defend their capital Belgrade.

After all, as mentioned, Belgrade is located on a salient at the mouth of a river, facing the Austro-Hungarian Empire across the river on three sides.

If the land south of Belgrade could not be defended, the Serbian capital would be completely surrounded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which would be fatal for this small country.

Retreating towards Belgrade would certainly help defend the capital, but this was not good news for the cities south of the western border.

The Austro-Hungarian army also tried to attack Belgrade eastwards, having already experienced how strong the Serbian defenses were along the way.

Although steady progress could be made, the time and manpower consumed were unacceptable to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Since Belgrade has a solid defense line, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will no longer attack Belgrade. After all, Serbia is only a small country, and it would be very painful for Serbia to fall anywhere.

After discussion, the southern army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's southern battlefield decided to continue to move southeast and attack Valjevo, a very important supply city on the western border of Serbia.

Valjevo has a very important geographical location. It is located in the central part of Serbia's western border and can radiate to the entire western border.

It is also because of this that Serbia has stockpiled a large amount of supplies here, using it as a transit station to transport them to the western front in a steady stream.

If Valjevo could be captured, not only would the supply to Serbia's western border be cut off, but the Austro-Hungarian army would also be able to completely take to the road, laying the foundation for the next offensive.

Valjevo is connected to Belgrade in the north and to the important transportation hub city of Užice in the south, and its strategic location is quite important.

Before Serbia's counterattack, this place was still heavily defended.

Originally, there were only 2 troops in Loznica and the border to the north, while the supply city of Valjevo had a garrison of nearly 2.

But as Serbia planned a counterattack, most of the defenders here were transferred to the north to plan a counterattack against Loznica.

After the counterattack failed, 3.5 Serbian troops retreated in a panic towards Belgrade, and the supply city of Valjevo was ignored by the Serbian army.

Now the remaining garrison in Valjevo is less than 1, most of whom were temporarily mobilized after the war. There is almost no standing army with real combat effectiveness, which is definitely good news for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally knew how powerful Serbia was. Since Serbia was able to organize a counterattack, it meant that the defense of central cities like Valjevo was quite empty.

After the failure of the Serbian defensive battle, the Austro-Hungarian Empire left about 2 troops in Loznica for defense, and drew another 2 troops from the Bosnia region, reorganizing an army of 4 to launch an attack on Valjevo.

This important supply city of Valjevo was captured in less than two days under the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After conquering Valjevo, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not stay for long. After leaving part of its troops to defend Valjevo, the remaining troops continued to attack the transportation hub city of Užice to the south.

For the entire western border, the supply city of Valjevo is definitely more important. But for Serbia, the transportation hub city of Užice is definitely more important.

Užice is located at a three-way intersection, with Valjevo to the north, Serbia's southern border to the south, and the Serbian hinterland to the east.

If Austria-Hungary could break through Užice, the Serbian hinterland cities would be defenseless against the Austro-Hungarian army.

This was extremely fatal for Serbia, but the Serbian army did not have many troops to mobilize at that time.

In northwestern Serbia, north of Valjevo, there are more than 8 troops. Together with the troops south of the western border, this is almost all of Serbia's main forces at present.

The remaining soldiers were either still lying in the hospital, not knowing whether they were alive or dead, or they were soldiers who had just been mobilized and had not yet been trained and had no combat effectiveness at all.

When the Serbian government learned that Valjevo had been captured and the Austro-Hungarian army was attacking Užice to the south, it was completely panicked.

On the one hand, they ordered the mobilized troops from hinterland cities to rush to Užice, and on the other hand, they accelerated the destruction of roads north and east of Užice to prevent the Austrian army from quickly attacking other Serbian cities through these two roads.

In fact, it was already very clear at this point in the war that Serbia was simply unable to resist the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. No matter how hard they tried, they could only delay the speed of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's attack.

Especially after Valjevo was captured, Serbia's defeat had entered the countdown.

This supply city is very important for Serbia's western border. From the moment the Austro-Hungarian Empire conquered Valjevo, it meant that Serbia's western border, which it had worked hard to manage for more than 10 years, was completely destroyed.

Without the solid defense line on the western border, Serbia had no good terrain inside to defend against the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As time came to April, the Austro-Hungarian and Serbian armies launched another large-scale offensive and defensive battle in Užice.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had an army of as many as 4 men. Taking advantage of the opportunity to capture Valjevo, the Austro-Hungarian Empire pursued the victory and its morale was high.

On the Serbian side, the soldiers transported to Užice were either farmers who had not received much training, or soldiers who were sent back to the front line with minor or serious injuries in the hospital. They were obviously abandoned soldiers.

Rather than relying on these people to defend Užice, it would be better to hope that the Russians could quickly defeat Germany and Austria-Hungary in a short period of time and end the war from another angle.

The final outcome of this large-scale offensive and defensive battle was also very clear. The Austro-Hungarian army won the battle with almost no effort.

The transportation hub city was completely reduced to ruins after more than a week of attack, and the bodies of tens of thousands of Serbian and Austrian soldiers were buried in the ruins.

But now there is no time to mourn for these fallen soldiers, because what awaits Serbia next will be a hellish scene even more cruel than this.

The capture of Užice was great news for Austria, and it made the front-page headlines of Austrian and Hungarian newspapers that day.

European countries also sent their own military observation groups to varying degrees, which led to the news being reported in newspapers of various countries almost without delay.

This is certainly good news for Germany and Austria-Hungary.

But for Serbia and Russia, this was like a death warrant, indicating that they were not far from defeat in the war.

Russia urgently changed its strategic deployment and decided to fight a good battle before the end of the war to gain some bargaining chips in the peace talks.

As for the Serbian government, Russia can no longer control it at this time.

This war made Russia see the strength of the German-Austrian alliance, and also made Russia see the disadvantages of fighting alone.

For Russia, an ally like Serbia is no longer important. No matter how the war ends, Russia will definitely find more allies after the war and sign a Franco-Russian alliance treaty.

Only a Franco-Russian alliance could counter the German-Austrian alliance, and this was the only idea of ​​Alexander III and Russian officials.

On the Spanish side, Carlo also received the news of the capture of Uzice almost immediately.

Carlo felt a little regretful, as this meant that the war was about to end, and also that the expansion of the Spanish arms industry was about to end. More importantly, this war would change the landscape of Europe.

It was fully predictable that the confrontation between the two major military groups, the Central Powers and the Entente, would occur sooner.

Even if the British had not emphasized the importance of limiting the scale of the war when the war just broke out, Russia and France would probably have been discussing how to defeat the Germans in this war.

Britain's actions did prevent the war from evolving into a world war, but this was not good news for the British.

The future European landscape will become a situation of the German-Austrian alliance vs. the Franco-Russian alliance. Italy is obviously on the side of the German-Austrian alliance, which makes the British unprecedentedly become a complete supporting role in Europe.

This is not the kind of supporting role that the British deliberately created before, which is not involved in affairs, but a supporting role that the British cannot participate in European affairs even if they want to.

Either of the two major military groups is stronger than Britain, which is the most fatal news for Britain.

Carlo also thought about what choice the British would make at such a critical juncture, and even considered whether the British would come to Spain to conclude an alliance treaty.

After all, among the European powers at this time, only Britain and Spain had no clear position.

But after thinking about it, Carlo gave up the idea.

After all, there are irreconcilable contradictions between Britain and Spain. Unless the British are willing to give up Gibraltar, it is impossible for Spain to form an alliance with Britain.

Even if Spain wants to choose a country to ally with, Spain has better options.

Spain will be a good ally for the two major military groups that are about to be formed.

France needs Spain to protect its southern border, and Germany needs Spain to create some trouble for France's southern border.

Although Spain's army and navy are not among the top three in the world, they both remain in the top five in the world. Overall, its military strength is still relatively good.

This also means that Spain will become a popular country in the future situation of confrontation between the two major military groups, and it will be a country that both sides want to win over.

This is different from the embarrassing situation of the British, which is why Carlo is not panicked at all in this situation, because Spain still has options.

Unlike Spain, the options in the UK are more limited.

The isolation policy and regional balance policy pursued by the United Kingdom itself makes it impossible for them to personally intervene when the two major military groups are in confrontation.

In addition, the relationship between Britain and these European powers is not very good. Even if the British want to choose, these powerful countries may not be willing to let the British join.

Although the addition of Britain will make the alliance stronger, it also means that the British will also get a share of any benefits gained by the alliance in the future.

Britain is the most powerful country, which also means that when the cake is divided, the British get the largest piece.

But Britain is isolated from the European continent, which means that even if a war breaks out, the British will not be greatly affected.

If Britain really joins the alliance, maybe if the war is won in the end, the only ones who will benefit will be the British.

Upon learning that the front had successfully captured Užice, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I personally sent a telegram to the generals on the front line, praising their outstanding performance in the war and stating that he would personally award them medals and prizes after the war.

The old emperor's personal praise filled these generals with motivation. They planned to make their battle records more fulfilling so that they could gain more benefits in the reward process after the war.

This is also the advantage of a monarchy. Titles and lands can be given as rewards to officers and soldiers who have performed outstandingly in war.

The monarchy and aristocracy have been passed down in Europe for thousands of years, and the nobility of the aristocracy has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the European people.

Faced with the opportunity to directly become a member of the aristocracy, most officers would be quite tempted. Those who were not so tempted were probably already members of the aristocracy, and their titles were so high that they could not be improved even with military merit.

Compared to the high morale of the Austro-Hungarian army, things were quite low on the Serbian side.

Because all European countries were reporting such news, even if Serbia was slow to react, it was aware of the fact that the front line was suffering a series of defeats.

If Serbia was simply invaded, it would be fine, because the war of aggression could bring more morale and encouragement to the people.

But the problem is that the war was started because Serbia sheltered senior rebel leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was widely reported by the Austrian media and spread to Serbia.

If the war is won, this will certainly not be a problem for Serbia. After all, who doesn't want to make their country stronger?
Are the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina not Serbian compatriots? What's wrong with protecting your compatriots?

But if the war fails, it will be a huge problem and responsibility for the Serbian government.

If the Serbian government had not protected the top leaders of the rebel army, the war would not have started. If the war had not started, the Serbian people would not have lost their loved ones in the war.

The Serbian people lost their loved ones in this war, and then the enemy attacked them in their homes? How could the Serbian people tolerate this?

Serbia’s dire situation is not limited to the complete conquest of its western border, the situation in the northern capital Belgrade is also quite bad.

More than half of the capital was plowed over by Austro-Hungarian artillery, and the war turned the homes of hundreds of thousands of Serbian people into ruins.

In such a situation, how could the Serbian people not be angry? As soon as the news of the capture of Užice was transmitted back to Belgrade, a large-scale demonstration broke out in the southern part of Belgrade.

The Serbian people gathered together. They were very dissatisfied with the incompetent government that provoked the war and were unwilling to let such a government harm their country.

The people's demonstrations caused the Serbian government a lot of headaches. They had not yet dealt with the Austro-Hungarian army, and they had to face accountability from the domestic people.

However, neither of these two problems could be solved at this time. The Austro-Hungarian army could not be defeated unless Serbia could produce an army of more than 10.

But this is obviously impossible, and perhaps only the legendary God can do this. But it is obvious that even if there is a God, God will not favor Serbia.

As for the second point, it is even more difficult to solve. If it were normal times, there would still be many solutions to the people's demonstrations.

Either send officials to persuade the people with kind words and agree to their request to disperse quickly, or mobilize the police or the army to suppress them by force, and then control public opinion to solve the problem.

The situation at this point could no longer be resolved by gentle words. The people were quite skeptical about the ability of the Serbian government, and they were also very dissatisfied with the poor performance of the Serbian army in the war.

Unless the Serbian army can win a battle at this time, this crisis of confidence cannot be resolved.

There was no need to even think about using the police or the army to suppress the riots. The limited military forces around Belgrade had all been deployed to the front lines, and it was simply impossible to mobilize the police or the army at this time.

Even if armed forces could be mobilized, could they really suppress the march in such a situation?
The army is unable to fight the war and instead turns its guns towards the people. Isn't this accelerating the process of the people overthrowing the government?

Neither the civil nor the military approach works, which leaves the Serbian government with no alternative but to act like a turtle.

But this is obviously only a temporary solution and cannot completely resolve the crisis of public demonstrations.

Worse still, the situation on the front line was getting worse for Serbia. Under internal and external troubles, the Serbian Prime Minister's hair turned white almost overnight.

(End of this chapter)