"Even if the Austro-Hungarian fleet only sends two capital ships and a small number of other warships, then at least the situation in the Black Sea will be completely different!" Ruprecht thought to himself. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

What is the greatest strategic advantage of the Russians? Industry is the level of scum, although the population has an advantage, but the actual effect is just like that, the biggest advantage is the strategic depth, especially when attacking to the east, if you talk about taking the land route, let alone going to the Caucasus, the Ukrainian plain alone is a trouble for Germany!

But Ukraine and even the Caucasus are areas that Germany must obtain, these areas may not be included in the territory of the empire, but must be controlled by the empire, if it is simply advanced by the army, then the cost is undoubtedly very high, large-scale mobile operations on land need railways, and in times of war, it is obviously impossible to improve the railway transportation of Ukraine, then the other way is only waterways, and coincidentally, whether it is the breadbasket of Europe or the oil depots of the whole of Europe - Transcaucasia can be reached by the Black Sea route!

If we take a longer-term view, the occupation of Transcaucasia through the Black Sea is actually equivalent to throwing troops into Russia's most vulnerable henchmen, the oil fields of Baku are already in their hands, and the Caspian oil fields are next to them! To the south is Iran! Transnational Caspian Sea is Central Asia! The oil pole of the whole world is in the hands of Germany!

And for the subsequent strategy against the Soviet Union, it was also quite useful to get the Caucasus, a little further north of the Caucasus, which is the famous Stalingrad in history! This is an important region located at the confluence of the three major confluences, if the Caucasus can be controlled, once the war with the Soviet Union starts again, then it is equivalent to an extra front, and the Soviet troops, which have been greatly weakened, need to divide considerable managers to defend this front, and after crossing the Caspian Sea, they can form a certain threat to the Soviet Union's great rear -- Central Asia! The greatest advantage of the USSR - strategic depth - will be greatly neutralized!

Let's put it this way, just from the point of view of the First World War, if you want to realize the grand plan to control Ukraine and the Caucasus in your hands, you only need to let Austria-Hungary deploy two capital ships and some auxiliary warships to the Black Sea! That's half the story! What better value for money in the Navy could be than this?

As for the strategic significance after World War I, whether it is entering Central Asia, or going north to the heart of the Soviet Union, or south to the Middle East, the Transcaucasia and the Black Sea region must be controlled, and it is not too much to say that it is the meeting point of the entire Eurasian continent! This is completely the basis for the achievement of global hegemony!

According to the prince's speculation, the strength of the Russian Navy should not be stronger than in history, especially the Black Sea Fleet, because according to the schedule, Germany will start the war in 1912 at the latest, and the Russian shipyard construction and renovation of the Celstopol fortress has not yet begun, and there is not even a plan! Historically, the construction of 4 dreadnoughts of the Black Sea Fleet was started in 1911, and even if the Russians reached the historical level, what was the use of starting 4 dreadnoughts in 1911? Basically, it can't be completed, because it took 4 years for Russia to build this class of warships in history! And Russia will not survive the war for 3 years!

Even the Entente fleet could go directly to the periphery of Sevastopol to carry out offensive mine-laying! If nothing else, the entire Black Sea will turn into an inland sea of the Entente. When the Bavarian-Austro-Hungarian Corps pushes to the Ukrainian front, it is possible to even directly launch a landing operation to destroy Ukraine's granary and accelerate the collapse of Russia. After all, the Donetsk coal mines of the Russians and the grain of Ukraine are the fundamental pillars that support Russia to fight, even if Germany can't get it, as long as it can not be obtained by the Russians, it will be enough to bury this huge empire!

And this is only a strategic interest in the Black Sea region, if the fleet can be concentrated, it is not impossible to cooperate with the army to create a new situation in the Mediterranean! In any case, Italy was greatly weakened by the Italo-Turkish war, and the military losses were not too great, but the prestige and economic losses were the most fatal, and if nothing else, Italy would have been more cautious about participating in this war.

If Italy did not enter the war, the Austro-Hungarian and Turkish navies, although far inferior to France in total tonnage, could still put a lot of pressure on Britain and France by relying on better quality capital ships. If Greece can be reckless, if the navy moves in the direction of the Aegean Sea, it is possible to occupy Greece eventually.

Historically, the fundamental reason why Germany did not push to Greece was that it did not have time to manage Greece, and as soon as the Eastern Front ended, a large number of German troops were transferred to the Western Front, and then the famous St. Millerga Offensive was launched. And this plane, if Ruprecht's estimate is correct, can kill Russia in 2 years, and then he can choose to go south to fight Greece. And for post-war Germany to obtain an important foothold in the Mediterranean, to the south can threaten the Suez Canal, and to the west can go to the western Mediterranean. It is also a very important area.

If Italy entered the war, the situation would be more complicated, but it was not without chance, and at least it was certain that if part of the main force of the Austro-Hungarian fleet and the two Turkish dreadnoughts converged, it would certainly put great pressure on the Entente and contain their enormous energy. In disguise, reduce the pressure on the Western and Eastern Fronts. In short, the prince thought that his plan was very good, and the only question was how to convince Austria-Hungary!

Thinking of this, the prince decided to personally repair a letter to the Kaiser, the content is very simple, that is, in exchange for providing technical and even economic assistance to the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the combination of the Austro-Hungarian fleet and the Turkish fleet, and the development of a plan for deployment in the Black Sea, the navy is a system problem, not that with the fleet, you can just find a port, in history, the battlecruiser Goeben in a hurry was plagued by the port problem, and after being hit by a mine, it could only make do, and Turkey did not even have a slipway! Only later went to the shipyard in Sevastopol for repairs.

"The Entente is very dangerous to fight on two fronts, so we must do our best to solve one side first, the Imperial General Staff asked for an attack on France first, although I do not support it, but I remain silent, but when it does not affect this plan, I hope that the Empire will take a more active action on other fronts." The prince began his letter with this statement.

The third is more present~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~! (To be continued.) )