With Ferdinand's order, most of the grain originally shipped from Russia to the European continent for sale was intercepted by Bulgaria.

No, I bought it! Anyway, for the woolly bear, the grain is to be sold, who is not to sell it to? As long as Bulgaria pays for it, it is not a big deal to go home early.

As for what will happen in Europe? Do you still need to think about it? Of course, it's the rise in food prices!

Bulgaria is increasing its grain reserves, and other countries are not idle!

The British are not in a hurry, relying on the presence of the Royal Navy, and the colonies have grain that can be transported over, but the freight is a little higher, and the international food price will rise, and the price is high, so it is a big deal to take out the colonial grain and sell it!

The French don't care, they are already big grain exporters, and the price increase is just right, and they can make a lot of money! It's a pity that now is not the time to make money, but it doesn't matter that the Gallic chicken is not short of this little money!

Compared with the Entente, they can achieve food self-sufficiency, the British do not have enough food at home, but there are many colonies, Bulgaria is to prepare for war and store grain, and it is also a grain exporter, but the export volume is small.

The Allies were forced to do it, the Ottoman Empire could still be self-sufficient, and as for grain exports, their agricultural production technology was still stuck in the last century, so there was no need to think about it!

Romania and Austria-Hungary were not bad, they were both major European grain exporters, otherwise Ferdinand suspected that Germany and Italy would now be hungry.

Bulgaria's move caused a chain reaction, Britain and France tacitly restricted the flow of grain into the Allies, and the Russians' grain was cut off by Bulgaria.

The grain of Austria-Hungary and Romania alone can make up for the lack of grain in Germany and Italy, but it is not enough to make strategic reserves, and then several European grain exporting countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc., have made a lot of money.

However, none of this had anything to do with Ferdinand, who was now leading a group of dignitaries and staff officers to analyze the balance of power between the Central Powers and the Entente Powers.

The population comparison is as follows: (estimated population of each country in 1914)

On the Allied side: about 66.9 million in Germany, about 54.2 million in Austria-Hungary (plus Serbia), about 21 million in the Ottoman Empire (23.8 million in history after deducting immigrants and war losses), about 35.1 million in Italy, 6.85 million in Romania, and 1.26 million in the Kingdom of Montenegro (plus the population expelled by the protagonist), total: 185.31 million people.

On the part of the Entente: about 165 million in the Russian Empire (after deducting the population decline due to immigration), about 45.6 million in the British Empire, about 39.7 million in the French Republic, and about 27.8 million in Bulgaria, total: 278.1 million people.

Obviously, the Entente had an advantage in manpower, with more than 90 million more people than the Central Powers, and this was without counting the colonies, otherwise the population of the British Empire's colonies alone would be more than 400 million, and the two sides would not be able to compare in manpower.

In terms of economy, Bulgaria has been bursting production capacity in recent years, and the Germans have not been idle, and have also taken radical measures to increase production capacity.

……

This can be seen from the gross national income:

Germany $12 billion

$11 billion in the UK

Tsarist Russia 7 billion dollars

France $6 billion

Italy $4 billion

Bulgaria $3.8 billion

Austro-Crarian 3 billion dollars

$13.7 billion in the United States

$2 billion for Japan

Note: Gross national income is not equal to industry, many things in it are fictitious, pushed up, and you can't understand it by looking at the stock market.

Comprehensive National Power Ranking:

1. United Kingdom

2. Germany

3. France

4. Russia

5. The United States, Austria-Hungary

6. Italy, Bulgaria

7. Japan

8. Republic of China

9. The Ottoman Empire

10. Kingdom of Spain

Don't be absolutely surprised, at that time, the Americans did not have a high voice in the world, not even as good as Italy, the military power was at the end, the comprehensive assessment was naturally not high, and they were placed in fifth place because Ferdinand repeatedly emphasized the importance of the economy, otherwise the ranking of the Americans would have forgotten.

In 1910, in a ranking of the overall power of various countries in the London Daily, the United States was ranked at the bottom of the great powers after the major European powers and Japan alongside Japan. In the eyes of Europeans in this era, the American outburst has no status!

The number of personnel of the army and navy of the great powers in 1914

Russia 1.468 million

France 967,000

Germany 943,000

Austria-Hungary 736,000

UK 63.9

Italy 603,000

Bulgaria 596,000

Ottoman 581,000

Japan 306,000

Romania 201,000

164,000 in the United States

Kingdom of Montenegro 76,000

Share of world industrial production by country:

U.S. 31.8%

Germany 14.8%

United Kingdom 13.6%

Russia 8%

France 6%

Austria-Hungary 4.4%

Bulgaria 4.3%

Italy2.3%

Japan 1%

Steel production by country:

31.8 million tons in the United States

Germany 17.6 million tons

UK 7.78 million tons

Russia 4.91 million tons

France 4.68 million tons

Bulgaria 2.62 million tons

Austria-Hungary 2.61 million tons

Italy 930,000 tons

Japan 320,000 tons

Coal production by country:

530 million tons in the United States

Tsarist Russia 360 million tons,

292 million tonnes in the UK,

Germany 277.2 million tons,

Austria-Hungary 54.2 million tons,

France 40.8 million tons

Bulgaria 33.6 million tons

Japan 14.15 million tons

Italy 700,000 tons

……

After some comparison, Ferdinand found that the advantages of the Entente over the Central Powers were mainly concentrated in the three aspects of population, resources, and shipping, and he was far from thinking about the disparity in strength between the two sides that the network experts were talking about!

In fact, the military strength of the Entente and the Allied Powers is now very close, mainly on the army side, and the General Staff has also made a coefficient through the comprehensive performance score.

Calculated based on the average combat power of the armies of European countries as 1:

German 1.8 (recognized at the time as the first not to explain)

France 1.6 (1st in the world)

Bulgaria 1.6 (record two Balkan wars)

Russia 1.2 (European rollers, Far East deducted points for too bad performance)

Japan 1.2 (Russo-Japanese War)

Kingdom of Montenegro 1.2 (Balkan Wars)

Austria-Hungary 1.1 (points deducted for suppressing the Serbian Revolution)

Ottoman Empire 1.1 (a new army trained by the Germans)

Romania 1 (Second Balkan War performance average)

United Kingdom 0.7 (Anglo-Boerish War deduction points)

U.S. 0.7 (Spanish-American War deduct points)

Italy 0.5 (Ethiopian war deductions)

Well, the General Staff is completely based on the results of military achievements, and it also integrates the command ability of officers, the will to fight of soldiers, and weapons and equipment.

Of course, Ferdinand knew that this ranking was very unreliable, at least the British ranking was not so low, and the lobster soldiers still had a great improvement in combat effectiveness after the Boer War.

Moreover, every country has elites and cannon fodder, if you use the elite to fight the militia of the other side, maybe the Italians can press the Germans to fight, of course, this situation is not very likely, under normal circumstances, as long as the commander on the battlefield is not stupid, he will not use the militia as the main force!

However, Ferdinand believes that the ranking of the army's comprehensive combat effectiveness is still very reliable: (ranked by a comprehensive estimate of the number, combat effectiveness, and equipment of the active army)

1. Germany

2. Russia (crowd tactics are still very good in this era)

3. France

4. Bulgaria

5. Austria-Hungary

6. United Kingdom

7. Japan (equipment is too backward)

8. Ottoman Empire

9. Italy (by virtue of equipment and quantity)

10. Romania

11. Kingdom of Montenegro

The United States (don't expect the only tens of thousands of troops to be strong)

In contrast, the ranking of the navy is much more reliable, directly according to the tonnage of warships, and the situation of defeating the strong with the weak is based on the fact that the opponent is not in the state, or the strength is close and the luck is against the sky, otherwise the main factor determining the victory or defeat of the battle between the technical branches of the navy is the ship!

After all, with a duel between a destroyer and a dreadnought, you don't have to think about it to know the result!

The total tonnage of warships is as follows:

1. 2.71 million tons in the United Kingdom

2. 1.3 million tons in Germany

3. 980,000 tons in the United States

4. 900,000 tons in France

5. 710,000 tons in Russia

6. 670,000 tons in Japan

7. Italy 490,000 tons

8. Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria each 260,000 tons

Of course, in fact, there is still a big error in this ranking, that is, it ignores the performance of warships, for example, the current tonnage of the Russian Navy is very large, but they do not have dreadnoughts, and the actual combat effectiveness should be second to Japan, and may not even be comparable to the Italians.

According to the plan of the General Secret Department, as soon as the war broke out, the Bulgarian army had to be expanded to 1.5 million within a week and 2 million within half a month, so that it could take Austria-Hungary by surprise and take Belgrade at the beginning of the war.

At that time, the formation of cannon fodder troops can be sent to slowly fight a war of attrition with the Austro-Hungarian army; After the completion of this strategy, the war continues to be resolved once and for all by launching an offensive against Romania and capturing the Wallachian plains, and food problems may arise.

After completing these two strategies, it was necessary to attack the peninsula of Asia Minor and seize enough living space for Bulgaria.

Of course, in practice, these three strategies must be implemented at the same time, after all, the enemy is not a fool, so why wait for you to attack?

It's just a matter of focus, compared to the urgency of the other two strategic goals of Belgrade, it is certainly not so serious, after all, after a long time, Austria-Hungary reacted, and it became a decisive battle between the two countries!

And Romania and the Ottoman Empire even if they reacted, but also have strength? As long as the battlefield is put on their vital point, the two countries will have to fight a decisive battle with Bulgaria!

Ferdinand did not want to fight Austria-Hungary too early, mainly because he was afraid that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be finished in advance and cause a chain reaction, and it would be miserable if the Germans came to fight back and dragged Bulgaria together.

In contrast, it is much safer to lock the Balkan gateway and just bully the Montenegrin Kingdom, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire, and at the same time you can give an account to your allies.

It is clear that this strategic plan was not developed according to the intentions of the military, it was not the best option militarily, but politically it was in the best interests of Bulgaria!

This was naturally the result of Ferdinand's personal intervention, and if the overall situation of the Entente was considered, Bulgaria's first choice was to directly defeat Austria-Hungary and join forces with Russia to kill him first.

Theoretically, in the face of the all-out attack of Russia and Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary could not hold on for long, and even if the Allies came to the aid of other countries except Germany, it would not be able to change this result!

Once Germany mobilizes the main force to reinforce Austria-Hungary and fights on three fronts at the same time, no matter how strong the German army is, it will not be able to do it, at least their army will not be enough!

There is no doubt that without two or three million troops on the Western Front alone, Wilhelm II will not be able to sleep, and there is not much else in the hands of Britain and France, but there are many cannon fodder! Once there is a hole in the defensive line, Britain and France will not mind sacrificing millions of cannon fodder to win this war!

In this case, the Germans could not use many troops on the Eastern Front, at most two or three million, if it was only one direction to the Bulgarians or the Russians; But the soldiers are divided into two ways, then it is different, even with the cooperation of the Allied army!

As for the matter of one against two, or with one against three, that could only happen when there was a huge disparity in the combat effectiveness of the two armies, and obviously this situation did not exist.

……

Militarily a strategy of steady victory, but politically it was a failure, Ferdinand did not have the spirit of internationalism, and it was not a good thing for Bulgaria that the Entente won this war too easily!

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