In addition to the death of the old emperor, at the end of 1916, there was also a far-reaching event, Falkingham, who had just won a great victory on the Eastern Front, was impeached by the German military and was removed from his post on December 1, and Hindenburg, a Junker nobleman, became the chief of the German General Staff.

The next day, Chancellor Teobard von Batemann Holwig submitted his resignation to Wilhelm II, along with the German Minister of Finance, the Minister of Logistics, the Minister of the Interior, and other high-ranking government officials.

Obviously, in this round of political struggle, the military won a complete victory, the German government lost its dominance over the country, and Hindenburg began the road of military dictatorship.

As for Wilhelm II, he also completely became a rubber stamp emperor, and even if he did not express his position in this political struggle, he was still hollowed out by the military.

Ferdinand, who received this news, had to admit that an indecisive person was really not suitable to be an emperor, and he could have suppressed the Junker aristocracy by uniting with the government.

As a result, because of his momentary hesitation and determination, the military forces representing the Junker aristocracy brought down the government, and even at this time, as a king, he still had the ability to intervene!

But Wilhelm II still chose to remain silent, sat back and watched the government fall, and then the big military also took advantage of the situation to empty him!

Of course, this is not comprehensive, and Wilhelm II also made efforts, such as promoting Hindenburg, who was born into the Junker aristocracy, to be chief of the General Staff, and he tried to reconcile the contradictions between Georgia and Georgia through such efforts.

Needless to say, as in history, as soon as he ascended to the throne, he united with the Junker aristocracy and overthrew him as a king.

The impact of the German military coming to power on the world war was still huge, first of all, the high seas fleet left the port, preparing to find the British for a decisive battle.

It was also inevitable that with the end of the war on the Eastern Front and the beginning of the Great War on the Southern Front, the German Army fell into the predicament of protracted warfare, and the dream of ending the war on land was shattered.

However, the German financial community and the Junker aristocracy did not agree to end the war, and the German High Command had to change its original intention and shift its strategic focus to the sea.

In order to break through the British naval blockade, guarantee Germany's freedom of action at sea, and reverse the passive situation, the German ruling authorities decided to look for opportunities at sea for a decisive battle with the British.

So on December 10, 1916, the German High Seas Fleet and the British Royal Navy's Home Fleet broke out in the Atlantic Ocean in the largest naval battle in the history of the war!

Well, Ferdinand was directly stunned by the news of this thunderous man, if the Germans had had the courage earlier, they would have had a decisive battle with the British as soon as the war broke out.

Not only can it deal a heavy blow to the British Royal Navy, but it can also save huge expenses on the navy, which can at least allow Germany to add another fifty infantry divisions, and maybe the history of the world war can really be rewritten!

As for whether the Germans could win, Ferdinand didn't think about it, the difference in strength between the two sides was too big, and the navy was not an army that could rely on courage and tactics to make up for the gap!

Now the eyes of the whole world are focused on this naval battle, and even the news of the decisive battle between the Central Powers and the Entente on the Western and Southern Fronts has been overshadowed by this naval battle.

Ferdinand knew that if nothing else, this was also a replica of the Jutland Battle in history, and even the location did not change significantly, it was all near Jutland in Denmark.

……

As soon as the war broke out, the main fleet of the British squatted like a watchdog in the port of Scapaflo, staring at the German High Seas Fleet, trapping it in Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven, and the German High Seas Fleet became a veritable "presence fleet".

Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the German High Seas Fleet now has 21 battleships, three more than in history, while the Royal Navy's home fleet has 35 battleships, two more than in history.

There is no doubt that these battleships were dreadnoughts or super-dreadnoughts, but in addition to this, both sides had a series of large and small warships.

Germany has more than 400 warships, while the British have more than 700 warships, and the Germans have less than half of John Bull's total tonnage of warships.

Admiral Reinhard Scher, then commander of the German High Seas Fleet, was dismayed to find that faced with the mighty fleet of the British Royal Navy, he had only one realistic choice before him: either to be trapped in the harbor and do nothing, or to fight out John Bull's main fleet.

After receiving the order for a decisive battle at home, Admiral Scheer was not in a good mood, and in the end he made the same decision as in history, inducing part of the Royal Navy to come out and kill them, and if the time was ripe, he would lead the High Seas Fleet to a decisive battle with some of the main forces of the Royal Navy!

After much hesitation, Admiral Sher decided to leave the task to Hipper, and at 5 p.m. on 8 December, Hipper set out with five battlecruisers and twelve cruisers, while the main force of the High Seas Fleet set sail in more than three hours.

In contrast to the fanfare of the Hipper's fleet, which acted as a "decoy", the departure of the main formation led by Scheer maintained strict radio silence.

At the same time, the radio station in Wilhelmshaven continued to use the call sign of Scheer's flagship, the "Frederick the Great," to communicate with the outside world, creating the false impression that Admiral Scheer and the main force of the Ocean Fleet were still in the harbor.

In fact, winter was not a good time for a decisive battle, but Admiral Scheer had no choice, and if the conditions were really suitable for naval operations, the British would not be fooled.

"Your Excellency, will the British be fooled?" The chief of staff asked worriedly

Without hesitation, Scheer replied, "I don't know!" If we're unlucky, we've just come out with a reconnaissance plane from the British, and we could go from hunters to prey! ”

The chief of staff smiled bitterly and said: "Okay, I originally wanted to seek comfort from you, but I didn't expect you, the formulator of tactics, to be more pessimistic than me!" ”

Scheer sighed and said, "I'm not pessimistic, but true!" Even if the British are fooled, as long as they are cautious enough to come out, we are not going to run for our lives!

Or maybe he only sent a fleet of troops, and the commander was a coward who took advantage of it and took advantage of it, and didn't pursue it at all, what can we do with them? ”

After a moment of silence, the chief of staff said, "It seems that we can only expect God to bless us now!" ”

The two ended the conversation, it was a gamble, if the Germans won this sea battle neatly, there would be the next sea battle waiting for them, John Bull's navy was not something they could solve at one time!

If it is lost, or if both sides lose, then there will be no then, and the German Navy can announce its withdrawal from this world war in advance!

The Germans were still very lucky this time, and the British reconnaissance planes returned directly after spotting their cruiser.

Of course, their good fortune ended there, because of the darkness, the British pilots mistakenly made the battlecruiser a battleship and reported it!

After receiving the news, the commander of the British Ocean Fleet, Admiral Gericht, immediately made a decision to lay a large net and send a decoy fleet to lure the Germans into the pit!

At 21:30 on the evening of the 8th, Jericho personally led a huge group of 26 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, 20 cruisers, and 50 destroyers out of Scapa Bay.

After that, Betty sailed out of Port Rosace with an avant-garde fleet of 4 battleships, 6 battlecruisers, 14 light cruisers, and 27 destroyers.

A few hours later, the German submarines stationed outside the port of Rosseth sent back a telegram to the Ocean Fleet that "the enemy fleet has sailed". And the German "decoy fleet" was also under the surveillance of the British as early as possible.

Both fleets, which almost poured out of the nest, considered their "decoy tactics" a success. At this time, neither Scheer nor Jericho expected that the opposing fleet had been fully dispatched. It was not even expected that soon after, they would personally participate in the largest fleet decisive battle in the world.

…… (Forget the cookie-cutter sea battles, everyone doesn't want to watch them, and I'm too lazy to water)

Time flew by, and on December 13, three days had passed before the Anglo-German naval Armageddon, and the Bulgarian intelligence services had finally figured out the outcome of the war.

Sim, the intelligence chief, handed over a document to Ferdinand, and said: "Your Majesty, the results of the Anglo-German-Jutland naval battle have come out, please take a look!" ”

Ferdinand took the document and read it carefully, and there was no doubt that the British and German governments were bragging.

If according to the results they announced before, they are all victors, but there can only be one winner in a battle, or there is no winner!

The British claimed to have sunk 3 German battle cruisers, 3 dreadnoughts, 1 super-dreadnought, 2 pre-dreadnoughts, 7 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, 8 torpedo boats (366,000 tons of gross tonnage), and damaged 8 German dreadnoughts and 2 battle cruisers......

The Germans claimed to have sunk 2 British battle cruisers, 5 dreadnoughts, 2 super-dreadnoughts, 3 pre-dreadnoughts, 2 armored cruisers, 10 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, 5 torpedo boats (485,000 tons of gross tonnage), and damaged 12 British dreadnoughts and 8 cruisers......

Ferdinand received information that the Germans did take advantage of the naval battle, but both sides were exaggerating this result.

The Royal Navy sank 2 ex-dreadnoughts, 3 battle cruisers, 3 armored cruisers, 6 destroyers, 2 cruisers, 5 torpedo boats (gross tonnage of about 178,000 tons).

The High Seas Fleet sank 1 battle cruiser, 1 ex-dreadnought, 4 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 5 torpedo boats (total tonnage of about 89,000 tons).

Although the losses on both sides were much greater than in history, they were still not to the point of breaking their muscles and bones, and the sea battle in which not a single capital battleship sank could only be an itch for the British and German navies.

Of course, the fact that the losses of warships are not large does not mean that the losses in personnel are not large, at least the sum of their casualties is close to the total number of the Bulgarian Navy!

The total strength of the British army was about 65,000, and the number of casualties was as high as 10,472, with a casualty rate of 16.1%; The total strength of the German army was about 50,000, and the number of casualties was 4,356, or 8.7%.

This is also the after-effect of the decisive battle in winter, falling in the icy water, and the survival rate drops sharply!

Fortunately, both countries have a bottom line, and after the end of the war, rescue boats were dispatched, and the two sides tacitly rescued the people who fell into the water, and then exchanged their respective soldiers and went home!

For this result, Ferdinand was satisfied. The Germans won a tactical victory, even more brilliant than in history; The British won a strategic victory, albeit with heavy losses.

From the Bulgarian standpoint, Ferdinand was only concerned about whether the Royal Navy could continue to blockade the Germans, and as for the casualties of the British navy, it was not worth mentioning.

Look at the countries participating in the war on the European continent now, who is not moving hundreds of thousands, or even millions of casualties, and just more than 10,000 people can't catch up with the casualties on the battlefield on the Western Front in a day!