"The sword forged with 20 years of painstaking efforts, if it can win with one blow, will not live up to the ambition of the nation and the high hopes of the whole country. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoBut if this local battle is defeated, the consequences will be unimaginable......"

On the shores of Kiel Bay, looking at the large and small ships lined up in the harbor, Count von Tirpitz, the founder of the Second Reich's navy, had both hope and worry beyond words. What a terrible nightmare it would have been if the British fleet had regained Trafalgar's might and caused the Germans' high-seas fleet, which had spent so much money to build, to the ground, and the capital ships to sink or fall?

At this moment, the admirals standing around Tirpitz, whether it was Müller, who supported Germany's war against France, or Ingnorr, who had always been cautious, all stared at each other with cold expressions. The tragic plight of Spain has long been a wake-up call for the rising Germans: others will not watch you rise! If you don't have a strong navy, you will be beaten, and you will become a fat pig to be slaughtered in front of the Anglo-Saxon bandits who are full of freedom and human rights and the law of the jungle!

Only the high-spirited Prince Joachim still maintained a calm and confident expression.

29 battleships, 2 battle cruisers, 11 armored ships, 26 light cruisers, 420 torpedo boats of various types, the total tonnage of the active ships of the German Navy is just over one million tons, about 45% of the total tonnage of the British Navy, although the difference is doubled, but the greatest advantage of the German Navy is the concentration of forces. Faced with the threat of a possible attack by the British Navy, the German Navy quickly deployed in accordance with the operational plan of the General Staff. On the west side of Jutland, Wilhelmshaven, on the coast of the North Sea, the German Navy left only a small number of old ships and two squadrons of high-speed torpedo boat units stationed, and the important task of coastal defense was carried out by the fortified Wilhelm fortress group; On the eastern side of Jutland, in Kiel, on the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea, the German Navy assembled all ships less than 15 years old, and attached most of the flying reconnaissance units and marine brigades. As soon as the British fleet sailed into the Skagerrak Strait, the German High Seas Fleet would sail out of port to meet a strong enemy in Danish waters.

The German Navy in 1911 no longer had to feel the same unwarranted despair at the threat of the British Navy as it had in 1904. With the ferocious firepower of the Nassau-class and Helgoland-class dreadnoughts, two new warcruisers with fast speed, a well-trained submarine group, and a force of high-speed torpedo boats of the largest in the world, the German Navy had much more tactical options. In Natsuki's view, although the head-to-head contest is full of various uncertainties, as long as you keep a calm and flexible mind at all times, you still have a great chance of repelling the British fleet with the advantage of home field.

What really worries Natsuki at this moment is Charlotte, who is in the territory of Prince Blomburg.

Returning from England with a heavy heart, she suddenly found that her homeland could be involved in a war with Germany at any time, and what made her feel even more palpitations was that almost every newspaper in Germany was attacking Britain, and the new and old hatreds of the two countries were pouring out like volcanic magma, unstoppable. Charlotte fell into deep worry because of this, in front of Natsuki, she no longer showed her heart as before, and when Natsuki was ordered to return to Kiel to prepare for the battle, she neither chose to walk with him, nor did she say anything to stop it, but watched Natsuki leave with sad eyes.

All this made Natsuki uneasy.

A few days later, the German spy officers stationed in Britain sent a piece of new information with considerable weight: The capital ships of the British Mediterranean Fleet had only appeared at the mouth of the Thames, and by this time, the British Navy had assembled at least 40 battleships and 4 battle cruisers, the number of armored cruisers had reached 22, the number of light cruisers had reached 37, and the number of destroyers and large torpedo boats had reached nearly 140 -- what was the shocking scene of nearly 200 steel battleships grouped in the same sea area?

In contrast, although the German fleet had nearly 500 combat ships in its home waters, more than half of them were high-speed torpedo boats weighing less than 20 tons each, carrying one to four torpedoes, with a combat speed of more than 35 knots and a radius of movement ranging from 30 to 160 nautical miles. In the early years, the great powers attached great importance to this kind of small warships with outstanding performance and low cost, but in the process of mass assembly of troops, they gradually found that these one-sided pursuit of high-speed torpedo vehicles were like sharp daggers, and the assassination combat was acceptable, but they were not very suitable for head-on combat, and the combat efficiency was greatly affected by the sea conditions, so the popularity gradually faded, and the strategy was no longer as fearful as before.

In response to the aggressive posture of the British Navy, the German High Seas Fleet then held an exercise in the Kiel Bay, consisting of 20 slower former dreadnoughts in the middle column, 4 Nassau-class 7 armored cruisers, 3 Helgoland class and 11 light cruisers respectively formed a fast strike column, 2 battle cruisers and 4 light cruisers as tactical surprises, and high-speed torpedo boats were organized into 6 rapid assault groups. The German Navy had laid a large number of mines near the shipping lanes of the Big Bell Strait and the Øresund Strait, which were the only routes to enter the Baltic Sea through Danish waters.

Day after day, the two largest and most powerful fleets of the era are separated by hundreds of nautical miles, and the Mars collision with the Earth has not yet arrived, but the financial crisis in Germany has intensified, and businesses, businessmen and even ordinary people have suffered heavy economic losses due to the collapse of the stock market. The reason for this passivity is that most of the capital and financial resources of the emerging industrial countries are invested in production equipment, and although the national strength is strong, the financial strength is relatively weak.

Germany's army generals were not afraid of Britain sending troops into the war, but Prime Minister Batemann, Navy Chief Tirpitz and others strongly advocated peace talks on the grounds of domestic instability and lack of military preparations. Kaiser Wilhelm II was reluctant to start a war with France over the Moroccan question from the beginning, and could not withstand the persuasion of the crown prince and others to agree to prepare for war.

The French knew that their military strength was weak, and that the Russian allies refused to help, and even if the British fleet were able to crush the German navy, the land war would still be catastrophic to the French mainland. As a result, the French agreed to make concessions, promising not to harm Germany's economic interests in Morocco, and to increase the terms of compensation.

The French relented, and the British acquiesced, and Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered the diplomatic service to resume negotiations with France. After several weeks of hard work, Germany and France basically agreed, Germany took the lead in withdrawing the cruiser "Berlin" and the gunboat "Leopard" that had been in Agadir for a long time, and France signed a new Moroccan agreement: the two countries agreed to ensure the sovereignty and independence of Morocco in 1906 The "General Protocol on Algehiras" was annulled, Germany recognized Morocco as a French de facto colony, a French protectorate, and guaranteed that Germany would pursue only economic interests in Morocco; France pledged not to allow unequal treatment in all respects, including tariffs and trade freedom and rail freight, and at the same time transferred to Germany some 60,000 square kilometres of French Congo, including two seaports in acceptable terms, thus giving the German Cameroonian colony access to the sea.

For the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, this was a happy outcome, and anti-German sentiment in Britain and France gradually subsided, but in Germany the people were deeply disappointed with the content of the agreement. In the eyes of many Germans, the demands of the whole country, the whole nation, even the vigorous action of the First War, were nothing more than the backward areas of the French Congo, full of swamps and jungles—partly completely useless, partly almost useless. This huge gap caused public opinion to point the finger at the government, and the newspapers basically condemned the Kaiser and the government for weakness, and even called Wilhelm II "the cowardly Willy"!

In Germany's Reichstag, parties also vied to vent their grievances to the emperor and the government, and just five days after the signing of the Franco-German Moroccan agreement, the Reichstag held a three-day debate, during which Chancellor Batemann was forced to make two long speeches to defend himself, while conservatives strongly condemned the government's compromise on the Moroccan question, arguing that it sacrificed German dignity. The leaders of the National Liberal Party simply accused the government of being afraid of war, saying that the German people were ready for war, but that the cowardice of the government and the Kaiser was extremely disappointing, and that they should take full responsibility for the diplomatic humiliation of Germany, which was applauded by Crown Prince Wilhelm from his seat whenever parliamentarians made such accusations.

The strong criticism of "public opinion" of course made the German decision-makers so much that they secretly made up their minds not to back down at the next "test". As Moltke said to one of his friends: If we slip away again with our tails between our legs, and avoid such things, if we fail to rise up and make a strong demand that we are prepared to fulfill with the sword, then I will be full of doubts about the future of the German Empire, and I will resign, but I will first of all propose that our army and navy be abolished, and that we be placed under the protection of Japan, so that we may earn money without interference and become mentally retarded.

On the side of the Entente, this crisis, which was once on the verge of war, further stimulated Britain and France to strengthen their military alliance, and soon the two navies reached an extremely important strategic cooperation agreement: the British Navy integrated the main ships of the Mediterranean Fleet into the home fleet, and the French Navy transferred the Atlantic fleet to the Mediterranean, which not only strengthened Britain's maritime deterrence against Germany, but also meant that Britain assumed the responsibility of protecting the west coast of France - no matter what the circumstances of France's involvement in the war with Germany, Britain's entry into the war was inevitable.

At the same time, France and Russia, which had broken each other apart in the Bosnian crisis and the second Moroccan crisis, realized the need for close cooperation. At the same time as the British and French navies formed a strategic cooperative relationship, the French and Russian navies also secretly signed an agreement providing for mutual support in wartime, so that the entire armed forces of the two countries were bound together by a formal treaty.

With the Moroccan crisis over, the nerves of the autumn could finally catch their breath, and when they came back to their senses, they were surprised to find that Italian troops had appeared in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. It turned out that when Europe's attention was almost focused on the great power conflict between Britain, France and Germany, the Italians cleverly exploited the loophole by claiming North African territory from the Ottoman Empire on the grounds that the local Italians had been harmed, and then declared war and launched an attack on the Ottomans with lightning speed. Within a week, the North African towns of Tripoli and Tubrug had fallen into the hands of the Italians, and the Italian army landed at Homs, Derna, and Benghazi and quickly occupied these coastal points, while advancing inland, the Italian army was met with strong resistance from Arab tribal forces and Arab volunteers from Egypt and ******, and despite the use of airships, planes, and armored vehicles, the Italian army made slow progress.

(End of chapter)