As soon as the report of the Allied forces razing Venice by force came out, the world was shocked, and the international community condemned the barbaric acts of the Allied forces in destroying historical monuments and ignoring the treasures of civilization. Happy? Wen? Ｘs520. ＣＯＭ

The Germans intervened, and representatives of the warring sides quickly sat down at the negotiating table. According to the usual practice, during the negotiations, the troops of both sides should suspend military operations, and while the two sides are negotiating on the form and duration of the temporary truce, the coalition forces surrounding 600,000 Italian troops between the Italian-Austrian border and the Piave River will launch a fierce attack on the Italian positions day and night in order to intensify the disintegration of the resistance of the trapped Italian troops, and in just 24 hours, dozens of towns and villages held by the Italian army will be captured, and the remaining Italian troops will be divided into multiple areas. Win a complete victory in a war of mass annihilation.

At this juncture, the Italian government, and the Italian negotiators, in order to avoid the annihilation of their main forces besieged by the Allied forces, accepted the harsh demands of the New Austrian government - the unconditional release of the captured Allied pilots and naval officers, the unconditional repatriation of the detained special personnel (i.e., captured spies), and the unconditional cessation of all sabotage against the new United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary, in exchange for a brief truce of 48 hours.

On the one hand, the German government's open mediation, and on the other hand, the international community's great concern, when the demand for an armistice was satisfied, the New Austrian government had no choice but to announce that its troops would maintain the current posture and that there would be a truce on all fronts for 48 hours.

The Italian government has taken an extremely humiliating posture to win a chance and a glimmer of hope for hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the north, but the Italian people do not buy it, they are already resentful of the Italian army's outdated weapons, bloated personnel, lax preparation for war and other ills, and now they see that the first team on the battlefield exposed the tactics are dull, the equipment is outdated, and the generals are weak, and the indignation is irrepressibly erupted. Protests broke out in the ****** of the north, and people in Turin, Florence, Ancona and other places immediately echoed, and that same night, tens of thousands of people held a bonfire rally in St. Peter's Square, the largest in the capital Rome, despite the obstruction of the police and military, demanding a reshuffle of the government cabinet, reform of the military system, and the reorganization of the national defense system.

Seeing that the current government has completely lost the support of the people, and the army's performance on the battlefield has been completely defeated, even if new recruits are mobilized and troops are reorganized, they cannot stop the tiger and wolf division of the coalition army. After all-night deliberations, King Emanuele III announced early the next morning that he would dissolve the cabinet, dismiss the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff of the Italian Army, and other senior generals, and let him personally concurrently serve as the Supreme Commander of the Italian Army, **** Umberto as the acting Chief of the General Staff, and appoint the pro-German Count Capri as Prime Minister to implement reforms in the government and army.

While removing the former Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and Chief of the General Staff from his posts as scapegoats, the aged Emanuele III instructed the armistice negotiators to strive for a formal armistice agreement within the limits acceptable to Italy. As a result, the representatives of the Italian side agreed in principle to the armistice demands put forward by the new United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian governments, such as the cession of territory, the provision of war reparations, the cessation of involvement in the Middle East war, and the cessation of the transfer of military technology to non-European countries.

The two-day armistice deadline was approaching, and the Italians, who were worried about internal and external troubles, were so clear that no matter how clever a diplomat could come, he could not turn the situation around. With 30 minutes to go before the time limit for the armistice, the Italian delegates finally accepted the existing terms of the armistice and agreed to sign the armistice agreement "stronger than bandits" on the basis of the guarantee of the German government and the promise of Singapore and Austria not to interfere with the Italian monarchy......

Under this agreement, the Italians not only returned to Austria-Hungary the territories they had acquired during the Austro-Prussian War, but also ceded to Austria-Hungary more than half of the colonies they had plundered through the Italian-Turkish War, and promised not to support in any way the Italian population in Austria-Hungary. In addition to this, the Italian government had to pay huge war reparations equivalent to the new United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary, amounting to DM 24 billion and DM 26 billion, respectively, and allowed the Italian government to offset part of the reparations with industrial equipment and specific items of value designated by the two countries......

The war was over, and it was clear that Italy was the biggest loser. The new United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary not only made a lot of money at a small price, but also gained a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train their troops, and the Germans won a good reputation as messengers of peace.

As soon as the armistice agreement came into effect, the officials of the two countries quickly formed a team to go to Italy to strictly prevent the Italians from transferring and hiding advanced equipment in various industrial fields - in fact, the new Italian cabinet had no intention of hindering the "forcible seizure" of the coalition forces, and they agreed with the king and **** that as long as they could try to preserve their fleet, keep the number of troops and let Italy continue to remain on the list of European powers, then the remaining losses were acceptable.

Knowing that the armistice had deprived Italy of the province of Venetia in the north, the Dodecanese Islands in the east, and the rich Benghazi region, the popular protests that had been suspended for less than two days once again swept across the territory of Italy, and the desperate Italians at the top could not bear to launch a ** march, and raised the slogan of overthrowing the royal power and establishing a republic. Emanuele III tried to defuse the crisis of public anger in a gentle way, but Umberto and his followers believed that such demonstrations were being used by people with ulterior motives, and that the only way to stop the outbreak of revolution was to intimidate the people with strong and resolute means.

Having been in power for nearly half a century, Emanuele III saw the fall of the Romanov dynasty in Tsarist Russia and the distant escape of the Windsor dynasty in England, knowing full well that the crushing defeat of war was enough to upend a long-established and entrenched dynasty. Like many around him, he felt that dangerous Russian ideas had already infiltrated him, and he was very worried about a deadly revolution in Italy, as in Tsarist Russia. Under the persuasion of **** Umberto, he agreed to transfer the army back from the front line to quell the turmoil as soon as possible.

In order not to cause misunderstanding due to the large-scale movement of the Italian front-line troops, and also out of consideration for the understanding and support of the monarchies, Umberto not only informed the armistice monitoring group formed by the representatives of the four countries of the situation, but also assigned diplomats to communicate the matter to the heads of government or royal high-level officials of Germany, the new United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary. Instead of placating the soldiers, many mid-level officers used military law to punish those who disobeyed their orders, leading to mutinies in many units. In order to control the army, **** Umberto hurried to the north, although the situation of the army did not continue to deteriorate, the mutiny seriously affected the communication between the front and the rear, and several ports for the evacuation of troops and the transfer of supplies were congested.

Umberto was preoccupied by the problems of the front-line army, and in the capital, Rome, under the persuasion of military and political officials such as Count Capri, King Emanuele III decided to stabilize the situation in the country by means of a referendum, that is, to determine the future of Italy through a referendum. The Italian masses who were determined to make trouble did not buy it, and more and more people joined the ** rally and march, especially those radicals who had long advocated the republican system, and put forward political opinions that moved the Italian people by judging the situation, so much so that many police officers who maintained order also joined the march.

If the hardliners represented by **** Umberto had transferred troops from the front in time, perhaps there would not have been this dramatic scene next: because the scale of the rallies and marches in the capital Rome was higher and higher, the police and garrisons were no longer enough to cope with the situation, and the Count of Capri and the military and political officials were worried that hundreds of thousands of people might storm the palace and threaten the safety of the king and the royal family, so they suggested that Emmanuele III temporarily go to the northern region under the control of the army to temporarily avoid the limelight.

Emmanuele III, who was too old to have the courage and courage of his youth, nor the nimble mind to analyze the situation and weigh the pros and cons, quickly accepted the advice of his vassals and flew to Milan on a special plane with members of the royal family and important military and political officials. As a result, as soon as the king left on the front foot, the ** activists who learned the news entered the palace with a swagger waving a banner and announced to the whole of Italy: a provisional government that exercises state power on behalf of the will of the people has been formed!

Although this telegram without any legal effect is more like a farce of a group of angry youths than a coup announcement, the Italian magnates who fled to the north panicked, especially the **** Umberto, who has been in power for many years but has not worn a crown for a day or sat on the throne for a day, after hearing the news, he was eager to immediately return to Rome with his personal guards.

Under the persuasion of his subordinates, the older **** calmed down a little. In view of the current unclear situation in the city of Rome and the fact that the railway road to Rome was not smooth, he and the officers discussed a good way to achieve a quick victory, that is, to first send an elite paratrooper assault force to the Roman airfield, use this as a pedal to advance, use the transport planes to urgently airlift several infantry regiments with a relatively stable heart and trustworthy officers, and use this force to recapture the palace, control the communication arteries and tactical strongholds in the central city, and then he himself will personally go out to suppress this despicable and shameful coup d'état. Announce the dawn of a new era of iron fist!