While the German royal family invited guests to Sanssouci Palace, the Habsburg royal family also held a court banquet at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna to commemorate the day of victory in the war, but unlike the Germans, who valued the official armistice and surrender of Britain, Austria-Hungary was more concerned with the defeat of the Russian Empire. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 The threat of the Slavs and the gloom of the Balkans seem to have dissipated, but in recent years, the rise of Soviet Russia has made the Habsburg rulers gradually realize that the threat from the East is more than ever, and it is for this reason that the military spending of Austria-Hungary has increased in recent years, and both Austria and Hungary are under financial constraints.

“…… Well, Your Majesty the Emperor, this is the situation in the Battle of the Azores. In fact, this battle was not easy to win, and there were several crucial moments, and it was the excellent quality of the German soldiers who saved the precarious situation of the war, and henceforth, when the Allied navy fought with the American and British fleets, it would inevitably have a psychological advantage. ”

As a close friend and personal messenger of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Count von Balwitz described to Austria Karl I the entire battle of the Azores, especially the Battle of San Miguel. The German aristocrat from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, although not a brilliant orator, knew how to portray a bloody and tragic battle as an immortal legend.

In the prime of his 17 years on the throne, the 46-year-old Emperor Karl I was as diligent as the elder Emperor Franz Joseph I, with a series of successful economic reforms that made him highly regarded in Austria and Bohemia, and his tolerance towards the Slavic peoples of the empire made him internationally renowned, earning him the Nobel ****** in 1929. Overall, the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the early 30s was richer and more stable than it was in 1914, which made the Habsburgs far more ambitious and energetic for foreign expansion than they were in the time of Joseph I. In North Africa, they leased two important ports from Germany and the Ottoman Empire as bases for their fleet's voyages and merchant fleets' dockings. In the Middle East, they carried out large-scale mineral exploration, using both hard and soft means to obtain some land from Arab tribes that were barren on the surface but actually contained oil, and then built their own oil wells and refineries.

Like his late uncle, Archduke Ferdinand, Karl I was passionate about the navy, and when he lectured the graduates of the Royal Naval Academy in Fum, he always inspired the young men with the excellence of the Austrian fleet at the Battle of Cape Lisa. Therefore, the wonderful story of Count von Balwitz was very interesting to him, and he was attentive and silent throughout the whole process, and when the count finished speaking, he seemed to be still imagining the magnificent sea battle.

"His Majesty's greatest regret for this naval battle is that it was not possible to assemble the Grand Fleet of the Allies as expected, otherwise the combined fleets of the United States and Great Britain would not have returned. The German-Austrian alliance has been tested for more than half a century, and with its unwavering support for each other in the last major war, a relationship that no longer needs to be proven by any action. We were very moved by the resolute and outstanding performance of the Austrian 10th Artillery Battalion in the defense of Texel Island, and we were eager to see that the Imperial and Royal War Navy (the official name of the Austro-Hungarian Navy) would stand side by side with us against the United States and Britain. Count von Balwitz progressed step by step, thus expressing the original intention of the trip.

Karl I's mother was a princess of Saxony, and his blood was a combination of the Habsburg and Hohenzollern royal families, and was therefore regarded as a sacred bond of the German-Austrian League. More than half a month after the outbreak of the war, although Austria-Hungary had not declared its entry into the war, many Austro-Hungarian soldiers had already participated in the fighting in the name of volunteers, and the Austrian 10th Anti-aircraft Battalion stationed in the Azores was a typical example. Before the fall of Texel, this special force was given priority to retreat by the Germans, but 2 officers and 9 soldiers were captured by the American and British forces, and the United States and Britain put pressure on Austria-Hungary to make an official statement guaranteeing that no more Austro-Hungarian soldiers would violate neutrality and participate in the war.

In response to the diplomatic pressure from the United States and Britain, Karl I's trick was to "play Tai Chi", and after Count von Balwitz threw out the bait, he still sat firmly on the Diaoyu Tai, unhurriedly recounting the various shortcomings of the Austro-Hungarian navy in preparing for war.

A short time later, Admiral Horti Miklos, Minister of the Austro-Hungarian Admiralty, came from outside the door and bowed to the Austrian Emperor and the Kaiser's personal envoy: "I'm sorry for being late. ”

The Duke of Lefel made an extraordinary contribution to the development of the Italian Navy in the post-war period, and there was also such a remarkable figure in the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Horti-Miklos. Rather than becoming the dictator of the Kingdom of Hungary as it has historically been, Horthy has actively promoted the modernization of the Austro-Hungarian Navy with his excellent command and organizational skills - in the early mid-20s, the Austro-Hungarian Navy ushered in its glory, and the construction of four Franz-Joseph I-class battleships became the largest defense project in the history of the dual empire, with a total cost of 23 billion Austro-Hungarian kroner, equivalent to 3. 6.8 billion marks, the cost of a single ship is equivalent to 1 of the German Bavaria-class battleships. 53 times. This huge project directly brought nearly 10,000 jobs to the shipyards of Trieste, Pula and Fum, and nearly half of the enterprises in Bohemia received orders related to it, and the Škoda Arsenal, which was responsible for supplying naval guns and steel, emerged from the post-war slump and maintained its dominant position as the second largest military industrial complex in Europe.

In the mid-to-early 20s, the effect of Austria-Hungary's accession to the trilateral economic alliance began to appear, and the overall industrial and foreign trade reached an average annual growth rate of 3%, while the growth rate of the United States and Japan basically remained at about 1% during the same period. The improvement in the economic situation gave the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl I the ambition to further expand the navy, and Admiral Horti-Miklos, then Minister of the Navy, drew up a plan to build ships to his great satisfaction. According to Horthy's vision, the Austro-Hungarian Navy would start construction of a new 40,000-ton battleship in 1927 and 1929, and on this basis, in 1931 and 1933 the construction of more powerful 44,000-ton battleships, and in 1928 and 1930 respectively, the construction of an 18,000-ton light aircraft carrier. If this plan had been implemented, the Austro-Hungarian navy would have an overwhelming advantage over Italy.

No sooner had the Horti Project been launched, the world economic crisis hit the Austro-Hungarian Empire so hard that all shipbuilding projects came to an abrupt halt, and the keel of the new battleship No. 1 was abandoned on a wide slipway, where it was not until the autumn of 1930 that construction could be restarted. When the war broke out again in 1933, the 40,000-ton battleship was still in the outfitting stage, and it would take half a year to officially enter service at the earliest, so the current Austro-Hungarian Navy still relies on four Joseph I-class battleships and four Combined Forces-class battleships left over from the previous war as the core strength, the number of cruisers and destroyers is roughly the same as that of the Italian Navy, and the number and performance of submarines are inferior to the Italian Navy.

Apologizing for Horthy's politeness, Count von Balwitz said meaningfully: "It seems a little late, but it's just in time!" ”

Horti feigned ignorance, and after receiving Karl I's instructions, he sat down on the couch next to him.

Karl I then said to him: "Count von Balwitz has brought a personal letter from His Majesty the Kaiser, in which His Majesty mentions that if our country goes to war against the United States and Britain, the lost ships will be compensated for by the German shipbuilding program one to one. ”

"Oh?" Horti raised his right eyebrows, "All the costs are borne by the German government?" ”

Count von Balwitz smiled smugly: "Only the most loyal allies can enjoy such special treatment. ”

Horti looked at the Emperor: "This is very interesting. ”

Von Balwitz deliberately mentioned: "Among the warships we plan to build, there are 45,000-ton new capital ships, 40,000-ton new battle cruisers, and 40,000-ton heavy aircraft carriers, all kinds of cruisers, destroyers, and submarines. ”

Rather than ask about the technical details, Horty speculated: "Well, surely Ireland will be treated like this?" ”

Von Balwitz answered in the affirmative without hesitation.

"Perhaps...... The Italians received the same invitation as we did? ”

On this sensitive question, Count von Balwitz hesitated for a moment, and then replied in a very tactful manner: "As far as I know, the country has not yet formally consulted with Italy on the question of entering the war, and there is a dispute between the General Staff and the Naval Staff over whether or not to require Italy to send a fleet into the war, and the admirals believe that the Italian fleet is not as reliable as your navy, so ......"

This answer greatly satisfied the vanity of the Austrian Emperor and the Austro-Hungarian Minister of the Navy, but vanity is one thing, and it is another thing to risk the whole country, not to mention that Karl I and Horthy are self-aware of the strength of their own navy, and the four Franz-Joseph I class are the first super-dreadnoughts built by Austria-Hungary itself, and their comprehensive performance can rank among the top four in the world when they are completed and put into service, and to this day, they may not even rank in the top ten, and the worst thing is that They are designed mainly for the environment of the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean, in addition to their short endurance, they also have the disadvantage of weak resistance to wind and waves, and if they go to the Atlantic Ocean to fight against the American and British fleets, they are very likely to fall victim. Even if the German Navy later compensated the Austro-Hungarian Navy for the new warships in accordance with the agreement, the lost officers and crews could not be replenished in time, and the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Navy would take a considerable period of time to recover.

Horthy replied decisively and resolutely: "Even if it enters the war, the current state of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is only capable of guarding the Mediterranean, and if your country can accept this, we will discuss and consult on follow-up issues." ”

(End of chapter)