Chapter 1602: A God-given Opportunity

Before and after the start of World War I, if we say that the greatest losses, I am afraid it belongs to Russia, France lost two-thirds of its territory, and even the capital Paris was occupied, but in terms of itself, France's losses were not large, France is still the main force resisting the German army on the Western Front, a steady stream of armed legions, is coming from the colonies, although the combat effectiveness is not too high, but it is enough to be used as cannon fodder, such a force is huge, often after a few wars, it is exhausted, but pay less, France's colonial area, It is second only to the United Kingdom, and far above the United States, Germany and other backward countries. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

France is also one of the great powers, it is an industrial country that has gone through the industrial revolution, and its industrial production capacity is also very strong, but France is different from Germany, compared with Britain, after they completed the basic industrialization, they put more attention on finance, France's finance is the world's best, plus overseas colonies, this is the fundamental reason why France lost two-thirds of its territory and lost Paris and can still resist it, the French are very rich, not ordinary rich.

In the Franco-Prussian War, France was defeated, not only ceded Lorraine and other places, but also compensated 5 billion francs for military expenses, around 1881, 5 billion francs is equivalent to 720 million taels of silver, almost 3.6 times that of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, at that time Germany's purpose was to drag down France with war reparations, at least let him compensate for more than ten years, or even twenty years, in this way, just the interest income is a lot of money, China at the end of the Qing Dynasty is like this, several compensations, all are bank loans, which is equivalent to spending a huge amount of money, but such a huge amount of money, France only took three years to complete the compensation, most of the French and big capitalists bought the national debt, but also let the whole Europe see the financial strength of the French.

France has suffered huge losses, and it can still grit its teeth to hold on, Russia is different, it is originally an imperfect industrialized country, many things cannot be produced, before the war under the attack of China, lost millions of troops and Siberia, and under the attack of Germany, lost millions of square kilometers of land, even the oil town of Baku has been lost, especially the latter, the blow to Russia is not just an oil field, he represents cash flow, on behalf of this additional capital.

Successive blows, so that Russia in many aspects of serious blood loss, Baku represents the cut off of financial resources, which itself is only the basis for Russia to persevere, as for the loss of tens of millions of troops, Russia's domestic prime-age labor has been greatly reduced, the tsar is not in these gray cattle, even high-ranking officials do not care, but the laws of nature can not care, 10 million troops, the mobilization capacity of nearly 100 million people has completely disappeared, even if it is forcibly mobilized, how much can be mobilized, Russia itself has already suffered a huge blow in terms of mobilization and reserve capabilities, and the lack of stamina is the current situation that Russia is facing.

The loss of a large number of people, coupled with the loss of territory, especially Poland, Belarus and the Caspian Black Sea coast, which is the traditional grain-producing area of Russia, they have lost, Russia's total grain production has declined, and although Russia has entered the capitalist society, but the old aristocracy, the remnants of serfdom, have not completely dispersed, the top level of the big capitalists, big businessmen, and even the aristocracy, will not care about the problems at the bottom, they still have to enjoy their luxurious life, in the case of shortage, A large amount of money was wasted by the top brassiers, and even some businessmen hoarded it, which added to the unrest situation, and in the case of Moscow, for example, between June 1914 and March 1916, the price of food rose 17 times.

The price of luxury goods, etc., even if it rises dozens of times, one or two hundred times, has little impact, at most, it makes some people who can't afford it, even more unaffordable, and some who can afford it, gritted their teeth to be able to afford it, but food is the most basic, his shortage and soaring prices have directly caused social turmoil, the harsh environment of the whole Russia, the workers and peasants began to commotion, and when there was no way to get food, in addition to starvation, they resisted, and there were some soldiers mixed in with it, they were soldiers on the front line, afraid of war, Small escapes, they may not be able to deal with Germany, but the chaos caused is unimaginable, the flame of revolution, really like a spark, can start a prairie fire, spread in Russia, soon dozens of cities burst into the flames of revolution, less than some small riots, large armed riots, hundreds of mobs plus dozens of strong, rushed into the police station, the city government, basically took control of those cities.

In fact, they were afraid that Germany would fight, and when Germany came, they had no other way but to run, and they did not wait for Germany to fight, but their country was in turmoil, and when the small riots came, it became more and more intense, and more and more cities joined the ranks of the revolution, so that this flame became more and more intense, and the whole of Russia was in turmoil.

The tsar may be afraid of Germany, for fear that Germany will fight, because it is the first power in Europe, not only taught Russia a lesson before, but also pressed the three major powers of Britain, France and the United States to fight, Russia after a continuous encounter, of course, is respectful and distancing, dare not confront him, but these mud legs in the country, how can they be put in their eyes, the tsar only hesitated slightly, the reason for the hesitation is not because of whether to suppress it, but because of the transfer of troops, will it affect the defense of the front line.

However, with the intensification of the armed insurrection, there were riots in at least more than 40 cities in the whole of Russia, and if this continued, even the stability could not be maintained, the tsar immediately did not hesitate to transfer troops from the front line back to quell the rebellion, the tsar did not realize that at this moment, the situation in Russia has reached the most critical moment, even the front line, are quite difficult, itself is facing the threat of Germany, its own supplies are not perfect, there is a large shortage of food, this is fatal. If the supply is comprehensive, there can still be a full meal at the bottom, if you can't even do this, how can the bottom have food, some of the food supplies are sold by the high-level, and even deducted, many of the low-level soldiers are full of food, morale can be imagined, the tsar sent back the army, most of them mutinied, with the help of a large number of experienced officers and soldiers, the limelight of the uprising became more intense, and began to occupy the city, divide the countryside, not like the previous small fight.

The key is that the Russian people are too bitter, in order to resist tyranny, the revolution born in Russia is the most, especially under the influence of the French Revolution, many revolutionary ideas have spread, many secret parties in Russia, the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and even some other reforms and national capitalism, have fished in troubled waters, in Petrograd, Moscow, all kinds of chaos, The whole of Russia became exhausted, the flames that had not yet been suppressed on this side rose again, more and more soldiers joined the ranks of the revolution, the revolutionaries were powerful, the armed liberated cities, some of the cities were still connected in series, the situation became more and more intense, and it also spread from the north to the south.

Germany does not attach so much importance to Russia, this in the European war, the lowest presence rate, where is the loss of hundreds of thousands of German troops, it is enough to be vigilant against Russia, Russia does not dare to resist at all, and cannot resist, the disparity in combat effectiveness makes Russia dare not take the initiative to attack, and must also worry about German attack, after taking Poland, Belarus and Baku, Germany has little interest in Russian territory for the time being, but the hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land that have just been included in Germany, with the help of China, In fact, a huge output was obtained, so that Germany's grain supply rate reached more than 100 from 1915 to 1916, that is, Germany could meet its needs without importing grain. This point is very crucial, food is the key, and the panic of not eating for a day and being hungry is the same whether it is the era of cold weapons or the era of hot weapons.

At the beginning of the war, Germany also ensured that the average national intake reached 2,100 kcal, but with the passage of time, it has gradually shrunk, and in 1914 it was reduced to 1,800 kcal, which was almost at the critical line, and the human body needed more than 1,700 kcal in order to ensure the normal continuation of life, and 1,800 was just to survive, once there was a large amount of consumption, it would inevitably be insufficient, which would have an impact on the productivity and combat effectiveness of the entire country.

However, this changed dramatically in 1915, the entire German occupation of the land, there are Chinese to help farming, even if a considerable part of the grain is taken, but Germany's total grain production is significantly increasing, after the vast majority of the population is exported, the actual scope occupied by Germany, the population density has been greatly reduced, which is also the fundamental factor for the self-sufficiency rate to be greatly improved, and the land is really valued by Germany as a resource.

The newly occupied territory is a little too large, because it is close to Germany, Germany is ready for good development, until the development is perfect, there is a certain population balance, but Russia is too close to Germany, after the Entente on the Western Front is honest, they even want to continue to do it against Russia, Russia's land is too huge, even in the European part, it is quite huge, if you don't cut off a little, I'm sorry for such a close distance, now without waiting for them to instigate, Russia itself is in chaos, a godsend, If you don't seize it, you'll be sorry for this opportunity, Germany's war weapons immediately moved, and the elite troops in the west were honed, and they began to sharpen their knives and pointed at Russia, as long as the Kaiser gave an order, he immediately went to the eastern front to fight for land for Germany. (To be continued.) )