The Europe of this world, compared with the Europe of later generations, has a lot fewer countries, and unlike the whole world peace in later generations, which is the biggest mainstream, this world is a world of the jungle, and if it is backward, it will inevitably be beaten, even if it is Europe, if a country is extremely weak and backward, it will inevitably be swallowed up by other countries.

As early as the 18th century, Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary had carved up Poland several times, and finally Russia was directly bordered by Belgium and Germany, and in the eastern part of Europe, Russia and Austria-Hungary and Germany were bordered. Russia had a common border with Germany and Austria-Hungary, which stretched for more than 1,100 miles. At that time it was a Russian province of Poland, forming a 250-mile-wide salient that jutted 200 miles to the west, bordering Germany to the west and northwest, and Austria-Hungary to the south. Its western border is only one hundred and eighty miles from Berlin. To the north is East Prussia, an eighty-mile-wide piece of German territory sandwiched between Poland and the Baltic Sea. A victorious Russian attack would have cut it off from the whole of Germany. The Habsburg Crown also had a vulnerable province of Galicia, whose rich lands were separated from the rest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the Carpathian Mountains.

Because France was beaten a little hard by Germany, the French representative has always let Russia send troops at any cost, and now even Paris in France is in danger, even if there is more wealth, what can it be, France has a lot of investment in Russia, even if it is the Russian government. They all owe a lot of debts to France, and France's influence on Russia can be seen. Grand Duke Nicholas who sent troops. He is also a faithful pro-Dharma, so he is willing to seek the near and far. It was militarily undesirable to choose German East Prussia as the target, and not to the closer, soft-persimmon Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Even if Germany was defenseless, with the carrying capacity of 500 pairs of trains per day in East Prussia, Germany could easily transport a large army in one day, not to mention the German army that had been prepared. In East Prussia, layers of defense were made up to prevent Russian attacks, and the previous defensive war caused Russia to lose almost 200,000 troops, but Russia's State Duma seemed to be fearless and continued to send troops.

This place, in a sense, was acquired by Russia when it was constantly expanding. As an agricultural country in Russia, coupled with Russia's relatively poor nature, it has not been developed for a long time, and its transportation capacity is extremely poor. Very often, the Russian infantry was measured by foot, and in addition to the initial stage, it was able to rely on the railroad to compensate for the losses. In the later years, hiking has become a benchmark for progress.

Russia is constantly relying on walking slowly. Germany waited for Russia to come. The difference is huge. Because there is a reminder from the northwest, this time the world war, Germany is not in a hurry to meet the war, but has been prepared in advance, take the initiative to provoke, Germany's focus is in the west, after a large number of signs of troops, with the combination of veterans and new recruits and reserves, the formation of the current German army of about 1.5 million, at least 1 million on the Western Front, the rest except for the defense of the country, the Eastern Front can be used only 200,000, in the early stage of the war against Russia, lure Russia to attack the territory of Germany, weaken layer by layer, waiting for the opportunity to annihilate is the real good way, in fact, That's what Germany is doing.

When the Russian troops spent 2 weeks to prepare, they rushed into the Russian army in East Prussia like a bamboo, but they encountered the German army retreating layer by layer, under the premise of knowing the number of Russian troops, Germany did not collide head-on, and the Russian army that pounced on it broke through more than 10 lines of defense in Germany, but the results achieved were quite limited, the news of annihilating the German army, It was continuously transmitted to the rear, and just when the Russian army thought that the German army was vulnerable and that France was too bad and was about to usher in victory, it was subjected to a key counterattack by the German army.

Those German soldiers who confronted the Russian army head-on, it was not that they could not defeat the Russian army, but in accordance with the requirements of the General Staff, they took the initiative to retreat, this qiē, Russia did not realize it at all, and was completely fooled, and rushed into the hinterland of East Prussia, but did not expect that Germany took the initiative to retreat, in the direction of retreat, the German troops on both flanks did not retreat, but retreated in the middle, so that the Russian army took the initiative to attack, thinking that it occupied a large area of East Prussian territory, However, if there were aerial photography in this era, it could be clearly seen that an encirclement was forming.

Russia's combat effectiveness is far inferior to Germany, and even less than that of France, although there are a little more of them, but when they encounter Germany, which is the main defense, the result is of course the same. Germany laid a big trap for Russia, and all of a sudden the Russian army was pitted, and it was originally rushing forward bravely, and it did not care about the other Russian 1.5 million troops at all, and first collided with each other, and the German army, which was collected a little later, consciously introduced the Russian army into the encirclement they were involved in, and barren East Prussia, after occupying some strategic points, formed an encirclement.

Encirclement and counter-encirclement are the norm in the war, but Germany's idea is too big, and a number of permanent fortifications have been built on the inner line, most of which are completed with the help of Chinese workers, 500,000 troops have entered these fortifications, resisting the overwhelming Russian army, after the frontal confrontation has an advantage, the counter-encirclement has been achieved in all directions, and a part of the German army suddenly assaulted, after breaking through the central axis, this part of the Russian army, The partition is compressed over 2,000 square kilometers of land.

This battle is simply the fastest battle, from the first three days of the Russian army's momentum, to the next few days, encountered an impregnable blockage, the Russian army was compressed, a large number of troops squeezed together, the rear army came and went without the direction of attack, plus the rear, cavalry troops and infantry units, using the counter-encirclement of railways and roads, the situation was reversed all of a sudden.

A huge encirclement beyond human imagination was formed in East Prussia. The 1.5 million army, even if it was regarded as gray cattle by the tsar, but the officers and commanders were not cattle, and there were artillery, equipment, horses, and if all of them were left there, it would mean that the entire eastern part of Russia would no longer be fortified. Under these circumstances, Russia urgently mobilized part of its troops to provide support, expecting to break the encirclement, and on the other hand, almost simultaneously appealing to Britain and France for help.

Russia will lose, this is already within the range of British and French estimates, let Russia on the Eastern Front, just delay a little time, that is, in the war, Germany did not continue to move to Paris, France took the opportunity to send almost 7 divisions to Paris, plus the soldiers sent from Algeria and other African countries have also arrived in France, so that France has a temporary respite, and the British 1.2 million reorganized army also crossed the strait, this time did not choose the nearest direction, but went to Bordeaux, With the help of the liaison between Bordeaux and France, there was a unified command for the time being.

For Britain and France, the most important thing is always the Western Front, if the Western Front is not completely stabilized, when France completely loses its territory and heritage, the whole France will be completely finished, and the Anglo-French Entente will not be able to continue, the emergence of the new wartime capital Bordeaux, after the entire defense line is stabilized, Britain and France will have leisure to manage East Asian affairs, Malacca, as the focus of Britain in East Asia, must ensure his safety.

The situation in East Asia, Britain and France are very clear, Japan will inevitably attack Qingdao and occupy Jiaozhou Bay, French and British warships can help annihilate the last living force of Germany, and in Southeast Asia, although the strength of France and Britain is limited, they still prepare a plan, on the one hand, if the fleets of Japan, France and Britain, after annihilating the German East Asian fleet, will immediately come to Borneo, with the strength of the fleet of the three countries, at least in this world, no one can cross the strait to support Borneo

It is true that Borneo is a huge island, but no matter how huge it is, it is just an island, it is impossible for him to have all the materials that he has to live and fight, as long as the island is blocked, even if the army is scum, it can be slowly encroached, anyway, there is no hurry, until Germany is defeated, when Germany does not have the slightest sphere of influence in Asia, it will be up to them.

Germany's combat effectiveness erupted like a small strong, which surprised Britain, France and Russia, and also encouraged other allies, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, Italy, also took action, I don't know if it is the relationship of Xiaoqiang's halo, even if it is Italy, which is like a soft-footed shrimp, also dares to attack France, and fights on the border with a good voice, at the cost of losing 3 divisions, actually annihilated 5 French divisions, this may be the maximum combat effectiveness of Italy, but Austria-Hungary and Turkey, Romania, The Balkans are doing very well, and under the gradual encroachment, Serbia, Greece, and several small countries are almost in danger under their double pressure.

The prestige of the Allies, in the winter of 1913, became extremely terrible, if it were not for the arrival of the cold winter, which delayed the offensive of the Allies, even Germany, it was very cold in the cold winter, although Paris was in front of us, Germany had completed the complete siege of Paris, but there was no attack, just a siege, it seemed that France still had a glimmer of hope. (To be continued......)