Chapter 178: On the Eve of the End of War (3)
PS: I read the book review, and there are some things that I can't touch now! The previous chapter was blocked.,Hand in hand above can't have it! And I'm hesitant to write this book in the future, there is World War II, but what to do if World War II has a chapter about the East...... It's really difficult. Let's take it one step at a time! Thank you for your support, you can understand if you are unhappy, and you really understand! In the next book, I'm going to write about ancient times (no men and women, no politics), and I'll get through this stage. As long as this book is not sealed and guaranteed to be written, this is my promise, not for the others, for the daily reward of xiaotang246 brothers and the support of a small number of brothers. In addition, I didn't make up the word count, which was added after the chapter was written.
Towards the end of the war, the Czech Duchy had begun to prepare to focus on the local economy, which was inconceivable in the eyes of many officials, nobles and citizens. Only a few people can see that the Czech principality is not in a bad situation in such a crisis. After all, the Czech principality was not Germany and Austria-Hungary, and almost the power of the entire country was in the hands of Ernst.
The only way to force the Ernst government to fall was to fight to the death with the Czech principality, but at this time, Britain, France, and the United States still had the energy and mind? The First World War caused Britain and France heavy losses and the United States was quite tired, and the United States was the last one to make excessive demands, you must know that Britain and France were also guarding against its rise at this time.
To some extent, Britain is on the side of the Czech principality, such as the imperial (constitutional monarchy). To be clear, the fall of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not what the British royal family wanted to see, but in many cases things were not under their control.
Britain, France, and the United States considered Austria-Hungary many times, and in their eyes a divided Austro-Hungarian Empire was not what they wanted, because it would be detrimental to the stability of southern Europe. But they only considered it, not to mention that the war was not over at this time, and even the internal situation of Austria-Hungary at this time was not something they could change.
With the defeat and defeat of the war imminent, there were already signs of independence in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the British and French did not want to see such an outcome, but what could they do? Persuade the Kingdom of Italy to fight against Austria-Hungary at this time? It is clear that at this point there is a deep circle - there is no solution.
A wandering poet once said that once a person makes a decision, he is destined to give or gain something, and the outcome of the First World War is naturally the responsibility of the Habsburgs and Wilhelm II.
Although the war on the front line was not over, the generals of Germany and Austria-Hungary were obviously not prepared to continue, and the reinforcements from the Czech principality were withdrawn by them, which could be regarded as a gesture of goodwill to the Czech principality! It's unclear what the future holds, but one thing is guaranteed: the Czech principality won't change much.
Only a few hundred thousand of the more than 200,000 Wehrmacht troops returned, and there were captured, killed, and disappeared, and they were naturally powerless to deal with the missing and killed Ernst, and the diplomats of the Czech principality who were captured had already gone to Britain, France, the United States, and Italy to negotiate.
The great upheaval in Russia and the imminent defeat of Austria-Hungary and the German Empire made the Czech Duchy the only great power in Eastern Europe and the most intact in power, and Ernst was confident that Britain, France, the United States, and Italy would not refuse his request, and this time the diplomats came with Ernst's sincerity.
It is a fact that the Czech Duchy was an Allied Power, and that the Central Powers were about to be defeated, and since they were defeated, they had to enjoy the treatment of defeat, and Ernst was not prepared to fight hard with the Entente and must hold on. A war reparations of £30 million and the cession of large tracts of land were the conditions given by Ernst.
Needless to say, 30 million pounds must be paid by yourself, and a large area of land is actually the territory of the former Russian Empire occupied by the Czech principality, and after careful calculation, the territory of the Czech principality has not only not decreased, but also increased a lot.
The £30 million Ernst was to be delivered over ten years, and the first year was £8 million to show his goodwill to the Czech Commonwealth. The Czech principality still retains considerable strength, as long as the other party is not prepared to fight to the end, I believe that such conditions will be agreed, but the length of delay is not something Ernst can guess.
If there is a very embarrassing country in the world at this time, then it is undoubtedly the new Russian Empire, who is behind it, most countries are clear, after all, this is not a secret, but the Russian Empire itself is an Entente, and almost all the connections and orthodoxy of the Russian Empire are also among the Entente countries.
The Anglo-American, French-Italian and Soviet governments were two completely different concepts, and if it were not needed to contain the Czech principality, it is estimated that several countries would not agree with this new government at all.
Behind it was the Czech Duchy, one of the Allied powers, and it was indeed an Entente power, and for the first time Britain, France, and the United States were in a dilemma with their attitude towards the New Russian Empire. However, you didn't have to do it for long, as the new Russian Empire quickly responded to World War I.
Empress Maria I of the New Russian Empire said that she was still a member of the Entente, and even in order to prove her identity, more than 30,000 Siberian soldiers went to Eastern Europe to have a small friction with the Czech principality, and the Czech principality was forced to give up several cities after being defeated.
When the headquarters of the British and French forces learned of this, the generals were extremely angry, are we fools? Are we so good at deceiving? Tens of thousands of Czech Wehrmacht troops who have just returned casually changed into the uniforms of the Russian Empire, are they troops from Siberia? I was forced to give up a few cities, and there were indeed artillery shots in the suburbs, but you at least did it realistically, and there were some casualties, okay? How to explain the scene of a relaxed and even happy retreat? Is it so happy to abandon the city after being defeated?
The headquarters of the Anglo-French forces was very dissatisfied, but they could not come up with a reason to refute the statements of the Russian Empire, after all, they did inherit the status of former members of the Russian Imperial Entente.
Empress Mary's purpose was clear to everyone, and it was undoubtedly to take a fancy to the city of reparations and cedes. Although the British and French suffered heavy losses in this battle, the situation in Eastern Europe could not be ignored, and they could not let the rise of the Czech principality go.
The Soviet government was very disliked by them, but it was in the interests of Britain and France, because it contained the strength of the Czech principality in one respect, otherwise a super-empire that united all the territory of the former Russian Empire plus the Czech principality would be enough to make other countries fearful, especially the monarch of this super-empire could become the Emperor of Austria-Hungary and the Emperor of the German Empire (Holy Roman Empire).
The Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire for a long time, and it is believed that Ernst's visit to the scattered German Empire in the name of the Habsburgs would be very effective, and at least most of the nobles would make some compromises under the oppression.
A Czech principality to complete the Soviet government, not to mention the defeat of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, was slightly more favorable, and tried not to let them rest all their hopes on the Czech principality.
In fact, Empress Maria's actions were not her intention, but Ernst used the former Russian Empire to test Britain and France, and the test results showed that the situation of the Czech principality was very dangerous, and he worried Britain, France, and the United States.
It is not a good thing for a country to be proud of in worrying other countries, especially if it does not have much power to ensure its own security.
And in such a dangerous situation, Ernst made an unexpected move - disarmament! That's right, it's disarmament!
The number of the Royal Army will be reduced to 100,000 in this round of disarmament, and the Wehrmacht will also be reduced to 150,000, and a Czech principality has 250,000 Army, which is quite a lot, but before you think about it, this is nearly a third of the disarmament.
What does that mean? Britain, France, and the United States were very confused, and it is estimated that only those in the military department of the Czech Principality knew that although the number of the Czech Principality's army had decreased, in fact, its quality had improved significantly. Whether it is the elite Royal Army or the returning Wehrmacht, they are all elite soldiers, and the reduction in number is only to eliminate those who have been temporarily recruited and do not have much potential, and the overall combat power can only be increased rather than reduced.
In fact, this was only the first step, and Ernst had a second disarmament, which was aimed at reducing the number of land forces in the Czech Principality to 150,000, but at the same time the Czech Principality was to implement a compulsory military service system, and young people over the age of 18 must participate in a two-year recruit training. At the same time, as long as the young people in the school have to go through short-term military training from time to time.
As a result, the Czech principality had a small army, but it could call up hundreds of thousands of trained and qualified soldiers at any time in the event of war.
Ernst's series of actions had only one purpose, and that was to make the British and French countries less wary of themselves, and to show them that they were peaceful and did not want to accept war. It didn't matter what the result was, because Ernst had already done everything he could.