The British side did not fail to consider that Germany was throwing out a non-existent pie in exchange for Britain's recognition of its annexation of Austria. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoBut if you think about it in retrospect, even if Britain does not admit it, can it fight Germany for Austria? First of all, Datang must be the first to disagree, even if there is a rift between Germany and Datang now. And Britain now has nothing to gain from a war with Germany.

On the other hand, the Anglo-German rivalry in World War I was a war between the old and new imperialist countries for hegemony in Europe and even the world, coupled with a series of miscalculations and lack of communication. But assuming that Germany wins, then weakening Britain would allow Germany to gain colonies under the sun, seize larger markets and more sources of resources. Britain wins, and it can protect everything it gets.

But in this plane, if Britain and Germany fight, what can the two countries gain? There is basically nothing to cede to the land indemnity, and the indemnity is estimated to be less than the money spent in a war. All the good things are now in the hands of Datang, and the battle between Yingde and Germany looks like two poor ghosts fighting in front of the rich man, and the rich man just watched it as a joke. After beating the poor, the poor continue to be poor, and the rich continue to be rich, and there is no change at all.

And the proposal of the Germans is indeed extremely tempting. Britain and Germany, plus a bunch of slightly less powerful European countries, so they have the strength to compete with Datang. It may not be enough to completely challenge Datang, but it can compete with Datang in many fields. Economically united, politically united, such a Europe is definitely a formidable adversary. Europe could use this to gain more colonies and further compete with the Tang Dynasty.

Even if this plan is also slim, it at least gives Europe a glimmer of face and a chance. That's what the Europeans are fighting for.

As for Austria, Britain is actually out of control. Germany can only listen to its words and watch its deeds.

Germany has been calculating Austria for a long time. After the war in Europe, Austria's domestic political situation was unstable for a time. In the end, Leopold II's son Franz II succeeded to the throne, and in order to show the strength of Austria, he completely abandoned the vest of the Holy Roman Empire and officially called himself the Emperor of Austria. From then on, the Austrian Empire became an official name, and Franz II became Franz I when he became the first Austrian emperor.

A change of name could not save the Habsburgs, who were already terminally ill. Although Austria has also carried out a series of reforms, the results have not been high. In essence, the Austrian monarchy was not conducive to the development of the modern economy, and the rigid and anachronistic system constrained Austria. Voices of dissent have also arisen in Austria, and many nationalists have put aside Protestant and Catholic preconceptions that Austria should be united with Germany.

More seriously, the weakening of Austria gave the Hungarian aristocracy, who had always been subordinate to the Habsburgs, a chance. Germany has been in contact with Hungary for ten years and has given a lot of support to the Hungarian independence faction.

As Franz I prepared to make a move against the Balkans, German-backed Hungarian independence elements eventually raised the Hungarian banner and declared independence from the Austrian Empire as an independent Hungarian Republic.

The Austrians were so shocked that the Hungarian troops, who had been preparing to send them to the Balkans, abandoned their Austrian commanders and returned straight to Hungarian territory. And in Austria, the Hungarian parliamentarians have long since hung up their crowns and returned to Hungary to become officials and parliamentarians there.

Austria naturally did not allow this to happen, but in the Austrian Empire, Hungary was very strong militarily, even slightly stronger than the Austrian army, and even the Austrian Emperor Franz I himself was not too confident that he would be able to defeat Hungary and maintain the unity of his empire.

As soon as Hungary declared its independence, Germany declared war on Austria under the slogan of German unity, and the name was also very magnificent, completely removing the exploitation and oppression of the monarch and aristocracy from the heads of the German people. The Germans were also supported by many pro-German Austrians, and in some places there were even riots and uprisings in response to the Germans.

Austria was pinned down in the Balkans by its army on one side, Hungary became independent on the other, and Germany was stabbed in the back, and the country was suddenly in danger of extinction.

For the first time in this war, the Germans adopted the blitzkrieg, which they had learned from the Don Army. The German commander-in-chief, Scharnhorst, used an armored cluster of more than 600 tanks and chose a surprise location to blitzkrieg Austria, which itself did not have much depth. To the north of Austria was the Central European Plain, which connected to Germany, which was too suitable for the German armoured advance. Most of Austria's air power was also in the Balkans, so much so that when a large number of German fighters and bombers attacked, only three or two kittens took off to meet the Austrian air force.

The Germans, who were advancing rapidly, captured Vienna in just four days, and Franz I, who was in a hurry, was shot down by the Luftwaffe the day before the siege of the city by plane to flee to Russia, but his plane was shot down by the Luftwaffe just twenty minutes after takeoff. The entire body of Franz I and his relatives was not recovered.

The speed of Austria's collapse was somewhat unexpected, after all, Austria was still a traditional European power with a standing army of more than 100,000 and a long history, but it was so vulnerable in front of the upstart Germany that many European countries were shocked, and they were full of amazement and fear for Germany.

Only the Datang side is not surprised by this, they know how rotten Austria is, the German army is indeed very strong, and the Datang military academic circles continue to have warning voices, believing that purely from the perspective of combat quality, the German army is already no less powerful than the Tang army, and it is very worthy of Datang's vigilance.

In fact, Germany had already informed the Tang Dynasty before launching this annexation war. Datang did not raise a clear objection, and Datang knew better that in the face of Germany, Austria could not exist. However, this does not mean that Datang acquiesced to Germany's behavior. Germany also betrayed its promises, repeatedly promising that it would never invade the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, or go to war with neighboring countries such as France, Italy, and Poland.

Austria fell, and a Greater Germany appeared. Hungary became independent, and Serbia took advantage of this opportunity to seize Slovenia, Croatia and Albania one after another, and all Dalmatia in the Balkans except for the Tang Dynasty had fallen into the hands of the Serbs.

Next, Obrenović proclaimed himself king of Yugoslavia and declared that he would create a pure Slavic state, and began a large-scale cleansing of the Green Cult forces and inhabitants in the country. A bloody storm unfolded in the Balkans, and Britain, France, Germany, Russia and other countries were happy to see this, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia became their new target. (To be continued.) )