The stalemate on the Western Front seemed unsettling, and Britain and France were satisfied with the current state of the war, and if they held on, the German-Austrian alliance would eventually collapse. All hopes of Italy or Romania joining the Central Powers had long been dashed, and on Christmas Day the Austrian ambassador to Bucharest, Count Chernin, had already announced to Conrad that Italy and Romania "would join the side of the Entente in the war unless the Central Powers could achieve a profound victory by spring."

Italy and Romania were pressing on Austria-Hungary to cede Tyrol, Istria, Dalmatia, and Transylvania, and began to make no secret of their desire to join the Entente, promising them that they would be given these lands to them after the war.

Romania forbade the delivery of German and Austrian weapons through its territory to Turkey, in clear violation of the secret treaty signed between the three countries during King Carroll's lifetime.

Diplomats had already recognized that victory on the Eastern Front was decisive for the entire war, but the rigid Falkenhain and the German General Staff had always refused to carry out the plan for the eastward movement of troops that had been negotiated between Germany and Austria.

"What I said, Kondla, if we had taken Falkenhain's word rashly at the beginning of November last year, we would have fallen into a huge quagmire." Lehedon looked at his chief of the General Staff, "Every soldier is precious, and when we are exhausted from fighting with the Russians, the Russians have the ability to get replenishment, but we ...... will lose the ability to fight again. ”

Kondla's face flushed, he was angry that he had been fooled by Falkenhein and his German counterparts, and that the lives of hundreds of thousands of Austro-Hungarian troops were worthless in the eyes of the Germans, "You are right, Your Highness the Crown Prince!" "He finally gave in, and the crown prince was indeed more far-sighted and perceptive than he was.

"We need to force Russia out of this war in the first place, but the decision-makers in the German staff do not see this. Maybe they saw it, but they were reluctant to do it. Heldon tried to calm himself down, "Maybe they were jealous of the commanders of the Eastern Front, but they couldn't get these honors." Think about it, a general who has retired, a commander who used to be under them, is now more prestige than them, and they have lost their minds. Lechelton was not without malice to guess the minds of the Falkenheins in the German General Staff.

"What if the Russians attack?" Condra voiced his concerns.

"Then we will retreat and retreat to the Carpathian front, and the preservation of strength must be given priority." "Then the Russians will have difficulty attacking, and it is quite possible that they will turn around and turn to Silesia, and the Germans will not be able to sit still." If the Germans ignore East Prussia and Silesia, why should we care about Galicia and Bukovina. ”

"Then we will be under strong pressure from our allies." Kondra said.

"Does Falkenhayn consider us allies?" Lechelton asked rhetorically, "If the Germans do not meet my terms, I would rather withdraw from the war and make peace with England and France alone, and I think the British will be more than happy to see this." ”

Condra was horrified and looked at Lehedon with some surprise.

"I don't mind if you tell the Germans what I think." He continued.

Just after the New Year, Condela rushed to Berlin to meet with Falkenhein to discuss the situation on the Eastern Front, and General Ludendorff also attended this meeting.

Falkenhein delayed Condra's request for more troops on the Eastern Front, claiming that he could not draw troops from the Western Front to the Eastern Front, but only promising to recruit as many new troops as possible to form a new army group and send them to the Eastern Front. Several people discussed and argued nervously for a whole day, but to no avail.

The next day, Falkenhain telegraphed Hindenburg again to say that he believed that the transfer of the newly formed troops to the Eastern Front would have serious consequences and would be tantamount to abandoning Operation Qiē on the Western Front. So he did not agree to transfer them to the Eastern Front.

Before leaving Berlin, Kondla told Chancellor Holwig that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Friedrich believed that if Germany did not send more troops to the East, the war could no longer be won, and that he had the idea of making peace with Britain and France alone. Hindenburg also rushed to Berlin after receiving the telegram from Falkenhein, and the German chancellor was shocked by what Condra had just said.

Hindenburg and the Chancellor confessed their contradictions with Falkenhein and explained in detail the significance of the Eastern Front. Impressed by him, Holwig reported to the Kaiser what Kondra had revealed and the conflict between Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Falkenhein, and proposed that Falkenhein be transferred out of the German General Staff.

Wilhelm II was also taken aback by Liehedon's idea, but soon realized that it was only a threat, and that the Austrian crown prince would not be willing to surrender to the British, but the conflict between Falkenhein and Hindenburg-Ludendorff made him feel troubled. The German Emperor had always placed great trust in his War Minister and Chief of the General Staff, but it was impossible to remove Hindenburg and Ludendorff, who had now become German heroes compared to the inactive generals of the Western Front.

This time the German Kaiser finally decided to side with Hindenburg, and on January 8, the Kaiser ordered the formation of the German Carpathian Army Group, with Mackensen as the commander of the army, and assigned the elite Janissaries to Mackensen. At the same time, Falkenhein was forced to make concessions, but he played a trick and appointed Ludendorff as chief of staff of the Carpathian Army.

This would break up the Hindenburg-Ludendorff combination.

Unmoved, Helden wrote to the Kaiser in no uncertain terms that he would always retreat unless Germany increased the total strength of the Eastern Front to more than four armies.

Now he had to organize another army group in the country to deal with a possible Italian invasion. The signs were already evident, and Condra thought that the 3rd Army should be withdrawn from Galicia, but Lehedon remained unmoved, and it turned out that the crown prince was right, and the Italian army, which claimed to be 1.7 million men, was indeed scum.

The 8th Army, consisting of the Tyrolean, Istrian and Lower Austrian reserves, consisted of just over 70,000 men, and all of them were third-rate troops. In order to prevent accidents, Lechelton formed a coastal garrison division in Dalmatia, Croatia, and Istria, nominally under naval command, but could also fill gaps in case of emergency.

The conflict between Hindenburg and Falkenhein was largely made public, with Chancellor Holwig always siding with Hindenburg, and Lyhedon and Kant asking the Kaiser to remove him, but to no avail.

In the midst of such a tussle, the Russian attack was ushered in.

On February 12, 1915, Grand Duke Nicholas ordered the Russian Southwestern Front to launch a "winter offensive" against Galicia.

This time, the progress of the Russian army was unusually smooth, and the few divisions left by the Austrians on the front line retreated on the whole line after a little resistance, and even abandoned the fortress of Przemyr. Of course, before leaving, they blew up all the fortress guns.

Now that the Russians have turned their forces to Silesia, it was too difficult to operate on the muddy Carpathian front in the early spring.

The German emperor finally got his eyes on it, hurriedly sent four corps and Mackensen's 9th Army to Silesia, and demanded that Austria-Hungary immediately launch a counterattack.

Ignoring this, Lehaydon ordered the six armies on the Galician front to continue their retreat, abandoning all of Galicia, so that the Russians could turn to Silesia with confidence. Silesia was an important heavy industrial region for Germany, but Galicia was dispensable to Austria-Hungary, although there was an important oil field.

But in the current situation, there is no need to take care of it.

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