"A shocking war is about to break out in Europe, and this war will be on a larger scale than the European hegemony war of the Napoleonic era, and almost all European countries will fight with all their might. This will be a war that will change the pattern of the world, and what can the United States do in this war? What does the United States get? —From the diary of Theodore Roosevelt.

The United States has always been a country that wants to gain dominance in the world, and this country is like this in Xu Jie's plane. And now, although it has encountered a series of soft or hard nails in the process of expansion, as a big country, especially the world's largest industrial power. The United States has been looking for opportunities to expand its sphere of influence. Of course, the sad thing is that so far the United States has not found a suitable opportunity, in history the United States has extended the scope of power to the Philippines around 1907, and the majestic Great White Fleet around the world has shocked all the powers, including Britain. It makes it difficult for the short man in Japan to sleep. But is this plane currently? The United States is really a coffee table. Hawaii hasn't been done yet.

No, no, there's no chance of getting Hawaii! After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Russian War, the Americans failed to take the opportunity to take Hawaii for various reasons. And after the end of the Sino-Russian War, it faced the Chinese fleet that played with majesty, level, and momentum. The United States does not think it is capable of a fair showdown with the Chinese Navy in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, on the issue of Hawaii, Britain and China actually have the same opinion, that is, to ensure the independence and territorial integrity of "Hawaii"! And so. The sad United States has no chance in the foreseeable future!

However, the United States does not like to play soy sauce by nature, on the contrary, the United States is a very good speculator. He knew how to balance the major powers in the world, and how to make these powerful countries lose each other. And then you can profit from it. In essence, it is exactly the same thing as Xu Jie. And now, the politicians and elites of the United States have begun a new plot, that is, how to gain some benefits from the possible outbreak of a European war in the future!

What was the Great War fought? It is the national strength, the resources, and the military that are fighting. Judging from the current situation, the national strength of the two sides is actually about the same, Britain and France together have about the same national strength as Germany and Austria, and Russia is stronger than Italy. But because of geographical isolation. Let Britain, France and Russia not be able to unite as a whole, which loses a lot of points, so in the eyes of the Americans. If you really fight, it's half a catty. In such an almost reciprocal warring situation, a war of attrition is extremely terrifying and well in line with the interests of the United States.

Then there are the resources, and Britain and France, with their vast colonies, are too advantageous. They have an ample source of raw materials. It is also possible to obtain a large number of people from the colonies. It seems that it does have an advantage, but it may not be true after careful analysis. With the accession of Italy and Turkey, it is questionable whether the Anglo-French Mediterranean route will be open in the future, after all, France cannot defeat the Italian navy and the Austro-Hungarian navy. Turkey's operations in the Persian Gulf threatened the British Empire's most important colonies, India and Southeast Asia. As a result, transportation costs have increased significantly. And Germany, although its resources are scarce, is barely enough. Especially after owning the oil fields in Romania again, coupled with the support of the Chinese Republic, it will definitely be able to resist in a short time.

As for the demographic advantage? If we consider the problems of quality and quality, Britain, France and Russia do not have much advantage over Germany, Austria and Italy. The first is that Germany and Austria are already populous countries, especially Germany, with a population of nearly 70 million, which is absolutely terrifying. And although Russia has a population of hundreds of millions, how to say it. Well, most of them are called "gray livestock" by the Russians themselves. "Although Britain and France could mobilize populations from the colonies to fill the vacancy. In general, in terms of resources and population, Britain and France have an advantage, but how much they can play depends on the situation.

All the worst aspects of a war must be reflected in the military, although European military strategists believe that the ultimate victory or defeat in an absolute war is the national strength of both sides, not one or two decisive battles. However, it is undeniable that national strength and military strength are sometimes not equal. And a clever strategy can indeed make up for the gap in national strength. For example, in the Franco-Prussian War, although Germany had an advantage, if only the national strength was calculated, Prussia at that time destroyed France, which was the first in Europe at that time, in less than a few months. However, at the Battle of Sedan, the Prussian soldiers cleanly captured the French Emperor. And this battle had an extremely far-reaching impact on later generations.

If Britain, France, and Russia have a certain advantage in the first two, then in the comparison of the last one, the Americans are very unfavorable to the Entente. What is the reason? Because of Russia! In the two Sino-Russian wars, the Russian navy and army were defeated twice in a row, no, if you count the Sino-Japanese War of that year, the Russian navy was defeated three times. Although in the eyes of Mahan and other high-ranking US Navy officials, the performance of the Russian Navy is not bad, after all, referring to the performance of the American fleet in the Spanish-American War, it made the weak Spanish fleet beat up when it had its own advantage. The Russian navy was almost inferior or equal in the three engagements, and it was normal to be defeated by the Chinese fleet. But the point is that American public opinion thinks that the Russians are not good!

If there is still some controversy on the part of the Navy, then the Americans have almost unanimously rated the Russian Army. Almost all words such as old, decadent, ideologically rigid, embezzlement, dereliction of duty, arrogance, etc., are used to describe the Russian Army. And the big war in Europe was fought by the army and navy, and the Entente side had such a pig teammate who already pulled a lot of points. Well, although Italy is not bad. Austria-Hungary's combat effectiveness is also optimistic (in fact, it is not as strong as the Russians).

But Germany on the side of the Allies was too strong, and the battle in Versailles within a few months was enough to shock the entire world. As for Britain and France? France couldn't beat Prussia back then, and now it's naturally even bigger. As for the UK? The Americans say that we respect the rights of Great Britain at sea, but on land? The British Empire no longer had the glory it had in the Napoleonic Wars and the Crimean War. Even the Boers in Africa are very entangled!

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, the Americans thought that the situation of the Entente in this war was very bad, very bad. "Perhaps the best outcome for the most post-Entente powers was that Germany and Austria crushed Russia and acquired a large amount of land, with the French barely holding their own defenses, and Britain crushing each other's navies in the North Sea and the Mediterranean. As for the worst possible outcome? Probably the two great powers, Russia and France, would be wiped out under the iron hooves of the Germans. The British, on the other hand, barely survived on their own navy and the protection of the English Channel. Mahan once said worriedly.

As the saying goes, it's never wrong to be on the side of the winner. But this statement is definitely not a one-size-fits-all truth, for example, this time, the United States must not be on the side of the victors. The first point is that the trade and financial relations between the United States and Britain and France determine that the United States cannot sit idly by and watch the failure of Britain and France, Britain is the financial center of the world, France is the usury country in the world, their every move is directly related to the interests of those bigwigs on Wall Street, Germany destroyed not only the countries of the Entente, but also destroyed the financial system that is currently beneficial to the United States, Britain and France have provided a large number of loans for the development of the United States, but if one day this loan is gone, Industrial and financial flows in the United States are bound to go wrong. And this is absolutely intolerable to the United States.

The second point is that during the war, Britain and France, which control the Atlantic, will certainly order large quantities of supplies and products from the United States. But during the war, orders for these products may not be traded in cash, and there is a high probability that foreign debt will be incurred, and if Britain and France win the war, it is okay to compensate for this foreign debt by looting Germany, but what if they lose? The Americans' payments were soon completely lost? If this were for you, would you be able to bear it?

If the first two points Americans can still knock out their teeth and swallow them in their stomachs. Then the third point is really absolutely intolerable, that is, the United States does not want to see a country that can compete with itself to control the whole of Europe. Imagine the situation after Germany's victory in this war, even if the worst result is the worst, Germany can also bring a large area of Eastern Europe into its control, and it is definitely not a problem to more than double the territory, even with the current Germany, the territory area is only 600,000 square kilometers, and the standard of population less than 70 million can be the second in the world, so after the end of this war, who can stop Germany in this world? Without Russia, it would be good if Britain and France could protect themselves, and the whole of Europe would tremble under one voice.

And Germany controls not only Europe, to the south, Germany can control the Middle East and Africa through its Turkish allies, and it is not very possible to go east and deep into Asia, because the geography is too far away, then the rest can only go west, to the west is the Atlantic, and beyond the Atlantic is the United States! In addition, Wilhelm II was not friendly to the United States, and the final result was that one China and one Germany on both sides of the United States directly blocked themselves in the Americas!

The United States would like to help Britain and France, but it seems that this help is also economic and material, for the simple reason that the upper echelons of the United States want to fight. But the American public and public opinion do not want a war. Historically, the United States pursued isolationism before World War 1. What does it matter to Europe to the United States? And now? There was also a sense of war weariness in this isolationism, and Americans generally expressed a distrust and suspicion of their military capabilities. Coupled with the stinginess of the Army in Congress, the US top brass believes that the US Navy may have a chance to revive in the foreseeable future, but the Army? In the absence of a direct threat, the future is in jeopardy!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward, and the book friend Ahu 9006 monthly pass support ~~~~~. (To be continued......)