Since 1871, the spectre of French revenge against Germany has been a lingering nightmare for the German military and political leaders. This is not only because the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles, where William I proclaimed himself emperor, was the sacred court of France that lasted for a hundred years, and the whole of France suffered the great shame of "civilized nobles being defiled and ravaged by barbaric Tatars"; Moreover, the new Germany extorted 5 billion francs (equivalent to 1.4 billion taels of silver) from the defeated France, which exceeded the sum of the principal and interest of all the indemnities paid in the late Qing Dynasty for 70 years, and the territorial claims to the two provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which were rich in iron ore and coal. The cession of land, the payment of indemnities, and the humiliation and humiliation of his own palace by a gang of barbarians are undoubtedly a period of bitter humiliation for a civilized country of a single nation.

From that moment on, a seed of revenge was planted in the hearts of the French. When the French paid off the reparations that had not been paid off for 70 years in four years, and re-entered the ranks of the first-class powers like an immortal bird reborn from the ashes of their huge overseas colonies, they turned their hateful eyes straight to Germany in the east. Faced with this situation, Bismarck decided to encircle and isolate the revived France by compiling a large network of anti-French coalitions throughout Europe, in order to completely deprive France of its ability to take revenge. Under his control, Germany, Austria and Russia concluded the Triple Emperor's Alliance, and Germany gained a temporary and absolute strategic advantage over France on the European continent.

Today, 40 years later, the situation has changed dramatically. Russia broke away from the Three Emperors Alliance and signed an alliance treaty with France for mutual defense and mutual assistance, and Britain also let go of the long-standing policy of "glorious isolation". Devoted himself to the vigorous anti-German coalition. Germany was attacked from three sides: east, west and north. The national security situation has deteriorated unprecedentedly. And the reason for this phenomenon. In addition to the fact that the Anglo-German confrontation was an irreconcilable contradiction as the German state grew in power, Bismarck's role was absolutely indispensable.

Ironically, Bismarck made an immeasurable contribution to the establishment and unification of the German Empire, so much so that Wilhelm I praised him at the celebration banquet for "having steered my policy with such excellence for many years", but the war that led to the collapse of the German Empire was also under his control.

In 1878, a conference of the great powers to settle the Russo-Turkish war dispute was held in Berlin, and Bismarck was ostensibly neutral. Privately, he was extremely biased towards Britain and Austria and opposed Russia. With the support of Britain and Germany, Austria-Hungary's waist was unprecedentedly strong, so that the victorious Russia was forced to spit out a large amount of benefits that had already been eaten in its mouth. The Russians have long hated Britain, an old adversary, and they are no longer surprised by the vicious methods they have adopted against them, but they have a grudge against Germany, which secretly supports Britain and Austria. Bismarck's painstakingly crafted alliance of the Three Emperors aimed at isolating France was in danger of breaking down at any moment. Faced with this situation, Bismarck came up with an "ingenious" idea to force Russia to return to the framework of the Three Emperors Alliance through pressure from an alliance with Austria-Hungary.

But this time, the old prime minister, who claimed to be able to "play five earths in the air", miscalculated. Due to the relationship of national policy. This makes it difficult for the German-Austrian alliance to be abolished once it is established; Austria-Hungary and Russia have irreconcilable contradictions in the religious, ethnic, and territorial fields over "those bastards of the Balkan countries," which dooms Germany to become an enemy of its traditional ally, Russia. During the period when the Berlin Conference was signed. France had not yet recovered from the great blood loss in the Franco-Prussian War, and Russia was indeed forced to rejoin the Triple Emperor's Alliance, as Bismarck had expected; And when the French immortal regained its vitality, glared angrily at Germany, and began to search for allies against Germany all over the world, Russia, which had a grudge against Germany at the Berlin Conference and was in sharp opposition to Austria-Hungary on the Balkan question, was suddenly freed from the shadow of the pressure imposed on them by the German-Austrian alliance and came together with the French for its own interests.

Although Bismarck signed the Reinsurance Agreement with Russia in a tongue twister after that, this only solved Germany's security on the Eastern Front under the unilateral outbreak of war between Germany and France, and did not mention the crucial factor of German-Russian relations caused by the contradictions between Russia and Austria. And the catastrophe of the century, which killed 20 million people and collapsed the German Empire, was triggered by Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, a Russian protectorate! Bismarck's obstinate "German-Austrian alliance" (a plan that Wilhelm I tried to oppose without success) is undoubtedly an indelible stain on his illustrious diplomatic history.

However, although Qingying, who is a time-traveler, is well aware of this, he is powerless to change the legacy left by the old prime minister, who has passed away. At present, the only partner that Germany can really rely on in the whole of Europe is Austria-Hungary, which has been a defensive alliance since 1879 and has long been an offensive and defensive alliance with Germany. In this case, Qingying can only choose to face up to this ally, and do her best to strengthen her strength beyond history.

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Before 1867, one of the great powers on the European continent was the Austrian Empire, and there was no alternative state with a dual monarchy. However, with Austria's two major defeats in the Italian War of Independence and the Austro-Prussian War, the Hungarian and other minorities in its territory were extremely dissatisfied with Vienna rule; The growing nationalist ideology finally led to unprecedented rebellion and unrest in the Austrian Empire after the defeat in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. In order to prevent Hungary, which accounted for more than a third of the empire, from becoming independent from the empire, Vienna was forced to negotiate with Hungary to join the ruling class, thus establishing a dual monarchy unique on the European continent.

On the face of it, the country was undoubtedly a behemoth: after the annexation of Bosnia, Austria-Hungary was the second largest country in Europe after Russia. It has a solid population of 52 million, and its mobilized army will undoubtedly surpass that of Britain and France; The scale of its machinery manufacturing and arms industry is also extremely accomplished, surpassing Russia and even France, ranking fourth in the world after the United States, the German Empire and the British Empire, and the quality of its heavy artillery units is the first in the world. And thanks to its huge land area, it is also the European leader after Russia in terms of resource reserves. With these conditions, Austria-Hungary squeezed into the ranks of the five great powers of Europe with the wind of the second industrial revolution, and it can be regarded as the number one person in the world.

In the nearly 40 years since the founding of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the economic level and industrial strength of the entire country have continued to develop. Franz I undoubtedly played a crucial role. Although he was not very gifted, his meticulous study of documents, his extraordinary memory, and his keen knowledge of people made up for these shortcomings, which enabled this hodgepodge of 12 major peoples alone to maintain stability and vigor and move towards prosperity and prosperity for decades in the treacherous and turbulent land of Central Europe. The peace and prosperity created by the enlightened autocracy of the Habsburg dynasty provided an excellent template for peaceful coexistence in that chaotic region of southeastern Europe, which was fought over religious beliefs and ethnic antagonisms. The emperor's legal successor, Archduke Ferdinand, was also a highly progressive democratic politician and a staunch pacifist, but with the sound of a gunshot from extremist terrorists, this ethnic fusion in Central Europe collapsed four years later.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed to be heavy and powerful enough to be of great use in war; But it has one of the biggest problems, that is, the number of ethnic groups in the country is simply too large!

According to incomplete statistics, the number of ethnic groups living in the territory of Austria-Hungary is as high as hundreds: in addition to the Germans and Hungarians of the "Austro-Hungarian" alliance, there are also Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, Croats...... and so on, which together accounted for 56% of the total population of the empire. In the 20th century, the mode of warfare evolved from the medieval royal mercenaries to the need to mobilize large numbers of citizens to fight the war; And when these people from different nationalities and speaking different styles and languages were drafted into the army, the fun was instantly aroused.

On the streets of Vienna in peacetime, if you don't know more than 4 Austro-Hungarian languages, you can't ask passers-by for directions; And in the wartime army, the junior officers faced the same awkward situation. It has developed to the point that even the platoon commander could not let these chaotic subordinates he collected understand the orders he had given; The entire grass-roots operational command has been paralyzed and is completely unable to operate normally, let alone fight. As for letting officers learn languages, it is completely fantastical, and the countless people of the Celestial Empire who have been tortured by English for more than ten years in later generations and still have nothing to learn are the best examples, not to mention that in Austria-Hungary you have to learn at least 4 languages! For these officers, who have reached adulthood, have a low learning memory, have a significant decline in their old age, and have a lot of time to devote to their military careers, learning a language is simply more uncomfortable than killing them. It is said that in the entire empire, the old emperor Franz was the only one who could speak these more than 20 major languages, which is truly worthy of him as a symbol of imperial unity and national unity! (To be continued......)

PS: (The following does not count the word count)————————

Today's unit dinner, the update is late, and I hope you will forgive me

Thanks to the book friend he doesn't understand, the lonely wanderer, the monthly pass support of Tianhe people's dreams, and the birthday red envelope sent by the fuze bookworm~~ The new year is coming, the author wishes everyone all the best sailing, and all wishes come true~~