The Battle of the Marne ended with the victory of the Anglo-French forces.

Of course, such a victory was rather tragic, with France paying nearly 220,000 casualties in order to eliminate the German First and Second Armies, and the British Expeditionary Force suffered more than 40,000 casualties.

On the German side, the First and Second Armies lost most of their combat effectiveness, with nearly 220,000 casualties.

Since the outbreak of the war, the French army and the German army have a relatively close battle loss ratio, and it is the battle in which the German army has suffered the greatest losses.

When Wilhelm II heard the news of the defeat at the Marne, he was furious and asked Moltke the Younger: "Why did you order a retreat from the Marne?" ”

Seeing that the German army was very close to Paris, retreating at this time not only meant that the German strategy of attacking the west and defending the east had failed, but also meant that the chances of German victory had been reduced by half.

At this time, Moltke was speechless, his face was gray, and his expression was depressed. After hesitating for a long time, he spoke to Wilhelm II: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid that you will not only retreat from the Marne. I think we've lost this war. ”

The failure of the revised Schlieffen plan also represented the complete defeat of Germany at the general strategic level.

Unable to defeat France in a short time, Germany, which faced a two-front war between France and Russia, could not be an opponent of the Entente.

What's more, France and Russia also have aid from Britain and Australasia, which is not mentioned in the Schlieffen plan at all, that is, France and Russia are actually stronger than Germany.

The Schlieffen Plan was an excellent strategic plan for the Franco-Russian war, but it did not take into account other countries, such as Britain and Australasia.

In the previous Battle of the Marne, the British Expeditionary Force played a crucial role, sharing a considerable part of the pressure on the French army.

What's more, without the material support of Britain and Australasia, the military mobilization of France and Russia would not have been so successful and rapid, and the pressure on Germany to fight on two fronts would have eased a lot.

However, Wilhelm II, who had an extreme temperament, could not accept the defeat of the war, and only the next day, Wilhelm II dismissed Moltke the Younger from his post as chief of staff on the pretext of Moltke's illness, and appointed the Minister of War Falkingham as the new chief of staff.

On the day Falkingham took office, Wilhelm II patted Falkingham on the shoulder and uttered the crucial words: "I do not accept the defeat of this war, and neither will Germany." Either fight to the last soldier, or destroy the damned Entente and end this damn war. ”

It's a pity that after the defeat in the Battle of the Marne, Germany had already lost the initiative in the war.

The French army relieved a considerable part of the pressure and successfully transformed the war on the Western Front into a protracted war of attrition.

The French army had built a large number of trenches and defensive positions in the area of the present front, and it was very much in the sense that they would either step over the corpses and remain in front of the positions.

There is also bad news for Germany, in addition to the forces of the war on the Western Front, on the Eastern Front, Russia also organized a large number of troops to charge the German positions.

In the month before the start of the war, the eyes of the Russians were mostly on Austria-Hungary.

Austria-Hungary took on most of Russia's forces for Germany, giving Germany plenty of time and forces to complete the war on the Western Front.

But it was impossible for Austria-Hungary to withstand the offensive of the whole of Russia, let alone Serbia to assist it.

Perhaps it was their own selfishness, and under the orders of Franz I, Austria-Hungary did not carry out Wilhelm II's advice well, that is, to take defensive measures against Serbia and attack the Russian border with all its might.

This led to the fact that a considerable part of the Austro-Hungarian army remained on the Serbian border, blocked by ironclad confidence in the Serbian population.

After receiving material assistance from Britain and Australasia, Russia made considerable progress in military mobilization, organizing hundreds of thousands of troops to attack the German border.

Although Russia failed in the offensive and defensive battle on the German-Russian border, it still caused a lot of shock to the eastern border of Germany, as well as very heavy casualties.

Although the casualties on the Russian side were greater, the last thing that Russia lacked was a farmer who could become a soldier at any time with a weapon.

Of course, the serious problems facing Germany today have nothing to do with Moltke Jr. All the messes were left to the new Chief of Staff Fakingham to solve.

Falkingham's first order was to send troops to attack Antwerp, Belgium, to eliminate the threat from the rear flank of the German army in France.

Antwerp is an important port in Belgium, just over 80 kilometers from the North Sea, and is considered a safety valve by the United Kingdom.

In Antwerp at this time, 150,000 Belgian troops and 20,000 British troops were gathered.

In order to capture the fortified city of Antwerp, Falkingham not only sent a German army that was still fighting but also called in a large number of student reservists and volunteers from within Germany.

It is reported that Fakingham has gathered a full 36,000 of the university reserve army alone to participate in the offensive and defensive battles in Antwerp.

Such figures are exaggerated and testify to Germany's efforts and achievements in education.

You know, in the whole of Australasia, there are currently only more than 4,000 college graduates every year.

Australasia's education has been developing for more than a decade, and there are only about 40,000 university students.

Germany invested nearly 40,000 university students in a single battle, which is such arrogance that a country like Australasia simply does not dare to imagine.

Of course, the arrogant ending is also tragic. Of the 36,000 student reserves, less than 6,000, or one-sixth of the total, survived the Battle of Antwerp.

It is worth mentioning that among these surviving reserve troops, there is a person whose name is well known, that is, Adolf Hitler, who unleashed World War II.

At this time, Hitler was just a sergeant, an ordinary soldier who charged for his country.

At this time, he could not imagine his future glory and the disasters he brought to the people of Europe.

The German army broke through Antwerp on October 10, and a few days before the German attack on Antwerp, the Australasian Expeditionary Force arrived in France one after another, and took French trains and transports to the German-French border to join the war of attrition.

Because of the extremely long distance between the Australasian Ministry of Defense and its subordinate staff and the European theater, therefore, under Arthur's orders, the commander of the 4th Division, Scott Malone, was promoted to interim commander-in-chief of the Australasian Expeditionary Force, controlling the colonial army of up to 300,000.

According to Arthur's plan, the division commander of each of the main armies that went to the European theater would become the temporary commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force.

During their tenure as interim commander-in-chief of the expeditionary forces, it was not only a training of their command ability, but also a sign of trust in them.

After all, this is also an army of more than 300,000 people, and all the command power is in the hands of one person, which can be seen in the trust of the country and the royal family.

In fact, although these more than 300,000 army mercenaries are outside, Arthur is not worried about any accidents in these armies, such as the situation of officer mercenaries standing on their own.

After all, the material consumption of these more than 300,000 troops is a problem, and although Britain bears half of it, Australasia itself is responsible for the other half.

Coupled with the good relations between Britain and Australasia, if the Australasian Expeditionary Force is out of the control of the government, the first thing it will face is the problem of eating, drinking and lazing 300,000 people.

As the clock ticked into October 1914, the European theater of war had subsided considerably. The huge offensive and defensive wars that used millions of troops are over, and the next war is a war of attrition about the country's potential.

Of all the countries that participated in the war, the most relaxed should have been the British Empire and Australasia.

If you have to decide a winner, Australasia is actually easier than the British Empire.

After all, the British Empire was still within the confines of Europe, and was very close to France and Germany.

If France were defeated and Germany annexed parts of Western Europe, it would be possible to expand its influence into British spheres of influence, such as across the English Channel and the North Sea.

This was unacceptable for the British Empire, and if Germany was the dominant force on the continent, then British supremacy would cease to exist.

But Australasia does not have such a problem, Australasia is located in remote Oceania, and there is no need to worry about the influence of European countries.

As a result, Australasia was the only country among all the belligerents that was not greatly affected by the war, and even Australasia's economy grew considerably because of the large export of trade to the Entente countries.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kevin once reported to Arthur with a smile that if the current state of affairs continued, Australia's fiscal position would be better in 1914, and its revenues would continue to rise.

What's more, because the army and navy were fighting with the Entente, Britain was responsible for nearly half of Australasia's military spending.

In this way, under the premise of the increase in Australasia's fiscal revenue, fiscal expenditure, especially military expenditure, has decreased.

This is still under the premise that all European countries have certain material reserves and the demand for external orders is not large.

When the war continues and all European countries need a lot of weapons and resources, Australasia's finances will have more room to grow.

Arthur now understands how good the mood of the Americans was in the original historical World War I.

This feeling of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, and still making a lot of money, is too good. If Britain and France were not allies of Australasia, and Australasia still needed the support of Britain and France to confront the United States, Arthur even wanted to add a few more fires to the war in Europe, and by the way, balance and play to the advantages of the British.

Balance policy,-stirring stick. In this era, the policies and fame of the British Empire were known all over the world.

As a monarch from the British royal family, Arthur said that this kind of policy still has merit, at least when used on the enemy.

At the end of October 1914, Arthur visited the Royal Dockyard about the construction of the warship and gave a speech, which was cheered and applauded by everyone in the audience.

Immediately afterwards, Arthur visited the major military factories and the current recruitment and production status.

The production of the munitions factory was linked to the income of the royal family and the Australasian government, and Arthur took it very seriously.

After all, you can only make money if you produce it. If only the order is signed, Russia will not be stupid and directly pay the full amount.

3200 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)