Although both the Allies and the Entente had new allies joining, the Allies were a bit isolated compared to the fact that the Allies had only co-opted Turkey and Bulgaria in favor of a major power and a number of small and medium-sized countries.

As the only new power to join the war, and a former member of the Central Powers, Italy's betrayal of the camp during the war was somewhat despicable, but the Italians did not see it that way.

The Italian government proudly declares that the country and its people have found a way to gain more from the war with less losses than before.

But in any case, since Italy joined the Entente, it was a member of the Entente, an ally of Australasia.

It's just that compared with countries like Australasia, which joined the Entente early, Italy's position in the Entente is more awkward, and it is not at the decision-making level of the Entente.

Even Britain and France, when they were propagandizing, still used the name of a year ago, that is, the four major powers of the Entente.

This also made the Italians determined to do a big vote and then change the existing layout of the Entente, which was also to strive for more benefits for themselves after the war.

With the help of Italy and other countries, the general offensive of the Entente on the eastern and western fronts has also become even larger.

In the southern part of the Western Front, 500,000 Italian troops would join the battle to eliminate the threat of German and Austro-Hungarian forces in the southern region.

On the Eastern Front, Romania, Montenegro, Greece and other countries will also send part of their troops to cooperate with Serbia to resist the attack of Austria-Hungary while attacking Bulgaria.

With the help of these Balkan countries, it was possible to attract a significant part of the Austro-Hungarian army to Serbia.

This will also greatly reduce the number of Austro-Hungarian troops faced by the Russian army on the Eastern Front, and the Russian army can deal with the Germans with confidence without worrying about being attacked by Austria-Hungary in their backs.

It was Russia that attacked first. After learning that Russia was willing to launch a large-scale offensive, Britain and France generously fulfilled their promises that they had not promised, provided Russia with a large amount of weapons and equipment and strategic materials, and also forgave some of Russia's loans.

In addition, the supplies transported by Australasia were also transported from Vladivostok to the front line, and after obtaining sufficient weapons and equipment and strategic materials, the Russian staff was also confident that it would launch a large-scale offensive and advance to the Eastern Front.

On May 2, 1915, after all the supplies were mobilized to the front, the Russian General Staff officially ordered the next round of large-scale campaigns to begin.

First, Grand Duke Nikolai transferred the 2nd Army of the North-Western Front from the Narev and Neman lines to Warsaw, and the 4th, 5th and 9th Armies of the South-West from the San River to the Warsaw-Sandomierz section.

After the defeat of Austria-Hungary in Galicia, the Russians' next goal was obvious: to invade southeastern Germany and regain German-occupied Poland.

In order to deal with the danger from hundreds of thousands of Russian troops, Germany also developed corresponding battle plans, such as launching a surprise attack on Warsaw and Ivangorod from the two areas of Krakow and Częstochowa, trying to defeat the northern flank of the Russian Southwestern Front and detour back to the rear of the Russian army.

Germany mobilized more than 310,000 men from the newly formed Ninth Army and the Austro-Hungarian First Army to carry out this plan.

On the Russian side, the southwestern side plus the defenders of the Warsaw area totaled more than 500,000 people, and had a clear numerical advantage.

On May 3, 1915, the Russian Fourth and Ninth Armies successfully encountered the Austro-Hungarian First Army and the German Ninth Army near the mouth of the Vistula and San rivers.

The enemy was very angry when they met, and the four armies immediately began to exchange fire on a large scale, and the gunfire rang out throughout the day without the slightest tendency to stop.

Due to the geographical disadvantage, the Austro-Hungarian and German armies tried to force their way across the Vistula and San rivers, but they were repelled by the strong firepower of the Russian army.

In order to change its declining situation, the German side decided to change its original plan and send the 17th, 20th and 20th armies and mixed armies to form an army cluster, directly bypassing the Russian Fourth and Ninth armies and forcibly seizing Warsaw.

Geographically, as soon as Warsaw was occupied, these Russian troops would be cut off.

The next day, 4 May, the newly reorganized army group managed to reach Warsaw and launched an offensive.

The Russian side received information that the 4th and 5th armies began to forcibly cross the Vistula and retreat.

On the other hand, the Russian Second Army arrived west of Warsaw and defended the flank of the Warsaw defenders.

During the three days from May 5 to May 7, the Russian army launched a fierce offensive with the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, and the death toll on both sides reached tens of thousands every day, and the number of dead and wounded began to reach tens of thousands.

On 8 May, the German army, having suffered heavy losses, withdrew from the Warsaw area, and the Russian army successfully defended Warsaw.

And that was not all, by order of Grand Duke Nikolai, the Russian army opened a new landing ground in Ivangerod, the second theater of the Eastern Front.

This new front was opened, and the offensive of the German army was weakened in an instant. It was impossible for the German army not to be on guard against its own flank, which distracted the German troops in front and had to divide their forces to their flanks.

The German offensive weakened, and the Russian army took over the banner of the offensive, switching from defense to offensive, launching a fierce attack on the German army from the areas of Singogievsk, Warsaw, Ivangorod, and Sandomierz.

At this time, the German army was exhausted, and after repeated retreats, it had cut off contact with the Austro-Hungarian First Army.

The Austro-Hungarian First Army wanted to support the German army in the war, but strayed into the encirclement of the Russian army, and eventually suffered heavy losses, and the entire army group was routed.

To borrow a phrase from Ludendorff: "On the 11th, a retreat was ordered, but this retreat was completely out of his own hands. Our situation is already critical, and now it seems that the Russian army is about to invade the Poznan, Silesia and Moravian regions. ”

In fact, Ludendorff was quite right, and after the success of the initial campaign, the German army hastened its offensive to the west and southwest, with the aim of occupying the Silesian region, and then entering the German hinterland from the Silesian region, and ending the war as soon as possible with the four-nation coalition forces on the Western Front.

The Russians were very ambitious, and after their initial victory in the battle, there were even plans at home to storm Berlin to end the war.

If it weren't for the excuse that Grand Duke Nicholas wanted to cooperate with the army on the Western Front and couldn't blindly advance and delay, I'm afraid that Nicholas II would really have to make a plan for the army to attack with all its strength and capture Berlin.

Although the German army failed repeatedly in the offensive on the Western and Eastern Fronts, and no one could guarantee that Berlin would be captured at this time, the German army still had the strength to fight a war.

The battle on the Eastern Front was named the Warsaw-Ivangorod Campaign, because it was in the vicinity of these two regions that the battle was fought.

The battle was crucial on the Eastern Front, as Russia deployed up to 800,000 troops (including defenders in Warsaw and other areas) to win a hearty victory against more than 300,000 German and Austrian troops.

Although the Russian side suffered nearly 100,000 casualties, the 100,000 casualties were worth it in terms of the results of the campaign.

More importantly, after this battle, the German army experienced a crushing defeat on the Eastern Front and the Western Front, which not only shattered the myth of the highest combat effectiveness of the German army, but also gave many countries, including Russia, the hope of a direct victory over Germany, and the experience also made some forces in Germany lose confidence, and the enthusiasm of the Germans for the war did not seem to be so high.

Soon after the Russians launched the campaign, the battles on the Western Front were also launched.

The Australasian army was divided into two parts, with the 2nd Guards Division and the 3rd Regular Division operating independently, and the British and French mobilized two more divisions to form a mixed army, which was placed under the command of Commander Martin to protect the flank of the French Army Group.

The more than 400,000 large indigenous troops were mobilized to the frontal battlefield to serve as cannon fodder for the coalition attack.

The indigenous army was indeed used in this way, and Martin, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, had no complaints about such a plan, after all, Britain and France had also mobilized two main divisions.

On May 7, 1915, with an order from the French General Headquarters, the campaign on the Western Front was in full swing.

The first action was the center line, where the Australasian Expeditionary Force was also located. On the afternoon of May 7, the two French armies and the Australasian Expeditionary Force combined nearly 850,000 combat troops (400,000 main forces and 450,000 indigenous troops) marched towards the Alsace and Lorraine lines, firing the second shot of the reconquest.

The next day, a French army group, the British Expeditionary Force with a total of nearly 500,000 troops, and the remaining Belgian army of about 80,000 men, set out from northern France with the goal of recovering the French border and part of the Belgian fortresses.

The battle in the south was the last to be fought, where only one army group was dispatched by the French to cover the Italian army.

The Italian army, with a full 500,000 troops, launched a fierce offensive against Austria-Hungary and conquered the disputed areas of Austria-Hungary and Italy.

The scale of the campaign on the Western Front was even greater than that on the Eastern Front, and on the side of the Allies alone, the combined number of troops participating in the campaign was nearly two million.

If the German army is included, on the Western Front alone, more than 3 million people died desperately.

In order to cope with this offensive, Germany can be said to have taken out all its old capital, including all kinds of Kruber cannons, airships produced by Zeppelin, airplanes with no actual combat performance, and even cars and trucks with simple steel plates, which are sent to the battlefield if they are useful, which is the current situation in Germany.

In order to deal with the airships on the German side, the Entente also took out their own airships that had been in ashes for half a year.

In fact, when the war just broke out, various countries used airships with great interest, but it soon became clear that the actual combat significance of this kind of airship was not great, because the enemy also had airships, and after the two airships met, they basically lost both.

Because it was not possible to create a technological lead on the enemy in terms of airships, it was difficult for British and French airships and German airships to carry out combat missions after they met.

The current airship is too fragile, and it is almost impossible to crash if it is hit by an enemy weapon. After killing and wounding dozens of airship operators, European countries generally chose to hide the airship, either directly in the warehouse to fall into dust, or transport supplies in the rear, occasionally reconnoiter and reconnaissance intelligence.

Because of this battle, the airship was able to rejoin the war, and it was still the kind of all-army dispatch.

The British, French, Australasian and Italian airships combined have nearly 300 airships, far ahead of the 100 airships owned by Germany.

In addition, there are not many countries and the models of aircraft are relatively backward, and at present, on the battlefield of the Western Front of World War I, they can often see flying objects in the sky, large or small, showing the scientific and technological progress brought about by the war.

We have to admit that war is the period of the most rapid development of science and technology. According to Arthur's understanding, Britain and France have already improved the current airship, and will soon develop a new generation of airship and put it into production.

In terms of aircraft, Britain and France have also regained their attention and are already jointly researching military aircraft.

Although I don't know how Germany's progress is, referring to the black technology that Germany has frequently come up with in World War I in history, Germany's progress in researching airships and airplanes will not be slow.

According to conservative estimates, Australasian aircraft should soon be able to enter combat. With a renewed focus on aircraft, Australasia no longer needs to hide its aircraft.

Even if Australasia continues to hide, it will not stop the progress of Britain, France and Germany in developing aircraft.

Instead of this, it is better to make the appearance of the aircraft in advance and gain a certain advantage in the war.

Then sell a large number of aircraft that were already clearly outdated, and make a lot of profits from Britain and France, and provide more impetus for aircraft research in Australasia.

For Britain, France, and Germany, will they achieve corner overtaking in aircraft research and catch up with the progress of Australasian aircraft research?

This will not be the case for at least a decade. Arthur has been working on aircraft for years, even ten years, and Australasia has already attracted more than one-third of the world's aviation power, airship, and aircraft manufacturing talents.

Unless Britain and France can keep up with each other, there may be hope that they will be able to catch up with the pace of Australasian aircraft development in a short time.

However, judging from some contradictions between Britain and France in the distribution of interests, after the end of the war, the relationship between Britain and France will not be so close, and some contradictions will also arise.

However, the end of World War I was followed by a period of weakness for Britain and France, and the possibility of large-scale conflicts between Britain and France was almost zero.

Under the maintenance of Australasia, the interests of the Entente should be able to maintain until before World War II, and Australasia, which is in the Entente countries, can also rely on the advantages brought by the Entente to obtain more international status and benefits.

Not to mention anything else, the international status of the United States after World War I is not necessarily higher than that of Australasia. On the one hand, Britain and France were afraid and guarded, and on the other hand, the United States was not a member of the Entente, and in the face of such a behemoth as the Entente, the United States alone also seemed somewhat weak.

4000 words for the first update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)