The formal surrender of Austria-Hungary made all the Entente countries even more excited, and all the countries involved in the partition of the Austro-Hungarian lands became more proactive and looked to the territory of Germany.

In particular, Russia, which had experienced civil strife before and repeatedly mentioned that it was only responsible for defensive wars, was also frequently mobilized on the Eastern Front, and there was a tendency to launch large-scale campaigns.

You must know that with the aid of Britain and France to Russia, coupled with the free loans given to Russia by the United States, Russia has finally restored some order.

The land ceded by Austria-Hungary also made some of the Russian people no longer oppose the war. After all, the government has been able to guarantee its own supplies, and the new constitutional government has given hope to the people.

The political situation in Russia at this time was actually somewhat peculiar, the real power was held by the Russian aristocracy and the big bourgeoisie, but there were also a considerable number of royalists, as well as a workers' alliance headed by workers' interests.

The agreement between the Provisional Government and the Tsar also led to the exclusion of almost all of Russia from Moscow, which was controlled by the Workers' League, and the Workers' League, led by the Bushviks, could not influence more parts of Russia for the time being.

In the contract between Russia and Austria-Hungary there was a provision forbidding the Austro-Hungarian government to allow the top echelons of the genuine Bolshevik Party, headed by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, to enter Russia through Austria-Hungary.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov has another famous name, but this is not something that can be mentioned casually.

Without the leadership of a central figure and the fact that the Royal Security Intelligence Service has purged most of the parties of the Workers' Union ahead of schedule, the current Workers' League poses no great threat to Russian politics.

After all, Russia still has the support of the Entente, and the workers' union is feared by all countries.

Nicholas II, who had been very high-profile and authoritarian, also became low-key after the civil strife in Russia.

Although it is true that Nicholas II's military talents are not high, his political ability is not low.

Nicholas II knew very well that the way to protect his rights and the status of the Romanov family at present was to live in seclusion and dilute the royal family's attention to the public as much as possible.

Of course, Nicholas II did not do nothing. During his days in the Winter Palace, Nicholas II repeatedly released grain to the inhabitants of St. Petersburg and to the Russians in the vicinity to assuage the bad impression of the Tsar.

There was a delicate balance between Nicholas II and the Provisional Government, which was more afraid of the Workers' Union, so that Nicholas II's throne was retained.

Because of this, there were still a large number of royalists in the Russian army and government, and the existence of these royalists was also the hope of Nicholas II to regain power.

Of course, Nicholas II still needs to face many problems when he regains power, such as the distrust of the population, such as the defense of the Provisional Government, and so on.

But in any case, Nicholas II is much better than the ending in history. If handled well, it is not a problem to become a constitutional monarchy with a stable position like the King of England.

After the Entente launched a full-scale counteroffensive on the Western Front, Russia will also face the question of whether to participate in this large-scale counteroffensive on all fronts.

After thinking about it for a long time, the Russian Provisional Government finally decided to participate in the attack.

No way, the Russians have already tasted the sweetness of the partition of Austria-Hungary. But a small Galicia and Austrian Poland could not satisfy the appetite of the Russians at all, and the Russians in East Prussia and German Poland were equally unwilling to let go.

What's more, a tiny Austro-Hungarian empire would need to pay 15 billion pounds in reparations, of which the Russians would be able to get a share of about 2.5 billion pounds.

The Germans will only pay more, and the Russians will receive more war reparations to consolidate the situation at home.

On August 17, 1917, the Russian army, which had been resting for most of the year, launched an offensive on the Eastern Front in an attempt to reclaim all the areas occupied by Germany.

Germany had seized a large amount of Russian land through many previous wars. These lands were dreamed of by the Russian government and had a good stabilizing effect on the situation in Russia.

If the Provisional Government were able to recover these lands, or even end the war, the Provisional Government's rule would be more secure, and if Nicholas II wanted to seize power, or if the Workers' Union wanted to move to the Provisional Government, it would have to be up to the Russians who actually benefited to say yes.

At present, there are still many areas controlled by the Germans, including Riga, Minsk, etc., which are still under the control of the Germans.

However, most of the territory of Ukraine has been recovered, after all, after the surrender of Austria-Hungary, the Germans did not have enough troops to occupy these areas.

Russia and Germany currently have thousands of kilometers of border, but the German garrison is only about 1 million.

It was impossible to hold the entire border with these 1 million troops, so the Germans had made a strategic retreat long before, focusing on the defense of major cities including Riga, Minsk, as well as Warsaw, Brest and so on in the Polish region.

If there is a map of the Germans' defense, it can be seen that the Germans mainly defended the large cities in the occupied areas, and the most important of them was Poland.

As for why there are no German cities, it is actually very simple, the Russians must first regain the lost territory before the army can advance to German territory.

The Russians' re-entry into the war made the European press even more excited, convinced that the Germans would simply not hold out for long under the siege of both sides.

After all, if we only look at the difference in troops, the total army of the Entente countries in Europe is close to 15 million, while the total strength of Germany is only 5 million, which is a threefold difference.

In fact, this was indeed the case, although the Germans had prepared for the possibility of a Russian attack, but because the pressure on the Western Front was too great, a large number of heavy firepower weapons were all mobilized to the Western Front.

In addition, the Germans do not attach importance to the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, and even believe that the Russian army is still the same as a year ago, and most of the army does not have decent weapons, let alone heavy machine guns and artillery.

However, the equipment of the Russian army at this time has changed greatly compared with a year ago. Because of the $2 billion loan from the United States, the Russians have the confidence to continue the war.

While a significant portion of the $2 billion has been spent on people's livelihood and national development, more than $500 million has also been spent on the war effort, especially in the procurement of military equipment.

What's more, the previous aircraft orders signed by Nicholas II and Arthur are still being fulfilled, coupled with the new purchase of more weapons and equipment from Australasia, so that the Russian army of up to 2 million that launched the attack has sufficient equipment, and it also makes the careless Germans suffer a big loss for a while.

By mid-August 1917, the Russians had a fleet of 200 military aircraft, more than 150 of which were bombers.

And the Russian pilot training has long been completed, and these 200 military planes can take off at any time and be used in any war.

At the very beginning of the war, the Russians dispatched all their military aircraft and completely occupied the airspace of the Eastern Front.

A small number of German planes and airships were no match for Russian aircraft at all, especially airships, which were only live targets in the eyes of Russian aircraft.

Since the outbreak of the war, the importance of airships has decreased considerably. If it weren't for the airship being able to transport more supplies or people, the airship would have been eliminated by all countries long ago.

You must know that there is not only one country's airship in the sky, but there is also competition and conflict between the airships of different countries.

And the airship has almost no resistance in the face of the more advanced weapon of the aircraft.

Airplanes can easily destroy airships, but airships are difficult to hit smaller aircraft, especially if the aircraft is more agile.

Obviously, the large amount of territory lost by the Russians in the past has helped the Russians now.

The Germans did not have enough troops to defend such a large and narrow territory, but instead dispersed the deployment of German troops on the Eastern Front.

Although the Germans had long anticipated the attack of the Russian army, the lack of troops was a shortage of troops, not to mention that there were more new German troops on the Eastern Front, and the real combat effectiveness had already been greatly reduced.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Germans have suffered many casualties. Even if it is just a simple death, the number of deaths in Germany has so far exceeded 2.5 million.

You must know that before the war, the entire German army did not add up to 1 million, which also means that a large number of new troops have been drafted to the battlefield and then died in various offensive and defensive battles in Germany.

Germany's population is so large in total, and it does not have the colonial advantages of Britain and France, so it can only consume its own native population.

Under such circumstances, Germany has also recruited millions of troops, and on the premise of more than 2.5 million deaths, it can still maintain more than 5 million combat troops, which is enough to see the Germans' identification with the country and belligerence.

But the remaining 5 million fighting troops are almost the last card of Germany, and Germany's blood is about to run dry, so we can't finally send all those women and the old and weak to the battlefield.

Therefore, for Germany now, having new recruits is already relatively good news. When it really comes time to let the old, weak, women and children go to war, the national strength will be crippled.

But it was clear that 1 million German recruits could not stop the Russian offensive, especially since these 1 million troops were still scattered along the long front line.

The Russian army was very imposing, and after besieging Riga for half a month, it successfully recaptured Riga and drove the German army back south of the Dogva River.

The reconquest of Riga also opened a gap in the German defenses, allowing the Russian army to attack East Prussia directly through the Lithuanian region, or to encircle Minsk first and then east, encircling the German defenders there.

Either option is a very effective blow to the German army, which also means that the Russian army has the absolute initiative on the Eastern Front.

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(End of chapter)