Holy Roman Empire

Palace of Versailles

Foreign Minister Auvergne said: "Your Majesty, the Minister of the New Holy Roman Empire in Paris issued a diplomatic note to us, and they proposed that our two countries jointly act on the Greek issue.

It seems that the Vienna government is worried that the British will take the opportunity to annex the Greek kingdom and threaten their interests."

The Greek population in this era has just exceeded one million, and after this war, the loss of the young and strong in Greece has been severe.

If the British intend to turn the Greek kingdom into their colony, this difficulty is not very great.

This worry is obviously not superfluous. The annexation of Greece can bring a lot of benefits to the British strategically. It can not only block the Russians ’access to the Mediterranean, but also increase their right to speak in the Near East.

The Paris government is also very worried about this situation.The cake in the Near East is so big. If the British get more, they will squeeze their local interests.

Napoleon III thought for a while and said: "The annexation of the Kingdom of Greece by the British is very detrimental to our strategy for the Near East. Sending people to talk to the Austrians, as long as everyone's conflict of interest is not serious, they will act jointly with them.

Against the British alone, Napoleon III was very counseling, but he was fearless when he went to Austria.In this era, the strength gap between the four countries of Britain, France, Russia and Austria has not been widened. Even if the British have an advantage, they cannot achieve one enemy or two.

Common interests are always the basis of cooperation. France and the New Holy Roman Empire have a dispute of European hegemony. It is reasonable to say that the two sides should have many contradictions.

However, the European hegemons are still Russians. Before the fall of the bear, the two countries were only substitutes, and it was not time to turn their faces.

Affected by the anti-French war, France ’s every move on the European continent will be closely watched by everyone.

Against this background, any external expansion of France on the European continent may be misinterpreted by the outside world and be boycotted by everyone. The Paris government has to be a low-key person at this time.

The New Holy Roman Empire is also keeping a low profile, although Austria has been developing in the hands of Franz for more than four years, but this development has only allowed Austria to keep up with the times and has not formed an advantage for all countries.

After the annexation of the Southern German region, the newly established New Holy Roman Empire entered an internal integration period. In the short term, there was no energy to engage in things. Franz has no plans to compete for European hegemony.

The two are very peaceful, and the conflict between France and Austria naturally did not ignite, which undoubtedly created favorable conditions for the next cooperation.

Interior Minister Pesini analyzed: "Your Majesty, the purpose of the Austrians is probably not so simple.

According to what we know, since the unification of the German region failed, the calls within the Vienna government to open up overseas colonies began to soar.

Now that the situation on the European continent has stabilized, the road for the Austrians to unify the German region has been broken, and Russia and Austria on the Balkan Peninsula should have reached an agreement.

Regardless of the outcome of the Near East War, the expansion of the Austrians on the European continent has reached its limit.Even the benefits they obtained in the Balkans, whether they could finally eat them, are all question marks.

Against this background, the Austrians are likely to abandon the national policy of the Metternich era and restart their overseas colonial strategy.

It is necessary for us to prepare in advance, and in the future there will be a new opponent to enter the field."

Not long ago, the Paris government decided on the next national policy-to temporarily abandon expansion on the European continent and concentrate on developing overseas colonies.

Now that Austria has joined overseas colonial activities, the French must naturally be vigilant.

It is still the era of sailing, and the navies of various countries have not yet opened an epoch-making distance. The European powers with a foundation want to explode the navy.

Of course, this does not mean that Austria has joined overseas colonies, and the French are afraid.On the contrary, the French had an absolute advantage over Austria in overseas colonies.

However, there is not only one Austrian competitor in overseas colonies, but many opponents. There are often mutual restraints in competing for colonies.

As long as it is not a competition for core interests, it is basically just a game of power in a certain area, and it is rarely a struggle for it.

If you start a fight without a word, then the winner takes all.Obviously, this is impossible. With so many competitors, we will suppress one, and new countries will emerge.

Tossing like this, I'm too busy suppressing my opponents, where there is still energy to open up colonies.Colonial expansion also has limits, and blind expansion is likely to pay off.

Not all lands have colonial value; even in the same area, the benefits from the rule of different countries are different.

In a colony that has no strategic value or economic value, it is usually who first occupies it; if a colony with a high strategic value and rich interests, then there is no shortage of fighting.

After the mid-19th century, various countries had disputes over overseas colonies, but very few triggered wars between colonial empires because of the struggle for colonies.

The reason is that the most fertile land has been divided up by everyone, and the remaining land is not worthy of war.After all, everyone is for the benefit, and no one is doing the business of losing money.

After a moment of thought, Napoleon III said confidently: "For us, this should be a good thing. The Austrians started overseas colonization, and it is necessary to increase the development of the navy.

In this way, the military pressure on our homeland will be much smaller.Compared with the Austrians, our advantage at sea is much larger than that on land.

Due to geographical location, the Austrians are at a natural strategic disadvantage in the battle for overseas colonies.

Unless they are only developing in the Mediterranean to the African continent, and going to other regions, they will have to pass under our eyelids, but also under the British eyelids.

The greater the power they invest overseas, the less they dare to face us in diplomacy in the future, otherwise we can jam their necks at any time."

After that, Napoleon III looked dark.The situation in Austria is indeed as he said, the development of overseas colonies is at a disadvantage, exposing their weaknesses to them.

But the British who mastered the Straits of Putuolu, did they not get stuck in their necks?Once a war broke out between the two countries, the British could divide the French navy into two at any time, so that they could not look after each other.

Why did the Austrian government give up developing colonies overseas? Is it really that they are not interested in the benefits of the colonies?

Obviously it is impossible, everyone knows that overseas colonization can bring huge benefits.But for overseas colonization, Austria's geographical location is too pitted, they suffered a loss during the overseas colonization process.

Fortunately, without growth and development, with the strength of Austria, a colony of average strategic value and economic value can still be preserved. Once it encounters fat, it can certainly not be robbed of Britain and France.

Just for a few colonies with low strategic value and low economic value, they invested a lot of financial resources to develop the navy. In the view of the previous Austrian government, such pay and return are not proportional.

However, times are changing. With the development of industrialization, the overseas colonies that used to look like chicken ribs once again showed value.

Do n’t look at Austria ’s geographical position, but Franz knows that with the development of naval technology, this weakness will become smaller in the future.

In the era of sailing warships, Austria ’s overseas colonies traveled thousands of nautical miles more than Britain and France. This is very fatal, and means a double increase in cost and risk.

However, with the advent of the era of armored ships, the use of steam engines on battleships, the distance problem is being gradually solved.

Especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, Austria's voyage from the Mediterranean Sea into the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean will be greatly reduced, and its safety will be greatly improved.

This is also one of the reasons why the Vienna government eased relations with France. The excavation of a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea has been mentioned by Franz.

This needs to be done in cooperation with the French. Austria ’s voice in Egypt is still too low. Even if Franz strengthened his penetration in this area after he succeeded, it is impossible to catch up in a short time.

...

In the Crimean Peninsula, Britain, France, and Russia fought tragically.The casualties on the battlefield are still within the tolerance of all parties.

However, the humid climate, the large variety of small insects, and the fierce schistosomiasis attack have brought about the spread of disease and caused a large number of non-combat downsizing, which is unbearable.

In the spring of 1854, the number of coalition non-combat reductions exceeded the number of casualties on the battlefield for the first time.Of course, the Russians have not been spared, but they are more able to adapt to the local climate than the coalition forces. The number of non-combat downsizing is relatively small.

Russian commander-in-chief Fitzroy Somerset could not have dreamed that it was not the arrival of new equipment that brought the casualties between the enemy and us to Birapin, but the disease helped a lot.

Of course, he has not yet paid attention to this.Now Fitzroy Somerset is also having a headache for a large number of soldiers in the Russian army. The cruel reality of lack of medical treatment and medicine makes powerless.

If you know the tragedy of the coalition forces, it is estimated that Fitzroy Somerset will be in a much better mood. If possible, he does not mind letting the Russian army and the enemy on the island die together.

This war has already affected the national movement of the Russian Empire.Now that the war is in progress, more than 300,000 Russian soldiers have fallen.In the Crimean Peninsula alone, the number of Russian casualties exceeded 70,000.

A middle-aged military officer reported back: "His commander, the enemy has recently slowed down the intensity of the attack. According to the prisoners we caught, a large number of soldiers on the enemy's side fell ill. It is said to have contracted wind, dysentery, and syphilis."

"Syphilis?" Fitzroy Somerset wondered.

"Yes, Your Commander, is syphilis!" The middle-aged officer replied affirmatively

Receiving this answer, Fitzroy Somerset did not know whether to cry or laugh.Apart from war, there are very few recreational activities on the Crimean peninsula.

Gambling money, tobacco, alcohol and women are the favorites of soldiers.

Russian soldiers rarely participate in these activities. There is no way. Who can make Russian soldiers poor?Naturally, if you do n’t have money, you ca n’t afford to play. If you play less, you will naturally have less chance of getting sick.

The British and French coalition forces on the opposite side are much better. Everyone has military pay. Market demand will naturally generate a market, and the service industry is booming in the coalition forces.

They all live on the battlefield. After today, I do n’t know if there is a Lord of tomorrow. Naturally, I must have fun in time!

Because they did not pay attention to personal hygiene, they did not know which unlucky egg was infected with syphilis, and then spread quickly through the service industry.

(Remarks: In the history of the Crimean War, more than 10,000 people died of syphilis)

There is no effective treatment for syphilis in this era.The most reliable thing is to take antibiotics when they were just infected. Unfortunately, penicillin is still lying in Franz's laboratory, and commercialization is still far away.

Since there is no medicine, just follow the destiny and boil it!Anyway, the normal mortality rate of syphilis is about 20%. Most people with good luck can resist it.

Considering the poor environment in the military barracks, and the soldiers not paying attention to personal hygiene, this mortality rate may probably rise again.

This is a minor problem. Wind chill and dysentery can also kill people, and the mortality rate is not so low.Anyway, it's all death, what disease is not the same?

It is not just the Russians who are lacking in medicine and medicine. The situation of the coalition forces is similar.The situation of the British army was even worse. The chaotic logistics system, most soldiers did not know where the battlefield hospital was.

It is not necessarily useful to arrive at the hospital. There are too few doctors to satisfy everyone.Unless they are military officers, ordinary soldiers do not want to get good treatment if they do not stuff red envelopes.

Many medicines for treatment require soldiers to bribe the quartermaster to get them, otherwise you do n’t even know where to put the medicine.

Do n’t be surprised or panic if you find that the medicine is several miles away from the hospital. It ’s just normal operation, even if it ’s more than ten kilometers away.

The mechanical bureaucrats acted in full accordance with the regulations. In many cases, the battlefield hospital was relocated with the army, and the drug warehouse was left behind.All procedures must be completed before moving.

To tell a joke: a transport ship named "Pioneer" transported more than 150 tons of vegetables to Balaclava, but the military department suddenly found that the ship had incomplete procedures, so it was strictly prohibited to disembark the materials it carried.

According to regulations, these materials must be returned to London to complete the formalities before these materials can be registered in the warehouse.Finally, the procedures were completed, and these 150 tons of vegetables were rotten and spoiled.

Logically speaking, should it be scrapped?As a result, the mechanical bureaucrats directly collected these materials into the warehouse, and then sent them to the troops.

The consequences can be imagined. In the history of post-war statistics, the British Logistics Department caused far more losses to the expeditionary force than the Russians.