Holy Roman Empire

In London, John Russell is very dissatisfied with the current situation in Europe.

The Paris government actually provided a loan to the Russians.Although for the British, this amount is not too large, only 100 million francs.But the political factors behind this are terrible.

It was originally agreed by everyone that Britain and France would contribute together to support the Prussian kingdom and the Russians in a proxy war.

Now on the battlefield, the Kingdom of Prussia has just appeared in crisis, and the French can't wait to fall.

Perhaps in the opinion of the Paris government, this is a timely stop loss to obtain greater returns.From the standpoint of the British, Prime Minister John Russell could not tolerate it.

"The situation in Europe is deteriorating, France and Russia are moving closer, and the position of the Parisian government has changed. They have the intention of sharing Prussia with the Russians.

Perhaps an Austria will be added. As long as France, Russia and Russia support Austria ’s annexation of the German Confederation, it will become a division of the three European continents.

This is the worst situation, each of the three countries of Russia, France and Austria has the strength to challenge us.If they were allowed to divide Europe, it would be even more difficult to restrict.

For Britain's strategic security, we must prevent this from happening."

John Russell has a strong sense of crisis, which seems to be the commonality of the island countries and the source of motivation for their success.

European balance is the national policy of the London government.Now Europe still maintains a balance, but the growing size of the three countries of Russia, France and Austria has seriously threatened their dominance.

Originally, the London government was prepared to suppress the Russians first, and then use the Italian issue to provoke the conflict between France and Austria, so that they could contain each other on the European continent.

The plan never changes fast, the contradiction between France and Austria is not ignited, and the Russian Empire is about to break through the restrictions and take control of the Baltic Sea.

Foreign Minister Raistlin analyzed: "Your Excellency, this time the French-Russian approach was the tsarist government's first concession.

The Russians supported the French's annexation of the Rhineland region, and in fact did not feel well-meaning.

It is important to know that Austria, Belgium, Prussia, the German Confederation, Spain and other countries have agreements. If one side encounters a French invasion, they will jointly defend.

Even if the Russians support the French, but Russia and Austria or the alliance, the tsarist government can never send troops to help the French fight?

Nationalism is a double-edged sword. As long as we agitate nationalism in Germany, Vienna cannot sit back and watch the French annex the Rhineland.

There is also a joint defense treaty. Although the French are strong, Austria is also not weak. With the addition of Spain, Belgium, and the German Federation, the French do not have much chance of winning.

Napoleon III is not stupid, and it is impossible to take risks without a chance.

...

The three countries of Russia, France and Austria have joined forces to divide the European continent. I think this possibility is almost zero. The first is the uneven distribution of stolen goods.

The Russians could get too little, and Austria could not give up the German region. After the Russians obtained the general Poland, the way forward was blocked by Austria.

Of course, if the Tsarist government is willing to expand to the Nordic region.But Sweden is not a soft persimmon, and it is impossible to succeed without paying a certain price.

Moreover, the Russian-Russian war alone is so difficult to fight. Can the Russians still attack Sweden?"

This is a real problem. Although the Russian Empire is strong, its exhaustion has already been revealed.In the case of the Russian Empire before the Near East War, the Kingdom of Prussia had already received lunch.

The tsarist government did not rely on human tactics to kill Prussia. The main reason is that the government has no money.Increasing the number of frontline troops also means increasing military spending.

Fighting on the Boulder Plains, and rivers can transport strategic materials. In theory, even if the tsarist government sends a million troops, it can guarantee the supply of materials.

Under the condition of their own exhaustion, they divided Europe from Fao, and they obviously suffered a great loss.

It is only the area of ​​general Poland, as long as the defeat of the Kingdom of Prussia is enough, there is no need to take advantage of the fire.

"No, Raistlin. These are theories. You have to understand that the Russian Empire is a dictatorship. As long as the tsar thinks it is feasible, it may become a reality.

We cannot treat rational inferences as tsarist decisions.In fact, most Russian tsars are irrational.

Russia and France are all authoritarian governments. As long as the emperor makes a final decision, they can form an alliance. We cannot give them any chance to get close."

This is not the pessimism of Prime Minister John Russell, but a national leader must consider.For Great Britain, no risk is needed now, and "stability" is the most important thing.

No matter what step is involved in the relationship between France and Russia, there is always nothing wrong with disrupting their relationship.

The role of European crap sticks, they have provoked half of the contradictions in Europe for 100 years, and now it is time for performance.

...

The government of Berlin blocked it, the British were destroying, and naturally Franz could not be idle.

After being calculated, it must be counterattacked.However, all loan contracts have been signed, and naturally cannot be torn.Where to fight back from has become a realistic question.

Alexander II knew that using civilized means and secretly calculating within the scope of the rules, Franz naturally could not break the rules.

Conservatives who support the Russian Empire?

inappropriate!

This is because Russia's internal affairs are too deeply integrated. Apart from worsening relations between the two countries, it has no effect at all.Franz did not think that this group of people could fight Alexander II.

Secretly support the Revolutionary Party?

This is even more impossible.As an emperor, Franz and the Revolutionary Party were naturally in a hostile camp, and the enemy's business could not be done.

Moreover, the state of the Russian Empire is very bad. What if it is overthrown?

The decaying tsarist government is Austria ’s best ally, and the new Russia is the biggest threat to Austria. Franz dare not take this risk.

Provoking Russian relations with European countries?

It seems useless to do so, without Franz, now the Tsarist government has been gloriously isolated.

...

After much pondering, Franz reluctantly reached a conclusion: in the context of the Russian-Austrian League, the Russians could not help for a short time.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg proposed: "Your Majesty, the Tsarist Government has requested that we help us to modify a batch of breech rifles."

During the war years, even the tsarist government attached great importance to weapons and equipment.After personally feeling the power of the breech rifle, they also had to abandon the breech rifle.

The conversion of the forebore rifle to the breech rifle is of course to save costs.In this respect, the Russian-Russian war was not without contribution, at least for the tsarist government to learn careful calculation.

Refitting hundreds of thousands of rifles is just a small business.If it were not for the political significance of arms trade, neither of the foreign ministries of the two countries would need to come forward.

Franz thought about it and said, "Well, let them talk to the capitalists, we don't interfere in free trade.

Send someone to sell the breech rifle production line to the Russians, and by the way, sell them the converted old goods in our warehouse.

Remember to tell the Russians that the power of the breech artillery is also more advantageous, and it is recommended that they purchase a batch of trials."

It takes time to modify the forebore rifle, and the officers and soldiers on the frontline must not be able to wait. In this case, of course, only bought from Austria.

This was the dividend of selling the Austrian machinery equipment to the tsarist government during the Near East War.In addition to earning supporting service fees, the Russians had to choose Austria when purchasing equipment.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the tsarist government placed orders with Austria for the first time to purchase strategic materials. The main reason is that everyone has the same standard system.

The roads are paved, and Franz naturally cannot let the Russians get rid of the influence of the Austrian mechanical equipment in this weapon revolution, which is related to the future strategic layout.

If in a peaceful era, the Russians can naturally upgrade their weapons and equipment slowly, and the technical content of the breech weapons is too high, it just takes a few more years.

There is no big country that is willing to be subject to people for a long time in weapons and equipment.Alexander II is not a busy man, if it is not a lack of money, it is estimated that he has already started on the military system.

Unfortunately, the Russians were out of luck. The last weapon replacement encountered the Near East War.In order to save time, the Austrian equipment has become the mainstream in the army.

This time the weapons were renewed and the Russian-Russian war was encountered.The war will not wait for others, and Franz is ready to force the Russians to sell Austrian mechanical equipment once.

Want to get rid of the restrictions, do you know that the tsarist government has millions of troops?How much does it cost to change so many armies and also change the weapon production line?

If you have no money, then continue to use it.Anyway, from the cost point of view, the direct purchase of Austrian equipment system will not be much more expensive than independent research and development.

As for doing so, will it lose its independent research and development capabilities.This is not the concern of Russian bureaucrats. It is better to think about how to get rich after thinking so much.

With the use of the Austrian Ordnance Military Industrial System for two or three consecutive generations, the Russian weapon research and development personnel were almost abolished.In the future, if you want to get rid of this situation, you have to re-train talents.

Franz understands why Alexander II has always been unhappy with Austria. In this kind of situation, no one will be happy to change.

Unfortunately, this is a conspiracy, as he calculated Austria.Knowing that it was a pit, Franz would also smash real money into it, and now the same is true of the tsarist government.

In order to ensure the autonomy of the military industry, it is impossible to disregard the needs of frontline warfare, and let the soldiers hold backward breech equipment to give the enemy heads?

This is really giving people a head. The breech rifle can be played on its stomach, while the breech rifle can only play volleyball tactics.

As long as you think about it, you will know how miserable you will be abused if you encounter it on the battlefield.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg explained: "Your Majesty, we don't actually need to sell us, just delay the conversion speed.

The Prussians have performed very well recently, taking advantage of their weaponry and equipment to repeatedly hit the Russian army in field operations.

Although the Russians have the advantage of sea power and are constantly striking the coastal areas of the Kingdom of Prussia, they are not prepared enough to expand the results."

This is the core of the problem.Theoretically, as long as the Russian navy is covering the landing of the army, it blooms on all sides of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Prussia will collapse in a few months.

However, the tsarist government was not prepared. The navy did a good job of attacking the coast of the Kingdom of Prussia, but the army did not keep up with the expansion of the results.

The two countries are not far apart, and the expedition across the sea cannot be called, but the necessary logistics supplies are still indispensable.

There is no doubt that the Tsarist government does not have so many strategic materials, or that there is no way to ship so many strategic materials.

In order to supply frontline troops, the tsarist government must buy and buy.This is not just a lack of production capacity in the Russian Empire, the most important thing is that the traffic is too bad.

The Russian Polish region is one of their granaries. Most of the food supply in the St. Petersburg region comes from here. Now that the land has been lost, the Tsarist government will naturally adjust the grain from other regions.

The railway is not smooth, and it is transported in horse-drawn carriages and oxcarts. It takes at least a month to transport materials from Ukraine and Moscow to the front.

This also requires God to give face, if it is winter, it will be even worse, and it is possible to walk for two or three months.Such bad traffic not only increases costs, but also limits the amount of material transportation.

Frontline troops can also import strategic supplies from Austria next door.However, cross-sea operations will not work, even if importing materials from Austria, they must be transported around a large circle.

This is the Russian's own pot. If the navy is sent to attack the coastal area of ​​Prussia at the beginning of the war, then the rivers in the Polish region can be used to transport materials imported from Austria.

Don't think about it now, most parts of Russian Poland are in the hands of the enemy.At this time, material transportation must be carried out, either by land through Belarus, or by sea along the European continent.

No matter which way, the transportation of materials is limited.

Originally, the Russians could also buy strategic materials from various European countries, but unfortunately everyone did not buy Russian accounts.No one will do their business unless they come up with real money.

Because of financial problems, the Tsarist government could not purchase materials from various countries, which is why Alexander II was in a hurry to borrow money.

Only when the financial problems are solved can they raise enough strategic materials to give full play to the navy's advantages.