Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 945

Compared to Spain, Switzerland, sandwiched between Faw, is even more tragic.Don't think about neutral horses, small countries have no choice.

If it is said that Austria wooed Russia and Spain because of political needs, then it drew Switzerland to make up the numbers.

It doesn't matter if you don't stand in line. Austria is peace-loving and will not force everyone to join.It's just that the post-war international order is established, and non-participating countries don't have to participate.

Regardless of the original time and space, Switzerland is very happy to be neutral. Even the EU is too lazy to join. It is based on the rise of the United States and the decline of Europe; now it is outside the system, and the final outcome is nothing more than a question of how to die.

Among other things, a food embargo will make Switzerland hungry for less than a year; a tariff barrier, Switzerland's nascent industry will soon return to the Middle Ages.

Needless to say, post-war Austria is absolutely capable of doing this.Neither the defeated France nor the independent kingdom of Sardinia can compete for Switzerland and Austria.

To put it bluntly, the hegemony also needs to stand up.Generally speaking, a chicken is chosen to kill the monkey.Austria is no exception. The only uncertainty now is who will become the hapless chicken.

The first way to survive in a small country is to know the current affairs.After Spain declared war on France, the Swiss government, which could not withstand the pressure, immediately declared war on the French.

After the members of the Anti-French League were assembled, Austria finally gathered an unrivaled general trend, even if the British were personally off the court, they could not make it back.

Vienna Palace, looking at the map full of flags, Franz slowly said: "The time for a decisive battle has arrived. With the addition of Russia, Spain, and Switzerland, the morale of the French has dropped to its lowest point.

To order the frontline troops to launch a full-scale counterattack, I have only one request, to weaken the French as much as possible.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to work hard to pull all the neutral countries in Europe into the water before the French surrendered, laying the foundation for the post-war reconstruction of the international order.

Of course, except for the British."

Yes, from the beginning to the end Franz did not count on the power of these new allies.

There are only two main purposes for pulling them in:

One is to bind more countries to the chariot, create as many enemies as possible for the French, and share the hatred together.

The second is to strike at the morale of the French, weaken the French's sense of resistance, increase the chances of victory for the decisive battle, and minimize the casualties of one's own side.

Of course, the benefits are even more incidental.There are only so many countries in the European continent. There are many countries participating in the war, and there are fewer countries that can become mediators. Even if the British want to interfere, they cannot draw enough allies.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg: "Your Majesty, there are now three neutral countries left on the European continent, and they have almost no interest in the French.

The temptation is simply unrealistic. If they are forced to declare war on the law, they may be forced to agree to the situation, but they will certainly be dissatisfied.

At the same time, we will leave the outside world with the impression of being domineering, which is not conducive to the establishment of post-war international order.

Anyway, their strength is limited, and participation in the war will not bring practical significance. It is better to let them go."

There is no doubt that these three neutral countries do not include Britain.From the beginning of the deterioration of Anglo-Russian relations, the Austrian government subconsciously excluded the British from Europe.

Looking at the map, Franz nodded thoughtfully.Now the neutral countries are Portugal, the Netherlands and the Nordic Federation.Even if they participated in the war, they had no chance to go to the battlefield.

Not only them, but even Franz of Russia and West Switzerland are not prepared to give them a chance to participate in the decisive battle.

Because of the geographical position, if the two countries react quickly, there may be a chance to join in the fun and participate in the game of beating the dog. Other countries that do not have borders need not think about it.

The French have a solid family background. Although participating in a decisive battle requires a certain price, it is not worth mentioning when compared with the huge profits.

The boss is not easy, especially when distributing benefits. If you want to convince everyone, the most basic fairness must be achieved.

Franz has already made plans to implement the principle of reciprocity of benefits and contributions, and how much he contributed to the anti-French war, and how much spoils he took after the war.

Those who make little contribution, apart from the initially promised benefits, the rest of the distribution of benefits has nothing to do with them.

This is no way. Austria wants to monopolize French Africa. Naturally, too many countries cannot participate in the decisive battle, otherwise it would be too ugly to eat alone.

In addition, another purpose is to brighten up the muscles to the outside world, so that everyone understands that this boss is worthy of his name, not a garish, and put his eyes on bright spots when he does things later.

...

On the battlefield of Central Europe, the elderly Marshal Patrice McMahon dragged his tired body for the final mobilization.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the old marshal is about to run out of oil.If not supported by strong beliefs, perhaps he has fallen.

Since the news of the Russians participating in the war, desperation has spread in the French camps, especially the Italian soldiers who made the most trouble, and some people even openly spread anti-war ideas in the camps.

In order to stabilize the military's morale, McMahon immediately ordered suppression and executed hundreds of people to stabilize the situation.

Iron and blood can shock people's hearts, but there is no way to restore morale.Perhaps the domestic officials do not understand, but the front-line generals know that the French army has fallen into a situation of internal and external troubles.

"Presumably you all know that the international situation has suddenly changed, the Russians have declared war on us, and Spain and Switzerland have also jumped out.

This is just the beginning. If we cannot defeat the enemy in front of us on the battlefield and smash the enemy's ambition, then more enemies will jump out.

France has reached the most dangerous moment, and now we need to take up arms to defend our homeland.

Regardless of their large numbers, they are actually a mob.As long as the leading Austria is defeated, the international anti-French forces will retreat.

..."

With a loud voice, Marshal Patrice McMahon instilled unbelievable chicken soup to the officers, hoping to inspire everyone's faith and win a ray of life for France.

As for the effect, the benevolent will see the benevolent, and the wise will see the wisdom.

Perhaps the Russians are far away, and they can't be beaten for a while; but Spain and Switzerland are next to them, even if the two countries do not send troops, they will still contain a large number of French troops.

Fortunately, Spain is separated by the Pyrenees Mountains. As long as the deployment of more than one hundred or two hundred thousand French troops, it can guard the door.

Switzerland is different. The area bordered by Fary is Mapingchuan, and the natural risks are all in Switzerland.Once the Austrian army broke out from Switzerland, they directly entered the heart of France.

To be precise, it is not "once", but has already happened.At the same time that Switzerland entered the war, an Austrian force had already set off from the Principality of Liechtenstein and entered the territory of Switzerland, obviously coming towards France.

Unlike the anti-French alliance with many people, France's war mobilization has reached its limit.So far, the total loss of the French army has exceeded two million.Including 800,000 to 900,000 ruined on the African continent, and more than one million lost on the European battlefield.

Although not all of these people died in the battle, there were still a large number of soldiers disabled and captured on the battlefield, but the essence was the same and they could not go to the battlefield again.

However, this is only the beginning.Since the Paris government decided to make a quick battle, the French army has to pay tens of thousands of casualties every day.

No matter how big a family is, they can't stand the toss.In the face of the cruel casualties, the officers and soldiers on the front line have long complained.

In the situation of the grassroots officers and soldiers, McMahon lacks skills and can only rely on high-level officers to do ideological work level by level to stimulate the fighting spirit of the soldiers as much as possible.

Before McMahon could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a young officer who broke in suddenly: "Marshal, the Austrians are attacking.

According to a telegram sent from the front line, the Austrian army's offensive was very strong. There were iron lump monsters all over the mountains. They were so powerful that there was no way to deal with them.

Our first line of defense has been broken. The 7th, 16th, 23rd, and 42nd Divisions on the front line have sent telegrams for help."

Hearing the "iron bump" monster, McMahon's face sank. It seems that the Austrian secret weapon was mentioned in the document that someone reported to him before.

It's a pity that Austria has too many secret weapons, most of which are smoke bombs released. No one knows what they can do before they are put on the battlefield.In addition, the lack of intelligence was directly ignored by McMahon.

Of course, even knowing in advance is useless.I haven't seen the power of armored troops before, in everyone's concept, they are heavy cavalry, nothing more than the outer armor behind.

With an order from Franz, a torrent of steel that had been hidden for many days spewed out, tanks and armored vehicles from southern Europe to central Europe.

Since the outbreak of the war, a decisive battle between France and Austria has broken out.On the one hand, the French army wanted a quick fight, and on the other hand, the Austrian army with a torrent of steel. The most exciting scene was staged on the European continent.

fighting?

No, it should be a massacre to be precise.

The confrontation between flesh and blood and the torrent of steel is inherently unfair.In addition, the French army had always been on the offensive side, and its fortifications were not very strong, and the result was a tragedy.

...