Chapter 144 Germany’s Opportunity

On December 16, 1902, a fleet mysteriously arrived at the port of Hamburg in the German Empire and received the attention and grand reception of the German Empire.

The leaders of the fleet were Australian Foreign Minister Andrew and Defense Minister Kent. They were greeted by a group of German convoys and quickly arrived at the Berlin City Palace in the German Empire.

Because of the good relations between Australia and the German Empire, the two ministers were quickly received by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Of course, the important news brought by the two ministers was also indispensable. This was the reason why William II was immediately alarmed.

"Dear His Majesty the Kaiser, on behalf of the Principality of Australia and His Majesty the Duke, I would like to express my sincere greetings to you." Just after meeting Kaiser Wilhelm II, Minister Andrew and Minister Kent faced William II with some respect. salute.

"Both of you, I heard that you have a piece of news to tell me about the important foreign policy of the German Empire. I wonder what kind of news it is that would allow the two ministers to take the trouble to come to Germany in person?" Kaiser Wilhelm II said calmly. The two ministers nodded and then asked with slight interest.

"His Majesty the Kaiser, have you ever heard of the agreement between Australia and the island countries a month ago?" Foreign Minister Andrew asked mysteriously.

"That's natural. Generally speaking, the military and economic treaties between you have their own pros and cons, but they have indeed had a certain impact on the situation in the Far East. But this is not related to the major foreign policy of the German Empire as you said. Is it related?" William II nodded and asked.

"It's exactly related, Your Majesty. This is also a good opportunity for the German Empire, and it may be able to get rid of the troubles of the Franco-Russian Entente." Minister Andrew no longer pretended to be arrogant, and explained with a smile.

"Oh? Are you saying that the Russian Empire will suffer defeat in the Far East?" William II asked with slight interest.

What unites France and Russia is not only the situation, but also the deep-rooted interests between the two countries.

Being able to get the Tsarist Empire to abandon the Franco-Russian Entente, or to remain neutral in the conflict between Germany and France, is unlikely to be possible unless Germany can save the Tsarist Russian Empire from some crises.

But can an island country with limited support from the British Empire and the United States really become an obstacle to the Russian Empire in the Far East, or even put the Russian Empire into crisis? I'm afraid it's unlikely to happen.

"Although I don't believe that the powerful Tsarist Russian Empire army will lose in the Far East, the intelligence we currently have shows that this is indeed the case. Looking at the situation in the Far East and the regional situation, the current comprehensive strength of the island country has surpassed the Tsarist Russian Empire, and the navy It can also compete with the navy of the Tsarist Russian Empire. This is bad news for the Tsarist Russian Empire, because they face a logistical supply problem that is dozens of times more severe than that of the island country. If the domestic logistical supply problem cannot be solved, then In the struggle for hegemony in the Far East, the Russian Empire will fall into a disadvantage sooner or later." Minister Andrew explained with a smile.

"Oh? Can you tell me more about it?" This question already represented William II's attitude. He was already curious about what Minister Andrew said about the German Empire's opportunity to win over the Russian Empire.

"Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, the Tsarist Empire only has less than 100,000 troops in the Far East, and the training level of these soldiers is worrying, and their weapons and equipment are also very backward. It is not difficult for these soldiers to defend the Far East in peacetime. But if they are fighting other powerful countries during war, these soldiers will be dwarfed by them." Minister Andrew said with a smile.

"At the same time, the island country's army has hundreds of thousands of people. Based on their population size, after extreme conscription, the total army can even be as high as three million. Although the Tsarist Empire can also reach this number, Even far more than this number. But the logistics of the Tsarist Empire did not support them in transporting a large number of troops to the Far East. Their maximum number of troops in the Far East was only about 200,000. Compared with 200,000 and 3 million, the number of people The difference is enough to decide everything.”

"More importantly, the island country's army training is partly based on the German Army. Although it is not as good as the German Army, the training quality and weapons and equipment are definitely not weaker than the Far East Army of the Tsarist Russian Empire. In terms of numbers and weapons and equipment, Xanadu has huge disadvantages, Your Majesty, who do you think will have the advantage in the Far East?" Minister Andrew asked with a smile.

"Don't Tsarist Russia still have a navy in the Far East? Such a huge navy can be enough to resist the fleets of island countries! As long as the navy of island countries cannot gain an advantage, then even if the army has a greater advantage, can't Tsarist Russia's navy also bombard island countries? The coast?" William II asked slightly puzzled.

In fact, not only William II, but even at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, most countries believed that the fleet of the Tsarist Empire was enough to resist the fleet of the island country.

Even if they cannot gain advantage or victory, they can still hold on to the ocean and cut off the island country's ocean transportation lines.

In this case, the war in the Far East will become a tug-of-war. The Tsarist Russian Empire, which has a larger land area and richer mineral resources, will undoubtedly gain a greater advantage.

But who would have thought that the island nation's fleet, which seemed to have little advantage, would actually kill the entire fleet of the Tsarist Russian Empire with only minimal damage, completely changing the situation of this war?

However, the current Russo-Japanese War has not yet occurred, and people have not experienced this surprising naval battle.

"Your Majesty, after the island country obtained several warships ordered from Australia, its naval strength is no longer weaker than the Far East Fleet of the Russian Empire. What's more, most of the battleships and new warships of the island country were built in the past ten years. The Russian Empire's Warships have generally been in service for more than ten years, and there are not many young warships. Coupled with the logistics problems that have been exposed before, the Far East, as the base camp of the island country, will have sufficient guarantees for logistics and transportation. But looking at the Tsarist Empire, Siberia The large railway has not yet been fully completed, and material transportation is a huge problem. What's more, the economy of the Tsarist Russian Empire relies largely on French loans, but France does not support the Tsarist Russian Empire in the situation in the Far East, which also leads to the The empire's finances are in very bad shape. Given all these factors, what reason do we have not to believe that the island nation, a newly rising country, will win in the competition for regional hegemony with established powers like the Tsarist Russia? What's more, the island nation The warship ordered from Australia is the Braunschweig-class battleship from Germany. Your Majesty must have heard about the performance of such an excellent warship. If the Tsarist Empire stops making progress, it is natural for it to lose its hegemony in the Far East. "

"Of course, if the Tsarist Empire loses its hegemony in the Far East, it will not be a good thing for the German Empire. The Tsarist Russian Empire, which has hegemony in the Far East, will put part of its energy into the Far East, which will also reduce the impact of the Franco-Russian Entente. The pressure from the German Empire. But if the Tsarist Russian Empire lost its hegemony in the Far East and its influence in the Far East was not that great, they would also focus more on Europe. The Tsarist Russian Empire under the Franco-Russian Entente would become One of the greatest enemies of the German Empire, unless the German Empire is willing to give up fighting the French."

So the question is, will the German Empire give up going against the French?

In addition to the long-standing feud between the two countries, the reason why the German Empire and France each joined opposing military blocs was also the conflict between the old colonial powers and the emerging industrial powers.

Emerging industrial powers like the German Empire also needed a large number of markets to dump their industrial products and obtain sufficient profits.

But here comes the problem. The old powers have always regarded their colonies as their own forbidden areas. Industrial products from other countries either have high tariffs or are basically inaccessible.

In addition, as industry and technology become more and more important to the country, emerging industrial countries have caught up with the established powers in terms of comprehensive strength, such as the German Empire catching up with France and the rise of the United States.

Because its status has gradually been raised to the same level, Germany's overall strength has even surpassed France and has become a relatively recognized second power.

Under such circumstances, Germany became increasingly dissatisfied with the shares of the old powers, Britain and France, in colonies around the world. Emerging industrial countries also needed land under the sky, not blue skies.

The previous Franco-Prussian War caused France to pay a large amount of reparations to Germany, and trampled on France's dignity before establishing the German Empire.

Due to various factors, the contradiction between France and Germany has become deeper and deeper, and has even become irreconcilable.

But there were not that many conflicts between the German Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire. There was even a brief period of the Three Emperors Alliance between the German Empire, the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Although this is a loose alliance temporarily compromised for short-term interests, the nature of the alliance determines that it will be disbanded one day.

But this is also a period of good cooperation between the German Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire. Being able to win over this country with huge war potential, or removing it from France's list of allies, is what Germany is looking forward to now.

William II nodded, temporarily agreeing with Minister Andrew's point of view.

The Tsarist Russian Empire must show a certain decline in the Far East, so as to reflect the importance of the German Empire to the Tsarist Russian Empire as a country that can support the Tsarist Russian Empire's Far East policy.

At the same time, the Tsarist Russian Empire cannot lose too many advantages in the Far East. A Tsarist Russian Empire that focuses all its attention on Europe is not a good thing for the German Empire, because at least in Europe, the Tsarist Russian Empire is more willing to cooperate with France formed an alliance, not with Germany.

This depends on many factors. Although French capital is obsessed with the high income generated by borrowing, it has reduced France's industrial improvement and technological development to a certain extent.

But this also has an advantage, that is, it can shorten the distance with some countries through loans, especially economically backward countries like Tsarist Russia.

After France made a large amount of loans to the Tsarist Russian Empire, the economy of the Tsarist Russian Empire was full of French factors, which also brought the two countries closer and closer.

At the same time, the German Empire, which had concluded the Triple Alliance Treaty with Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy, was moving further and further away from the Tsarist Russia.

First of all, there are now a lot of conflicts between the Austria-Hungary Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire, the allies of the German Empire. The two countries have many disputes on the borders and have very poor relations.

As the saying goes, the enemy of a friend is an enemy, and the friend of an enemy is also an enemy. In this way, the German Empire passed by the Tsarist Empire and became the opposite.

The reason why William II was so interested in the information Australia could provide was because he hoped to win over Britain and the Russian Empire.

The United Kingdom has always pursued a policy of isolation and balance, which generally helps the weaker party, but will not make the defeated party too weak, lest the weak party become stronger and become a new threat.

The current situation in Europe is relatively clear, divided into two military groups with distinct factions. Whether it is the Allied Powers group composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, or the Allied Powers group composed of the French Republic and the Tsarist Russian Empire, they are all trying to win over the British Empire. After all, this is currently the world's most well-deserved power.

However, the attitude of the British Empire has always been vague. On the basis that the forces on both sides were relatively balanced, the British Empire adopted a wait-and-see attitude and remained neutral until the end of Queen Victoria's era.

Now comes the era of King Edward VII. Because the relationship between Edward VII and William II was not good, this also made the relationship between the British Empire and the German Empire somewhat alienated.

Of course, one cannot deny that the rise of the German Empire and the development of the navy were one of the factors that alienated the British Empire and the German Empire.

The German Empire's target was the old powers that occupied a large number of colonies. In addition to France, wasn't there the British Empire?

Although the Germans did not say this clearly, the British Empire is indeed an old power and has the largest colony in the world today.

"Since you have come all the way from Australia, you must have some plans and plans, right? Tell me, what good suggestions does Arthur have for the current situation in Germany?" William II asked with a smile.

The purpose of allowing Australia to send two senior officials at the ministerial level to Germany was definitely not just to inform William II of the news.

The Australian royal family, that is, Arthur also has a general manager of royal affairs in Europe. If it is just to convey the news, just let the general manager of royal affairs deliver it. There is absolutely no need to go to war in such a big way.

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