Chapter 396 The crisis brought about by victory

While the East Prussian campaign was going on, the Russian-Austrian border was not idle either. At Germany's urging, the Austro-Hungarian Empire assembled three armies, totaling 48 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry divisions, in preparation for an attack on Russia.

Russia, on the other hand, also hoarded the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Armies in an attempt to annex the entire Galicia in one battle.

The Battle of East Prussia was a hasty war that Russia had to launch under the pressure of Britain and France.

Then the encounter on the Russian-Austrian border can reveal the ambitions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia in this war.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to defeat Russia, move south and become the only great power in the Balkans, and take over all the Balkan countries.

Russia naturally wants to annex the fertile land of Galicia and at the same time reduce the power of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Balkans.

Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire invested millions of troops in the border areas, nearly two million to be precise.

This also makes the number of soldiers on the Eastern Front battlefield no less than that on the Western Front battlefield. If we look at the scale of soldiers on both sides alone, there may be more soldiers on the Eastern Front battlefield.

But in fact, this is just false prosperity. Everyone knows that the combat capabilities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian army are far inferior to those of France and Germany. If the main force of the German army is on the Eastern Front, Russia will have no room to fight back.

On February 1, the Austro-Hungarian First Army and the Russian Fourth Army encountered each other in the Krasinik area, and a fierce melee immediately began.

However, the combat capability of the Russian army was much inferior to that of the Austro-Hungarian army. After a fierce battle, the Russian army was successfully repulsed.

But the battle is far from over. Soon, Russia organized the Third and Eighth Armies to attack in the direction of Lviv and Galich.

At the same time, the Fourth and Fifth Armies implemented a roundabout encirclement on the left flank of the Austro-Hungarian Army, cutting off the Austro-Hungarian Army's retreat route toward Krakow, and surrounding the main force of the Austro-Hungarian Army as much as possible.

The real war started on February 3. The Russian Third and Eighth Armies soon fought with the Austro-Hungarian Third Army. The Fourth Army successfully delayed the Austro-Hungarian First Army and forced the Austro-Hungarian Empire to withdraw from Serbia. Call in the Second Army.

The gunfire continued until the afternoon of February 7. The Austro-Hungarian Second Army and the Third Army were forced to retreat after paying a large number of casualties.

The Russian army also pursued the victory and occupied Galich and Lviv.

Thanks to the personal command of Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian army exploded with strong combat effectiveness. It fought and won every battle and soon occupied the entire Galicia region.

This battle, which lasted for more than half a month, also cost the Austro-Hungarian army more than 400,000 casualties, while the Russian casualties were less than 230,000.

Such results were a huge blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Allies. After Russia occupied Galicia, it posed a threat to both Germany's Silesia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Hungary.

Faced with such a dangerous situation, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no choice but to ask Germany for help.

Germany could not ignore the dangers in its hinterland and its allies, so it could only mobilize troops from the west to strengthen the east and temporarily delay the Russian offensive.

Arthur couldn't help but be a little stunned when he saw the battle report sent from Europe.

The Russian army could easily defeat the Austro-Hungarian army, which Arthur did not expect.

After all, Russia's domestic system is too decadent. It is not easy for this ancient enemy country to explode such a powerful fighting force.

But thinking about it again, after the outbreak of the war, Australasia shipped many weapons and equipment to Russia, and Arthur was suddenly not surprised.

One of the most important factors that determines a soldier's combat effectiveness is the soldier's weapons, equipment and logistical supplies.

The main force on the front line of the Russian army is currently equipped with a large number of military weapons produced in Australasia, which has also virtually improved the combat effectiveness of the Russian army.

But victory on the Eastern Front battlefield was not a good thing for Russia, because Germany had mobilized a large number of troops to the Eastern Front.

Although Russia could show off its power against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it did not have much resistance against the German Army, the most powerful army in the world.

More importantly, the situation in Russia is not so stable. If a crisis occurs in Russia due to Germany's reinforcements on the Eastern Front, I am afraid that Russia will have civil strife earlier than in history, and even a greater crisis will break out.

And without Russia's Allied Powers, the strength will also be reduced by a considerable amount. Although Britain, France and Australia could defeat Germany together, the price paid by the Allied Powers to defeat Germany would definitely be much higher.

You know, Russia mobilized more than 10 million troops in the First World War in history, and suffered close to 2 million casualties.

These figures are because Russia's domestic statistics are very backward, and the actual number of casualties will definitely be higher.

This also means that more than 10 million troops need to be filled by the other three countries of the Allied Powers. Unless Australasia can organize millions of indigenous troops, it will have to reluctantly dispatch conventional troops to promote the victory of this war.

This also means that no matter what, Russia's domestic stability and the stability of the Eastern Front battlefield are very important.

Russia can share a considerable part of Germany's army. Judging from the current war situation, Britain, France and Australia cannot afford Russia's withdrawal from the war.

Thinking of this, Arthur also felt that he could not sit still and wait for death. It just so happened that the new weapons and equipment of the Royal Military Factory had been produced, and it was time to ship some of them to Russia to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Russian army.

February 17, 1915, St. Petersburg, Russia.

The defeat in the Battle of East Prussia kept Nicholas II from being angry for a few days, and the great success in the Battle of Galicia did not put a smile on Nicholas II's face again.

More importantly, Russia directly occupied the entire Galicia region. This direct expansion of land area is more gratifying than a victory in the battle.

It has been nearly half a year since the war began, and because Russia has remained unknown, Nicholas II, who had been holding his breath, was finally able to feel proud and proud. He pointed at the war situation map hanging on the wall and began to point out the country.

Nicholas II's appetite was not limited to the small Galicia region. If possible, Hungary, East Prussia and other regions were also within the scope of Nicholas II's consideration.

Of course, all the Polish areas previously divided with the Germans should also be recovered.

As a result, Russia occupies almost half of Eastern Europe. Together with the indirectly controlled Balkans, half of the land in Europe is controlled by Russia.

The Russian military and officials who seemed to be listening attentively had smiles on their faces at this time.

For an established country like Russia, the expansion of its territory is worthy of joy, and it is also worthy of joy to show its strength to the outside world.

You know, since entering the 20th century, the decline of established powers like Russia has been a commonplace topic.

Especially when facing a new country like the island country with obvious shortcomings, Russia almost had a draw, which is enough to prove Russia's weakness.

Coupled with the rise of Germany and the formation of the Allies, Russia became the fourth largest country in Europe, behind Britain, Germany and France.

After the outbreak of the war, Russia made no achievements in the first few months of the war. The general mobilization progress was even slow, soldiers had poor weapons and equipment, and the logistics and transportation system were poor. Europeans said that the steamroller was old, decayed, and degraded. .

This is not good news for the Russians. People will die when they get old, machines will be scrapped when they get old, and countries will be oppressed and annexed by new countries when they get old.

This victory over the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a re-declaration to the outside world for the Tsarist Empire and the Tsarist government. At least Russia was still the European steamroller, and it was still crushing lower-tier powers like Austria-Hungary in terms of strength.

Although it will not make people look at the Tsarist Empire again, at least people should sigh that a dead camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how decadent the top powers are, they cannot be compared to a small low-level power.

Of course, there is another reason that makes the entire Tsarist government happy, and that is Russia's great contribution in this battle. The Germans were even forced to send more reinforcements, which relieved the pressure on the Western Front battlefield.

Merit is also an assessment for the distribution of benefits after the war. For the tsarist government, the greater the credit it gets now, the greater the benefits it can get after the war.

As for the hundreds of thousands of casualties since the war broke out, who cares about the Tsarist Russian Empire with a population of more than 100 million?

Was it Nicholas II or the Tsarist government? Is it the Russian top brass or the capitalist tycoons?

No, no one except Russian civilians would care about these casualties. In the eyes of top Russian officials, these casualties are just a string of numbers, a string of numbers that can be changed at any time and are still increasing.

Just look at the annual birth figures in Russia and you will understand that the number of newborn babies alone every year is as high as millions or even millions.

Hundreds of thousands of casualties were nothing to mention for the Tsarist Empire, and it had no impact on Russia's annual population growth rate.

"Your Majesty, since the Germans have sent a large number of reinforcements, why don't we just rest and recuperate, and the frontline battlefield will be completely turned into a defensive state. In this way, we can not only defend the Galicia area we have occupied, but also complete the requirements of the French The task of holding back the German army can reduce our domestic casualties and consumption." The commander of the Galician campaign, Archduke Nicholas, arrived at the St. Petersburg conference room early and put forward his own point of view.

As the commander of the front line, Grand Duke Nicholas had a clear understanding of the gap between the strength of the Russian army and the strength of the German army.

Although the garrison in Germany's East Prussia region plus reinforcements will not exceed 500,000. But these 50 troops are enough to hold back Russia's nearly 2 million troops, and can even cause a large number of casualties to the Russian army.

Anyway, Russia's mobilization of troops from the Western Front has relieved France's crisis, and Germany has fulfilled France's requirements. There is no need to continue to consume the German army.

Although the Russian army does not lack soldiers, the weapons and equipment, bullets, artillery shells, etc. consumed in the war are still a huge expense.

From a military point of view, Grand Duke Nicholas's proposal was completely correct.

Russia has no strength and no need to waste time with Germany. Unless there are no unstable factors within Russia, which is simply not possible now.

However, for Russian officials who considered political factors more, Grand Duke Nicholas's proposal was somewhat nonsense.

Since we have already won, why not pursue the victory?

Isn’t that the East Prussia region of Germany, the Silesia region, and the Hungarian region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Why did Russia join the war? Just to gain land expansion, is it also to increase political power and status?

If it is satisfied with winning a battle, how can the government compete for more political status and rights?

Before Grand Duke Nicholas could explain further, the current Prime Minister of Tsarist Russia, Ivan Goremekin, immediately interrupted and retorted with a smile: "Mr. Chief of General Staff, the plan cannot be entirely based on military considerations. From a political perspective, We have to fight, and we must have another large-scale war and win, in order to stabilize our position among the Allied Powers and seek more benefits in the future distribution."

"If we stand still and switch to defense on the spot, we may be able to save a lot of resources and manpower, but the prestige accumulated by the empire over the past century will be destroyed, and our status in the country and the world will also be destroyed!"

"Mr. Prime Minister, prestige and status are stabilized by strength. Even if we use a big victory to stabilize our prestige and status according to what you said. After our troops and soldiers paid a lot of casualties, our post-war status And who can guarantee the distribution of interests? It is better to just give up and turn the front line into a defensive state. We only need to use a group army to hold back all the German troops, and then we can complete the tasks assigned to us by our allies.

When the benefits are distributed in the future, wouldn't it be better if we still have enough troops to protect our interests and status than making unnecessary sacrifices now? ” Archduke Nicholas responded with a sneer.

There is another more straightforward factor that Grand Duke Nicholas did not mention, which is the current frequent uprisings and civil strife in the Tsarist Russian Empire.

People marched, workers went on strike, revolutionaries made trouble, and the navy revolted. One thing is enough to destabilize a country, not to mention that the Tsarist Empire has already gathered enough people to form a table of mahjong.

Grand Duke Nicholas didn't know whether the government could withstand such heavy casualties, but Grand Duke Nicholas knew that if he continued to engage in this senseless war and consume his own army and national power, when a large-scale rebellion and crisis breaks out in the country in the future, But there really was no army to suppress it.

No matter how good the international status and territorial expansion are, they must be carried out on the premise of national stability and unity. Because the war caused internal instability in the empire, and some revolutionaries even took advantage of the chaos to split it up, it would be a source of laughter for thousands of years.

That’s it for today, 4,000 words, please take a day off.