Chapter 451 A bold plan

As the Austro-Hungarian Empire's defense on the border completely failed, the peace faction headed by Emperor Karl I was obviously panicked. New 𝘹.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The Hungarian faction, in particular, was eager to reach an agreement with the Allies immediately to ensure that the Hungarian region would not be occupied and destroyed.

In the face of its own interests, the interests of the empire seem a bit narrow. Especially since the Hungarian and Austrian regions already have some conflicts, it has become impossible for the two regions to unite regardless of their own sacrifices.

Not to mention the conflicts between the two regions before the war, even during the war, the conflicts between the Austrian region and the Hungarian region were not small.

It can be seen from the terrain that Hungary is a very excellent grain-producing area because it has the Hungarian Great Plains, and it is also an important grain-producing area in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Austrian region is very mountainous, so its grain output cannot match that of Hungary. Therefore, a large part of the food in Hungary has been transported to Austria to alleviate the food shortage of the entire empire.

But from the outbreak of the war to the present, food prices in Hungary have risen rapidly. Hungarian capitalists have been hoarding food and even refused to sell food to the government.

Because of the rapid depreciation of the krona, Hungarian capitalists were no longer willing to exchange the Austro-Hungarian crown for food, but instead used the stronger pound sterling or gold.

At this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have enough pounds for trading, and it was even less possible to hand over the gold reserves, which were very important to the country, to the Kingdom of Hungary in exchange for food.

It is precisely because of this that the Royal Hungarian government actually boldly stated that Hungary was also short of food, which in turn required the imperial government to allocate funds to the Hungarian government to purchase enough food from the private sector to alleviate Hungary's food crisis.

Such words are simply ridiculous. The largest grain-producing area in the empire is actually short of food. Isn't this the same as the lack of water in the sea and the lack of stones on the land?

The Hungarian Kingdom could not implement the bill specially customized by the imperial government before the war to combat hoarding, because the Hungarian Kingdom had its own laws.

Especially after the death of Francis I, the economically powerful Karl I could not gain the allegiance of the Hungarian government at all. new igh.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The simplest example is that the Austro-Hungarian crown was not popular in Hungary, which made almost the whole of Europe laugh at the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Naturally, their own currency cannot circulate in their own country, which instantly caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire's krona to depreciate even more rapidly.

For the people, even the government of the Kingdom of Hungary is unwilling to recognize the value of the krona. Doesn’t this mean that the value of the krona is not trusted by the government at all?

To make matters worse, Hungary's big landowners and big capitalists have jointly announced that it is precisely because of the imperial government's previous large-scale purchase of grain in Hungary that Hungary is currently in a crisis of food shortage and rising food prices.

Although the credibility of these big capitalists' announcements is not high, there are still civilians who are willing to believe them.

For a time, the support of the imperial government in Hungary dropped significantly, and the Kingdom of Hungary seemed to be splitting away from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1. Prince Sixtus of Parma requested a meeting with the French government on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl I and conveyed Karl I's desire for peace.

Sixtus stated that Charles I was willing to cede Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Trento on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian government in exchange for peace.

For Karl I, although doing so would cause the Austro-Hungarian Empire to lose a lot of territory, it would at least ensure the stability of Austria, Hungary, Galicia and the Czech Republic. The basic foundation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was still there and it could still maintain its status as a great power.

But the price offered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire obviously could not be agreed by France, not to mention that France had the entire Entente behind it.

You know, all the conditions offered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire were under the control of the Allies. This also means that as long as the Allies are willing to forcefully occupy these lands at any time, there is no need for Austria-Hungary to cede them.

Sixtus's request was not even conveyed to the Allied Powers Conference and was directly rejected by the French government.

Although the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was conducive to the Allied Powers' victory in this war, the Allies' defeat was inevitable. Both France and the Allied Powers wanted to gain more benefits.

The news that France rejected the request for peace talks had just reached Karl I. Before Karl I could get angry and panicked, an even worse bad news came. new

After dozens of days of offensive, the Balkan coalition forces have approached the Slovenia region, and the Italian army has also captured Innsbruck and is advancing towards the Klagenfurt and Graz regions.

It was obvious that even with the help of a super-strength German army, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's front line was still in danger.

The long battle has caused the soldiers to lose their fighting spirit, and the problems between the various ethnic groups and countries in the Austro-Hungarian Empire have become more and more intense.

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was impossible to completely resist the attack of the Italian and Balkan coalition forces.

The Allied armies spread from the southwestern border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the southeastern border and even the eastern border. The Austro-Hungarian Empire simply did not have enough troops to defend these areas.

What's more, although Russia has not launched a campaign since the civil war, no one can guarantee whether the Russians will add insult to injury at such a critical moment.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire originally had a hatred for Russia. If the Russians added fuel to the fire, it would most likely cause the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire's defenses to collapse.

Of the more than 1 million troops in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, nearly 400,000 were deployed on the border of Galicia and Russia. This is the real reason why the Austro-Hungarian Empire has less than 800,000 mobilizable troops.

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Even though the southern front was in danger, the senior military officials of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still had no intention of mobilizing troops on the Russian border.

The imperial government clearly knew that the Italians and Balkans just wanted to cut off the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russians really wanted to kill the Austro-Hungarian Empire and annex Galicia and Hungary.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire could be completely defeated, the Russians could control the entire Balkans, exert influence over Constantinople, and extend their tentacles to the Mediterranean and even the Middle East.

As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will fall into an abyss of eternal destruction. Surrounded by powerful countries on several sides, it is impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rise again.

Even the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be divided among several major powers, just like the Kingdom of the Netherlands before.

The saddest thing for a country is to be surrounded by several more powerful countries.

Not only will your own development path be cut off, but your own land area will also be divided up by others.

At the suggestion of Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Walder Staden, King Karl I signed an order to adopt a comprehensive defense in the Slovenia area and mobilized the German Army Group and the elite of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to southern Austria, striving to take the lead in solving the Italian crisis. army.

From the perspective of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although the Italian army numbered more than 500,000, it was much larger than the Balkan army divided into two groups.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army lagged far behind the Balkan coalition led by the Australasian army. This also gave the senior military officials of the Austro-Hungarian Empire hope of quickly solving Italy.

As long as the Italians can be quickly eliminated and then the Slovenian region is defended with all their strength, although it will not completely change the current situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it will definitely be much better than the current situation.

This can be regarded as the last resort of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If it cannot change the dilemma faced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it can only pray that the Germans can win the spring offensive.

As the month progressed into May, the Australasian army was very close to Klagenfurt. However, unexpectedly, the combat effectiveness of the Austro-Hungarian Army faced along the way was not as good as before, resulting in the Australasian offensive not receiving much resistance.

Although the advancement of the current front line was much slower due to the full resistance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and various cities and fortresses, the advancement was very smooth.

Just when General Thomas was confused, the battle report from Italy solved General Thomas's doubts.

Since the launch of the campaign, the Italian army has demonstrated combat effectiveness that is not in line with the impressions of other countries.

In fact, this is also because the Austro-Hungarian armies faced by the Italian army were all new recruits or armies composed of multi-ethnic armies.

The combat effectiveness of this army is still much weaker than the elite army faced by the Balkan coalition. This is why the Italian army attacked so quickly.

But as time entered May, the Italian army was immediately attacked by the German Army Group and the elite troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As soon as they encountered the elite troops of the Allied Powers, the Italian army immediately showed real combat effectiveness. They were defeated by the Allied Powers and even Innsbruck, which they had worked so hard to capture, was returned.

Seeing that Trento was at risk of being captured, Italy suddenly couldn't sit still and asked Australasia in the Balkan direction to speed up its attack. At the same time, it asked Australasia if it could send reinforcements to assist Italy.

General Thomas naturally refused the Italians' request. The Australasian army was originally small, and he had no intention of sending troops to serve as cannon fodder for the Italians.

What's more, Australasia will not gain any benefits from the land captured for the Italians. This kind of thing will only increase casualties for itself, which Arthur repeatedly warned General Thomas to avoid before setting off.

Anyway, the Australasian Expeditionary Force has independent command authority, and no country, including Britain and France, has the right to forcibly mobilize the Australasian Expeditionary Force.

Although Hungary transferred its elite troops to the front line with Italy, General Thomas's original plan to join the Italians in Klagenfurt came to nothing.

But this is also a good thing for General Thomas. Because the Italians have the elite Austro-Hungarian Empire in check, the Australasian army can attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire with confidence. They only need to scout the land west of Klagenfurt to avoid outflanking the Austro-Hungarian Empire's elite troops.

In this way, the Italians would not only have to bear the attack of the elite troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the credit for capturing the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would also fall into the hands of the Australian army.

Naturally, General Thomas would not let go of this good deed of causing others to be injured and getting credit for himself.

Throwing the Italian players' telegram in the trash can, General Thomas immediately ordered the army to immediately move north to surround Klagenfurt, striving to capture this important town in Austria as soon as possible.

There is also an important town called Graz in the northeast of Klagenfurt. The two cities are not far away and are also important fortresses in southern Austria.

Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost these two cities, the road to Vienna would be smooth sailing, and the capital of the Austrian Empire would be wide open, waiting for the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Balkan coalition troops.

It must be said that this was a risky move for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If the Italians can be defeated in a short period of time and can successfully return to defend Klagenfurt and Graz, this will be a perfect strategic plan.

If it was delayed by the Italians for a period of time, leading to the capture of Klagenfurt and Graz, this would be a devastating blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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