Chapter 2398: Europe II
"Italy's military strength may be really weak compared to other European powers, but the geographical environment of Italy makes this problem less prominent. In the mountains of northern Italy, Italians can consolidate their lives with very little force. Our own line of defense. The Italian mainland is like a sword that divides the Mediterranean into two halves. If Italy is on our side, with the strength of the Italian fleet and the Austro-Hungarian fleet, we can control the whole at the beginning of the war. Eastern Mediterranean and cut off the Suez Canal."
"With a little preparation, we can take advantage of the opportunity to enter the Eastern Mediterranean and turn the entire Mediterranean into the inner sea of the Allies. We will no longer face the Balkan line of defense, and the Bavarian Army will not have to fight **** battles between Turkey and Britain and France. The course of the war is also It will be greatly advanced, but unfortunately, due to some special reasons, Italy did not stand by our side. If we chose to favor Italy or be neutral, then could we not have both Italy and Turkey allies at the same time? After all, Because of the Russian relations, Turkey will not join the Allied Powers.” After Prince Albert finished speaking, he looked at the crown prince who was in charge.
"Italy's geographical location is really important, and as you said, because of geographical factors, Italy is easy to defend and difficult to attack. That's why Italy will vigorously develop its navy. If the Italian Navy and our Mediterranean fleet join forces, it can indeed be easy. Obtained dominance of the Mediterranean Sea. Prince Albert, from a military standpoint, what you said makes a certain sense.” Ruprecht said slowly.
"But, I want to say that you have too many subjective factors! Why are you sure that Italy will be on our side? You must know that Italy not only has a territorial dispute with Turkey, but also has a territorial dispute with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so good, isn’t it? Did we choose to harm the interests of our two allies in order to allow Italy to join us? If so? What is the significance of such an allies?"
"Italy has pursued vertical and horizontal relations before the founding of the nation. They will not be bound by treaties, nor will they stand on one side completely because of morality. The famous Italian Prime Minister Count Cavour is a very good politician. For Italy Friends and enemies are never static. He can cooperate with the French and Prussia. His foreign policy is changeable and elusive. This is not a problem for a country, but for For Deao, it feels terrible to have such an ally!"
"There is a saying that is right, that is, to stand on the side of the victor, and the Italians think this way, no matter how we suppress Italy before the war, as long as we can show a huge advantage in the war, then Italy will Will not choose to be our enemy easily, so instead of trying every means to win over all the allies who didn’t know whether they were on our side or the enemy’s side during the war, we might as well do what we have at hand. Fortunately, In the months after the war, whether it was the eastern or western front, we all showed a huge advantage." The crown prince said.
"But in a war, no one has ever felt that they have too many friends. If we can get the support of Italy, we will be able to win more easily. After all, you have just admitted that Italy’s geographic location does a great help in the military. The Italian Navy can also play a very important role." Prince Albert said.
So now the two parties who are arguing have entered the stage of talking with each other. The crown prince said that even if Germany is tolerant to Italy, Italy will not easily stand on his side, and Prince Albert insists that if Italy is on his side, then victory will come back sooner... So this matter has entered a deadlock, both sides use if as the premise, and hypothesis is the most difficult to apply! The crown prince can never say that he is a traverser, so I know that in history, Italy finally joined the Entente after 9 months of hesitation?
This kind of argument is meaningless, so if the crown prince wants to convince Prince Albert, then he must change his mind. As an outstanding military-political mixed talent, the crown prince naturally has other ways to demonstrate his arguments.
As the highest level in Germany, both the Kaiser and Ruprecht have carefully considered the question of whether Italy is worth wooing. In the end, the fundamental reason for not wooing Italy to join the Allies was not Italy's volatility or the crown prince's hatred of Italians, but strategically speaking, Italy's neutrality is better than standing on the side of the Allies! The Kaiser also agreed with this question, but William II did not mention these things to Prince Albert for a certain purpose.
"Let’s rearrange our thinking. First of all, we don’t need to assume that Italy is on the side of the Allies. After all, in history, even if we were not friendly to Italy, the Italians did not choose to join the Allies because of the shock of the empire. The empire has to pay a lot of price to buy Italy, we just need to simply calculate if Italy is on our side ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ then our war cost is all right." Ruprecht said.
"First of all, we have to make sure that Italy has a population of nearly 40 million, but their food self-sufficiency rate is less than 70%! In other words, if Italy is on our side, then we are responsible for at least 14 million Italians. The question of eating! That’s good, now answer me, where does this food come from?" Ruprecht asked.
"Actually, we need to provide Italians with more than just food. The iron ore and coal mines in Italy are very scarce. If we choose Italy as our ally, then we need to give Italy at least 8 million tons of coal each year. Smooth out Italy’s fuel gap, and then need to provide Italy with a series of raw materials such as rubber, non-ferrous metals, manganese ore, so good, have you ever thought about it, if these materials are transported from the German Empire to Italy, we need to consume extra How much material, manpower and material resources? You should be aware that there is no convenient railway transportation channel between us and Italy."
"This..." When Ruprecht mentioned the food problem, Prince Albert was actually a little confused, because he knew very well that under normal conditions in Germany, only grains can A good harvest year can meet the demand. At least one third of Germany's wheat needs to be imported from abroad. What's more, during the war, with various resources being invested in the military and related industries, a reduction in grain production is inevitable.
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