Bulgarian Empire

The bourgeoisie was frightened, and Prime Minister Tisza breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Hungary does not split, he can accept either a republic or a constitutional monarchy.

Well, it was originally to discuss the second issue—whether Hungary should be independent, but in the end, the future political system of Hungary was first resolved.

Although the bourgeoisie was forced to choose the constitutional monarchy, they still wanted independence for their own benefit, while the aristocracy believed that staying in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was more in line with the long-term interests of the Hungarian Kingdom, and most of them supported staying in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The bourgeois radical Simon proposed: Everyone, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been decayed from the root, and the Kingdom of Hungary must leave this quagmire in order to achieve greater development!

If we stay in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, our market will be flooded with Austrian industrial and commercial products, let the Austrians continue to plunder our wealth through trade, and keep the Hungarian people in a state of poverty for a long time. This is something that no Hungarian can tolerate. of!

Only by establishing an independent country can the great Hungarian Kingdom be able to establish its own industrial system and get rid of the economic slavery of the Austrians!

Apparently his theory was full of selfishness, which was not convincing to everyone. Earl Carollier immediately retorted: Your Excellency is exaggerating. Don't forget that the Kingdom of Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire has also benefited a lot. Why don't you put Are these benefits also listed?

As for the market full of Austrian industrial and commercial products, it can only be said that you are looking for excuses for not working hard!

Whether it is an Austrian capitalist or a Hungarian capitalist, everyone enjoys the same conditions. If you can't compete with your opponent, you criticize the opponent as an exploiter?

Don't forget, everyone is the same, no one is cleaner than the other! In many cases, you even go too far!

Now that so many people in the Kingdom of Hungary are short of food, aren’t you still hoarding and driving up food prices?

Don't tell me you're not involved! Don't tell me that the Kingdom of Hungary is really short of food now, everyone knows the truth!

Is there any difference between ordinary people being exploited by you and being exploited by Austrian capitalists? Please don't say things in the name of the Hungarian people, this is very disgusting!

In this regard, the nobles are still qualified to despise the bourgeoisie. Although they also participated in the speculation of food prices, except for a few idiots, most of the nobles took the initiative to stabilize the market in their own fiefs!

Naturally, it is impossible for the bourgeoisie to just give up like this. In terms of shame, they are completely outrageous to noble gentlemen. Simply put, they are completely shameless. What is such a little attack?

I saw Simon said nonchalantly: This is our freedom, the law has endowed us with the sanctity of private property, and we have the right to deal with our own property!

Relief of the people is the responsibility of the government and has nothing to do with us. Please, Earl Carollier, don't impose these irrelevant responsibilities on us!

Food prices are skyrocketing, we are just following the laws of the market, this is not our responsibility! If the people don't want it, they don't have to buy it at all? We have never bought and bought by force, but we don't want some people to be so cheap!

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Obviously, everyone is not a good product. The capitalists are hoarding and speculating on food prices, and the nobles have also merged land. Everyone is a vested interest!

No, the aristocrats have not yet merged their land in this crisis. The main reason is that no matter how the price of food soars, the peasantry does not need to buy food, and there is no fire. Naturally, there will be no robbery while taking advantage of the fire!

Imagine reaching a compromise between the nobles and the capitalists, which is not something that can be done in a short while. In the current Kingdom of Hungary, the capitalists have won the support of the people, but the nobles are the real powerful faction, and no one will make concessions, and Prime Minister Tisza can do nothing.

Prime Minister Tisza said with a wry smile: Let's come here first today. Regarding the issue of whether the Kingdom of Hungary will withdraw from the Austro-Hungarian Empire,

Let's discuss later!

Now we still have to complete the first step - withdrawing from the Allies and joining the Allies. For safety reasons, I hope everyone can keep the content of today's meeting strictly confidential. The meeting is adjourned now!

Prime Minister Tisza knew that it was impossible to argue for a result today, so he was not in a hurry anyway, so it was better to deal with it later.

As a politician, he doesn't like the current out-of-control situation very much. Unfortunately, facing the two major classes of capitalists and aristocrats, the power of the Hungarian government is too weak, and it doesn't have much right to speak at all!

Well, Prime Minister Tisza did not want to comment on the short-sightedness of the capitalists. The Hungarian Kingdom can indeed benefit in the short term from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but in the long run, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

At least if you want to pay only 30% of the military expenditure, you can get the treatment of the great powers, it is impossible to happen again!

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In order to end the war as soon as possible, in December 1916, under the leadership of the British, the British and French allied forces launched the Battle of Ypres, which was also the third Battle of Ypres in the World War!

On December 13, 1916, the British army concentrated more than 3,300 artillery pieces and launched an offensive in the Ypres area. The British 5th Army was responsible for the main attack; the French 1st Army and the British 2nd Army served as assists.

On that day, the coalition forces took down the first line of defense of the German army with 30,000 casualties, but the Germans soon made tactical adjustments.

The German 4th Army organized a elastic defense to build a series of bunker groups surrounded by water on three sides, which were easy to defend and difficult to attack. Some troops were deployed to block the enemy, and the main force was deployed in depth to counterattack. heavy price.

The new tactics of the German army and the bad weather delayed the offensive of the coalition forces. Due to the large losses, on January 12, the coalition forces were forced to switch to the British 2nd Army as the main attack.

In the next half month, the coalition forces successively captured the Menen Road Ridge, Polygon Forest, and Bruce Ernde, gradually gaining the initiative on the battlefield.

During the battle, the British and French air forces controlled the air, and the artillery also displayed great power. The German army launched 11 counterattacks, all of which were defeated by the coalition forces.

From January 26th to February 6th, the British and French coalition forces launched two more attacks, captured the village of Pashandael, and advanced 8 kilometers. In the end, due to the heavy casualties and the arrival of German reinforcements, the coalition forces were defeated. Forced to stop the attack.

In the third Battle of Ypres launched by the British and French allied forces, the Allied Powers only won half of the victory, and the strategic goal of destroying the German submarine base was not achieved!

In this battle, the British army suffered 310,000 casualties, the French army suffered 12,000 casualties, and the German army lost about 270,000 people.

Although the victory in the third Battle of Ypres was not perfect, it was undoubtedly exciting news for the Allied Powers, which marked the beginning of a major counteroffensive on the Western Front.

The most noteworthy of these is the famous Messina explosion. There is a small town called Messina in the southeast of Ypres. The German army established a strong line of defense on the Messine ridge in the north of the village, with countless complex trenches. And the strong bunker, coupled with the condescending terrain, there is a tendency that one man is in charge of the other.

If there is a strong attack, the British and French allied forces will definitely suffer heavy losses, and there is a high possibility that they will return without success.

So the British commander Oliver Woodward decided to take a chance. He hired geological experts for exploration, and finally decided to give the Germans a blasting operation.

After the hard work of British, Canadian and Australian engineers, a total of 5454 meters long tunnels were dug, leading to 22 blasting chambers underground in the German positions.

Most of these tunnels are 20-30 meters deep underground, and the blasting chambers are located just under the main fortifications of the German army or at the most vulnerable key points of the geological structure.

Naturally, such a big movement could not be concealed from the Germans, but the German commander underestimated the determination of the British and did not pay enough attention to it. Before the war began, the German engineers only discovered one blasting chamber.

On January 15, 1917, everything was ready for the British army, and a total of 445 tons of high explosives were buried in the remaining 21 blasting chambers.

The largest blasting chamber was 80 meters in diameter, 12 meters high, and 27 meters deep from the German position above. It was stuffed with 41 tons of explosives in one breath, which can be called the largest landmine in history.

At three o'clock in the morning, the British started blasting operations and detonated the explosives. Only 19 of the 21 blasting chambers were finally detonated, but this was enough.

Tens of thousands of German soldiers were directly buried in the soil, and the sound of the explosion spread directly to Berlin and London, shocking the whole world!

The British, who had been prepared for a long time, put on earplugs one by one, and barely survived the disaster. But the German army on the opposite side was miserable. After the explosion, thousands of German soldiers completely lost their hearing due to the huge shock wave, and others were more or less affected.

When the British launched an attack, many German soldiers still did not slow down, but just sat there stupidly without moving, and entered the prisoner-of-war camp in a daze.

Oliver Woodward also became famous in the first battle. After the war, as the commander of the 1st Australian Tunnel Corps, he was awarded the rank of Major General of the Field Army and was one of only four Australians to be awarded this honor.

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