Holy Roman Empire

"No, this is splitting the country, not unifying the country. Whether it is the establishment of a small Germany, or the division of North and South Germany, the final result is the destruction of this empire.

Is Germany divided in two still ours?Re-establishing Shinra and establishing a nominally unified empire is the key to our step-by-step approach. "

……

There can be no doubt that Franz owed a great deal to the spread of these garbled ideas.Many of the thoughts in this are all tossed out by him himself.

If you want to achieve the purpose of propaganda, you must not directly say: Austria wants to unify the German region, and everyone should unite under the banner of the Habsburg dynasty.

If it is so publicized, it is estimated that it will be suppressed by the governments of various countries from the very beginning.

Now throwing out all the messy unification plans like this will downplay Austria's figure, and everyone will think that it is spontaneous from the people.

In the eyes of most people, the idea of ​​Greater Germany and the theory of rebuilding the Holy Roman Empire may all be supported by the Austrian government, and the latter may also mean the small state of Germany.

The remaining ideas of Little Germany and the theory of the partition of North and South Germany were obviously created by the Prussians. These two ideas were the most widely spread in the Prussian region.

True or false, what is the real political position of the Austrian government?Franz would say that what kind of political views are in the interests of Austria is the political views of the Austrian government.

In the face of interests, national strategies and political concepts can all be changed.The reason why it has not changed is because the interests are not big enough.

Chapter 82 A War of Mistakes

Balkan Peninsula

The Russians have already shed blood with the coalition forces. It is worth mentioning that the Ottoman army with the largest number has become a supporting role in this war. The main force of the coalition forces has become Britain and France.

In the Sliven area, the two sides fell into a stalemate. The French blocked the progress of the Russians, and now every step forward has to be filled with human lives.

Because the Ottomans were weak, they were restrained by the Russian army with a small number of troops. Now there are 16 French troops against 28 Russian troops. It is very difficult for the French to block the Russians, and there is no counterattack.

The commander of the French army, Emable Jean-Jacques Pélissier, had a very headache. In the previous battle, he used [-] French troops to fight off [-] Russian troops, which can be described as brilliant results.

It's a pity that the allies are not strong enough. The Russian army only separated out a partial division, plus tens of thousands of Bulgarian guerrillas, they fought against more than 40 Ottoman troops, and they were able to gain the upper hand.Facing such teammates, everyone will have a headache.

Emable Jean Jacques Pelissier admitted that the lack of combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army was mainly caused by the tradition of eating nothing.

Even if it is discounted, there are always more than 30 Ottoman troops, which is almost twice the force advantage, and he is also drunk if he is suppressed and beaten by others.

The plan couldn't keep up with the rapid changes, overestimated the strength of the allies, and the war turned into a war of attrition. Even if they fought like this, even if they won this battle, they would lose both sides.

"Your Excellency, good news from the front line!" A young officer said in a deep voice

"Read!" said Emable Jean-Jacques Pélissier calmly.

"Yes!" the young officer replied

"In the early morning of September 1852, 9, the Seventh Infantry Division had an encounter with the enemy's No. 14 Division in the eastern area of ​​Sliven. After a day of bloody fighting, our army defeated the invading enemy.

此役，击毙敌军1328人、俘虏敌军16人、击伤敌军若干，缴获战马8匹、步枪628支、手枪28支、弹药若干。

Of course, our army also paid a heavy price.The 1236th Infantry Division suffered 784 casualties, of which 652 were killed, 196 were injured, and [-] were missing. The division commander, Major General Ore Hatton, was concentrated by stray bullets, and his life and death are unknown. "

Is this also a victory?Emable Jean-Jacques Pélissier was so skeptical that his officers forgot the concept of victory.

He also came up from the bottom, and he has long been tired of this little trick.Defeated the enemy army?It was clear that the battle ended at night, and they all dispersed.

If you win the battle, can you still lose nearly 200 people?If the French army had so many idiots, there would be no need to fight this war.Maybe these people are now in Russian prisoner-of-war camps.

Emable Jean Jacques Pélissier frowned and ordered: "Send someone to ask if that idiot Orehadun is dead, if he is still alive, come here as quickly as possible Report. If you die, let the chief of staff come over."

"Yes!" The young officer replied immediately

Emable Jean Jacques Pélissier did not believe this battle report. The casualties of the [-]th Infantry Division should be true, and no one would dare to fake these things.

But the brilliant victories are mostly nonsense. If they really win, there will not be so few prisoners.The Russian army is not the master who regards death as home, and the French army will not massacre prisoners at this time.

Emable Jean Jacques Pélissier didn't care about the outcome of this kind of encounter. The battlefield was changing rapidly, and it was acceptable to suffer a small loss occasionally.

The combat effectiveness of the French expeditionary force also has a gap. The troops with strong combat effectiveness can beat all the Russian troops, and the troops with the weakest combat effectiveness are also not the opponents of the elite Russian army.

The combat effectiveness of the Seventh Infantry Division is only moderate in the French army. If it encounters the main force of the Russian army, it is not surprising that it will suffer a bit.

After contemplating for a moment, Emable Jean Jacques Pélissier ordered: "Order the troops to focus on defense and try not to engage in a decisive battle with Russia.

We just need to drag them in the Sliven area, and wait for a breakthrough on the Sofia battlefield before fighting the Russians. "

The Ottoman army's combat effectiveness was weak, and the Sliven area could not make a breakthrough. Emable Jean Jacques Pélissier had given up his plan to fight the Russians here.

This is not France, and there is no need to work hard for the Ottomans. In the view of Emable Jean Jacques Pélissier, the priority now is to preserve strength.

They held back the main force of the Russians and fulfilled their ally obligations. It is not their responsibility that the Ottoman army failed to complete the task of cooperation, which made the combat plan unable to be implemented.

After the British have won the Sofia area, they will join forces to encircle and wipe out the Russians in front of them.Anyway, there are only more than 7 Russian troops over there, and 5 British troops plus 2 Sardinian troops and 3 Ottoman troops have an absolute advantage.

Otherwise, if you risk your life with the Russians now, even if you win the war in the end, there will not be much left of this French expeditionary force.

……

Russian Army Headquarters

Commander Menshikov didn't know it, and he escaped by luck.If the French try their best at this time, there is still a good chance of winning.

The combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army is not good, it is not good in a decisive battle, but it may not be in a favorable situation.

As long as the French army is not willing to suffer casualties and is willing to charge forward and beat down the arrogance of the Russian army, these Ottoman troops will follow suit and their combat effectiveness will come out.

"Order the troops and give me an attack at all costs. You must tear through the enemy's defenses as soon as possible. Don't worry about casualties. In the Principality of Wallachia, we still have 30 supplementary troops, and in Ukraine we need [-] reinforcements.

All we want is victory, and the Russian Empire has been waiting for almost 200 years for this victory, and nine generations have fought for it.

Now Constantinople is less than [-] kilometers away from us. If the enemy's defense line is torn apart, no one will be able to stop us. "

Menshikov said passionately, as if this is not the headquarters, but the podium, and he is giving an exciting speech.

How much are the Russians willing to pay for Constantinople?No one knows this question, but ask another way.

Is it worth paying millions of casualties for Constantinople?The answer of the Russians is: worth it!

From the first Russo-Turkish war to the present, the Russians have paid more than one million casualties for this fortress city. Have they wavered?

Menshikov knew the determination of the tsarist government, which was to win.

The small goal of this Russian-Turkish war is to capture Constantinople and lock the Bosphorus.The highest goal is to occupy the land along the two straits and turn the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea into Russia's inland sea.

Casualties were not considered by the tsarist government from the very beginning.As long as the war is won and tens of thousands of casualties and hundreds of thousands of casualties are paid, in the eyes of the tsarist government, this gap is just a number.

Lieutenant General Boulder questioned: "Your Excellency Commander, now we have done our best, if we increase the intensity of the attack, it is likely to leave opportunities for the enemy.

Everyone knows the combat effectiveness of the French. Except for a small number of elite troops who can compete with them, we can only rely on our strength.

In the area around Sliven, we do not have an absolute advantage in strength on the front of more than 100 kilometers. In many places, the enemy has an advantage in strength.

Now we have the upper hand, because the Ottomans are not strong enough.If you attack the French army blindly, it will consume a lot of strength.

If we don't take precautions and the French suddenly break out into a sneak attack, we are likely to suffer a little loss.At that time, these Ottoman troops with low combat effectiveness are likely to give us a fatal blow. "

Menshikov shook his head and said, "General Burd, you worry too much. The French are indeed very powerful, but their strength is too small.

Attacking the French army now is fighting with them.The French are not gods, they will collapse if there are too many casualties.

As I said, give them 3000 casualties a day, and within a month the French will collapse.

It is really worthwhile to win this battle with 10,000+ casualties.

If instead of destroying the elite French troops, they bully the Ottoman rabbits, even if we kill all the hundreds of thousands of rabbits, this war will still continue. "

The arm can't hold the thigh, and the coach wants to attack, so naturally he can only fight.Anyway, the dead are all gray animals, and there is no need for officers like them to charge forward.

……

sofia battlefield

Montes didn't know that the French allies had given him the burden of winning, and now he was counting on Sliven to make a breakthrough on the battlefield, so he beat the dog in the water.

As for commanding the army, defeat the Russian army in front of you, and then go to the back of the Russians to win this battle.

For such a difficult task, let the allies do it!In Montes' view, the combat-capable troops in his hands were [-] British troops, plus a maximum of [-] Sardinian troops, and the Ottomans could not count on them at all.

There are also more than 7 Russian troops on the opposite side, and there is also a Bulgarian guerrilla. The combat effectiveness of the guerrillas is not worth mentioning. It is estimated that it is about the same as the Ottomans.

With [-] against [-], even if you win the victory, you have to suffer heavy losses.

Montes is only here to gain military exploits, not asking for trouble.The domestic bureaucrats don't care, they only look at the results of their contributions on the battlefield.

To put it simply, it is how many enemies have been killed and how much they have paid.The French were in deep siege before, and they could all play an exchange ratio of 1:1.3. Now they are playing [-] against [-], and they must play more beautifully.

Guerrillas were not considered by the bureaucrats in London and could not be counted in the record. They only recognized the regular army.

Before fighting the Russians, Montes was still very confident.After the fight, this confidence is gone.In terms of comprehensive combat effectiveness, the British army does have an advantage, but this advantage is not obvious.

At least [-] British troops will not be able to defeat [-] Russian troops. If the Russian troops on the opposite side have not changed their outfits, then it is not impossible to do so by virtue of their superior firepower.

Before the replacement, the rifles used by the Russian army had a range of only 200 yards, while the British army’s rifles had a range of more than 1000 yards. In terms of firing rate, the British army’s rifles were also at least 30.00% faster, and the artillery had a greater advantage.

(Note: 1 yard is equal to 0.91 meters)

Historically, during the Crimean War, the Russians suffered a great loss in equipment and were brutally abused by the British and French allied forces.

It's different now, the Russian army who changed their outfits is catching up in terms of firepower.It was these troops that fought against the British in the early stage, which directly made Montes overestimate the strength of the Russians.

Based on this judgment, Montes made a limited attack and decided to consume the strength of the Russians first.To put it simply, it is to command the Ottoman army as cannon fodder, rush to the front to fight the Russian army, and the British will supervise the team.

On the surface, there is no problem with this, but in fact he ignored that such battles are actually helping the Russians train their troops.

If an army wins one battle, it becomes a veteran; if it wins three or five battles, it becomes an elite.This is how the elite teachers of this era were created.

Successive victories not only increase combat experience, but also confidence and morale.

The Ottoman army rushing forward, whose combat effectiveness is vulnerable, is giving experience to the Russians to help them complete the upgrade.

Fortunately, the Russian commander, Fitzroy Somerset, did not notice this either.Otherwise, he will transfer all the Russian troops to rotate several times, and the Russians will add another elite division.

Then there is no need for the British to fight in the following battles. Although their training is stricter than that of the Russians, elite troops cannot be established by training, and they have to go through the baptism of blood and fire.

Chapter 83 Kicking the Ball

Vienna

In the Austrian General Staff, Marshal Radeski is convening a group of officers to analyze actual combat cases, the object of which is this Balkan battle.

Based on the information in hand, everyone analyzed the gains and losses of both sides in this battle, and learned lessons from it.

Father, like son.

As a bystander, the Austrian General Staff, a bunch of paper talkers, criticized the two warring parties for nothing.

The Russians: They made a mistake in their strategic decision-making. They did not choose to break through from the weak Ottoman army, but fought against the French.Evaluation: The commander lacks military literacy and does not know how to adapt.

Allied Forces: The command authority is ambiguous, infighting is endless, and each other's hind legs are hindered, and the superiority of troops has not been brought into play.Evaluation: The inevitable result of multinational cooperation, which cannot be solved by human resources.

What they have in common: severe bureaucracy, chaotic command, and garbage in the logistics system.

Evaluation of the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the army:

French: 9.4

British: 9.6

Russians: 7.8

Montenegro: 10.5

Ottomans: 5

Sardinians: 5

Looking at the evaluation report, Franz's expression was very interesting.The fighting power of the British Army is actually higher than that of France. It is estimated that few people can accept this statement.

Even more bizarre, the combat power of the Montenegrin army is beyond the charts, and it is still above the major powers.

The rest are relatively normal. The Ottoman army and the Sardinian army are both scumbags with a combat effectiveness of only 5. This statement is widely recognized by the Austrian military.

The Greeks have not yet participated in the war and cannot make an accurate assessment. The Bulgarian guerrillas are not a regular army and were ignored by the staff.

As if aware of Franz's doubts, Marshal Radesky explained: "Your Majesty, the fighting will of the Montenegrin army is the strongest in all countries. Every Montenegrin has received military training since childhood, and his training is no worse than that of the armies of other countries. .Combined with the weapons and equipment we provide, the combat effectiveness they can explode is astonishing."

If people are not afraid of death, then the combat effectiveness will not be too bad.If coupled with the well-trained soldiers and advanced weapons and equipment, it is not surprising that the combat effectiveness will explode.

However, this kind of explosion also needs to be divided into places.Now the people of Montenegro are avenging and fighting for themselves, and their morale is high and their combat effectiveness is naturally explosive.

If the time and place were changed, this Montenegrin army might not have the same combat effectiveness.

Similarly, if the British and French troops fight at home and resist the invasion of foreign enemies, their combat effectiveness may also explode.