Berlin was in a state of shock regarding the military actions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ()
This is because Berchtold released smoke bombs towards Germany while Conrad was concentrating his troops. Berchtold originally intended to prevent Austria-Hungary's most reliable ally from worrying too much, but he ignored this
Doing so may bring negative consequences.
In the last time and space, Berchtold was a smart guy who was mistaken for his cleverness. He concealed the intentions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from everyone, including the Russians and Germans, before the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepared to declare war on Serbia. Not only that, he
Being too cautious and circumstantial in diplomatic negotiations with Russia led the Russians to draw a conclusion that was completely opposite to what he expected: At that time, Russian Foreign Minister Sasonov said to the Tsar, "The Austrians do not want to negotiate at all, even with us, Russia."
”, and in fact, what Berchtold wanted to express was “we collaborated to deceive the Serbs”.
In the chain of tragedies that led to the outbreak of World War I in the previous time and space, Berchtold was one of the chief culprits, and the other was Conrad.
In this time and space, Berchtold repeated his old tricks, and the Germans believed his story because Austria-Hungary did not conduct general mobilization for war.
So while Conrad was achieving his great victory, Kaiser Wilhelm II was having a tantrum in his huge office at the Berlin Palace.
"What do these Austrians want to do!" Wilhelm II knocked on his desk angrily.
In fact, whether Austria-Hungary used force against the Ottoman Empire would have little impact on Germany. Now Germany no longer has to worry about fighting on two fronts, so it is not afraid of a war with France at all. In the eyes of German generals, there is now a threat on the European continent.
Germany's only old rival is France. As for Britain, yes, Britain has a powerful navy, but its army is nothing compared to the huge armies of France and Germany.
The navy can't bring the ship to shore.
The British navy can indeed cut off Germany's imports through a naval blockade, and this is indeed quite fatal. At this time, Germany needs to import two million tons of nitrate and phosphate fertilizers every year, and must have six million tons of grain for feed.
In order to maintain domestic agricultural production. In addition, Germany's military industry needs to import camphor from the Federation of China - to be precise, from the Japanese Special Zone of the Ministry of Navy of the Federation of China - and cotton from the United States to extract nitroglycerine. It also needs to import from Chile
A large amount of sea guano was used to extract nitrogen. In short, German industry and agriculture at this time were completely integrated into the capitalist world market, and a British naval blockade would be fatal.
But the Germans believed that as long as France was defeated quickly, the British would not have the need for a naval blockade - they would not even have a chance to participate in the war.
What's more, Germany now has a weapon against the British naval blockade: sky battleships.
Some radical generals believe that when the British sky battleships have not yet formed a large scale, it is the best time to launch a "preventive war".
Therefore, Kaiser Wilhelm II's anger was not because the Austrians might push Germany into the pit of war.
He just felt that he was being underestimated.
Kaiser Wilhelm II was a mediocre monarch. Germany has been on a rapid rise since he came to the throne, but this has nothing to do with his personal civil and military achievements.
William II's father was a gentle and kind man, and his mother was the eldest princess of Victoria, Britain's recognized greatest queen. This eldest princess was smart and capable, and Isabella would have been too dazzling if it weren't for her divine ancestry.
She might be the one to inherit the crown of Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, she did not get the crown and fell in love with the heir to the most powerful du cai regime in Europe.
Although Britain in the 19th century still maintained the authority of the Queen, it was actually a relatively free constitutional monarchy. The enlightened Queen Victoria delegated many powers to Parliament, which led to the creation of modern Britain. In contrast, the Hohenzollern
The family's Germany is a du cai country with strong feudal ideas, and the Junker nobles with rich military traditions control everything.
After Queen Victoria's eldest daughter married to Germany, she worked hard to change Germany and turn Germany into a constitutional monarchy like the United Kingdom. However, this action made their couple the target of public criticism in the Prussian court. The first emperor of Germany was very hostile to
The son was very disappointed. The old warlord hated the British wife extremely and made everything difficult for her and his son.
However, Her Royal Highness the Princess was very strong. She supported her increasingly depressed husband, but the birth of her son William II almost destroyed the Princess. William II was born with polio. One day
One hand was completely atrophied, and he couldn't even straighten his neck.
As the heir to a country with a strong martial ethos, this flaw was fatal. Everyone regarded Wilhelm II as evidence that the eldest princess was not suitable to become the Queen of Germany. The entire Prussian court despised her. So Wilhelm II received the harshest treatment from his mother.
The nearly collapsed English woman abused her son crazily, hoping to correct his physical defects. In order to keep little William's neck upright, the strict mother forced him to wear restraints for several hours a day.
, which brought him terrible pain.
When William was growing up, this kind of pain always accompanied him. Correspondingly, he never received any praise. He once broke his head for three months in order to learn to ride a horse, and finally finally
He was able to ride a pony through the hills of East Prussia, but when he wanted to show off this success, he discovered that no one would praise him at all, because this was what a Prussian Junker noble should do.
The lack of maternal love, the strange eyes around him, and the lack of praise from others all made Wilhelm II extremely eager to be recognized by others.
In the last time and space, when Tirpitz proposed to him to build a powerful navy, he said, "Only if we have a navy that is equal to the British navy can we truly gain Britain's friendship." However, this later proved to be just
His wishful thinking.
In this time and space, William II's personality has not changed much.
He felt that Germany was being underestimated and was furious about it.
"Tell those Austrians that Germany does not support their continued expansion in the Balkans! Not at all! They must pay the price for deceiving Germany!" William II slammed his fist on the table again.
"However, we are allies with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Is it not a good idea to reply to Vienna like this?" said Foreign Secretary Zimmermann. While the Kaiser turned his back to look out the window to express his stubbornness, he and Prime Minister Bethe
Mannholweg looked at each other. It was obvious that the two of them were very dissatisfied with the Kaiser's behavior of deciding foreign policy based on his temper, but this was Germany and the Kaiser had supreme authority.
The political system Bismarck left to Germany required a strong prime minister to limit the authority of the Kaiser. But in fact, only Bismarck himself could control this system for half a century, but even he was eventually replaced by a new official.
William II, who was on fire, squeezed away.
This was not the first time that Wilhelm II caused trouble for German diplomacy because of his temper. Foreign Minister Zimmermann could only shake his head silently.
Although Zimmerman has his exaggerated and naive side - for example, although he has only spent a lot of time in the United States and has only the most superficial understanding of the United States, he still regards himself as an "expert on American issues" - but in addition to
Apart from this, he is basically qualified as foreign minister. He knows that this is not the right time to adopt such a tough attitude towards Austria-Hungary. This old empire has just achieved a long-lost victory. As an ally, instead of congratulating him, he stepped forward to give
It's a slap in the head that's inappropriate.
Zimmermann began to think about a gentler way to convey the Kaiser's will to Vienna.
At this moment, Zimmerman's confidential secretary broke into the office and handed a cable to the Foreign Secretary in full view of everyone.
The secretary was also a Prussian nobleman. He obviously knew that it was very inappropriate to break in as his identity at this time, but obviously, the importance of the message made him feel that he should do so.
Zimmerman immediately opened the message.
"What's going on?" William II asked angrily, "What's written on it?"
"Uh..." Zimmerman spent five seconds thinking about whether he should tell Kaiser Wilhelm II the news when he was angry. In the end, he felt that the consequences of telling the Kaiser now might be bad, but it was not bad enough to be worth it.
To the point of risking one's own status.
So he said: "Your Majesty, His Excellency Enver, Prime Minister and Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire, kindly asks us to mediate between Istanbul and Vienna and support them in calming down the domestic situation. To this end, he is prepared to provide us with Kuwait and another piece of the Mediterranean that we have chosen.
The Ottoman provinces along the coast served as a symbol of friendship between the two countries."
"Very good!" The Kaiser was overjoyed, "Excellent!"
Obviously the Kaiser found a realistic reason for his act of loyalty. Although Wilhelm II had a low self-esteem, was sensitive, and a little neurotic, he was not a fool. He knew that having no realistic reason to support his anger would threaten his authority in both government and the public.
At this time, the expression on the face of German Prime Minister Bateman, in Chinese, can be summed up simply as: "F*ck."
The faces of other ministers were similar.
The Kaiser, who was in ecstasy, did not notice the faces of the ministers at all. He continued to follow his own train of thought and said: "Immediately contact our ambassadors in Vienna and Constantinople in Istanbul. Gentlemen, we can finally...
There is a naval base on the Persian Gulf, so that our naval patrol system can be connected together. Like the British, the German Navy can get perfect protection on the world's oceans and cruise freely, thereby protecting our maritime interests.
"
I don’t know whether William II really didn’t think about how Britain would feel, or whether he thought about it but deliberately ignored it. (To be continued...)