In fact, many people in the past time and space had misunderstandings about World War I. Especially in this dynasty, most people follow the textbooks and believe that "irreconcilable conflicts between imperialists led to the outbreak of the war", and firmly believe that after the Sarajevo incident, all countries became impatient.
War has begun.
Actually, that's not the case.
The contradiction does exist, and it is indeed very serious. The Germans are as if they are suffering from paranoia and are afraid that Russia and France will attack Germany together and destroy Germany. The French were frightened after being beaten in the Franco-Prussian War, and they are afraid of a Germany that is stronger than during the Franco-Prussian War.
Once again, Russia has proposed a crazy military expansion plan, preparing to increase its total military strength by 30 to 40% every year...
But the Russians felt they could be ready for a full-scale war around 1918, and other countries pretty much thought the same.
So in 1914, no one thought that a war would break out, even after Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated.
After the Sarajevo incident, throughout Bosnia, although there were some Austrian retaliations against the Slavs, the overall situation was very peaceful. Many Slavs spontaneously joined the Austrians in mourning the crown prince. The Slavs were not stupid and knew that the crown prince was a reformer.
Pai was the one who was preparing to bring the Slavs into the Austro-Hungarian political system to establish the Triarchal Empire. After learning about the death of his friend, the Kaiser immediately interrupted his vacation and returned to the Potsdam Palace to prepare to pay attention to the development of the situation. Within a few days
Later he went back to Beihai for vacation, because at that time he felt that it was impossible for a war to break out.
And this basically represents everyone's view in the first month after the Sarajevo incident.
In that era, it was very normal for politicians to be assassinated. In the twenty years before Sarajevo time, the President of the United States had been assassinated, the Russian Czar had been assassinated, and the French Prime Minister had been assassinated. In short, many people had been assassinated, so no one would do it for one assassination.
What a fuss. Not like now.
There are two main reasons why this assassination turned into a war three months later.
First of all, European countries have never fought a total war since they entered the industrial age. I didn’t know that this thing was so terrible. Secondly, there are all kinds of misunderstandings.
The Kaiser hoped that Vienna would take decisive and tough measures to solve the problem quickly before other countries could intervene. Then his Prime Minister and Foreign Minister understood that the Kaiser wanted Austria to use extreme measures, and Vienna simply believed that the Kaiser wanted a painful war.
In fact, the Kaiser was the one who least wanted to fight among the monarchs in Europe at that time, and Germany was also the last country among the great powers to start mobilizing for war.
Then the Austrians felt that Russia would not support Serbia, because in 1908, when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, Serbia asked for help from its protector Russia. The Russians were timid, and later in the First Balkan War, the Russians were timid again.
, the Second Balkan War was still timid. So Viana felt that St. Petersburg would be timid again this time, but at this time St. Petersburg was still worried about the previous egg reductions. It decided to be tough to the end this time. (.)
In addition to these, there are various misunderstandings, large and small. For example, Tsarist Russia’s war mobilization is divided into many stages because its territory is too vast and there are too many troops. For example, it has something called “preparatory war mobilization”
Actually, it was not really a nationwide mobilization. It was just asking each military region to increase its combat readiness level and prepare to receive the troops that would be sent up later. At that time, Russia only issued an order to prepare for war mobilization. In fact, there were no signs of reserve forces in the country at all.
, and did not adjust transportation and mobilize war supplies. However, Germany misunderstood and thought that Russia had begun war mobilization.
In short, in the previous time and space, all these misunderstandings together led to the outbreak of World War I. In the previous time and space, on August 1, 1914, after Germany and Russia declared war, the German Ambassador to Russia and the Russian Foreign Minister Sasonov hugged each other.
Together, weeping with the same voice, like a pair of gay people parting ways.
And in this time and space, the same thing is happening.
At two o'clock in the morning on September 16th, all printing plants in Paris received notices from their respective partners and immediately stopped printing that day's newspapers, and the typesetting workshops began to rearrange the front pages.
So at dawn the next day, the people in Paris who were waiting for the latest developments in political scandals and scandals suddenly discovered that the headlines on the front page were not what they wanted. But when they saw the big headline clearly, they understood the meaning behind the headline.
At that time, everyone was in panic.
Germany begins war mobilization!
Prussia, which once invaded France, captured French King Napoleon III alive at the Se Fortress, and brutally besieged Paris, has once again begun mobilizing for war!
Germany, which ceded Alsace and Lorraine, has once again begun war mobilization!
Many French people spontaneously gathered in front of the Strasbourg statue on the Place de la Concorde, which was still covered with black veil, and prayed devoutly, hoping that this time God would side with France and abandon those Protestants.
Clemenceau's "Zi You" newspaper was issued at lightning speed. It only contained a battle statement written by Clemenceau himself. He filled the lines of the article with his loud cry: "France will never
Will give in!"
The "Zi Youren" newspaper has a very good circulation in France, and this supplement, fueled by the news of the German mobilization, has become the most popular public publication in Paris. People gathered in the streets and alleys to discuss Germany's
General mobilization, a word spread among the crowd, spreading like a plague:
war!
At this time, it no longer mattered what the Kaiser's original intention was. The French just felt that the Germans were coming to attack us again. No ordinary people in Paris could connect Germany's war mobilization with what was happening in the distant Balkans.
For most ordinary people, the logical relationship is this: the Germans mobilize for war > the Germans want to fight > the closest one is France > Germany wants to fight France.
So in the eyes of the public, France has few options left: can't it just surrender?
However, French politicians are all sensible people. They know that Germany is intimidating the four Balkan countries and supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But they cannot go against the public's thinking because they are democratically elected officials in a republic.
Under the system, officials can kidnap public opinion. But public opinion, in turn, can also kidnap officials' decisions.
However, at this moment, the election of France's prime minister has ended, and Caillaux succeeded Poincaré as the prime minister of France as he wished. Therefore, the French government has not fallen into a situation where it is completely controlled by public opinion.
Since the 16th, Cayo has been meeting with all cabinet members to discuss countermeasures.
Most of the cabinet members believed that they should carefully comply with public opinion and communicate with Berlin on the one hand. On the other hand, they started the war mobilization in a low-key manner. Only Jean Jaurès, who was appointed by Caillaux as Finance Minister, held different opinions.
Jaures made an impassioned speech at the cabinet meeting: "Since we know that Berlin is only deterring the Balkans and is only doing it to show Britain, the public just misunderstood Berlin's intentions. Then we should explain to the public and let the public understand this,
Instead of responding with actions that are dangerous and easily misunderstood by Berlin!"
Caillaux looked at his friend calmly. Jaurès was an idealist - socialists are generally idealists. But Caillaux was not. Caillaux knew how to calm down the public who had been aroused by national sentiments.
It was so difficult that he did not respond to his friends' look for support.
At this time, the Foreign Minister spoke: "We will explain to Berlin..."
As soon as the Foreign Minister opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Jaurès: "What will the German public think?"
"Germany is an imperial country. As long as the Kaiser believes that we have no hostility, then everything will be fine."
"Really?" Jaures asked very openly, "Do you really think that's the case?"
"This..." The Foreign Minister was silent.
Yes. No one can guarantee that Berlin will not misunderstand what France means, or in other words, no one can guarantee that Germany will not deliberately misunderstand what France means.
"So, I think any act that actively stimulates war is stupid! Neither I nor the leaders of the guild will agree to this kind of thing! The industrial workers will have me come forward to explain, and I believe they will soon
You will accept this fact and feel at ease." Jaures's tone was firm, which made most of the cabinet members present frown.
Although socialists are allowed to exist in French politics, most politicians do not like them, but they have to admit that the unions controlled by socialists are very powerful.
This kind of power makes Jaurès's words sound less idealistic.
Then Cayo spoke.
He did not directly support his friends, but chose to "save the country through curves".
"I think everyone has overlooked an issue? Our former ally Russia has disappeared. The Soviet Union is now a friend of Germany. France cannot cope with Germany alone without fighting on two fronts. We all agree on this, don't we?"
The cabinet ministers looked at each other.
"So, we should confirm the ideas of the United Kingdom and the Chinese Federation before making a decision, right?"
As soon as Caillot finished speaking, Jaurès cast a grateful look at him.
"Okay," Cayo pretended not to notice, "I'll be here first today."
Jean Jaurès came out of the side door of the city and met former Prime Minister Poincaré who was chatting with others beside a car on the roadside.
Jaures had never liked this politician who favored big capitalists. In a sense, they were sworn enemies. So he planned to pretend not to see Poincaré and leave quietly.
But Poincaré rarely called out Jaures.
"I say, Jean," Poincaré never called Jaurès, "it's too late, everything that needs to be done has been done, and your attempt will have no meaning."
Jaures replied very unhappily: "No, I will continue to do my best to prevent the war."
"No," Poincaré said, "there's nothing more you need to do, someone is going to assassinate you on this corner."
In the last time and space, another conservative politician said the same thing to Jaures, and then Jaures died. France lost the last politician who was prepared to prevent it from going to war.
But Jaures in this time and space still does not believe in evil.
"So what? Ever since the Paris Commune, we have never been afraid of death." After speaking, Jaurès strode towards the street corner where Poincaré said.
So, a .38 Winchester bullet was shot into his heart.
Subsequently, France began general mobilization for war. (To be continued...)