Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The allied actions of the Allied Powers naturally cannot hide the Germans, but how to deal with them is a problem.

Once the Allied Powers work simultaneously on the Eastern, Western, and Southern Fronts, the life of the Allies will be difficult. Now the Austro-Hungarian Empire is obviously unable to restrain both Russia and Russia at the same time, even if it is difficult to face the previous one alone.

In line with the principle of working harder for the capable, naturally the Germans had to go in person, and then the problem came. First, taking into account the lack of strength of the third-line Germans, and secondly, it is difficult to guarantee logistical supplies.

The German Chief of Staff Fakkingham has returned to Berlin, and he is replaced by the famous German marshal August von Markensen.

Fackingham proposed: "Your Majesty, the Russians are now disabled, at least this winter they cannot cause us trouble; if it is only a Bulgarian, the Austro-Hungarian Empire should be able to cope, we should focus our forces on the Western Front to make a breakthrough, as long as If we can break through Paris, we can force the French to withdraw from the war. "

Obviously, Fakham Han, who has just won a great victory on the eastern front, also hopes to continue to replicate this miracle on the western front, playing an exchange ratio of 1: 2 or even 1: 3 to use brutal casualties to force the French to withdraw from the war.

However, his proposal did not receive the support of the German Supreme Commander, and Prime Minister Teo Baden von Batemann Holvig questioned: "Her Excellency Chief of Staff, how can you be sure that after we launched a comprehensive offensive on the Western Front, Russia People wo n’t launch a counterattack

Even the Russians did not have to spend much effort, as long as they cooperated with Bulgaria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not be able to withstand it. Our allies are now extremely weak, and if there is another major defeat on the front line, there may be a collapse at any time

What to do if we don't have the power to defeat the French before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

And even if we break through Paris, but the French still choose to continue the war, do we still have to fight so who can tell me when this war is heading? "

The prime minister in black means that the strategic goals set by Germany are beyond national power. The strategic goals must be lowered.

Fackingham said with a sneer, "So what is the opinion of Mr. Prime Minister, that we can win this war?"

Bateman Holvig said calmly: "Peace talks, using diplomacy to end the dilemma we are facing now

The Allies are not monolithic. We can have peace talks with them separately and end this war. "

This is not the first time that the "peace talks" have been proposed. Even in private, the Germans have contacted various countries, but the conditions between the two sides are too wide to reach an agreement.

This time Bateman Holwig was publicly mentioned here. Obviously, his "peace talks" are completely different from the previous private negotiations. Germany must make concessions and show sincerity.

William II asked blankly: "How to talk about the bottom line"

Negotiations are not so simple. This also involves major domestic interest groups. Making concessions in either direction will damage the interests of one or several interest groups.

Therefore, even if William II was very interested in the "peace talks", he could not reveal them, causing a rebound in domestic interest groups.

After being silent for a while, Bateman Holvig said calmly: "Before the peace talks, we must learn from the British and distinguish who is our primary enemy, who is our secondary enemy, and who else is Is our potential enemy

To treat our main enemy, we must suppress the dead, there is no possibility of easing; we can compromise and even cooperate with our secondary and potential enemies in the short term. "

William II's face is now very bad. Bateman Holvig is clearly accusing him of his foreign policy in the past. The failure to distinguish the primary and secondary causes the current embarrassing situation.

After a pause, Bateman Holvig continued, "In fact, we already have the answer to this question. Our main enemy is the French, our secondary enemy is the British, and the potential enemy is Russia and Bulgaria.

Therefore, we can now compromise with Russia and Bulgaria, which have little conflict of interest, in the short term, in exchange of interests in exchange for their withdrawal from the war.

The Russians are not asking too much now, they are just asking for territorial integrity, and we can fully satisfy them.

The Bulgarian asking price is slightly higher, but it is within our tolerance

For example: we can acquiesce the Ottoman Empire between Bulgaria and Russia, and let Romania and Austria divide between Romania and Russia. As a transaction, the Russians have to sever me a piece of land from Russian Poland to give us compensation.

In other areas, the borders of the pre-war countries were restored. In this way, we took into account the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, and the Russian Empire at the same time, and we could first end the war on the eastern and southern lines.

When the two countries withdraw from the war, and then negotiate with the British Empire, we can promise to abandon the plan of the Great Navy in exchange for the understanding of the British and then divide the French colonies together.

As long as this is done, there will be a Frenchman who will definitely not refuse our truce negotiations, then we will win this war. "

After that, Bateman Holvig chose to shut up. He knew that his proposal was definitely not so easy to pass, which meant that the Germans had to give up a lot of the benefits already in hand.

This also means that he stands on the opposite side of the three major interest groups of the German financial community, the navy, and the Junker aristocracy.

Sure enough Hindenburg retorted: "That is to say, this war we fought in vain, not only did we get no benefit on the eastern front, but even our biggest enemy, France, must be kept.

We paid such a great price and fought this war that you, politicians, will sacrifice the interests of our allies for peace. Is such peace useful for the great German Empire? "

Bateman Holvig didn't answer, but just glanced at Hindenburg coldly, the meaning was very clear, he was reminding Hindenburg not to forget that the information was a soldier of the German Empire, and he could not stand in the position of Junker aristocracy Consider issues

Perhaps aware of this, Hindenburg chose to shut up after speaking, and never spoke again. Class stance forced him to oppose this "peace talk", but he had to admit it was the easiest way to get the German Empire out of the present situation

The Minister of the Navy, Alfred von Tirpitz, spoke. He couldn't make any concessions on this issue, which was related to the future of the German Empire navy. As a staunch supporter of sea power theory, he believed that Germany must have a Fleet matching national strength

"Mr. Prime Minister, if we are to give up the sword in our hands for peace, what guarantee is there for such a peace?

Even if we have reached an agreement with the Allies now, but in the future they can still form an alliance to surround the empire. Can we continue to compromise?

Moreover, the lessons of this war are not enough. If not for the limited strength of our navy, can the British blockade us?

If there were no material blockade and we had won this war, we would not accept such a humiliating peace for the future of the empire. "

Bateman Holvig still has not refuted. Everyone knows these principles. The only thing everyone does not pay attention to is that the German Empire did not have such a strong national strength.

William II was very disappointed. Although he also believed that these conditions were a bit harsh on the German Empire, he hoped that someone could support the peace talks. After all, the war has now been carried out, and the prospects are getting less and less optimistic.

Against the military's objection, Bateman Holvig was not surprised at all. He just hoped for government support. If the government could give its full support, he could also persuade William II to force the peace talks.

Finance Minister Carl said with a bitter smile: "You, we have been running a fiscal deficit for more than ten years. What this means, everyone must know.

In addition, as far as I know, the domestic strategic material reserves have also fallen to the lowest point since the war began. If it was not for the military to gain something in Russia this time, maybe we will be hungry now. "

The Minister of the Interior cooperated: "Yes, our food reserves have reached a very dangerous number. If it were not for the military to bring back more than 5 million tons of food from Russia, we would be sad this winter.

Everyone knows that we are a food importer. We import millions of tons of agricultural products from overseas every year ~ www.novelmtl.com ~ Since the outbreak of the war, we can only import some food from a few neutral countries. Allied competition

Due to the factors of war, domestic food production continues to decline. Now our annual food gap is more than 3 million tons. If the war continues, this number will continue to increase.

It ’s not just that we lack food. Even the Austro-Hungarian empire has a food gap. Their annual food gap is more than one million tons.

Not to mention the Italians, their food gap is worse than ours, and I do n’t know how they will spend this winter. ”

The Minister of Logistics added: "Not only food shortages, but also shortages of other strategic materials. Due to factors of raw materials, our military production has almost reached its limit.

However, this number is not enough to support the war consumption of the front line. Our weapons and ammunition reserves have dropped to a very dangerous number and we cannot support three battlefields at the same time. "

Everyone understands that the Prime Minister in black is pushing the palace. He has bet on his political life. If he cannot convince the major political factions to jointly suppress domestic interest groups, then his prime minister position will be the first.

In this regard, everyone has to admire his courage and dare to stand on the opposite side of so many interest groups. Even if the war ends, he will not have a good life.

The decision is now in the hands of William II. If he dares to fully support Bateman Holvig's peace plan, then with the influence of the royal family in the army, he will have a lot of confidence in passing this resolution.

Of course, if it fails, the consequences will be very serious, the army may take over the government, and the royal family and government will be suspended.

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