Rise of Australia

Chapter 389 We are defeated

The Battle of the Marne ended with a victory for the Anglo-French forces.

Of course, such a victory is quite tragic. In order to eliminate the German First and Second Armies, France paid nearly 22 casualties, and the British Expeditionary Force also suffered more than 4 casualties.

On the German side, the First and Second Armies lost most of their combat effectiveness, with nearly 22 casualties.

Since the outbreak of the war, the French army and the German army had a relatively close battle loss ratio, and it was the battle with the largest loss of the German army.

When William II heard the news of the defeat at the Marne River, he couldn't help being furious, and asked Little Mao Qi: "Why did you order the retreat from the Marne River?"

Seeing that the German army is already very close to Paris, retreating at this time not only means that Germany's planned strategy of attacking from the west and defending from the east has failed, but also means that Germany's chances of victory have been reduced by half.

At this time, Xiao Maoqi couldn't explain, his face was pale, and his expression was depressed.After hesitating for a long time, he spoke to William II: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's not just retreating from the Marne River. I think we have already lost this war."

The failure of the revised Schlieffen Plan also means that Germany has completely failed at the overall strategic level.

Unable to defeat France in a short period of time, Germany, which is facing France and Russia fighting on two fronts, is simply impossible to be the opponent of the Allied Powers.

What's more, France and Russia also have assistance from the United Kingdom and Australasia, which is not mentioned at all in the Schlieffen plan, that is, France and Russia are actually stronger than Germany.

The Schlieffen Plan is an excellent strategic plan for fighting against France and Russia, but this plan does not take into account the factors of other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australasia.

In the previous Battle of the Marne, the British Expeditionary Force played a vital role, sharing a considerable part of the pressure for the French army.

What's more, without the material support from Britain and Australasia, the military mobilization of France and Russia would not have been so successful and rapid, and the pressure on Germany's two-front combat would have eased a lot.

But how could the radical William II accept the defeat of the war? On the second day, William II dismissed Moltke as chief of staff and appointed Minister of War Falkenhayn as the new chief of staff.

On the day Falkenhayn took office, William II patted Falkenhayn on the shoulder and said a crucial sentence: "I don't accept the defeat of this war, and neither will Germany. Either fight to the end One soldier, or destroy the damn Entente and end this damn war."

It's a pity that Germany has lost the initiative in the war after its failure in the Battle of the Marne.

The French army relieved a considerable part of the pressure and successfully turned the Western Front War into a protracted war of attrition.

The French army built a large number of trenches and defensive positions in the current front area, which meant that they would either step over the corpses or stay in front of the positions.

There is also bad news for Germany. In addition to the forces of the Western Front, Russia also organized a large number of troops on the Eastern Front to charge the German positions.

In the first month before the war began, the Russians' eyes were mostly on Austria-Hungary.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire bore most of Russia's military strength for Germany, allowing Germany to have sufficient time and troops to complete the Western Front War.

But it is impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to withstand the offensive of the entire Russia, let alone the assistance of Serbia.

Perhaps it was their own selfishness. Under the order of Franz I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not implement William II's opinion very well, that is, to take defensive measures against Serbia and attack the Russian border with all its strength.

This caused a considerable part of the Austro-Hungarian army to stay on the Serbian border, blocking the Serbian residents with iron confidence.

After receiving material assistance from the United Kingdom and Australasia, Russia's military mobilization progress has made considerable progress, and hundreds of thousands of troops have been organized to attack the German border.

Although Russia failed in the offensive and defensive battle on the German-Russian border, it still caused a considerable impact on the eastern border of Germany, as well as very huge casualties.

Although the casualties on the Russian side were greater, the most indispensable thing for Russia was farmers who could take up weapons and become soldiers at any time.

Of course, the severe problems Germany is facing now have nothing to do with Mao Qi.All the mess was left to the new chief of staff, Falkenhan, to solve it.

Falkenhayn's first order after taking office was to send troops to attack Antwerp in Belgium to eliminate the threat of the rear flank of the German army in France.

Antwerp is an important port in Belgium, only more than 80 kilometers away from the North Sea, and is regarded as a safety valve by the United Kingdom.

In Antwerp at this time, 15 Belgian troops and 2 British troops were gathered.

In order to capture the strong city of Antwerp, Falkenhayn not only dispatched German troops that were still capable of fighting, but also recruited a large number of college student reserve troops and volunteers from Germany.

It is reported that only the college student reserve army, Falkenhayn has convened a full 3.6 people to participate in the offensive and defensive battles in Antwerp.

Such figures are very exaggerated, and it also proves Germany's efforts and achievements in education.

You know, in the whole of Australasia, there are currently only more than 4000 college graduates each year.

The education in Australasia has developed for more than ten years, but it only has nearly [-] college students.

Germany invested nearly [-] college students in a single battle. Such arrogance is beyond the imagination of a country like Australasia.

Of course, the arrogant ending is also tragic.Among the 3.6 college student reserve army, less than 6000 survived the Antwerp battle, only one-sixth of the total number.

It is worth mentioning that among these surviving reserve troops, there is a well-known name, that is, Hitler who launched the Second World War, Adolf Hitler.

At this time, Hitler was just a sergeant, an ordinary soldier who charged for his country.

At this time, he can't imagine his future glory and the disaster he brought to the European people.

The time when the German army broke through Antwerp was October 10, and a few days before Germany broke through Antwerp, the Australasian Expeditionary Force arrived in France one after another, and took French trains and transport vehicles to the German-French border to join the battle. War of attrition.

Because the Australasian Ministry of National Defense and its subordinate staff are extremely far away from the European battlefield, under Arthur's order, Scott Malone, the commander of the 30th Division, was promoted to be the interim chief of the Australasian Expeditionary Force. Commander, restrain the colonial army of up to [-].

According to Arthur's plan, every division commander of the main army going to the European battlefield will become the temporary commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force.

During their time as interim commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, it was not only a test of their commanding ability, but also a sign of trust in them.

After all, this is also an army of more than 30, and all command power is in the hands of one person, which shows the trust of the country and the royal family in it.

In fact, although the more than 30 army mercenaries were away, Arthur was not worried about any accidents in these troops, such as the situation where officers and mercenaries became self-reliant.

After all, the material consumption of the more than 30 troops is a problem. Although Britain bears half, Australasia itself is responsible for the other half.

Coupled with the good relationship between the United Kingdom and Australasia, if the Australasian Expeditionary Force breaks away from the government's control, the first thing it will face is the problem of eating, drinking and drinking for 30 people.

As time entered October 1914, the European battlefield became much quieter.The huge offensive and defensive war involving millions of troops has ended, and the next war will be a war of attrition about the country's potential.

Of all the countries participating in the war, the easiest should be the British Empire and Australasia.

If you have to decide a winner, Australasia is actually easier than the British Empire.

After all, the British Empire is still within the scope of Europe after all, and it is very close to France and Germany.

If France is defeated and Germany annexes part of Western Europe, it is possible to expand its influence to the British sphere of influence, such as across the English Channel and the North Sea.

This is unacceptable to the British Empire. If Germany dominates the European continent, then the British hegemony will no longer exist.

But Australasia does not have such troubles. Australasia is located in remote Oceania, so there is no need to worry about the influence of European countries.

This also caused Australasia to be the only country that was not greatly affected by the war among all the participating countries. Even the economy of Australasia achieved considerable growth due to a large amount of export trade to the Allies.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kevin, once reported to Arthur with a smile that if the current state continues to develop, Australia's financial situation will become better in 1914, and its fiscal revenue will also rise steadily.

More importantly, because the army and navy are cooperating with the Allied Powers in combat, this has caused Britain to bear nearly half of Australasia's military expenditure.

Calculated in this way, under the premise of an increase in Australasia's fiscal revenue, fiscal expenditures, especially military expenditures, have actually decreased.

This is still on the premise that European countries have certain material reserves and the demand for foreign orders is not large.

After the war continues to develop and European countries need a lot of weapons and resources, there is still more room for Australasia's finances to grow.

Only now did Arthur understand how good the Americans were in the original historical World War I.

This feeling of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, and still earning a lot of money is really wonderful.If Britain and France are not allies of Australasia, and Australasia still needs the support of Britain and France to fight against the United States, Arthur even wants to add a few more flames to the European war, and balance the balance by the way to give full play to the advantages of the British.

Balance policy, stir shit stick.The policies and reputation of the British Empire in this era are world-renowned.

As a monarch who was born in the British royal family, Arthur said that this policy still has merits, at least it is not at a loss when used on enemies.

At the end of October 1914, Arthur visited the Royal Dockyard on the construction of warships and delivered a speech, which was cheered and applauded by everyone on the scene.

Immediately afterwards, Arthur visited the major military factories, the current recruitment and production status.

The production of the military factory is related to the income of the royal family and the Australasian government, and Arthur attaches great importance to it.

After all, you can only make money if you produce it.If only the order is signed, Russia will not foolishly pay the full amount directly.

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(End of this chapter)