Rise of Australia

Chapter 451 Bold Plan
With the complete failure of the defense of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the border, the peace faction headed by Emperor Karl I was obviously a little flustered.

Especially the Hungarian faction, at this time, can't wait to reach an agreement with the Allied Powers immediately to ensure that the Hungarian region will not be occupied and destroyed.

In the face of its own interests, the interests of the empire appear a bit narrow.Especially under the premise that the Hungarian region and the Austrian region are somewhat contradictory, it has become impossible for the two regions to unite regardless of their own sacrifices.

Not to mention that these two regions had conflicts before the war, even during the war, the contradictions between the Austrian region and the Hungarian region were not small.

It can be seen from the terrain that Hungary is a very good grain-producing area because of its possession of the Hungarian Great Plain, and it is also an important grain-producing area of ​​​​the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As the Austrian region is mountainous, it is naturally impossible for the grain output to be comparable to that of the Hungarian region.Therefore, a large part of the food in Hungary has been transported to Austria to alleviate the food shortage in the entire empire.

However, from the outbreak of the war to the present, the price of grain in Hungary has risen rapidly, and the Hungarian capitalists have hoarded grain and even refused to sell grain to the government.

Because of the rapid depreciation of the krona, the Hungarian capitalists are no longer willing to exchange grain with the Austro-Hungarian krona, but instead use sterling or gold with a stronger value.

At this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have enough pounds to trade, and it was even more impossible to hand over the gold reserves that were very important to the country to the Kingdom of Hungary in exchange for food.

It is precisely because of this that the Hungarian Royal Government has boldly stated that Hungary is also short of food, which in turn requires the imperial government to allocate funds to the Hungarian government to purchase enough grain from the private sector to alleviate the food crisis in Hungary.

Such remarks are simply ridiculous. The largest grain-producing area in the empire is actually short of food. Isn't this equivalent to the lack of water in the sea and the lack of stones on the land?
The Kingdom of Hungary's bill to combat hoarding specially formulated by the imperial government before the war could not be implemented at all, because the Kingdom of Hungary had its own laws.

Especially after the death of Franz I, Karl I of the economic position could not obtain the allegiance of the Hungarian government at all.

The simplest example is that the Austro-Hungarian crown is not popular in Hungary, which makes almost the whole of Europe laugh at the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

My own currency can't be circulated in my own home, and it instantly depreciates the krona of the Austro-Hungarian Empire more quickly.

For the public, even the government of the Kingdom of Hungary is unwilling to recognize the value of the krona. Doesn’t this mean that the value of the krona is not trusted by the government at all?
To make matters worse, the big landlords and big capitalists in Hungary have jointly announced that it is precisely because the imperial government purchased grain in Hungary before that that Hungary is currently in a crisis of food shortage and rising food prices.

Although the credibility of the declarations of these big capitalists is not high, there are still civilians who are willing to believe them.

All of a sudden, the support of the imperial government in Hungary dropped sharply, and the Kingdom of Hungary seemed to be splitting from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

On April 1917, 4, Prince Sixtus of Parma appealed to the French government on behalf of Emperor Karl I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and conveyed Karl I's desire for peace.

Sixtus stated that Karl I was willing to cede Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Trento on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian government in exchange for peace.

For Karl I, although doing so would cause the Austro-Hungarian Empire to lose a large amount of land, it at least ensured the stability of Austria, Hungary, Galicia and the Czech Republic.

But the price offered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire obviously could not get the consent of France, not to mention the entire Allied Powers behind France.

You must know that all the conditions set by the Austro-Hungarian Empire are under the control of the Allied Powers.This also means that as long as the Allies are willing to forcibly occupy these lands at any time, there is no need for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to cede them.

Sixtus' request was not even conveyed to the Allied Conference and was directly rejected by the French government.

Although the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was conducive to the victory of the war by the Allied Powers, the failure of the Allied Powers was inevitable. Both France and the Allied Powers wanted to gain more benefits.

The news of France's rejection of the request for peace talks had just reached Karl I. Before Karl I was angry and panicked, a worse bad news came.

After dozens of days of offensive, the Balkan coalition forces have approached the Slovenian region, and the Italian army has also captured Innsbruck and is advancing towards the Klagenfurt and Graz regions.

It was clear that even with the help of a supernumerary German army, the Austro-Hungarian frontline was in jeopardy.

The long-term battle has made the soldiers lose their fighting spirit, and the problems among the various nations and countries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have become more and more intense.

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is impossible to completely resist the attack of the Italian and Balkan coalition forces.

The army of the Allied Powers spread from the southwestern border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the southeastern border and even the eastern border. The Austro-Hungarian Empire simply did not have enough troops to defend these areas.

What's more, although Russia has not launched a war since the civil strife, no one can guarantee whether the Russians will fall into trouble at such a critical moment.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire already had hatred with Russia. If the Russians add fuel to the fire, it is likely to cause the entire defense line of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to collapse.

Of the more than 100 million troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, nearly 40 were deployed on the border between Galicia and Russia. This is the real reason why the Austro-Hungarian Empire has less than 80 troops that can be mobilized.

Even though the southern front was already in jeopardy, the top military officials of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still had no intention of mobilizing troops on the Russian border.

The imperial government clearly knew that the Italians and the Balkans just wanted to cut flesh on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Russians really wanted to kill the Austro-Hungarian Empire and annex Galicia and Hungary.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire can be completely defeated, the Russians can control the entire Balkan Peninsula, exert influence on Constantinople, and extend their tentacles to the Mediterranean Sea and even the Middle East.

In this way, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will fall into the abyss of eternal doom, and it is impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rise again when it is surrounded by great powers on several sides.

Even the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be divided among several major powers, just like the Kingdom of the Netherlands before it.

For a country, the saddest thing is to be surrounded by several more powerful countries.

Not only will one's own development path be cut off, but even one's own land area will be divided up by others.

At the suggestion of the chief of the general staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ward Steinden, Karl I signed an order to take a comprehensive defense in the Slovenian region, mobilize the German Army and the elite of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to southern Austria, and try to take the lead in solving the Italian army.

From the perspective of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although the number of the Italian army exceeds 50, it is much larger than the Balkan army divided into two groups.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army lagged far behind the Balkan coalition forces led by the Australasian army, which also gave the top military officials of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the hope of quickly solving Italy.

As long as the Italians can be quickly dealt with, and then defend the Slovenian region with all their strength, although it will not completely change the status quo of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it will definitely be much better than the current situation.

This can be regarded as the last resort of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If the plight faced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot be changed, then we can only pray that the Germans can win the spring offensive.

As the day progressed into May, the Australasian army was closing in on Klagenfurt.But unexpectedly, the fighting power of the Austro-Hungarian army faced along the way was not as good as before, and the Australasian offensive did not receive much resistance.

Although due to the full resistance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, coupled with various cities and fortresses, the advancement of the front line was much slower, but the advancement was very smooth.

Just as General Thomas was wondering, the battle report from Italy resolved General Thomas' doubts.

Since the launch of the campaign, the Italian army has shown combat effectiveness that does not conform to the impressions of other countries.

In fact, this is also because the Austro-Hungarian army facing the Italian army is an army composed of recruits or multi-ethnic troops.

The combat effectiveness of this army is still much weaker than the elite army faced by the Balkan coalition forces, which is why the Italian army attacked so quickly.

But as time entered May, the Italian army was immediately attacked by the German army and the elite troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As soon as they encountered the elite army of the Allies, the Italian army immediately showed its real combat effectiveness. They were beaten to pieces by the Allied forces, and even returned to Innsbruck, which had been captured so hard.

Seeing that Trento was at risk of being captured, Italy couldn't sit still, and asked Australasia in the Balkan direction to speed up its attack, and at the same time asked whether Australasia could send reinforcements to assist Italy.

General Thomas naturally refused the request of the Italians.There are not many troops in Australasia, and he has no intention of sending troops to be cannon fodder for the Italians.

What's more, Australasia won't get any benefits from the land captured for the Italians. This kind of thing that will only increase casualties for himself is what Arthur repeatedly told General Thomas to avoid before he set off.

Anyway, the Australasian Expeditionary Force has an independent command, and no country, including Britain and France, has the right to forcibly mobilize the Australasian Expeditionary Force.

Although Hungary transferred its elite troops to the front line with Italy, General Thomas' plan to join the Italians in Klagenfurt fell through.

But this is also a good thing for General Thomas.Because of the Italians holding back the elite of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Australasian army can safely attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It only needs to scout the land west of Klagenfurt to avoid outflanking the elite troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In this way, the Italians will not only bear the attack of the elite troops of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but also the credit for capturing the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will also fall into the hands of the Australian army.

This kind of good thing that hurts others and gets credit for himself, General Thomas will naturally not let it go.

Throwing the Italian player's telegram in the trash can, General Thomas immediately ordered that the army immediately go north to surround Klagenfurt, striving to capture this important town in Austria as soon as possible.

There is also an important town called Graz in the northeast of Klagenfurt. The two cities are not far away and are also an important fortress in southern Austria.

Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire loses these two cities, the road to Vienna will be flat, and the capital of the Austrian Empire will be wide open, waiting for the luck of hundreds of thousands of Balkan coalition forces.

It has to be said that this is a risky move for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.If they can defeat the Italians in a short period of time and return to defend Klagenfurt and Graz smoothly, this is a perfect strategic plan.

If it is held up by the Italians for a period of time, resulting in the capture of Klagenfurt and Graz, it will be a devastating blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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(End of this chapter)