I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 582: World War Must Give Way to Harvesting Crops
George asked himself, if it was Ferdinand of Romania who was assassinated, would George be able to avenge his friend by starting a world war, as William II did?

George asked himself if he could do it.

However, William II's purpose was not simple, and it was not necessarily to avenge his friend.

Even with Britain's strength, it still feels stretched to the limit in the arms race.

The Germans were not much better off.

Last year, the military expenditure of various countries, calculated in US dollars, was 6.8 million for Britain, 6.7 million for France, and 8.5 million for Russia.

On the Allied side, Italy had 4 million, Austria-Hungary had only 3.8 million, and Germany had 8.8 million, the highest military expenditure in the world.

Last year, Germany's GDP was $124.77 billion.

The reason for emphasizing the homeland is that Germany also has overseas colonies.

However, Germany's overseas colonies not only failed to generate income for Germany, but also required German funding to maintain colonial ruling order.

Therefore, most of Germany's overseas colonies were scraps that Britain and France looked down upon, and only then did it come to Germany.

This also explains why William II was determined to overthrow the world colonial system established by Britain and France.

Germany has only been unified for a few decades, and in terms of wealth accumulation, it is certainly not as good as Britain, or even the Russian Empire.

Germany's military expenditure was the highest in the world, so hidden behind William II's crazy appearance was a deep-seated economic crisis.

Simply put, if Germany doesn't fight, it will not be able to hold on.

The Imperial Chief of General Staff Sukhomlinov made two combat plans. One was that the Russian Empire would adopt a comprehensive defensive stance, never take the initiative to attack, wait for the German-Austrian alliance and the British-French alliance to be defeated, and then clean up the mess.

One is that if Austria-Hungary declares war on the Kingdom of Serbia, the Russian Empire will declare war on Austria-Hungary in accordance with the alliance, first defeat Austria-Hungary, and then join hands with Britain and France to attack Germany.

In both plans, even if the Russian Empire attacked, it would only take place in the Balkans.

So Nicholas wanted George to serve as commander-in-chief of the Balkan theater.

Nicholas the Younger was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the European Theater.

The Baltic Fleet was under the command of the European Theater during the war, and George was responsible for all Russian troops in the Balkans and the command of the Mediterranean Fleet.

As a strategic force, the Air Force is directly under the command of Nicholas.

"I'm fine, how about you, George?"

Little Nicholas was full of confidence; he finally got the chance to prove himself.

This opportunity is not limited to proving yourself on the battlefield.

It's also about the competition with George.

"That's fine with me—"

George is not afraid of competition, he just hopes that little Nicholas doesn't get too excited.

George was not worried if little Nicholas followed Sukhomlinov's plan strictly.

The Guards had armored vehicles as their tactical fulcrum, and the German army, lacking anti-armor weapons, found it difficult to pose a real threat to the Guards.

What George was afraid of was that if little Nicholas was eager to prove himself on the battlefield, his opponent would seize his weakness.

If George were to deal with little Nicholas, he would set a trap for little Nicholas and make him attack actively.

In that case, even if Nicholas the Younger's troops had an equipment advantage, they would be stuck in the offensive quagmire.

Alexander Millerand returned to France as soon as possible after Ferdinand's assassination.

George sent a telegram to Millerand, reminding him to prepare for war in advance.

In his call back to George, Miller thanked George for the reminder.

Then it was gone.

The French have good reasons.

Since Germany did not mobilize, France did not need to mobilize either.

George sent another telegram to Joffre, reminding him to pay attention to the movements of the German army.

Joffre was also grateful for George's reminder.

After thanking him, I did nothing.

George believed he had fulfilled his responsibility as an ally.

Peter came to George and complained that little Nicholas was stretching his arms too far.

When George was in charge of the Baltic Fleet, Kirill was restricted and only received a salary without holding any specific position.

After the Baltic Fleet was assigned to the European theater of operations, Nicholas the Younger ordered Kirill to be responsible for the logistical supply of the Baltic Fleet.

This was an absolutely lucrative job, previously held by Colonel Alexei, an officer from the Amur Military District.

Alexei was one of the children adopted by Yerohin, and he married Yerohin's eldest daughter Nina. George could only be thankful that little Nicholas could not reach out to the Kronstadt naval base.

The Kronstadt Naval Base is the gateway fortress of St. Petersburg and is still directly under the jurisdiction of George.

Alexei was quite capable and worked diligently. During the time he was in charge of the logistics of the Baltic Fleet, the accounts were clear and there were no problems.

George simply transferred Alexei to Constantinople and let Alexei participate in the management of Constantinople.

George's headquarters was in Constantinople.

Andrei had already arrived in Constantinople with Division You, and George then transferred Division Ha to strengthen the military strength of Constantinople.

After the fall of the Qing Empire, domestic warlords were divided and fighting continued. The Amur Military Region had no defense pressure. After the Kazakhstan Division was transferred over, the only standing army left in the Amur Military Region was the Nepali Division.

George transferred most of the Nikolay Division to Chita, leaving only one infantry regiment in Vladivostok.

Three servant divisions were transferred here at the same time as the Ha division.

As a result, there were only four divisions left in the Far East vassal army, and George would need to mobilize if he wanted to recruit more soldiers.

After arranging all this, George noticed that there was still no movement in Vienna.

This is strange.

When the crown prince was assassinated, William II was outraged and demanded that the old emperor of Austro-Hungary avenge the crown prince.

However, the old emperor had no intention of avenging the crown prince.

What is this for?
What George didn't know was that the old emperor was not angry at all, but instead felt a little relieved.

After the assassination of the Archduke and his wife, Joseph I said to his private secretary: "A higher power has restored order, which is difficult for me to do."

Well, it seems that Ferdinand's disobedience to Joseph I's request and his insistence on marrying Sophie did seriously affect the relationship between Joseph I and Archduke Ferdinand.

Joseph I did not even attend the funeral of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, who were hastily buried in their own family cemetery.

It is inconceivable that there was no mourning service for the Archduke and his wife in Vienna.

After all, even the Russian Empire held a three-week mourning period for the Grand Duke and his wife.

Unlike the calmness of Vienna, Berlin has been in unrest since the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, German ambassador to Vienna, Henryk von Czersky, sent a telegram to Wilhelm II stating that he had personally asked Austria-Hungary not to take premature action against the Kingdom of Serbia.

William II was furious and wrote on the telegram: Nonsense! Who gave you the power to do this? Serbia must be punished, immediately!

After learning of William II's instructions, Chershchik complained to his friends: Is this country, where all its joints are creaking, worth dragging on?
In Berlin, there were many people who shared Chershchi's attitude towards the German-Austrian alliance.

All rational Germans wanted to end their alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and instead ally with the Russian Empire in order to maximize their interests.

The only problem with an alliance with the Russian Empire is that the Russian Empire is too powerful. If Germany forms an alliance with the Russian Empire, it may cause Germany to lose its dominant position in the alliance relationship, which is unacceptable to William II.

Compared with the peaceful Vienna and the turbulent Berlin, Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Serbia, fell into madness after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.

After the news of the Archduke's assassination reached Belgrade, Belgrade was plunged into a sea of ​​joy. People took to the streets, hugging each other, cheering, and celebrating the death of the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

These people did not realize that the Kingdom of Serbia was in great danger because of the death of Archduke Ferdinand.

Belgrade newspapers and magazines exaggerated the situation, claiming that the Serbs in Bosnia were being retaliated against by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that tens of thousands of Serbs had been killed, and that women had been raped.

After Ferdinand's assassination, there was indeed some chaos in Bosnia, and many non-Serbs marched in Sarajevo holding the flag of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the portraits of the Archduke and his wife.

Some Serb living facilities were attacked by gangs of hooligans, most of which were limited to smashing windows with stones.

The attacks were quickly stopped and only one person was killed in the process.

Therefore, the claim by Belgrade newspapers that tens of thousands of people had died was completely false news. A British diplomat believed in a telegram to Britain that the behavior of the Belgrade newspapers was "shameful."

George also noticed the madness in Belgrade, and he personally sent a telegram to Peter I, reminding him not to over-stimulate Vienna.

In his reply to George, Peter I believed that if people were stopped from celebrating at this time, it would hurt the patriotic enthusiasm of the Serbs.

George finally felt a headache. Some of his teammates were really a worry.

However, the situation did not seem as serious as George had imagined. The Russian ambassador in Vienna claimed in a telegram to St. Petersburg that the assassination had not brought about any changes. The Austrians continued to listen to music and drink wine as if nothing had happened.

The news George received was that after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the top leadership of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was very busy, with meetings one after another. The meeting between Foreign Minister Berchtold, Field Marshal Kondra, Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza and old Emperor Joseph I lasted as long as 4 hours.

This was the limit for Joseph, who had been emperor for 60 years.

At this critical moment, George did not dare to overly provoke Vienna, so the exercises scheduled for June were cancelled, and the troops from various countries that had arrived in Sofia returned one after another.

George sent telegrams to all Balkan countries, asking them to prepare plans for mobilization at any time.

Ferdinand of Romania called George back and said that Romania could not mobilize before August because Romanian soldiers had to go home to harvest crops.

Harvest the crops!
George never imagined that the world war would be postponed for this reason.

(End of this chapter)