I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 590: The Three Giants of Imperial Russia

While Nicholas was comforting Alex, Sazonov came to the German Embassy in Russia to see Poutales off.

Germany has severed diplomatic relations with the Russian Empire, and Pterales is about to leave the Russian Empire and return to Germany.

Nicholas did not detain Pourtales, that would have meant nothing.

Before leaving, Sazonov said to Putales: "Although it is too late to say these words now, Russia has not given up negotiations. There is hope to avoid war. The decision is in your hands."

"If you want to avoid war, stop mobilizing," Putales said angrily.

Sazonov was helpless: "That's impossible——"

Putales said sadly: "What else can I say——"

Then both of their eyes became wet.

In his memoirs, Pourtales said that it was Sazonov who cried first.

Sasonov believed that it was Putales who cried first.

It's all meaningless. The fact is that when the German ambassador to Russia and the Russian foreign minister parted, the two men hugged each other and cried.

Sasonov and Putales hugged for a while, then they pushed each other away at the same time and accused each other.

"This is all your fault! You will be cursed!"

"We fight for honor!"

"You have no honor at all!"

As Putales boarded the train, he stumbled and nearly fell.

After the train left, Sazonov stood alone on the platform for a long time. No one knew what he was thinking.

Talking nonsense is the job of diplomats, and George is responsible for winning victory for the empire.

As soon as the war broke out, King Nicholas I of Montenegro sent all the troops of Montenegro to Serbia to help the Serbian army resist the invasion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This rare friendship did not get the due rewards. After the end of the original time and space war, the Kingdom of Montenegro was annexed by Serbia. Nikolai went into exile in France and never forgave Serbia for the rest of his life.

George placed Nicholas in an estate on the outskirts of Constantinople, near lush forests and scenic lakes.

Nicholas was very happy and lived a pleasant life in Constantinople. People visited him every day, not only because of his status, but also because of his two daughters, who married little Nicholas and his younger brother respectively.

Nicholas had five daughters, all of whom married European dignitaries.

So Nicholas, like Christian IX of Denmark, was also a European father-in-law.

After Venizelos' suicide, the mobilization of the Kingdom of Greece also entered the fast lane.

Unlike Bulgaria, Greece's mobilization did not go smoothly, especially in the areas annexed after the end of the Balkan War, where there was strong resistance to mobilization.

Georgy still had selfish motives. He mobilized mainly the areas annexed after the end of the Balkan War, using the war to achieve the goal of completely annexing Western Thrace.

This is normal. After annexing Western Thrace, the Kingdom of Greece did not implement a policy of recuperation in the newly acquired areas like the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Instead, it increased its exploitation of Western Thrace. This led to the former Ottomans living in Western Thrace being very dissatisfied with the rule of the Kingdom of Greece.

Take Thessaloniki and Kavala as examples. These two cities previously belonged to the Ottoman Empire. After the Balkan War, Thessaloniki was ceded to Greece, and Kavala became the most important port of the Bulgarian Kingdom on the Aegean coast.

King George I of Greece was assassinated in Thessaloniki, so the newly crowned King Constantine I was full of hatred for the city of Thessaloniki.

The Kingdom of Greece is full of ports, so Thessaloniki is far less important to the Kingdom of Greece than Kavala is to Bulgaria.

After Polis became the King of Bulgaria, he increased investment in Kavala, not only expanding the port and railway, but also exempting Kavala from taxes.

Not only did the Kingdom of Greece not exempt Thessaloniki from taxes, but it also doubled the tax rate, making the people of Thessaloniki miserable.

Thessaloniki and Kavala are only 120 km apart.

Both are former Ottoman cities, but one is full of large-scale construction, everyone has a job, incomes are increasing, and there is no taxation at all. A better life is beckoning.

One is that income decreased, the tax burden doubled, and all those who were suitable for military service had to be conscripted. One can imagine how the people of Thessaloniki felt.

After the Greek Kingdom announced its mobilization plan, the people of Western Thracian fled on a large scale, preferring to row fishing boats out to sea to escape Western Thrace.

Not only did Georgi not stop it, but he also opened the border to all the benefits.

George had no time to care about the Thracians who were rushing into Bulgaria. After the war broke out, the performance of the Russian army was hard to describe. When George was the head of the military reform, almost every decision he made was in preparation for a world war.

Before the war broke out, St. Petersburg stockpiled a huge amount of military supplies, at least enough to cope with the first batch of mobilization.

But the situation began to change when Nicholas sold his stockpile of rifles to Britain and France, and problems gradually emerged.

After determining that the overall strategy was to focus on defense, George stored military supplies mainly in the rear and did not store too many supplies in the border areas.

After the mobilization began, the railways were occupied by endless military trains, which were loaded with soldiers instead of supplies.

Nicholas the Younger also had problems with appointments. He divided the Russian army under his command into two parts. One part was led by Zhilinsky, who was responsible for the Russian-German border; the other part was led by Nikolai Yudovich Ivanov, commander of the Chiva Military District, who was responsible for the Russian-Austrian border.

Ivanov was born in 1851. He was an old general who participated in the Tenth Russo-Turkish War. He served as the commander of the Third Siberian Army in the Russo-Japanese War. Unfortunately, before the Third Army was dispatched to the front line, Russia began negotiations with Japan, and Ivanov did not get the opportunity to prove himself.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Ivanov was promoted to General of Artillery and served as Governor-General of Kronstadt and Commander-in-Chief of the Fortress. In 1908, he was transferred to the Kiev Military District.

There are problems with the appointment of these two people. Let’s talk about Ivanov first.

Before the outbreak of the war, Ivanov deployed his four army groups in a semi-arc from east to west on the Russian-Austrian border.

However, due to the slow movement of the 8th Army and its failure to deploy within the specified time, Ivanov's defense line was not complete.

Thanks to Conrad's mistake, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's B Group was also rushing to Galicia, and the Austrian army was also not fully prepared.

After the Russian Empire declared war, Ivanov immediately sent aircraft into the Austro-Hungarian Empire to conduct reconnaissance and determine the deployment of the Austrian army.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire also had aircraft, but there were only five in the entire Galicia region, and only two of them were usable, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire could only send cavalry into the Russian Empire for reconnaissance.

It was only then that Ivanov discovered that the deployment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was completely different from the intelligence the empire had previously obtained.

In order to avoid the Russian army being in an unfavorable situation after the outbreak of war, Ivanov decided to take the initiative to attack.

By the time George learned of this, the Battle of Galicia had already broken out.

Ivanov's reckless action completely disrupted George's previous plan.

Before Ivanov's action, the Russian army had more than twice the strength of the Austrian army. Even if the Russian army's intelligence was problematic, it could still make adjustments and wait for the Austrian army to launch an attack.

Zhilinsky's mistake was more serious than Ivanov's.

Under Zhilinsky's command were the Russian 1st and 2nd Armies.

These two armies are each equipped with two elite divisions from the Guards and are the main forces of the Russian army.

Zhilinsky appointed General of Cavalry Paul von Rennenkamp as commander-in-chief of the First Army and General of Cavalry Alexander Samsonov as commander-in-chief of the Second Army.

At first glance, this appointment seems to be fine.

The problem is that Zhilinsky overlooked the conflict between Rennenkamp and Samsonov.

Both Renningkamp and Samsonov participated in the Russo-Japanese War. During the war, Renningkamp and Samsonov had a bad relationship. Max Hoffmann, a military observer from Germany, revealed after the Russo-Japanese War that Renningkamp had a fight with Samsonov on the train platform.

The conflict between the two senior officers was so serious that they were about to fight each other. As Alexeev's chief of staff, Zhilinsky could not have been unaware of this situation.

In this situation, Zhilinsky still hoped that the two of them could work closely together to deal with the most powerful opponent of the Russian Empire. George didn't know what to say.

George sent a telegram directly to Nicholas the Younger, reminding him that there was something wrong with Zhilinsky's appointment.

Little Nicholas called George back a day later, saying that he respected Zhilinsky's arrangements and would not interfere with Zhilinsky's work.

This explanation seems to be similar to George's. George also trusts people he employs and does not employ people he does not trust.

By the time George sent his second telegram to Nicholas the Younger, the First and Second Armies had already entered Germany.

George then sent a third sternly worded telegram to Nicholas the Younger, demanding that he immediately remove Zhilinsky from his post and withdraw the troops that had already invaded Germany.

Instead of calling George back, Nicholas Jr. explained the situation to George in person in Bucharest.

The Kingdom of Romania was the most important ally of the Russian Empire, and Ferdinand and Nicholas the Younger had a good relationship. Naturally, Nicholas the Younger could not miss Ferdinand's coronation ceremony.

Nicholas also came, and the three giants of imperial Russia gathered together for the first time since the outbreak of the war.

(End of this chapter)