Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 483 I have to send
The confidence of Germany and France also spread to their allies. Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Italy all accelerated the expansion of their armies, and various mobilization propaganda and news reports spread throughout Europe.

Of all the countries that have expanded their armies, Germany and France have expanded the fastest. One reason is that Germany and France have more advanced transportation systems, allowing conscripted citizens to be transported quickly to form new armies.

In just six months, the number of troops in Germany and France both exceeded one million, making the confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe increasingly serious.

Due to their respective offensive plans, Germany and France have deployed over a million troops to confront each other on the Alsace-Lorraine border.

Unfortunately, the Germans and French were filled with hatred towards each other, and with so many troops confronting each other on the border, problems were bound to erupt sooner or later.

Sure enough, on July 15, 1912, a day that seemed ordinary for Spain, a fierce conflict broke out between Germany and France on the Alsace-Lorraine border. Dozens of soldiers were directly involved in the conflict, which ultimately resulted in two deaths and more than ten injuries.

This conflict was actually not a big deal, after all, only two people died, which was acceptable to both Germany and France.

But the question is, can the people of Germany and France accept that a conflict broke out at such a critical juncture and that people died?

Of course, this is unacceptable.

When the French people learned that the two dead soldiers were from the French side, their anger was completely ignited.

Hours after the news broke, thousands of Parisians gathered and marched through the streets of Paris, holding homemade banners with messages of revenge and war in French.

It was almost evening, but for the citizens of Paris, the approaching night did not hinder the march in the slightest.

As the news spread, around midnight, the number of people marching increased several times over, reaching tens of thousands.

The news was now completely out of control, and the French government could no longer ignore the opinions of tens of thousands of people. Moreover, behind these tens of thousands of protesters were even more people who supported the war and hated Germany.

On July 16, the French government issued a formal statement strongly condemning Germany's invasion of French territory and the resulting deaths of two French soldiers. The statement demanded that the German government hand over the perpetrators responsible for the deaths within 24 hours and apologize to the French government and the injured French citizens. Otherwise, it would be considered the highest form of provocation against the French government, and France would have the right to retaliate with military force.

The French government's demands received public support, and French public hatred towards Germany reached its peak.

The sudden outbreak of the incident immediately became a hot topic of discussion throughout Europe, and the question of what choice the German government would make became a source of curiosity for almost every European country.

What will the German government choose?
In reality, just like the current French government, the German government also had no choice.

The right and wrong of this conflict are no longer important. Neither Germany nor France can back down in this incident. Both governments have been swayed by domestic public opinion and the military.

Kaiser Wilhelm II astutely realized that the time for war had come. The German government could not back down in this diplomatic incident, nor could it show any sign of weakness.

Two hours after the French government issued its statement, the German government also issued a statement, pointing the finger at France as the cause of the border conflict. The statement said that the French government had detained several German soldiers on a routine patrol without cause, which led to the German army rescuing the soldiers.

The conflict between the two armies occurred during the rescue operation. The French army should bear the primary responsibility for the conflict. The German government is not required to apologize to the French government, nor is it required to provide any compensation.

Shortly after the German government issued its diplomatic statement, the French government responded. The French Foreign Ministry first strongly condemned the German government, stating that the French army detained the German soldiers because they had intruded into French territory.

During the detention of these German soldiers, the French not only provided them with the same rations as ordinary soldiers, but also did not harm them in any way.

On the contrary, the German army invaded French territory without any explanation and rescued the soldiers by force.

The German attack on the French army was barbaric, and the damage inflicted on the French forces was enormous. If the German government refuses to apologize, the French government will have to consider public opinion and may have to consider declaring war on Germany.

With Germany and France on the verge of war, other European countries are finally panicking.

The most panicked was Britain, which was not yet prepared for a super war because its navy had not yet reached the level of a two-power power it had planned for.

Although the British Navy remains the world's number one, the Spanish Navy, which is ranked second in the world, poses a significant threat to the British Navy, which also means that the British Royal Fleet is not invincible.

The German Navy, ranked third in the world, has also undergone significant development and poses a considerable threat to the British Navy.

The outbreak of war in Europe at this time was not good news for Britain, and the British government could not decide the course of the war unless it directly participated in it.

In order to avoid the outbreak of a major war in Europe, the British government contacted the French and German governments, hoping to negotiate on the border conflict and prevent a major war from sweeping across Europe.

However, the British government completely ignored the public opinion within Germany and France at this time. Under the overwhelming public opinion in both countries, neither Germany nor France had any other choice.

The German and French governments rejected the British government's requests for peace talks, which made the British government realize that the war was no longer something it could stop.

Sure enough, on July 17, 1912, in the last hour of the 24-hour deadline set by the French government, the German ambassador to Paris formally handed over a declaration of war to the French government, proudly declaring: "Since the French government is unwilling to take responsibility for the mistakes of its army, let the war decide all right and wrong."

Germany has declared war!
This European war broke out in a way no one expected, and it broke out so suddenly.

The only parties that truly anticipated the outbreak of war were probably Germany and France.

Why did Germany delay declaring war on France until the last hour of the 24-hour deadline? In reality, it was to buy time, allowing for a wider national mobilization.

Although the French government was unaware of Germany's tricks, it anticipated that war would break out soon.

In order to prepare for the response, on the advice of Chief of the General Staff Joffre, French President Armand Farrier also quietly issued a mobilization order, launching a nationwide mobilization.

Upon receiving Germany's declaration of war, French President Armand Farrier, angered by the arrogant attitude of the German ambassador, immediately ordered the French ambassador to deliver a declaration of war to the German government, and instructed Chief of Staff Joffre: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, now is your time to perform."

I no longer want to see the arrogant attitude of these Germans. It's time to make them understand that the glory of France cannot be trampled upon.

Chief of the General Staff Joffre naturally nodded in agreement. He was quite confident in the operational plan he had devised and believed that it was a good time to start the war. At least the French people were quite supportive of the war, which meant that France would have a steady stream of new recruits in the future, which was already great news.

Two and a half hours had passed by the time news of Germany and France declaring war on each other reached other European countries.

Carlo was also surprised by the way the European war broke out; he never expected that the world war in this world would be triggered by the conflict between Germany and France.

Perhaps the old Emperor Franz Joseph I will last longer in this world, after all, his second heir, his nephew Archduke Ferdinand, seems to have escaped the fate of being assassinated.

Carlo was now curious about the attitudes of their German and French allies. The war had broken out in a way that surprised him; would their allies, Germany and France, firmly uphold their obligations while simultaneously declaring war on their enemies?
Time quickly provided Carlo with the answer.

On July 18, 1912, Russia declared war on Germany, citing its obligation to fulfill the Franco-Russian alliance.

On the same day, Austria-Hungary also declared war on Russia, followed by France.

On this day, France and Germany also declared war on Austria-Hungary and Russia respectively, and the war spread from the Franco-German side to the entire Central Powers and Entente Powers.

Of course, there are exceptions.

As a member of the Tripartite Pact, Italy did not give a clear stance until Russia and Austria-Hungary entered the war. However, Italy had its reasons.

According to the Tripartite Pact, Germany and Austria-Hungary were obligated to provide full assistance to Italy should it be attacked by France. Italy was also obligated to fulfill the same duty should Germany be invaded by France.

The problem is that this war was not initiated by France against Germany, but by Germany against France.

If I had to say, this war should be considered as Germany invading France.

Since it was Germany that invaded France, Italy could naturally maintain neutrality, especially since Article 3 of the alliance treaty stipulated that when Russia attacked any of the contracting parties, the other two contracting parties should maintain good faith neutrality.

In other words, Italy's neutrality is entirely reasonable and does not violate the alliance treaty. This can be considered an additional condition that Italy set for itself a long time ago.

Unexpectedly, these additional conditions actually worked. The Italian government breathed a sigh of relief, as they were clearly not ready to join the war, at least not ready to deal with France and Russia.

Germany no longer had time to consider Italy's strategy of not expressing its stance.

On the same day that Germany declared war on France, it immediately invaded Luxembourg, and the declaration of war against Luxembourg was even issued after the country had been occupied.

At the same time, the German government also contacted the British government, hoping that the British government could persuade the Belgian government to agree to the German government's passage.

The British government also agreed to the German government's request, because the war had already broken out and the British government did not want to interfere in the war, or at least did not want to participate directly.

However, the British government overlooked Belgium's stance. Belgium certainly did not want German troops to pass through their territory.

What's the difference between agreeing to allow German troops passage and directly joining the Allies?
It would be even worse than joining the Allies directly, because after the German army passed through Belgium, in order to ensure the logistical supply of the front-line troops, they would definitely want to control the various cities and transportation hubs of Belgium.

In other words, there is no difference between being used as a transit route to Belgium and being occupied. Isn't this just a blatant invasion of Belgium under the guise of using transit as a pretext?

The Belgian government rejected the British government's request and firmly refused the German government's request to use its territory, which resulted in a declaration of war from the German government.

Of course, like Belgium, this declaration of war was also submitted after the outbreak of war.

However, unlike Luxembourg, where the German army did not encounter any significant resistance, in Belgium, the German army faced fierce resistance from the Belgian army.

It took the German army a full 12 days from their arrival at the border with Belgium to their capture of the Liege fortress.

The fierce resistance of the Belgian army was completely unexpected by the German army, which resulted in heavy casualties for the German army during the attack on the Liège fortress.

If it weren't for the use of a large number of large-caliber cannons, the Liege fortress probably wouldn't have been so easily captured by the German army.

In its attempt to capture this ancient military fortress, the German army suffered tens of thousands of casualties, making it a poor start.

The good news is that the French army's offensive has not been very successful either.

In the first few days of the war, both the German and French armies strictly followed their original offensive plans.

The German army concentrated most of its forces on the Belgian border, launching a heavy attack on the two neutral small countries of Belgium and Luxembourg.

The majority of the French army was concentrated in Alsace and Lorraine, attempting to reclaim the land that originally belonged to France at the very beginning of the war.

Because Moltke the Younger redeployed some of the German troops to the left flank, there were still hundreds of thousands of German troops defending Alsace and Lorraine at this time.

This also resulted in the French army's offensive being completely ineffective, and the battles in Alsace and Lorraine had devolved into a tug-of-war between the German and French armies.

Unlike in the past, when Britain declared war on Germany immediately after its invasion of Belgium, it made its stance clear.

In this world, the British government not only supported Germany's use of Belgium as a transit route, but also took no action after the German government declared war on Belgium, only slightly condemning the German government's act of launching an undeclared war.

The British government's actions also put Kaiser Wilhelm II at ease. As long as Britain expressed neutrality after Germany declared war on Belgium, it meant that Britain would most likely remain neutral in the subsequent war.

Spain has also made no move, which most likely means that no country will intervene in this war; it is a one-on-one battle between Germany and France.

Although Germany also faced pressure from Russia, it wasn't that Kaiser Wilhelm II looked down on Russia; rather, Russia's own mobilization system was too weak and its transportation system was too poor.

There were differing estimates within Germany regarding the mobilization times for French and Russian troops. The German General Staff believed that the French army should be mobilized within 25 days, while the Russian army would require at least three months. This meant that Germany would essentially not need to fight on two fronts for the first three months of the war.

After all, Austria-Hungary had also declared war on Russia at the same time, and the meager military force that Russia mobilized in the first three months was already quite capable of dealing with Austria-Hungary.

Don't forget that the Central Powers still have three allies—Italy, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire—who have not yet declared their involvement in the war.

If all the Central Powers had joined the war, the combined forces of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire alone would have been enough to give Russia a run for its money.

After capturing the Liège fortress in Belgium, the German army did not linger and immediately advanced towards Namur, Brussels, and Antwerp.

Once the German army had captured these three key Belgian cities, it could essentially declare that it had occupied the entire territory of Belgium.

Then we can establish supply depots in Belgium, which will facilitate the army's southward advance to continue attacking French territory.

Several days after the outbreak of war, Spain remained silent. European countries were speculating whether Spain would remain neutral, and even within Spain itself, the government held several discussions.

For Carlo, having planned for so long, he certainly wouldn't announce the start of the war in the early stages.

At this time, Germany and France were still very powerful, and using this war to weaken them was the best option for Spain.

Of course, while resources are being depleted, we still need to pay attention to the actions of the Russian government.

Carlo did not want Russia to withdraw from the war prematurely. For this reason, before the war broke out, the Spanish government urgently contacted the Italian government, hoping that the Italian government would remain neutral in this conflict and the subsequent war.

It's not that Italy is that important, but mainly because of its geographical location. If Italy also declares itself in the war, and Italian troops march to the French border, France will have to mobilize a large number of troops to the south to defend it.

This would leave France with fewer troops on the northern and eastern fronts, making it even more difficult for them to cope with a German offensive.

I don't know what the Italian government was thinking, but after the Spanish government made the proposal, the Italian government quickly agreed to remain neutral.

Considering Italy's historical actions, Carlo's decision to remain neutral at this time is not surprising. After all, this is Italy, the Italy capable of anything.

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(End of this chapter)