Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 514 Reinforcing Troops in the Balkans

The peace negotiations between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire lasted a long time. Although many disagreements arose along the way, a satisfactory agreement was eventually reached without British intervention.

For the Ottoman Empire, this war was an absolutely devastating loss. All of the Ottoman Empire's European territories were incorporated into the Allied-controlled zone, including the ancient city of Constantinople.

The Ottoman Empire was also forced to move its capital to Ankara on the Anatolian Peninsula, completing the relocation earlier than in history.

In terms of Asian territories, the entire area from Iraq to Kuwait was historically occupied by Spain. Spanish troops also seized the coastal regions of the Emir of Rashid, meaning that all land on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, except for Bahrain and Qatar, belonged to Spain.

In the western part of the Middle East peninsula, including Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, the western Middle East peninsula was placed under French administration.

This makes France appear to have gained more than Spain on the surface, since most of the land along the Persian Gulf coast of Spain, apart from the Mesopotamian plain, is barren desert.

Russia, one of the three major powers of the Entente, also gained enormous benefits from this partition of the Ottoman Empire's territory.

Russia gained control of tens of thousands of square kilometers of land in the Caucasus region, and finally, after the outbreak of the World War, Russia received some truly good news.

After the treaty was signed, the Ottoman Empire would lose most of its territory except for the Anatolian Peninsula, making it the country that suffered the most severe losses since the outbreak of the World War.

The good news, however, was that the Ottoman Empire was able to emerge from the quagmire of the war. The world war was now far more chaotic, with the Central Powers and the Allied Powers each supported by Britain and Spain, respectively. Both the scale and the brutality of the war far surpassed previous conflicts.

Today's world wars have become a stage for the great powers, and smaller countries can only be slaughtered by the more powerful ones in such super wars.

This was the case with Bulgaria, which had already surrendered, and it was also the case with the Ottoman Empire, which had just completed peace negotiations.

The surrender of the Ottoman Empire not only disrupted Britain's plans in the Middle East, but also put pressure on the Allied powers.

Following the signing of the peace treaty, the Allied powers held an emergency meeting to discuss how they should launch an offensive given the current situation in Europe.

With the successive surrenders of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, the Central Powers now consist of only three major powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Great Britain.

Although the number of Allied nations has decreased, the remaining three are all major powers, with Britain and Germany being superpowers, resulting in an overall higher quality of allies.

During this internal meeting of allied nations, the current situation in the Balkans was the first topic of discussion.

Unfortunately, after Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire surrendered, the Central Powers were left with only Austria-Hungary fighting alone in the Balkans.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire would then face a formidable force of 50 French and Russian troops who had previously attacked the Ottoman Empire, 40 Romanian and Serbian troops, 40 Spanish troops, and 70 Italian troops currently attacking the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This is because Germany's offensive on the Eastern Front attracted most of the Russian army's firepower; otherwise, Russia could have deployed hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops to attack Austria-Hungary.

Even in the current situation, Austria-Hungary had to contend with more than 200 million Allied troops.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire currently has more than 200 million troops, at least half of these troops are stationed on the eastern border to guard against attacks from Russian forces.

The force truly capable of dealing with the Balkan states, the Franco-Russian alliance, and the Italian and Spanish armies consisted of fewer than one million troops.

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, how to defend its territory in the face of the Allied powers' aggressive offensive was definitely a question worth considering.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was not a monolithic entity; there were disagreements between the Austrian and Hungarian governments regarding which region the army should focus its defense on.

This is also a disadvantage of a dualistic empire. Although Emperor Franz Joseph was the ruler of both the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, the two governments still had to distinguish between primary and secondary authority.

The Austrian government will certainly prioritize the interests of the Austrian region, and the Hungarian government will certainly prioritize the interests of the Hungarian region.

The result of this was that the Hungarian government hoped the imperial government would allocate most of its troops to defend the southern border and prevent the vast Hungarian plains from being invaded by the enemy.

Hungary was not only an important grain-producing region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but its grain output was also related to the income of Hungarian nobles and landowners.

If the Hungarian Plain were invaded by enemy forces, it would be a catastrophic disaster for the Hungarian nobles and landowners who relied on grain for income.

The Austrian government, however, disregarded the Hungarian government's demands.

First, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's army was limited. A limited army naturally needed to be used more efficiently, and the area that needed to be prioritized for defense was the more important Austrian region.

Although Italy only had 70 troops attacking Austria-Hungary, no one could guarantee that France and Spain would not launch an attack from Italy later.

If the lack of troops in the Italian direction led to a breach in the Austrian defenses, the Austro-Hungarian Empire might very well follow the same path as the Ottoman Empire, being forced to cede territory and surrender.

As for the Hungarian defense line that the Hungarian nobles and landowners had always longed for, there was no need to pay such a high price to maintain it.

After all, the Hungarian Plain is surrounded by the Colpatia Mountains to the east and north, and the Dinara Mountains and the Danube River to the south. It would not be easy for the Allied forces to break through these natural defenses.

Even if the defenses in the Hungarian direction are breached, they will not threaten the core areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the time being, giving the Austro-Hungarian Empire more time to mobilize troops for support.

If the Austrian region were to fall, there wouldn't be enough time to mobilize troops. For this reason, the Austrian government did not agree to deploy too many troops along the Hungarian front, preferring to focus its main attention on the western and eastern borders.

Emperor Franz Joseph I was well aware of the disputes taking place within the country.

The good news is that Emperor Franz Joseph I enjoys immense prestige within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As long as he remains in power, even with significant internal conflicts, the empire is unlikely to disintegrate anytime soon.

The bad news is that Franz Joseph I, born in 1830, is already 74 years old this year, and no one can guarantee how much longer this septuagenarian emperor will live.

Once the old emperor dies, his successor, Archduke Ferdinand, will not have the prestige to maintain the unity of this country, which is riddled with internal conflicts.

The world war in this world was not triggered by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which also led to the fortunate survival of Archduke Ferdinand, the nephew of the old Emperor Franz Joseph I and the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Because the war broke out a few years earlier, Crown Prince Ferdinand naturally did not have time to inspect Bosnia after the war began.

This not only saved him from assassination but also gave the Austro-Hungarian Empire a more mature heir to the throne.

But so-called maturity is just getting older.

Because Crown Prince Ferdinand and his wife were married in a marriage between nobles and commoners, their children did not have a right to inherit the Austro-Hungarian throne.

This also means that regardless of whether Crown Prince Ferdinand was outstanding, the Austro-Hungarian throne would ultimately be passed down to his brother, Otto Franz, and his lineage.

Of course, Ferdinand's brother, Otto Franz, was even more unfortunate. This prince, who had been a potential heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, had already died in 1906.

However, this did not prevent his son, Karl, from inheriting the throne and becoming second in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne, after Crown Prince Ferdinand. This is why Karl ultimately became the ruler of Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, since Crown Prince Ferdinand was not assassinated in this world, Karl's ascension to the throne as Emperor of Austro-Hungarian Empire may have to wait a while longer.

Although the old emperor used his prestige to suppress the conflict between the Austrian and Hungarian governments, he also knew that such suppression of conflict by prestige could only solve the immediate crisis.

To completely resolve the internal conflicts within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was necessary to address the root cause of the conflict between the two governments: the Austro-Hungarian Empire's insufficient military strength.

Actually, it's easy to solve. It simply requires Austria-Hungary to increase its internal mobilization efforts and seek assistance from its two allies, Germany and Great Britain.

At the Allied Conference, the Austro-Hungarian diplomatic representatives presented the difficulties faced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Germany and Great Britain, hoping to obtain their support.

With Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire already surrendered, Germany certainly did not want to lose Austria-Hungary as an ally.

Moreover, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could provide more support than Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire combined, given its undeniable status as a major power.

However, Germany also had internal problems. Most of its troops had been transferred to the Eastern Front, leaving less than a million troops on the Western Front, barely enough to defend the existing lines.

Although there are nearly 300 million troops on the Eastern Front, a large-scale campaign is underway there. We can't just temporarily mobilize the reserve forces on the Eastern Front.
Although reserve troops will not join the battlefield for the time being, they will still need to provide support to the front lines when the fighting is intense or critical.

If Germany mobilizes its reserve forces on the Eastern Front, it will be caught unprepared should any problems arise there.

Since troops on both the Eastern and Western fronts could not be mobilized, the only troops Germany could mobilize were the hundreds of thousands of understaffed troops that were resting and reorganizing on its homeland.

Although these troops have not yet completed the process of rest and resupply, Austria-Hungary, as an important ally, has already requested assistance, and Germany cannot remain indifferent.

After discussions among the Allied powers, Germany decided to integrate its 30 troops who were resting and reorganizing to form an expeditionary force to fight in Austria-Hungary.

Germany's decision greatly excited Austria-Hungary. Although Germany only sent about one army group, the combat power of one German army group was at least equivalent to that of two Austro-Hungarian army groups.

Whether deployed on the western or eastern border, or on Hungary's southern border, this German army group could effectively help the Austro-Hungarian Empire defend its territory.

Perhaps seeing Germany grit its teeth and withdraw an entire army group, Britain also decided to be generous and send an army group to fight in Austria-Hungary.

Of course, unlike the German main army group, which was almost entirely composed of elite soldiers, the British army group was actually a mix of British soldiers and colonial soldiers.

To put it bluntly, the British army group was essentially a ragtag force. It was just that a few main divisions or corps were mixed in with this ragtag force, making the overall organization of the army group look a little better.

Fortunately, the British government was quite wealthy and equipped this ragtag army group with weapons and equipment comparable to those of a main army group.

This army group was not only uniformly equipped with the British standard Lee-Enfield rifle, but also with a large number of machine guns and artillery of various calibers, making it in no way inferior to the German army in terms of firepower.

The abundance of firepower was also an advantage of the British army compared to other European countries. It is no exaggeration to say that, apart from a few well-funded powers that could emphasize the superiority of their armies, the armies of most other European countries were not entitled to overemphasize firepower superiority.

After all, both artillery and machine guns require significant manufacturing costs. Machine guns consume bullets much faster than rifles, and artillery shells cost far more than bullets.

Even with a sufficient number of machine guns and artillery pieces, many European armies were unable to use them indiscriminately on the battlefield.

In addition to sending an army group to Austria-Hungary, Britain also signed an arms trade agreement with Austria-Hungary, agreeing to provide Austria-Hungary with at least 100 million rifles, 2200 machine guns, 1200 artillery pieces, and corresponding ammunition, shells, etc.

This aid of weaponry was also very important to Austria-Hungary. As mentioned before, Franz Joseph's main approach to resolving the domestic conflict was to increase domestic mobilization and seek help from Germany and Britain.

To conduct a larger-scale mobilization within the country, sufficient weapons and equipment must be prepared.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a decent domestic industry, it was already quite good that the production speed of its domestic military factories could keep up with the consumption at the front lines. There was simply no way to produce another batch of weapons and equipment to mobilize the army.

If Germany and Britain were also unable to provide weapons and equipment to Austria-Hungary, then Austria-Hungary would have to resort to its old method: temporarily withholding weapons from new recruits until almost all of them had completed their training, and then providing them with weapons and equipment for target practice.

In any case, several months of target practice wouldn't produce any significant results, and European countries at that time were also unable to provide enough ammunition for the new recruits to train.

It's better to let the soldiers figure things out on the battlefield themselves. In any case, compared to basic training, the battlefield will allow soldiers to transform more quickly and grow from a recruit into a veteran.

The Central Powers quickly finalized a plan to support Austria-Hungary, but this did not mean that the crisis facing Austria-Hungary was resolved.

On the contrary, this period before British and German aid reached Austria-Hungary was the most vulnerable phase for the country.

To prevent domestic unrest, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary ordered the government to publicly announce that Germany and Britain were about to send army groups to fight in Austria-Hungary, so that the public would no longer worry about the border issue.

Indeed, when Austria-Hungary publicly announced that Germany was about to send an army group to help Austria-Hungary in the war, it effectively reduced the Austrians' and Hungarians' anxieties about the war.

Leaving aside the British army groups, the German army groups had a very good reputation for combat effectiveness. Especially after Germany's recent major victories on the Eastern Front, once a German army group reached the Austro-Hungarian border, its sheer presence would surpass that of the Allied forces.

There is good news as well as bad news.

Although Austria-Hungary did not fully disclose the extent of aid it received from Germany and Great Britain, such news still attracted the attention of the Allied Powers.

Now that it was clear that Germany and Britain had sent troops to aid Austria-Hungary, it was natural that the Allied Powers would also increase their troop deployments in the Balkans to counter the reinforcements from Germany and Britain.

Russia, having just suffered a defeat on the Eastern Front, naturally would not choose to send more troops to the Balkans.

Therefore, the only Allied powers capable of sending reinforcements to the Balkans were France, Spain, and Italy.

Although France still had spare capacity, it clearly did not want to waste too many troops on the Balkan battlefield. After discussions within the Allied Powers, it was ultimately decided that Spain and Italy would reinforce their troops in the Balkans, while France would provide support, including weapons and equipment, to the Balkan countries to enhance their combat capabilities.

Spain needs to send an additional 50 troops to the Balkans, including at least 20 troops in its homeland and 30 troops in its colonies.

Italy needs to send 30 troops to the Balkans, which is quite easy for Italy, which has already completed its mobilization.

After receiving weapons and equipment from France, Serbia and Romania were also full of confidence in the war.

They had joined forces to defeat Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, and by all accounts, the balance of power in this war was constantly tilting towards the Allied Powers.

This greatly pleased King Carol I of Romania. He was glad he hadn't chosen to join the Central Powers; otherwise, it might have been Romania, which had joined the Central Powers, that surrendered and signed a peace treaty with the Entente Powers.

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(End of this chapter)