Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 540 The final game
News of Wilhelm II's angry walkout from a military conference of the German Supreme Command quickly appeared in news reports across Europe.

Germany was one of the few superpowers and a key player on the Central Powers side in this world war. The Hohenzollern family's illustrious history and the kinship ties between the German royal family and many European royal families indirectly contributed to the widespread dissemination of this news.

Although the German government has tried every means to block the news, it cannot stop the curiosity of people in various European countries.

Furthermore, the Allied powers were eager to spread this news, which immediately brought Germany's internal strife, as well as Wilhelm II and Hindenburg, who were involved in the matter, to the forefront of public attention.

Wilhelm II remained silent amidst the widespread discussion across Europe. Hindenburg, who had already seized control of Germany's military and political power, naturally paid no heed to the opinions of other countries.

The Allied Powers, led by Spain and France, naturally watched with amusement. Only Britain, Germany's ally, was uneasy about the internal changes in Germany.

It is quite normal for the British government to feel uneasy. Although there are some power struggles in various European countries, none have escalated to this extent.

More importantly, Germany was already at a disadvantage, and domestically it faced power struggles between the monarchy and the Junker aristocracy. The British government doubted whether such a Germany could successfully wage a world war.

The British government had little choice but to think about it, mainly because its allies were indeed facing frequent problems.

Although the two remaining members of the Central Powers were both superpowers, Germany was exhausted from the three-year-long World War, and there was also a power struggle within the upper echelons of the government.

Although Britain is relatively strong, it also faces major domestic issues such as Ireland and India.

Given this situation, not only Britain, but even Germany itself might be considering backing down.

Compared to the highly centralized German government, the British government has far less power. The two-party system, while increasing the democratic nature of the British government to some extent, also presents the ruling party with a significant challenge and constraint.

As the Allied powers gradually fell into a disadvantageous position, the peace faction in Britain began to rise, and the opposition party also took the opportunity to criticize the ruling party's performance in the war, which led more British people to doubt the government's ability.

Do the opposition parties not understand the necessity and importance of this war? In fact, they understand it very well.

However, in the two-party system of Britain, the biggest role of the opposition party is to refute the various policies promoted by the government, thereby gaining public support.

Whether the ruling party's choice was correct is irrelevant to the opposition. Since the ruling party chose to participate in the war, the opposition had no choice but to choose the peace faction to avoid losing its political influence.

Leaving aside the discussions in Britain about the replacement of the German Chief of the General Staff, the French government was quite pleased when news of the power struggle within Germany reached France.

However, the French government soon realized something was amiss. With Hindenburg becoming the new Chief of the General Staff of Germany, German military operations underwent a dramatic change.

The German-led Balkan counter-offensive was virtually halted under Hindenburg's orders. Only one army group remained to defend the border between Germany and Austria-Hungary, with the rest of the troops being redeployed to the Western Front.

In addition, the German government also began to make contact with the Soviet Russian regime of the workers' union and the Russian Provisional Government.

Hindenburg hoped to sign a peace agreement with the two Russian governments in exchange for the return of some of the land by Germany in exchange for peace and stability on the German Eastern Front.

It's true that there are indeed some people within Russia who want to reach a peace agreement with Germany in exchange for some of the territory occupied by Germany.

Germany wanted to secure peace on its eastern border at this juncture, and Russia shared the same sentiment. The Russian Provisional Government and the Soviet Russian government were engaged in a fierce civil war, and unless substantial benefits were offered, the Russian government was unwilling to continue participating in a world war.

If the Allied Powers, led by Spain, had not contacted the Russian Provisional Government earlier, Russia might actually have signed a peace agreement with Germany.

Although Germany did not achieve its objectives, through exchanges with the Russian Provisional Government, the German side astutely judged that Russia did not want to participate in the war.

This was good news for Germany. Chief of the General Staff Hindenburg did not hesitate at all and immediately transferred most of the troops from the Balkans and the Eastern Front to the Western Front, deciding to fight the Allied Powers to the death.

In order to increase the chances of victory, Hindenburg asked the government to contact the British side and request that the British government continue to send more troops to the Western Front in the coming months in response to Germany's final battle.

The British government had no objection to this. Since Germany wanted to fight the Allied Powers to the death, the British government naturally didn't mind helping Germany out.

In any case, the war would not reach the British mainland. No matter how fierce the fighting was on the Western Front, the British government's losses were limited, while the German and French manpower were consumed more.

Under the planning of the newly appointed German Chief of the General Staff Hindenburg, Germany quickly mobilized nearly 300 million troops to the Western Front. Together with the British troops, the Allied forces reached a total of over 400 million.

As Germany reinforced its troops on the Western Front, the situation there became increasingly unpredictable.

On the western flank of the Western Front, the Spanish army, with the advantage brought by tanks, quickly occupied the Belgian provinces of Haino and West Flanders. King Albert I of Belgium also announced the return of the government to Belgium in Mons, the capital of Haino, and called on all Belgians to take up arms and resist the German invasion.

With the help of the Belgians, the Spanish army has occupied half of East Flanders and is advancing toward Brussels, the Belgian capital.

The French army also made some gains, with one-third of Namur Province and one-quarter of Luxembourg Province already recovered by France.

Germany was forced to concentrate its troops in more important areas, using the fortresses of Brussels and Liège to resist the Allied offensive.

If we only consider the fighting within Belgium, the Allied Powers clearly had the upper hand.

However, as the focus shifted south, the formidable fighting power of the German army was once again demonstrated.

Along the Alsace-Lorraine line, German troops braved Allied bombardment and managed to hold their line.

French and German troops have engaged in several rounds of fierce fighting here, and even the nearby mountains have been almost flattened, yet they have been unable to advance the front line much further.

The eastern flank goes without saying. Although the German troops here were fewer in number, their advance was far slower than in the plains due to the mountainous terrain. More importantly, the German army effectively utilized the mountainous terrain, installing artillery emplacements on almost every mountain, effectively hindering the French advance.

The Italian army was merely a makeshift force; whenever faced with bombardment from German fortifications, the Italian troops would spontaneously cease their attacks, showing no regard for the lives of their French allies nearby.

This resulted in minimal progress on the eastern flank, and the French army could not possibly risk German artillery fire to attack German fortresses on its own.

The brutality of the Western Front attracted the attention of almost the entire world.

The Central Powers and the Allied Powers deployed more than 800 million troops on the Western Front, more than the population of many small and medium-sized European countries.

The fierce fighting between large numbers of troops here not only severely damaged the local ecological environment, but also caused the casualty figures of the participating countries to continue to accumulate.

Especially within Belgium, a small country with millions of Allied and Central Powers troops, the battlefields there saw tens of thousands of casualties every day, with the death toll approaching 10,000.

Even with tanks, a powerful weapon on the battlefield, the Spanish army could only advance slowly, bit by bit, towards the front lines.

More importantly, with Germany's reinforcements on the Western Front, the Allied forces' advantage in manpower and weaponry on the Western Front vanished, and the two sides were almost back to square one.

This was not good news for the Allied Powers, but they had no choice but to grit their teeth and fight this last war of attrition against Germany.

Both Germany and the Allied powers were now quite clear that the battle on the Western Front was the last large-scale battle of this world war.

Regardless of who wins or loses this battle, the defeated nation will lack the capacity to launch an offensive of the same scale. The victor will hold a tremendous advantage in the world war, and victory will be virtually inevitable.

If the Central Powers were to achieve victory, Germany would not only be able to retake all of Belgium, but also have the potential to launch a counter-offensive against France, pushing the front lines back to the state they were in two years before the war.

This victory also bolstered Britain's resolve to continue helping Germany win the war.

If the Allied powers were victorious, German troops would be forced to withdraw from Belgium. This would mean the war would spread to German soil, and Germany's defeat would become almost inevitable.

Knowing the importance of the Western Front, the newly appointed German Chief of the General Staff, Hindenburg, quickly went to the front lines after completing the troop deployment and established the German Provisional Headquarters at the Liège Fortress in Belgium.

Hindenburg's capable assistant, Ludendorff, was ordered to the Balkans to assist the local garrison in completing its defensive mission and preventing the Balkan army from breaking through the German defenses.

The arrival of Chief of the General Staff Hindenburg in person effectively boosted German morale. On the very day the German Provisional General Staff was established, the German offensive in Belgium intensified, repeatedly repelling French attacks in the Namur province.

This dramatic change drew the attention of the Spanish army, which, after conducting numerous reconnaissance missions in cooperation with France, ultimately determined that German Chief of the General Staff Hindenburg might have arrived at the Belgian front.

This presents an opportunity for Spain. If they deploy aircraft, they could potentially destroy the enemy's temporary command post and eliminate the enemy's chief of staff in a surprise attack.

Upon learning of the situation at the front, Carlo did not hesitate at all and immediately ordered several pre-prepared aircraft to take off.

To be honest, Spanish planes have never actually appeared in the war.

Because Spain influenced the development of aircraft by using airships several years ago, almost all military aircraft currently used by European countries are airships.

The airships did indeed play a role, not only in reconnaissance but also in transporting troops and supplies.

Throughout the World War, European airships played a similarly remarkable role, and their designs gradually evolved from the most basic type to various types of airships equipped with weapons for different purposes.

With the development of airships flourishing, the development of airplanes was neglected by European countries.

It's not that European countries didn't conduct any research on airplanes at all; it's just that with airships so prominent, airplanes, which should have been making their mark, were still not valued by European countries.

In the original history, this would have been around the time when airplanes made their debut. Although airplanes during World War I were still quite rudimentary, their high speed allowed them to play a certain role in reconnaissance.

However, airships have almost completely replaced airplanes for reconnaissance. Even now, no country has used airplanes, which shows the neglect of airplanes by European countries and the backwardness of current airplane technology.

It is no exaggeration to say that Spain's aircraft research is currently among the best in Europe. Even countries like Britain and Germany cannot compare with Spain in the field of aircraft.

Spain has successfully evolved its aircraft into reconnaissance aircraft, fighter jets, and bombers, and all types of aircraft have been manufactured to be ready for deployment on the battlefield.

Carlo also knew that even if Spain did not use airplanes during the war, European countries would still focus their attention on airplanes after the war ended.

After all, after World War I, aircraft-related technologies would develop rapidly. Sooner or later, people would discover the usefulness of airplanes, and when airplanes were much faster than airships and had a carrying capacity comparable to airships, airships would naturally be replaced by airplanes.

Rather than that, it would be better to use aircraft at certain crucial moments in the war. Even if Britain and Germany reacted quickly, they would not be able to catch up with Spain's aircraft development progress in a short period of time.

As long as Spain continues to invest heavily in aircraft research and development, it can ensure that its aircraft technology remains at the forefront of Europe and even the world.

Spain could even profit from the early development of aircraft technology by selling its first-generation technology to European countries before they acquired their own. Even after European countries eventually mastered aircraft, Spain could invest in aircraft carrier development, thus gaining a competitive advantage step by step.

Accompanying the bombers were several airships used for camouflage and cover. If European countries did not detect Spain's use of aircraft, Spain would claim that the bombing was carried out by airships.

Even if it is discovered, it doesn't matter. As long as Spain doesn't voluntarily reveal its aircraft technology, it won't be so easy for other countries to develop aircraft with practical combat value.

(End of this chapter)