Chapter 337: The Prototype of a Super War

On February 15, 1889, the Austro-Hungarian Empire officially announced to the outside world that because Serbia refused to cooperate with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in capturing rebel forces, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia were entering a state of war from this moment on.

War has been declared!

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire issued its ultimatum, many countries already believed that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would declare a state of war once the ultimatum's deadline arrived.

After all, this so-called ultimatum is a double-edged sword. As the saying goes, once the arrow is on the string, it must be fired. Once a country issues an ultimatum to another, it also signifies that the country issuing the ultimatum has already made preparations for war.

When the other party refuses its demands, it must use war as a means to forcibly compel the other party to agree to its demands.

In a situation where an ultimatum is rejected by the other party and war is not launched, such behavior will not only be mocked by the governments of various countries but will also be denounced by the domestic populace.

National dignity is above all else; for the old Emperor Franz Joseph I, this was already a war that had to be fought.

The moment the Emperor announced the war, over a hundred thousand Austro-Hungarian troops marched southward in a grand display.

It is worth mentioning that the territory of Serbia at this time was not the same as in later generations. All land north of the Danube was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and all of Serbia's territory was located south of the Danube.

This also meant one thing: Serbia's capital, Belgrade, was situated directly on the border line, facing the Austro-Hungarian southern border troops across the river.

This also made the Austro-Hungarian Empire's operational objective quite clear: to cross the river directly, occupy Belgrade, and quickly end this war.

To be on the safe side, the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to split its forces into two prongs. One prong, the main force, would launch an attack on Belgrade from the north of the Danube.

The other prong would serve as support, attacking eastward from the Bosnia region to outflank Belgrade from the south.

Because Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire used the Danube as their border, the border line between the two countries was winding and tortuous, with quite a few twists and turns.

As luck would have it, Belgrade was located exactly on one of these bends, situated at the most prominent part of the salient.

Although the intersection of the two rivers gave Belgrade better defensive terrain, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Belgrade was indeed well within the bombardment range of the border troops.

Since it was within bombardment range, the Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally would not be the least bit polite. On the very day the war began, they launched a fierce bombardment on the Serbian capital, Belgrade, consuming tens of thousands of shells that day alone.

This was only because the number of artillery pieces available to the border troops was limited. As the war progressed, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would certainly mobilize large quantities of artillery from other regions to come and bombard Belgrade.

This also meant that the bombardments Belgrade would face in the future would be even more intense than they were now.

The Serbians, of course, could not withstand such intense shelling; the moment they were declared to be in a state of war, they urgently contacted Russia to request Russian support.

Tsar Alexander III was also stunned by Franz Joseph I's decisive declaration of war. He had not expected the war to break out at such a rapid speed, and what was even more dire was that at this moment, there was no progress whatsoever in Russia's domestic mobilization.

Indeed, compared to Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's war mobilization was relatively slow, its organizational level was lower, and its military combat effectiveness was not high.

But the problem was that Russia had the same shortcomings, and Russia's shortcomings were even more fatal than those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The combat effectiveness of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Austrian troops was still quite excellent; after all, the so-called Austrians and Germans both belonged to the Germanic people, a very brave and battle-hardened nation.

The Russians were not the least bit weak in terms of bravery and combat skill, but they lagged far behind in national administrative efficiency, military organization, logistical supply, and financial resources.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia announced their war mobilizations at roughly the same time, but while the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already mobilized over 100, 00 troops to launch the war, the number of troops mobilized on the Russian side remained negligible.

Of course, this could not be blamed entirely on the Russian government. The Austro-Hungarian capital, Vienna, was only 500 kilometers away from the Serbian capital, Belgrade, which also meant that troops in the Austrian region could quickly arrive near Belgrade in a short time.

Conversely, for Russia, Saint Petersburg was nearly 1, 00 kilometers away from Belgrade, and even Russia's closest border line to Serbia was over 600 kilometers away.

To put it plainly, it was very difficult for Russian troops to cross this 600-kilometer distance to reach Serbia for support. Unless the Russian troops could cross Romania, but that route also covered a distance of nearly 500 kilometers.

Judging from the current situation, it was difficult for Russia to provide effective support to Serbia in a short time. Compared to borrowing a path through Romania to reach Serbia, launching an attack directly on the Galicia and Lodomeria regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire might be a better means of reducing the pressure Serbia faced on the front.

But the problem was that once Russia launched an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the war could evolve into a large-scale war between the great powers at any moment.

Currently, Russia's standing army numbered approximately 670, 00, a level that was the highest in all of Europe. Once Russia joined the war, Germany, in order to cope with the pressure from Russia, would certainly also join the war to help its ally.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's standing army was only about 260, 00, but Germany's standing army numbered as high as 500, 00. The combined army strength of these two countries was already not inferior to Russia's, which also meant that this war would evolve into a long-term war of attrition.

Both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany were countries with quite powerful industries; although Russia's domestic resources were more abundant, its economy was relatively poor.

If it were to drag on, it would be hard to say who would win and who would lose. This made Alexander III somewhat hesitant; he was not entirely sure whether his intervention in this war was a wise decision.

It is worth mentioning that by this time, Russia had already had its centralization strengthened by Alexander III. Tsarist Russia was itself an autocratic state, and after further strengthening centralization, all kinds of power were concentrated in the hands of the Tsar alone.

The head of the Tsarist Russian government was not elected by the people but was personally appointed by the Tsar, who held absolute power of appointment.

In other words, under the Tsarist system, the Prime Minister was merely an assistant to the Tsar's governance. The Prime Minister did not have much independent power and could only be reduced to a political tool for the Tsar to exercise his own power.

Since he could not ask for opinions from the Prime Minister, Alexander III could only turn his gaze toward the high-ranking officials of the Russian military.

The good news was that after experiencing the Russo-Turkish War, the combat effectiveness of the Russian military had indeed improved quite a bit. Although the final outcome of the Russo-Turkish War was that Russia did not gain many benefits, Russia itself was on the winning side of that war.

The victory in the war also led to the promotion of many military generals. There were still many high-ranking military officials Alexander III could consult; among these people were not only members of the royal family but also talents who had truly risen through military merit.

The attitudes of these high-ranking military officials were relatively consistent, which was to support this war. This was actually the status quo in most countries; after all, the military relied on military merit for promotion, and if there were no war, it meant that the greatest channel for promotion was closed.

After asking several military generals in succession and receiving opinions in support of the war, Alexander III finally made his decision. On February 16, 1889, the day after the Austro-Hungarian Empire announced its declaration of war on Serbia, the Russian government also announced its declaration of war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The reason given by the Russian government was that as the protector of the Slavs, Russia had the responsibility and obligation to protect the safety of all Slavic compatriots. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's blind declaration of war on Serbia was immoral, and the Slavs should unite to resist the Austro-Hungarian Empire's act of aggression.

On the very day he launched the war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Alexander III ordered the frontline troops to launch an attack on the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The main purpose of doing this was to disrupt the Austro-Hungarian Empire's strategic preparations, forcing them to withdraw a portion of their troops to guard their own border lines.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire's standing army of over 200, 00 was not a small number, compared to a behemoth like Russia, this number was clearly not enough.

What's more, at this time, over 100, 00 Austrian troops were already gathered on the border with Serbia, which also meant that the Austrian troops on the Russian-Austrian border actually numbered less than 200, 00.

The number of Russian troops stationed on the border was more than double that of the Austro-Hungarian troops; once Russia began to attack the Austro-Hungarian border, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would inevitably fall into a disadvantage.

This was also the reason why the old Emperor Franz Joseph I had always wanted to lean toward Germany and establish an alliance with it. After the Austro-Prussian War, Austria's main enemy had changed from Prussia to Russia.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Russian army was not as good as that of the Austro-Hungarian army, in terms of the number of reservists and the total number of troops, even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire could achieve a 1: casualty ratio, it would still be Russia that gained the advantage on the battlefield.

On the Austro-Hungarian side, when Franz Joseph I received the news that Russia had declared war on him, although the old Emperor's face remained calm, his tightly clenched hands betrayed him.

The conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia had also lasted for a long time, and Franz Joseph I was still quite familiar with Russia as an enemy.

Once Russia announced its entry into this war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was no longer the protagonist of the war. From then on, it had to rely on its ally; only if Germany was willing to join the war and help the Austro-Hungarian Empire would the Austro-Hungarian Empire have a possibility of winning this war.

"Send a telegram to Berlin, requesting the German government to fulfill the alliance treaty and help us resist the Russian army." Franz Joseph I was silent for a long time, then issued his order to the Foreign Minister.

Immediately after, the old Emperor looked at the two Prime Ministers of Austria and Hungary, then said in an unquestionable tone: "This war is of vital importance to us; I do not wish to see any phenomenon of infighting during the war.

Gentlemen, winning this war and eliminating the Serbians is the top priority. If we win this war, the vast lands of Bosnia and Serbia can be left for you to partition.

But if we lose this war, not only Croatia, but even parts of Hungary might be lost.

Now we have the same goal and the same enemy. Only by working together sincerely can we win this war and ensure that we will not be the final defeated party.

God will bless us; the only ones who can be the victors are the Habsburgs!"

Like Alexander III, the German side also faced the choice of whether to join this war.

If it were in the era of Wilhelm I, in reality, there would not have been such quarrels within the German government at all. Bismarck was the undisputed power-holder in the era of Wilhelm I, and his foreign policy also received strong support from Wilhelm I.

It is a pity that the German Emperor at this time was, after all, Wilhelm II.

Bismarck was indeed highly respected, but he was only the Prime Minister of the German Empire. The German Emperor Wilhelm II was the master of this country; the moment imperial power and prime ministerial power came into high conflict, under the premise that the choice of Emperor could not be changed, the only thing that could be changed was the choice of Prime Minister.

On February 17, 1889, the German Emperor Wilhelm II personally ordered the government to prepare for war.

A few hours later, the German Foreign Minister summoned the Russian Ambassador to Berlin and then stated to the Russian government: "We certainly do not wish to tear up the Reinsurance Treaty, but when your country's troops set foot on the land of our ally, we will be forced to take up arms to defend peace."

The Russian side had clearly long anticipated Germany's participation in the war. The Russian Ambassador did not show a look of surprise; after the German Foreign Minister expressed a relatively tough stance, the Russian Ambassador just nodded blandly and then said: "His Majesty the Tsar also does not wish to have a war with your country, but the future can only be left to God to decide.

The sovereignty of the Slavs cannot be violated, and we are willing to face the attack of any strong enemy for the sake of Serbia."

The meeting ended unhappily, and the news of the breakdown of talks between Germany and Russia soon became the front-page headline for European countries.

At this time, the governments and people of European countries all had a thought they had never had before: that Europe might break out into a super war they had never experienced before.

Currently, two great powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, have already joined in; will the third great power be far behind?

In fact, in order to cope with the pressure from Russia, a strong enemy, Franz Joseph I, in addition to contacting his most powerful ally, Germany, also contacted his secret ally, Italy, and his ally by marriage, Spain.

For Carlos, he was also facing a difficult choice at this time.

Spain could join this war and become a participant in a potential super war. Spain could also stay out of it and watch the entire process of the great war with focused attention from the perspective of a bystander.

For Carlos, the choice had actually already been made.

Spain did not mind joining a super war, but there was absolutely no need to fight to the death with the Russians for the sake of Serbia.

To put it bluntly, Spain had no interests in the Balkan Peninsula, nor was it worth it to break out into a great war with Russia for the sake of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

If this war were won, Spain would not gain many benefits. But if it were lost, the golden age that Spain had managed to build with such difficulty would not only vanish into thin air, but it might also face large amounts of reparations and industrial atrophy.

This also doomed Carlos's attitude; even though there was a marriage relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain would not personally enter the fray.

Of course, Carlos would not be stingy with support in terms of materials. If the Austro-Hungarian Empire were willing, Spain could certainly become the Austro-Hungarian Empire's arms supplier.

Who would win this great war was not that important to Spain; what was important was which countries were the participants in this great war.

For Spain, if both Britain and France could interfere in this war, that would be absolutely the best news.

Only after all the European great powers had entered the fray would Spain consider entering it personally. After all, there was still the British Empire, isolated outside the European continent, watching the situation of this war; before the British expressed their clear attitude, Carlos would not foolishly charge into battle for the British.

(End of chapter)