Chapter 340: Bismarck's Resignation

The first massive change brought about by this war had arrived.

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had defied public opinion to bring Germany into this war, but the quarrels between him and Chancellor Bismarck before the war had become a topic of even greater concern than the war itself.

This new Emperor was not his grandfather; due to a congenital disability, Wilhelm II possessed an extreme sense of pride and naturally would not tolerate the existence of a Chancellor like Bismarck, who would publicly refute or even berate him during cabinet meetings.

As for Bismarck, he had given everything for this country. The founding of the German Empire could not have happened without the contributions of the "Iron Chancellor" Bismarck, and it was under Bismarck's leadership that the former Kingdom of Prussia had successively defeated Denmark, Austria, and France to build the powerful German Empire.

"When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the crafty rabbits are dead, the hound is cooked." Chancellor Bismarck, who had held the reins of power in Germany for over twenty years, was shocked to discover that there was no longer a place for him in the empire he had painstakingly built.

Feeling disappointed with the current state of affairs, Chancellor Bismarck submitted his resignation to Kaiser Wilhelm II, which could also be considered a final warning to Wilhelm II.

Wilhelm II gave no response to Chancellor Bismarck's resignation; silence at such a moment often signifies tacit consent.

In endless disappointment and sorrow, German Chancellor Bismarck formally submitted his resignation to the cabinet and presented Wilhelm II with a six-page resignation letter.

Having done all this, Chancellor Bismarck did not linger any longer; he left Berlin in anger and headed to his own estate to live in seclusion.

After Chancellor Bismarck left the German cabinet, it was formally taken over by the new Emperor, Wilhelm II. Replacing Bismarck as German Chancellor was Leo von Caprivi, a high-ranking military official with some seniority.

In fact, one can see from this the reason why Wilhelm II forced Chancellor Bismarck out: it was mainly because Chancellor Bismarck possessed immense prestige in both the German government and the military, and this prestige and status had already impacted Wilhelm II's power.

This situation was similar to the environment in Spain when Carlos first arrived. However, at that time, Carlos did not have much power and could only develop discreetly.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Primo at the time was not as strong-willed as Chancellor Bismarck; Prime Minister Primo was still willing to give Carlos, the new King, a certain amount of say in many aspects, which made Prime Minister Primo's ending much better than Chancellor Bismarck's.

Chancellor Bismarck's somber departure became the biggest news in Germany, and for a short time, it even became the hottest news in all of Europe.

As a prominent figure in Europe in the late 19th century, Chancellor Bismarck had always been the person most valued by various European nations. His departure immediately drew the attention of European countries, and nations with poor relations with Germany, such as France, instead cheered for it.

Everyone understood that Chancellor Bismarck's departure was a weakening for Germany. As one of the greatest contributors to the founding of the German Empire, Chancellor Bismarck played a vital role in Germany.

He controlled Germany's politics, diplomacy, military, and economy, and single-handedly orchestrated the European situation that isolated France, allowing the newly established German Empire to become one of the four great powers of Europe, with a burgeoning trend toward becoming the hegemon of Europe.

Looking at this point alone, no amount of praise for Bismarck's political achievements would be an exaggeration. Before Bismarck became the Prussian Chancellor, Prussia was just an ordinary second-rate country on the European continent, unable to even compete with Austria in the German region.

And after he became Prussian Chancellor, through various reforms, Prussia quickly became a European power.

It was also because of Bismarck that Prussia was able to exclude Austria from Germany and establish the German Empire itself.

Why is it said that the Austrians are also Germans? The most fundamental reason is that Austria also belongs to the German region. The German region was ruled by the Holy Roman Empire hundreds of years ago, and the Habsburg family that ruled Austria was also the royal family of the Holy Roman Empire hundreds of years ago.

If it were not for Bismarck, the royal family of the region of the Holy Roman Empire would still be the Habsburgs, and the German Empire would not have had much to do with Prussia.

Compared to Bismarck, his successor, Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, did not have such high prestige and power.

The main reason Wilhelm II appointed him as German Chancellor was that, while Leo von Caprivi had some ability, he also had no party affiliation, making him a candidate who was relatively easy to control.

After changing the Chancellor, Wilhelm II issued orders to the new cabinet, requiring the cabinet to make perfect war preparations and strive to defeat Russia in this war.

As soon as Chancellor Leo von Caprivi took office, he accelerated Germany's investment in the war.

Previously, during Chancellor Bismarck's rule, Bismarck had always opposed Germany's participation in this war, which had led to Germany being ill-prepared for it.

Although war had already been declared on Russia, the army Germany could currently mobilize was only about 200, 00 on the eastern border, which was clearly insufficient to win this war.

In just a few short days, Chancellor Leo von Caprivi produced a perfect expansion plan, which quickly received Wilhelm II's nod of approval.

According to this brand-new expansion plan, Germany would deploy at least 500, 00 active-duty troops in this war and mobilize at least 500, 00 reservists.

This also meant that in this war, the total number of German troops would soon exceed one million. Germany's goal was not just to defeat Russia; Germany also wanted to occupy the Polish region held by Russia.

It could also be seen from the map that the Polish region occupied by Russia was a salient, located exactly between the territories of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Germany's war plan was also very simple: to split forces with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, directly encircle the Polish region, annihilate the Russian garrison in the Polish region, and directly occupy the entire territory of Poland.

If they could occupy the whole of Poland, the Galicia and Lodomeria regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would also be guaranteed, and it would not be so easy for the Russian army to attack Germany or the Austro-Hungarian Empire from this salient again.

This German operational plan also destined the Polish region to be the main location for the offensive and defensive operations between Germany and Russia, and also the most important battlefield of this war.

As for the war between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia, although the war between these two countries was the source that ignited this great war, the scale of this war was destined to be small; after all, the Russians could not support Serbia.

For Serbia, apart from being able to obtain weapons and equipment from Russia, they were almost in a state of isolation and helplessness.

It was precisely because of the successive statements from the British and the Spanish that all European countries abandoned the idea of interfering in this war.

Romania was located between Serbia and Russia, and they also declared neutrality and non-interference in this war. This resulted in the Russian army being unable to borrow a path through Romania, and thus the Russian army could not support the isolated Serbia.

About half a month after the outbreak of the war, the Spanish military observation mission officially arrived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and planned to head to the Galicia and Lodomeria regions to observe the war situation between Germany, Austria, and Russia in detail.

Compared to the small-scale war between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia, the Spanish military observation mission was clearly more focused on the fighting between the three great powers.

And the fighting between these three great powers did not disappoint the Spanish military observation mission. On the day the military advisory group arrived in the Galicia and Lodomeria regions, a large-scale battle broke out between Germany, Austria, and Russia there. Because Russia's mobilization speed was relatively slow, Russia was in a defensive posture at the border, while the offensive side was the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepared more than 300, 00 troops in southern Poland, and the mission of this army was precisely to head north from southern Poland to cut off the retreat of the Russian garrison in Poland.

Another army of less than 200, 00 would head south from northern Poland to encircle the Polish region with this southern army.

The offensive and defensive battles in the Polish region relatively clearly demonstrated the different characteristics of the three countries' armies.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the German army's combat power was the strongest, and their equipment was the most sophisticated. The actual combat loss ratio also showed that German soldiers were better trained and did not show much panic during the war.

Compared to the German army, the Austro-Hungarian army and the Russian army were on the same level. Although the overall combat effectiveness of the Russian army was relatively poor, the border defense troops were still worthy of recognition.

Especially the troops on the German-Russian border; these troops were the main force of the Russian army, and their performance in battle was still worthy of recognition.

The more elite parts of the Austro-Hungarian army were those composed of Austrians, while the combat effectiveness of the remaining armies composed of Hungarians, Czechs, or soldiers of other ethnicities was hard to describe; the level could be said to be uneven.

Such an army could still play a certain role in defensive battles, but in offensive battles, its role could almost be said to be non-existent.

If it were not for the fact that the German army's performance was too valiant, I am afraid the German-Austrian allied forces would not have been able to push the front line very far.

Because they were at the front line, the military observation mission was relatively clear about the situation of the war.

In the entire Polish region, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire mobilized a total of more than 500, 00 troops, while the Russian side had less than 400, 00 troops.

Although Russia still had a large number of troops rushing to the front line, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were also carrying out continuous mobilization.

From this aspect, one could also see the outcome of the Battle of Poland; the scales of victory had gradually tilted toward Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This was also Russia's biggest flaw, which was that the speed of war mobilization was indeed too slow. Not only was the war mobilization speed slow, but Russia's transportation environment was also the worst among the European powers.

Coupled with the vastness of the land, the time it took for troops mobilized from various places to reach the front line was several times that of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This also destined Russia to be at a disadvantage in the early stages of any war, unless Russia had already made full preparations before the war and mobilization was mostly completed, perhaps then they could change the disadvantage in the early stages of the war.

It was very clear that this war had broken out suddenly for Russia. This also led to Russia's lack of preparation before the war; not only was the army mobilization speed slow, but even various strategic materials took a long time to be transported to the front line.

Carlos still attached great importance to this war.

The military observation mission sent by Spain was composed of two parts of officers: one part was younger field-grade officers, and the other part was young officers who had just graduated from military academies a few years ago or were still studying in military academies.

These people were the future of the Spanish army, and perhaps many future military generals would be born among them. Carlos also placed high hopes on them, hoping that they could learn more knowledge and gain more experience from this war.

It is worth mentioning that even though Carlos had blocked information related to machine guns, European countries still had their own explorations regarding machine guns.

The German army was equipped with some automatic firearms similar to machine guns, and these firearms also played a certain role in the war.

The world's first true fully automatic machine gun was designed by Maxim, but before Maxim, the American Gatling had already designed a hand-cranked semi-automatic machine gun.

European countries had clearly also paid attention to this kind of semi-automatic hand-cranked machine gun and were exploring the design of fully automatic machine guns based on the principles of this machine gun.

As an ally of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian army also had this kind of machine gun. However, it was clearly visible that there were certain differences between the German machine gun and the Austro-Hungarian machine gun, which also meant that both countries had their own progress in the research and development of machine guns.

Unlike Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian army did not see any trace of machine guns at all.

The Russian army was still equipped with the same old two things: standard rifles and cannons. Because the Polish region was adjacent to both Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the two countries were fighting right at their own doorsteps, and logistical supplies were also relatively easy.

But for Russia, although Russian-occupied Poland was Russia's own territory, this land was too far away from Russia's core.

The Polish region was separated from Russia's capital, Saint Petersburg, by a distance of nearly a thousand kilometers, and the distance to other cities was even further.

This resulted in the fact that although they were fighting on their own soil, Russia's logistical pressure was actually greater than that of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As the saying goes, "When the cannons roar, gold is spent by the ten thousand." In addition to the troubles of logistical supplies, the Russian military also had no small amount of trouble regarding military expenditures.

Although Russia had a larger population, its economic environment was still much worse compared to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The longer the war dragged on, the greater Russia's logistical and economic pressure would be. To a certain extent, this was also a war that Russia could not afford to drag out.

In the week that the Spanish military observation mission arrived at the front line, Germany, Austria, and Russia launched fierce offensives in the Polish region.

In just one week, the total casualties of the three countries had already exceeded 100, 00. This fully reflected the cruelty of war; any war was a considerable loss for the people of all countries.

The Russian side bore the most casualties; just the number of dead Russian soldiers alone was over ten thousand.

Under the continuous offensives of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian defense line in the Polish region was also constantly retreating. As one report of victory after another was sent back to Berlin and Vienna, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire became increasingly optimistic about this war.

Italy, also a member of the Triple Alliance, had nothing but regret regarding this war. If Italy had joined this war earlier, they would now be in the role of a victor.

Moreover, by joining the war, they could have demanded more benefits, and Italy could have set foot in the Balkan Peninsula instead of continuing to wither away on the Apennine Peninsula as they were now.

(End of chapter)