Chapter 341: Arms Trade

Although the successive statements from Britain and Spain effectively prevented this war from expanding further, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the European situation had undergone earth-shaking changes after Germany and Russia entered the war.

The League of the Three Emperors had completely become a thing of the past, and what followed was the confrontation between the German-Austrian Alliance and Russia.

Although Germany, Austria, and Italy protected the Triple Alliance treaty well, the relationship between Italy and the German-Austrian Alliance was no secret.

Not just Spain, but many European countries including France, Russia, and even Britain, believed that Italy had already signed an unknown alliance treaty with Germany and Austria.

The purpose of signing this alliance treaty was also simple: Germany and Austria wanted to fill the void left by the loss of Russia, as Italy was, after all, a Great Power.

As for Italy, it was looking for a strong backer to lean on, as the performance of the Italian Army was well known to all European nations.

Do not be fooled by the fact that Italy's population was much larger than Spain's; in terms of influence on the European continent, Italy could in no way compare to Spain.

The main reason for this phenomenon was the relatively poor combat effectiveness of the Italian military. Even in the final stages of the Bourbon dynasty's rule, the Spanish military's combat effectiveness could be considered above average.

After Gao Da's multiple reforms and improvements to weapons and equipment, the current combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army, if not the best in Europe, was definitely among the strongest of all European armies.

Although Italy's army had poor combat effectiveness, there were still benefits for the German-Austrian Alliance in winning Italy over.

First and foremost, the scale of Italy's agriculture and industry was worth acknowledging. Although its industrial scale could not compare to other European Great Powers, it was still quite superior compared to non-Great Power nations.

Italy bordered the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire bordered Germany. This geographical position was also very important, because it meant that during wartime, Italian supplies could be transported to Germany through the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As mentioned before, Germany was located in the central European crossroads of war, with two powerful Great Powers, France and Russia, to its east and west, and the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and Denmark to its north.

Coupled with the fact that Germany's naval power did not possess an advantage over its competitors, this led to Germany being easily cut off from logistical supplies during wartime, falling into a state of isolation.

Italy was clearly a good supplement; although it could not provide much help to Germany in military terms, it could prove its substance as a Great Power in other aspects.

Facing the Triple Alliance that was already faintly revealing itself, even if the Germans looked down on Italy, they had to find other helpers for the sake of the Triple Alliance.

Although Britain's warning made France abandon the idea of joining this war, the French did not intend to give up on their gradual contact with Russia.

They might not reach an alliance treaty during this war, but they would certainly draw closer to Russia during this conflict.

If Russia won this war, it might slow down the progress of forming a Franco-Russian alliance. But if the German-Austrian Alliance won, perhaps the Franco-Russian alliance would already have corresponding terms before the war ended.

Unlike these countries that already had their own allies or were about to have them, Britain and Spain were in a rather awkward position regarding the matter of forming alliances.

Of course, the truly awkward one was Britain.

Because Britain had major conflicts with both France and Russia, while the German-Austrian-Italian alliance on the other side involved three Great Powers, this meant that Britain could not join either side; they would more likely balance the power gap between the two military groups, thereby allowing Britain, as a special existence, to have more say.

As for Spain, as long as Spain was willing, it could join any military group.

First, Spain's geographical location was too important; second, Spain's comprehensive strength was not weak, even a notch stronger than Italy, and roughly on the same level as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's comprehensive national strength was affected because the number of its core ethnic group was not high, and the independence of states like Hungary was too strong.

If the tens of millions of people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were all Austrians, the comprehensive strength of this country might not be weaker than Germany.

The flaw of Spain was that its population was relatively too small, even less than Italy, the up-and-comer.

Spain was an old-fashioned Great Power that had dominated Europe hundreds of years ago, while Italy only unified the whole country after Gao Da became the King of Spain.

Logically speaking, Spain's population should have been larger than Italy's. But the actual situation was that Spain's population was not only behind other Great Powers but also far behind Italy.

However, because of its own comprehensive strength, the gap in population was ignored by other countries.

Compared to Spain, the British situation was slightly more awkward.

Britain was certainly the most powerful country in the world, but the British policy of "Splendid Isolation" made them increasingly distant from the European continent.

Coupled with the fact that the British possessed the most colonies in the world, including the wealthiest colony, India, this created a large chasm between European countries and Britain.

Looking at all the European Great Powers, one really could not find a country that had a good relationship with Britain. The Anglo-French and Anglo-Russian conflicts went without saying, and there was also deep-seated hatred between Britain and Spain.

The relationship between the British and the German-Austrian Alliance was not that bad, which might be the only alliance force Britain could possibly join.

This was indeed the case in history; the British almost reached an alliance treaty with the Germans at the end of the 19th century. If such an alliance treaty could have been reached, the outcome of World War I would have changed drastically.

Unfortunately, the British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, who pursued conservatism and isolationism, strongly opposed the proposal for an alliance with the German Empire put forward by Zhang Bolun, ultimately causing the potential Anglo-German alliance to miscarry.

Of course, the Zhang Bolun here does not refer to the British Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain who pushed for the policy of appeasement in World War II, but his father, Joseph Chamberlain.

At this time, the Chamberlain family was considered a new power in British politics; although Joseph Chamberlain did not reach the highest position of Prime Minister, he stirred up the winds and clouds of British politics as a leader of the opposition in history.

Besides his second son, Arthur Neville Chamberlain, who successfully became British Prime Minister and was recorded in world history, his eldest son, Austen Chamberlain, also entered the British Cabinet multiple times in the early 20th century, serving in important positions such as Chancellor of the Exchequer or Foreign Secretary.

Although the British were in an awkward situation, the only ones actually expressing concern for Britain's awkward situation were the British themselves.

On the European continent, everyone was more concerned about the situation of this war.

Just as trade agreements were signed between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France and Russia also accelerated the signing of a trade agreement after the war broke out.

The main content of this trade agreement was for France to transport the strategic materials needed by Russia; after all, relying on Russia's own industry to contend with the industrial powerhouses of Germany and Austria was still a bit too much of a stretch.

In addition to reaching a trade agreement with Russia, France also signed a loan agreement with Russia. At this time, the French government, which had already paid off the 5 billion francs in reparations, was quite wealthy; the few hundred million francs that Russia borrowed were just a drop in the bucket for the French government.

The French support was also the source of Russia's confidence to continue fighting this war. If they had to rely solely on Russia's own economic and industrial support, Russia would likely have declared bankruptcy within a few months. Regarding France's support for Russia behind the scenes, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire could only watch and worry.

With France giving Russia a blood transfusion, in terms of a war of attrition, Germany and Austria were not necessarily Russia's match. What Russia lacked was economy and industry, and France could just happen to make up for this shortcoming.

Russia itself had a population of over 100 million; for Russia, a war of this scale was acceptable regardless of how many hundreds of thousands of people were lost.

As for Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they certainly could not accept losing too many troops in this war. The combined population of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not as large as Russia's, and their population growth rate was far behind Russia's.

In terms of manpower consumption, even if German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers could achieve a 1: casualty ratio against Russia, it would still be a loss for Germany and Austria.

Especially for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the core Austrian population was limited and could not withstand such consumption.

This also meant that for Germany and Austria, this war could only be won quickly; otherwise, they would have to find an opportunity to negotiate peace with Russia.

France's constant blood transfusions to Russia were actually good news for Spain. This also meant that it would not be so easy for Germany and Austria to win this war.

The longer the war lasted, the more money and benefits Spain, as a neutral country, could earn.

In the first month of the war, the three warring nations of Germany, Austria, and Russia were basically in a state of emergency mobilization.

Large quantities of weapons, equipment, and strategic materials were moved to the front lines, and many reservists and able-bodied men were conscripted into the army, urgently beginning several months of training.

As all three countries expanded their armies, their weapons also faced a huge shortfall.

Take the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an example.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's pre-war standing army was only about 270, 00; one month later, this number had reached nearly 400, 00.

Although various countries would stockpile a certain amount of weapons and equipment for strategic reserves, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a standing army of only 270, 00, it was impossible for them to stockpile too many weapons and equipment.

After all, weapons in this era were updated quickly; if too many weapons were stockpiled and no war broke out, these obsolete inventory weapons would become scrap metal after the weapons were updated.

All the Austro-Hungarian Empire's arms warehouses combined stockpiled less than 100, 00 rifles; after fully arming the army, there was actually a shortfall of over 30, 00 rifles within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

These gaps were naturally filled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire's allies, Italy and Spain, with Spain making the largest contribution.

There were two models of rifles that Spain sold externally: the first was the active-duty rifle, the Maxim M1884 rifle, and the other was the obsolete, outdated product, the Vitali M1872 rifle.

There was a large gap in the performance of these two rifles, and the price difference was also significant.

The Vitali M1872 rifles currently possessed by Spain were basically second-hand rifles phased out by the Imperial Guard, the Royal Army, and colonial troops, and the selling price was less than half that of a new gun.

As for the other brand-new rifle, the Maxim M1884 rifle, because it was an active-duty rifle, most of what could be bought were the latest products produced by the Royal Military Factory.

This led to the price of one Maxim M1884 rifle being almost three times that of a Vitali M1872 rifle, and rifle bullets loaded with smokeless powder also cost more than twice as much as black powder bullets.

In the arms trade with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not choose either of the two rifles, but chose to purchase both types of rifles simultaneously to equip their army.

Those more elite troops composed of Austrians certainly received the most advanced Maxim M1884 rifles.

As for the remaining troops composed of Czechs, Hungarians, and soldiers of other ethnicities, they could only make do with the second-hand Vitali M1872 rifles.

However, because the cost of black powder bullets was cheaper than smokeless powder, these soldiers holding second-hand rifles could also get a benefit, which was a more sufficient supply of bullets compared to the soldiers holding new rifles.

Just in the first month of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire ordered over 20, 00 rifles from Spain and over 10, 00 rifles from Italy.

It was precisely this war that caused Spain to begin the process of re-equipping some of its colonial troops.

The only ones that could be re-equipped earliest were a few divisions of the colonial troops, and the combat effectiveness of these divisions was worth acknowledging.

In the fighting against African natives, the colonial divisions played a role far exceeding that of the colonial garrison regiments. These colonial divisions had also been baptized by the fires of war; if a war occurred on the European continent in the future, they could also play a certain role on the Spanish battlefield.

Compared to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany's shortfall in weapons and equipment was not that serious.

On one hand, Germany's own military industrial base was relatively strong; on the other hand, Germany had a larger number of reservists and a much larger stockpile of weapons and equipment than the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In fact, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's 200, 00 standing army, stockpiling over 100, 00 rifles was already quite exaggerated.

And the Germans had nearly 500, 00 regular troops, and the number of rifles they had stockpiled was already close to 200, 00.

Coupled with the urgent production by domestic German military factories to provide for the army, this meant that Germany did not face any problems with insufficient weapons and equipment even after expanding its army by hundreds of thousands in the first month of the war.

Germany even had the ability to provide the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a portion of weapons and equipment, including the light artillery that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was extremely lacking.

Although the Poland region was a large plain, there were still many mountain ranges and mountainous terrain at the border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland.

These terrains were not suitable for large-caliber heavy artillery to join the battlefield; instead, those small-caliber artillery pieces could play a vital role.

First, small-caliber artillery shells were easier to transport; under conditions of sufficient logistical supply, their firepower was something large-caliber artillery could not compare to.

Second, small-caliber artillery was easy to relocate; the situation on the front-line battlefield was quite complex, and heavy artillery was very likely to be captured by the enemy because it could not be dismantled in time.

Light artillery did not have such worries. If they wanted to, soldiers could dismantle the artillery at any time and move it to a new position.

4, 00 words, first update, another update later.

(End of chapter)