Chapter 482: Arrow on the Bowstring

The confidence of Germany and France also spread to their allies; Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy all accelerated the expansion of their armies, and various mobilization propaganda and news reports spread across European countries.

Among the army expansions of all countries, the expansion speed of the German and French armies was the fastest. On one hand, the transportation systems of Germany and France were more developed, and the public participating in conscription could be quickly transported together, thereby forming new armies.

In just half a year, the number of German and French troops exceeded one million one after another, which also made the confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe increasingly serious.

Because of their respective offensive plans, on the Alsace-Lorraine border, Germany and France mobilized over a million troops to confront each other.

It just so happened that Germans and French were full of hatred for each other; with so many troops confronting each other on the border, problems would break out sooner or later.

Sure enough, on July 15, 1912, on this day that was ordinary for Spain, a fierce conflict broke out between Germany and France on the Alsace-Lorraine border; dozens of soldiers directly participated in this conflict, ultimately leading to two deaths and over ten injuries.

This conflict was actually no big deal; after all, only two people died, which was acceptable to both Germany and France.

But the problem was, a conflict broke out at such a critical juncture, and people died; could the German and French public accept it?

Of course they could not accept it.

When the French public learned that the two soldiers who died were on the French side, their anger was completely ignited.

A few hours after this news broke, thousands of Parisian citizens gathered together, holding homemade banners written with French words for revenge and declaration of war, marching through the streets of Paris in a grand manner.

It was already almost night, but for the Parisian citizens, the coming night was no obstacle to the march.

With the spread of the news, around 12:00 midnight, the marching crowd expanded several times, reaching tens of thousands.

Now the news could not be suppressed at all, and the French government could not ignore the opinions of tens of thousands of people. Moreover, behind these tens of thousands of marching people, there were even more people who supported the war and hated Germany.

On July 16, the French government officially issued a statement to the outside world, severely condemning Germany for invading French territory and causing the death of two French soldiers, demanding that the German government hand over the culprits who caused the death of the two French soldiers within 24 hours and apologize to the French government and the injured French public; otherwise, it would be regarded as the highest provocation against the French government, and France would have the right to use military action to retaliate.

The French government's demands received the support of the public, and the French public's hatred for Germany also reached its peak.

The suddenly erupted incident immediately became a hot topic of discussion across Europe, and what choice the German government would make also became an answer that almost every European country was curious about.

What choice would the German government make?

In reality, like the current French government, the German government had no choice.

The right or wrong of this conflict incident was no longer important; Germany and France could not retreat in this incident, and both governments had been kidnapped by domestic public opinion and the military.

German Emperor Wilhelm II keenly realized that the time for the war to break out had arrived. The German government must not retreat in this diplomatic incident, and must not even express any weak attitude.

Two hours after the French government issued the statement, the German government also issued a statement, pointing the responsibility for the border conflict directly at France, stating that it was because the French government had groundlessly detained several German soldiers on normal patrol that led to the German army rescuing these soldiers.

It was precisely in the process of rescue that the conflict between the two armies occurred; the French army should bear the main responsibility for the conflict incident, and the German government did not need to apologize to the French government, nor did it need to make any compensation.

Not long after the German government issued this diplomatic statement, the French government also had a response. The French diplomatic department first strongly condemned the German government, stating that it was because German patrol soldiers invaded French territory that the French army detained these German soldiers.

During the time these German soldiers were detained, France not only provided them with the food that ordinary soldiers could enjoy but also did not cause them any harm.

On the contrary, the German army invaded French territory without any explanation and rescued these soldiers by force.

The German army's attack on the French army was barbaric, and the damage caused to the French army was even greater. If the German government refused to apologize, the French government would have to consider the public's attitude and would not rule out the possibility of declaring war on Germany.

Seeing that Germany and France were about to fight, European countries were finally panicked.

The most panicked was Britain; Britain was not yet prepared for a super war to break out, because the British Navy had not yet reached the two-power standard they had planned.

Although the British Navy was still the world's number one, the Spanish Navy, which ranked second in the world, could pose a huge threat to the British Navy, which also meant that the Royal Navy was not invincible.

The German Navy, which ranked third in the world, had also experienced relatively large development and also posed a huge threat to the British Navy.

The outbreak of a European war at this time had no good news for Britain, and the British government could not decide the course of this war unless they participated in it personally.

To avoid the outbreak of a European war, the British government contacted the French and German governments, hoping to launch negotiations on this border conflict to avoid the outbreak of a war that would sweep across Europe.

But the British government completely ignored the public opinion within Germany and France at this time. Under the sweep of the overwhelming public opinion of the two countries, whether it was Germany or France, they had no choice at this time.

The German government and the French government rejected the British government's request for peace negotiations one after another, which also made the British government realize that this war was no longer something they could stop.

Sure enough, on July 17, 1912, within the last hour of the 24-hour deadline set by the French government, the German diplomatic ambassador to Paris officially submitted a declaration of war to the French government and proudly left a sentence: "Since the French government is unwilling to bear the faults of its army, then let everything be judged by war."

Germany declared war!

This European war broke out in a way that no one expected, and it broke out so hastily.

The only ones who truly anticipated the war would break out were perhaps the two parties involved, Germany and France.

Why did Germany drag it out until the last hour of the 24-hour deadline to declare war on France? In reality, it was to delay time, thereby carrying out national mobilization on a larger scale.

Although the French government did not know Germany's tricks, the French government also anticipated that the war would break out soon.

To be well-prepared, under the suggestion of Chief of the General Staff Joffre, French President Armand Fallières also quietly issued a mobilization order, carrying out total mobilization across the country.

After receiving Germany's declaration of war, French President Armand Fallières, annoyed by the arrogant attitude of the German diplomatic ambassador, immediately ordered the French ambassador to submit a declaration of war to the German government and ordered Chief of the General Staff Joffre: "Chief of the General Staff, now is the time for your performance.

I do not wish to see the arrogant attitude of this group of Germanic people again; it is time to let them understand the sentence that the glory of France cannot be trampled upon."

Chief of the General Staff Joffre naturally nodded and agreed; he had quite a lot of confidence in the combat plan he had formulated and also believed that the outbreak of war at this time was a good time, at least the French public was quite supportive of this war, which also meant that France would have a steady stream of new recruits in the future, which was already huge good news.

When the news that Germany and France declared war on each other spread to European countries, two and a half hours had already passed.

Gao Da was also surprised by the way the European war broke out; he did not expect that the World War in this world would be ignited by a German-French conflict.

Perhaps the old Emperor Franz Joseph I could persist for a longer time in this world; after all, his second successor, his nephew Archduke Ferdinand, seemed to have escaped the fate of being assassinated.

What Gao Da was curious about at this time was the attitude of Germany and France's allies. The war broke out in a way that made Gao Da feel surprised; would Germany and France's allies firmly fulfill their alliance obligations and declare war on their allies' enemies at the same time?

Time soon gave Gao Da the answer.

On July 18, 1912, Russia declared war on Germany on the grounds of fulfilling its Franco-Russian alliance obligations.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire also declared war on Russia on the same day, and subsequently declared war on France.

France and Germany also declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia respectively on this day, and the war spread from the German-French side to the entire Alliance and the Allied powers.

Of course, there were exceptions to this.

As a member of the Triple Alliance, Italy did not give a clear attitude until Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire participated in the war. ===== CHAPTER 483 =====