บท 117: The Preparation of Serbia
Despite knowing that the enemy doesn't have great strength this time, Ferdinand still wants to minimize his losses!
As a matter of fact, Ferdinand did not intend to interfere with the command of the army as a part of the training! There are still things to be done on top of weaponry. There is no need to think about artillery. Poor Serbia can't afford to buy shells even if they have guns. Otherwise, the rebels would have done that?
As far as the Bulgarian Army is now equipped with artillery, it already has the advantage!
What were the Army's inter-generation weapons at the end of the 19th century other than a rapid-fire gun?
The Maxim gun was the first of its kind! 1894 was the year when the Maxim gun made its debut!
The Maxim really made the spotlight on the First World War when it equipped the German army with the MG08 Maxim gun, which killed 60,000 British troops in the Battle of Somme in one day's work, becoming the largest number of deaths in the First World War.
Since then, the armies of various countries have been equipped with Maxim guns, and the Maxim has become a famous killing weapon.
The power of the Maxim gun is known. The arsenal may also be partially copied, but the Maxim gun of this period was too heavy. It has to be filled with water at any time in use and is prone to jamming. Once discovered by the enemy in advance, the utility is greatly reduced!
At present, the Bulgarian army is also equipped with only a small amount, mainly for the training of machine gunners. Ferdinand originally planned to wait for a technical breakthrough, directly on the M1897 Hotchkiss machine gun for copycat.
At present, there is no need to care so much. He immediately ordered the arsenal to rush the production of three hundred Maxim machine guns, with the already equipped, so that each company of the main force had one.
It is not that you do not want to allocate more. The key is that the consumption of bullets is too big, the Bulgarian arsenal's capacity is that small, and it will not supply the logistics of more machine guns!
The most critical thing is still money. A large-scale battle under a machine gun, per the calculation of the consumption of 50,000 rounds of ammunition, so that ten million rounds of bullets are gone, which are all money!
The good thing is that this is only a local war, and the goal is only to weaken the military power of Serbia, which is considered a preventive war!
The staff estimate is that it won't last more than two weeks before Serbia will ask for help from Austria-Hungary, and then they can wrap up the scene!
It may really be a constant battle for just a day or two, or maybe even just a few hours, to decide the winner!
They had turned on the Bulgarian war machine. The history of the Bulgarian-Serbian war was once again published in the newspapers, revenge became the common ground, and Serbia was the number one enemy!
Anyone with a mind knows that there's going to be a war! The Balkans have always been a high-risk area for war, and since the Serbian invasion of Bulgaria nine years ago, relations between the two countries have never been better. Now it's only natural that the ground is clear!
Bulgaria's big move, naturally, could not be hidden from the Serbian government.
The young king, Aleksandar Obrenović, was now anxious and desperate. He had not settled the domestic troubles, and the Bulgarians were coming again! Even if he was more arrogant, he did not think that Serbia could win the war now!
As soon as the emergency meeting began, Aleksandar could not help but speak up, "Gentlemen, Bulgaria's evil intent is already known to everyone, what should we do now?"
The Minister of War angrily said, "We need to mobilize the country immediately and give Bulgaria a serious blow!!!"
After hearing the Minister of War's words, Alexander asked, looking forward to it, "Oh, what is your Ministry of War's plan? How many troops need to be mobilized to win this war?"
The Minister of War thought about it and said, "This ~ depends on how many Bulgarian invading troops there are? They now have 130,000 regular armies, but they can also carry out civil mobilization. The army's invasion may be more than 100,000, or even 200,000 may be!
And we only have 100,000 troops and have to divide our troops to suppress the rebellion. At least we need to mobilize another 200,000 troops to be sure to defeat them!"
As soon as the Minister of War's words fell, the crowd inhaled a cold breath. It is already the strength of the whole country! For a small country with a population of two million or so,
The Minister of Finance was frightened by the Minister of War's bold statement and questioned, "But what about weapons and equipment? Where are we going to get so many weapons to arm such a large army?"
The Minister of Finance did not mention the money this time. He knows that there is no longer care at this time whether the financial collapse, the winning the war is all good, lose the war cabinet is ready to leave and does not need him to continue to worry about it!
After hearing the Minister of Finance's words, Alexander looked at the Minister of War with hope and asked, "How many weapons do we have in stock now, and how many troops can we equip?"
The Minister of War was silent for a moment and said with difficulty: "This ~ alas! Due to the lack of funds for the army and the attrition of suppressing the rebellion, the weapons reserve has dropped to the lowest point in ten years in the last two years, with only 1,300 rifles and two cannons, which can barely equip one regiment!"
Even though all the people sitting here are amateurs, they know that the army has to ensure that one person has a weapon no matter what!
For now, after the national mobilization, an average of three people have a gun, to be almost the same as the Russian Army in World War I. They can imagine the combat power!
Aleksandar I asked, without losing heart, "What about going to buy it now?"
Without thinking, the Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately spoke up and said, "Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has communicated with all the ambassadors, there is no problem to buy weapons, only the offer is slightly higher, and there is a little time it takes!"
"How high?" The Minister of Finance asked out of habit.
"It's a total increase of five times over the current international price, and they're suggesting we buy front-loading rifles, which they have in large stock and can get a bit of a discount on the price and in a much faster time frame!" The Minister of Foreign Affairs said nervously.
"What high five times, and why not go to rob!"
"What a front-loading rifle, those pieces of crap have no use!"
Almost at the same time, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of War fired off a rebuke!
At this point, the Prime Minister spoke up, "I remember that we also eliminated a batch of front-loading rifles before, so why don't we take them out for the new recruits to use first!"
The Minister of War retorted, "No! What's the use of those old-fashioned weapons? Isn't that suicide?"
The Prime Minister said calmly: "Do not get upset, our Minister of War! Aren't the old weapons also capable of killing people? We should first give the new recruits for training, and later, when the weapons are bought back, we can change them again!"
After hearing the Prime Minister's explanation, the Minister of War reluctantly nodded his head!
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This book is so unlikely to be familiar with the history of the Balkans that most people are stuck in the World Wars.
In fact, late 19th century Balkans diplomacy and WWI were utterly different concepts!
In the 1890s, the peak of German-Austrian diplomacy, most Balkan countries were allies or minions!
Bulgaria was Russia's only ally in the Balkans, and historically, the Bulgarian-Russian relations broke down after Stambolov's cabinet came to power!!!
There was a restoration of relations under Konstantin's government. Since then, Bulgaria has been swayed between the two blocs. The Russians chose Serbia in the Balkan Wars and later were held hostage by the civilian interests to join the Allies!
The minion of Austria-Hungary of Serbia, from its independence until 1907 when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflicts intensified, and the pro-Russian faction prevailed, then jumped ship!!!
Austria-Hungary participated in the Serbian independence, 1885, 1886, when Bulgaria-Serbia defeated the war, Austria-Hungary also contributed to giving a push, political, economic, and cultural infiltration!
While Greece in later times was a little brother of Britain, but the end of the 19th century, the great powers had a strong presence when the upper hand was dominated by the pro-German faction, before shifting positions later!
Romania was then an ally of Germany and had signed a secret treaty with Germany and Austria, but after the death of Carol I, the pro-Allied forces grew and joined the Allies in World War I!
In general, the great powers of the Balkans have intervened, and in the 19th century? Russia relaxed its intervention in the Balkans after its eastern expansion!
The Balkan states were independent from the Ottomans, and the conflict between the two sides speaks for itself!
The second is the Bulgarian-Serbian conflict. In 1885, Serbia invaded Bulgaria and lost the war! In the Austro-Hungarian intervention truce, the two sides also took into a deadly feud. Serbia always wants revenge. Bulgaria is not willing to fight a war for nothing!
In small countries, as we all know, there is always a war with friends and relatives who have to die, and the hatred of the two sides will come to the point where the pressure of civil opinion drives the two governments can not compromise! At the first opportunity, both sides will choose to kill the stone!
Well, briefly again, it's also mentioned in the book, so maybe someone didn't pay attention!
Now again, I hope you don't bring in the international relations of World War I. The World War is still twenty years away!
The main conflicts in the world now are the German-French conflict, the Anglo-Russian conflict, and the Anglo-French conflict.
Next in line: the Russian-Austrian conflict and the Anglo-German conflict.
Everyone knows about the German-French conflict!
The Anglo-Russian conflict has been going on for decades in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, Central Asia, India, the Far East, etc. The Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War are examples of the Anglo-Russian conflict!
Anglo-French conflict can be traced back hundreds of years, "Hundred Years War", "Anti-French Alliance", and "American War of Independence"... were, at the end of the 19th century, for African colonies, Britain and France were just a step away from war!
When it comes to the enemies of Britain: the first in line is Russia; the second is France; the third is said by some to be the United States, and some say Germany.
Britain and Germany were still quasi-allies at the end of the 19th century. Britain, Germany, Austria, and Italy were ready to establish a four-nation alliance. They opened up the talks, and later, as the Conservative Party came to power, pursuing a 'Splendid Isolation' to maintain the continent's balance stopped!
In the 20th century, the substantial rise of Germany broke the balance of continental Europe, threatening British hegemony and intensifying the Anglo-German conflict!
Well, briefly, for people to read!!!
Otherwise, people may wonder: Are the Great Powers crazy? How to join forces with the enemy to fuck their people; is the protagonist sick, there is no reason to fight Serbia, and there are no benefits? It would be better to find the Ottomans or Romania!
Thank you all for your support. Probably many readers are confused with the present. I can only say thank you so much!
Good Night
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