Italy was carrying out secret mobilization, and the Austrians were a little flamboyant. They directly announced that in view of the current tense situation in Europe, they announced partial military mobilization. The Austrians' actions also aroused the tension of another country, which is Serbia. Although in
Serbia made great gains in the previous Balkan War, but its strength was much lower than that of Austria-Hungary.
And unfortunately, Serbia, which had obtained a small half of Macedonian territory, now had thoughts about another territory. This territory was Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a region with a large number of Serbs, Serbia had complicated emotions towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.
First of all, this area was annexed by Austria-Hungary as early as 1891. Although Serbia had objections at that time, no one was willing to listen because it was weak.
As for why you have the idea now, it is not simple. The strength has increased and there are supporters behind it. In addition, Serbia has to face the surging nationalism.
Over the past few years, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has indeed ruled Bosnia and Herzegovina much better than Turkey. However, the national ideology has taken root in the minds of the Bosnian Serbs, and they do not accept the grace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at all. They always want to do something every now and then.
They either held demonstrations to resist taxes and donations, or they attacked and looted various government agencies, which made the Austro-Hungarian Empire extremely annoyed.
Of course, Austria-Hungary also knows the situation of the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so it is also eyeing the Kingdom of Serbia behind it. If it were not for the fear of Russia behind it, the Austrians would have taken action long ago. At this time, Austria-Hungary's mobilization naturally made Serbia very worried
Nervous, not to mention Russia behind it.
As an ally of France, Russia had actually made preparations when the Moroccan dispute broke out between Germany and France. However, seeing that the scale of the two parties was getting larger and larger, Russia actually hesitated. But hesitation has no effect. You must know that at present
Russia already owes tens of billions of francs in debt. Unless the Russians dare to default on their debts, they will have no choice but to follow the footsteps of the French. Therefore, Russia has also carried out partial mobilization.
Now that the European powers are mobilizing one after another, the sky over Europe is filled with smoke. Tickets to leave Europe have suddenly become popular. It seems that there are many smart people.
As countries involved in this crisis, Germany and France are in a difficult position facing the current situation.
That's right, it's hard to get off the tiger. For the two countries, for the benefit of a little bit of Morocco, each of them calls on friends to rectify the army and looks like a big fight, which is a bit inconsistent with the identities of the two major countries. But in this situation, no one can
Taking a step back will cause the situation to develop in an uncontrollable direction.
The two parties have no good solution to this problem, and neither one is willing to make a conciliatory move first. It is like the two parties are on a train rushing towards a cliff, but neither one is willing to jump off the train first, lest they be called cowardly.
Led by France and Germany, the great powers divided into two camps, the Entente and the Alliance, also stared at each other with daggers drawn.
The situation in Europe has become so tense that the British, as the instigators, were somewhat unprepared.
At No. 10 Downing Street, a cabinet meeting is being held.
"The current situation in Europe is very tense, and it is very likely to trigger a war that will affect the entire Europe. What attitude should we take in the UK to face this problem."
Prime Minister Asquith looked at the important ministers in front of him and spoke about the theme of today's meeting.
Speaking of which, the British government has some regrets about its support for the French this time. Yes, it is regrettable.
This time, the British Empire only wanted to suppress the German momentum. It did not want to go to war with Germany, let alone provoke a war between the two camps. And considering the interest disputes in Morocco, it was not qualified to let the two camps
Fight for it.
As for the meaning of the Prime Minister's words, there are all human beings here, who can't understand it? But if you understand, you don't need to be so impatient about some things.
"Sir Gray, what do you think about this?"
Edward Gray, the Foreign Secretary who was singled out, put on a worried expression and spoke. "Everyone, the current situation in Europe is very tense. All countries are mobilizing or preparing to mobilize. For our country, there are currently two problems;
The first is the strength of support for allies. Paris has sent several telegrams to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all asking about the strength of our support for them."
"You can tell them that we will dispatch the navy to support them."
The speaker was Lord of the Admiralty Churchill, who had just become Lord of the Admiralty and was in high spirits and wanted to do something big, so he always made trouble with the British Empire's navy.
Gray ignored Churchill's words. Although this young man of noble birth was very courageous, his methods were not suitable for the current tense situation.
"So what kind of support should we give?"
Prime Minister Asquith understood the Foreign Secretary's intention, so he asked directly.
"It depends on where are we going to go?"
Gray's words are in line with the Prime Minister's psychology. The British Empire should not take chestnuts from the fire for other countries, but should let other countries use it for itself.
The current situation in which various countries are planning to fight is not in the interest of the British Empire. Although it has participated in the alliance between France and Russia, decision-makers in London are still very confused about what to do next.
The reason is very simple, that is, Britain is not ready for war. Although the scale of shipbuilding in the British Empire is getting larger and larger, and the slogans are louder, the actual reserves of weapons and ammunition and other military supplies, raw materials
Procurement, the formulation of military mobilization plans, and the expansion of the army involved all aspects of a war, and the British Empire was not ready at all.
In other words, Britain is currently not ready for war, either materially or psychologically.
Since it is not ready yet, when the situation in Europe is about to break out, it needs to consider more. Not to mention that the British Navy currently faces more problems.
First of all, the British Empire needs to concentrate its elite warships to prepare for the high seas fleet that Germany spent a lot of money to build. In addition, the Mediterranean faces the threat of Italy, which also requires the British Empire to allocate its energy.
Maybe you can say there aren't any French people.
If you look at the French's maritime construction, you will know that most of their energy has been put on land, and they are already beyond their capabilities at sea. Under London's repeated urging, the construction of the first class of its dreadnoughts, the Guba class, was only started the year before last. They wanted it to have combat effectiveness.
, it will also take two years.
The French are unreliable on naval issues, and the Russians are even more unreliable. The construction of their first class of dreadnoughts, the Gangut class, only started the year before last, and due to the impact of technology and facilities and equipment, the construction of this class is slow and is expected to take two years.
God only knows when he will be able to enter the water and when he will be able to fight.
The unreliability of the two allies requires the British Navy to bear the maritime pressure from the Allied camp alone. This is what London is most worried about. Because the British Empire Navy currently does not have the advantage, it is currently impossible to suppress the other side. More Not to mention the importance of the Mediterranean, goods from Asia and Oceania need to go through the Mediterranean to enter Europe.
"Perhaps we should give Paris some advice so that it does not need to trigger a war in Europe over Morocco."
The suggestion from Finance Minister Lloyd George was immediately echoed by others.
"This is a good suggestion. We should not start a war that will spread to Europe over a small piece of African land."
"Yes, it is simply unreasonable to do this for a small piece of land in Africa. It will trigger a humanitarian disaster in Europe."
"I very much agree."
Well, since the gentlemen of the British Empire are not willing to see humanitarian disasters in Europe, they are naturally willing to contribute to peace. As for who provoked this dispute, it does not matter at all.
"Then it will be up to Gray to inform our allies of our views."
"It's a great honor and I will let Paris know about our concern for peace."
In the eyes of everyone's expectations, Gray, as the Foreign Secretary, completed the task.
The matter was settled, but no one got up because there were still things to discuss next.
Prime Minister Asquith took a document and said, "Okay, now that we have decided to express our concern for peace, we need to pay attention to our important navy. According to Mr. Churchill's report, our country's navy is currently We can no longer keep up with the development of the times, so I think we need to discuss the next shipbuilding plan..."
