() Liu Fu was busy in Asia, and he was not idle anywhere in Europe. First, the German army defeated the French army from the German-French border in August, and then the German army chased these defeated troops to the Marne River defense line.
, this line of defense was garrisoned by the British and French forces. On the 200-kilometer-long front, both sides invested 1.5 million people. After a week
In the fierce battle, the British and French forces maintained the defense line and crushed the German offensive. However, the losses of the British and French forces were greater than those of Germany. However, strategically speaking, the British and French forces were the victors. They successfully eased the German offensive momentum.
This prevented the French from being quickly defeated by Germany and dragged the Germans into a war of attrition.
From the beginning of the war, the German Army strictly implemented the Schlieffen Plan. This plan was proposed by German Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen before the war began and was formulated by the German General Staff. Its goal was Germany
The two main enemies are Russia and France.
The purpose of the plan is that at the beginning of the war, the German army passes through Belgium, which has convenient transportation, enters France, sweeps across the coastal areas, then surrounds Paris eastward, and then seizes the French army's retreat. This plan requires the German army to attack within 8 weeks.
The main French troops in the border areas will be eliminated within a short period of time.
, and occupied Paris. In this way, before the Russians had fully mobilized their full strength, their ally France had been defeated, and then the Germans could calmly mobilize their troops from the west to cooperate with Germany and Austria-Hungary on the east.
** team, come together to deal with the Russians.
However, this plan was challenged from the beginning. First, the Belgians tenaciously held on to the Lieri Fortress for three days, which made the Germans' plan to quickly pass through Belgium fail. Then, the German troops who passed through Belgium were in a hurry to make an assault.
The speed was too fast, making it impossible for the flanking troops to keep up with the protection, and was finally blocked by the British and French forces in front of the Marne River. At this point, the Schlieffen Plan was considered a complete failure.
The German army on the western front, which could no longer attack quickly, used machine guns, barbed wire and trenches to build a line of defense that reached the seaside. Then they competed with the British and French forces on this line of defense, but no one could break through. At this time, the Russian army
After launching an offensive from the Eastern Front, the German army had to transfer many troops from the Western Front to supplement the Eastern Front. In this way, at the end of 1914, the German troops on the Western Front were basically in a defensive state.
On the eastern front, the Russians were divided into two groups, attacking East Prussia in the north and Galicia in the south. However, the Russian army on the northern front was quickly defeated by the German army, while the Austro-Hungarian army on the southern front blocked
Unable to withstand the Russian attack, the Germans had to mobilize more troops to help Austria-Hungary.
The empire went to defend the Russian army. In order to strengthen the strength of the southern front, Germany had to contact Turkey and bring it into the arms of the Allies. So, starting from October, the Turkish army began to participate in the war and attacked the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The Caucasus and the Russian army fought together.
Since the war started in July, although the British and French forces have blocked the German offensive, the Russians cannot stop the Germans on the eastern and southern fronts, let alone their two younger brothers, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. Therefore, during the war
At the beginning, the Germans still had the advantage on land, but on the sea, it was a different outcome.
Before the start of the war, Germany had begun to desperately strengthen its naval power, but it still lagged far behind the United Kingdom in the number and tonnage of its ships, and the caliber and number of its artillery were far less than those of the British fleet. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, the United Kingdom relied on its
Maritime superiority against Germany
China implemented a naval blockade. The British battleships were like watchdogs, squatting in the port of Scapavlo, keeping an eye on the German Ocean Fleet. Due to the large difference in the number of battleships, the German Ocean Fleet could only shrink in
In Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven, we dare not move out easily.
However, in addition to Germany's home fleet, the Germans also have a small fleet in distant Asia, which is the German Far East Fleet stationed in Qingdao.
This fleet, commanded by Admiral Maximilian von Spee, included the armored cruiser "Scharnhorst", the armored cruiser "Gneisenau", the light cruiser "Emden"
Cruisers and some auxiliary vessels.
Since Japan currently has no navy defeated by Taiwan, and domestic famine continues and the economy collapses, the British-Japanese coalition did not attack Qingdao at this time, and the Spee fleet did not escape Qingdao early, but relied on
With the naval base in Qingdao, it began to attack the British and French fleets stationed in Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Since the British and French fleets suffered heavy losses in the battle to attack Taiwan in the past few years, although they were supplemented later, they were still not as good as the German Far East Fleet, which suffered little damage. Therefore, in the early exchanges of fire, the British suffered successive losses.
Three destroyers were lost, while the French were sunk a cruiser.
Facing the menacing German Far East Fleet, the British and French Far East fleets could only huddle in the port and did not dare to dispatch easily. Seeing this situation, the German Far East Fleet immediately turned its target to the Allied cargo ships operating in the Indian Ocean and nearby areas.
, in just 2 months, more than 30 cargo ships, troop carriers and destroyers were sunk, and 11 were captured. These ships and cargo were worth more than 20 million US dollars at the time, causing a lot of damage to the Allied colonies.
big loss.
At that time, Germany's bases in the Far East were Qingdao and New Guinea. Relying on these two naval bases, the clever Spee divided the fleet into three groups and attacked in different directions, which for a time caused turmoil in the colonies of various countries.
In order to solve this big problem, the British had to dispatch several faster cruisers from the Mediterranean Fleet and rush to the Far East in an attempt to seize the German squadron to eliminate this threat.
However, distant water cannot quench the near thirst. In order to restore the colonial blood transfusion to the mainland as soon as possible, the British sent an invitation to Taiwan through the United States, trying to draw Taiwan into the water and help them maintain the security of the Far East.
At this time, the United States had not yet entered the war. President Wilson declared the United States a neutral country when the war in Europe just started, and Liu Fu followed suit a few days later and also declared Taiwan a neutral country. Liu Fu did not intend to agree to the British invitation this time, but
Liu Fu did not reject it outright, but suggested that it would be better to use Taiwanese ships to help the British transport goods.
The United Kingdom quickly agreed to Taiwan's proposal. Although they had to pay Taiwan a relatively high rent, as long as the supplies could arrive safely, they would not care about bargaining or haggling.
However, after Liu Fu made this proposal, Helena had already returned to her home country of Germany with Liu Fu's authorization. Her mission this time was to sell several products for Liu Fu - sulfonamide anti-inflammatory drugs, heavy-duty
Trucks, individual soldier rations, military uniforms, chemical raw materials, etc.
Although these things cannot kill people, they are used in large quantities in long-term operations and are strategic materials. Taiwan is rich in these things. It happens that they are idle. Let us also make some war wealth. Don't let the Americans take the war dividends.
Take it away.
In fact, if Liu Fu wants to use the war to make money, he has many things in his hands that can be sold, such as armored vehicles, howitzers, anti-infantry mines, mortars, incendiary bombs, semi-automatic rifles, squad light machine guns, explosives, special steel, etc.
wait.
But Liu Fu doesn't want to use these relatively advanced equipment to arm the European powers. Liu Fu believes that as long as these things of his enter the European battlefield, within two years, many of the advanced ideas and raw materials in these equipment will be clearly studied.
And it is very likely that newer and higher technologies will be developed. At that time, it will be a little difficult to defend ourselves with a small number of high-tech weapons.
While promoting these strategic materials to Germany this time, Helena will also reach a secret agreement with German high-level officials. In this agreement, Taiwan requires Germany to promise not to attack Taiwan's cargo ships transporting supplies to the United Kingdom. In return, Taiwan will
Recently, the Allied colonies have been attacked from the Far East.
Helena's trip went very smoothly. Although she has left Germany for many years, her family has a strong influence in East Prussia, Germany, and is involved in many manufacturing and shipbuilding industries. Naturally, it has close ties with the German side.
The Germans are in great need of these strategic materials. Although the war has just begun, the Germans no longer have the arrogance they had before the war. Although they blocked the counterattack of the British and French coalition forces on the Western Front, they are unable to launch a larger attack.
, the two sides can only see-saw back and forth on a long front.
On the eastern front, although the German army had defeated the Russian army attacking on the northern front, it had to deploy troops to help the Austro-Hungarian army stabilize the front. In this way, the German army could not send more troops to launch the attack.
Although Germany still has an advantage as far as the current war situation is concerned, it is far from what was described in the original Schlieffen Plan. It has been almost half a year since the war started. Not only did they not capture Paris and defeat the French, they also recruited the British to join the war.
Now the Anglo-French allied forces have dragged most of the German troops to the Western Front and cannot mobilize them, and the British navy has a tight eye on the North Sea. Not only is the Ocean Fleet unable to sail, but even merchant ships have difficulty transporting the various supplies Germany needs.
Just when Germany was worried about the future war, Helena brought a large amount of supplies, and also brought a piece of news that surprised the Germans. The Taiwanese planned to attack the Allied colonies in the Far East!
Now Spee's fleet is doing well in the Far East, but after all, the sky is gone and never comes back.
But if Taiwan attacks the colonies of the Allied Powers, it will not be a disturbance. If its own backyard is looted, it will definitely affect the war strength of the Allied Powers. It may even attract some of the Allied Powers' troops. However, Taiwan's conditions are simply that it cannot
Attack Taiwanese merchant ships.
Although Taiwan's merchant ships may be transporting supplies for the Allied Powers, they may also be transporting supplies for the Allies, and Taiwan has declared neutrality, just to make some war profits. German senior officials believe that as long as the war can be won, they don't have to worry about these details, so
, the secret agreement was reached.
However, since it was a secret agreement, Helena firmly did not agree to write anything like an agreement, because Liu Fu specifically told her that she would rather fail to reach an agreement than to be exposed. If the Germans dare to attack Taiwan's merchant ships, Taiwan will take advantage of them.
The Far East Fleet operated on them, and they might also occupy their colonies in the Far East.
