() As the war progressed to the end of 1915, the British were already in dire straits. Since the only Allied countries participating in the war were Britain, France, and Russia, the others followed suit, and it was basically useless. And among these three wars, the Russians had no money.
There are no weapons, only countless farmers and a vast territory; the French are also very tight on money, and they are very difficult to fight on the frontal battlefield against the Germans. In addition, the Far East has been confiscated by the South China Sea Federation, and the war potential is not very good.
enough;
The only one who can really support the war is Britain itself. Therefore, on the Allied side, Britain has become the bank and arsenal of the alliance. After launching the Mesopotamia Campaign and the Gallipoli Campaign, the British army has successively invested 60
There were tens of thousands of people, and the two battles had been fought for more than half a year with no end in sight.
In terms of blocking the Germans, although the British Navy accomplished its task well, due to the influence of the London Declaration of 1909, the British government
fu cannot make judgments on the fact that many materials, such as food and feed, often pass through a third country and enter the enemy's country. To address this problem, the United Kingdom revised the London Declaration in August, but the effect was not very great, and it also caused Germany to
Out of anger, the Germans have issued a warning that if the British amend the London Declaration again, they will exclude submarines and carry out indiscriminate attacks on all ships traveling in the waters surrounding the UK.
Of course, the German submarines are not submarines of the South China Sea Federation. After the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy was attacked, the Germans realized the power of submarines and equipped some submarines, but these submarines can only be regarded as submersible.
Surface ships cannot be said to be submarines in the full sense because they spend most of their time on the water.
When the German right wing was blocked at Newport, the front of the Western Front was like a big tongue, protruding to the west between the Channel and the Vosges Mountains, with its apex near Cambin. For 1915, France
Marshal Xiafei's plan is to use a two-sided offensive to cut off this tongue:
The British should attack eastward from Altos, while the French should attack northward from Champagne, with their attack axis planned to be west of Saint-Quentin. This strategy had been the basis of French strategy throughout the war; in accordance with this basis
, in 1915 the following battles took place:
The First Battle of Champagne (December 2014 to March 2015); The Battle of Sossens (January 8ri to 14ri, 2015); The Battle of Neufcapery (March 10ri to March 13th, 2015); Festus
Battle of Belt (May 15, 2015)
i to 25ri); the second Battle of Altos (May 9ri to June 18ri, 2015); the Ross Battle (September 25ri to October 15ri, 2015); the second Battle of Champagne (September 25ri to September 25, 2015)
November 6ri).
Most of these battles were repulsed by the Germans. After more than 200,000 British and French troops were killed or injured, the achievements of these battles were, at best, only denting the tip of this giant tongue.
When the coalition forces were blocked on the western front, winter had already entered on the eastern front. Neither Germany nor Russia wanted to fight in the severe cold, so the East and West temporarily settled down, and the German Chief of General Staff Von Falkenhayn
However, the general planned to transfer Germany from the Eastern Front to the Western Front, and was preparing to attack Verdun, the French's last psychological line of defense.
In Falkenhayn's view, as long as the Verdun Fortress is destroyed, the French will lose confidence, and if a casualty ratio of 1:2 can be achieved in the battle, the French will no longer be able to continue the war.
As a result, a large number of German troops were transferred from the Eastern Front to the Western Front in preparation for launching a new campaign against France. Admiral von Falkenhayn may not have realized that officially because of the Battle of Verdun, he was awarded the Allied Forces
He was nicknamed the Butcher of Verdun.
However, Admiral von Falkenhayn seemed not to be satisfied with just earning the title of butcher on land. So, after the British revised the London Declaration again in December 2015, Admiral Falkenhayn ordered
Unrestricted submarine warfare was launched.
In fact, as early as 1914, when the war began, Germany used 20 submarines of the navy to attack British ships in the northern British waters and the North Sea. However, because these old U-shaped submarines not only had a small displacement,
They are basically under 300 tons, and the power of the kerosene engine and the performance of the battery are very poor, so the parameters of these submarines are also very ugly. Their water speed is only about 14 knots, and the underwater speed is even more appalling, only 9
Festival.
Since the kerosene engine produced very large black smoke when running on the water and was easily discovered by surface ships, starting from the end of 1915, the Germans installed the diesel engine on the U-19 submarine and increased the speed to 16 knots on the water.
Next section 10.
Submarines alone are not enough, you must also have torpedoes. Germany’s torpedo technology is pretty good. The main torpedo of Germany at that time was the 533 mm G5a torpedo, 4.6 meters long, 1001 kg, and the warhead was 210 kg of aluminum powder mixed explosives, using
It is driven by thermal power, with a maximum speed of 31 knots and a range of 2,000 meters. However, because torpedo failure is prone to occur at the maximum speed, it generally sails at a speed lower than 15% of the maximum speed.
What I have to say is the quality of the German Navy. Relying on such submarines and torpedoes, in 1914, the Germans sank a total of 8 warships and 10 merchant ships, and only lost 5 submarines. Among them, the U9 submarine was destroyed in 1914.
In one day, September 22, 2015, the British armored cruisers HMS Huguet, HMS Abu Gir and HMS Clycy were sunk within 75 minutes.
After entering 1915, the German submarine force became even sharper. At the beginning of the year, they used the U-24 submarine to sink the 15,000-ton battleship "Formidable". Moreover, the German Navy announced that on February 18th, any submarine entering the waters near the British Isles would
All ships will be regarded as hostile ships and sunk. In the month of April, German submarines sank 40 merchant ships, while only losing 3 submarines.
However, on May 7, 1915, the German submarine also caused a big trouble. At 2:15 that day, the 30,000-ton cruise ship "Lusitania" was launched by the German submarine U-21 in the southern waters of Ireland.
The torpedo struck, the cruise ship exploded and sank 18 minutes later, killing 1,200 people, including 128 Americans.
Although the German Navy emphasized that the cruise ship was equipped with rifles and ammunition, it still encountered strong protests from the Americans, and Germany also announced that it would no longer attack passenger ships. The British government took the opportunity to announce on May 15 that all goods entering and leaving Germany would be banned.
Will be treated as contraband.
While the war was in full swing in Europe and the South China Sea Federation was established in southern Asia, President Yuan Da of the Republic of China did not stop. After planning for a long time, he finally announced at the end of 1915 that the Republic of China would be renamed the Chinese Empire and he would call himself the Emperor of the Chinese Empire.
As a result, the emperor who had been overthrown came back to life in mainland China more than a year later. It may be that the new emperor's cultivation time was a bit short and the dragon power had not been fully accumulated. He had just boarded the dragon
The people below started making a fuss and pushed him down. Just a few days after Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, Yunnan's Cai E and Tang Jiyao called the whole country and announced that Yunnan was under duress.
li, and established the National Guard to attack Yuan Shikai, and Sun Yat-sen also issued the "Declaration to Attack Yuan".
fu jurisdiction,du li.
Seeing that more and more people were interested in him becoming emperor, Yuan Shikai was also a little confused. He originally thought that by virtue of his prestige, when he ascended to the top and shouted, all the heroes would respond, and the trusted ministers around him also said this to him.
Yes, how come the heroes don’t respond when it’s time to call out?
Just when Lao Yuan was puzzled, his old Beiyang subordinate, Jiangsu Governor Feng Guozhang, contacted Jiangxi Li Chun, Zhejiang Zhu Rui, Hunan Tang Xiangming, Shandong Jin Yunpeng and others in the name of five neutral generals to send secret messages to the provincial generals.
The secret message asked the southern provinces to cancel du
li, withdraw from the war zone and protect the people everywhere; and ask the northern provinces to abolish the imperial system, punish the culprits of the imperial system, and ask the president to resign on his own initiative.
When Yuan Shikai saw this telegram, he was so angry that he almost fainted, and those who supported the imperial system were stunned and at a loss. Seeing that Yuan Shikai had not succeeded in proclaiming himself emperor, he caused Beiyang to be torn apart in order to ease the current tension.
, finally announced the abolition of the imperial system.
However, after all this turmoil, not only did Yuan Shikai's reputation suffer a great loss, but disagreements within Beiyang also led to divisions, and Yuan Shikai's strength was greatly weakened.
Killing you while you are sick has always been the norm in political struggles. Therefore, regardless of whether Yuan Shikai was emperor or not, the forces of all parties began to reshuffle. First, Guangxi announced du li, and then Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Hunan and other provinces also
It has successively declared fu jurisdiction.
In May 1916, the 57-year-old Yuan Shikai finally exhausted the last bit of energy in his life amid internal and external troubles and died of illness in Beijing.
Although in later generations, from primary school textbooks to middle school textbooks, Yuan Shikai was treated as a side figure, but as a generation of national leaders, he still made a lot of contributions to China's progress.
Not only did he successfully force the emperor of a dynasty to abdicate, but he also used peaceful means, which is rare in Chinese history. Everyone should know that every change of dynasty is a catastrophe, but Yuan Shikai mediated among many forces and ultimately avoided
Such a tragedy happened, and from this point on, he took the greatest credit.
He also established China's first new-style army and created the domestic police system, which is still in use today.
During his short presidential career, he supervised the establishment of railways, opened factories, vigorously developed industry, abolished the imperial examination system, promoted free national education, and maintained social integrity.
Although in his later years, Yuan Shikai planned to proclaim himself emperor, this emperor was not the same as the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Yuan Shikai planned to establish a constitutional monarchy similar to the United Kingdom. It can be seen from his "emperor title" Hong Xian.
After Yuan Shikai's death, he still planned to promote the Constitution. Moreover, after Yuan Shikai's death, the will found in his secret room clearly stated that the presidential candidates were: Li Yuanhong, Duan Qirui, and Xu Shichang.
Moreover, his desire to establish a constitutional monarchy can also be seen from the "New Royal Regulations" he formulated and promulgated. In this regulation, it is clear that the imperial power is supervised and restricted. Members of the royal family from the prince down, who commit crimes, are less likely to be punished than civilians.
They are all dealt with; princes and princes can serve as naval and military officers, but they cannot form political parties or hold government positions; the eunuch system is abolished; members of the royal family are not allowed to engage in business, etc. Some of these provisions, in today's society,
It is also a very advanced idea.
In fact, Yuan Shikai himself did not have a complete conception of the national system. The time given to him by history was too short. In the early days of the Republic of China, various forces emerged one after another and disputes continued. He was exhausted and had no energy to study the national system.
