The early winter sun shines on the earth. In the city of Vienna, which has been covered with silver, people wearing thick winter clothes are also busy with their own affairs. From the pedestrians hurriedly coming and going on the street, it can be seen that they are not living a good life. Most of them are not doing well.
Pedestrians are all wearing old clothes and looking smart.
Yes, the food supply in Vienna is very tight at the moment. According to surveys, each resident in Vienna can get 380 grams of coarse grains per day. Yes, Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the world-famous music capital, cultural city, and political center, is now short of food.
, and it is not generally lacking.
In peacetime, except for the poor people in Vienna, anyone who eats whole grains will be looked down upon. But now ordinary people can't even eat whole grains. This is what happened in the capital Vienna. In other parts of Austria-Hungary, there is hunger.
Some people even need to rely on alfalfa to satisfy their hunger.
Hunger caused internal turmoil in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and even many areas were overrun with thieves. This was after defeating Russia and receiving supplies from Russia. If there were no Russian supplies, then the situation in Austria-Hungary would be
What is caused is not a security problem, but a political problem. This also shows that the Austro-Hungarian Empire is currently unable to cope with this war. This war has consumed so much that it is almost unable to bear it.
In fact, the four Allied countries are almost overwhelmed now. Bulgaria's economy has completely collapsed, and the domestic famine is worse than that of Austria-Hungary. However, it can only survive by relying on its people's spirit of enduring hardship better than that of Austria-Hungary (the Allied center of gravity is not on the southern front is also a major factor), and
The same is true for the Ottoman Empire. The only hope for the Allied Powers now is that after defeating the Russian army on the Eastern Front, the powerful German army can turn around and defeat France to withdraw from the war and then negotiate peace with the Allied Powers to preserve their gains. This is also the view within the Allied Powers.
We are about to face Germany's most fatal blow. It is not difficult to explain why Britain and France gave such generous conditions to Romania, which did not participate until the fourth year of the war. Now the time has come for Romania to take part.
Olga, the Romanian ambassador to Austria-Hungary, who was sitting in the car, was looking at everything familiar in Vienna and said with emotion. "Beautiful Vienna, the pearl on the Danube River, I don't know when I will see you next."
Ambassador Olga lamented that he spent most of his diplomatic career in Vienna. From the beginning when he served as the second secretary of the embassy, he had a rare relationship with Vienna. The second secretary,
He spent his time in Vienna from first secretary, counselor to ambassador, so he has a very deep understanding of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The relationship between Romania and Austria-Hungary has also gone from relying on each other at the beginning to being dull, then to becoming closer after Romania married Queen Mary of Austria-Hungary, and now the relationship between Romania and Austria-Hungary has reached a new level.
Three days ago, Ambassador Olga received a secret telegram from Bucharest. He took out the code book he kept and translated it alone, and got an astonishing news. The message from Bucharest told him that in November
It was submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at 6 pm on the 5th. Because the matter was so important, he called back to Bucharest for confirmation, and the result was confirmed, and today is November 5th.
Early this morning, Ambassador Olga asked to burn confidential documents inside the embassy, which also caused agitation among the embassy staff. What this move represents is almost obvious to the diplomats. Diplomatic relations between Romania and Austria-Hungary
There have been major changes, and for the worse.
Ambassador Olga had been supervising the destruction of confidential documents at the embassy until three o'clock in the afternoon before going out because the day before yesterday he had contacted the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Count Ottokar Chernin and would meet with him at six o'clock this evening.
Ambassador Olga also knew about Count Ottokar Chernin. The new Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister had only chaired the work of the Industrial and Trade Committee (a department responsible for the import and export of industrial products) before. However, with his
He was a close friend of the new Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Karl I, and succeeded Berthold, who had previously planned the declaration of war against Serbia.
Count Otto Karl Chernin did not see any bright spots in his diplomatic work. His only advantage was that he was obedient and did whatever Karl I said.
Ambassador Olga came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at 5:45, and was led by the staff to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Czernin. Because Romania is one of the few import sources and marriage countries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
(Karl I was Edel’s brother-in-law) and had many economic, trade and diplomatic contacts, so Count Czernin and Ambassador Olga were very familiar with him.
Count Chernin looked at Ambassador Olga who had a serious face a little strangely. "Your Excellency, Ambassador, are you not feeling well today? Do you need a glass of red wine to relieve your discomfort?"
Hearing Chernin's words, Olga almost ducked, but he quickly adjusted and said, "I'm fine, Mr. Count. I came here today to submit a letter of credence."
After saying that, he handed over the credentials in his hand. Count Chernin felt that the Romanian ambassador today was a bit strange, but he did not delay flipping through the Romanian credentials in his hand. When he opened the 4A-sized credentials, the first thing he saw was
The letters that caught his eye caused Count Chernin's head to feel dizzy.
The words 'declaration of war' made Count Chernin look horrified, but he quickly reacted. "Mr. Ambassador Olga, are you sure this was given to us by your country?"
When Count Chernin raised his declaration of war and asked, Ambassador Olga replied firmly. "Yes, Your Excellency, this is what our government asked me to submit."
After hearing Ambassador Olga's answer, Count Chernin began to read his declaration of war. This was prepared after a long discussion between Prime Minister Bretianu and Foreign Minister Barnosk. The main contents of this declaration of war are:
.Because the Romanian people in Cranylvania and Sarabia were humiliated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its slave country Ukraine, the King of Romania, Edel Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, represented the Kingdom of Romania to Austria-Hungary.
The Empire declared war in the hope that the Austrian Emperor and Hungarian King Karl Franz Joseph Ludwig Hubert Georg Maria von Habsburg-Lorraine would seriously consider Romania's proposals.
After reading the contents of the declaration of war, Count Chernin shouted angrily at Ambassador Olga. "This is shameless blackmail. You will not get what you want. It is impossible."
Faced with the fierce reaction of the count, Ambassador Olga said calmly, "I'm sorry, but now our country hopes to take back these two pieces of land inhabited by Romanians."
Count Chernin looked at Ambassador Olga with a cold face, and said in a cold tone. "If you want to seize these two pieces of Austro-Hungarian territory, then try the anger of Austria-Hungary. Ambassador, now you
You can leave, we will give you 24 hours to evacuate."
Watching Ambassador Olga leave, Count Chernin felt very nervous. Because he still remembered that a month ago, the military estimated that its military preparations would take at least three months based on information provided by the Romanian Embassy. Unexpectedly,
Only a month later, he got Romania's declaration of war. Although he didn't know much about military affairs, he expected that mistakes would be a high price, but he just hoped that the price would not be too high.
"I hope it's not too late now."
Count Chernin secretly said something anxiously and immediately called his secretary. "Leave and arrange the vehicle. I need to go to the palace in five minutes. Go and prepare."
In Vienna, when the Austrians declared war on Romania, they were caught off guard. In Bucharest, there was also a person who was shocked by the news. She was Queen Sophie Marie of Romania. As a former member of the Habsburg family, she is still closely related to other people.
The Queen of Romania, who has close ties, naturally cares about the family and country where she was born, not to mention that the Austria-Hungary Emperor Karl I is still her younger brother. So when he learned that Romania was going to declare war on Austria-Hungary, he immediately called her husband Edel.
Come.
"Edel, why are you fighting with my brother?"
In Sophie Marie's eyes, this was not a war between Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but a battle between her husband and her brother, which made her feel very distressed about being caught in the middle.
Edel looked at his wife who looked anxious and organized his words. "Mary, listen to me, this war is not what I want to see. In the past two months, Austria-Hungary has
Germany and Germany require us Romania to join their alliance, which is not what all Romania is willing to do. I am only the king of the Romanians, but I cannot change their will, so I can only obey them. I believe that the Habsburg family is also the same on this point.
It will be done.”
Edel didn't want to have a fire in the backyard, so he used other places to explain in place of Romania, because his wife, Queen Mary, didn't have a deep understanding of Romanian politics. She thought that like Habsburg, national affairs needed to be dealt with by the people and nobles.
Discuss and decide.
"You should dissuade him. This will cause a war between Romania and Austria-Hungary. I don't want to see you and Karl go to the battlefield, and I don't want you two to die."
Queen Mary cried as she spoke. She had her husband on one side and her brother on the other. She didn't know what to do at all.
Looking at his crying wife, Edel stepped forward to hug her and comforted her. "Don't worry, I won't go to the battlefield. At the same time, I will also give orders not to allow any Romanian soldiers to shoot at Carl. I can guarantee this."
After hearing Edel's words, Queen Mary felt much better. Seeing his wife's mood gradually calming down, Edel also breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, a baby's cry came from the next room, and Edel immediately changed his wife's mind. "Mary, Milia is awake. Go and see her quickly."
The Milia in Edel's mouth is his and Queen Mary's second child, named Milia von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Of course, as a girl, Edel likes her, and he plans to have another child.
When she is 5 years old, she will be made a Grand Duchess, and she will be given a lot of rewards. And now that my daughter has solved such a big problem for her father, the rewards will be even heavier.
After Edel resolved the crisis at home, he immediately came to the General Staff Headquarters where he would wait for news from the front line. As for going to the battlefield, don't be kidding. As a king, he has no hobby of going to the front line. I believe that his brother-in-law Karl is the same.
