Chapter 1568 Italy declares war
The establishment of the Greater Austrian coalition government did not end the turmoil in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but instead further exacerbated the crisis of the empire. Internally, capitalist parties such as the Austrian Nationalist Party refused to recognize its legitimacy.
The Czech Labor Party, the Hungarian Labor Party and other labor forces also have different attitudes towards the Greater Austrian coalition government, and some people are unwilling to continue to live in partnership with the Austrian Labor Party.
Externally, Austria's break from Habsburg control made neighboring countries eager to move, and now the biggest obstacle for them to regain lost territory has been removed.
However, on the whole, most of the labor party members in the Austro-Hungarian Empire still supported the coalition government. Although the various labor party organizations under the Austro-Hungarian Empire had their own national colors, the Labor Party was not a nationalist party, and there was even a certain degree of opposition between the two.
Therefore, for a coalition government, a kind of union state system similar to the Soviet Union, opponents are ultimately a minority, but it is also difficult to fully integrate this force.
Bohemia, Prague.
The Czech Labor Party has shown a contradictory attitude towards the coalition government. However, due to the current complex situation in the Czech Republic, the Czech Labor Party finally chose to cooperate with the Austrian Labor Party.
Its leader, Gottwald, said: "To the north of the Czech Republic is the powerful Germany. Therefore, even if the Czech Republic becomes independent in the future, it will face great difficulties. Therefore, joining the coalition government is the best outcome under the current circumstances."
"At the same time, Bohemia is also a multi-ethnic region, a land where Czechs, Germans, Slovaks, Hungarians and others live together. Therefore, we should abandon ethnic stereotypes, otherwise we will be no different from the German extreme nationalist party."
Like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bohemia also had a very complex ethnic composition. Czechs were the largest group, but only around 40%, followed by Germans at around 20%, Slovaks at around 15%, and Hungarians at 5%.
Therefore, if the Czech Labor Party engages in nationalism, it will exclude the other 60 percent or so of the ethnic population, which is extremely dangerous.
If the Czech Labor Party demands Czech independence, then could other ethnic groups in Bohemia follow suit and dismember Bohemia? That is obviously not what the Czech Labor Party wants to see.
Debrecen, Hungary.
Debrecen is the second largest city in Hungary and the economic center of the east. Due to the impact of the Hungarian Incident, the Budapest Labor Party suffered heavy losses, and Debrecen became the most active area of the Hungarian Labor Party.
After receiving the notice from the coalition government, the Hungarian Labor Party discussed whether to join the coalition government.
The Hungarian Labor Party was more receptive to this suggestion than the Czech Labor Party. Janos, the current leader of the Hungarian Labor Party, said: "Our Hungarian Labor Party is weak. It is difficult to overthrow the reactionary ruling forces in Hungary by our own strength."
"Therefore, joining a coalition government is the only option for the Hungarian Labor Party."
Now, with the collapse of the imperial society and ruling order, other labor party organizations in the Austro-Hungarian Empire have basically been operating openly. Only the Hungarian Labor Party is still classified as an "illegal organization" in Hungary.
The Austro-Hungarian government was still able to suppress its development, so the Hungarian Labor Party could only operate underground.
It is precisely based on this that the Hungarian Labor Party clearly realized that if Hungary wants to change, it must introduce the intervention of external forces. Brother organizations in regions such as Austria and Bohemia have established their own armed forces and even armies, which is what the Hungarian Labor Party lacks most now.
After the Czech Labor Party and the Hungarian Labor Party both accepted the proposal of a coalition government and intended to join the Greater Austrian United Labor Party, the labor organization of the Austro-Hungarian Empire temporarily formed a unified center with Vienna as its core.
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria, Hungary and Bohemia were the three major economies. In terms of economy, Austria was the financial industry, Hungary was the agriculture, and Bohemia was the industry. If the three regions could reach an agreement, they could basically lay the foundation for the overall situation.
Of course, the Labor Party cannot represent these three regions today, especially the Hungarian Labor Party, which has no army and armed forces, no bases and occupied cities.
…
The emergence of the United Republic of Greater Austria gave the whole world a huge shock and caused great panic in European countries.
If the United Republic of Greater Austria emerges and inherits the territory, population, and industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it will undoubtedly be a new nightmare for the European bourgeoisie, aristocracy, and landowners.
This will be the second most powerful labor party state regime after the Soviet Union. Once formed, its national strength will rank fifth in Europe and eighth in the world.
If it can complete the integration of internal resources like the Soviet Union, it will easily surpass France and move up one place in the rankings. If it can maintain the same terrifying growth rate as the Soviet Union, it may surpass the UK in industry and become the third largest industrial power in Europe.
The Soviet Union's total industrial output value is now rapidly catching up with Germany. In a few years, after completing the third industrial plan, it may become the largest industrial country in Europe.
In this way, the first and third largest industrial countries in Europe in the future will both be labor party countries, and the entire European landscape will be completely overturned, not to mention the emergence of the Soviet Union and now Greater Austria. Who can guarantee that other European countries will not be seized by the labor party in the future?
Therefore, the existence of the Great Austrian United Republic, such a terrifying existence, is absolutely intolerable to the neighboring countries.
Rome, Italy.
When Benito heard about the establishment of the United Republic of Greater Austria, he was both terrified of the regime and excited.
At a cabinet meeting, Benito said with great enthusiasm: "We absolutely cannot tolerate the emergence of a second Soviet Union, especially since this country will become Italy's enemy."
"It is time for Italy to mobilize immediately. We must represent the will of the European people and eliminate this terrible and evil regime."
"At the same time, we will recover the entire territory of Lombardy and Venice, restore Italy's traditional territory, and bring the two places back to the embrace of the motherland."
The emergence of the United Republic of Greater Austria directly gave Benito an excuse for war. If it were the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Benito might have to consider the pressure of international public opinion, but launching a war against the Labor Party regime was the political correctness of the capitalist world.
Therefore, when Italy launched a war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it had two layers of armor: one was to destroy the United Republic of Greater Austria, and the other was to recover Lombardy and Venice.
So, on May 15th, the day after the Greater Austrian coalition government was announced.
Italy officially declared war on the United Republic of Greater Austria, and more than 200,000 Italian troops on the border crossed the border and launched a war against the local Austro-Hungarian army.
At this time, the Austro-Hungarian troops stationed in Venice and Eastern Lombardy were obviously not the troops of the Greater Austrian Coalition Government, but the former Austro-Hungarian garrison.
At this time, the Austro-Hungarian border guards were also very confused. After the fall of Vienna, they basically lost their command. The emperor was on his way to flee to Budapest and had not yet reestablished contact with them.
Faced with Italy's sudden attack, Marshal Borojević, the Austro-Hungarian border guard general, ordered a counterattack without hesitation.
The fact that the veteran Marshal Borojevich was in Venice itself shows that the Austro-Hungarian government had made a correct judgment on Italy. If there was turmoil in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the country most likely to take advantage of the situation would be Italy.
Before the fall of Vienna, Emperor Rudolf had already delegated the entire southwestern war zone, including Lombardy and Venice, to Marshal Boroevich for overall planning, and ordered him not to send troops north to support Austria and prevent Italy from taking advantage of the situation.
Emperor Rudolf was well aware that the failure of the Habsburg royal family was due to the loss of popular support, which could not be resolved militarily. Even if military means were used to forcibly suppress the nationwide rebellion, it would be of no avail, as new rebellions would still occur.
Therefore, he preferred to use military force to maintain the integrity of his country's territory, on the one hand suppressing local separatist forces, and on the other hand being vigilant against other countries taking advantage of the chaos to invade the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Marshal Borojević was deeply loyal to the Reich, and although he was a Croat, his loyalty had been tested during World War I.
At this time, he was in Venice and immediately noticed the unusual movements in Italy.
"Italy is indeed ambitious. Unfortunately, the situation in the empire is turbulent now, and Vienna has fallen. We can only rely on our own strength to resist the Italian invasion."
The deputy commander of the Venice theater was also in a bad mood. He asked Marshal Borojevich, "Marshal, relying solely on our strength, I'm afraid it will be difficult to compete with Italy alone. Italy is not a small country in Europe. There are over 200,000 Italian troops on the border right now, and there will only be more in the future."
"Even if we hold off the first wave of attacks, Benito won't give up this opportunity so easily. In the past, with the Empire at our backs, we weren't worried about Italy's attack. But now, even if we put all our efforts into it, it would be difficult to stop Italy."
Borojevich was naturally well aware of the Austro-Hungarian army's predicament, but he said, "We are not without opportunities. In terms of terrain, we can deal with Italy. As long as the domestic chaos ends, even the new government will not sit idly by, unless they insist on selling out Venice and Lombardy."
"Furthermore, we are not completely without support. Slovenia and Dalmatia are still in the hands of the Empire, and southern Austria has not fallen. As long as we can re-establish contact with His Majesty the Emperor, we can organize these regions to resist the Italian attack. At the same time, the navy can also cooperate with our operations."
Although Vienna fell, most of Austria still obeyed the command of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, because Vienna itself was located in a relatively remote basin in Austria.
If Rudolf had gone south earlier, he could have relied on the hundreds of thousands of troops in the southwestern theater to counterattack Vienna, but that would have left the southwestern defense line empty.
Now all these forces are concentrated in the hands of Marshal Boroevich, and the navy is also under his control.
Generally speaking, the power in the hands of Marshal Borojevich should not be underestimated. In peacetime, it is enough to prevent Italy from acting rashly.
Now Italy's only advantage over Marshal Borojevich is its abundant military strength. If subsequent mobilization is carried out, Italy's military strength will continue to increase, and it would not be surprising if it exceeds the Austro-Hungarian defenders by several times.
Italy only borders two countries, and France obviously will not go to war with Italy, so Italy can concentrate on dealing with the army in the southwest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
May 17th.
The Italian Army and the Austro-Hungarian Army engaged in a fierce battle at Cremona in southern eastern Lombardy, with Italy attacking the area with five times its strength.
At this time, Eastern Lombardy had been in turmoil for a long time, and there were countless Italian armed forces inside. With their cooperation, the Austro-Hungarian defenders found it difficult to hold on. In less than a day, this important transportation hub was recaptured by Italy, threatening the hinterland of Eastern Lombardy and threatening to cut off the connection between the Lombard garrison and the rear at any time.
Eastern Lombardy is mostly plains with no strategic locations to defend, and the population is mainly Italian, so the Austro-Hungarian army lacks a popular base.
Transportation lines and communications were highly vulnerable to guerrilla threats and were frequently cut, making it difficult for the Austro-Hungarian troops on the front lines to mount an effective defense.
Moreover, the Italians had a clear numerical advantage, while the Austro-Hungarian defense line was too long, making it difficult to take care of both ends, and was easily defeated one by one.
Therefore, Borojevich decisively ordered the army to withdraw from Eastern Lombardy, to the north into the Alpine defense line, to the east into Venice, and to continue searching with Italy, thereby shortening the defense line and taking advantage of the terrain to use mountains, rivers and resist the Italian attack.
In less than a week, Eastern Lombardy returned to Italy's hands after Italy's multi-faceted attack, which made the country very excited.
After regaining the entire territory of Lombardy, Italian troops concentrated their forces eastward and advanced along the Po River Plain.
In order to reduce the casualties of the Austro-Hungarian army, Borojevich tried his best to avoid a strong attack from Italy in the plains. The more troops he had, the fewer he would have, while the Italian side could get timely reinforcements. Therefore, a head-on battle was definitely not a good option.
Following Borojević's command, the Austro-Hungarian army retreated in an orderly manner towards the Alps and Venice, and fought back against Italy along the way. The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not stop until it was more than 30 kilometers west of Venice.
At this point, on the one hand, the Austro-Hungarian army could rely on the Brenta River and fortresses such as Padua to counterattack Italy. At the same time, there were highlands extending from the Alps to the north, which gave it the advantage of being high above. At the same time, the mountainous area was less than 50 kilometers away from the Adriatic. At this distance, the Austro-Hungarian navy could cooperate with the army to provide artillery support.
Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian army completed its retreat and, taking advantage of the terrain, surrounded a defense line of tens of kilometers and confronted the Italian army at the lowest cost.
For a time, the Italian army's offensive stagnated and reached a stalemate. If they wanted to break the situation, they would have to pay a greater price and suffer greater casualties.
In response to this situation, Italy divided its troops into three groups. First, it mobilized domestic forces to continuously reinforce the front battlefield and storm the Austro-Hungarian defense line. At the same time, Italian mountain troops moved north and gradually conquered the Austro-Hungarian fortresses and redoubts in the Alps, seeking to open a passage to the north and encircle the main force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the south from the Alps in the future.
Finally, in response to the Austro-Hungarian Navy's attacks on the land battlefield, the Italian Navy also set sail from the west to support the Adriatic Sea, and even the Italian Navy in North Africa was mobilized.
(End of this chapter)
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