Chapter 686 What is World War?
It was already the 20th century, and London's decisions could reach all parts of the world in an instant. Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith ordered the British Expeditionary Force to cooperate with the French army's actions, while making promises to the French president and prime minister respectively, and had mobilized troops from major colonies to Europe.
As the First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill made guarantees to France to protect its maritime rights in the Mediterranean, ensure the connection between France and its colonies in French Africa, and suppress the naval power of the Mediterranean Allies.
In 1914, the most powerful fleet of the British Royal Navy was the Grand Fleet, which took the German High Seas Fleet as its imaginary enemy. It was composed of the First Fleet and part of the Second Fleet of the Home Fleet, plus more than 30 of the most advanced battleships.
Because Italy, which was quite powerful in the Mediterranean, declared war on France, it was no longer realistic to expect the French Navy to control the Mediterranean sea power alone. The total tonnage of the Italian fleet and the Austro-Hungarian fleet had reached a one-to-one ratio with the French Navy.
The situation is more sinister than what is considered on paper. The French Navy's 800,000-ton fleet is divided into two parts, corresponding to the Atlantic and the Mediterranean respectively. But as for the Mediterranean Fleet, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose all naval forces are in the Mediterranean, are not evenly matched with the French Navy, but have an overwhelming advantage.
If France wanted to restore this balance, it had to move its entire Atlantic Fleet to the Mediterranean, and the British Grand Fleet had to allocate appropriate forces to form a joint defense with the French Navy in order to regain its advantage over the Allied Navy.
Churchill secretly cursed France for its short-sighted move to take advantage of the Italo-Turkish War. Although the combat effectiveness of the Italian army was impressive, the navy should not be underestimated. The disastrous consequences of joining the Allies appeared almost immediately!
But the current situation is bad. It is not the time for Britain, France and Russia to blame each other for who has done more and who has done less. Now the British cabinet must admit that it misjudged Germany's strength. This is a war of equal strength. If they do not unite, the 300-year-old British Empire will really end in misery.
Britain is now telling the French that they must hold on, and that it will take time for them to mobilize troops. At the same time, they are issuing conscription orders to all colonies, even India.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and the colonies all received emergency orders from London, which were unprecedentedly urgent. Citizens of Toronto, Ottawa, Melbourne, Wellington and countless British colonial cities learned that the British Empire was now in its most dangerous moment, and they walked into the recruitment stations with a sense of blood thicker than water, ready to fight for their mother country.
"Even India is recruiting soldiers?" Through his connections in Goa, Sheffield certainly knew the local news in India. When he heard that even India was mobilizing soldiers to join the war, he muttered with a strange expression on his face, "The British Empire will never surrender until the last drop of Indian blood is shed."
As British colonies around the world began to mobilize to defend the British Empire, the United States was also affected. The most direct impact was on the slave-owning League of Nations, which no longer held on to the British Empire and reported on the war in an objective and neutral manner, mainly because they were afraid that Germany would really make a concerted effort to defeat the Allies.
Once the Franco-Russian alliance on land was broken, who could stop the German army? Do you really think the navy can handle everything?
Whether others believe in those nonsense about centuries-old naval traditions or not, Sheffield doesn't know, but the British certainly don't believe it. If the British believe it, Germany is a continental country, and its naval tradition is definitely not as good as Britain's. What's the point of playing with the two-power standard? Even in a one-on-one battle, Germany is no match for the British Royal Navy.
In his villa in New York, Sheffield looked at the map of Europe hanging on the wall of the study, calculating the pre-war reserves of various countries and how long it would take to reach the stage of massive blood transfusion.
"What are you looking at?" Edith Rockefeller pushed the door open and asked curiously when she saw Sheffield in a daze.
"Look at the situation on this map. The Allies and the Entente look like a fried egg. The Allies are in the middle, and the Entente is on both sides." Sheffield tilted his head and smiled at Edith Rockefeller. "I heard that Britain is recruiting soldiers in all the colonies. It's anxious now and ready to fight to the death."
"Yes, many people in Toronto have joined the army." Edith Rockefeller nodded, "It seems that the Germans are much more prepared for this war."
"Well, Germany's military power is too terrifying." Sheffield also nodded in approval and sighed, "I hope the French can hold on, otherwise the Allies will be in danger. There is no other country in the world that can clean up the mess for the Allies."
Before the war broke out, Sheffield was willing to lose money to increase the overall strength of the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. Logically, he should be happy that the traitor Italy has joined the war, but this is not the case. He is now afraid that he has made a big mistake. What if the Allied Powers cannot withstand the German attack?
The biggest impact on the land battlefield was not how powerful the Italian army was, but the participation of the Ottoman Empire, which put the Russian Empire in a siege. Historically, when the Ottoman Empire joined the war, the Battle of the Marne had already ended. The Ottoman Empire's participation in the war two months earlier allowed Germany to launch an offensive on the Western Front with greater confidence and take a defensive stance on the Eastern Front, leaving the pressure of bearing the Russian Empire to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
If the French army could not stop the German advance, the war on the Western Front would become extremely dangerous. Who would clean up the mess for the entire Allied Powers? There was no such country. At least not in 1914!
Even if the United States joins the war immediately, it will not be able to quench the thirst of the near future. Besides, no one knows the national conditions of the United States better than the slave owners. Going to war with Germany? Isn't that courting death? Even if they go, they will be used as cannon fodder by Britain and France.
The United States' participation in World War I was nothing more than a standard case of picking peaches, which is incomparable to its participation in World War II as a major force.
"Are you calculating the reserves of the belligerent countries?" Edith Rockefeller was not surprised at all when she saw the map of Europe on the wall. During the Civil War, her father, old Rockefeller, had done something similar and made his first fortune by selling military supplies. This familiar scene appeared again, making her feel that she had a good eye and had not made a mistake in choosing the right person.
"The intensity of this war is far greater than any previous war. Their own reserves are not enough. I estimate that even Germany, which has the most complete reserves, can only support it for three months before the war." Sheffield nodded and said, "After three months, all factories in the United States will be running at full speed to provide blood transfusions for both camps."
As the two chatted, the phone on the table rang. Sheffield went to answer it and the voice of Blair, CEO of United Bank, came over. "Boss, some German companies in Australia and Canada have contacted us. It seems that institutions in British colonies have taken actions against German companies. We have contacted them, and now they want to sell their industries to us, hoping to cash out and get out of here safely."
"This is the right decision. The British feel the pain, so they put away their hypocritical gentleman faces." Sheffield finally smiled and encouraged, "I won't take advantage on purpose, but I won't suffer any loss either. But the first batch of customers can be treated fairly. There are other countries as well. When German companies in Australia and Canada are compensated, the rest will get the big payouts. As the war continues, the British, who have too much influence overseas, will definitely suppress any German power, whether it's corporate or military."
Sheffield was not overwhelmed by the good news, although it was a considerable fortune. But after Germany implemented the world policy, the investment in industries around the world was astronomical. Just in the entire Americas, it was calculated at billions. Not to mention the slave owners, if all these industries were taken over, even if they took over part of them, it would be a great thing.
Therefore, in the beginning, Britain could just take a high-profile approach and offer a fair price in its colonies like Canada and Australia, and the rich profits would come one after another.
"Boss, leave it to me!" Blair agreed immediately. This was a banker's favorite moment.
After hanging up the phone, Sheffield whistled and praised himself, "It is good to be an old friend of the German people."
After saying that, he picked up Edith Rockefeller and started to make money through mergers and acquisitions! With the current naval power comparison, these overseas German industries cannot pass the blockade of the British Royal Navy and provide blood transfusions to the mainland.
The Battle of the Marne was in full swing. On September 1, Italy mobilized 35 divisions and 420,000 troops to cross the Franco-Italian border to attack France. The French army defending the Franco-Italian border had a total of eight divisions, together with local troops, totaling 180,000. The Franco-Italian War officially began.
At the same time, the French Atlantic Fleet, together with a British task force, moved south and entered the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar.
On the Near East battlefield, in the Caucasus region centered on Armenia, the Ottoman army finally faced its old rival, the Russian Empire. Russian Emperor Nicholas II personally served as the commander-in-chief of the Russian army and appointed Grand Duke Nicholas to form the Caucasus Army Group to be responsible for the southern war against the Ottoman Empire.
At the same time as the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire went to war, Britain, based in Egypt, began to attack northward along the Mediterranean line, and the battle with the Ottoman army broke out in Syria.
The Russian army, which was temporarily frustrated in its attack on East Prussia on the Eastern Front, quickly organized a second wave of offensives. The threat to Germany was still not lifted, and a series of battles broke out at this time. It seemed that both the Allies and the Central Powers were preparing to make a concerted effort to defeat their opponents and win the war.
"What is a world war? This is a world war!" Sheffield pinched Louisa Morgan's thigh and couldn't help laughing. "War is a game for the brave. A coward like me can only cheer them on."
(End of this chapter)
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