Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Naturally, the Allied action could not be concealed from the Germans, but how to deal with it was a problem.

Once the Allied Powers exert their strength on the east, west and south lines at the same time, the life of the Allies will be difficult. Now Austria-Hungary is obviously unable to contain Russia and Russia at the same time, even if it is alone against the previous one.

In line with the principle of more work for those who are capable, it is natural for the Germans to do it in person, and then the problem arises. First of all, the strength of the German army on the third line will be insufficient, and secondly, the logistics supply will be difficult to guarantee

Falkenham, the German chief of staff, has returned to Berlin, and he is succeeded by the famous German Marshal August von Mackensen.

Faginham suggested: "Your Majesty, now that the Russians are disabled, at least this winter they can't cause us trouble; if it's just a Bulgaria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire should be able to handle it, and we should concentrate our forces on the western front to make a breakthrough, as long as If we can break Paris, we can force the French out of the war."

Obviously, Falkenham, who had just won a big victory on the eastern front, also hopes to continue to replicate this miracle on the western front, playing a 1:2 or even 1:3 exchange recently, using brutal casualties to force the French out of the war.

However, his proposal was not supported by the German High Command, and the Chancellor Theobadden von Batemanholweg questioned: "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, how can you be sure that after we launch a full-scale offensive on the Western Front, Russia will People will not launch a counterattack

Even the Russians don't have to work hard, as long as they cooperate with Bulgaria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will not be able to stand it. Our allies are now extremely weak, and if there is another major defeat on the front lines, there may be a collapse at any time.

What if we are not capable of defeating the French before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

And even if we break Paris, the French still choose to continue the war? Are we going to keep fighting? Who can tell me when this war will end?”

The black-clothed chancellor's meaning is obvious. The strategic goals that Germany has now set are beyond the capabilities of the country, and the strategic goals must be lowered.

Falkenham sneered and said, "Then what advice does Mr. Chancellor have, so that we can win this war?"

Bateman Holwig said calmly: "Peace talks, use diplomacy to end the embarrassing situation we are facing now.

The Allies are not monolithic, we can have peace talks with them separately and end the war."

This is not the first time that "peace talks" have been proposed. Even in private, the Germans have been in contact with other countries, but the conditions between the two sides are too far apart and they have not been able to reach an agreement.

This time, Bateman-Holwig publicly mentioned it here. Obviously, his "peace talks" are completely different from the previous private negotiations. Germany must make concessions and show sincerity.

William II asked with an expressionless face, "What is the bottom line?"

Negotiations are not that simple. This also involves major domestic interest groups. Making concessions in any direction will damage the interests of one or several interest groups.

Therefore, even if William II was very interested in "peace talks", he could not show it, causing a backlash from domestic interest groups

After being silent for a while, Bateman Holwig said calmly: "Before the peace talks, we must first learn from the British and distinguish who is our primary enemy, who is our secondary enemy, and who else is. is our potential enemy

When dealing with our main enemy, we must suppress it to the death, and there is no possibility of easing; when dealing with secondary enemies and potential enemies, we can compromise or even cooperate in the short term.”

William II's face is very bad now. Bateman Holvig is obviously accusing him of his previous foreign policy.

After a pause, Bateman Holwig continued: "Actually, we already have the answer to this question. Our main enemy is the French, and our secondary enemy is the British.

Potential enemies are Russia and Bulgaria

Therefore, we can now compromise with Russia and Bulgaria, which have little conflict with our interests in the short term, and exchange interests in exchange for their withdrawal from the war.

The Russians are not asking very much now, they just want to maintain territorial integrity, which we can fully satisfy them

Bulgarians are slightly more expensive, but within our range

For example: We can tacitly divide the Ottoman Empire between Bulgaria and Russia, and let the three countries divide Romania. As a transaction, the Russians will cede a piece of land from Russian Poland to us as compensation.

Other areas are restored to the borders of the countries before the war. In this way, we can take into account the interests of the three countries of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Russian Empire at the same time, and we can end the war on the Eastern and Southern Fronts first.

When Bulgaria and Russia withdraw from the war, and then negotiate with the British Empire, we can promise to give up the big navy plan in exchange for the understanding of the British, and then jointly carve up the French colonies

As long as this is done, there is only one French left, and they will certainly not refuse our armistice negotiations, and we will win the war."

After speaking, Batemanholwig chose to shut up. He knew that his proposal would not be so easy to pass, which meant that the Germans had to give up a lot of benefits that had already been obtained.

This also means that he stands on the opposite side of the three major interest groups of the German financial industry, the navy, and the Junker aristocracy.

Sure enough, Hindenburg retorted: "That is to say, we have fought this war in vain, not only will we not gain any benefits on the eastern front, but even our biggest enemy, France, has to keep it.

We paid such a high price to fight this war, and let you politicians sacrifice the interests of our allies in exchange for peace, is such peace useful to the great German Empire?"

Bateman Holwig did not answer, but just gave Hindenburg a cold look, and the meaning was very clear. He was reminding Hindenburg not to forget that the information was a soldier of the German Empire, and he could not just stand in the position of the Junkers nobles. consider the problem

Perhaps aware of this, after Hindenburg finished speaking, he chose to shut up and never spoke again. The class position forced him to oppose this "peace talks", but he had to accept that this was the easiest way to get the German Empire out of the predicament.

Admiralty Alfred von Tirpitz spoke up. He could not make any concessions on this issue. This was related to the future of the German Imperial Navy. As a staunch supporter of the theory of sea power, he believed that Germany must have a A fleet that matches the national strength

"Mr. Prime Minister, if we have to give up the sword in our hands for the sake of peace, then how can such peace be guaranteed?

Even if we have reached an agreement with the Allies now, they can still form an alliance to contain the empire in the future. Can we continue to compromise?

Besides, the lessons of this war are not enough. If it is not for the limited strength of our navy, can the British blockade us with materials?

Without the material blockade, we have already won this war, for the future of the Empire is not under threat, we cannot accept such a humiliating peace."

Bateman Holwig still did not refute, everyone knows these big truths, but there is one thing that everyone does not pay attention to, that is, the German Empire does not have such a strong national power

Wilhelm II was very disappointed. Although he also believed that these conditions were a bit harsh for the German Empire, he hoped that someone would support the peace talks. After all, the war has been going on now, and the prospects are getting less and less optimistic.

Bateman Holwig was not surprised by the opposition of the military. He just hoped to get the support of the government. If the government could fully support it, he could also persuade Wilhelm II to force the peace talks.

Finance Minister Carr said with a wry smile: "Everyone, we have been running deficits for more than ten years, and what this means, everyone must know.

In addition, as far as I know, the domestic strategic material reserves have also dropped to the lowest point since the war began. If the military had not gained something in Russia this time, perhaps we would be hungry now.”

The Minister of the Interior cooperated: "Yes, our grain reserves have reached a very dangerous figure. If the military brought back more than five million tons of grain from Russia this time, we would be sad this winter.

We all know that we are a grain importer, importing millions of tons of agricultural products from overseas every year. Since the outbreak of the war, ours has only been able to import part of the food from a few neutral countries, and we have to face vicious competition from the Allies

Due to the war, domestic grain production continues to decline. Now our annual food deficit is more than 3 million tons. If the war continues, this number will continue to increase.

It's not just that we are short of food, even the Austro-Hungarian Empire has a food deficit, and their annual food deficit is more than one million tons

As for the Italians, not to mention, their food shortage is even worse than ours, and I don't know how they will survive this winter."

The Minister of Logistics added: "Not only is there a shortage of food, but other strategic materials are also in short supply. Due to the factor of raw materials, our military production has almost reached its limit.

But this number is not enough to support the war consumption on the front line, and our weapons and ammunition reserves have dropped to a very dangerous number, unable to support three battlefields at the same time.”

Everyone understands that the prime minister in black is trying to force the palace. He has already bet his political life. If he cannot persuade the major political factions to jointly suppress domestic interest groups, then his position as prime minister will come to an end.

In this regard, everyone has to admire his courage and dare to stand on the opposite side of so many interest groups. Even if the war is over, he will not have a good life.

The decision is now in the hands of William II. If he dares to fully support Bateman Holwig's peace talks plan, then with the influence of the royal family in the army, he will have a great chance of passing this resolution.

Of course, if it fails, the consequences will be very serious. The army may take over the power, and the royal family and the government will be overthrown.

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