Chapter 30: A Certain Karl from the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Middle)

  Karl gazed out the window with a somewhat stifled expression, "You can't imagine it, Davis. The gap between us and our neighbor, the Russian Empire, is now so small that if we just make a bit more effort and develop our domestic military industry a bit further, we'll be able to completely suppress those greedy Slavs in the Balkans... even if our military industry is only half as strong as theirs."

  Here is the translation:

  At this point, Karl seemed extremely helpless. As the power of the German Empire grew over the past two years, the situation where it could keep pace with Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the imperial unification had disappeared. Instead, that country not only built the world's largest land army but also possessed a second-largest navy in the world that could rival the British Empire, thoroughly becoming the spokesperson for the German people.

  On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire experienced rapid economic growth during its 51-year existence. Technological improvements promoted industrialization and urbanization. During these 51 years, capitalist production methods spread throughout the empire. The old feudal system gradually disappeared. Vienna, Austria's interior, the Alps, and Bohemia were the centers of economic development.

  In the late 19th century, the Hungarian Plain and Carpathian Mountains also experienced rapid economic growth. Economic growth rates varied greatly within the empire, with western regions developing much faster than eastern ones. At the beginning of the 20th century, the entire empire's economy was growing rapidly. From 1870 to 1913, the average annual increase in national production per capita was approximately 1.45%. Compared to other European countries (the UK had a growth rate of 1.00%), this was relatively high.

  However, the country's economic development still lagged behind others due to its late start. The UK's numbers were roughly three times those of Austria-Hungary, and Germany's were twice as much. This rough comparison does not reflect the unevenness of development within the empire.

  Like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, their neighbor and old rival - the Russian Empire, after entering the 20th century, its pace became more and more staggering and slower, gradually unable to keep up with the world's pace!

  From being the world's second navy and first army in 1900 to becoming the world's sixth navy and third army by 1911, it only took Russia ten years, a dozen small conflicts, one domestic upheaval, and one war to almost exhaust the powerful foundation that had been built over two and a half centuries, turning it into an empire saddled with massive debt (Russia enjoyed special privileges in France, which will be detailed later).

  A Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army's total strength was about 1.2 million people, with casualties and captures of about 270,000 people, loss of 98 ships, not counting the country's losses in territory, rights and interests, as well as domestic price fluctuations, only military expenditures were 276.21 billion rubles, if calculated including the loss of warships plus the red Lenin during the war In the domestic organization, almost all over Russia, the uprising caused a loss of no less than 4 to 5 billion rubles.

  It can be said that one battle almost exhausted Russia's accumulation of several decades, and it didn't catch its breath until before World War I!

  Looking back at the empire over the past half century, it has always been losing more than winning in the competition with the Russian Empire for the Balkans. The reason is that Russia has taken too much nutrition from this ancient country in the east over the past 50-60 years, especially after several centuries of continuous external plundering. Moreover, its territory is nearly 30 times larger than that of the empire. In contrast, the Austro-Hungarian Empire not only paid a large sum of military expenses but also compensated for a considerable amount of war reparations and lost almost half of its territory after successive defeats in wars against Prussia, France, and Italy. If it were not for the fact that industrialization came earlier than Russia, it would have fallen under the Slavic chariot long ago!

  It can be said that this was the weakest period of the Russian Empire, and also the closest in strength between the two countries. Having received elite education from his family for many years, although he had only recently gained recognition from his family, Karl had long been eager to revive the glory of the Holy Roman Empire. After making up his mind and planning for a long time, he decided to come to this mysterious country that had supported Japan, half of Russia, one-quarter of Britain, and all of European civilization, including Germany and the United States. Unfortunately, soon after his arrival, England, Japan, France, Russia, and Germany secretly signed an agreement on arms exports to China, jointly excluding other countries from the Chinese market.

  He wasn't afraid that Davis would leak the absolutely confidential news, because as the steward of Count Otto-Franz, and also the confidant of his powerful grandfather, one thing was certain: after he had made up his mind to come east to "make a name for himself", this man who always seemed to be smiling had also received a secret order from his grandfather, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. As for what it was, even he hadn't heard anything about it yet!

  They stood quietly, looking out the window for a while, and after seeing those Qing soldiers being rejected by the foreign police in the embassy district, they could only leave reluctantly. Karl frowned, but he was thinking in his heart whether this weak country that didn't even have the courage to resist was really what he had planned. However, seeing Davis still waiting for her explanation beside him, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "They're too poor, it's really a headache, I'm starting to regret coming to this country, wondering if it was a mistake!"

  "Look, over there, what a magnificent building! This is the paradise of the noble race (Manchu) of this country, they have endless wealth, so much that even if they indulge in luxury for a hundred years, they won't be able to spend it all." He paused and then pointed again "But look over there, see, those are vagrants, beggars, they can't even fill their stomachs, don't even have a place to live, no wonder riots happen!"

  Karl sighed.

  "But, Davis, now I'm starting to doubt whether those rebels in this country who can't even afford clothes will have the money to buy large quantities of arms from us? Since Yuan (Shikai) was ousted, the land army troops with some strength in this country have begun to adopt British and German equipment! If it's rifles, machine guns, and small-caliber artillery, I still have confidence in competing with them, but our transportation capacity is no match for Britain and Germany, and we can't even compare to Krupp of Germany in terms of heavy artillery!"

  Some complaints said that Al didn't mention how depressed he was at this time. People often say that plans can't keep up with changes, no matter how good the previous plan was, but after coming to this rich and poor land, they discovered their biggest mistake. Since learning that his country lost the large military order of the Qing court, and also vetoed the original six-town military procurement contract signed with the empire under the support of England and Germany, he made a decision in his heart to support the rebel party, thoroughly overthrow the Qing rule, or make this land chaotic!!

  The situation in Europe is getting more and more chaotic. For someone with a little political vision, the European situation in 1911 was clear at a glance, and it can be described in four words - War clouds are gathering!

  No, since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, after the formation of two major military groups in Europe, the originally not-so-good European situation suddenly became even worse. The Moroccan crisis almost caused Russia's ally France to fall out with Germany, another major power on the European continent, but the Algeciras Conference had just cooled down these countries that were almost at war over colonial interests.

  Perhaps because everyone was not prepared, or to test the psychological bottom line of the enemy country, the German Empire, which had shocked the world with its tough attitude in the early stages of this crisis, faced Britain's tough attitude and simultaneously faced a financial crisis at home. Germany was forced to back down and negotiate with France on smaller-scale compensation issues. Before Karl arrived, there were already rumors at home that Germany had informed the empire that it was not prepared for war, and Italy had clearly stated that it would not stand on Germany's side, and Russia intended to withdraw three divisions from the Far East to Europe, so Germany might make concessions first. It is believed that the peaceful dawn will return to the European continent soon! (On November 4, France and Germany reached an agreement, with Germany recognizing Morocco as a French protectorate, and France giving Germany part of the French Congo territory as compensation.)

  But is it true?

  Look at this group of people rushing around the world, he knew it was impossible!

  No. At this time, the German Empire, which had become the world's first military power and second comprehensive industrial power, as well as the leading industrial power in Europe, was clearly dissatisfied with the old colonial empires of Britain, France, and Russia, who had divided up the best colonies in the world. Not only did it compete with France on the European continent, but it also occasionally flexed its muscles to Russia, first by encouraging its ally to create the Bosnian crisis in 1908, which touched on the interests of the Russian Empire, and then by winning over a new partner - Italy - and providing it with sufficient support, allowing it to annex Tripoli in the subsequent Italo-Turkish War.

  Turkey, that sick man of Western Asia, was also disliked by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, Central Asia and the Balkans had always been Russia's traditional sphere of influence. For empires seeking to expand in the Balkans, it sometimes became a tacit understanding for both countries to join forces against Russia. But after some moves over the years, the German Second Empire has successfully made those old things in the empire that should be buried understand - if they still want to continue standing with Germany, war is already inevitable!

  Although the empire was unwilling to admit it, without Germany's support, Austria-Hungary was powerless to maintain its interests in the Balkans and would even fall into unprecedented crisis due to the strong pressure brought by the Slavic chariots when dealing with the old empire behind its back. Therefore, they must stand firmly together with Germany. Since war is imminent, for their rule and also for the great Austria-Hungary, they must prepare before the war, and it was not until then that a group of old guys stared blankly at the empty imperial treasury, shocked to discover one thing - no money!

  No money left, an indisputable fact.

  The empire, having gone through years of Balkan conflicts, had spent a huge amount of money and was forced to get involved in the armament competition between Britain and Germany. The Austro-Hungarian Empire consumed even more, whether it was industrial strength or domestic economy, far less than that of the two countries, and had long reached the edge of financial crisis.

  It is precisely because of this that, faced with the increasingly dense war clouds on the European continent, Austria-Hungary, which feared that the Allied Powers would attack first, had to quickly reorganize its military strength in order not to fall behind in a war that might break out at any time. That's why Karl made his trip to China now, and brought with him a large quantity of military supplies on the ship!

  His mission was to find a buyer for the large quantity of retired imperial old-style weapons placed on Austro-Hungarian cargo ships in Shanghai port, a buyer from a country that would not threaten the empire's security even if it had enough equipment for tens of millions of troops!