Chapter 741 - 342: Arms Trade (Part 2)

The relationship between the British and the German-Austrian alliance is not that bad, which might be the only alliance the UK is likely to join.

Historically, it was indeed like this; at the end of the 19th century, the British nearly reached an alliance treaty with the Germans. If such a treaty could have been achieved, the outcome of World War I would have changed significantly.

Unfortunately, the British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, who adhered to conservatism and isolationism, strongly opposed Joseph Chamberlain’s proposal to ally with the German Empire, ultimately causing the potential Anglo-German alliance to miscarry.

Of course, the Chamberlain mentioned here is not the British Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain, who later advocated appeasement policies during World War II, but his father, Joseph Chamberlain.

At this time, the Chamberlain family could be considered a newcomer in British politics. Although Joseph Chamberlain never ascended to the position of Prime Minister, he stirred the political scene in Britain as the leader of the opposition.

Apart from Arthur Neville Chamberlain, the second son who successfully became the British Prime Minister and is recorded in world history, his eldest son, Austin Chamberlain, also entered the British Cabinet multiple times in the early 20th century, holding important positions such as Minister of Finance or Foreign Secretary.

Although the current situation of the British is quite awkward, it is actually only the British who are expressing concern over their awkward situation.

In the European Continent, everyone is more concerned about the situation of this war.

As was the case with the relevant trade agreements signed between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France and Russia also accelerated the signing of a trade agreement after the war broke out.

The main content of this trade agreement is for France to supply Russia with the strategic materials it needs. After all, relying solely on Russia’s industry to contend with the industrial powers of Germany and Austria is somewhat unrealistic.

Besides reaching a related trade agreement with Russia, France also signed a loan agreement with Russia. At this time, having already repaid fifty billion francs in indemnities, the French government was quite wealthy, and the few billion francs loaned to Russia was but a drop in the ocean.

French support is also where Russia derives its confidence to continue fighting this war. If it relied solely on its own economy and industry, Russia might declare bankruptcy after only a few months.

As for France’s support for Russia in secret, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire could only watch anxiously.

With France reinforcing Russia, in terms of attrition warfare, Germany and Austria may not necessarily be a match for Russia. Russia’s major shortcomings are its economy and industry, which France can complement perfectly.

Russia itself has a population of over a hundred million, and a war of modest scale that results in the loss of tens of thousands of people is something Russia can accept.

For Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they certainly cannot afford to lose too much manpower in this war. The combined population of Germany and Austria-Hungary is still less than Russia’s, and their population growth rate is considerably behind Russia’s.

In terms of manpower consumption, even if German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers could achieve a damage ratio of 1:3 against Russia, it would still be a loss for Germany and Austria.

Especially for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since the Austrians as the main group are limited, they cannot sustain such consumption.

This also means that for Germany and Austria, this war can only be pursued for a rapid victory; otherwise, they can only look for an opportunity to negotiate peace with Russia.

The continuous support provided by France to Russia is actually good news for Spain. This actually means that defeating Germany and Austria in this war is not so easy.

The longer the war lasts, the more money and benefits Spain, as a neutral country, can earn and gain.

In the first month of the war, the three participating countries, Germany, Austria, and Russia, were in a state of emergency mobilization.

Massive amounts of weapons, equipment, and strategic materials were mobilized to the front line, and many reservists and young men were drafted into the army, starting emergency training for a few months.

As the three countries expanded their armies, they also encountered a significant shortage of weapons.

Take the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an example.

Before the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had only about 270,000 regular troops, a month later, this number approached 400,000.

Although each country would stockpile a certain amount of weapons and equipment for strategic reserves, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with only 270,000 regular troops, it is impossible to stockpile too much.

After all, the weaponry of this era updates quickly, and if no war breaks out after the weapons are stockpiled, these outdated stockpiled weapons would become scrap metal.

The total weaponry stockpile of all Austro-Hungarian military depots was less than 100,000 rifles; after fully arming their troops, there remained a shortfall of over 30,000 rifles within Austria-Hungary.

This shortfall was naturally filled by Austria-Hungary’s allies, Italy and Spain, with Spain being the largest contributor.

Spain sold two models of rifles externally, the first is the current service rifle: the Maxim M1884 Rifle, and the other is the outdated product, the Vitali M1872 Rifle.

The performance difference between these two rifles is quite large, and the price gap is also significant.

The Vitali M1872 Rifles that Spain currently possesses are mostly second-hand rifles phased out by the Guard Army, Royal Army, and colonial troops, with a sale price of less than half that of new rifles.

The other, the brand-new Maxim M1884 Rifle, being in active service, is mostly available as the latest product manufactured by the Royal Military Factory.

This led to the price of a single Maxim M1884 Rifle being almost three times that of a Vitali M1872 Rifle, and the smokeless powder bullet it uses is more than twice the cost of black powder bullets.

In the arms trade with Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary did not choose either of the two rifles but opted to purchase both models to equip its troops.

The more elite units composed of Austrians certainly received the most advanced Maxim M1884 Rifles as their weapons.

As for the army troops composed of Czechs, Hungarians, and other ethnic soldiers, they could only make do with second-hand Vitali M1872 Rifles.

However, due to the lower cost of black powder bullets compared to smokeless powder, these soldiers with second-hand rifles could enjoy one benefit, which was that their bullet supply was more sufficient than that of soldiers with new rifles.

In just the first month of the war, Austria-Hungary ordered over 20,000 rifles from Spain and more than 10,000 rifles from Italy.

It was this war that prompted Spain to begin re-equipping parts of its colonial forces.

Only a few divisions of the colonial army could be re-equipped first, but the combat effectiveness of these divisions was still affirmed.

In operations against African natives, the colonial divisions played a role far beyond that of the Colonial Defense Corps. These colonial divisions have also experienced the baptism of fire, and if war were to break out on the European Continent in the future, they would be able to play a certain role on the Spanish battlefield.

Compared to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the gap in German weaponry and equipment was not as serious.

On the one hand, Germany had stronger military-industrial capabilities, and on the other hand, Germany had more reservists, with much higher reserves of weapons and equipment than Austria-Hungary.

In fact, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to have 200,000 regular troops and to stockpile over 100,000 rifles was already quite extravagant.

While the Germans had about 500,000 regular troops, and their stockpile of rifles was close to 200,000.

With the German domestic military factories rushing production to supply the army, this allowed Germany to expand its army by hundreds of thousands in the first month of the war without facing any weapon shortages.

Germany even had the capability to provide Austria-Hungary with some military equipment, including the lightweight artillery that Austria-Hungary was extremely short of.

Even though the Polish region is a vast plain, at the border between Austria-Hungary and Poland, there are still many mountainous terrains.

These terrains are unsuitable for large-caliber heavy artillery to be deployed; on the contrary, small-caliber artillery can play a crucial role.

First, the shells of small-caliber artillery are easier to transport, and with sufficient logistical supply, their firepower is unmatched by large-caliber artillery.

Secondly, small-caliber artillery is easier to relocate. The frontline battlefield situation is quite complex, and heavy artillery might not be disassembled in time, resulting in it being captured by the enemy.

Light artillery does not have this problem. If desired, soldiers can disassemble the artillery and move it to a new position at any time.