Chapter 455 The comeback is the formal surrender of the Russian
and Austro-Hungarian Empire, which made all the Allied countries even more excited. All the countries participating in the carving up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s lands also became more proactive and set their sights on the German territory.
Especially Russia, which has experienced civil strife before and has repeatedly mentioned that it is only responsible for defensive wars, is also frequently mobilized on the Eastern Front and has a strong tendency to launch large-scale battles.
You know, with the aid from Britain and France to Russia, coupled with the free loans given to Russia by the United States, Russia finally restored some order.
The land ceded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire also made some Russian people no longer oppose the war. After all, the government has been able to ensure its own supply of supplies, and the new constitutional government has also given the people hope.
The political situation in Russia at this time was actually somewhat special. Those who were really in power were the Russian aristocracy and the big capitalist class, but there were also a considerable number of royalists and workers' alliances that put workers' interests first.
The Provisional Government reached an agreement with the Tsar, which also resulted in the areas around Moscow controlled by the Workers' Alliance being almost excluded from the entire Russia. The Workers' Alliance headed by the Bushwick Party was not yet able to influence more areas of Russia.
There was a provision in the contract between Russia and Austria-Hungary that prohibited the Austro-Hungarian government from allowing the real top Bolsheviks, headed by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, to enter Russia through Austria-Hungary.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov has another famous name, but this is not something that can be mentioned casually.
In the absence of the leadership of a core figure and the fact that the Royal Security Intelligence Service has cleared out most of the parties in the Workers' Alliance in advance, the current Workers' Alliance does not pose much of a threat to the Russian political arena.
After all, Russia still has support from the Allied Powers, and the Workers' Alliance is feared by all countries.
Nicholas II, who was previously very high-profile and authoritarian, became low-key after Russia experienced civil strife.
Although Nicholas II's military ability is indeed not high, his political ability is still not low.
Nicholas II clearly knows that the current way to protect his rights and the status of the Romanov family is to live in seclusion and minimize the royal family's visibility in the public eye.
Of course, Nicholas II did not do nothing. During these days of living in the Winter Palace, Nicholas II had released grain to the residents of St. Petersburg and nearby Russians many times to ease the Russians' bad impression of the Tsar.
There is currently a delicate balance between Nicholas II and the Provisional Government. Because the Provisional Government is more afraid of the workers' alliance, Nicholas II's throne is retained.
Because of this, there are still a large number of royalists in the Russian army and government. The existence of these royalists is also the hope of Nicholas II to regain power.
Of course, Nicholas II still needs to face many problems in regaining his power, such as the distrust of the people, the preparedness of the provisional government, etc.
But in any case, Nicholas II was much better than the ending in history. If handled well, becoming a constitutional monarchy with a solid position like the King of England is not a problem.
After the Allied Powers launch a full-scale counteroffensive on the Western Front, Russia will also face a question, that is, whether to participate in this full-scale counteroffensive.
After thinking for a long time, the Russian Provisional Government finally decided to participate in this attack.
There was no way, the Russians had already tasted the sweetness of carving up the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But a small Galicia and Austrian Poland simply cannot satisfy the Russian appetite, and the Russians in East Prussia and German Poland are also unwilling to let it go.
More importantly, a small Austria-Hungary Empire needs to pay 15 billion pounds in compensation, of which the Russians can share about 2.5 billion pounds.
The Germans will only receive more reparations, and the Russians will also receive more war reparations to consolidate the situation at home.
On August 17, 1917, the Russian army, which had rested for more than half a year, launched an offensive on the Eastern Front in an attempt to take back all areas occupied by Germany.
Germany had occupied a large amount of Russian land through many previous wars. These lands are what the Russian government dreams of taking back, and they will also have a very good stabilizing effect on the domestic situation in Russia.
If the Provisional Government can take back these lands or even end the war, the Provisional Government's rule will become more stable. If Nicholas II wants to seize power, or the Workers' Union wants to move to the Provisional Government, we have to look at the actual situation. The Russians who had benefited did not agree.
Currently, there are still many areas controlled by the Germans, including Riga, Minsk and other places that are still under German control.
But most of the territory in Ukraine has been recovered. After all, after the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Germans did not have sufficient troops to occupy these areas.
Russia and Germany currently share a border of thousands of kilometers, but the German garrison force is only about 1 million.
It is impossible to rely on these 1 million troops to guard the entire border. Therefore, the Germans have carried out strategic contraction long ago, focusing on defense of major cities including Riga and Minsk, as well as Warsaw and Breton in Poland. Steet and so on.
If there is a German defense map, it can be seen that the Germans focus on defending large cities in the occupied areas, and the one that the Germans attach the most importance to is Poland. As for why there are no German cities, it is actually very simple. The Russians have to regain their lost territory before their troops can march to German territory.
The Russians' re-entry into the war made the European media even more excited. They firmly believed that the Germans would not be able to hold on for long under siege from two sides.
After all, if we only look at the gap in military strength, the total military strength of the Allied Powers in Europe is close to 15 million, while Germany's total military strength is only 5 million, which is a three-fold gap.
This is indeed the case. Although the Germans have already prepared for the possibility of Russia attacking, because the pressure on the Western Front is too great, a large number of heavy firepower weapons have been mobilized to the Western Front.
In addition, the Germans did not attach much importance to the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, and even believed that the Russian army was still the same as a year ago. Most of the troops did not have decent weapons, let alone heavy-fire machine guns and artillery.
However, the Russian military equipment at this time has undergone major changes compared to a year ago. Because of the US$2 billion loan from the United States, the Russians were emboldened to continue the war.
Although a considerable part of the US$2 billion was used for people's livelihood and national development, more than US$500 million was also invested in the war, especially the purchase of military equipment.
What's more, the aircraft orders signed by Nicholas II and Arthur are still being fulfilled, and together with more new weapons and equipment purchased by Russia from Australasia, the 2 million Russian army that launched the attack has The sufficient equipment also caused the careless Germans to suffer a big loss for a while.
As of mid-August 1917, the Russians already had up to 200 military aircraft, of which more than 150 were bombers.
Russia's pilot training has long been completed, and these 200 military aircraft can take off at any time and engage in any war.
At the beginning of the war, the Russians dispatched all military aircraft and completely occupied the airspace on the eastern front.
The small number of German aircraft and airships were no match for Russian aircraft, especially airships, which were just living targets in the eyes of Russian aircraft.
Since the outbreak of the war, the importance of airships has decreased significantly. If airships were not able to transport more supplies or people, airships would have been eliminated by various countries long ago.
You know, there is not only one country's airships in the sky, there are also competitions and conflicts between airships from different countries.
When faced with more advanced weapons such as airplanes, airships have almost no resistance.
Aircraft can easily destroy airships, but it is difficult for airships to hit smaller aircraft, especially if the aircraft is more agile.
Obviously, the large amount of territory lost by the Russians before has actually helped the current Russians.
The Germans did not have enough troops to defend such a large and narrow territory, but instead dispersed the deployment of the German troops on the eastern front.
Although the Germans had long expected the Russian attack, the lack of troops meant insufficient troops. Moreover, the German army on the Eastern Front had more recruits, and its real combat effectiveness had already been greatly reduced.
Since the outbreak of the war, the Germans have suffered many casualties. Even in terms of pure death toll, Germany has exceeded 2.5 million so far.
You know, before the war, the entire German army did not have 1 million people in total, which means that a large number of new troops had been recruited to the battlefield and then died in various offensive and defensive battles in Germany.
Germany's total population is only that large, and it does not have the colonial advantages of Britain and France, so it can only consume its own native population.
Under such circumstances, Germany has recruited millions of troops. Even with more than 2.5 million deaths, it can still maintain more than 5 million combat troops, which is enough to show the Germans' identification with the country and their bellicosity.
But the remaining 5 million combat troops are almost Germany's last trump card. Germany's blood is almost drained. It can't finally send all those women, old and weak to the battlefield.
Therefore, for Germany now, having new soldiers is already relatively good news. By the time the old, weak, women and children are forced to go to the battlefield, the country's strength will be crippled.
But it was obvious that 1 million German recruits could not stop the Russian attack, especially when these 1 million troops were still scattered across a long front line.
The Russian army made a comeback with great momentum. After besieging Riga for half a month, it successfully recaptured Riga and drove the German army back to the south of the Daugva River.
The recapture of Riga also opened a gap in the German defense line. The Russian army could even go straight down and directly attack East Prussia through the Lithuanian area, or first go south and then east to encircle Minsk and annihilate the German defenders there.
No matter which choice is made, it will be a very effective blow to the German army, which also means that the Russian army has mastered the absolute initiative on the Eastern Front battlefield.
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(End of chapter)