The end of the Russian-Austrian alliance was like thunder on the ground, and it instantly caused a sensation in the world.

What the Pacific War, the battle for the free trade system, the secret history of Queen Victoria, these hot news have been suppressed.

Anyone with a modicum of political acumen knows that the international situation is about to begin to reshuffle again.

Without the Russo-Austrian alliance, the last obstacle to the Pu-Po Federation no longer exists. The government in Berlin could not wait for the Russians to be ready before starting a war.

In recent years, both Prussia and Russia have been preparing for war, and the military industry and transportation of the two countries have developed by leaps and bounds.

Because of the Russian-Austrian alliance, the Russians and Austria have carried out in-depth cooperation in the field of military industry. In order to maximize cost savings, the bureaucracy of the tsarist government directly copied the Austrian military-industrial system.

In the long run, this kind of complete replication will cut off Russia's independent research and development capability in the field of military industry, and the consequences will definitely be catastrophic.

However, in a short period of time, it has greatly enhanced the strength of Russia's military industry, and directly passed to the world's top level.

What does the development of the military industry depend on?

There are many comprehensive factors that need to be considered, but they can be summed up in two words - throwing money!

The tsarist government was self-aware, knowing that its own R&D capabilities were not good, and it did not have enough funds in its pocket, so it simply cooperated with Austria.

The Pubo Confederation was different, and from the very beginning the Kingdom of Prussia followed the path of self-research and development. Due to financial constraints, Prussia's domestic military industry has practically fallen behind.

The British could not help them in this regard, and John Bull's army equipment was also very average. It's not that their technology is not good, but the main thing is that the number of British troops is too small, and the equipment purchase orders are too small, so military enterprises are naturally unwilling to spend a lot of money on research and development.

This continued until the Pude Territory Deal. With the change of ownership of the Rhineland, the barriers between the French and the French no longer existed, and it was only natural that the Berlin government moved closer to the French.

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of military technology deals between the two countries.

Of course, Franco-Prussian and Franco-Prussian countries are not allies, and there is no need for the French to take care of the Pop-Po Federation, and the cooperation between the military industries of the two countries is not as deep as that of Russia and Austria.

The cooperation between the two sides is limited to technical exchanges, and it is impossible to go further. At least until there is no unified industrial standard between the two countries, there will be no perfect connection.

Theoretically, the unification of industrial standards between Russia and Austria, and the direct copying of the Austrian military industry by the tsarist government, should have an advantage in the arms race.

It is a pity that the industrial base of the Russians is too poor, and there is a lack of sufficiently good industrial workers, and with the same production equipment, the defective rate of the products produced by the Russians is always higher.

The gap in this regard has brought the military industries of Prussia and Russia to the same level. Even if there is a gap, it is limited to individual weapons and equipment, and there is no epochal gap.

Compared to the military industry, the changes in transportation are more pronounced.

In just a few years after the establishment of the Pop-Polish Confederation, the Berlin government started construction of 10,000 kilometers of railways in Poland, and now one-third of it has been opened to traffic, and the remaining sections will be completed in two or three years.

Not only Poland is building railways, but other parts of Prussia are not idle, such as Lithuania, where two main lines are planned, plus subsidiary branches, with a total length of up to 4,000 kilometers.

So far, the total length of the Pubo Federal Railway has reached 26,000 kilometers, and once the Berlin government's plan is completed, the total railway mileage of the Pubo Federal Railway will exceed 37,000 kilometers.

This figure can make the total mileage of the Pubo Federal Railway surpass that of France and become the third largest railway country in Europe after Russia and Austria.

The Popo Federation was working hard to build roads, and Alexander II, who saw the importance of transportation, was not idle.

In just ten years, the tsarist government has successively started construction of 34,000 kilometers of railways, of which 26,000 kilometers have been opened to traffic, and with the addition of the previous railways, the total length of railways put into operation in the Russian Empire has approached 30,000 kilometers.

In purely numerical terms, it is clear that the Russian Empire has surpassed the Pop-Po Federation, but in reality the opposite is true.

The territory of the Russian Empire was more than 20 times that of the Pop-Polish Federation, but the difference in the total length of railways between the two sides was less than 15%, and the difference in transportation between the two countries can be imagined.

Now that both sides are scrambling for time, there is no doubt that the Pupo Federation will have the upper hand. Due to geographical constraints, the Russians were doomed to have the upper hand in the construction of the railway.

Don't look at the total length of railways in the Russian Empire, it seems that it is more, but the capacity is not as good as that of the Pop-Po Federation. This is climatically determined, and as long as winter comes, Russian railways cannot guarantee full loads.

In terms of transportation, the Russians need to build at least 150,000 kilometers of railways to reach the current level of the Pubo Federation. This is limited to connecting some of Russia's major cities in Europe, and doubling may not be enough given Asia.

Obviously, this is not possible. The Berlin government would not have given the Russians so much time, and if the tsarist government had solved the transportation problem, they would not have been able to fight at all unless they could open the road.

The whole world is concerned about the news of the dissolution of the Russian-Austrian alliance, in addition to the political impact of this alliance, the most important thing is that the dissolution of the alliance is tantamount to a declaration: the Prussian-Russian war has entered the countdown.

The people who eat melons can't help but come out to point out the country, not to mention the tsarist government as the protagonist. As soon as the bad news came, Alexander II smashed N artifacts in a rage.

"Damn the Habsburg miscellaneous, a bunch of treacherous traitors......"

Angry shouts rang out in the Winter Palace. No wonder Alexander II was so angry, in order to continue to maintain the Russian-Austrian alliance, they have already made obvious concessions, showing goodwill to the Vienna government through a number of channels.

However, it was all done in vain. Not to mention the renewal of the treaty for another thirty years, even the extension of the covenant five years later was rejected by the Vienna government.

Alexander II's reforms are largely complete, and now it is only time to transform them into national power. It can be said that every day now is of vital importance to the Russian Empire.

The Russo-Austrian alliance bought Austria time for peaceful development, and now it needs to buy time for the Russian Empire, and Austria suddenly announced that it would not play, which made Alexander II embarrassed?

It doesn't take much, as long as it drags on for another five years, the Russian Empire will be able to have the strength to beat the Pop-Po Federation.

This is a gap in volume, but also a gap in development potential. Now both countries are developing at a rapid pace, but the ceiling of the Pop-Po Federation has already been reached, and the Russian Empire is just beginning.

The tsar in anger was terrible, and none of the ministers wanted to touch this brow. Seeing that the situation was not right, Aleksandrovich stubbornly persuaded:

"Father, now is not the time to be angry. Now that the Russo-Austrian alliance is not renewed, the obstacles to the start of war in the Pop-Po Federation no longer exist. ”

"Humph!" Alexander II shouted angrily. "What are you afraid of, is it possible that without Austria, the great Russian Empire will not be able to defeat the enemy?"

Alexandrovich: "Of course not, it's just that the situation is very serious. We have made significant concessions, the Vienna government is still refusing to budge, and there must be a hidden deal behind this.

We can venture to guess that there is insider trading between Austria and Austria. The Berlin government has limited leverage, and the only thing that can motivate the Vienna government is ......"

After saying it in one breath, Aleksandrovich himself was almost convinced. Of course, in essence, this is just a step, and everyone still does not believe that the two countries will hook up.

Controlling the emotions of politicians is only the most basic operation. Alexander II was angry, but not to the point of being uncontrollable, and his anger was only to cover up his erroneous foreign policy after coming to the throne.

No way, who made him pro-Pu in the first place? With the presence of Peter III, the tolerance for such things in Russia has dropped several notches.

Even if Alexander II made the right choice and decisively changed his political stance, the pro-Puto-Austrian foreign policy in the early stage was still questioned from within.

Now that the Russian-Austrian alliance has ended, there must be a group of people in the country who are putting the blame on him. The aristocracy, whose interests had been damaged by the reforms, had been looking for opportunities to make trouble, and Alexander II had to put an end to this possibility.

This is also the reason why Aleksandrovich blames the termination of the Russian-Austrian alliance on the Austro-Prussian collusion.

The Russians were still in spirit, and in any case, the Russian Empire could not tolerate Austria's unification of Central Europe, which meant that their dream of continental hegemony was broken.

The tsarist government could not make concessions on the question of German unity, so the rupture of the Russian-Austrian alliance would be explained. It is nothing more than saying that the Berlin government has a lower bottom line and can compromise on this issue.

It doesn't matter if it's true or not, as long as it's politically said in the past.

Silent for a moment, Alexander II seemed to be regulating his emotions: "Alas! ”

"That's it, let's discuss how to deal with it!"

The rupture of the Russian-Austrian alliance was also expected by the tsarist government. From the moment the tsarist government chose to join the British pound-gold system, the two countries were separated.

War Minister Helamed: "Your Majesty, without the Russian-Austrian alliance, the initiative in the war is no longer our exclusive possession.

Judging from the current situation, the railway plan of the Pupo Federation can be completed in three years at most and two years at the earliest, while our railway plan will take at least five years.

In terms of time, we no longer have an advantage. The enemy will not give us so much time, and now there are only two paths in front of us.

or start a war in advance while everyone is not ready; Either do your defenses and wait for the Pop-Po Federation to prepare to attack us. ”

"Five years" is only a theoretical figure, and practically everyone knows that the transportation of the Russian Empire could not be solved in five years, at most it connected major cities.

Of course, it is enough to be able to do this. It was almost impossible to catch up with the traffic in the European part of the Russian Empire before the last war.

It's a little worse, but it can support millions of troops to fight on the front line, which is enough to fight with the Pupo Federation.

The population of the Russian Empire was 2.8 times that of the Pop-Polish Federation, and its casualty tolerance was much higher.

It's a pity that they don't have that much time and now have to do multiple-choice questions. The war was extraordinary, the tsarist government could not afford to lose, and defeat meant that the Russian Empire would not be able to turn over for decades.

Everyone's breathing suddenly became heavy, and it was obvious that this multiple-choice question was not easy to do.

Interior Minister Mikhail: "We can't wait for the enemy to complete the plan, now the enemy is busy building roads, a lot of money is being tied up, and the financial resources that can be invested in the war are limited.

Once the enemy has completed their plans, the situation will be different, and then they will be able to concentrate all their financial resources on the war.

Today, unlike in the past, the international situation has changed dramatically, and we are no longer enough to make Britain and France jealous, and the British will not support the Pop-Pou Federation as they did in the last war.

As far as I know, the Poppo Confederation is in a very bad financial situation, and if it hadn't been for the sale of the Rhineland, they would have gone bankrupt.

As soon as war broke out, the Berlin government would soon be in financial trouble. It is not easy for a government with limited repayment capacity to find financing from the outside world in the face of a war in which the outcome is uncertain. ”

War is about money. After the war in the Near East and the last Russo-Prussian war, the tsarist government came to its senses and no longer believed that the second Russo-Prussian war could end in a short time.

Once the war continues, both sides will fight for financial resources. As for the army, the tsarist government was not lacking, as long as there was money, there were soldiers.

The finances of the Pop-Po Confederation were not good, mainly because of the financial problems of the Polish government. Prussia emerged from its financial crisis after the sale of its land.

Everyone can see that the Polish region may become a battlefield at any time, and naturally no capitalist is willing to invest in railways there.

At present, the railways built by the Pop Federation are basically funded by the government. Obviously, this is not enough to rely on the government's small annual tax revenue, and borrowing is inevitable.

In comparison, the Russian Empire was somewhat better. The territory is large enough that even if a war breaks out, it is on the border, and there are still people who dare to invest in the railways in the hinterland.

For example, the railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow is a project invested by the Austrian railway company.

This is normal, even those who are optimistic about the Pupo Federation do not think that they will be able to fight all the way to Moscow. William I was not Napoleon again, and his combat effectiveness was not so perverted.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kirksar shook his head: "Your Excellency, don't forget that our finances are not much better.

Despite the preparations made in advance, the Ministry of Finance was still unable to come up with sufficient funds for the war in a short period of time. ”

War is a gold-swallowing beast, and it is normal for a war to defeat the financial revenue of several years, or even more than ten years. It can be said that a large-scale war is the greatest financial disaster.

Unfortunately, such a catastrophe, which the Russian Empire experienced twice in just thirty years, is now about to take place for the third.

The Russian Empire is indeed a big family, but no matter how thick the family foundation is, it can't withstand such a toss.

It is obvious that fiscal revenues are insufficient, and no matter how much they are extorted and extorted, the government will not be able to rely on taxes to raise enough funds for the war.

The best source of funding for the war effort is through the financial markets. It is a pity that the tsarist government did not have enough credibility, and if it wants to raise money in the international market, part-time jobs are just dreaming.

Interior Minister Mikhail was unmoved: "If you don't have money, you go to raise it, and if you can't raise enough money at home, you look for it abroad."

London, Paris, Vienna, any financial market has the ability to provide us with sufficient funds. As long as the benefits given are large enough, are you afraid that you won't be able to borrow money?

There is no need to consider the cost, this war is no longer something we don't want to fight, and we can avoid it.

No matter how great the price is paid now, it cannot be compared to the losses caused by the defeat in the war. ”