There were often two sides to the story, and the economic crisis that raged on the continent caused turmoil also accelerated the establishment of the Vienna system.

When the guns rang out in Lyon, the French government was in a dilemma of internal and external relations; The vigorous development of the Italian independence movement brought the mighty French Empire to the brink of collapse.

In order to change the unfavorable political and diplomatic situation in which they find themselves, the French urgently need a stable international situation, and the Paris government has to make concessions on the issue of disarmament.

Without the obstruction of the French, the next disarmament conference went exceptionally smoothly.

On January 21, 1882, 15 European countries, including Britain, France, Russia, and Austria, signed the Treaty on the Limitation of Army Armaments.

According to the terms of the treaty, the size of the armies of the countries is as follows:

500,000 in the Russian Empire;

Austria 486,000;

France 382,000;

Spain 246,000;

156,000 in the Federal Reich of Germany;

Britannica, 116,000;

Nordic Confederation 98,000;

Belgium 48,000;

Netherlands 33,000;

Switzerland 32,000;

Portugal 28,000;

Prussia 28,000;

Greece 18,000;

Montenegro 03,600;

……

Generally speaking, this arms treaty was drawn up on the basis of the comprehensive strength of various countries and taking into account the regional military balance.

The share of the Kingdom of Prussia was low, that is, the Berlin government was poor and could not afford to raise too many troops.

As early as half a year ago, the Berlin government had already begun planning for disarmament, and the biggest problem was that there was no way to convince the military to agree.

It is not easy to catch up with the arms limitation treaty, and the government will naturally not fight for quotas for the military.

The signing of international treaties has created an established fact, no matter how strong the Prussian military is, it must abide by it, and the defeated Prussia is not qualified to make trouble.

The arms limitation treaty was signed, and the shadow of war on the European continent disappeared all at once. At least for the next 10 years, everyone's safety is guaranteed.

The number of land forces is limited, and although the advantages of large countries are still obvious, they lose the ability to annex small countries under the mutual containment of various countries.

That's right, the main one is France. After the disarmament was completed, the French had enough troops to protect their own security, and it was not enough to continue to expand.

Knowing that they were targeted, the French could only accept it. At this time, Napoleon IV had to rein in his ambitions to avoid being caught between internal and external attacks.

The arms treaty was limited only to the European mainland, and the overseas colonial armies were tacitly ignored. It's not about leaving a back door, it's a practical need.

There are three main reasons for being ignored: first, the practical need to maintain the colonial system, which is simply impossible without sufficient troops;

Second, most of the colonial armies had limited combat effectiveness and were not taken seriously by everyone;

Finally, the productivity constraints of the times. If overseas troops want to be transported to the European continent, they need a lot of manpower and material resources, and it is better to expand the army directly economically.

After the arms treaty was signed, the rest of the matter will be easy to discuss.

The purpose of the Vienna System is that European countries should jointly guarantee the security of their own homeland in order to maintain peace and stability on the continent.

In this era of rising anti-war waves, governments have no interest in waging war on the European continent and naturally will not refuse such a treaty.

The controversy is mainly about the details, and in general, the European countries are peace-loving. Even if politicians don't love it, the international situation and the European people will make them love peace.

……

While everyone was celebrating the advent of peace, another arms race was beginning to brew.

The Vienna Palace, a military conference that would decide the future direction of Austria and the world, is going on in secret.

At this moment, Franz is holding a copy of the design parameters of warships in his hand, and if you are familiar with the history of naval development, you will find it particularly familiar.

displacement of 14,147 tons, full load displacement of 15,786 tons;

It is 126.7 meters long and 21.86 meters wide;

Cruising range 10 knots/4700 nautical miles, maximum speed 18.3 knots;

The designed coal storage capacity is 950 tons;

It is equipped with 4 305mm guns, 10 150mm rapid-fire guns, 16 57mm rapid-fire guns, 12 47mm machine guns, and seven 450mm torpedo tubes.

……

That's right, the beginning of the former dreadnought. Franz's butterfly effect still influenced the history of the Navy.

Without the Franco-Prussian War, the French Navy did not stray due to funding problems, and with the rising Austrian Navy, competition on the seas was much more brutal than at the same time in history.

Where there is competition, there is development, and in this era of rapid change, no one dares to stand still.

Against this backdrop, naval technology of various countries is at least ten years ahead of the same period in history, and the design concept of the former dreadnought has also come into being.

Franz could not help in this matter. Warships are the embodiment of a country's industrial strength, and it is not something that can be promoted by a so-called concept.

If you look carefully, you will find that designers are never short of brains, and there are a lot of advanced ideas, which are forced to be shelved for various reasons.

Not to mention the former dreadnoughts, similar to the concepts of dreadnoughts and aircraft carriers, have been proposed.

At first, Franz was shocked, thinking that he had met a fellow traveler, but it turned out that he was thinking too much.

The person who proposed a similar design concept of the dreadnought did not mention it, although it was a little ahead of its time, but it was still acceptable, and with Austria's industrial strength, it was barely possible to implement it.

It is much more interesting to design aircraft carriers.

For example: airship aircraft carrier theory. It can be seen from the literal meaning that the airship was put on the ship and the battle was lifted into the air to bomb.

Technically, this is no problem at all. The hit of the bombing is ignored first, the key is that it takes time for the airship to take off, and the enemy will send you into the sea before you can fly into the sky.

And that's not all, another designer who proposed a "suicide attack", Franz thought it was possessed by a kamikaze brigade.

Aircraft have only just been created, and combat is impossible. One designer had a brainstorm, put the plane on the ship as a disposable bomb, and when a war broke out, he directly hit the enemy warship.

There is nothing wrong with the technology, the point is where to find so many warriors who committed suicide in airplanes?

In any case, the brain-opening is still commendable. As for their design concept, let's put it in the warship technical reserve room first!

Franz asked: "How long will it take for such a battleship to be built?" ”

The design plans that could be handed to him were all taken out after being reviewed by the Admiralty many times and determined that there were no technical problems.

Admiral Castagni replied: "It will take about a year and a half at the normal pace of construction, and if it is accelerated, it will be completed in a year." ”

The construction time is one and a half years, plus the preparation time in advance, and the commissioning time after launching, it may be two years before the actual service time.

Compared to the previous battleships, this speed is slow; However, compared to the battleships of the future, this speed is very fast.

In general, the first construction of a new warship is the slowest, and the more it is built, the faster it will follow.

Franz nodded and said lightly: "Just proceed at the normal construction speed, build one first and see the effect." ”

Former dreadnoughts are not cheap, a main gun costs 20,000 Aegis, and a warship costs millions of Aegis.

The cost may be reduced later, but the cost of the first warship as an experimental product is definitely not low.

Literal parameters are not equal to actual parameters, and the real performance of warships will be known only after they are built.

The design values are all theoretical, and under normal circumstances, there will be discrepancies. How big the error is depends on luck.