The relaxation of material restrictions on France by European countries was a good thing, but Napoleon IV was not happy in the slightest.

There is no way, and the change in the political stance of various countries also means that the European world is not optimistic that France can win this war.

In these years, the center of the world is in Europe, and the views of the European world will directly affect the judgment of the countries of the world.

In recent times, the French Foreign Office has made efforts to win over allies overseas, and has achieved phased results, especially after the British joined.

Without this bad news, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Japan could all become part of the anti-Austrian alliance.

Now everything is impossible, politicians are not stupid, let them follow the trend and speculate, if they want to swim against the current and fight side by side with France, then there is no need to think about it.

If you open the map, you can see that Egypt played a crucial role in the war, and once it fell into the hands of Austria, the anti-French alliance was invincible.

Seeing that France was strategically passive, no matter how much the Paris government promised at this time, it was impossible for the grass on the wall to take a fire for them.

Holding back his anger, Napoleon IV asked, "How did Egypt fall so quickly?"

You know, we just had a troop build-up. With 23 infantry divisions and troops in Egypt, the total strength is as high as more than 800,000, is it true that our army is all a lounge rice bag? ”

Rumors are not released casually, and the Vienna government dares to fool people with the occupation of Egypt, and it also has capital.

Just a week ago, the French army lost access to the sea in Egypt, and the French army in Egypt was connected with the French mainland, and no one knew what was happening at the front.

From the standpoint of a bystander, France had just increased its troops on the front line and lost its access to the sea, which was clearly a deliberate attempt by the Austrians to lure the enemy.

Since it is luring the enemy, it is natural to have the certainty of victory. It makes sense that the Egyptian region fell so quickly.

The outside world can make up for it like this, but Napoleon IV can't bear it. not only lost Egypt, but also lost more than 300,000 regular troops, which was simply a loss to my grandmother's family.

If this had been known, it would have been better to withdraw the troops of French Egypt and fight against the anti-French alliance on the European continent, at least to increase the chances of victory.

Facing the emperor who was about to go berserk, the also confused Minister of War Luskinia helplessly explained: "Your Majesty, no one knows what happened in Egypt now. Perhaps, this is just fake news from the Austrians.

With the reinforcements we have sent, there are more than 500,000 regular troops in Egypt alone, and Governor Jacob has a wealth of combat experience, so even if he cannot defeat the enemy, it is impossible to wipe out the entire army so quickly.

Before the fall of the port, we had one last contact with Egypt, and Governor Jacob promised to hold out for at least half a year. ”

Persistence for half a year naturally has prerequisites. The war is fought with materials, and in the case of sufficient logistics, 500,000 French regular troops plus 300,000 cannon fodder troops, of course, have the strength to fight.

However, the plan did not change quickly, and the heavily guarded port of the French army fell first, and the troops of French Egypt directly became alone.

According to intelligence from the navy, they were attacked by both the Austrian navy and air force at the same time, and after heavy losses, they were forced to choose to evacuate, and then there was no more.

This is the tragedy of the loss of air supremacy, the Mediterranean Sea is not large, and the Austrian Air Force can monitor every move of the French Navy from Libya, but the French cannot lock down the movement of the Austrian Navy.

In this era when there was no wireless telegraphy, even if spies collected information, there was no way to transmit it back in time.

The information was not equal, and the French Navy had to adopt a conservative state in a series of operations. The main fleet did not dare to divide its forces at all, for fear of being ambushed by the Austrian Navy.

Only a detachment of troops was stationed in the Egyptian area, and the scale was very limited, and it was naturally unable to parry the sudden attack by the Austrian sea and air.

The absence of total annihilation is enough to prove that the French admirals are still reliable. As for the safety of the port, it is really embarrassing.

Without the support of naval firepower, and by the combined land, sea and air strikes of the Austrian army, the fall of French ports in Egypt became inevitable.

Hearing this explanation, Napoleon IV's expression softened slightly: "You mean that the Austrians are spreading rumors, but what good is it for them?" Is it just to deter those wall grasses?

In essence, we all know that enlisting allies to attack Austria's overseas colonies is only to get out of the passive situation of political isolation, and will not really affect the war.

For Austria, winning this war, even if all the overseas colonies were lost, they would all be returned to them after the war.

Unleashing this rumor now, while keeping the overseas colonies, has also pushed them to the opposite side of the European countries. Britain and Russia, in particular, absolutely do not want to see them continue to grow. ”

The fact that Napoleon IV had come to the conclusion of the present international situation was that it was not worth the loss for Austria to release such rumors, and it was also the reason why the international community was willing to believe the rumors.

Karel Kadletz, Foreign Secretary: "Your Majesty, perhaps the Austrians are planning for the post-war international situation.

After all, as soon as our strategy succeeds, Austria will have a large number of enemies overseas. So many countries are involved, and if they all come to the door to retaliate, it will inevitably cost a lot of money; The dignity of the country is at stake without retaliation.

If that's the case, then we need to be careful. The enemy may have the certainty of winning the war before doing so.

There is news from the embassy in Russia that Russia and Austria have been in frequent contact in recent times. We all know that Russia and Austria have very close relations, and Austria's influence in the Russian Empire is very large.

The brains of those Eastern European barbarians are relatively simple, and many times they do things without going through their brains. If Austria had co-opted the Russians, the war would have been difficult to fight. ”

The chain of contempt has always existed, and for a long time the European continent was developed and backward in Western Europe, and the Russians in the most Eastern Europe naturally became the object of everyone's contempt.

There is no doubt that Karel Kadlec was deeply influenced by this notion and was always prejudiced against the tsarist government.

Whether it's strategy or interests, as long as people are stupid, it's not a problem.

According to the principle that one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, Russia and Austria, as neighbors, should be incompatible, but the reality is the opposite, and Russian-Austrian relations have exceeded everyone's expectations.

So much so that European experts in international relations have been led astray, and some have even openly proposed that as long as politicians can exercise restraint, all contradictions can be resolved by political means.

Frankly, this argument is not without the possibility of success. If it weren't for the British, it would have been possible for the European continent to settle the dispute by political means.

Twenty years ago, Fao was an ally. The conflict between the two countries began to escalate after the British joined the alliance.

Fearing the worst to happen due to lack of confidence in the tsarist government. The French government reluctantly made the decision to make a quick decision, forcing the front line to attack, and the European war was pushed to a climax again.

……

London, since the news of French Egypt, Prime Minister Gladstone has been suffering from insomnia.

Austria is too terrifying, and the existence of this behemoth has seriously threatened Britain's strategic security.

From this day on, Britain's maritime supremacy lost its counterweight to Austria, and if the two countries turned against each other one day, Britain would have to fight Austria on land.

There was no way, the Suez Canal had fallen into the hands of Austria, and the Cape of Good Hope became the only hub connecting Britain to India, and it became a military must-defend place.

Losing this also means losing India. As for the detour, it is theoretically feasible, but in practice it is not feasible at all.

A detour is easy to say, but if it were to take tens of thousands of miles, it would not only increase the time, risk and cost of sailing at sea, but also weaken the British government's control over India.

If the Russians went south again, there was no guarantee that the British government would be able to send reinforcements and strategic supplies in time.

In the conference room, Prime Minister Gladstone said solemnly: "Ladies and gentlemen, the worst situation we feared has emerged.

With the fall of French Egypt, all our means of restraint on Austria were rendered useless. Now we have to think not only of a way to pull the French around, but also how to keep the Cape of Good Hope safe. ”

Whether it's a sense of crisis or a paranoia of victimization. Theoretically, as long as Russia and Austria reach a deal, Austria may attack the Cape of Good Hope.

Even the content of the transaction was completed by the minds of everyone present. The Russian army sent troops to the European continent to help deal with the French, in exchange for Austria sending troops to occupy the Cape of Good Hope and cut Britain off from India.

One won the hegemony of the European continent and the hegemony of Africa, and the other won the British India, and the two countries joined forces to divide the world. From the point of view of interests, Russia and Austria are both earning blood.

Foreign Secretary George: "The Foreign Office has already started to act, and we will find ways to undermine the further proximity of Russia and Austria."

However, this was not enough, unless the French were able to inflict heavy losses on Austria in the European War, or the Cape of Good Hope would not be safe from now on.

What happened on the battlefield was uncertain, and judging purely by the strength on paper, I did not think that the French had any chance of winning the war.

Even if we fully supported the French, they did not inflict a heavy blow on Austria. You must know that the current Austrian Empire is not only the world's largest industrial power, but also a giant with a land area of more than 30 million square kilometers and a population of hundreds of millions.

If we add the other countries in the anti-French alliance, it will be difficult for us and the French to have an advantage.

In this context, either we will go to war in person; Either that or force the French to fight desperately and use them to deplete Austria's strength.

The benefits of this are very obvious, the strength of both France and Austria has been weakened, and no matter who wins or loses, they will not have the strength to dominate the continent after the war. ”

This multiple-choice question is very easy to do, Britain has just played a PK with the Russians, and has lost more than 200,000 local troops on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and it is simply not capable of continuing a friendly match with Austria.

If you don't want to fight hard, you can only let your allies go. France is also a big country, and if it does its best, it will be enough for Austria to drink a pot.

Once Austria's strength was hit hard, it was time for Russia and Austria to go their separate ways. After all, there can only be one European hegemon, and when you can't win, you can't help it, so you are forced to give up; Once a new opportunity arises, no one will let go.

Colonial Chancellor Primrose chimed in: "Sir has a good proposal, and I very much agree with it. But before we can do that, we must first increase our troops at the Cape of Good Hope, so that the Austrians do not have a chance to take advantage of them.

It would be better to send troops withdrawn from the Afghan battlefield to the Cape of Good Hope to discourage the Austrians' ambitions. ”

……