Bulgarian Empire

"Your Majesty, the Germans announced their new shipbuilding plan, adding 3 more dreadnoughts from 1912 to 1917, plus their existing 2 ships, and the previous 3 ships that have been started, and the planned 4 ships. , by 1917, the number of dreadnoughts in the German Navy will reach 12!" Foreign Minister Meteff said cautiously

Just back from St. Petersburg, Ferdinand received the good news. Yes, for Bulgaria, this is undoubtedly very good news!

The more the Germans invest in the navy, the less pressure Bulgaria will have on the Western Front in the future. As for the German navy, it is John Bull's trouble, so Ferdinand will not bother.

Well, Romania to the north was automatically ignored by Ferdinand. In fact, even if the Germans are willing to help, Romania's strategic position is very unfavorable, being caught in the middle by Bulgaria and Russia.

If you want to launch an attack from Romania, it is estimated that the enemy commander has water in his head! Obviously, as soon as the war breaks out, Romania will be flanked by the two fronts of Paul and Russia. It will be difficult for an army of 1.8 million to defend!

"How did the British do it? Do they want to build six ships?" Ferdinand asked directly without thinking.

"For every warship the Germans build, the British build two!" This sentence was a domineering declaration when the British Minister of War Haldane visited Germany before.

Oh, Ferdinand was still in London earlier and shouted this to the Ottoman Empire. It's just that the Ottomans are really poor people. After ordering two dreadnoughts from Germany, they expressed silence!

But the Germans are obviously demonstrating against the British now, don't you want to double the number of warships? Well, come on, whoever loves is the grandson!

Foreign Minister Meteff replied directly: "Your Majesty, yes! In March 1912, the British Secretary of the Navy Churchill submitted the Navy Bill to Parliament, and it has now been passed. According to the bill, the Germans did not build a single warship. , the British will build two, and the London government has announced that it will add 6 dreadnoughts in the next five years!

And just now the British reached an agreement with the French. The British transferred the Mediterranean Fleet to the North Sea to suppress the Germans, and the French transferred the Atlantic Navy to the Mediterranean to take over defense. The two countries have reached an agreement! "

Ferdinand smiled slightly, obviously this is in the information, it seems that the next thing is to watch the dumpling performances of Britain and Germany.

As for Bulgaria's large naval plan? Oh, that's just a plan. Although the momentum is huge, the current builds are basically cruisers and destroyers. They are not bad for dealing with submarines. Let's forget about the main decisive battle!

"What about the army? I remember that the French aggressively announced that they would expand by 500,000 troops. Where is the progress now? What is the reaction of the Allies?" Ferdinand asked with concern

Obviously, needless to say about the situation of the Russians, Ferdinand had just returned from St. Petersburg, and Mao Xiong was already preparing to expand his army by 450,000. Adding in their standing army of one million, this figure was already astonishing.

Megeve thought for a while and said: "The French government has submitted to the National Assembly to amend the military service law, increasing the compulsory military service from two years to three years.

And the age of enlistment of soldiers has been relaxed from the current 21 to 45 years old to 20 to 48 years old.

The atmosphere of civil war in France is very strong now. Judging from the current situation, it is only a matter of time before Congress passes it. It is estimated that after the revision of the military service bill, the French military expansion will begin.

The Germans are now tit-for-tat and announced an army expansion of 500,000, but they have a mature reserve mechanism, and they can complete the army expansion at any time as long as they need it.

The military expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has already begun, but the Vienna government is still worrying about the composition of the 300,000 troops. The Hungarians are unwilling to allocate additional funds, and the two sides are still arguing.

By the way, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also plans to build two new dreadnought ships. The Hungarians asked one of them to be named after Budapest, and the Vienna government agreed. However, the Hungarian government has to bear 70% of the construction cost of this warship. This time, the Hungarian government is very straightforward. agreed.

The Italians are also very active in this military expansion operation. According to their announced plan, they will not only expand the army by 300,000, but also expand the navy by 30,000, and plan to build 3 new dreadnoughts in the next five years. "

Ferdinand was taken aback for a moment. The French behaved normally. It was obvious that they had reached an agreement with the British. The two sides had a division of labor. The British were in charge of the navy and the French were in charge of the army.

As for their revision of the military service act, Ferdinand did not find any surprises. Whether they extend the service life, or relax the enlistment age for soldiers, is not surprising in this day and age.

In fact, Bulgaria's military service bill is the real statement, but it was all formulated during the Stam cabinet period. It was mainly established to deal with the Ottoman Empire and seize the Macedonian region. Later, taking into account the factors of the World War, Ferdinand has not been revised.

The same is compulsory military service, but the service period of Bulgarians is unlimited! You understand correctly, it is life tenure, as long as the country needs you to serve, then you have to serve until the age of 65!

The service age ranges from 16 to 65 years old, which is why this country with a population of only 4.3 million in history was able to mobilize 1.26 million troops to participate in the war in World War I!

According to this military service bill, theoretically Ferdinand can still mobilize six or seven hundred troops. Of course, there is no such operation in practice!

Under this kind of extreme mobilization, Bulgaria may collapse on its own within two or three years. Ferdinand, the most beloved king, may have to worry about his throne by then!

The performance of the Germans shocked Ferdinand a bit. When they were in a naval competition with the British, they were also in an army competition with the French.

The performance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is fairly normal. How can a big country not have its own dreadnought? Facing the military threats from Bulgaria and Russia at the same time, it would be a problem if they didn't expand their army!

It's just that the performance of the Italians really made Ferdinand not know what to say! It is quite normal for a land power country like Bulgaria to face threats from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Montenegro, and Romania. It is quite normal for the army to expand by 300,000.

Well, you also have the military threat of the French in Italy. It is enough to expand the army by 100,000 to 200,000, and you want 300,000!

At the same time, you joined the naval competition between Britain and Germany, so you can save one dreadnought, or announce it at another time? The political implication in this is already very obvious!

The key is, do you Italians have this strength? You can't join in the first wave, and then start watching the show, right?

Ferdinand said with a wry smile: "So, we were also dragged into the water?"

Megev thought for a while and said, "Yes, Your Majesty! The Italians expanded their army and navy at the same time. We must be prepared, otherwise they may attack Albania from the sea and attack us with the Austro-Hungarian Empire!"

Ferdinand thought for a while and said, "Okay then, tomorrow I will convene a meeting of the cabinet and the military, and then decide on the countermeasures!"

Obviously, history has changed beyond recognition. Affected by Ferdinand's butterfly effect, governments of various countries have strengthened their control over the people. Now basically everyone's ruling power has been strengthened to a certain extent.

Correspondingly, under the threat of war, everyone's potential to explode is stronger.

Moreover, what I just said was just the war preparations of several major powers. Ferdinand did not believe that the kingdoms of Romania and Montenegro next door would not respond!

Well, this time he was really wrong. Expanding the standing army is really not suitable for a small country, especially a small country whose finances are about to collapse!

Due to the war, the Kingdom of Montenegro had to pay Bulgaria's war reparations, as well as expenses during the war. The Kingdom of Montenegro, which was already clinking poor, was even poorer now!

Romania is not much better, because the Bulgarian army invaded their elite area, all the cities in the lower Danube plain except Bucharest were looted, leaving millions of war refugees as a headache for Carol I.

Due to joining the camp of the Allies, the smell of gunpowder in the European continent has become more and more intense. It is difficult for them to even borrow money, and capitalists also have to consider risks.

Once war breaks out between the two major alliances, small countries are always the first to be sacrificed, and their repayment ability is worried. Except for some loans from Germany, Austria and Italy, the financial channels of other countries have been cut off.

Even the French, who are very keen on lending, dare not lend to them this time. The main reason is that during the Second Balkan War, Ferdinand discovered that the French had actually provided loans to the Anti-Guardian Alliance. Of course, this was unbearable!

Wasn't Ferdinand such a fool to protest to the French government? He directly provided the news of these financial institutions to the radical war media, and added more details.

Then the French people became angry. Someone dared to provide loans to the Allies.

Even if the capitalists are rich and powerful, when this kind of nationalism is overflowing, it is enough for them to suffer. One after another, they launched scapegoats and cut their tails to survive!

Not to mention now, due to the Ferdinand butterfly effect, the actions of French capitalists have been restrained a lot at this moment, at least in history, they dare not to openly lend money to the Allies!

Oh, their withdrawal made it easier for the Jewish bankers. These people have no national concept. Anyway, they are used to being scolded every day.

Of course, low-quality customers like Romania and the Kingdom of Montenegro are fine. The loan they provided to the Greeks before was rejected, and no one stood up for them this year!