Bulgarian Empire

It is easy to start an arms race, but it is difficult to end it. Originally, Ferdinand announced the expansion of the army by 300,000 people, just for political needs, just talking about it.

Anyway, the specific time was not specified. It is completely feasible to delay the expansion of the army for two or three years, but the reaction of the Allies cannot help Bulgaria to move!

Once the military expansion of various countries is completed, Bulgaria's military pressure will increase.

At that time: the total army strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be as high as 768,000, and the total army strength of the Italians will also be 589,000. If Romania and the Kingdom of Montenegro are added, once the war breaks out early, Bulgaria is likely to face millions of enemy troops immediately The siege.

Even with the number of Bulgarian troops, it is obviously difficult to defend the country's security, and it has to be divided into many places. As long as any place is breached, Bulgaria will suffer heavy losses.

Oh, don't expect too much from the Russians. If the war breaks out suddenly, the day lily will probably be cold when Mao Xiong reacts!

Well, in the face of the current international situation, the Bulgarian government is under a lot of pressure, especially the Minister of Finance is worried, which means that Bulgaria's military expenditure may directly double in the future!

"What's the plan of the Ministry of War?" Ferdinand asked with concern

The Minister of War Popov replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty, we must take action as soon as the Allies make a move. The expansion of the army is urgent!

Now our country's standing army is only 286,000, and it is already difficult to undertake our national defense tasks. In addition to expanding the army by 300,000, we believe that it is also important to increase the training of the Construction Corps.

It has been proved in the Second Balkan War that although the combat effectiveness of the construction corps is not as good as our regular army, it can still deal with the armies of Romania and Montenegro! "

Ferdinand nodded as acquiescence, and didn't bother to pay attention to Popov's behavior of putting gold on his face!

They are also temporarily recruited troops. Well, everyone puts down their hoes and fights against guns. They are half-baked, and the Construction Corps has been trained anyway. There is nothing to say about bullying a group of militias!

In fact, the combat effectiveness of the standing armies of European countries is very good, but as the scale of the battlefield expands in the later stage and the army grows like a snowball, the combat effectiveness will naturally decline.

Because the German reserve system is the most perfect, so in the First World War, the German army was able to stand out from the crowd.

But it doesn't mean that there are no garbage troops in the German army. In fact, in the middle and late stages, the quality of German soldiers also declined very seriously, and their combat effectiveness naturally also declined!

This also makes many people wonder why the bullish German army, often beaten by the Allied Powers, failed in many places in terms of combat effectiveness!

This situation is common in European countries. Due to the limited population, it is impossible for them to provide soldiers of sufficient quality without restriction. In the end, they can only reduce the quality. The quality of soldiers will naturally decrease and their combat effectiveness will also decrease!

In contrast, in fact, the pressure on the Bulgarian Army is not the greatest! Anyway, there are Balkan Mountains to rely on for defense, no matter how bad it is, it can buy enough time for domestic mobilization!

But the navy is struggling. The army Ferdinand can mobilize tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people every day, but the navy has no choice!

The army can send it to the battlefield as long as each person is issued a rifle, but the navy must have warships, right?

Even for the simplest destroyer, a ship would take at least a few months! If it is a dreadnought, no matter how fast, it will take more than a year, right?

Is the navy important to Bulgaria now? The answer is obvious, if the Allied Powers controlled the command of the sea in the Mediterranean Sea, then the Bulgarian Navy could be weak; on the contrary, if the Allies controlled the command of the sea, in order to protect the lifeline of the sea, the Bulgarian Navy would go on board by itself!

"Where's the Admiralty?" Ferdinand asked again.

When asked this question, Ferdinand himself did not have confidence. The three navies of Italy + Austria-Hungary + Ottoman Empire worked together.

Let's look at English and French!

"Your Majesty, this is probably very difficult. All we can do now is to suppress the Ottomans in the Aegean Sea and ensure the safety of all our sea areas, unless our navy expands five times!" Naval Minister Petrov smiled wryly. explain

After hearing Petrov's words, everyone's expressions changed drastically. This almost told everyone that once a world war breaks out, the navy cannot guarantee the safety of the coastline!

"What if the French can suppress the Italians?" Ferdinand thought for a while and said

There is no way, now we can only believe that the Allied Powers can gain command of the sea in the Mediterranean just like in history! Or maybe the diplomacy of Britain and France is strong enough to make the Italians neutral or defect!

Petrov thought for a while and said: "If the French can keep an eye on the Italian navy, then our pressure will be much less.

As long as the Austro-Hungarian navy is locked in the Adriatic Sea and they are not allowed to join forces with the Ottoman navy, they can be defeated one by one! In theory, we only need to add three more dreadnought fleets, and that's it! "(Remarks: The dreadnought fleet here refers to a dreadnought and a series of subsidiary warships)

Now Ferdinand misses the era of airplanes very much. It doesn’t need high performance, as long as it can carry one or two tons of bombs and fly for one or two hundred kilometers!

The closest place between the Apennine Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula is only more than 40 kilometers away. If you can gain air supremacy, you can land directly from the Strait of Otranto, occupy Brindisi and lock the Strait of Otranto.

No, Ferdinand reacted, and it seemed that it could be done. At the end of the First World War, the British Handlepage v/1500 could load up to 3400 kilograms.

In theory, Bulgaria can also do it. Since Bulgaria's aircraft technology started early, it already has certain practical value. It's just that for the sake of confidentiality, Ferdinand only took out a reconnaissance plane in the Second Balkan War!

But this idea is only fleeting, and landing in Italy is not so fun, and the Italians are desperate, and it is also very scary!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said: "Well, let's inform the French of our situation, as the world's second largest naval power, how can it be absent in this naval arms race?

Tell the French that if their navy can't keep the Italians down, we'll do it for them, as long as they pay for it! "

The tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed. Whether it is the French navy suppressing the Italians or the French providing military expenses to Bulgaria, it is acceptable.

Oh, it’s better to provide military expenses, loans don’t matter, after all, the stronger the military power, the greater the distribution of benefits after the war!

As for the loan? Isn't there a defeated country? Use their war reparations to offset it. As for whether the French will agree, this issue is not yet time to consider!

In fact, Ferdinand was already very dissatisfied with the reaction of the French. The Italians were all ordering dumplings. How can your Gallic chicken be compared?

If it weren't for the French's low-interest loans, Ferdinand would have gone mad long ago. Isn't this cheating his teammates?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy suddenly said: "Your Majesty, we can continue to ask for loans from Britain and France. After all, we have announced the construction of four new dreadnoughts and plans to expand the army by 300,000. The possibility is very high!"

In fact, it’s not that Bulgaria cannot borrow from Britain and France, but they all need mortgages. Normal commercial loans must also be settled at international interest rates, so the pressure on capital interest will be great.

If diplomatic means can be obtained, loans are usually obtained at much lower interest rates, with strings attached!

That's why the chancellor of the exchequer thought of it and raised it when the arms race was at its hottest. The most important thing is that the Russians have just been discouraged in the Moroccan crisis, and Britain and France have to make Bulgaria stand up! Otherwise, politically, it will cause disastrous consequences!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said: "Well, as long as Britain and France agree to provide loans, we can promise to complete the military expansion in the next three years, and even if they want to supervise the use of loans, it is not impossible to agree!"

Well, the big deal is to expand the army! Anyway, sooner or later, the world war is not far away now, the most important thing right now is to get more loans from Britain and France, otherwise many things will be difficult to deal with when the world war breaks out!

How come the loans issued by Britain and France add up to hundreds of billions of levs? Bulgaria needs a maximum of 18 billion, and it is not without collateral. For the British and French capitalists, this is a small problem!