empress ch45

2nd Vienna Council.

One of the events that demonstrated secular power had overwhelmed divine authority.

Most historians agreed that the Vatican had ‘degenerated into a political tool for the empire.’

There were countless nicknames for this.

First, there was the Vienna Captivity.

This was a perspective that interpreted the 2nd Vienna Council as an extension of the Vienna Captivity. Because it was carried out under the initiative of the emperor, not the Pope, it was referred to as ‘captivity’ forcibly carried out under the emperor’s initiative, rather than a ‘council’ led by the church.

This expression was widely used among the French, Italians, and countless Catholics in the early 1916s, but it has since fallen out of use as the view that the 2nd Vienna Council and the Vienna Captivity were separate events became mainstream.

And secondly, there was the expression, the Great Western Schism.

This was because the Catholic Church centered in Vienna and the Catholic Church centered in Rome and Paris were permanently separated by this event.

The Vatican’s result of the Vienna Council was to unilaterally favor the Holy Roman Empire. It was no wonder that the enraged Western Catholic clergy declared their separation from the Catholic Church.

And the last expression to introduce is the 1916 Crusade Declaration.

The last Crusade formed in human history. But it was ironic that the target of the Crusade’s blade was not pagans, but fellow Christians.

As an aside, it is said that Yulia I quite liked the title of her, the Last Crusade Monarch.

The reason is still unknown, but scholars speculate, based on her character that values efficiency and practicality, that it was probably because it was a title that gave the Great War a ‘strong justification.’

“Isn’t it wonderful? The title of Last Crusade Monarch.”

I smiled and asked General Konrad.

“…You have unexpectedly girlish aspects for your age?”

If you include my past life, I’m in my 30s… but well. In the eyes of him, a veteran in his 60s, I might still look like a child.

“Well… considering how much our empire gained from this Vienna Council… it’s no wonder Your Majesty is excited. Haha.”

Of course. Through this council, we gained the invaluable justification of harmony and holy war between the Protestants and Catholics who remained within the empire, even if only slightly.

It would be stranger if I weren’t happy in this situation.

Of course, even if we have gained these political advantages, if we fail to achieve military victory, it will all be for naught. Nothing more, nothing less.

“What is the situation on the front lines?”

“Currently, both the Allied forces and our imperial army are passive in their offensives on the Western Front, so it can be summarized as ‘no problems.'”

Hmm. For some reason, the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” comes to mind. Perhaps the soldiers on the front lines are experiencing hell.

This is all because the citizens did not actively participate in anti-war demonstrations. If they had actively protested against the war, this would not have happened.

“On the Italian front, there was a major offensive by the Savoy Kingdom (the empire does not recognize the Kingdom of Italy and calls it the Savoy Kingdom)… but.”

“You easily repelled them, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The fortress zone on the Italian front is an impregnable fortress that has been built since the Middle Ages. They even installed large-caliber naval guns from retired battleships…

Even the German and Soviet armies, who wrote myths during World War II, and the American army, who showed off their money with overflowing funds, would have struggled to break through that fortress zone.

There’s no way the Italians’ haphazard attacks would have worked.

“On the Eastern Front, sporadic offensives by the Rus’ Tsardom army and Polish rebels continue. And… railway activity has increased by about twofold near the Galician region.”

“Are they preparing for an offensive?”

Now? At this moment? I foolishly asked him, unable to believe the fact.

“Isn’t the Rus’ Tsardom supposed to be focusing on recovery after the Battle of East Prussia? But an offensive…”

“However, railway activity and communication volume have increased to an unprecedented level. This can only mean enemy deception or signs of an offensive.”

“Huh… I know. I’m just… a little taken aback.”

To launch another offensive so soon? Aren’t they afraid of the people’s support?

‘Well… our biological second cousin wouldn’t care about that.’

Although it has faded, Yulia’s memory of him was… he had some charm as a human being, but that was it.

He was someone who should never have ascended to the throne. His head was full of flower gardens.

“Still, there are a considerable number of Hungarian, Croatian, and Albanian troops deployed on the Eastern Front, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Huh… Hungarian and Croatian troops.”

Would I trust those guys? They’ll definitely collapse the front lines again and send us a request for help.

“Just in case, please deploy about 10 infantry divisions as reserves to the Eastern Front.”

At least that much is needed to fill the defense lines of the Hungarian and Croatian armies that will be breached. This is a judgment based entirely on empirical perspective.

Of course, since it is only an empirical perspective, he would not know the reality of the Hungarian army.

“10 divisions… are you serious? I believe the Yugoslavian front will be over within this week, so we can mobilize that many divisions… but is it really necessary to have that many divisions as reserves?”

“Well, we can’t just keep 10 divisions tied down in something like coastal defense, can we?”

“Well, that’s true.”

He nodded, seemingly convinced by my words.

“And finally, the Yugoslavian front…”

“Is there really a need to report on it?”

He chuckled at my words.

“Well, I guess not.”

The Balkan front is as good as gone.

The Romanian army’s offensive brought a ‘decisive shock’ to the Balkan front.

“The Romanian army should occupy the coastline.”

As advised by the imperial army, the Romanian Royal Army marched south along the coastline of the Duchy of Bulgaria, which was connected to the Black Sea.

“Machine guns! Fire the machine guns!”

If the coastline was cut off, the last hope of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was to flee to the Rus’ Tsardom and continue resistance, would disappear.

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia gathered all the forces it could mobilize to resist the tide of the Kingdom of Romania, but the numerical difference between the two countries was absolute.

Eventually, on January 15, 1916, Burgas, the southernmost port city of the Duchy of Bulgaria, fell into the hands of the Romanian Royal Army.

Now, all that was left for the Yugoslavian Royal Army was to fight to the death. Only one thing.

But they still didn’t put down their guns.

“If we die whether we lie down or stand up… I’d rather die standing up.”

Of course, they knew that there was no hope for this country. What kind of normal country conscripts old men with missing teeth because there are no more people to conscript?

But they also knew.

About the terrible massacre in Belgrade, about how the empire thought of them.

About how miserable their end would be if they surrendered.

“We all fight! Until the last one!”

In the end, they chose resistance when the option of escape disappeared. A final resistance, scraping together everything they had.

“Fire!”

Bang! Tatang! From a makeshift trench built on the mountain range, they fired bullets at the imperial soldiers charging towards them.

Several imperial soldiers fell, hit by bullets. But that alone was not enough to hold out.

“Artillery fire!”

쾅! The imperial and Romanian armies poured in their artillery power without holding back. The Yugoslavian Royal Army had formed a defense line that was half-encroaching on civilian houses, so indiscriminate shelling of that area was something that ‘should not be done.’

But the opponents were Yugoslavs. Barbarians who started this terrible war with a single bomb. There was no need to treat them as civilized people.

“There’s no need to feel guilty. Because of them, your neighbors, friends, and brothers died in front of the enemy’s machine guns! It is harmful to civilized people to be considerate of such people!”

Exterminate the cockroaches. Only with that thought in mind, they poured shells over the heads of the Yugoslav ‘people.’

“Kyaaaaak?!”

“Please save me!!”

Yugoslav civilians and soldiers flocked to the Greek border to escape the approaching imperial army and their shelling.

“Please! Please let us through!”

Countless civilians shouted to the Greek border guards. Please save only their beloved children, wives, and families.

Papagos, who was tasked with preventing Yugoslav refugees from crossing the border, thought.

The country must maintain neutrality. For that, he could take any abuse.

But this… was not it. Weren’t they unarmed civilians? Weren’t they just innocent ordinary people?

But if they were handed over to the imperial army, they would no longer be civilians. They would become beings less than animals.

The sound of shelling was getting closer. And as the sound of shelling got closer, Papagos’s agony deepened.

“Sir… give the order.”

He looked at his subordinate. He could read the emotion in his eyes. Because he was feeling the same emotion.

“I guess I’m not going to get promoted… Only let women, the elderly, and children under the age of 15 pass! Do not let adult men between the ages of 15 and 60 pass under any circumstances!”

Many women and children crossed the Greek border. The empire tried to protest against this, but such movements were stopped by the emperor’s dissuasion.

‘Yugoslavia is as good as over. There’s no need to ruin the empire’s image for that.’

Pater I shed tears of emotion when he heard this news.

“God… thank you…”

A country exists because there are people. Since the people of Yugoslavia have survived… the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia is not over yet. They are just making a new start in a new land.

And the only thing they can do for the ‘new Yugoslavia’ is… one thing.

To fight to the death. To fight to the death and become proud ancestors to their descendants who will live in that distant land.

Only one thing.

콰앙!

The imperial army’s artillery fire gets closer.

“Fight to the end!”

Voices giving orders in Yugoslav were heard from all over.

The sound of the imperial army and the Yugoslav army clashing is heard.

As the imperial army’s shouts grow louder, the Yugoslav soldiers’ shouts grow smaller.

Smaller and smaller. It even felt like he was the only one left.

‘I guess… this is enough.’

Click. He brought the pistol to his temple. And taang!

The sound of a gunshot rang out, signaling the end of the Yugoslavian front.