ch18

“I believe we can sufficiently conclude the Yugoslavian front by early next year.”

“Good. Very good.”

In my past life, the Yugoslavian front faced resistance from the Yugoslavians, dragging on until mid-1916 before it ended. But this life was different.

I had achieved the feat of erasing the Yugoslavian front in just a few months.

“If Romania’s participation in the spring offensive becomes certain here…”

Perhaps the Yugoslavian front might conclude within this year.

However, the situation wasn’t always smiling upon the empire.

“What is our biological little father thinking…”

The Kingdom of Poland continued to remain silent despite the empire’s demands for participation.

Disgustingly so.

‘Well… their neutrality actually turned out to be a good thing in the end.’

The vast Polish front was neatly erased. For the Imperial Army, desperate to shorten the front lines, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Are you saying it’s not bad that there are no Polish troops to fight alongside us? Of course not. As I said, the armies of satellite states are nothing more than baggage. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, this is all based on hindsight.

If the consequences of the Kingdom of Poland’s neutrality were even slightly disadvantageous to our empire, I dare say I would unleash a great flood upon the Kingdom of Poland.

Kingdom of Poland

A satellite state of the Holy Roman Empire, carved from the corpse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that once dominated Central Europe.

However, they enjoyed a great deal of autonomy, undeserving of the title of a satellite state.

This was because their political system was an aristocratic democracy with weak royal power. Therefore, German royalty had no choice but to be mindful of the local Polish nobles if they didn’t want to be ousted.

This was in stark contrast to the kings of other satellite states, who, instead of learning the language of the country they ruled and solidifying their internal affairs, eagerly wagged their tails to curry favor with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, or rather, the head of the Habsburg family.

Well, whatever, the Kingdom of Poland was a satellite state that moved quite favorably to the decisions made by the empire, so the Holy Roman Empire didn’t care, thinking, “So what?”

The people of the empire valued efficiency, so they believed that if they followed the empire’s orders well locally, there was no need to bother them.

“Um… about strengthening royal power…”

Of course, the Polish king subtly advocated for strengthening royal power…

But it was neatly buried by the fierce opposition of the Polish parliament, the Sejm, the disregard of the Habsburg family, the main house of the Polish Habsburgs, and the Holy Roman Empire’s statement that it was difficult to intervene in the Kingdom of Poland because it was a sovereign state. (Of course, this was nonsense. They were already interfering in everything, such as the economy, military, and administration, under the guise of ‘assistance’ and ‘advice.’)

Thus, the Kingdom of Poland was able to enjoy so much freedom that it was hard to believe it was a satellite state of the Holy Roman Empire.

And now, that freedom had turned into poison for the Holy Roman Empire.

“The Kingdom of Poland will declare neutrality.”

Of course, the Kingdom of Poland could offer excuses if asked.

In the first place, this was a sudden war caused by the emperor’s assassination. Moreover, the coronation of the current emperor, Yulia von Habsburg, had just been held (although it was held far more modestly than one would expect from the Habsburg family, who were like the elders of all European royal families).

They thought that the Holy Roman Empire would try to resolve this issue diplomatically if possible.

But the war broke out only about two weeks after the coronation, so they were bound to be flustered, they excused.

The Kingdom of Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, and even the Tsardom of Rus’ knew that this was just an excuse.

However, due to a combination of subtle circumstances, they half-ignored the Kingdom of Poland’s behavior.

First, looking at the Holy Roman Empire’s position… the front line to block the Tsardom of Rus’ offensive had narrowed significantly, so it wasn’t a bad situation.

The Tsardom of Rus’ also smiled inwardly at Poland’s declaration of neutrality, as the number of enemies they had to fight right now had decreased.

From Poland’s point of view, they were able to prevent their country from becoming a battlefield, resulting in a strange outcome that satisfied all three camps: allies, coalition, and neutral countries.

How long this strange agreement would last… I don’t know.

“Train 114 departing.”

Peeeeeep—!

With the sound of the whistle, numerous trains began to move towards the Baltic region.

Troops, several times the number of Imperial Army soldiers deployed to defend East Prussia, moved in unison towards the front lines.

Their goal was to break through East Prussia in one fell swoop and then advance, sweeping through the eastern part of the empire.

In fact, it was not strange that the Holy Roman Empire initially insisted on finishing France first.

The basis for this was the Tsardom of Rus”s unique, lackluster administrative system and mobilization speed.

The Tsardom of Rus”s administrative system was… frankly speaking, behind even Joseon. Not just empty words, but really.

This was partly because Joseon had a surprisingly precise administrative system for a quasi-medieval state, but also because the Tsardom of Rus”s administrative power was at the level of the Middle Ages.

‘And yet, the Tsardom of Rus’ managed to do it.’

In the early stages of the World War, the Tsardom of Rus’ showed a mobilization capability far exceeding the expectations of the Imperial Army General Staff. This was an amazing miracle brought about by the combination of French aid and the Tsardom of Rus”s unique disregard for human life.

However… tea brewed too quickly has a somewhat inferior flavor compared to tea brewed leisurely for an appropriate amount of time.

And now, the Tsardom of Rus”s situation was worse than the muddy water served in a back alley restaurant.

Yes. Just like the tea I’m drinking now.

“So, Marie. Why is the tea like this today…?”

“I, I’m sorry!”

Really… she makes so many mistakes that it’s suspiciously unfitting for the emperor’s personal maid. It’s not that she’s terribly incompetent, but she seems too nervous.

“Haa… Marie. How many times have I told you to steep it for only three minutes…”

I kept her because she was my mental support in the previous timeline… if that weren’t the case, I would have had another maid as my personal maid long ago.

“I’ll forgive you just this once.”

“Re, really?!”

She lowered her hand slightly.

“When did I say it was okay to lower your hand?”

“Ah…”

She made a sullen expression and raised her hand again.

Point Concentration

This was the phrase that best described the Eastern Front in 1915.

Due to Poland’s declaration of neutrality, the length of the front line had shrunk significantly, and hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides were concentrated in the narrow region of East Prussia.

And of course, the narrower the front line, the harder it is to push through. The side with numerical superiority finds it difficult to use human wave tactics to push in large numbers at once.

The opposite is also true. In the case of the side with qualitative superiority, even if they break through the front line, they are blocked by the depth based on the overwhelming population that continues endlessly behind them, and they collapse on the spot without maintaining their momentum.

In any case, it is an undeniable fact that the offensive side is overwhelmingly disadvantaged.

And looking at history, the side that is desperate always takes the offensive first.

“Charge!!!”

“Uraaaaa!!!”

The Tsardom of Rus’ was desperate. However, that desperation did not come from things like military or economy. The Tsardom of Rus”s desperation stemmed entirely from political factors.

“The United Kingdom of Yugoslavia is in crisis.”

What was the justification for the Tsardom of Rus’ to participate in this war? Was it not to save their fellow Slavs, the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia?

But now, the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia was in danger of losing its capital and being destroyed. If they did not move their troops now, if they did not take action before Yugoslavia was destroyed,

The justification, the cause, the justice of the Tsardom of Rus”s participation would be questioned.

In the end, the Tsardom of Rus’ was pushed by the political situation and advanced towards the massive fortress line that had been completed through hundreds of years of repeated expansion.

Of course, the leaders of the Tsardom of Rus’ were not without thoughts. No. To be precise, they were living their lives with their own thoughts.

“The front isn’t moving…? Tyutta… are we short on people…?”

It’s just that the result of those thoughts is this mess.

The synergy created by a large population, a lackluster level of education, and incompetent people promoted through titles, combined with the synergy created by machine guns, trenches, and barbed wire, created an explosive effect.

“Uraaaaaaaa!!!”

“Charge!! Charge!!”

“For the Tsar!!!”

In the end, they made the worst mistake of using time-honored tactics to crash into the time-honored defense line built in East Prussia.

And the result, you can guess without me having to say it.

On the Eastern Front, the Tsardom of Rus’ reported the worst report card to their superiors.

“So, something must be wrong. It must be an administrative error. Report it to the higher-ups with a little bit of reduction.”

And the higher-ups made an effort to correct the results a little and reported them to Stavka (General Staff).

“…This is misinformation reported from the field.”

Stavka, having come to that conclusion, reported the results to the Tsar, Nikolai, with a little bit of reduction.

As a result, a magic happened where the number of casualties was halved!

If you ask whether the Tsar, Nikolai II, was satisfied with the results…

“Are you bringing me this kind of thing as a result now?!”

I don’t know.

Meanwhile, the ‘relatively intelligent officers’ did not try to avoid responsibility and explored why they had failed to break through. And soon, they succeeded in deriving the result.

‘The front line is narrow.’ It was a simple and clear answer.

If the front line were just a little wider, the Tsardom’s cavalry would have planted the tricolor flag in Berlin by now!

But they knew very well that it was impossible to widen the front line by ordinary means.

Yes. By ordinary means, that is.

They licked their lips as they looked at the huge neutral country.