Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 517 God Bless the Alliance
Since the end of the European War of Religion in 1620, European countries have not had any foreign wars except for a war in the Philippines and sporadic conflicts with local indigenous peoples in the development of African colonies. Thanks to the continued fermentation of the Industrial Revolution and the great progress in productivity, peaceful Europe has developed rapidly in the past four years.
By the end of 1624, in terms of military affairs, in accordance with Philip's previous plan, thirty European coalition forces totaling 500,000 equipped with breech-loading rifles, breech-loading cannons and heavy machine guns had been fully formed.
Of these thirty divisions, twenty were from Spain, and the other ten were composed of one Danish division, two British divisions, three Germanic divisions (composed of Germans in the former Holy Roman Empire), two French divisions, one Apennine division and one Nordic division.
In terms of the navy, after stabilizing the Netherlands and subduing Britain, Spain reduced its navy's continuous losses. By the end of 1624, the Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets had recovered to a total of 120 1,200-ton first-class warships and 300 600-ton second-class warships. In addition, Britain, the coastal countries on the former French territory, and Denmark and Sweden in Northern Europe also provided 20 first-class warships and 30 second-class warships.
As for ironclad ships, in addition to the Aragon which returned from America, the new Casti, with a displacement of 3,200 tons and equipped with four 150mm naval guns, and another 2,000-ton Catalonia were added to the fleet, bringing the number of ironclad ships to three.
In terms of agriculture, because of Tianxuan's talent bonus, in 1624, the countries in the entire European Union had a rare collective harvest in the past thirty years. In addition to the large amount of grain shipped back from the plantations in America. By the end of this year, the grain reserves of the EU countries reached an unprecedented 1.2 million tons. This stock is of course not worth mentioning compared to the annual grain output of hundreds of millions of tons of major countries in later generations. But it should be noted that this is the stock of the national treasury of each country, not the output. According to the calculation that a soldier consumes 20 kilograms of bread per month, this stock is enough for the soldiers of the European coalition to consume for at least one year.
In terms of industry, the main basic resources of the First Industrial Revolution were coal and iron. In the Ruhr area, which is now controlled by Spain and borders Germany and France, there are more than 10 billion tons of high-quality fat coal (with very few impurities) that can be completely mined in open-pit conditions using current technical conditions!
And iron ore? Spain itself is rich in it, and after Sweden joins the EU, it will have no worries at all.
The entire Europe has a very long coastline, and rivers such as the Danube and the Rhine run through the entire country. In addition, the Age of Exploration brought a great abundance of cargo ships and sailors. This made transportation in Europe much faster than that of the Ming Dynasty.
Europe also had an advantage over the Ming Dynasty: except for the Pyrenees Mountains in the Iberian Peninsula and France, and the Alps in Italy and Central Europe, other places were basically plains. This made the construction of European railways much faster than that of the Ming Dynasty. At least by 1624, two-way railway transportation had been achieved from Madrid to Paris to the Ruhr area to Berlin.
In short, the military preparations were completed, as were the industrial, agricultural and transportation preparations. In terms of politics and economy, the EU, which had already established basic norms, also needed this war to further deepen the ties between the countries within the union and bind them more closely.
On November 30, 1624, the kings and grand dukes of the European Union once again convened the League Assembly in Rome. This meeting had only one theme: to launch a full-scale war against the Ottoman Empire in March 1625.
In the center of Rome, in the ancient Roman Colosseum, which has a history of more than 1,500 years, a thick and flat wooden board has been laid on the tunnel in the center of the venue. On these wooden boards is a large European map with a length and width of more than 100 meters. Standing on this map are more than ten staff officers. And dozens of European kings and grand dukes, like the emperors of ancient Rome, are listening to the staff officers' reports several meters above the wooden board map.
"Your Majesty Philip, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Your Excellencies, I am Johann Tseklas von Tilly. According to Your Majesty Philip's arrangement, I will serve as the Chief of Staff of the European Allied Forces in this war. Today, I will explain to you all the plans before the war."
Count Tilly, a super mercenary, was a Dutchman. He started as an ordinary mercenary at the age of 15, and worked his way up to become an imperial marshal and obtained the title of count. In the historical plane, during the Thirty Years' War, he suppressed the Czech uprising in the first phase. In the second phase, he and Wallenstein jointly won the Danish invasion. However, in the third phase, after Sweden entered the game, he was finally defeated by Gustav, and died of serious injuries after a series of defeats.
As a mercenary, this person has excellent professional ethics: I have received your money, as long as the contract relationship is still there, no matter how much the enemy offers, I will serve you loyally and with all my strength. As for after the contract expires, that will be discussed again.
This was an old-fashioned soldier, and he was obsessed with the Spanish Grand Phalanx. Even when faced with Gustav's new tactics and losing battle after battle, he refused to change. He loved his soldiers like his own sons, but he also allowed them to harm the people in order to maintain morale - this was also a common bad habit among mercenaries in that era.
In this plane, because the religious war ended too quickly, this gentleman is still alive and kicking. In addition, he has fought in Central Europe for many years and has a very high prestige. Therefore, such an old-school soldier cannot be allowed to lead an army on the front line alone, and can only be promoted to the position of chief of staff: His Excellency the Count has no problem with military literacy and battlefield analysis ability. In addition, he is old, has a long history, can speak multiple languages, and knows people in all aspects. He is an excellent candidate for chief of staff.
Philip took the lead, and after many princes applauded and welcomed him, Tilly cleared his throat and walked to the center of the wooden board. A young staff officer handed him a long baton.
"This all-out war against the Ottomans is the largest-scale military deployment to the East by Europeans in more than 300 years since the Ninth Crusade. In terms of the army, all 500,000 new troops of the European coalition were deployed. In addition, since the proportion of cavalry within the new army was relatively small, the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow provided 30,000 cavalry. Therefore, the total number of troops participating in the war in the army was 530,000.
On the navy side, three ironclad ships, one hundred first-class battleships, two hundred second-class battleships, and a total of 67,000 officers and soldiers of all levels were dispatched.
Serving these nearly 600,000 people were 750,000 civilians and merchant sailors, 1.2 million livestock of all kinds, more than 1,000 transport ships of all kinds, and more than 2,300 open and covered train cars...
Such a large army and material gathering cannot be concentrated in one place. According to the consultation of the Joint Staff and the approval of the Alliance Council, our huge forces will be divided into two lines, north and south. Two headquarters will be established accordingly. "
With a "click", Tilly pointed the baton in his hand precisely at Vienna: "The northern front headquarters is in Vienna. This front is equipped with 200,000 new troops and 30,000 cavalry. The commander-in-chief of the front is the King of Sweden, and the chief of staff is the Duke of Flanders."
Amidst warm applause, Gustav and Wallenstein, a pair of rivals in the historical dimension, stood up, bowed to Philip, and then waved around to accept everyone's cheers.
After the two men sat down, Tilly continued, "The mission of the northern front is to attack southward from Vienna and Budapest, occupy the entire Balkan Peninsula, and eventually push the front line to the west bank of Constantinople."
"And the southern front." Tilly's baton pointed back to Rome: "The southern front headquarters is located in Rome. It is not only the southern front headquarters, but also the general headquarters of this operation. Its commander is naturally His Majesty Philip, and the chief of staff is me. Under us, the commander of the front line is Duke Albrecht, and the chief of staff is Marquis Spinola. Because the southern front involves the addition of naval forces, the deputy commander-in-chief and fleet commander of the southern front are Count Barudes!"
After a round of applause, Tilly continued, "The southern front consists of 300,000 new troops plus all naval forces. The navy's combat objectives are to destroy the Ottoman fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, ensure our absolute control of the sea in the eastern Mediterranean, and guarantee the subsequent supply transportation of the army. The army's mission is to land in Tripoli, push forward along the coastline of North Africa, capture Egypt, the granary of the Ottomans, and then split into two groups. One group will continue to advance eastward towards Jerusalem, and the other group will head north with the assistance of the navy, land near Bursa, and besiege Constantinople from the south!"
As a veteran soldier, Tilly stood in silence after finishing the above explanation. Philip stood up amid the applause of the crowd and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this time we have gathered an unprecedented force, which is so powerful that it will surely destroy all enemies on our way forward! God bless, this Eastern Expedition of the European Alliance will surely take back Jerusalem and Constantinople and wash away the shame that we, as believers of the Lord, have endured for hundreds of years."
"Conquer Constantinople and destroy the Ottoman Empire!"
“Recover Jerusalem!”
"God bless the Union!"
"The Alliance is invincible! Long live!"
