Free Web NovelChapter 1145: Chapter 154: Royal Deliberations
Rhein City.
Holding Ferdinand’s assassination report, Ernst was very excited internally. Ernst received this report directly from Sarajevo even a bit earlier than the news reached Vienna.
Before Ferdinand even got ready to travel to the Sarajevo region, East African intelligence had already begun its operations, and even the plans of the Black Hand Organization were under the control of East African intelligence. fгeewebnovёl.com
In other words, if East Africa wanted to prevent this incident, they could have completely avoided Ferdinand’s assassination through various means, for example, by notifying the Habsburg Royal Family in advance, or by directly eliminating the Black Hand Organization members involved in the mission.
Of course, since the East African Government did nothing, it indirectly indicated that Ferdinand’s assassination was beneficial to East Africa, so East Africa chose to stand by and watch.
If it were Crown Prince Rudolph idly visiting Sarajevo, Ernst might have considered helping out of brotherly affection, but as for Ferdinand, Franz’s nephew, Ernst could only say he didn’t know him well.
Apart from hoping for a full-scale war in Europe, East Africa was also reluctant to leak information to the Habsburgs since doing so would mean admitting to espionage activities within Austria-Hungary, likely causing discomfort on their part.
However, Ernst’s attitude towards Ferdinand did not equate to that of his wife, Empress Karina. Karina was quite saddened by the misfortune of her uncle’s son.
"Poor little Franz, Ernst, how is he doing now?" Karina asked, somewhat saddened.
The Archduke Ferdinand referred to is Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the one who was assassinated, so Karina referred to her cousin this way, as her own father was also an archduke (Maximiliano I).
Although Ernst was happy about Ferdinand’s assassination, he needed to take care of his wife’s feelings, so he suppressed his expression and casually replied, "He has been taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. I heard there are no fatal injuries, but there might be some impact on his lungs."
"Oh dear! Ferdinand already had weak lungs; won’t this have a worse impact on his health?" Karina said.
Ferdinand had a congenital lung disease, possibly inherited from his mother, making it hard for him to endure the winters in Austria-Hungary, previously spending winter in Egypt. The bullet harming his lungs in the assassination only added insult to injury.
Ernst comforted, "Dear, little Franz is lucky he didn’t lose his life. As long as he rests well in the future, he’ll slowly get better."
Ernst’s father-in-law, the East African Archduke Ferdinand also said to his daughter, "Ernst is right, the assassin was only a few meters away from little Franz, and not being killed at that distance is indeed a fortune amidst misfortune."
The Austria-Hungary Archduke Ferdinand was the nephew of the East African Archduke Ferdinand, the son of Archduke Karl, the younger brother of Emperor Franz, so Ernst’s father-in-law was quite concerned about the Austria-Hungary Archduke Ferdinand.
Currently, Ernst’s father-in-law is still in good health, which is reasonable, as his brother, Emperor Franz, lived until nearly the end of World War I in the previous life, and the East African Archduke Ferdinand now leads a relaxed retirement life, potentially outliving his brother. In Ernst’s view, living to ninety is not a problem, considering Emperor Franz managed to reach eighty-six despite managing numerous state affairs daily, something Ernst admits he cannot achieve.
The East African Archduke Ferdinand asked Ernst: "Is the information accurate? Given the short time frame, there could be variables."
Ernst nodded and said, "The information should be accurate. We can confirm with Vienna a bit later. Other than that gunshot wound, other bullets were blocked by the vehicle body, so as long as it didn’t hit a vital part, it shouldn’t be too serious."
Ernst couldn’t be absolutely sure, as gathering information in a hospital is not easy, especially after Ferdinand’s incident when security measures tightened. It’s already good that East African intelligence personnel could obtain a general situation.
Furthermore, after preliminary confirmation of his nephew’s safety, Archduke Ferdinand (Maximiliano I) also became concerned about the relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. After all, for Archduke Ferdinand (Maximiliano I), Austria-Hungary is his motherland and the Habsburg Family’s foundation, so it holds a place in his heart second only to East Africa.
As for Mexico, the country once closely tied with Archduke Ferdinand (Maximiliano I), it has long lost any connection.
"This Serbian action is very likely to strain relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. What’s your view on this, Ernst?" Archduke Ferdinand (Maximiliano I) asked.
What view could it possibly be? Naturally, one hopes for a full-scale conflict, ideally dragging the whole of Europe into it. Of course, Ernst certainly couldn’t say what was on his mind.
"In my view, it’s quite difficult for things to calm down between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Personally, I wouldn’t hope for Austria-Hungary to go to war with Serbia at this moment, because, in my opinion, Austria-Hungary isn’t ready for war." Ernst stated with the realistic view based on Austria-Hungary’s poor past performance.
Judging by military expenses alone, pre-war Austria-Hungary was considerably inadequate, with military spending around four hundred million German Marks, doubling to just over eight hundred million after war broke out.
Meanwhile, Germany’s military spending increased from over eight hundred million to a massive thirty-two billion Marks post-outbreak, nearly quadrupling, and France’s increased from over eight hundred million Marks to about fifteen billion Marks.
This demonstrates that Austria-Hungary’s military expenditure was far below that of other Great Powers before the war, only higher than Spain and Japan, suggesting that after the war broke out, Austria-Hungary should greatly expand its military spending to make up for previous unpreparedness. However, the reality was that its spending only matched pre-war levels of other Great Powers.
Attitude like this in joining World War I, how could Austria-Hungary not be a burden for Germany, no wonder it even struggled against tiny Serbia.
Ernst added, "Previously, Austria-Hungary was not proactive in military expenditures, ranking just above Spain among European Great Powers, and because of long-term peace, the army’s combat effectiveness is questionable. In contrast, Serbia just experienced two Balkan Wars, with a considerable number of soldiers with combat experience. Plus, their arms were recently updated, even superior to some Austrian-Hungarian internal troops. If Austria-Hungary doesn’t take this opponent seriously, they’ll likely suffer losses on the Balkan Peninsula."
Hearing Ernst speak so poorly of Austria-Hungary, the father-in-law was a bit dissatisfied, saying, "Ultimately, Serbia is a small country, and having just been through war, economically, it’d be tough to sustain a new conflict with a Great Power like Austria-Hungary, not to mention Austria-Hungary doesn’t lack military talents. Even if there are setbacks early on, leveraging its significant national power should fatigue Serbia, this small nation, right?"
The disparity between the two nations is visible to the naked eye, with Austria-Hungary having a population over fifty million, whereas Serbia, even with support from Croatians and South Slavs from Slovenia, has just about five million, less than one-tenth of Austria-Hungary.
This is an optimistic estimation, considering many Croatians and Slovenians under Austria-Hungary’s rule may not necessarily side against it.
And that’s just the population gap; Austria-Hungary outstrips Serbia in other areas, leaving Serbia far behind.
For instance, in the arms industry, without external support, Serbia can’t sustain a fight against Austria-Hungary, as Serbia’s military industry is nearly nil, with its economy primarily driven by agriculture.
For example, Governor Potiorek of Bosnia once mockingly referred to Serbia as "pig farmers" due to pig farming being its pillar industry, and it previously suffered severe damage due to an economic crisis.
