Chapter 590 - 453: Austro-Hungarian Empire Surrenders, Full-scale Counterattack_2

But the problem is, Germany currently is not in a position to end the war early, unless it does so in the attitude of a defeated party.

You see, the current German government is controlled by the military, and those soldiers and the Junker nobility could never accept defeat.

The Germans’ delusional hope to end the war with a phased victory will never be accepted by the Allies. This means that the Allies must fight Germany to a conclusive result, until either party is left with no room to fight back.

In early August 1917, three American divisions were transported to the Western Front, pushing the total number of Allied forces there past 10 million for the first time.

On August 6, an order from the temporary headquarters of the Allied forces sent millions of troops spread across the frontlines in Belgium and France into a full-scale attack on the German defenses.

The counter-attack of the Allies was earth-shaking. The sound of gunfire never ceased along the border. The tremors from exploding shells were like earthquakes, shrouding the entire border in a veil of white fog, making it impossible to see the enemy’s troop deployment from above.

The battlefield was divided at Verdun: the Belgian region north of Verdun became the Northern War Zone; the Verdun region itself became the Central Battle Zone; and south of Verdun became the Southern Battle Zone.

The Northern War Zone had 1.5 million troops from Britain’s Expeditionary Force and 500,000 troops from the Australasia Expeditionary Force as its main force.

The Central Battle Zone was bolstered by 500,000 troops from Britain’s Expeditionary Force, 2.5 million troops from the French Army, and 100,000 American soldiers.

The Southern Battle Zone consisted of 500,000 Italian Army, 800,000 French Army, and 550,000 Balkan Army.

In addition, both Britain and France each had over 1 million Colonial troops, deployed behind the front line forces, responsible for transportation and serving as reserve forces.

Although the total size of the army seemed terrifying, in reality, the elite forces numbered less than 3 million; the majority were Colonial troops and armies with less combat power.

On the German side, the number of troops was just half that of the Allies, totaling less than 5 million soldiers at full strength.

More importantly, a significant portion of these 5 million were rookie soldiers, whose actual combat effectiveness was also in question.

Plus, at least a million German troops were tied down by the Russians. Since the Austro-Hungarian Empire got suddenly attacked by Russia, Germany had to strengthen its defenses along the Russian border to prevent Russia from catching them off guard again.

At this point, both sides had a must-win mentality. If either side lost this decisive battle, defeat wouldn’t be far away. It’s even plausible that the enemy could push all the way to the capital city.

While the Allies didn’t have these concerns, European news outlets had already set high expectations. Numerous British and French media outlets had assured the public that the war would end within 1917, so that the people could enjoy a peaceful Christmas.

The Western Front alone consumed millions of shells daily, far more than the total number of shells produced by the five nations of Britain, France, Australia, Italy, and America combined.

Thankfully, with the proficiency of supply from the United States, the Western Front lacked no munitions in the short term.

Since the mobilization of the American military was always slow, their current total army size was just over 200,000, with less than 100,000 actually possessing combat ability.

Under these circumstances, the Americans would surely be looking to contribute to the war effort in other ways, bare in mind that they were the ones largely suffering financial and manpower losses, ensuring that their role in the war was not insignificant and that they secured important interests after the war.

In mid-August, the treaty between Austro-Hungarian and the Allies was officially signed. The first nation to have provoked World War I had, after over two years of war, finally chosen to surrender and withdraw from the conflict.

According to the incomplete statistics from the Austro-Hungarian government, the war had inflicted casualties of over 3 million and more than 800,000 deaths on the empire, causing economic losses exceeding 20 billion pounds and leading the empire to demise.

Although the treaty had been signed, the resultant 15 billion pound reparations was, naturally, a headache for the entire imperial government.

Until the reparations were abolished or fully paid, Austro-Hungarian would not dare to raise its head in the face of other countries.

The 15 billion pounds was enough to support the United Kingdom’s war effort for a year, or finance Australasia’s war for a hundred years.

Adding to that the ceding of territory and the numerous unequal terms, along with imminent factory closures and a host of other conditions, whether the Austro-Hungarian Empire could maintain its status as a major power was called into question.

At the very least, nations not directly affected by the war, like island nations, were coveting the status of major powers. This includes traditional European countries like Spain and Serbia, who had reaped substantial benefits from this war.

Especially Serbia, who already had a poor relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and had annexed Bosnia, a territory previously occupied by Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Remember, the Sarajevo incident took place in Bosnia, and it directly led to the outbreak of World War I.

Now that the territory was back in Serbia’s hands, it’s hard to believe that Austro-Hungarian Empire would let it go, and likewise, it’s hard to believe that Serbia, which had substantially expanded its territory, would be satisfied with being merely a regional power.

Upon the independence of Hungary, the trauma of civil war, the high reparations, and the covetousness of neighbouring countries (Italy, Russia, Serbia); these were the immediate problems Austro-Hungarian Empire had to solve after the war.

Furthermore, having abandoned Germany to make peace on its own, Austro-Hungarian Empire would inevitably be abandoned by the Germans, which would be a significant diplomatic challenge for Austro-Hungarian Empire, who had long adhered to an alliance with Germany.

For the post-war Austro-Hungarian Empire, whether to remain a neutral country or to seek new, reliable allies is a question worthy of consideration.