War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz listened to Archbishop Rauscher bragging about his achievements every day in his study. Austria's dispatch of troops to Albania, packaged by the church, became a "holy war" to liberate Christians from the hands of the pagans.

Of course, this is not without its benefits. For example, the bill did not encounter many obstacles when it was passed.

Even Count Kolarov did not like this kind of war with little gain, and Prince Metternich opposed the continued weakening of the Ottomans, but he had to give in due to the strong public opinion of the church.

Of course, this does not mean that the church has the ability to kidnap the country. In fact, the person who proposed this plan was Franz himself, so everything went so smoothly.

In addition to the church, the military or the Josephites also played a certain role. After all, the expansion to the Balkans can be said to be a continuation of Joseph's strategy. Although the directions are different, they can be regarded as reaching the same goal.

In the eyes of Admiral Friedrich, there was another interpretation. If the Austrian Empire wanted to become a naval power, it must control the Strait of Otranto or capture Genoa.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful the navy is, it can only continue to be its little overlord in the Adriatic Sea. In the eyes of the great powers, it will always be a fleet kept in a bathtub.

At this point, Russia and Austria are very much like one trying to break out of the Black Sea and the other trying to break out of the Adriatic Sea.

(Personally, I think this metaphor can make everyone understand the importance of controlling the Strait of Otranto.)

However, Friedrich wanted to directly capture the entire Albania. After all, the experience he gained from many battles with colonial countries was that non-powerful countries were simply vulnerable.

Whether in Africa, West Asia, or Southeast Asia, Friedrich was confident of defeating enemies several times his own.

Although Britain overturned on the island of Kalimantan, he felt that Britain was not a land power and that fighting deep into the interior would lead to failure. Moreover, whether the British Indian army could be regarded as a European army was still a question.

The Austrian Empire is a traditional land power and is better at land warfare.

Capturing the Seaman of Otranto and turning the Adriatic Sea into Austria's inland sea was very attractive to Admiral Friedrich.

Of course, Austria can also choose to continue expanding westward and conquer Sardinia, or let it cede the Genoa region, which can also break the blockade.

But Genoa's location is too close to France, and it is not a very suitable choice. After all, no country will put its most important fleet in an insecure place.

However, the opposition of Count Korolaf and Prince Metternich was not unreasonable, because every Austrian military operation in the Balkans required the mobilization of a large amount of manpower and material resources.

He didn't understand at all that in an area with a population of only a few hundred thousand, it was necessary to mobilize an army of 100,000 people?

Moreover, expansion in the Balkans costs more than in the colonies. What's more terrible is that the feedback from those bad places to the empire is minimal. The tax revenue of the two provinces of West Bosnia and Montenegro is not as much as the city of Venice.

At this time, the mountainous area in northern Albania proposed by Archduke Franz was undoubtedly a bad land among bad lands. The Ottomans conquered it and could not develop anything of value for hundreds of years.

Then there is the issue of pagan and alien populations. The religious and ethnic issues within the Austrian Empire have reached the point where everyone can see it. It is really not a wise move to continue to increase this kind of population that can easily cause conflicts.

Prince Metternich analyzed the international situation. Ottoman was used as a bargaining chip to restrict Russia, both to prevent Russia from advancing westward and to win over Russia.

However, the war in Albania at this time is undoubtedly a challenge to Russia's hegemony in the Balkans. You must know that the Tsar has always regarded himself as the guardian of the Orthodox Christians.

In addition, this kind of behavior also challenges the bottom line of the British, because the British want to dominate the Near East and want to use Ottoman to contain European countries, so they have been maintaining the integrity of the latter.

In fact, Franz had his own considerations. The British had let off a lot of harsh words, but let's see if France should go to North Africa to colonize, or go to North Africa, and not only captured Algeria, but also invaded Morocco.

As for the British? It seems that we have to find ways to win over it to prevent Russia from further expansion.

As for the issue of Russia and Count Korolav, it has been explained before and I won’t go into details here.

Let’s talk about Friedrich’s strategic issue. In fact, in terms of future development, although Italy has many ports, there are very few that can be used as military ports.

With the development of the times, the tonnage of ships will become larger and larger, the power and range of artillery will become stronger and stronger, and the requirements for military ports will become higher and higher.

According to later history, the most suitable military port in Italy is Taranto, which is the anchorage of Italy's aircraft carrier battle group.

However, at this time, Taranto was still in the hands of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The other one was La Spezia, but its defense was still far behind the former, and it was in the hands of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The remaining ports are Gaeta, Livorno, La Maddalena in Sardinia and Augusta in Sicily. However, these ports have their own problems. Either they have no barrier protection or the ports are too shallow to accommodate them. There are not many warships, and one common problem is that they are not in Austrian hands.

On the other hand, both the Austrian ports of Venice and Trieste have solid defenses at this time, and as long as they control the Strait of Otranto, they are almost invincible. Even if the opponent has an aircraft carrier in the early stage, it will be difficult to pose an effective threat to it.

Early carrier-based aircraft were not suitable for long-range bombing. Instead, they were mostly torpedo attack aircraft. They posed a great threat to ships, but bombing land targets and ports felt like seeking a dead end.

(Early carrier-based aircraft were characterized by short range and small bomb load.)

The Austrian army moved quickly, mainly by sea to reach Sankini, and at the same time encircled the mountains of northern Albania through Montenegro and Western Bosnia on the way.

It is said that it is an encirclement, but in fact, more often it is used to persuade people to surrender. The northern mountains of Albania were overwhelmingly Catholic and encountered little resistance.

Of course, some people chose to resist and even took the initiative to attack the Austrian army. Therefore, these people are no longer the objects of salvation, but heretics who should be expelled and heretics eliminated.

As for who is a heretic and who is a heretic, this is naturally decided by the Austrian side.

Those families and organizations that resisted were quickly disintegrated. After all, no matter how powerful the guerrillas were, they could not compete with the leading party all over the mountains and plains.

The initial occupation was extremely smooth. This was not because the Austrian Empire was really successful in the Balkans, but because the Ottoman Empire and the local noble lords were really inappropriate.

People in most areas welcomed the Austrian army, but there were a few areas that resisted, and some even wanted to return to the arms of the Ottoman Empire.