Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 200

Chapter 200: Chapter 87, A Bloody Lesson

Translator: 549690339

Snowflakes fluttered down, heralding the arrival of another winter. Vienna, dressed in a layer of silver, was exceptionally pleasant during this winter.

Belvedere Palace

Metternich reported, “Your Majesty, the envoys from England and France have submitted a ceasefire negotiation document from the Ottomans to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It seems that the Sultan Government is preparing for the aftermath.”

This did not surprise Franz; the war had been raging for so long that the Ottomans were the ones to suffer the heaviest losses, followed by the Russians. The losses sustained by England and France were merely a trifle and not worth mentioning.

Without strength, everything else was meaningless. It was inevitable that the Ottomans would have to scale back their influence. With the current support from England and France, ending the war with Austria early and retracting their forces to deal with the Greek people instead was more in line with their interests.

After pondering for a moment, Franz said, “Proceed according to our original plan, slowly negotiate with the Ottomans and find out their bottom line first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Metternich responded.

The second battle for Bulgaria had by now exhausted both sides. The high intensity of combat over consecutive days had increased the soldiers’ war-weariness, inevitably leading to a decline in morale on both sides.

Apart from the Greek people who had just joined the war and the Montenegrins, who were intoxicated by victory, the rest were merely holding on by sheer willpower.

On the surface, the Russians might have seemed to have the upper hand, but Franz was well aware that this was an illusion; it was a battle where both sides suffered losses.

One could tell by the Russian casualties. After over four months of fierce fighting, Russian casualties had already exceeded one hundred and seventy thousand.

Of these, fewer than sixty thousand had died in direct combat. The rest, over one hundred thousand wounded, due to lack of timely medical treatment and a shortage of doctors and medicine, fewer than eighty percent survived in the end.

Field triage was non-existent; medics in the Russian Army were extremely rare, managing only to ensure the safety of officers’ lives. As for the soldiers, apologies, but they were too busy!

The life of a common soldier was cheap; injured ones could only hope for a quick bandage, followed by a test of their endurance.

The Russian Army had received no training in field triage. Rather than bandaging, it was more accurate to say they simply bound the wounds. Without sterile gauze or proper disinfection, wrapping with any piece of cloth was considered sufficient.

Those with severe injuries were not even considered for survival; they were directly counted among the casualties.

Many with light injuries, who were merely shot in non-vital areas like arms or legs, could have survived with proper wound care; however, due to insufficient treatment, they too perished.

At the field hospital Franz had set up in Wallachia Principality, they were extremely busy. Every day, wounded Russian soldiers retreated from the front lines and came here seeking medical care.

“Seeking medical care” was a glorified term, which merely involved washing the wounds, disinfecting them, and then re-bandaging, while casually prescribing drugs of unknown efficacy.

It was the wound cleaning and disinfection that really saved lives by preventing inflammation and infection. The medicines mainly served to provide peace of mind and, incidentally, to make money.

The severely injured who survived several days of travel from the front to the rear areas were not likely to die; as long as the wounds did not become infected, they could generally survive.

The Russian soldiers did not know this; what they saw was the rapid decline in the death rate after receiving first aid, leading them to believe that the hospital was full of miracle workers.

In reality, most of the medical staff were soldiers who had only received field triage training. Franz was using the Russian wounded as guinea pigs to enhance their practical skills.

As for medicines, it depends on the situation. You get what you pay for, and the pricier drugs certainly have an effect—that’s one principle Franz does hold onto.

There’s no hope for the cheap drugs; they’re either various experimental medicines or concocted out of flour and vegetables.

Among the low-cost remedies, the most effective are the herbal decoctions, simply put, a pot of herb-infused water to clear heat and detoxify. Unfortunately, many consider this concoction a form of witchcraft, and most Russian soldiers are unwilling to drink it.

Moreover, this medicine was never intended for treating wounds. Without immediate, noticeable effects, it failed to capture widespread attention.

Nicholas I was a fairly decent Tsar, at least in that he covered the medical expenses for his soldiers. Of course, don’t expect him to spend much—a flat rate of ten rubles per wounded soldier, paid only if they survived. (One silver ruble is roughly equivalent to half a tael of silver)

With such a paltry sum, naturally, one cannot expect any decent service. Beyond a minority able to pay out of their own pockets, most received only the most basic treatment.

Take surgery, for example, to remove bullet fragments from a wound. Without a hundred rubles, you might as well not even think about it. There were few capable of such surgery, which naturally drove up the price.

Franz had actually prepared to outsource emergency battlefield medical care, but considering the high risks on the battlefield and the Tsarist Government’s unwillingness to spend substantially, no agreement could be reached.

Such a horrendous casualty rate inevitably affected the combat effectiveness of the army, even with continuous reinforcements from the rear.

In theory, healing these wounded soldiers and rearming them for battle should increase the military’s strength, as they would be experienced veterans.

Unfortunately, due to the severe bureaucratic practices of the Russians, without proper indoctrination of the soldiers, most of the wounded were reluctant to return to the battlefield, and some even bribed medical personnel to delay their recovery.

The situation was even worse for the Allied Forces facing the Russians. The Ottoman Empire lacked the ability to provide medical services, even when fighting on their own territory.

The British casualties were not significant enough to draw domestic attention, and the pioneer of battlefield nursing, the angel of mercy, had yet to arrive at the front.

Without battlefield medical care, they were left to fate, relying on God or other divine intervention.

This is why the English and French commanders pressured the Ottomans to be the cannon fodder. To reduce casualty rates, they had to sacrifice others to save themselves.

Past experiences are the lessons for the future. Franz naturally sought to learn from the experiences of the Near East War.

He had long ordered the General Staff to compile these various messy incidents, and case studies from the battlefield were distributed to every officer and soldier.

Government departments also received copies of logistical lessons learned and organized training in related professional knowledge. In short, the same mistakes could not occur in Austria.

To better implement these lessons, the Austrian Government had already introduced a dual-responsibility system in logistics, where leaders and direct supervisors were accountable. If problems arose at any stage, those responsible would appear together in military court.

Franz solemnly said, “Your Excellency, Marshal, the General Staff must finalize the latest plan for the westward campaign as quickly as possible. We are racing against time.

The army must capture Munich within a week, secure all of Bavaria within a month, and sweep through the South German Region within two months.

If time permits, we also need to extend our reach into the Central Germany region and seize strategic terrain to lay the foundation for the future.”

The terrain of the Germany Region is complex: the Northern Germany flatlands have an average elevation below 100 meters; Central Germany is mountainous, dominated by east-west-oriented highlands; the southwestern Rhine Rift Valley is flanked by mountains, with steep valley walls; and the South Germany region encompasses the Bavarian Plateau and the Alps Mountain Area.

This posed an inconvenience to Austria’s military operations, as the most expedient choice was to attack along the Danube River, where all issues were not considered problems.

If the enemy blocked the river channel, then the challenge would arise; a land attack to sweep through this more than one hundred thousand square kilometers of territory was definitely a challenge.

Fortunately, these areas were all developed and perfected, and the South German Region was a plateau, not a mountainous area, otherwise this task would have been impossible to complete.

(Note: A plateau refers to an area above five hundred meters in elevation that is generally flat, and may have certain undulations over a widespread area.)

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Marshal Radetzky replied with full confidence.

While Austria was making its final preparations, Napoleon III also made a decision—to reinforce his troops.

There was no choice. Napoleon III’s participation in this war was motivated not just by France’s interests in the Near East, but even more by his pursuit of political prestige.

If the Russians were to achieve victory, his throne would become unstable. The French public were not the patient sort; if he could not present them with satisfactory results, another revolution was entirely possible.

Had the London Government not suddenly erupted into a political crisis, the Anglo-French forces would have been marching on the Crimea Peninsula by now.

While the army remained in place, the navy had already acted. Starting from the end of November 1852, the navies of England, France, and the Ottoman Empire relentlessly bombarded the Russian coastal cities along the Black Sea, causing the Russians thousands of casualties.

In the face of the unbridled bombardment by England and France, only the brave remained. Clearly, such brave souls were few, and a large number of Russians fled inland.

St. Petersburg

When Nicholas I learned of the bombardment of the coastal areas by England and France, he was truly enraged. This was utterly preposterous, England and France had the audacity to open fire on civilians.

Civilian casualties mattered little; the problem now was the addition of hundreds of thousands of refugees waiting for relief from the Tsarist Government.

Fortunately, the Ukraine Region was a grain-producing area, otherwise another human tragedy would have taken place. No, it had already occurred.

The inefficiency of Russian bureaucrats was on full display at this time. Faced with the wave of refugees, local officials failed to take effective measures, mechanically waiting for orders from St. Petersburg.

The consequence was naturally severe. St. Petersburg was so far away that before the orders of the Tsarist had even arrived, rebellions by the starving had already broken out.

It couldn’t be considered a rebellion, as these people did not revolt, but simply looted for food and did not attack the cities.

In suppressing the rebellion, for once the bureaucrats showed efficiency. The Ukraine Region still had a sizable Russian Army waiting to reinforce the Balkans battlefield, and now it was readily deployed to suppress the unrest.

The disorganized uprising of the starving was quickly extinguished as it began.

Naturally, Nicholas I was unaware of these incidents, and it was even possible he would never know. No official would be foolish enough to trouble the great Tsarist Majesty with such trifling matters.

Nicholas I demanded, “The enemy has been attacking our coastal cities for so long, do you have no measures at all? What is the Black Sea Fleet doing, why hasn’t it played any role!?”

The Minister of the Navy replied in a low voice, “Your Majesty, the Black Sea Fleet has been severely crippled in the fight against the enemy, leaving only a few small boats and being unable to fight any longer.”

“Severely crippled” was a conservative description; perhaps “completely obliterated” would be more fitting. Surrounded by the navies of England, France, and the Ottoman Empire, the Black Sea Fleet was utterly powerless.

The navy had thought that hiding in port under the protection of fortress guns meant the enemy would not dare to approach. They never expected that these “advanced” fortress guns could not even be used normally.

Since the decline of the Ottoman Empire, there had been no external threats along the coast of the Black Sea. Thus, the decaying Tsarist bureaus naturally cut corners wherever possible, and the coastal guns became merely for show. They were either products of the last century, or even earlier, and there were even more inferior products.

After some probing, the navies of England and France launched unabashed attacks, and after struggling for a while, the Black Sea Fleet bravely sacrificed itself.

There was no shame in this; no country in the world could withstand the combined might of the English and French navies. That the Black Sea Fleet did not surrender to the enemy spoke volumes of their bravery.

It was mainly because there was no opportunity to surrender; they were simply annihilated. Ever since Menshikov joined the navy, the Russian navy had been marking time for decades, and was now two eras behind the enemy.

(He dared to use the army’s exercise manual to drill the navy—a ruthless man indeed.)

“Hmph!”

Nicholas I snorted coldly, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Foreign Minister Carl-Wassell spoke up, “Your Majesty, now that things have come to this, we can only abandon these cities for the time being. As long as we can take Constantinople and block the Bosphorus Strait, such an incident will never happen again.”

At this moment, the Tsarist Government’s desire for Constantinople intensified once again as they personally experienced the dire consequences of losing naval command.

Nicholas I nodded. He was not truly angered by the destruction of the Black Sea Fleet. From the day England and France joined the war, he had anticipated such an outcome.

What really made him furious was that the coastal defenses crumbled at the first blow, failing to trouble the enemy in the slightest. The corruption within the government bureaucracy had reached such an extent.

Problem though it was, it was wartime, and internal stability was paramount. Nicholas I could not purge the bureaucracy at this time.

“Is there a casualty report yet?” Nicholas I asked, concerned.

“Your Majesty, this is just a preliminary tally, but we’ve lost ninety percent of the strategic materials stockpiled in the coastal region, approximately three hundred thousand civilians have been displaced, and the direct economic losses exceed two billion Rubles,” Finance Minister Aristander Rhodes replied with a trembling voice.

Clearly, Aristander Rhodes had not expected his subordinates to dare such reckless behavior. Even if the enemy had revealed the location of their warehouses, it was improbable that the enemy could hit them so accurately. Even for fixed targets, the navy’s accuracy rate was not high, and destroying their entire stockpile of supplies was not achievable in a short amount of time.

Did they think the enemy’s shells were free?

Nicholas I sneered and said, “Investigate. Send people to investigate thoroughly!”

Even if he couldn’t act against them now, wasn’t there a phrase ‘settle accounts after the autumn’? The Tsarist was very vindictive; it was time to note these issues down. There would be plenty of time for a reckoning in the future.