War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Because Franz could not tell her that a hundred years after the demise of the Austrian Empire, the Tyrolean guerrillas were still seeking opportunities for restoration on Italian soil, and they were not completely wiped out by the Italians until the 1990s.

During World War II, the soldiers of the SS Totenkopf locked themselves in their positions and their madness left the Allies unbelievable.

But decades earlier, Tyrol's border guards had done the same thing. They chained themselves to cliffs and stone walls until they died in battle.

During World War I, when facing the 800,000 Italian army, they chose the same brutal fighting style as the Cheorwon Blockade.

Tyrolean soldiers, organized into companies and platoons, locked themselves in position and used the advantageous terrain to block Italy's elite mountain divisions until all of them were killed.

As one position after another was captured, the number of Tyrol's border guards continued to decrease. There was only silence in the rear position, and the soldiers could only watch their companions die in battle.

And in the ensuing battle, he accepted his fate.

As the battle progressed, the time left for the Italians became less and less. Finally, reinforcements from the Austro-Hungarian Empire arrived, but the number of Tyrolean border guards was less than a quarter of the original number.

During the hell-like war of World War I, young people from the Tyrol region were sent to the battlefield one after another. Most of them could not come back alive, and in some towns all the young people died, so they could only send the old people to the battlefield.

According to the laws of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, the Tyroleans had the right to refuse to participate in the war, because the battlefields of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were not in Tyrol. They could use this to refuse imperial conscription, but in fact those people never exercised this right until the end of the First World War.

(The Tyrolean Defense Forces are responsible for guarding Tyrol and belong to the local army.)

And in the coming Year of the Storm, there were only two regions in the entire Austrian Empire where no large-scale rebellions occurred.

One of them is Tyrol and the other is Galicia.

Adjani is a Polish patriot. Although she is now working for Franz, she will still favor her nation.

Just when Adjani learned that Austria planned to build a railway to Krakow, she knew that the last bit of dignity of the Poles was about to be wiped away.

Adjani cannot stop the tide of time, but she can make her compatriots a little better off.

So it is natural to hope that Franz can favor Galicia.

However, the important reason why Franz was unable to lean toward Galicia was because of Adjani's Polish compatriots.

The land in this area was controlled by Polish nobles, and they were the source of Galicia's unrest and the root of its backwardness.

These nobles thought about restoring the country all day long, violated Austrian laws, and refused agricultural reforms. As a result, the land of Galicia was not only not fully developed, but was regressing year by year.

The reason turned out to be ridiculous, "Slaves do not deserve the same food as their masters."

Galicia's agriculture was developed, and after the Austrians annexed the area, they gave it considerable preferential treatment, one of which was free mills.

This was actually a means by the Austrian government to weaken the strength of the Polish nobility. After all, at that time, serfs could only send grain to the landlords' mills, and the landlords could harvest the serfs' property twice according to the situation that year.

These free mills only served a small number of serfs, but they still dealt a heavy blow to the interests of the Polish nobility, and allowed the serfs to often eat the same food as the landlords.

This group of Polish nobles not only did not regard the local Jews and Uruks (Ukrainians) as human beings, they even did not regard the Polish civilians as human beings. To the extent that the most supportive people in Galicia were the Polish civilians who supported Austrian rule.

According to a certain philosopher, "The nobles have everything, while the common people have nothing, but what is worse than nothing is the life of a serf."

The serfs also supported Austria, but they did not have enough power, and the civilians could provide the large number of serfs with weapons, intelligence, and legal support to severely attack the Polish noble resistance.

Galicia was one of the few oil-producing areas in the Austrian Empire. However, the industrial application of oil at this time was still very limited.

As for agriculture, as mentioned above, most of the land was in the hands of Polish nobles, many of whom were not very friendly to the Austrian Empire and even rejected agricultural reforms.

The Habsburg family, which is known for its kindness, certainly cannot take strong measures directly. Franz was still looking for opportunities. Building a railway to Krakow was indeed an opportunity, but it was not the best time yet.

Franz also tried the strategy of peaceful evolution, but the Polish nation was unexpectedly united and would rather not make money than follow the rhythm of Austria. It was surprisingly difficult to tame.

Franz didn't want to leave corpses everywhere, at least he didn't want to do it himself.

Outside the port of Beirut, on the sea.

With the waves, broken shipboards and bodies continued to wash up on the beach. The smell of blood attracted countless fish to participate in this gluttonous feast.

On the "King", the musicians were still playing "Nelson's Mass."

William Simmons impatiently walked back and forth on the deck of the warship, urging the soldiers.

"Hurry up, guys! My grandpa can shoot more accurately than you, and the girls in Beirut are waiting for you. I want to eat those grilled meatballs skewered with olive branches tonight, so don't waste my time!"

At this time, the first-class battleship "King" was at the center of the Egyptian fleet.

However, just like its name, the six surrounding Egyptian warships slowly lowered their heads like paying homage to the emperor.

Looking at the burning and sinking Egyptian warships, the sailors on the "King" did not show any expressions of joy, but just went about their work.

The Sovereign charged into the center of the Egyptian fleet, but any Egyptian ship that tried to get close to it was blown to pieces.

However, those Egyptian warships that were far away from the "King" did not dare to shoot at it for fear of accidentally injuring friendly forces.

A two-masted gunboat crossed in front of the Sovereign, trying to prevent it from continuing its rampage.

However, Simmons did not order an emergency evasion, but ran headlong into the brig in front.

The three-hundred-ton ketch was cut like butter in front of the "King" and instantly shattered into two pieces.

As for the small gunboats and sampans, they were bombed into pieces before they even got close to the "King".

Just as Simmons's flagship was killing all the Egyptian navy, the remaining British warships formed a formation.

However, the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Navy, Eparich Pasha, was surprised to find through the telescope that the British did not intend to support their flagship, but planned to surround it with less than half the strength of the Egyptian Navy and annihilate it.

Aipalich Pasha threw the telescope to the ground and smashed it to pieces. He vowed to teach the British a lesson they would never forget.

However, the reality is that those British people do have the qualifications to be proud of.

The British warships are much stronger than the Egyptian navy in terms of fire rate and protection, and the quality of their personnel is even different. Many of the sailors of the Egyptian Navy were farmers or soldiers six months ago. There is only one reason why they became sailors, and that is that they do not get seasick.

The sailors of this British fleet are a group of out-and-out veterans. Many of them have been on the ship as apprentices since they were twelve or thirteen years old, and have been sailors all their lives. Even when they are drunk, they can ride on the bumpy road. The deck was flat.

The most terrifying thing is the technological gap between the two sides. The British army has used the latest high-explosive artillery shells, which are also called ship killers by later generations. It can even be said that the emergence of this kind of artillery shells ended the era of wooden sails. .

However, the Egyptian navy was always waiting for reinforcements, but the French navy did not arrive as promised.

The battle ended in the "Emperor's Mass at Sea". The British navy won a complete victory, with 127 killed and 503 wounded.

Of the 25 Egyptian capital ships, 15 were sunk, 10 were captured, and 4,700 people were killed.