World War

On April 5, 1901.

A sudden piece of news shocked the British.

Without prior notice, the German Second Reich Empire suddenly launched an army attack on the French Republic's border in the early morning of April 5!

Although this era did not have communication methods as rapid as today, wired telegraphs and wired telephones had already been applied in Europe and even the American East, so within just a few hours, the news of the German Second Reich Empire attacking France was already known to the British... The time difference with when the French learned about it was negligible.

But this was limited to Europe.

Areas like the Orient and Africa, which were not connected by telephone lines, would probably take ten days to half a month to get the news. Even for the United States, which had telephone lines, this kind of transoceanic message transmission would still require waiting for the person carrying the message to arrive by steamship.

After all, message transmission in this era was not that fast. Before the invention of wireless communication, the timeliness of messages was very discounted.

This move by the German Second Reich initially stunned the high-ranking French officials.

After confirming it several times, they still couldn't believe that Germany had actually backstabbed them, especially since Germany's fleet was still in American waters!

But then, they understood everything.

"Damn it! William II was using the excuse of going to America to launch a sneak attack on our homeland!!!"

No wonder the German Second Reich's fleet went to the wrong place, no wonder William II sent out 150,000 troops without a word, no wonder originally the British and French only wanted to take the opportunity to colonize and open up trade, but William II quickly and completely expanded the scope of the war.

So that's it, so that's it!

In that case, let's settle old and new grudges together!

The hatred from the last Prussian-French War was deeply ingrained, so although surprised by Germany's sneak attack, the French government was not alarmed but rather pleased!

France in this era was not the France in World War II that was good at surrendering. During World War I, the main land combat power was produced by France.

Already having a grudge against Germany from the Prussian-French War, the French Republic was constantly thinking of how to return that hatred. The gradually escalating tensions in the past two years made them think there would be a great war to fight, but they didn't expect America to suddenly cause such a mess.

They originally thought that America's internal changes would postpone the European civil war, but they didn't expect the German Second Reich Empire to still harbor malicious intentions!

"If you want war, then war it is!!!"

"To avenge the Prussian-French War! To wash away our humiliation!"

On the day the news was received, public opinion across France was directly ignited.

Germany and France were already old enemies, and the Prussian-French War had thrown France's dignity into the latrine.

How could the French, who had always been proud of their country, tolerate this disgrace?

Damn it, our legendary Emperor Napoleon drove you out like dogs back then, reaching your Prussian capital, Berlin, in eighteen days. Last time, it was just by chance that our nation was weak, giving you a lucky victory, but you didn't learn your lesson and still want to launch another sneak attack?

Damn it! If we don't flatten you Prussians this time, we won't be called France, we'll change our name to Ger-France!

Regarding the German sneak attack, the French government was furious, and the French populace was even more filled with fighting spirit!

Patriotism is a very strange thing; you might curse it when you're not doing well, you might feel it's truly dark when you see some idiotic leaders, but when the nation faces true peril, you will still step forward and remain loyal until death.

Such is the case with the French populace now.

Even the workers toiling day and night in factories had to inject themselves with a stimulant to vent the wild rage in their hearts!

Public sentiment is surging, and there is much that can be accomplished.

Compared to the populace, the high-ranking officials of the French government were much calmer.

By now, they had naturally realized that Germany's deployment of troops was completely a conspiracy.

Using America to divert their attention for a sneak attack, and there would certainly be a blockade at sea—this is something even a fool could figure out now.

So their problem arose.

Should they continue a two-front war, fighting both America and Germany, or a single-front war, recalling the forces sent to America and focusing all efforts on attacking Germany?

Or should they simply abandon the overseas forces and fully concentrate on confronting Germany?

This question is not a multiple-choice one in any era.

You can say Germany is bad, but you can't say Germany is weak.

At this moment, if they were still thinking about the overseas forces and the war with America, Germany would likely overrun France in the next instant.

As France's lifelong enemy, no one knew Germany's terrifying strength better than them.

Therefore, the French government unanimously approved, with the full strength of the nation, to fully address the threat from Germany!

As for the overseas forces, they must be withdrawn from American territory and consolidated as quickly as possible!

On the afternoon of April 5, 1901, the French Republic issued a statement.

The content of this statement was extremely long.

It first expressed contempt and anger towards the German Second Reich Empire's dishonorable sneak attack, then declared that the French Republic held righteousness and glory, and finally stated that it would use the full strength of the nation to counter the dishonorable German Second Reich Empire!

Along with the issuance of this statement, the French Empire's million-strong standing army also mobilized!

A great war, it seemed, was about to fully unfold!

However, on the evening of April 5, just as France issued its statement, more powerful enemies swarmed to its doorstep.

Austria-Hungary also silently began to move against its neighboring countries.

As a staunch ally of the German Second Reich Empire, Austria-Hungary immediately sent troops to Romania.

But at the same time, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, who had remained silent throughout the entire process, not uttering a single peep, perhaps unable to resist their inner greed, or perhaps also wanting to take the opportunity to resolve their conflicts with neighboring countries, quietly allied and extended their demonic claws towards Romania.

According to Germany's plan, the main objective at present was to quickly flatten Europe and then invade Russia. As for the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, Germany truly had no time to deal with these two countries right now, but unexpectedly, they came over on their own.

Moreover, this route is basically consistent with the routes of the two World Wars. It's unclear why Russia holds such a strong attraction for these Europeans.

The international situation is turbulent and unpredictable.

Even the most astute politicians cannot predict the development trend of a World War, and even Germany itself cannot guess why its actions would trigger such a huge chain of consequences.

But this is just the beginning.