Vol 3 Chapter 600 The military establishment of the two countries

On August 5, 1869, the French Emperor Napoleon III officially declared war on Prussia in front of 100,000 Parisians in front of the Place de la Versailles in Paris.

Immediately, a passionate declaration of war was issued.

“The French Empire cannot be humiliated, and the arrogant Gauls cannot be bullied, so we want the Prussians to pay the price they deserve…”

And the Kingdom of Prussia, which William I seemed reluctant to but had to face the French declaration of war, responded.

So on August 10, 1869, Bismarck, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia, also declared war on France on behalf of William I in Berlin.

In the face of France and Prussia declaring war on each other, William IV raised the national warning level.

William IV is listening to military intelligence from the military chief of staff, Mark Rudd, on both the French and French sides.

“On August 6, 1869, after the French Empire declared war on Prussia, Napoleon III appointed himself the commander-in-chief of the French army, and Emond Leboeuf was appointed by Napoleon III as the chief of staff.

Patrice McMahon was appointed by Napoleon III as the commander of the Army of Charon. The 1st Army of the corps was also commanded by McMahon; the 5th commander was De Fey; the 7th commander was Felix Douai; the reserve is the 2nd Cavalry Division.

The commander of the Metz Legion was Francois Achille Bazin.

The 2nd commander of the regiment was Philosar, the 3rd commander Bazin concurrently; the 4th commander was Radmiro.

In addition, Napoleon III directly commanded the Royal Guard, Bourbaki, the direct descendant of Napoleon III, the deputy commander.

The 6th corps commander was François Sertin Canrobert.

In addition, France also has two armies of reserve cavalry and reserve artillery. ”

After William IV waited for Mark Rude to finish speaking, he said, “In other words, to sum up, the French army is organized into two legions, namely the Summer Dragon Legion and the Metz Legion?”

Mark Rudd said: “Yes, there was only one legion before, the Rhine Legion, but it was only reorganized into two legions last year, and they were awarded to Bazin and McMahon respectively?”

Seeing Mark Rudd nodding, William IV asked, “What about Prussia? Knowing yourself and knowing the enemy and winning every battle, Prussia’s ambition is well known. Now that Prussia has just made a deal with France, you don’t need to guess to know that they will not be too scruples about the Netherlands. Since In this way, we have to be more vigilant, but we have to do it.”

Speaking of which, William IV leaned back on the chair, “Can you tell us about the Prussian military deployment as well?”

Mark Rude naturally would not object. As the commander-in-chief of the Dutch military after William IV, he naturally knew a lot about the military affairs of the great powers around him.

“The Prussian army is organized in such a way that the commander-in-chief is also King Wilhelm I of Prussia, and the commander of the First Army is General Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz.

The 1st Corps of the 1st Army was commanded by Wittenfeldt; the 2nd was commanded by Zastrov;

In addition, there were the 1st and 3rd cavalry divisions directly under the commander of the regiment Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz. ”

William IV thought: Comparing the First Legion of Prussia with the Legion of France, it can be found that the order of the legions at this time can show what the military discipline of the two countries is. It can be seen that Prussia has already overtaken France at this time.

Seeing William IV’s contemplation, Mark Rudd continued without hesitation: “The 2nd Army of the Kingdom of Prussia is commanded by the Prince of Prussia, Prince Frederick Karl, the nephew of His Majesty William I.”

William IV suddenly asked: “Is that the leader of the African colonial army that Prussia arranged for Prussia from the time of our alliance with France and Prussia in 1862? The one who has been stationed in Mogadishu, Somalia for the past seven years?”

“Yes, that’s him,” Mark Rudd said: “This person is a close relative of the royal family. Since you were entrusted with important tasks by William I, the guards leading William I were Prince Augustus of Württemberg; the 2nd Army, Commander Franzsky; 3rd and 4th Corps commanded by Westendin von Alvinsleven; 9th Corps, commanded by Manstein; 10th Corps, commanded by Foy Goetz-Reitz, the commander of the 12th Corps is Prince Albert of Saxony, and the 2nd Corps also controls the 5th and 6th cavalry divisions.”

William IV asked in surprise: “It seems that William I is absolutely assured of his nephew.” The West is indeed different from the East. In the East, the most taboo thing for the royal family is to give military power to their brothers, uncles and nephews, because it is very difficult. It is easy to cause disaster and the disaster of Xiaoqiang.

After all, brothers, uncles and nephews are the biggest challengers and good successors of their own royal power.

It is precisely because he watched too many court dramas about the East in his previous life, that William IV’s thinking still did not completely deviate from that thinking. Therefore, it is deeply puzzled that Prince Frederick Carl is so reused.

“Prince Carl has been loved by William I since he was a child, and he is even more sympathetic to Crown Prince Frederick. It is said that he grew up beside William I. He is a loyal defender of William I.”

“The Commander of the Third Army is” Mark Rudd was about to say.

“Wait,” William IV stopped, and he looked at Mark Rudd and said, “I guess the commander of the legion is Crown Prince Frederick? Right?”

Mark Rude nodded and said, “It’s really him”

Seeing that William IV didn’t mean to speak, he said: “Friedrich William, commander of the Third Army, that is, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia.”

“He was in charge of the 5th Corps, commanded by Girschbach; the 6th Corps, commanded by Tumplinger; the 11th Corps, commanded by Brose; and the 1st Bavarian Corps, commanded by Tann. Ratzamhausen; the 2nd Bavarian Army, commanded by Haltmann; and directly under him were the Wirtenberg, Baden, 2nd and 4th cavalry divisions.”

William IV: “It can be seen from the above that the Prussian royal family is in charge of two-thirds of the army, and the royal family is also in charge of all the former armies of the other small duchies and kingdoms of the German Confederation that have been annexed before, in order to prevent These old small countries took the opportunity to rebel, and slowly swallowed and merged them, am I right?”

“Your Majesty’s words are quite reasonable.” This is why Prussia has been able to stabilize its internal affairs so quickly in recent years, and is currently capable of showing its ambitions to France.

The Prussian royal family is definitely the largest force in the Kingdom of Prussia at present. There is no one. Many people think that the Prussian royal family is suppressed by the powerful Bismarck. In fact, they know that this is all because the royal family cooperates with Bismarck. Otherwise, the situation will be different. ”

William IV first nodded in approval of his statement, and then said: “From the current point of view, Prussia has three major legions, while France has only two. The number of legions is not yet known which one has the advantage, but one thing is very clear. , that is, the French Legion is not in the hands of Napoleon III’s direct line, but Prussia is on the contrary, not only in, but also a member of the royal family, is there any suspense in this battle?”

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