The development of things often had two sides. While the economic crisis raged on the European continent, it also accelerated the establishment of the Vienna System.
When the gunshots in Lyon sounded, the Government of France fell into internal and external troubles. The vigorous development of the Italian independence movement made the mighty Great France Empire fall into the brink of collapse.
In order to change the unfavorable political and diplomatic situation, the French urgently needed a stable international situation. The Government of Paris had to make concessions on the issue of disarmament.
Without the obstruction of the French, the disarmament conference proceeded exceptionally smoothly.
On January 21, 1882, 15 European countries, including Britain, France, Russia, and Austria, signed the Treaty of Limitation of Land Armaments.
According to the treaty, the size of the armies of each country was as follows:
The Russian Empire 500,000;
Austria 486,000;
France 382,000;
Spain 246,000;
German Federal Empire 156,000;
Britannia 116,000;
Northern European Federation 98,000;
Belgium 48,000;
Netherlands 33,000;
Switzerland 32,000;
Portugal 28,000;
Prussia 28,000;
Greece 18,000;
Montenegro 3,600;
…
Overall, this arms treaty was based on the comprehensive strength of each country and regional military balance.
The Kingdom of Prussia's share was low because the Government of Berlin was poor and couldn't afford to support too many troops.
As early as six months ago, the Government of Berlin had already begun to plan disarmament. The biggest problem was that they couldn't convince the military to agree.
It was not easy to catch up with the arms limitation treaty, and the government naturally wouldn't fight for quotas for the military.
The signing of the international treaty had become an established fact. No matter how strong the Prussia military was, they must abide by it. The defeated Prussia was not qualified to cause trouble.
With the signing of the arms limitation treaty, the shadow of war floating on the European continent suddenly disappeared. At least for the next ten years, everyone's safety was guaranteed.
With the limitation of the number of land forces, although the advantage of the large countries was still obvious, they lost the ability to annex small countries under the mutual restraint of other countries.
That's right, the main target was France. After the disarmament was completed, the French's military strength was enough to protect their own security, but it was not enough to continue to expand.
Knowing that they were being targeted, the French could only accept it. At this time, Napoleon Iv had to restrain his ambitions to avoid being attacked from both inside and outside.
The arms treaty only restricted the mainland of Europe, and the overseas colonies' armies were tacitly ignored. This was not for the sake of leaving a back door open, but for the sake of reality.
There were three main reasons why they were neglected. First, it was impossible to maintain the colonial system without enough troops.
Secondly, most of the colonial armies had limited combat effectiveness and were not valued by everyone;
Finally, the productivity of the times was limited. If they wanted to transport the troops from overseas to the European continent, they would need a lot of manpower and material resources. It would be better to just expand the army.
After the arms treaty was signed, the rest was easy to discuss.
The purpose of the Vienna System was that the European countries would jointly provide guarantees for their own security in order to maintain the peace and stability of the European continent.
In this era of rising anti-war sentiment, the governments of all countries had no interest in starting a war in Europe. Naturally, they would not reject such a treaty.
The main point of contention was the details. Generally speaking, the European countries were peace-loving. Even if the politicians did not love peace, the international situation and the European people would make them love peace.
…
Just as everyone was celebrating the arrival of peace, another arms race was brewing.
In the Palace of Vienna, a military conference that would determine the future of Austria and even the world was being held in secret.
At this moment, Franz was holding a warship design parameters in his hand. If one was familiar with the history of naval development, they would find it particularly familiar.
Displacement 14147 tons, full load displacement 15786 tons;
Length 126.7 meters, width 21.86 meters;
Range 10 knots/4,700 nautical miles, maximum speed 18.3 knots;
Designed coal storage capacity 950 tons;
Equipped with four 305mm main cannons, ten 150mm rapid-fire cannons, sixteen 57mm rapid-fire cannons, twelve 47mm machine guns, and seven 450mm torpedo tubes.
…
That's right, it was the beginning of the pre-dreadnought. Franz's butterfly effect still affected the history of naval development.
Without the Franco-Prussian War, the French Navy did not deviate due to funding issues, and with the rise of the Austrian Navy, the competition in the sea was much more brutal than at the same time in history.
With competition came development. In this era of rapid change, no one dared to stay in place.
In this context, the naval technology of various countries was at least ten years ahead of the historical period, and the design concept of the pre-dreadnought was born.
On this issue, Franz could not help. Warships were the embodiment of a country's industrial strength, and it was not something that could be driven by a so-called concept.
If one looked carefully, one would find that the designers never lacked ideas. There were a lot of advanced concepts, but they were forced to shelve for various reasons.
Not to mention the pre-dreadnought, concepts similar to the dreadnought and aircraft carrier were all proposed.
At first, Franz was shocked and thought that he had met a traveler, but it turned out that he was overthinking.
Not to mention the brother who proposed the design concept similar to the dreadnought. Although it was a little advanced, it was still acceptable, and with the industrial strength of Austria, it was barely possible to implement.
The few who designed the aircraft carrier were much more interesting.
For example, the airship carrier theory. From the literal meaning, it could be seen that the airship was placed on the ship, and after the battle, it would take off and bomb.
Technically speaking, there was no problem at all. Ignoring the hit rate of the bombing, the key was that the airship needed time to take off, and before you could fly into the sky, the enemy would send you into the sea.
That was not the big deal. Another designer who proposed a "suicide attack", Franz thought that he was possessed by the Kamikaze Brigade.
Airplanes had just been invented, and combat was impossible. One designer had a wild imagination, and put airplanes on ships as disposable bombs. When a war broke out, they would directly crash into the enemy's warships.
There was no problem with the technology, but where could they find so many brave warriors who would fly airplanes to commit suicide?
In any case, the wild imagination was worthy of praise. As for their design concepts, they could first put them in the technical storage room of the warship!
Franz asked, "How long will it take to build a battleship like this?"
The design plans that were handed to him had all been reviewed by the Ministry of the Navy many times, and only after confirming that there were no technical problems were they taken out.
Minister of the Navy Castagni replied, "According to the normal construction speed, it will take about a year and a half. If we speed up, it can be completed in a year."
The construction time was a year and a half, plus the preparation time and debugging time, it might be two years before the actual service time.
Compared to the previous battleships, this speed was considered slow, but compared to the future battleships, this speed was very fast.
Generally speaking, the construction speed of a new type of battleship was the slowest. The more they built, the faster the later ones.
Franz nodded and said calmly, "Just proceed according to the normal construction speed. Let's build one first and see how it turns out."
The pre-dreadnought was not cheap. A main cannon cost 20,000 Divine Shields, and a battleship cost over a million Divine Shields.
The cost might decrease later, but as the first test product, the cost would definitely not be low.
The literal parameters were not equivalent to the actual parameters. The true performance of the battleship could only be known after it was built.
The design values were all in theory, and under normal circumstances, there would be some differences. As for how big the difference was, it would depend on luck.
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