Chapter 157: The Final Mission

January 27th. The High Seas Fleet completed its first intense training exercises of the year in the Baltic Sea.

Von Chengqian had no intention of immediately seeking a decisive battle with the British Royal Navy. The three newly commissioned battleships, along with the two battlecruisers that entered service in 1916, had yet to undergo real combat tests. They required comprehensive training to ensure that these five brand-new warships would unleash their full combat potential when deployed to the battlefield. Experience had already proven that the Imperial Navy’s training system played a significant role in actual combat.

However, whether to fight or not was not Von Chengqian’s decision to make.

On January 29th, Von Chengqian returned to Berlin to attend a military conference presided over by the German Emperor.

Strictly speaking, this was a politico-military meeting, for the discussions extended beyond purely military issues to far more sensitive and critical political matters.

The question at hand was whether the war should continue.

Although the Empire had triumphed on both the Eastern and Western fronts, and although France was not completely defeated, it was on the brink of collapse, the Empire had paid an extraordinarily heavy price. According to information provided by Chancellor Bethmann, over the course of more than two years, nearly four million German soldiers had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

What did this mean?

The Empire’s total population was less than sixty million. In peacetime, available manpower did not exceed six million, and even in wartime, it was only slightly over eight million. This meant that all male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, after excluding the necessary labor force for industry and agriculture, numbered only eight million available for conscription. In fact, by the second year of the war, 1915, the Empire had already begun encouraging women—especially those aged eighteen to fifty—to enter the workforce, replacing adult men in production roles. By the end of 1916, fourteen million women were engaged in social labor, whereas before the war, German women rarely participated in such work. It was precisely this mobilization of women that allowed the Empire to expand its army nearly tenfold while maintaining robust combat effectiveness, all without reducing industrial output.

But could the Empire continue to expand its military forces?

The answer was clearly no. Not only was further expansion impossible, but even maintaining the current army size was questionable.

As a result, Bethmann was the first to propose that, given France’s inevitable defeat, the time had come to consider disarmament, or at least to suitably reduce the army’s size.

Bethmann’s proposal was undeniably reasonable.

After defeating all adversaries on the European continent, there was no need to sustain an army of six million.

Moreover, Bethmann raised other issues that could not be ignored.

Most notably, the war’s impact on the entire German society, with runaway inflation being the most conspicuous. By the end of 1916, prices in the Empire had surged to about ten times what they had been before the war. A single loaf of hard bread sold for five marks, while a laborer’s daily wage could buy only half a loaf. Without the strict rationing system implemented by the Empire, society would have been on the brink of chaos.

At its root, these problems stemmed from shortages of resources and labor.

In fact, these were the two most severe and nearly insurmountable problems facing the Empire.

It must be understood that at the outbreak of the war, the Empire possessed no vast overseas colonies, nor the capacity to protect its scattered holdings. Consequently, it was unable to obtain resources or labor from abroad, whereas Britain and France endured largely thanks to resources and manpower from their overseas empires. If Britain’s situation had been similar to Germany’s, it would have been defeated in the first year of the war.

January 27th.

The Empire’s endurance had other reasons.

Its people could endure hardship and hardship they would endure. Let it not be forgotten that the German Second Reich had been forged by Prussia through wars of unification, and the people had long tasted the benefits of war, making them more willing to bear its burdens.

Yet, every matter has its limit.

Now, the Empire had reached that limit.

If some relief was not granted to alleviate the burdens on the populace, even a victory over Britain would render the Empire the true loser.

Therefore, Bethmann proposed a second measure: political reform to grant the people greater power.

Interestingly, the German Emperor was not opposed to political reform. He even pledged that after the war, a national assembly elected by popular vote would be formed and endowed with real authority. The staunch opposition came from military figures like Ludendorff, who believed that discussing democracy at this time would weaken the Empire’s combat effectiveness. Ultimately, the Emperor had to concede to the military, agreeing not to pursue political reform until after the war’s conclusion.

Relatively speaking, the Empire’s problems were not the most severe.

The reason was simple. After defeating Russia, the Empire reached a reconciliation agreement with the nascent Bolshevik regime, assisting in postwar reconstruction while receiving large quantities of supplies, including grain, from Russia. In fact, from the second half of 1916, following the autumn harvest, food prices began to fall, ration quotas increased, and the public’s livelihood was basically assured. By the Emperor’s decree, beginning in October 1916, royal funds were allocated to provide all schoolchildren in the Empire with nutritious breakfasts containing milk, and newborn families received additional rations.

The most critical problem was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany’s ally in the war.

In fact, this military-political conference had been triggered by the situation in Austria-Hungary.

The aging Emperor Franz Joseph was gravely ill and could pass away at any moment. More concerning was that Austria-Hungary, a dual monarchy, was rife with internal unrest. Moreover, its wartime performance was lackluster, with casualties exceeding five million. Coupled with shortages in supplies leading to numerous other problems, Austria-Hungary was on the brink of collapse. No one knew how long the Habsburg dynasty could endure.

The reality was far graver than anyone had anticipated.

On February 2nd, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary died. That same day, the Kingdom of Hungary declared independence, followed by several other smaller ethnic groups agitating for secession.

Even more serious was the fact that this development did not initially alarm the German Empire.

For at least the first few days, the German leadership believed the assurances of Austrian authorities that they could suppress the unrest ignited by Hungary, and thus took no action. By February 10th, when the situation spiraled out of control, the Empire finally intervened. But by then, it was too late. When German troops entered Austria-Hungary, the dynasty that had lasted over a millennium had already disintegrated.

Austria-Hungary became the second great European empire to fall after Tsarist Russia.

What followed was decisive German intervention.

After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Austria and Hungary each declared independence, and numerous smaller nations in the Balkans soon followed suit.

Before the Empire was stood a monumental crisis. Many advised the Emperor to seize the opportunity to annex Austria, thereby achieving German unification. However, the Emperor prudently rejected these suggestions, reasoning that the current state of the Empire was too unstable to incorporate a country with millions of people. Simply put, adding Austria would only deepen the Empire’s internal turmoil.

Austria-Hungary’s collapse ignited widespread instability across Europe.

The first to be affected was the Ottoman Empire, spanning Eurasia.

At the end of February, uprisings broke out in the Ottoman Empire. Although these rebellions, primarily instigated by ethnic minorities such as the Arabs, were swiftly crushed by Ottoman forces led by Mustafa Kemal, the underlying causes remained unresolved: long-suppressed peoples yearning for independence.

These upheavals forced the German Emperor to reconsider his position.

Two empires had already fallen; the Ottoman Empire was likely to fragment as well. If the German Empire followed suit, winning the war would be meaningless.

It was for this reason that the Emperor convened the military-political conference at the end of January.

While, in principle, he did not oppose continuing the fight against Britain and approved Ludendorff’s plan for a landing operation in Britain, he explicitly demanded that any ground campaign against Britain be postponed by six months. Von Chengqian and Tirpitz supported the Emperor’s stance.

The six-month delay was motivated not only by political considerations but also by military realities.

For example, the Imperial Navy lacked reliable means of cross-sea reinforcement. Even if it managed to transport a million German soldiers to Britain, it could not guarantee dependable logistics. More importantly, the British Royal Navy had not yet been defeated and remained a formidable threat.

Subsequently, the Emperor adopted Bethmann’s recommendation to reduce the German army by two million troops to restore social productivity.

At this point, the heavy burden fell upon the shoulders of the Imperial Navy.

In fact, nearly everyone—including the Emperor, Falkenhayn, and Ludendorff—knew that victory over Britain would not come from the German army but from the Imperial Navy. To put it bluntly, as long as the Imperial Navy defeated the Royal Navy, Britain would surrender immediately, rendering any land invasion unnecessary.

The key question was: when could the Imperial Navy defeat the Royal Navy?

The night before departing Berlin, Von Chengqian visited Potsdam Palace and spoke with the Emperor for over two hours, providing a detailed briefing on the Imperial Navy’s status and his planned operations. There, Von Chengqian assured the Emperor that the Royal Navy could be defeated within six months.

More importantly, the Emperor also promised Von Chengqian that after the war, he would be allowed to leave the German Empire.

For Von Chengqian, leading the High Seas Fleet to victory over the Royal Navy would be the final service he rendered to Emperor Frederick III and the German Second Reich.

It was also the realization of his first dream in this era.