Who is Nikolai II?
Is he a fortunate and capable ruler like Charles V, who at a young age beca Emperor of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor, head of the Habsburg family, and ruler of Italy?
Or is he a great monarch whose achievents cannot be explained by bloodline alone?
Kitchener's first mory of Nikolai II was from quite a while ago.
Before the title "Bloody Tsar" erged.
Ascending to the throne at just twenty-five.
Taking the throne and beginning heir education.
At that ti, everyone mocked the man before them as a colorless Tsar.
An uneducated emperor.
An incompetent emperor.
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How incompetent must he have been to create the State Duma to shift responsibility?
That was the situation in Russia that Kitchener had heard about at the ti.
The Tsar then could neither do anything nor was capable of doing anything.
And four years passed.
'Those who laughed and joked are all dead now. Truly, a great purge that will go down in history began.'
Only after blood was sprayed across the empire did people return color to the colorless Tsar.
This was the beginning of the Bloody Tsar.
There was only one thing that shocked Kitchener about Nikolai II.
That the Tsar crushed so many people?
No. Many died, but that was just another common execution in history.
The real point to note is:
For four whole years, imdiately after taking the throne, the Tsar left everyone to mock him while he wrote his death list.
At just twenty-five, he was an emperor who, while crouching down alone, distinguished between those who would live and die.
Kitchener thought this might be the real reason why the reforms of successive pri ministers had to succeed.
Such a man ruled the Russian Empire for more than 20 years.
The Tsar remains young and capable, and his power grows more solid by the day.
A pri minister who aims for developnt beyond survival in this massive war.
A commander who can casually push millions of troops into no man's land.
A Tsar who receives infinite reverence and support from the public, political circles, bureaucrats, military officers, and even foreign countries.
Even setting aside the special circumstances of warti, this is an extre concentration of power in one person.
So.
'Just need to turn the Tsar's heart. The Tsar's will is Russia's will.'
The changed Petrograd?
The Russian governnt and command that can't trust their allies?
The poor relations between Anglo-Saxons and Slavs due to long competition?
The public that has turned their eyes away from war?
None of that matters.
"Germany's grip on the Baltic Sea will now disappear into history."
"...Oh?"
As long as the Tsar doesn't turn his eyes away from the enemy, Russia's war won't end.
==
"Even if one wants to have a naval battle, it's not sothing that can be done at will."
Kitchener certainly brought up an intriguing topic, showing he wasn't just a background War Secretary.
However, during the Great War, if we're talking about naval battles between Britain and Germany, there's only the Battle of Jutland, and this battle would be difficult to occur without Germany's cooperation.
'In the end, if the High Seas Fleet doesn't co out of port, that's it.'
There's no reason for Germany to fight when they won't be fighting for North Sea dominance anyway.
"U-boats dive when they see smoke on the horizon."
"Once they dive, they can easily last a day or two underwater."
"Their main target is Atlantic convoy fleets. That is, without a single outer port, they carry out missions far out to sea. They're in a position where they must go out to the Atlantic and return to German ports."
"You'll catch those U-boats first?"
If catching U-boats was that easy, would there be daily reports about U-boat attacks?
Even with sonar equipnt, U-boats can't be caught.
No matter how much surface ships use sonar, if U-boats hide in deep water and just reduce speed, they can't be found.
Now U-boats prefer to just attack Atlantic convoys rather than risk their lives attacking British surface ships.
"With existing technology, we probably can't aningfully catch more U-boats. Instead, we can scatter ships across the North Sea to interfere with their missions. After all, that's how U-boats work. They must surface eventually, and if they spend too much ti underwater, long-distance missions beco impossible."
"You'll block the U-boats to lure out the High Seas Fleet?"
"They won't be able to endure it."
While Britain talks about naval blockade, the Royal Navy has never gone below the North Ireland Strait.
Because of this, U-boats could smoothly escape through the English Channel and extend their range to the diterranean.
But if Britain blocks the North Sea despite the damage?
'...Regardless of possibility, the German navy won't be able to endure without moving.'
Just opening up access to the diterranean Sea wouldn't be an unfavorable outco. It would give them crucial shipping lanes and strategic flexibility they desperately need.
In fact, this campaign of unlimited submarine warfare represents more of a diplomatic gamble than a purely military strategy. The Germans are essentially playing a dangerous ga of brinksmanship with neutral nations.
They're successfully sinking an impressive 300,000 tons of shipping every month through their U-boat campaign, and Germany's high command can only speculate how long exporting countries, including an increasingly agitated Arica, will continue to tolerate their rchant vessels being sent to the bottom of the Atlantic. The diplomatic tensions grow with each ship lost.
Germany's strategy hinges on a desperate hope - that Britain, faced with mounting shipping losses and economic pressure, will capitulate and withdraw from the war before additional powers are provoked into joining the Allied cause. It's a precarious balance between military effectiveness and diplomatic consequences.
But if they co out more aggressively like this, it's good for now.
"I don't know as much about the sea as the British Empire, so I'll accept that for now. Then what about the Western Front?"
"Before I ca here, Haig's offensive plan was approved. There will be unlimited offensives until we capture the Beaumont-Hal fortress, 13km from the current front line."
"If it fails."
"That won't happen. Because this is an unlimited offensive."
Kitchener speaks as if the success of the Som offensive is not excessive confidence but simply a matter of fact.
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