The customer is king. No matter whether the weapons they buy suit them or not, that’s their freedom. As the saying goes, “You can’t buy happiness even with a thousand gold coins.” On this point, the Holy Roman Empire’s arms manufacturers are very clear-headed. They never force a buyer to purchase something they don’t want. There are no such things as technology blockades or export restrictions. This is the 19th century, even if you handed over complete weapon blueprints, few nations could actually reproduce them. Reverse-engineering weapons to rediscover the underlying technology? Forget it. Maybe the British could pull it off, but even if other countries managed to figure something out, it would take ages before they could mass-produce anything. So here comes the question: if the British developed a bunch of land-based weapons, what would they even do with them? They wouldn’t be competing with the Holy Roman Empire for the arms market, would they? Everyone knows this is an era where weapons evolve at lightning speed. What’s cutting-edge today might be obsolete tomorrow. To stay ahead, constant investment is a must. But given the current size of the international arms market, no matter how hard you work, you can’t sustain too many of these money black holes during peacetime. The Holy Roman Empire’s military industries can afford continuous investment because the Holy Roman Empire itself is the world’s biggest arms buyer. Its own military spending accounts for more than thirteen percent of global military expenditures. Britain’s defense budget isn’t small either, but that depends on whether the British government is willing to pour money into the army. Unfortunately, that’s never going to happen. Just maintaining the Royal Navy’s dominance is already exhausting enough. Starting an arms race on land with the Holy Roman Empire would be nothing short of suicidal. As for the air force, it’s still a minor branch at this point. Even though Franz takes it seriously, it’s still far behind the army and navy. If the Holy Roman Empire’s situation is like this, then other countries are even worse off. For most of them, owning a few planes is more about prestige than actual military power. Although the air force performed well during the Anti-French War, aircraft mainly proved useful against airships. Their ability to strike ground forces was limited. To many, the true value of planes lies not in bombing but in reconnaissance and demoralizing enemy troops. To change that, engine technology needs another breakthrough and that was to make planes capable of carrying heavier loads and larger bombs. Only then would true strategic bombing become possible. Of course, once that breakthrough comes, it won’t just benefit aircraft. Tanks and armored vehicles would improve as well, and the internal combustion engine industry would get a massive boost. For the Holy Roman Empire, that’s a project that pays off on multiple fronts with one investment. But for the British, only aviation and maybe the automobile industry would benefit. It can’t be helped as the British capitalists are too used to easy profits. They cling to their steam engines and refuse to let go. Britain used to be the undisputed leader of the industrial world, but ever since the Second Industrial Revolution began, it’s been falling behind fast. In both technological innovation and the application of new inventions, the British are lagging. Once you fall behind, every step afterward becomes harder. If they were trying to catch up, that would be one thing. But if they just sit still, time will only widen the gap. Still, you can’t really blame the British government. The British Isles are small, with only about thirty million people. Even if they wanted to push forward, their natural limits have already capped their potential. To have become the world’s dominant naval power despite those limitations is already an impressive achievement. … London, inside the Prime Minister’s residence on Downing Street, Robert Cecil was watching a “movie” with the senior members of his government. Though it was a silent film and the picture quality left much to be desired, the content itself shocked everyone present. When the documentary ended, Prime Minister Robert Cecil turned to the others and asked, “What do you think of the Austrian army’s performance?” “They seem well-trained, very disciplined, and full of fighting spirit,” replied the First Lord of the Admiralty, Flora, in a casual tone. “But the navy is different from the army. Naval warfare depends far more on technology. Bravery alone can’t win a battle. What we just saw doesn’t really reflect naval strength.” Among everyone in the room, he was the most relaxed. The Royal Navy’s century-long dominance was not something any rival could catch up to overnight. Unless the Austrian government threw all reason out the window and tried to build a massive fleet purely through brute force, their navy could never match Britain’s. And that was clearly impossible for a land-focused empire. You could see that just by looking at the Holy Roman Empire’s military spending. The army came first, the navy second, and the air force third—a stable hierarchy that had never changed. Even though the Holy Roman Empire had the highest military budget in the world, the funds allocated to its navy were still far below what the Royal Navy received. Without technical expertise, and without the willingness to pour in money, it was unrealistic for them to ever surpass Britain at sea. “You in the navy have nothing to worry about with all that funding. We in the army have it rough. Every day feels like we’re scraping by on crumbs—we can’t even afford a decent cup of coffee. Judging from what I just saw in that film, I seriously doubt whether we and the Austrians are even living in the same era. Sadly, reality tells me that we are! And it’s even worse than I thought. Our army is at least a full generation behind theirs. If we don’t increase military spending soon, the next time we face them on the battlefield, we won’t perform any better than the defeated French.” Never missing a chance to ask for more funding had long been a proud tradition of the British Army. Being the neglected child of the family, unloved by both the crown and the cabinet, they had learned that if they didn’t cry, they wouldn’t get fed. Clearly, Skybrook was a competent Secretary of State for War. He skillfully used rhetoric to highlight the gap between Britain and Austria. If any idealistic young officer had been present, he might already be thinking of ways to raise money for the army. Unfortunately, everyone in the room was a seasoned political veteran. The British Army lagging behind the times was nothing new as it had happened more than once. After seeing it so many times, they had grown accustomed to it. Every improvement the British Army ever made came only after immense external pressure, usually after society had given it a harsh beating. Take the First Near East War or the South African War, for example. Each time Britain suffered defeat, the army would enter a brief golden period of reform and development. But as soon as the politicians recovered from the shadow of failure, their attitude would change completely. They would rather pour funds into the navy and waste them there than spare even a single penny more for the army. Under such circumstances, Skybrook had to act decisively and strike while the iron was hot. Before everyone snapped out of the film’s impact, he needed to push his proposal through and turn it into a done deal. Foreign Secretary Cameron spoke up, “Don’t worry, Sir. We’ve already purchased some samples. It won’t be long before we can start domestic production. But the Austrians really know how to charge—aircraft are sold in batches of a hundred, and tanks and armored vehicles come in packages of five hundred. Aside from a few units set aside for research and technical study, the rest will be directly deployed to the troops. You’ll get everything you wanted: an air division, a tank division, and an armored division.” It sounded unbelievable that Britain would expand its army with help from a rival, but that was exactly what happened. As an old industrial power, Britain’s technology wasn’t weak. Even though it had fallen behind during the Second Industrial Revolution, British companies were still capable of producing such equipment. It would just take a great deal of research time and a mountain of funding. The problem was that everyone knew the British Army was dirt poor. Each aircraft or tank cost thousands of pounds, and even if they were developed, the army could never afford to buy them in large quantities. If the army wouldn’t buy them, the colonial forces certainly couldn’t afford them either. With no domestic market and heavy competition from the Holy Roman Empire abroad, it was nearly impossible to secure foreign orders. After spending so much money and effort to produce the weapons, total sales would barely reach triple digits. In the end, they might not even recover the research costs. Capital always seeks profit, and without enough of it, British arms manufacturers lacked motivation. Though they were researching related technologies, the level of investment couldn’t compare to that of other nations. Still, from a national standpoint, Britain couldn’t afford to do without these advanced weapons. Even if they might never be used in combat, they had to have them. It was a matter of prestige for the Empire on which the sun never set. As the world’s dominant power, Britain had to possess every kind of impressive and awe-inspiring weapon. Not only did they need to have them, but they also had to be able to produce them domestically. If private companies were unwilling to do it, the government would have to create the conditions for them like helping them achieve those technological breakthroughs. After all, in peacetime, the arms industry’s profits were already modest. Companies had to keep costs under strict control just to maintain profitability. Without government pressure, many of them would have long since scrapped their army equipment research and production departments entirely. Parliament was keeping a close eye on things, so large-scale orders were out of the question. Still, providing sample models so that domestic companies could reverse-engineer the technology and cut research costs was acceptable. That was precisely why, the moment the British government discovered that the Austrian government was having a massive weapons clearance sale, it immediately placed an order. Although the prices seemed high at first glance, once the value of the included technology was considered, it was actually quite a bargain. Flying divisions, tank divisions, armored divisions—these were all things the Army had dreamed of for years. Yet despite the apparent victory, Secretary Skybrook could not feel any joy. The reason was simple: the problem once again came down to money. Technical branches were not as cheap to maintain as infantry. Adding up all those flying, tank, and armored divisions would consume nearly half of the Army’s budget. Without an increase in government funding, how could the rest of the military survive? As Skybrook was racking his brain over how to convince everyone to raise the defense budget, Prime Minister Robert Cecil suddenly struck another blow. “With the new flying divisions, along with our existing airship units, our aerial power has grown considerably. Keeping them under the Army’s control is becoming inappropriate. On this matter, we can learn from the success of the Holy Roman Empire. Let us establish a separate branch dedicated to managing the aerial forces.” Hearing this bombshell, Skybrook’s face turned pale. Swapping out the airship units for armored forces might have sounded fair on paper, but the hidden interests behind that decision were enormous. The Army was already weak compared to the Navy, and if an independent Air Force emerged to compete for resources, Skybrook could already foresee dark days ahead. After all, the Royal Navy was too powerful. The new Air Force would have no chance of competing with them for funds, so the only place they could take from was the Army’s share. Combined with Britain’s long-standing tradition of suppressing the Army, Skybrook suddenly felt his future grow very dim indeed. It was not that Skybrook, who came from a civilian background, had deep affection for the Army. But as the current Secretary of War, if he failed to defend the Army’s interests, how could he expect the military’s support? A Secretary of War without the backing of the military was doomed to be short-lived. He could already guess that the day the Air Force was officially established would be the day he was shown the door. Skybrook gave the Prime Minister a wounded look, as if to say, “We are supposed to be political allies. How could you stab me in the back like this?” Perhaps realizing that his move looked too ruthless and might hurt the unity of his cabinet, Prime Minister Cecil quickly softened his tone and followed up, “Of course, given the current situation, it may be too abrupt to establish a fully independent Air Force right away. Many people might not be able to accept it. For the time being, the Air Force will remain under the War Office, though its aerial units should begin forming an independent command structure to prepare for a future separation.” This addition eased Skybrook’s expression slightly, but dissatisfaction still lingered on his face. It was obvious the Prime Minister had already decided to split the Army. From the calm looks on the faces of the others present, it was equally obvious that they had all discussed this beforehand. Skybrook was the only one left out of the loop. “Prime Minister, doing it this way is far too obvious. If we form an independent leadership team, everyone will know the government plans to split the Army. The Holy Roman Empire built its Air Force around airplanes, but they didn’t transfer all their airships, many of them still remained under the Army’s control. As the country with the most experience using aerial forces, they must have had a good reason for that. If we are to learn from their success, we should study the entire model, not just the surface details. The new aircraft we purchased should be organized into a flying division directly under the War Office. That way, it won’t arouse suspicion, and it won’t interfere with a future split either.” You could not fight the tide forever. Even if Skybrook did not want to accept reality, there was nothing he could do. The best he could manage now was to defend as much of the Army’s interests as possible. If this discussion were happening in Parliament or a public setting, Skybrook would have argued fiercely to the end. But in a small high-level meeting with only a handful of people, there was no point in putting on a show. True statesmen carried themselves with dignity. Loud, angry arguments were for the benefit of the public, not something to display among allies. They were all from the same political party and supposed to be on the same side. If they were constantly fighting and slamming tables at each other, the government would have collapsed long ago. In fact, ever since Franz had pioneered the establishment of separate land, sea, and air forces, many countries had followed his lead. Within the British government, there was no shortage of officials who supported doing the same. As a clever man, Skybrook could clearly see the advantages of having three independent branches. But as Secretary of War, he only wished that such a reform would not happen during his term in office.
*** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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