Chapter 752 Serbia Collapses (Part 2)

Actually, the situation is already quite clear by this point in the war; Serbia cannot resist Austria-Hungary’s attacks, and their efforts merely delay the pace of Austria-Hungary’s advance.

Especially with the fall of Valjevo, Serbia’s defeat has entered the countdown phase.

This supply city was crucial to Serbia’s western frontier, and from the moment Austria-Hungary breached Valjevo, it signified the complete collapse of the western border Serbia had painstakingly maintained for over ten years.

Without the sturdy defense of the western frontier, Serbia has no favorable terrain internally to fend off Austria-Hungary’s attacks.

As April arrived, Austria-Hungary and Serbian forces engaged in a large-scale battle at Uric.

The Austrian-Hungarian army, with 40,000 troops, capitalized on their victory at Valjevo, pursuing relentlessly, with morale soaring high.

On the Serbian side, the soldiers dispatched to Uric were either untrained farmers or wounded soldiers sent back from hospitals, evidently abandoned soldiers.

One might as well hope the Russians can quickly defeat Germany and Austria-Hungary, ending the war from another perspective rather than relying on these people to defend Uric.

The outcome of this sizeable battle is equally unmistakable; Austria-Hungary’s forces won the victory with virtually no effort.

During the more than week-long offensive, the city, a crucial transportation hub, was completely turned into ruins, with the remains of over ten thousand Serbian and Austrian soldiers buried amidst it.

However, now there isn’t time to mourn for these fallen soldiers, as what Serbia faces next will be even more brutal than this hellish scene.

The capture of Uric was excellent news for Austria, making it the front-page headline in Austrian and Hungarian newspapers that day.

Countries across Europe sent their military observation missions to a certain extent, causing this news to be reported almost instantly in newspapers everywhere.

For Germany and Austria-Hungary, this was undoubtedly good news.

But for Serbia and Russia, it was akin to a death warrant, signifying their defeat was not far off.

Russia urgently altered its strategic deployment, resolving to fight a decisive battle before this war’s end to add leverage at the negotiating table.

As for the Serbian government, Russia could no longer concern itself.

This war showed Russia the strength of the German-Austrian Alliance, and the downside of fighting alone.

To Russia, an ally like Serbia, which is dispensable, was no longer important. Regardless of the war’s outcome, Russia must seek more allies after the war and sign a Franco-Russian Alliance treaty.

Only the Franco-Russian Alliance could stand against the German-Austrian Alliance, which was the sole thought of Alexander III and Russian officials.

On the Spanish side, Carlo nearly immediately received news of Uric’s capture.

Carlo felt a bit regretful, as this symbolized the war’s nearing end, and also the approaching end of Spain’s arms industry expansion.

More importantly, this war would change Europe’s landscape.

It was already predictable that the confrontation between two major military blocs, the Allies and the Allies, would happen sooner.

If the British hadn’t emphasized the importance of restricting war scale at this war’s outset, Russia and France might already be discussing how to defeat the Germans in this war.

The British indeed prevented the war from evolving towards a world war trend, but this wasn’t good news for them.

The upcoming European landscape would become a German-Austrian Alliance versus a Franco-Russian Alliance situation, with Italy clearly on the German-Austrian side, making the British unprecedentedly a background player in Europe.

This was not the previously manufactured background role of non-participation by the British but a situation where they wanted to engage in European affairs but couldn’t.

Either of the two major military blocs was stronger than the United Kingdom, which was fatal news for them.

Carlo wondered how the British would choose at such a critical moment and even considered whether they might approach Spain to form an alliance.

Among the European powers, only the United Kingdom and Spain hadn’t taken a clear stance.

But after thinking it over, Carlo abandoned this idea.

After all, there was an irreconcilable conflict between the United Kingdom and Spain, unless the British were willing to give up Gibraltar, Spain would never ally with them.

Even if Spain sought a country to ally with, they had better options.

For the soon-to-be-formed two major military blocs, Spain would be a valuable ally.

France needs Spain to secure its southern border while Germany needs Spain to inflict some trouble on France’s southern border.

Though Spain’s army and navy aren’t among the world’s top three, they remain within the top five, considering their overall military strength it’s quite good.

This also indicates that Spain would be a coveted entity in the future opposing situation of two major military blocs, someone both sides want to draw close.