Chapter 756 - 347: Surrender (Part 3)

Russia can grit its teeth and endure tens of millions of casualties, but can Germany and Austria-Hungary bear millions of casualties?

This is not the time of the First World War; Germany and Austria-Hungary’s populations are not as large as they were then.

Currently, according to estimates from various sources, Germany’s population should be around 47.8 million, and Austria-Hungary’s population should be around 39.8 million, which is already at a decent level compared to other European countries.

Bear in mind that the United Kingdom’s population at this time is only 32 million, and France’s population is only 39.5 million. Globally, being close to 40 million people can already be considered a populous country.

Spain, despite striving to catch up, currently only has a population of 25.6 million. This is also the biggest advantage European countries have compared to Spain; population continuously boosts the comprehensive national power of each country, expanding potential military mobilization from tens of thousands to millions or even hundreds of thousands.

Though Germany and Austria-Hungary have large populations, they seem insignificant compared to Russia’s.

Regarding the statistics on Russia’s population, it currently can only be roughly estimated. There is no choice; Russia’s territory is so vast that calculating the population residing on this land is fundamentally challenging.

Moreover, Russia’s internal administrative system is relatively chaotic and corrupt, and even Spain, with its reformed and streamlined government, cannot accurately assess its domestic population, let alone the more complex and corrupt Tsarist Russia Government.

The Tsarist Russia Government can only make fairly rough estimates of its population, which is roughly around 110 million people.

After Spain conducted some statistical evaluations of Russia’s birth and death rates in recent years, the estimated Russian population data might reach as high as 112 million people.

Do not underestimate those two digits after the decimal point, even just 0.02, as it translates to a magnitude of 2 million people when scaled to the hundreds of millions.

Moreover, such statistics are not precise, and it is very likely that millions of Russians are overlooked in these estimates.

After all, the technology of this era is not advanced, and no country can achieve fairly precise population stats.

But it can be confirmed that Russia currently has the largest population among all great power countries, far exceeding the combined total of the second and third largest.

This population advantage is precisely what Russia relies on, and it is the foundation of Russia’s fearlessness in any war.

Merely considering Russia’s vast population is enough for the German Government to seriously think about the necessity of negotiations.

If Russia gets provoked, under the premise of mobilizing millions of troops, Germany and Austria-Hungary would have no choice but to also mobilize more than a million troops.

If the war cannot achieve its objectives, then it becomes merely a waste of resources and money.

Although the war between Germany and Russia broke out on the Polish Plain, Germany currently has no designs on Occupied Poland.

Germany would have to pay a considerable price to take over this part of Poland. It would be better to enter peace talks with Russia earlier.

After all, the initial aim of this war has already been achieved, as Austria-Hungary not only resolved the Serbian issue but also holds hope for further advancement on the Balkan Peninsula.

A further advance by Austria-Hungary on the Balkan Peninsula would mean that Russian forces must withdraw from the region, which means an enhancement for Austria-Hungary and a weakening for Russia.