The truest form of the Franco-Prussian War in France was finally complete. France was defeated because of internal friction. In fact, the weak military advantage established by Prussia could not defeat France so tragically!
France was defeated miserably in this battle. About six northern provinces were completely lost, the capital Paris was captured, and 300,000 of the most elite troops became prisoners of war. The proud navy was even defeated by a Chinese lone ship. !
In the end, France was so weak that it could not even suppress a small commune organization within its own country!
Is this still the second most powerful country in the world? Is this France still known as the world's best army?
Too many people don’t understand the secrets here. In fact, only those who have experienced it can understand the three flavors!
On the surface, France's defeat was caused by the political turmoil caused by the military defeat, which ultimately aggravated the losses of the war. This is just the appearance!
There is another very important internal problem in France's failure, that is, the domestic ideological circles have been split into two different camps!
The first is the idea of colonial expansion believed by the royalists and traditional aristocratic capitalists as an iron law!
This kind of thinking was indeed mainstream in the world at that time, because Britain became strong through its colonies, and France itself also plundered too many resources from its colonies.
Needless to say, can you build the canal in Egypt without the bones of colonial people? With the productivity at that time, it was possible to achieve cultivation without relying on dead people?
Whose person died? Of course, we can’t kill people of our own nation, but we still have to force slaves in the colonies to work hard!
The land, mineral deposits, natural resources of the weak, including the lives of the people of the weak and small ethnic groups, can actually be squeezed out and fed back to France!
This is such a big piece of cake. Who wouldn’t covet it among the world’s powerful countries?
But the truth seems to be right, but there is a problem with the distribution of the cake. In the process of the influx of new wealth, the problem of uneven distribution is too serious!
The devil, the gap between rich and poor, has been wandering in Europe, stirring people's hearts like a ghost!
In order to continue to maintain the national strategy of colonial expansion, the emperor must maintain huge military expenditures. How can there be no need for money for military warfare?
The army consumed a lot of wealth, and at the same time, the emperors, generals, nobles and capitalists took away the second piece of fat cake, because they are leaders, organizers, and absolute rentiers!
The massive influx of wealth into France does not bring about the well-being of the people, but a disaster, a disaster between the rich and the poor!
It is precisely because of this huge gap that it has caused dissatisfaction among countless people, thus triggering the proliferation of the second trend of thought!
This second thought should be called conservative, or isolationist, and it is the thought that the United States is actively promoting at the moment!
This idea also has many branches, such as the socialist parties like the Paris Commune, progressive intellectuals who advocated a republic, and even a small group of hypocritical monarchists who are also part of this idea.
Their ideas are different, but the general idea is the same, which is to stop militarism, stop giving super dividends to the aristocracy, improve people's livelihood and increase people's income level!
To put it bluntly, you eat too much and you must share some of it with us, especially the army, a gold-eating beast. You raise taxes whenever there is a war. How can you bear this?
The more extreme representatives of this kind of thinking are of course Blanqui’s group of extremely poor working class at the bottom, because they directly chose the path of armed confrontation!
Neither of these two ideas can overpower the other, and each will put the other to death. The conflict between the two sides slowly evolved into a bloodshed, and in the end directly escalated to the point of civil war!
Even this kind of social fragmentation caused France to completely lose the Franco-Prussian War. All the dividends of the Bonaparte family's previous expansion of territory were plundered by the enemy!
People are divided and they still want to fight a national war? Daydreaming!
McMahon is going to stir up the collective anger of the 300,000 legions today. He is a general who is good at exploiting the emotions of soldiers. He knows that sad soldiers are sometimes the most effective!
If you want to turn these soldiers into loyal and available soldiers, you must be clear-cut and let them know where to vent their hatred!
"Why have we fallen to this point? Who is the culprit? Who are we seeking revenge on?"
McMahon's question lingered in the hearts of all the soldiers. The marshal knew that these soldiers were all royalists through and through, and they were actually the actual beneficiaries of the first idea!
Soldiers are born to love fighting, not only because of the atmosphere in the army, but more importantly, war can indeed bring huge benefits to everyone involved!
If there is a war, there will be high wages. What is the military salary enough for in peacetime? How many women can I play with? How many bottles of wine can I drink?
But the allowances during the war were incredible. They had to start three times, which is the least that can be said!
Then there is the capture of the war. All the enemy's wealth after winning the battle belongs to you. If you see something valuable, grab it. The officers will turn a blind eye. Even if you pay homage to the money in proportion, they will still give it to you. Will indulge!
That's right, at that time, the European army, including the British army, had an unspoken rule, which was the system for distributing spoils of war!
After a company has finished fighting, any standard small loot can be retained by itself, and any standard large loot must be handed over for distribution.
Part of these surrenders will continue to be turned over, and the rest will be distributed in proportion to the ranks of the officers and soldiers in the army!
Look, the army is an extremely efficient wealth harvester in war. The property of other nations is plundered and redistributed very efficiently!
The seizures of the squad and platoon will be handed over to the company, and the company will be handed over to the battalion, and then to the division, and finally reach the hands of the commander-in-chief marshal or general. Of course, the biggest leader is the Emperor!
McMahon was like this. During the war, he didn't have to grab it himself. After the regular battles, civilian officers would naturally make statistical calculations, and the extra loot he won could be mailed home!
This is true for the entire empire's legions. Different ranks have different benefits. Without these benefits, how can they buy land in their hometown?
At that time, someone once calculated that if a veteran started serving as a soldier at the age of twenty and fought for twenty years and retired after the age of forty, his income from following the French Emperor for twenty years would be enough for him to buy a farm of more than fifty acres in the countryside. !
Moreover, such a veteran can receive a pension of seven to eight hundred francs every year after retirement. Don't think it's too small. This amount of money is astronomical in rural areas. It is enough for him to live a very wealthy and well-off life!
It can be seen from this that the military aristocratic group created by the Napoleon family, including all veteran organizations, is a super huge community of interests!
For such a huge community of interests, it’s a big deal that you cut off their financial resources!
Destroying someone's wealth is like killing one's parents!
