My Italian: Chapter 454 All parties are surging

Social security is very important and has far-reaching significance to Italy, but what is more important to Italy at present is the current international situation.

First in South Africa, the British Empire can finally proudly declare that it has conquered the Boers.

On January 10, 1900, Roberts, commander-in-chief of the South African Expeditionary Force, and Kitchener, chief of staff, arrived in Cape Town.

And they brought home the Seventh Army, reinforcements from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and three cavalry units in India and Ceylon.

By the end of January 1900, the number of British troops on the battlefield in South Africa had increased to 190,000, and by March it had increased to 250,000, an absolute advantage. In addition, thousands of military horses arrived in South Africa from Britain and Australia, which increased the mobility of the British army.

That's right, the disastrous defeat some time ago made the British Empire ruthless.

Lord Roberts, who took office, also changed his strategy after some battlefield surveys, moving the main attack direction from Natal West to the Orange area with weaker troops in the middle, and at the same time changed the rigid frontal attack tactics and adopted a roundabout attack strategy.

On the western front, the British army defeated the militia commanded by the most ferocious "Black General" of the cloth army, Piet Kronye, ​​and liberated Kimberley, which had been besieged for several months, on February 27. The British army on the Eastern Front launched an offensive on February 28, defeated the Boers in Dordrecht on March 5, and finally was able to relieve the siege of Ladis Smith.

Eliminating the threat to the left flank from the most powerful Cronier, Roberts turned his main force back to Orange and marched steadily northward.

As a result of learning the lessons of the failure of the first stage, the British army changed tactics. When ambushed by the cloth army, the infantry unit no longer maintained its formation, but dug trenches nearby to cover the cavalry to launch a roundabout attack on the cloth army's position.

Under this tactic, the cloth army's blocking in the poplar grove, Abraham's bullpen and other places failed one after another. On March 20, the Sixth and Seventh Divisions of the British Army defeated the Johannesburg police force, the best equipped of the cloth army, at the Abraham Bullpen.

On March 22, Matthius Stein, President of the Orange Free State, led government and congressional officials to flee the capital, Bloemfontein, to Kronstad in the north.

On the afternoon of March 23, British troops entered Bloemfontein.

In late March, typhoid fever was prevalent in the British army, and Roberts had to order to rest on the spot, and the British offensive was interrupted. On April 2, Joubert, the commander-in-chief of the cloth army, fell off his horse again and was seriously injured in the battle at Willow Farm. He died on April 3. According to his will, Luis Botha, who is good at guerrilla warfare, succeeded the commander-in-chief of the Bull Field Force.

When good news came from all fronts of the British army, another large number of British reinforcements arrived in South Africa. That's right, the lion fights the rabbit with all its strength, and the British Empire is determined to show the style of its army (although the previous battles have exposed its army).

Since there are reinforcements, there is no reason not to use them, and after the adjustment of the force, the British Empire's army has changed again.

In the main direction of attack, Roberts had eight infantry divisions (3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, Colonial Division) and the 12th Cavalry Division. Taking the main force with him, Roberts resumed the offensive in mid-May. On May 29, Roberts' army captured Kronstad, the new capital of the Orange Free State.

As a result of successive defeats, the morale of the Boers plummeted. Under Roberts's lenient promise, many vigilantes operating in the British rear surrendered to the British, handed over their weapons, and returned to their farms. By mid-June, there were just over 20,000 Boers still fighting.

On June 24, 1900, Lord Milner announced in Bloemfontein that Britain had annexed the Orange Free State.

After the annexation of Orange, the British stepped up their attack on the Transvaal.

On June 29, General French, commanding Australian cavalry, defeated the last defenders at the Clipper River on the southern outskirts of Johannesburg. On June 30, President Kruger left the capital Pretoria by train. On June 31, Roberts entered Johannesburg, and on the morning of July 5, entered Pretoria.

On September 1, 1900, Roberts announced that Britain had annexed the Transvaal, declaring the end of the war.

On September 11, President Kruger was authorized by the Transvaal government in exile to arrive in Lourenço Marques, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique. On October 19, Kruger went to Europe for help aboard the cruiser Gelderland sent by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

By the time Roberts declared the war over, more than 13,000 people had died in the British Empire. Most of these losses were suffered by the army. Of course, in addition to the dead soldiers, more than 19,000 people were injured or missing.

The casualties of more than 30,000 people are definitely not small for the British army. Of course, the Boers didn't feel well either. The highest mobilized force was 88,000. By the time Lord Roberts announced the end of the war, the Boers had only more than 31,000 troops.

These Boers did not lay down their arms after Roberts announced the end of the war, but began to harass the British troops gathered in the Boers' hometown.

Among them, the supply line has become the most important thing to be attacked.

The British army was also not polite to the Boers who were harassing everywhere. The cruel heavy-handed policy was implemented, and the concentration camps and the three-light policy were carried forward here. All the Boer people who could be found were all concentrated and lived, and their cattle, sheep, food and other materials could be taken away, and those that could not be taken away were destroyed. Attempts to cut off the Boers from their army.

In addition, items such as field telephones for convenient contact, armored vehicles suitable for security warfare, and lighting lamps were all invented during this period.

Although the struggle between the two parties is still going on, everyone knows that the Boers will not last long. After all, its number is too small to be the opponent of the British Empire at all. Of course, the poor performance of the British Empire in this war made it lose its face.

And while the Boer War was in full swing, that farcical war in the Far East was also over. After the armies of various countries occupied the capital, the empress dowager finally woke up and sent Li Zhongtang to try to make peace.

Facing the empress dowager's begging for peace, various countries reacted differently. As Tsarist Russia, which sent the most troops, in order to induce the Qing court to recognize the legalization of its invasion and occupation of the three eastern provinces, it first recognized Li Zhongtang’s representative qualifications and agreed to negotiate peace with the Qing court, and at the same time withdrew the Russian ministers and troops in Beijing to Tianjin.

As for other countries, they hope to seek more benefits, and oppose the peace negotiation with the empress dowager who has always been pro-Russian, and at the same time refuse to recognize Li Zhongtang's representative qualifications. As for Germany, it hated the Qing court even more because of the killing of its minister Klinde, and even agreed with the UK to arrest Li Zhongtang to obstruct the Qing court's negotiations with Russia.

And Li Zhongtang also knew it well (someone tipped the news), so he dared not go north after arriving in Shanghai from Guangzhou, but he also began to make internal and external preparations for negotiations, including asking the Qing government to suppress the Boxers and deal with the big powers.

At the same time, he tried his best to mediate for the Qing court in Russia, urging Britain and Germany to give up their plan to arrest Li Zhongtang.

On August 23, Li Zhongtang arrived in Tanggu under the protection of the Russian army, and soon went to Beijing, running among the ministers of various countries.

However, at this time, Germany proposed to punish the war culprits such as Empress Dowager Cixi and King Duan Zaiyi as a prerequisite for peace talks, which made the peace talks impossible.

The disputes among various countries over whether to negotiate peace with the Qing court and the qualifications of Li Hongzhang's representative are actually manifestations of the contradictions among various countries in China.

Russia supported the empress dowager and Li Zhongtang, who were known to be pro-Russian, while Britain, Italy, Germany and other countries supported the reform emperor. Such a dispute has made Germany, which has the second most troops in the Eight-Power Allied Forces, dissatisfied.

As the belated commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Marshal Waldsi led the coalition forces into Shanxi. Germany's ulterior motives shocked Britain, and at the same time dissatisfied Italy.

In the end, under the strong appeal of the two countries, Germany had to stop there~www.mtlnovel.com~ opened the door for the Qing court to beg for peace.

As for the empress dowager, in order to obtain forgiveness from all countries, she issued an edict to punish the ministers who caused the disaster. Several governors also tried their best to excuse the empress dowager, blaming Zaiyi and his son for the declaration of war.

These performances of the Qing court and the important ministers in frontiers made the big powers feel that the empress dowager had cleared her mind, and it would be of great benefit to them to continue to support this tame government. In addition, European countries are also worried that abandoning the empress dowager may lead to the collapse of the Qing court and the loss of opportunities and possibilities to blackmail the Far East.

So under such circumstances, the attitudes of the European powers gradually became consistent, and finally decided to "preserve" the empress dowager's dignity, and began to negotiate peace with the Qing court.

In October 1900, France took the lead in putting forward six requirements, including punishing the culprit, paying compensation, and dismantling the Dagu Fort, as the basis for negotiations with the Qing government. Supplemented and revised by ministers from various countries, on December 24, 11 countries (besides the eight countries plus Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands) jointly proposed 12 articles of the "Peace Outline" to the Qing court, which the Qing government fully accepted.

As a result, the spoils sharing conference of various countries is about to be held, and the ambassadors of various countries are gearing up to try to win the most benefits for their countries.

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