She changed Europe

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Was General Helmut Karl Bernhard von Moltke a great figure in history? Absolutely. He single-handedly established the Prussian General Staff, a source of national pride, and facilitated the unification of Germany. He emphasized railways and the application of new technologies, making significant contributions to war mobilization, troop organization, command, and weaponry. In terms of war strategy, he advocated preemptive mobilization, rapid breakthroughs, coordinated attacks, external operations, and swift victory. His ideas were clearly brilliant and innovative for their time.

Unfortunately, his opponent was Gisela, someone who had seen the script for the next hundred years. Prussia had advanced breech-loading rifles, so Austria had them too, and not only that, but they had to be even more advanced. Prussia had strong mobilization capabilities, preferred rapid attacks, and favored frontal warfare? Then they would do the opposite: build a strong defense with machine guns along the inner lines, and then counterattack. You prefer to divide your forces? Then they would combine their forces and defeat you one by one. The Prussian troops considered themselves the sharpest spear, so the Austrian troops would be the strongest shield.

Austria was mired in a two-front war, Italy was still not unified, and there was no threat from the south. With the empire going all out and the cooperation of most German states that supported Austria diplomatically, it would have been strange for Prussia to win.

"Moch? Who is he?" Even as the daughter of the regent of the Bavarian Kingdom, she naturally couldn't possibly know everything about Prussia. After all, Bavaria hardly ever dealt with Prussia, and General Moltke was known for his low-key and unassuming style.

However, Gisela knew all the famous generals of Prussia, both men and women, like the back of his hand.

PS1: Ra!

Chapter 484 The Rebirth of the Two-Headed Eagle: Capter 103 Simultaneous Battle (Vote Requested)

“I want to see him, so I don’t want anything to happen to him.” Chatting with famous figures of the era is also a rare pleasure for Gisela. In her own words, there is no Western country she hasn’t been to; she has seen a lot, and she even chatted amiably with Queen Victoria of England.

"Then you can pilot your magic armor to capture him, you idiot. There are no enemy magic users in this airspace. It's only a matter of time before Prussia fails," Nina couldn't help but complain.

"Yes! That makes sense. How could I forget?" This sly fox had calculated everything from the battlefield to the international situation, but he couldn't seem to figure out these little things.

“Okay, more importantly, I’ve never understood why the military doesn’t use hot air balloons or have magic users conduct reconnaissance from the sky. That would be much more efficient than ground reconnaissance.” Nina sat on the grass, gazing at the distant battlefield shrouded in smoke.

"Because neither side wants to use magic users first unless absolutely necessary." This actually implies that national treasures should not be easily shown to others. Of course, the most crucial reason is that if you deploy magic users, the other side may also deploy magic users in response. During the battle, who has time to pay attention to the ground? As for something as slow as a hot air balloon, it is simply a sitting duck in the sky.

"I have been organizing people to develop the aircraft for a long time, although the results have been minimal." The appearance problems of the early aircraft were relatively easy to solve. The most critical issue is that the aircraft is currently lacking a suitable internal combustion engine.

"Airplane? What's that?" Obviously, the word "airplane" didn't exist in this era.

Gisela mentioned a well-known name to Nina in Italian.

"Leonardo di Piero da Vinci?"

"That's right, he gave me the inspiration. I think that ordinary people need wings like birds if they want to fly like them. Of course, that's not enough. We also need an industrial heart." When airplanes appear, the sky will no longer be the sacred domain of magic users. At that time, even mortals can still soar through the sky and stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods.

The sky ultimately belongs to all of humanity, not to any one individual.

"So, does that mean he's the greatest man in Italy?"

“No! He is the greatest man in our Austrian Empire,” Gisela corrected. In terms of birthplace, this was indeed true, as Leonardo da Vinci's hometown, Tuscany, was now part of the Austrian Empire, under the rule of the Duchy of Tuscany. Of course, hundreds of years ago it was under the control of the Republic of Florence, but this kind of "common sense" still needed to be familiar to Nina.

"We'll see." With that, Gisela walked towards where her magical armor was parked.

"Have the 37th Regiment fill the gap, the 6th Battalion retreat first, and the 9th Battalion take over. Use artillery to cover the gap created by the enemy's breakthrough." Moltke lay prone in his own position, looking at the enemy so close at hand. Even at this moment, he did not forget to command his troops.

"Enemy cavalry are approaching, prepare to fire!" The Prussian officer shouted, and the soldiers pointed their Mauser 1872 rifles at the approaching enemy.

"Three, two, one, ready..." Before the officer could give the order, the Austrian cavalrymen in front of them all raised a cup-like cylindrical object and then skillfully threw it out.

"Faced with these projectiles, the Prussian soldiers instinctively all lay down." Because they had been terrified of the Austrian grenades.

"Boom!" With a crisp sound, countless plumes of white smoke shot out, forming a massive white fog that obscured the Prussians' vision. (A homemade smoke bomb made of flour; those scumbags really have a lot of dirty tricks up their sleeves.)

Moltke, who was on the front line, was also covered in a layer of white powder.

"Damn it! It's flour!"

"The view is blocked!"

"Fire! Fire!" The Prussian soldiers began firing blindly in front of them, but the Austrian cavalry, which they had anticipated approaching, failed to advance. Then, countless grenades were thrown into the Prussian positions, new explosions rang out, black and white smoke mingled, cries of the wounded filled the air, and severed limbs flew everywhere.

Even Moltke was thrown to the ground by the explosion of a nearby grenade and nearly fainted.

As the smoke cleared, the Austrian cavalry had already split into two groups and retreated, while their magic armor was slowly advancing forward.

Gisela was pleased with her troops' performance, feeling extremely pleased, when a serious-looking middle-aged man caught her attention. From the soldier who ran over to help him, she knew he was an officer, and from the way he pushed his subordinate away, she could see his courage. Of course, these were not the main points, because she had seen Moltke's picture in a textbook before, so she recognized the man at a glance.

Having locked onto his target, Gisela took a deep breath and swooped down towards the battlefield. He didn't know why, but this eagerness to capture an older man felt strange. However, he wasn't after his body, but rather the wisdom within his mind, and the prospect of using it for his own purposes in the future, so he needed to lay the groundwork properly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At the same time that Gisela besieged Frankfurt, Gisela's mother, Queen Elizabeth, also led an army to attack the Cottbus region.

Unlike Gisela's well-equipped and well-organized troops, Elizabeth's Imperial Army was still a relatively traditional force, mixed with a large portion of the German coalition forces.

Their initial high morale was quickly dampened by the fierce counterattack of the Prussian defenders, resulting in heavy casualties.

Imagine the lethality of bullets raining down on the enemy as soldiers charged in dense formation. Soldiers were mowed down like wheat, some bullets piercing through those in front and felling those behind. The first attack proceeded in this catastrophic manner.

The battle, which lasted all morning, made almost no progress except for leaving hundreds or thousands of corpses behind.

Empress Elizabeth sat solemnly in her seat, listening to the reports from the generals. She herself was not an expert in military affairs, and naturally, she did not interfere in such matters, leaving everything to her generals. Her selection as commander-in-chief was largely a political consideration; after all, while she was Empress of Austria, she was also a member of the Bavarian royal family. Therefore, Emperor Joseph certainly believed that his wife was more suitable for the position than to parachute a purely imperial commander to the Allied forces, and Gisela shared the same view.

PS1: Ra!

Chapter 485 The Rebirth of the Two-Headed Eagle: Capter 104 The Problem of Prussia (Seeking Votes)

It is worth mentioning that Emperor Joseph's relationship with his second daughter, Gisela Louise Marie, has deepened considerably. Perhaps this is because, since the Rudolf incident, he has completely changed his strategy for raising his heir. He will communicate with his daughter beforehand and seek her opinion on any policies or ideas he has. From this perspective, the two are as harmonious as friends.

"Our army has suffered heavy casualties, and such a direct assault is not a good strategy. Does anyone here have a better idea?" Queen Elizabeth looked at the generals present with a serious expression, her sky-blue eyes, like Gisela's, filled with more expectation.

Unfortunately, the generals present all lowered their heads with some guilt. At present, this method of attack was the best option, and it was simply impossible to achieve the combat objective with low casualties.

"If only His Highness Gisela were here," more than one Austrian general thought to himself.

"Your incompetence disappoints me greatly." Queen Elizabeth sighed helplessly, then took out a palm-sized cloth bag, untied the rope, and took out three wrapped strips of paper.

"Your Majesty, what is this...?" asked an imperial general who was near Queen Elizabeth.

"Your princess gave me a strategy beforehand, instructing me to open it only when you have no other options, so as to better resolve the current problems." Elizabeth rested her chin on her hand, fiddling with the note in her right, not in a hurry to open it. Her implication was clear: their incompetence was expected, and they had never been expected to succeed from the start.

A qualified soldier should feel ashamed and then strive to improve. Queen Elizabeth merely wanted to use this incident to spur on these generals and encourage them to continue their efforts. In reality, Gisela didn't say much; she simply handed the bag to her mother.

A moment later, the Queen opened the slips of paper and read their contents. Each of the three slips outlined a solution for one of three different scenarios. After all, Gisela wasn't Zhuge Liang; she couldn't expect Zhao Yun to open one slip of paper every time something went wrong and calculate every step with perfect precision—that would be far too terrifying. All she could do was list the three possibilities one by one.

Note 1: If the enemy launches a surprise attack on your rear, remember not to retreat rashly. You should personally take command of the rear, organize the troops for defense, and maintain vigilance on the front lines, leading the enemy to believe that our army is retreating. The retreat should begin with the central army, and during the retreat, you can use magic-powered armor to launch attacks and disrupt the enemy's judgment. This point is mainly a response to the situation where Prussian reinforcements from the Rhineland are encountered during the battle.

Note Two: If the attack is thwarted, there is no need to waste too much time on the front lines. While drawing the enemy's attention with direct confrontation, use cavalry and the magical armored units to outflank or break the stalemate by making a breakthrough at a single point. This is a reasonable consideration given the objective reality of the backward military tactics of this era.

Clearly, the contents of the second note are now proving useful.

Queen Elizabeth glanced at the third slip of paper and put it back in her bag. She was in no hurry to open it because she didn't need it yet.

"After reading this, think carefully about how to organize the next attack." With that, the Empress handed the second slip of paper to the general who had just asked her the question.

"Not just him, but everyone here should think carefully about what to do." After saying this, Queen Elizabeth stood up and walked out of the tent, leaving the generals huddled together, pondering the contents of the small note.

Our gaze returns to Frankfurt—[Unintelligible characters]

Gisela pounced on the Prussian position like a leaping fox, and with a loud bang, a huge crater was smashed into the ground. The huge impact sent several Prussian soldiers who were close to Gisela flying.

Moltke struggled to his feet, pulled a pistol from his waist, and aimed it at the direction of the billowing smoke.

“General Helmut Karl Bernhard von Moltke, is it?” Gisela, dressed in “Snow Fox”, slowly emerged from the smoke and dust. Her long silver hair fluttered in the wind, and her scarlet eyes were filled with a chilling aura.

"What's the point of me saying no?" General Moltke wiped the sweat from his brow, still raising his gun and pointing it at the girl's forehead as she approached him. He knew perfectly well that she was coming for him.

At this moment, the Prussian soldiers protecting Moltke also pointed their guns at Gisela.

“The toys in your hands obviously pose no threat to me.”

“We don’t want to threaten you or hurt you. We’re just expressing our stance in this way, Princess Gisela.” Although Moltke had never seen Gisela with silver hair, her fox ears were a feature that everyone in Europe knew about.

"Really? What's your stance?" Gisela rested his chin on his hand, waiting with great interest for the brilliant military strategist's answer.

“A soldier’s duty,” Moltke said after taking a deep breath.

"Hmph! Duty? Is your duty to send these innocent soldiers to the battlefield with you, to sacrifice their lives for your ambitions and to achieve your glory? Is your duty to ignore the interests of the German people and forcibly change the status quo by force?" Gisela planted his Saint Stephen's sword in the ground and spoke righteously.

Since the war was initiated by Prussia from beginning to end, Gisela could easily stand on the so-called moral high ground and rightfully condemn it.

"Wake up! Don't fool yourself while you're weaving lies. Can't you see the true nature of your class when you're in it?" The Junkers, born of war, can only continue to exist through war.

“You’re slandering Prussia…” Moltke clenched his fist, wanting to retort.

"Glory, is it? This ethereal thing... Don't you, in your intelligence, understand what's really going on in your capital? The people's resentment stems from your inaction. On one hand, they endure hunger and meager wages, while on the other hand, they have to pay the price for the so-called honor of the Junker aristocracy. There are countless ways to solve the economic crisis, and you've chosen the most foolish one." The Prussian glory was essentially a distorted product of militarism. Both World War I and World War II Germany were, in fact, pathological products of this ideology.

The weak Prussia tasted the benefits of developing its military with all its might, realizing that as long as the military is strong, even a small country can still have the strength to compete with powerful countries such as Britain, Russia, France, and Austria.

PS1: Ra! I'm going on a business trip tomorrow.

Chapter 486 The Rebirth of the Two-Headed Eagle: Capter 105 The Defeat of Prussia (Seeking Votes)

“This path won’t last long; my blood has taught me that,” Gisela continued.

"In terms of origins, our Habsburg family is much older than the Hohenzollern family you serve. Our family's territory once spanned across Europe, and the first British Empire was born in the hands of my ancestor."

"We fought in Peru, in the La Plata, in the Caribbean, in Mexico, in the Netherlands, in Italy, in Germany, in the Balkans, in the Mediterranean. We were enemies with France, Britain, Sweden, the Ottoman Empire... And in the end? What do we have left?"

"The third largest country in Europe by land area (after Russia and Turkey), and the second largest in Europe by population." Moltke remained defiant.

"Emmmm!" Faced with Moltke's sharp retort, Gisela was speechless for a moment.

"That doesn't matter! We are much weaker than we used to be!"

“Your family’s branch in Spain died out hundreds of years ago, and its decline has little to do with you.”

"Cough cough!" Even the silver-haired Gisela felt a sense of humiliation. General Moltke was not only a blockhead, but also a very sharp one.

"I will fight to the last moment, so Your Highness, please return," Moltke said, looking at the Austrian troops who had broken through the last line of defense.

"Oh..." Gisela turned around as if she really wanted to leave.

However, her next action made those around her realize their naivety. Gisela rushed towards Moltke, then controlled her strength to punch him in the stomach, before skillfully lifting him up and sending him flying into the sky.

"Bismarck, Moltke, not one less! I want them all!" He muttered to himself as he flew toward the camp. The soldiers on the ground, in their astonishment, quickly realized that this somewhat dramatic battle would end in their defeat. They would ultimately become prisoners of the Austrians, because Prussia had almost no magic-armored troops stationed there, and their conventional forces were clearly no match for Gisela's forces.

"Oh right, what about that cheesy anonymous note Chloris wrote me?" Gisela seemed to remember something, rummaging through her pockets. When she pulled out the same note, it did indeed contain military strategy. At that moment, she seemed to realize some serious problems. Thinking about it made Gisela feel uneasy, because she seemed to have forgotten something...

With the fall of Frankfurt and the imminent collapse of Cottbus, the balance of the war had almost completely tipped in Prussia's favor. Even Frederick, a master of strategic maneuvering, recognized the gravity of the situation. The following days brought even more dire news to Frederick's ears.

Following Dresden, Hanover and Brunswick were also successfully recaptured by the Allied forces. Meanwhile, the Prussian troops who were rushing from the Rhineland to reinforce Cottbus were tied down near Brunswick by the German Allied forces and were unable to deliver the aid smoothly.

The Prussian army's logistics were completely cut off by the Austrian Empire, and the loss of the General Staff paralyzed the Prussian army's deployment. In order to break the existing stalemate, Frederick was forced to withdraw troops from the front lines to launch an attack on Frankfurt and to reinforce Cottbus, while in Silesia he requested Hindenburg to organize a new offensive to put pressure on the Austrians.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Gisela's defensive line completely crushed the Prussian counterattack. The difficulties caused by the interruption of supplies and the continued low morale led the Prussian troops attacking Frankfurt to finally lay down their arms and surrender.

Similarly, Cottbus fell three days after Frankfurt. At this point, the Prussian defeat was already a foregone conclusion. Frederick was forced to leave behind a rearguard and led the main force to retreat to the Silesia region, as this was the only direction he could retreat to at that time.

The defeat of the Prussian army was systemic—

Returning our focus to London, Palmerston, leaning on his cane, hurriedly entered the Queen's office in Buckingham Palace.

When the former prime minister opened the door, he did not see Her Majesty the Queen immediately, because the documents piled on Her Majesty's desk were so high that they almost completely buried her.

"Your Majesty, I thought only our cabinet was piled high with documents. It seems you are too." Although he looked hurried, the old gentleman still managed to crack a joke to ease the tense atmosphere.

“It’s all complaints from the House of Lords, reports on royal property, and mediation of conflicts among nobles…” Victoria pushed aside the documents in front of her and poked her golden head out to look at the old man before her.

"Has there been a crucial change in the fighting in the German region?" Victoria asked.

"That's right, Your Highness. The Austrians have launched a long-distance raid, successfully cutting off the Prussian army's logistics and defeating their counterattack. The main Prussian force has now retreated to the Silesia region, and their defeat is inevitable."

"So what about the state of the German states, and the situation in the German region?" Britain struggled to find a pretext to intervene in the Prussian-Austrian conflict, since the whole world knew that Prussia had attacked Austria. Therefore, to intervene in Germany, the entry point had to be the smaller states, using the pretext that Austria had ostensibly liberated these countries but actually intended to annex them. Then, by joining forces with France and Russia, they could force Austria to compromise, ensuring that Germany maintained its status quo and that Prussia was not excessively weakened, thus achieving regional balance.

"The Austrian Empire did not interfere in the German territories; the liberation of all cities was carried out independently by the Allied forces, without even the participation of the Imperial army. Our adversary's plan was extremely thorough; she took almost every factor into account, including the possibility of our intervention." The Prime Minister walked to the sofa and sat down.

“Giselle Louise Marie,” Victoria murmured softly, biting her pink lips and frowning. Palmerston and most of the cabinet members might have assumed that this was the work of Emperor Joseph and his staff, but they were unaware that it was actually the work of that very annoying little girl behind the scenes.

"Do you have a good excuse to interfere?" Victoria pushed back her chair, stood up, and stretched. Then she took off her hair tie and retied her hair. For her daily office work, she didn't need fancy hairstyles to display royal grandeur; she usually kept it simple.

"I think we can use the Berlin riots to call on other countries to send troops to help Prussia suppress the riots. At that time, French and Russian troops will briefly enter northern Germany, and Austria will not be able to continue its offensive into the heart of Prussia. Using this opportunity to mediate between the two sides is the best option for us."

PS1: Ra!

Chapter 487 The Rebirth of the Two-Headed Eagle: Capter 106 The Brief Negotiations Between Britain and France (Seeking Votes)

"Let me think about it?" Victoria tied her hair up, rested her chin on her hand, and walked to the table.

Palmerston politely stood up, bowed to Victoria, and then sat back down.

"We had an ambiguous attitude towards Napoleon III during the French Civil War. I wonder if their president, Thiers, is willing to put an end to the past." The Second Empire still controls Provence, which is closely related to the support from Britain and Austria behind the scenes.

"These are our bargaining chips in negotiations with her. Your Majesty, please entrust this matter to me. I will certainly not let you down."

"The importance of this matter to Britain's balance of power strategy is self-evident. We Britons will absolutely not allow a unified and powerful Germany to rise in Europe," Victoria emphasized once again.

Such concerns are not without merit. Historically, in 1910, the population of the German Empire was 6500 million and that of the Austrian Empire was 5500 million. If the population, resources, and industries of the two countries were fully integrated, their strength would be extremely formidable. They would become the second country in continental Europe with a native population of 1 million, and their industrial strength would be far beyond the reach of the backward Russian Empire. Of course, not only Russia, but even Britain and France could not compare.

Of course, Gisela could not immediately awaken such a dragon, because if she did, as the future monarch of the country, she might face strangulation from the world. After all, Austria still holds most of northern Italy, and the Kingdom of Naples in southern Italy is still a pro-Austrian country.

If it weren't for that face-to-face conversation with Gisela about the economic crisis and economic reforms, Victoria would never have believed that this much younger girl possessed such a formidable strategic vision.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Palmerston placed the detailed report on the table, then stood up, opened the door, and gently closed it.

Watching the Prime Minister leave, Victoria slumped onto her sofa, then looked up at the diary Gisela had taken from her bookshelf and sighed.

"Our contest has only just begun." As she said this, Victoria's eyes became somewhat lost, perhaps even she herself didn't know what she was thinking at this moment.

That night, the British ambassador to France traveled by carriage to the Tuileries Palace. Of course, the Tuileries Palace no longer has the word "Palace" in its name; it has simply been renamed the Tuileries Palace. This was mainly to reflect the republican nature of the Third French Empire and to distance itself from the former monarchy.