On June 12, 1852, the British Parliament passed the Army Expansion Act.
Maxim's proposed expansion of 120,000 troops was still cut down. The shrewd members of Parliament set the final increase at 80,000. Naturally, their reason was that armaments had to match actual needs and taxpayers' money could not be wasted.
This thrifty sense of ownership directly caused the British Army to drag its allies down during the Near East War.
Compared with the slow-moving British, the French were far more efficient. Once reinforcements had been approved, Napoleon III embarked on a troop-building spree, and the French Army's total strength leaped to 620,000.
It was as though that France which had once swept across Europe, invincible wherever it went, had returned. Aside from the Russian Bear, no one in Europe had more standing troops than they did.
To expand France's international influence, Napoleon III was exceptionally proactive this time. Even as he massively expanded the army, French reinforcements had already set out from the homeland.
At this point, France's domestic military strength had fallen to its lowest point. Although the number of troops had increased, veterans and recruits were two entirely different things.
After the Anti-French War ended, the Orleans Dynasty slowed the development of the French Army in order to ease international pressure, retaining only a small number of elite units. It had only recovered after the Great Revolution.
Napoleon III's talents did not lie in military affairs. While expanding the army, he had neglected the construction of reserve forces and rational reforms to the mobilization system.
In the Franco-Prussian War of history, the French threw in the towel after losing a single battle. That was because France's mobilization system had been inadequate, leaving it unable to promptly raise enough troops to hold Paris.
This was the weakness of