Never Compromise!

Chapter 737: Never Compromise!

Once Duke of Broglie had finished speaking, the ministers' expressions grew even uglier.

One hundred and sixty thousand against four hundred thousand—this was destined to be an exceedingly difficult war.

Yet Joseph smiled. "As you can see, there is no need whatsoever for us to cede benefits to Austria."

Everyone: "?"

Joseph continued, "Leaving aside the weapons, equipment, and training of their armies, their forces come from so many different countries that even unified deployment and command will be extremely difficult, let alone coordination between them. We should have ample confidence in defeating them."

He was not being arrogant. This conclusion came from the course of the historical First Anti-French Alliance.

At the time, besides England, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, and the other nations that declared war on France, there were also Spain and the Italian States.

But at present, Spain would certainly not stand with the United Kingdom. Although the Spanish Army was utterly useless, with one side waning as the other grew, the scale of the Anti-French Alliance had shrunk somewhat.

Furthermore, historically, Prussia and Austria had never fought the Silesian Wars, and their national strength had been more intact than it was now.

Of course, historically, the United Kingdom entered the war relatively late. It was only after Prussia and Austria suffered a defeat on the northern front that the British joined the Anti-French Alliance. This time, however, the British were joining actively and committing themselves in full.

At the same time, though Prussia and Austria had been drained by the Silesian Wars, they had also gained a batch of veteran soldiers who had seen real combat. Taken together, their overall strength was roughly even.

But France was another matter.

During the historical First Anti-French Alliance, France had just suffered the devastation of the