African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 13: Chapter 10: Responses from Various Countries

As the war progressed, the battlefield began to turn bloody. After Prussia first showcased its prowess, the Austrian Empire also started to demonstrate the might expected of a great power.

Just on the second day, the Austrian army launched a large-scale battle at King’s Mountain. Relying on the army’s fierce assault, they successfully pushed the front line to the near end of Denmark’s fortifications.

The Danish defenses immediately appeared precarious. If other German states joined in, Denmark’s defenses would likely face even greater difficulties.

The smoke-filled battlefield continued to see an increase in the heavy weaponry of the German states, with the number of artillery pieces rising continuously.

Hundreds of cannons fired simultaneously, intensifying the pressure on Denmark’s defenses. The fire illuminated the night, and the weather also began to turn for the worse.

However, the Danish positions clearly could not completely withstand such a strong artillery attack, and morale dropped significantly under the bombardment.

Seeing the danger to the defensive line and the risk of being flanked, the Danish commander General Mesa has begun to consider abandoning the position.

On the fourth day, Mesa convened an emergency meeting. The Danish generals present looked solemn.

The commanders of each unit complained about the difficulties of the war — faced with overwhelming firepower and countless troops, soldiers were being injured by flying shells before they even engaged the enemy!

They also blamed the incompetence of the domestic government — not only did the British remain inactive, the expected northern European alliance had not been formed.

Now Denmark is isolated and without assistance. If the troops were sacrificed here, we might as well surrender immediately afterwards.

”Alright, you’re not here to complain! I know the predicament we’re facing, but we have no way out!” General Mesa reprimanded, then continued: ”Now there are two paths before us. The first, we defend the positions and fight to the end with the enemy.”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone began to oppose: ”Fighting to the end! How to fight? This place is obviously untenable. Even if our numbers doubled, it couldn’t be done.”

Others immediately echoed — relying solely on this line of defense to complete a stand, the hope is very slim.

Mesa looked at the bickering officers under his command and reprimanded expressionlessly, ”Enough! You’re not called here to argue. Is there any semblance of soldiers left? If arguing could solve problems, go argue with the enemy!”

The room immediately quieted down, and Mesa continued, ”Now, the second option, is to retreat from the current fortifications, delay the enemy’s advance, and look for weaknesses in the enemy later. It’s time to choose -- begin speaking.”

Immediately, an officer spoke up, ”Commander, I think a retreat could still preserve some possibility of survival. If later the domestic government could persuade other nations to intervene and send troops, we would have a chance. Blindly defending this place would certainly lead to a dead end.”

Most officers nodded in agreement, however, General Mesa was cautious about making a decision.

”What you say is right, but retreating also carries risks. Simply from a weather perspective, now it’s winter, and ensuring an orderly withdrawal of troops is a big problem. Though we have no other choice, consider it carefully. Let’s decide by voting.”

Afterward, General Mesa instructed his subordinates to take a vote, anonymously, mainly because Mesa was not optimistic about the course of the war. At this point, he couldn’t afford for incriminating evidence to be seized.

Adopting the most democratic method, even if issues arose, it could be attributed to a collective decision later.

Using anonymous voting further prevents the possibility that investigators could claim Mesa manipulated the meeting and acted arbitrarily.

With the voting results published, a full retreat to preserve live forces was unanimously passed, without any dissent.

Thus, that night the Danes began their retreat, but the adverse weather conditions were beyond expectations, as the retreating Danish army encountered a snowstorm.

The sudden snowstorm disrupted the Danes’ plans. The winter night was already chill to the bone, and suddenly snowflakes began to drift down from the sky. Soon, the cold wind mixed with goose feather-like snow quickly dyed the land white.

The advancing lines were linked, stepping into the white snow, forming a long black dragon, yet tonight the moon was hiding behind dark clouds.

The troops already hadn’t turned on illumination, facing utter darkness. As the boots stepped onto the snow, the white snow underfoot gradually turned into black muddy slush.

Without railway support, the Danish army could only traverse long distances through the snowstorm, as low morale put a strain on the march. The orderly ranks initially began to slip out of the control of their commanders.

Chaos amplified the perturbed minds. Swearing started, the cries of horses mixed together, mules and horses also slackened in the snow. Whipping, and angry shouts echoed in the night sky, appearing somber amid the roaring storm.

Sitting in the rear, yet to evacuate, General Mesa watched the incessant snowstorm outside the fort. The unrest grew in his heart, with clouds darkening inside his mind.

But it was no longer possible to recall the order; the main forces had already been dispatched for some time, naturally difficult to halt midway.

General Mesa could only pin his hopes on the God of Destiny to protect Denmark. However, from Mesa’s dark expression, one could tell his heart was far from calm.

The next morning, with the light of dawn, the Danish army began to assess their losses. Affect by the weather, a large amount of matériel and weapons were left behind in the snowstorm, the hasty retreat also increased non-combat attrition.

Also, some poor souls got lost from the main force during the night; it would be extremely difficult to regroup.

This was a less than ideal retreat, even comparable to a minor battle’s losses.

Nevertheless, the Danish army completed its retreat at dawn on the sixth day, preserving most of its live forces, allowing the war to continue.

Poor General Mesa didn’t escape blame either. When news of the failed retreat reached home, angry crowds took to the streets to protest. Mesa was relieved from his position due to his poor conduct of the retreat.

The Danish government still had no intention to surrender and negotiate peace. Although the frontline suffered a temporary setback, the main forces remained intact and could still try to fight.

The remaining Danish forces retreated to Flensburg to continue resisting the allied offensive, the war continued.

Though the government was unwilling to surrender, internally there was a chill. The expected interventions from various countries did not materialize; the worst were the British and the Swedes.

Denmark was Britain’s pivot in controlling the Baltic Sea, Sweden and Denmark had a mutual dependency. Though historically, there were some old grievances with these two countries.

But Denmark was no longer the small mighty force that once alone stirred Europe’s affairs, each country allowed Denmark’s downfall, Denmark’s decline would deepen even further.

The Danish government was already panicking with the situation. Britain was slow in giving a response, and other countries left Denmark to fend for itself.

The Foreign Ministry nearly ”moved in” to the British embassy, as the British envoy to Denmark meticulously relayed the news back home.

However, internally Britain hadn’t reached a unified consensus; royalty, government, and military were contending with one another, yet no detailed plan for deploying troops was formed.

The British could only send a message to the ambassador in Denmark with one word, ”Stall.” The Foreign Ministry actively ran about between the Nordic countries, as well as the Russian Empire, but without significant progress.