Chapter 168: Strategic Deception

  Chapter 165: Strategic Deception

London.

From the beginning of the arms race in Europe, the British government has expressed close attention, and they are well aware of the movements of the countries.

Foreign Minister Palmerston said heatedly, “After the intelligence we have gathered, the Austrian government’s army expansion this time should be directed towards the Ottoman Empire’s, and our bogeyman plan has succeeded.

Only now a little change has occurred, it is possible that the Austrian government has compromised with the Russians. If we want to provoke a conflict between Russia and Austria, we won’t be able to do it in a short time.

But more conflicts of interest, even the best relationship will be broken. From the moment Austria set foot on the Balkan Peninsula, it was destined that the Russian-Austrian alliance would disintegrate ……”

Prime Minister John Russell frowned and questioned, “Mr. Palmerston, I believe in the judgment that the Russian-Austrian alliance will break up sooner or later. But that time may be three years from now, five years from now, but it can never be now.

Until their common enemy, the Ottoman Empire, falls, Russia and Austria can still work closely together.

The seeds of hatred were planted centuries ago, and there was no Russian or Austrian who did not want the Ottoman Empire to fall.

In addition to hatred, there were more compelling interests. The Russians had their eyes on the Black Sea Straits, the Austrians on the Danube Valley.

The Ottoman Empire is too weak to be targeted by two bandits. On the contrary, we can’t let them fall now.

It doesn’t matter if the Austrians plot the Danube Valley, but once we let the Black Sea Straits fall into the hands of the Russians, we have a lot to lose.

I wouldn’t think that a single Constantinople would be enough to satisfy the Tsarist government’s appetite. They have been holding back their desires for so many years, and to unleash them now would be absolutely astounding.

Once the Ottoman Empire falls, the Austrians will at most annex half of the Balkans, while the Russians will have to occupy the land along the Black Sea Straits.

At that time not only will our interests in the Ottoman Empire be unprotected, even our interests in the Mediterranean will be greatly affected, and even South Africa and India will be threatened by the Russians.”

That’s the crux of the matter, the British needed the Ottoman Empire to keep the Russians at bay. No one wanted to be neighbors with the Russians, and John Bull was no exception.

Let the Russians encroach on the Ottoman Empire and take control of this central location spanning Asia, Europe and Africa and the situation would be completely out of control.

Palmerston grimly explained, “Mr. Prime Minister, the situation is not that bad. No European country wants to see the Russians get bigger, and this is the opportunity.

Whether Austria and the Russians have reached an agreement or not, and where the bottom line is for both sides is an unknown.

But one thing is for sure, the Austrians likewise don’t want the Russians to get bigger. As old neighbors, the threat of the Russians is expected to be more accurately felt by them.

Therefore, in this upcoming war, they will most likely just take advantage of the situation, and then sit back and watch the tigers fight, a stick killed the Ottoman Empire can not be beneficial to them.

The Ottoman Empire is not weak, as long as they can distinguish the enemy’s main priority and focus on the defense of the Russian attack, with our support should be able to hold out for a long time.

During this period, we can unite France, Prussia, Spain and other European countries to intervene in this war together.”

This explanation was not satisfactory, and judging from the immediate situation, the foreign policy previously adopted by the London government failed.

There was nothing wrong with leading Austria to the Balkans, the problem was that the unreasonable hairy bear was prepared to break the situation violently, eh?

Look at the Russian war preparation time, we are clear that this war is definitely not a small fight. Coupled with an Austria that wants to pick up the slack, if there is no outside intervention, the chances of the Ottoman Empire being able to resist this time are infinitely small.

The British have long known that the Russo-Turkish war is going to break out, not only do they know, all European countries have this ideological preparation.

Friendly matches between the Russians and the Ottomans, has been carried out many times, everyone has figured out the law, basically a generation has grown up, the two sides will have to carry out a match.

This kind of friendly match, not every time the whole country in a duel. Many times it is also a localized war, just an excuse to start fighting, fight almost on the truce.

This can be seen from the preparation time, in general is the more prepared, the more intense the war will be.

From the second half of 1849, the Russians have been making preparations, and so far there is no sign of launching, the scale of this war can already be imagined.

Against this background, the introduction of Austria into the Balkans naturally added to this confusion. It was fine if Russia and Austria fought against each other, but if Russia and Austria joined forces, God could not save the Ottoman Empire.

Palmerston naturally had a headache, had he known that this situation would arise, he would not have bothered with the Kingdom of Sardinia, and let Austria fall into the Italian quagmire unable to extricate itself.

Then the current situation is much better, no energy for foreign expansion of Austria, absolutely against the Russian expansion of the vanguard.

This was a foregone conclusion, and Franz would have opposed the continued expansion of the Russians’ power if he could not gain the benefits.

Not because of red-eye, but national strategic needs. We all understand the reasoning behind this, the Russians are powerful, which naturally means that the relative decline of Austria.

John Russell thought for a moment and said, “The Foreign Office can start acting now, in case Russia and Austria join forces against the Ottoman Empire, they won’t be able to hold out for long.”

At this point, the British were not prepared to go into battle with their bare arms. With their pocket-sized army, it wouldn’t take long for the war to consume them if they sent it out.

The key was that the gold medal fighters, the French, had not yet returned to their positions, and now that Napoleon III had not yet been restored, the parliament and the president were still fighting.

The French government, which is heavily infighting, has no weight to speak in the international arena. The promises made by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also difficult to fulfill.

……

Paris.

The international changes were a disaster for many, but for Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, it was all about opportunity.

The British needed a stable French government in order to be able to play a role in the ensuing Russo-Turkish War and suppress Russian ambitions.

At this time, was there a better choice than to support him?

You can’t support the Parliamentarians, can you? They were no more effective than a dictator.

The Restoration Plan, already born in the Napoleonic Faction, only lacked a suitable opportunity to be launched.

As for the present Austrian expansion of the army in preparation for war, like the British, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte believed that Austria was headed for the Balkans.

In order to induce strategic miscalculation among nations, the Austrian government is not just talking the talk.

Sending spies to the Balkans and getting caught by the Ottoman Empire was a minor trick. The cantonment of troops on the border between Austria and the Ottoman Empire was also just routine.

Austrian civil opinion, likewise, rehashed old Ottoman scores. The Balkan strategy developed by the military was brought up for discussion at intervals.

If one did not know that Austria was preparing to take revenge on the Ottomans, one must not be an Austrian.

There are also a variety of strategic materials, but also in the continuous transportation to Transylvania storage, seems to be only one excuse, Austria is about to send troops to the Danube Valley.

Deceive people first deceive themselves, this reasoning Franz still understand, their own people believe, still afraid of the enemy do not believe it?

In addition to the members of the Austrian cabinet, only a few high-ranking generals in the military know the true purpose of the government, the vast majority of Austrians believe that the government is going to war with the Ottoman Empire.

A lot of official media, but also analyzed, the Russian-Turkish war is about to break out, Austria to follow to pick up the advantage on the line, do not have to pay too big a price, you can occupy the Danube River Basin.

This series of actions down, Britain and France naturally think that Austria is going to lay hands on the Balkans.

And the westward plan, completely covered up. The only action was probably the sudden acceleration of railroad construction in the country.

Even the railroads built under the auspices of Bavaria had many more enthusiastic members of society to facilitate them.

Many people were also urging the Royal Bavarian Railroad to speed up and not delay them from making money.

Austria’s strategic plan of deception not only fooled Britain and France, but also confused the Prussians. When it was determined that Austria’s goal was the Balkans, Frederick William IV did what he had to do except to exude envy and jealousy.

There was no way that Russia and Austria were going after the Ottoman Empire, and even if they were envious, it was impossible for them to run over and get a piece of the action.

Geopolitics determines the interests of the Ottoman Empire and has nothing to do with the Kingdom of Prussia. In that case, let the Austrians have their way if they want to expand their army. Anyway, without their own interests at stake, there is naturally no need for the Kingdom of Prussia to follow suit.

Not only a few powers were fooled, even the Swiss who had been worried for a long time also breathed a sigh of relief, sure that the Austrians are not aimed at them on the line, the death of the Ottomans is none of their business.

In the media propaganda, Russia and Austria are ready to seek the bad luck of the Ottoman Empire news, is already well known.

It’s not a matter of concern. The people of Europe have been transformed into a crowd of melon eaters, just waiting for a good show to start.

(End of chapter)