Chapter 428: Russian-Australian Relations Hit a Cold Spot
Chapter 418: Russian-Austrian Relations Run Cold
On October 7, 1866, the Sultan’s government delivered an ultimatum to the Russian Minister, demanding that the Russians hand over Constantinople within 48 hours or it was war.
This ultimatum of war, did not wait for 48 hours, the Tsarist Russian Minister who received the ultimatum, replied directly: then war!
The Ottoman Empire to prepare for war movement so big, how can be hidden from the Russians? As an arch-enemy, the Tsarist government never relaxed its surveillance of the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian Foreign Ministry was also pulling the Ottomans in, however, they could not show any interest and the result was naturally futile.
Seeing the Sultan’s government mobilizing, Alexander II knew that war was inevitable.
A quick look at the map opened up made sure of that. The Ottoman Empire had few options, with a total of three neighbors around it.
The geographical location determined that Persia was not good to fight, even if it won, there was not much oil, chicken-ribbed areas of the Sultanate did not have to fight.
Austria is afraid to fight, or rather touch not, bordering on the Sinai Peninsula, but also separated by the vast desert. Attacking the Balkans by sea, the heart is more than enough, and there is no chance of landing.
Russia is left, the Black Sea Fleet in the Near East War was wiped out, limited by financial constraints, so many years still have not recovered.
With British and French support, either attacking the Caucasus or Constantinople would be fine. It’s too easy to seal a few hundred meters wide to lock the Bosphorus, just go straight to the shore guns and be done with it.
The Sudanese government’s painstakingly prepared pretext for war has directly turned into a farce.
Constantinople has already gathered 80,000 Russian troops, the total strength of the Russian army in the Russian Balkans has been as high as 150,000, relatively speaking, the Caucasus is the weak point.
Both sides had declared war, and the battle was still to be fought. This time, the Ottomans are not easy, only to have an absolute strength advantage, naturally want to do a big one.
St. Petersburg, received the news that the Ottomans had declared war, Alexander II’s frown tightened. The enemy was getting more and more numerous, which was not a good thing.
The war potential of the Russian Empire has actually been unleashed about as much as it can be, limited by transportation and productivity, this is already the maximum force they can use.
With half a million to six hundred thousand troops in Eastern Europe to fight to the death against the Prussian-Polish allied forces, there was no opportunity to win the war in sight, and in order to guard against Sweden taking advantage of the fire, fifty thousand troops were also deployed in Northern Europe.
There are also 70,000 to 80,000 troops deployed in the Far East, but not many of them can be committed to **** because they rule over such a wide area.
More than 300,000 Russian troops in Central Asia were fighting hard against the enemy, or rather being pressed. This part of the army was basically recruited on an ad hoc basis, and it would be considered good to be able to stabilize the battle line.
The Balkan Peninsula seems to have sufficient troops, in fact, 150,000 Russian troops can at most defend Constantinople, fortunately, the French sold the Balkan colonies to Austria, otherwise they have to have one more potential enemy.
The Caucasus must now be reinforced as well, no one can guarantee that the Sultan’s government is not attacking from the east, in case the Caucasus is lost then the enemy can kill all the way to the Volga Valley.
The army was not enough, this was the true feeling of Alexander II. Millions of Russian troops were fighting hard on the battlefield, and in order to support this war, the domestic economy had been seriously affected.
Fighting a war of attrition was the most painful, unable to commit more troops, man-to-man tactics could not be utilized, this was really a serious challenge to the Russian army.
Worse still, the European countries had already seen clearly the reality of the Russian Empire, the so-called million Russian troops were a joke, on any battlefield, the Tsarist government was unable to commit a million troops.
These changes also affected Russian-Austrian relations, with the Austrians finding the alliance dispensable and the Russians feeling that the Austrian allies were not contributing.
Minister of Finance Kristanvar whispered, “Your Majesty, with the outbreak of war with the Ottomans, we are left with only Austria for trade.
I am afraid that this year’s revenue will be the lowest in thirty years, and it is likely to continue to fall next year.”
Such a turn of events made the finance minister really have no bottom line to speak. Although the responsibility was not theirs, the problem of running out of money fell on them.
It was a good thing that they had made a fortune out of the Jews before, otherwise the Tsarist government would have gone bankrupt. Even so, Kristanwal did not dare to let down his guard.
This kind of fortune could not come every day, and according to the current situation, it would not be long before they faced another financial crisis.
Alexander II asked indifferently, “How low will it be?”
“This year’s revenue will drop to about 150 million rubles, and if the war continues, it might drop to 120 million rubles next year.”
Finance Minister Kristanvar answered in a diminishing voice. It was important to realize that before the war broke out, the tsarist government’s revenue had already exceeded 300 million rubles, and now it was directly reduced to a waist.
Reality is so cruel, the Russian Empire is now also on all sides, in addition to the Arctic Ocean is still safe, from Eastern Europe to the Far East all the way to war.
Overseas trade has shrunk dramatically, and the huge profits brought by grain exports in the past are now gone.
In contrast to the smaller export trade, the volume of import trade was growing dramatically. Russia’s foreign trade was settled in gold and silver, and this change caused a massive outflow of gold and silver from the country.
The ill effects of the loss of wealth soon reacted on the economy, and deflation had become a social problem that the Tsarist government could not avoid.
“It looks like the Austrians have made a lot more money.”
Alexander II’s seemingly thoughtless sentence has spoken volumes about the transformation of Russian-Austrian relations. I’m down on my luck and you’re rich, the best of friends will be estranged again, rising to the same in state relations.
No one picked up on this remark, and Russian-Austrian friendship remains politically correct. No amount of jealousy or envy could change the fact that the Tsar could not stay away from Austria.
……
Alexander II was not wrong, Austria did make a lot of money recently. Because of the war, the Bosphorus was blocked and Austria naturally monopolized trade with Russia.
Sweden in the Nordic region also made a small fortune, but they had limited national power and were not able to export many goods.
In addition to trade with Russia, another benefit was Austria’s increased share of the agricultural market. The Russians grain exports could now only be sold to Austria first, then processed and finished before being sold on the international market.
This has dealt another blow to a wave of competitors, and companies that had been buying Russian grain for finishing now have to snap it up on the international market because of a lack of raw materials.
After the Russians went to war with the Ottomans, within a short period of time the prices traded on the international grain market rose by another ten points. This was just the beginning, and as long as supply and demand are not resolved, grain prices are still likely to continue to rise.
In the middle of the 19th century, half of the world’s population was starving, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people died of hunger every year.
Against this background, it is clear that the food shortage in Europe cannot be solved in a short time. Increasing food production is easier said than done.
There is no shortage of land in the major colonial empires, but the problem is that the initial investment in cultivating food is not small, and the market rate of return is not high enough.
If there is a good harvest, there is a high probability that it will rot in the ground. It’s not that people don’t need food anymore, the bigger problem is that many people can’t afford to buy food.
In this era, the only countries with market purchasing power are the European countries, other areas are self-sufficient, not self-sufficient places, then you can only starve.
Purchasing power limits production capacity, and in the event of an emergency, food prices will naturally rise in the short term. Perhaps everyone has reserves in hand, but capitalists want to make money, speculation on high food prices is also one of the means.
These have little to do with Austria. Regardless of how international food prices change, as the world’s number one food exporter, domestic food prices are very stable.
As one of the beneficiaries, Franz’s wallet has bulged a lot more. This has not raised Franz’s interest, in the critical moment of the industrial revolution, it is clear that the new industry is more “money”.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg frowned and said, “Your Majesty, the Russian Minister informed us that they want to raise tariffs because of the war.”
Franz frowned, raising tariffs would inevitably affect the amount of trade between the two countries. But did the current Russian Empire really have the capital to raise tariffs?
Unable to figure out the Tsarist government’s intentions, Franz didn’t bother.
“Perhaps it’s time to raise the prices of our exports as well!”
The wool comes from the sheep’s back, and it is a normal law of business that rising tariffs lead to higher commodity prices.
Perhaps the tariffs have increased to protect certain industries in Russia. However, this was a time of war, and the biggest commodities traded between the two countries were strategic goods.
This belongs to the necessities, and an increase in price the Tsarist government must accept. Isn’t raising the tariff now giving the capitalists an excuse to raise prices?
This price increase, absolutely will exceed the tariff increase, the final loss or tsarist government itself.
Franz was sure that this decision was not made by Alexander II. Alexander II was not such a fool as to lift a stone to hit his own feet.
Either the Tsar’s government was in financial trouble, and the bureaucrats made a stupid policy in a hurry; or it was driven by domestic capitalists, trying to get more profit.
The truth was covered up, and no one thought that a sentiment of Alexander II’s had triggered the bureaucrats under him to make a silly decision, thus ending the honeymoon period between Russia and Austria.
If Alexander II had known, he would have absolutely regretted it.
The decision, indeed, protected a number of domestic industries. On the surface it seemed like good policy, protecting national industries at the beginning of industrial development in favor of domestic industry.
However, the benefits did not manifest themselves, the evil consequences had already occurred first, and the tsarist government soon paid a terrible price for it.
Because tariffs led to an increase in the price of imported goods from Austria, in order to save money, the bureaucrats of the tsarist government chose to purchase supplies from local enterprises – a sinkhole was about to be born.
……
(End of chapter)