Chapter 181: Crisis in the Ottoman Empire

  Chapter 178 – Ottoman Empire Crisis

The news of the outbreak of the Near East War reached London on the third day. Even if it is early thought preparation, received the news after, the British government top management still headache.

Even rarely intervene in politics of Queen Victoria also can not sit still, in Buckingham Palace held a high-level meeting.

Queen Victoria asked: “Near East war broke out, the Russians and Austria stirred together, the Ottomans this time the trouble is big, to keep our interests in the Near East, the government intends to do?”

The Ottoman Empire has accumulated power for a long time, even if it has fallen in this era, the tiger’s power still has a few points. Coupled with the fact that the Ottoman government had just completed its institutional reforms, on the surface it appeared that they were already a modernized empire.

In Queen Victoria’s view, even if the Ottoman Empire is not Russia and Austria’s rival, they have such a large area of land, there are millions of troops, at most, will only cut a little meat, a moment will not die.

This is also the mainstream view in Europe, how weak the Ottoman Empire, no one knows.

Prime Minister John Russell, who had prepared for this, replied, “Your Majesty, we have joined forces with France and are prepared to intervene in this war together.”

Prince Albert questioned, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, this is a Russo-Turkish war unlike the past, and the Austrians have entered the war.

Even if we join forces with the French, I’m afraid we won’t be able to make them compromise if we want to, right? Otherwise this war won’t be fought at all!”

Queen Victoria didn’t like to get involved in politics, Prince Albert was different, and he was involved in many of Britain’s major decisions.

John Russell explained, “Your Highness, the alliance between the Russians and Austria is only temporary, because of the interests sooner or later, they will go their separate ways.

Our current enemy is Russia, Austria can be put aside for now, their appetite is just that, even if we give them the Balkans, they can’t eat it.

The government is ready to join forces with the French to support the Ottoman Empire and the Russians in their fight, and the Austrian Foreign Ministry can take care of it.”

Sending troops to intervene in a Near Eastern war? Neither historically, nor now, were the British prepared to take the field themselves in the first place.

Historically, when the British sent troops into the Crimean War, it was based on the fact that the Ottoman Empire couldn’t hold out and the French were willing to act as the main force.

Now the Ottoman Empire’s millions of lions are still there, before the war, who knows that these troops are all look-alike goods?

Many people in the British government thought that it would be enough to provide loans to the Ottomans and sell them some weapons and equipment.

Of course, it is possible to send the navy to help, and it is also in the interest of the British to penetrate deep into the Black Sea strait.

They were not confident that the army would be able to take on the Russians, but they were not confident that the navy would be able to suppress the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

……

Paris

Compared to the British, Napoleon III was much more positive. In his opinion, the Near East war was the best opportunity to divert domestic conflicts.

If he could defeat the Russians and avenge his uncle’s Waterloo, he could gain huge political capital.

It does not matter if he loses, anyway, the war is fought in the Ottoman Empire, and can also be dumped on the allies, as long as the French army can achieve a few victories, and take it back to do propaganda.

Napoleon III asked with concern, “Rouet, what do the British say, are there any preparations to send troops with us?”

Rouet replied, “Your Majesty, the London government is still in the midst of hesitation, the initial judgment is that they are prepared to support the Ottoman Empire behind the scenes, and are not prepared to personally send troops to the war.

However, if we send troops to support the Ottomans, the British are also in favor of it, and they still want to teach the Russians a lesson on the battlefield.”

This conclusion was made rather hastily; the Ottoman Empire had not yet been defeated, so of course the British could stay out of the field. If the Ottoman army had suffered a major defeat, would the British have been able to sit back?

In case the Ottoman Empire cooled off, not to mention that all of their initial investment was lost, even their interests in the Mediterranean would be unprotected.

Napoleon III dared to send troops to intervene in the Near East war, but also established in the Ottoman Empire has a certain strength of the situation, otherwise let them single-handedly to fight the Russians, in fact, the French are also very weak.

There is no other reason, the number of gray livestock is too much. Quantitative change causes qualitative change, when Napoleon was piled up by the Russians with the number of dead, plus there is an Austrian Empire, by them not to pay attention.

“Hmph!”

Napoleon III coldly shouted, expressing his heartfelt dissatisfaction. The British were clearly letting them be the ones to stand out.

“Tell the British not to forget that there is still an Austria. If we don’t send troops to support the Ottoman Empire, I’m afraid it won’t be long before we hear of their defeat.” Napoleon III thought about it and said

Using diplomacy to break up the Russian-Austrian alliance is very important to the British, and it’s not a bad idea to pay something for it.

But not for Napoleon III. The stage was set, the audience was waiting to see the play, you can’t suddenly say no more.

Since Napoleon III is the successor to Napoleon on the throne, so to avenge his uncle is a natural right, the French people are watching him, can not allow him to back off.

The French people were watching him and could not allow him to back down. There was no way around it, the French people in this era were so capricious. Since Napoleon III made a promise to everyone before he succeeded to the throne, it had to be honored.

Historically Napoleon III did just that, and the Crimean War ended Russian hegemony in Europe and won popular support.

“Your Majesty, if the Russians and Austria really join forces, I’m afraid we’ll have trouble defeating them in the Near East.” Rouet warned

The Vice Emperor wasn’t called the Vice Emperor for nothing, in case of a defeat he was the one who took the blame, prevention was something that had to be prepared for.

“Don’t worry, it’s unlikely that they’ll sincerely join forces, with the Russians’ appetite, Austria wouldn’t dare to let them gain access to the Black Sea Straits.” Napoleon III judged with certainty

A Russian empire that was too powerful was not in Austria’s interest, and with the Russians annexing the Ottoman Empire, the pressure on Austria was great.

……

Balkans.

On April 11, 1852, after much negotiation between the Austrian and Russian governments, the Treaty of the Balkans was signed.

The treaty provided for the transfer of the duchies of Moldavia and Wallachia from the Russian army to Austria, the granting of free passage to the Russian army, and the provision of Austrian logistical support for the Russian army in the Balkans.

Both sides got what they wanted; Austria got the pre-agreed territory and succeeded in covering up the westward strategy; the Russians got the chance to continue fighting from the Balkans, increasing the chances of winning the war.

A look at the map shows that without Austria’s material support, the logistical supplies after the occupation of the two Danube principalities would have deprived the Russians of the ability to continue their attack.

The sudden letting go of the Russians made the Sudanese government, which was ready to watch the Russian-Austrian conflict, dumbfounded.

There was no time for hesitation, as two hundred and fifty thousand Russian troops were setting off down the lower Danube, heading straight for Bulgaria.

Anyone with a bit of military common sense knows that once Bulgaria falls, the Ottoman capital is in danger.

In fact the Russian attack would have gone even better if the Sultan’s government hadn’t invited the British and French navies into the Black Sea in time. Transporting supplies from the sea can be much easier than going on land.

With the strength of the Russians, if they hadn’t lost their sea power, they could have chosen to make multiple landings and wear out the Ottoman Empire.

One wave is yet to come, and another wave is yet to come.

The Russians were also prepared, and through the contact of the Orthodox Church, the Bulgarians were now ready to welcome the king’s division with a little food and drink.

Not only the Bulgarians, but also the other peoples within the Ottoman Empire were also eager to move. Only at this time, they still lacked effective organization, nationalism had not yet spread, and the fighting power that erupted was limited.

All in all, the Ottoman Empire was now in a state of flux, and with the addition of Austria as an enemy, they faced even more trouble.

(End of chapter)