Chapter 183: The Parties’ Choices

  Chapter 180 – Decisions of the Parties

London.

The direction of the Near East War dazzled the British. The Russians actually gave up the two Danube Valley principalities in exchange for Austrian logistical assistance.

This meant that the Russians had a very big appetite this time, and only greater benefits could make the Russians give up the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia.

John Russell said with a gloomy face, “Our previous plan failed, Austria and the Russians reached an agreement. If we don’t make a move now, the Ottoman Empire is definitely no match for them.

Mr. Palmerston, what methods does your Foreign Ministry have to break up the alliance between the Russians and Austria in the shortest amount of time?

Together, their two countries are simply invincible in the Near East. Even if we were to act jointly with the French, it would be difficult to win.”

Prime Minister John Russell’s words were not unintentional; the areas bordering Russia and the Ottomans were as long as the Balkans and the Caucasus.

The Caucasus is limited by the terrain, and logistics is a big problem if a large regiment is fought.

With Russia’s poor domestic transportation situation, and then encountered the complex terrain of the Caucasus region, simply can not support more than 200,000 troops fighting.

Of course if they don’t lose the sea rights in the Black Sea, they can still fight along the coastline, and logistics is not a problem.

Now the Russians land route out is left to the Balkans. The two principalities in the Danube River Basin are both major grain producers, and the food problem can basically be solved locally, so the logistical pressure on the Russian army is reduced by half.

Even so, the Russians were not capable of fighting all the way to Constantinople. After occupying the two principalities, they basically reached the limit of their attack, and the strategic supplies from home could not keep up with the consumption rate of the frontline troops.

But adding an Austria would be different, with the Danube River to quickly transport strategic supplies, supporting hundreds of thousands of troops in the Balkans does not have any problems.

Palmerston replied without changing his face, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, want to break up this alliance between Russia and Austria is very simple, long before we have proposed.

As long as the Ottoman Empire agrees to cede the two Danube Valley principalities to Austria, it will be enough to feed the Austrians. With Austria separating them from the Russians, the current situation wouldn’t be so bad.”

In order to check the Russians, the British Foreign Office did have this plan, but ceding the Two Danube Basin Duchies to Austria was only part of it.

Historically the British had offered: to give the Aaland Islands and Finland to Sweden; to cede the Baltic coast to Prussia; to make Poland independent; to cede Moldavia and Wallachia and the mouth of the Danube to Austria, in consideration of which Austria gave up Lombardy and Venice to be occupied by the Kingdom of Sardinia; and to give the Crimean region and the Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire… …

Theoretically, once this plan was implemented, the Russians would be greatly weakened and lose their ability to compete with the British for world hegemony.

But the plan couldn’t change fast enough, and it died before it could even begin to be implemented. Not only did the Russians not agree to the plan, but Austria was also unlikely to agree to it.

Do not look at the Danube Valley two duchies area is not small, the land is also very fertile, but these areas have not been developed, from the economic value is lower than Lombardy and Venice.

Now the occupation of these areas, Austria has to invest a lot of manpower and resources to develop not to mention, but also become the vanguard of anti-Russia, rushed in the first line of resistance to Russia, in the strategy is very unfavorable.

Instead of this, it is better to join forces with the Russians, Austria can also get these territories, but only at the expense of the Ottoman Empire.

Franz always believed in the truth of “a thousand birds in the forest, not as good as a bird in the hand”, will not be in order to check the Russian cause, at the expense of their own interests.

The butterfly effect worked, for the performance of the Austrian army in the Austro-Saxon War proved the strength of the Great Powers to the outside world. Palmerston’s new strategic plan did not propose to give Lombardy and Venice to the Kingdom of Sardinia anymore.

Watching the people is a strong point of the British, and the Austrian strength was stronger than in history, and the treatment was naturally stronger than in history.

In order to fool Austria into flipping with the Russians, they went out of their way to promise heavy favors. Unfortunately, before their plan could convince the Ottomans, war broke out.

“But the stupid Ottoman government couldn’t see this, they only saw that ceding the two Danube Valley principalities would cost them a lot of money, they simply couldn’t see the benefits of doing so.

I believe that after this Russo-Turkish war, reality will make the Ottomans wake up a bit more and make the right choice.” John Russell chimes in with his retribution

Apparently the whole Ottoman Empire thing has bored him as the British Prime Minister.

Palmerston sneered, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the Ottoman government has come to its senses now and I believe they will make the right choice,.

But this is something for the future, the most important thing now is still to convince the parliament to send troops to the Balkan Peninsula as soon as possible, if it’s too late, I’m afraid the Ottomans won’t be able to hold out.”

It was the British national policy to prioritize against the most threatening enemy, and they would not change their targeting until the Russians fell.

In terms of threat, Austria at this point in time was no match for France, and its terrible geographic location had doomed it from threatening the core interests of the British.

John Russell thought for a moment and said, “There’s not much of a problem on the Congress side, in order to preserve our interests in the Mediterranean region, the Russians must be caged.”

Interests are eternal, and the Russians’ annexation of the Ottoman Empire has severely damaged British interests. It was natural for interest groups to support the government’s intervention in the Near East war in order to preserve their overseas investments.

……

Constantinople.

Abdul Mejid I regretted that if he had known that the Russians and Austria would compromise so quickly, he would have accepted the British proposal.

There are no regrets in politics and by this time the Russian and Ottoman armies were already fighting in the Bulgarian region. What was even more tragic was that as the side with more troops, they were actually the underdogs on the battlefield.

“How long will it take for our reinforcements to reach the front?” Abdul Mejid I asked with concern

“Your Majesty, there are too many partisans in the Bulgarian region, our reinforcements will not arrive for another three days.” The Minister of War lowered his voice and replied

In this war, the speed of the Ottoman army was even slower than they expected, and the War Minister naturally spoke without a bottom line.

Abdul Mejid I let out a cold cry, “Hmph!”

And said, “I don’t care what you guys think of, anyway, the Bulgarian region cannot be lost. What this place means, you all know in your hearts!”

The people all lowered their heads and did not dare to speak. The Ottoman Empire’s ethnic policy had actually become quite enlightened in recent times.

Unfortunately, even the best policies needed someone to implement them, and the corrupt Ottoman government undoubtedly lacked efficient implementation capabilities, and naturally ended up with a lot of public discontent.

The aftereffects are now coming out, the local war can not get the support of the people not to mention, but also suffered a guerrilla attack, delaying the speed of the reinforcement army.

Fortunately, the Russians’ reaction speed is also very slow, or now on the front line broke out the Armageddon, the Ottoman government can only cry.

……

Greece – Athens

The Greeks were happy when the Near East War broke out, their chance to realize their goals had come.

Otto I, on the other hand, had a headache, facing the pull of four great powers at the same time, he didn’t know where to stand on this team.

Since the outbreak of the conflict with the British in 1850, Greek nationalism had been on the rise. At first Otto I supported this idea as he thought nationalism would benefit his rule.

Otto I thought he had captured the key to gaining popular support and placed himself at the forefront of the patriotic movement.

How to keep the patriotic fervor of the populace from cooling down became Otto I’s problem.

After the outbreak of nationalism, the recovery of the lost territories became the common goal of the Greeks and the “great ideal” of Otto I and Queen Amalia.

The demand of the Greeks to recover their territories was almost endless. The theoretical basis of this demand came from the Byzantine Empire, and the Greeks wanted to recreate the territory of the Byzantine Empire.

The days of tragedy were not far off when power was out of balance with ideals. The Hellenic Kingdom of this era, with a territory of only 50,000 square kilometers and a population of less than a million, could not afford to support their “ideals”.

“Gentlemen, which side should we take now?” Otto I asked with a worried brow.

As a small country, the most sensible thing to do is to side with the victor; whereas countries with burgeoning nationalism tend to be less sensible, and instead choose the side with the greatest interests.

At this time Otto I did not know that a new crisis was coming to his rule. No matter which side one took, it was impossible to satisfy the popular appetite for the recovery of lost territory.

In Greece, where idealism prevailed, the people did not care so much, they would only make demands on the government according to their own ideals.

Historically, for more than a hundred years from the time of Otto I, none of the Greek kings lived comfortably because none of them could fulfill the ideals of the Greek people.

The Minister of Finance replied with a complicated look, “Your Majesty, the British and French navies have taken control of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, and for the sake of the country’s security, we can only stand with them.”

This was the most sensible thing to do, no matter who won or lost, Greece, which was surrounded by the British and French Ottomans, simply had no choice.

The War Minister retorted, “What can we gain by siding with the Ottomans? Do we expect to be able to return our homeland to us by relying on their charity?

Now the Russians have made a promise that as long as we declare war on the Ottoman Empire, they will support us in acquiring Thessaly and Epirus after the war.

The Austrians have even promised that they will support us in acquiring as much territory as we have fought for.

Such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, are we just going to give it up?”

There was no way around it, the Russians and Austria were being generous at the expense of others and naturally didn’t mind giving the Greeks promises. Britain and France were now allies with the Ottoman Empire, so how could they choose to sacrifice Ottoman interests to fulfill the Greeks’ demands?

Even if they wanted to pull in allies, the Kingdom of Greece wasn’t qualified enough, right?

Britain and France also have pride, not any cat or dog, can be equal to them.

The Prime Minister concurred, ”That’s right, if we give up on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the people outside won’t agree either.

For the sake of the great revival of the Greek Kingdom, taking a little risk is worth it!”

It wasn’t that he wanted to side with the Russians, or that he couldn’t see the risk in doing so, but the Greek populace outside had already made the choice for them.

Nationalism is a double-edged sword, capable of killing the enemy as well as injuring oneself, and now the Otto I government has been kidnapped by my public opinion.

Otto I thought for a moment and said, “Since the people have already made their choice, our government must respect their choice.

However, considering the position of Britain and France, we are not able to directly declare war on the Ottoman Empire, what is the best way for everyone?”

There was no good solution, there was one bad idea.

The Minister of War proposed, “Your Majesty, we can form a civilian army to launch an attack on the Ottoman Empire, which will give an explanation to the Russians and Austria, and also take care of the face of Britain and France.”

In his opinion Britain and France’s support for the Ottoman Empire was only to combat the Russians, not that the two countries were really supporting the Ottomans.

As long as the Kingdom of Greece grasped the degree of it and did not hurt the face of Britain and France while fighting the Ottoman Empire, they would not interfere.

A bad idea is better than no idea at all, and without a better way, a bad idea can only be taken out to make do.

Seeing the crowd clamoring for help, Otto I finally made a decision, “Then get back to the Austrian and Russian representatives, we support them in this war!”

(End of chapter)