Chapter 213:
Chapter 209.
The defeat at the front exacerbated the infighting in the London government, and coupled with the political scandal some time ago, Prime Minister John Russell was forced to resign.
The Whigs lose the new general election, the Peelites and Conservatives form a joint cabinet, and George Hamilton Gordon ascends to the stage of history.
With a new government, the most important thing on the horizon for George Hamilton Gordon’s government was the war in the Near East.
Retreat was out of the question; Britain’s international standing was at stake. This was the era of the British and Russian powers, and if the London government backed down at this time, it would be conceding to the Russians, which was tantamount to recognizing the Russians’ position as the world’s hegemon.
Not to mention the heavy losses in terms of interests, but also the blow to the spirit, which the British public could not accept.
As the leader of the anti-war faction, George Hamilton Gordon understood John Russell’s difficulties; this was a war that had to be fought.
It had to be fought even if the casualties were high. If the Russian expansion was not curbed now, the price the British Empire would have to pay in the future would be even greater.
10 Downing Street.
“Gentlemen, it is now our turn to clean up this mess. The situation on the Balkan battlefield is very unfavorable to us, and according to the battle reports sent from the front, the allied forces could lose at any time.
The question now is whether we should continue to open a second front, or rather a third front.” George Hamilton Gordon asked
It could be seen that Prime Minister George Hamilton Gordon’s heart was not at peace, and the few wrinkles caught between his eyebrows had already betrayed his inner turmoil.
Secretary of the Navy James Graham replied, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, strategically speaking, there is no problem with opening a second front on the Crimean Peninsula.
The Russians are strong, though limited by their internal transportation, which restricts the projection of power. It was only because of early preparations that the Russians were able, at the same time, to support both the Caucasian and Balkan theaters.
In fact, in the Balkan theater, the Russians relied heavily on Austrian logistical supplies, otherwise they would have been unable to fight.
If we open up new fronts, we will soon exceed the Russians’ tolerance limit. Even if we can’t win outright on the battlefield, we can still wear them down.
Now that the Russians’ Black Sea fleet is finished, we can launch an attack at any time. If need be, we can turn all of the Ukrainian coast and the Crimean Peninsula into battlefields to wear out the Russians.”
There was a change of cabinet, though there was no major change of blood at the top of the government, and the war-related ministers of land and naval affairs stayed in their posts.
It is not surprising that the Minister of the Navy supported the plan; how could the importance of the Navy be demonstrated if a second front could not be opened?
The power struggle was everywhere, and it was impossible to remain uncontested. Even though the Royal Navy had the absolute advantage and deadlocked the Army, they had to run out from time to time to brush up their presence.
“Opening a second front is fine, but the situation on the Crimean Peninsula is a bit complicated, and there is a bit of a gap between the climate on the island and at home, so if we take the risk of launching an attack, the non-combat attrition will be severe.
It would be better to land on the Ukrainian coast first, cutting the Crimean Peninsula off from the mainland from behind and trapping the Russian forces on the island.” Secretary of War Stanley suggested
“Mr. Stanley, isn’t the main force of this attack the French?” Secretary of the Navy James Graham asked
……
The battle over the route of attack had turned into a battle over the dominance of the army and navy.
The Navy had proved to be much more bullish than the Army in England, so the outcome of this dominance battle was self-evident.
Paris
Napoleon III had long been unable to hold back, the war was lost militarily, but politically, he could not afford to lose; France could afford to lose, but he personally could not afford to lose.
Receiving the notice from the British, the French government made a decision as fast as possible to send 200,000 troops to start the Crimean War.
After some consultation, on February 12, 1853, Britain and France agreed to send 300,000 troops together to open a second front on the Crimean Peninsula.
By this time the great war on the Balkan Peninsula, was approaching its end, under the attack of the Russians regardless of casualties, the allied forces still failed to hold the Sliven area.
Emabule Jean-Jacques Pelissier had managed to get the Ottomans to take the blame, and on the surface it appeared that the Russians had broken through the Ottoman lines and then completed the encirclement.
Seeing that the tide had turned, on February 14, 1853, Emabule Jean-Jacques Pellissier ordered the French to break out, and the well-prepared French army easily broke through the Russian encirclement.
They were running smoothly, the Allied armies were pitted against them. The Ottoman army, not to mention, was directly betrayed, more than 300,000 troops ran out less than 30,000 after the battle.
The British also tragic shot, they are busy integrating troops to restore combat effectiveness, the result of the woolly bear from the back to kill, unprepared for the situation, was hit and fled.
When counting the losses, Major General Oliver was directly angry and speechless. The failure of this battle really has nothing to do with them, but the losses on the battlefield are awful.
There is no way to say that he, the commander of the expeditionary force, was demoted, and can barely be considered a division commander, at least he retained more than 9,000 troops, isn’t it?
The rest were naturally dispersed, and only God knows how many of these men were killed in battle, how many were captured, and how many ran away and lost.
General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in Constantinople
Oliver growled furiously, “Pelissier, you bastard better give me a reasonable explanation, or the British Empire will not be satisfied!”
Of course it’s impossible to rest, the British Expeditionary Force has suffered such heavy losses, if there isn’t even an explanation, how can we explain to the country?
“General Oliver, calm down first. When the position was suddenly breached by the enemy, we were caught in the enemy’s encirclement, and were in no position to inform you.” Emabule Jean-Jacques Pelissier forced an explanation
“Scum, fool the children with such excuses! The Russians, even if they had broken through the defenses, could not have completed their circuitous encirclement immediately, and you had no time to send a notification?
If you hadn’t used us as scapegoats, I’m afraid the French army wouldn’t have been able to withdraw so completely!” Major General Oliver sneered and said
“I’m afraid we can’t be blamed for this, the 50,000 reinforcements promised by your government should have arrived twenty days ago, and there’s still no sign of them even now. If it wasn’t for the postponement of this troop, it would have been impossible to lose this meeting battle at all.
Now that we have come to this point, you guys are also to blame. It was the wrong information you provided that directly misled the military deployment of the allied forces that caused this defeat.” Emabule Jean-Jacques Pelissier said tit-for-tat
……
Who doesn’t know how to flap their fingers? At the moment of crisis, it must be a dead friend of the road, without the coalition forces behind the rear, blocking the Russians’ pursuers, the French army can be withdrawn so intact?
If the British had been given advance notice, they would have been able to escape. They blocked the part of the Russian army, from the flank to outflank, the French army may have to be completely wiped out.
Even if the French army is open, in the front of the enemy and the rear of the pursuing troops, can run out of half of the troops, that is God blessed.
Now it’s much better, the French army but paid more than 20,000 casualties, the main force to fish out all.
With naval fire cover, all these French troops could have held Constantinople, and in terms of French interests, Emabule Jean-Jacques Pellissier’s decision was not wrong.
Only the aftermath was quite severe, and apart from the Sardinians, who had been paddling, the main body of the allied forces in the Balkans was left to the French.
The Ottoman Empire became the biggest loser and directly lost its pants. After receiving the news, Abdul Mejid I was straight away furious.
The Ottoman government had no place to vent their anger, unlike Oliver, they did not have the backing of the British Empire.
Now the Balkan Peninsula is the French say, angry eyes Emabul Jean-Jacques Pelissier will also kill, do not expect the Sudanese government to step in?
Whether they like it or not, they will take the blame. All the French had to do was hold Constantinople, and the government in London would acquiesce in the outcome.
Benefits are always more important than the truth, and even if they are pitted and spitting blood, the Sudanese government will have to continue to rely on the French.
More than seven layers of the Ottoman Empire’s revenue came from the Balkans, and most of the industry was clustered around Constantinople. (Istanbul area)
Losing the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire’s strength was still no match for Sweden and Belgium, a consequence that the Sultan’s government could not afford.
……
The Emabule Jean-Jacques Pelissier approach was militarily successful, politically it caused no end of trouble for the government in Paris.
This trouble, of course, Napoleon III himself was willing to face. The lesser of two evils, international political trouble, affects French interests; better than a defeat on the battlefield which shakes the foundations of his own rule.
Learning from his mistakes, Major-General Oliver now admired his predecessor’s foresight, and he was now firmly opposed to joint action with the French.
The government in London was equally displeased with the French and put political pressure on Napoleon III to give them an answer.
With the British leading the way, the Ottoman Empire naturally followed suit and protested. Pressured by his allies, Napoleon III made concessions.
In the next Balkan battlefield, the French army independently took on the burden of holding off the Russians and defending Constantinople; the British and the Sardinians were responsible for taking care of Greece and Montenegro; and the Ottomans had the most to lose, and as an appeasement they were allowed to paddle.
The war expenses, there is no doubt that this is the British to bear the big head 50%, France and the Ottomans each share 25%, no money the British consortium will provide loan business.
The clear division of tasks resolved the internal conflicts of the Allied Forces and cast a shadow over the Crimean War that was about to begin.
……
In just over two months, Chancellor Felix had traveled through more than twenty German states and now came to Frankfurt, the seat of the Federal Parliament.
After such a long time of diplomatic efforts, Prime Minister Felix still has a harvest, at least a few free cities have declared their support for the “Holy Roman Empire”.
This is not surprising, as these free cities are the most nationalistic regions, and their governments are the most influenced by public opinion.
The remaining states were either opposed or hesitant. In short, everyone was smart enough to find excuses to delay, and no one was foolish enough to express opposition to the unification of the German regions.
The Kingdom of Prussia was also not idle, their representatives often arrived before Felix, and communicated with the governments in advance, jointly opposing the reconstruction of “Shinra”.
The situation at the top was not clear to the people, but the majority of the German population was optimistic about a peaceful reunification for the simple reason that no state government had yet directly opposed it.
The people can freely express their opinions, but the state governments do not dare to speak out. They can’t say that because “Shinra” is unreliable, reunification by force is the only way to truly merge the German regions, right?
After Austria had been preparing for so long, Franz did not dare to raise the banner of unification by force, and these small state governments were even more reluctant to do so.
As the target of unification, they were too late to oppose it, how could they support it? Even in order to safeguard their own interests, they couldn’t block the way to rebuild Shinra.
In case unification was unavoidable, rebuilding Shinra was the path that best suited their interests, so most of the German state rulers had a complicated attitude.
Wanting to oppose the rebuilding of Shinra and not being able to say so directly, they could only expect someone to be the one to stand out and stir up Austria’s plans.
By now, the slogan of “rebuild Shinra” had already resounded in every corner of the German region, and Felix would be warmly welcomed by the local people every time he went to a place.
If this continues, Felix will probably be called the “Father of the Nation” by future generations, and the name of the Butcher Prime Minister will not be called by anyone.
At this moment, he became the spokesman for pacifism, and in the future, he might even become the Iron-blooded Prime Minister, anyway, Franz will not come out to steal the limelight.
It wasn’t easy to fool people, especially a bunch of old foxes. Felix kept promising various interest groups the benefits of unification and answering their questions.
He bragged to the capitalists about the benefits of the big market, assured the aristocrats that their interests would not be jeopardized, and sold the dream of a strong nation to the nationalists …….
In short, it is a word – blow, whether they believe it or not, also regardless of whether it can be realized, Felix Prime Minister along the way in the full blow.
To quote, “Every politician is a good salesman.”
Blowing his mouth off actually brought about nothing more than a lowering of everyone’s resolve to resist.
Most people still chose neutrality, rebuilding Shinra was acceptable to them, wanting them to contribute was a no-brainer.
Everyone is a master who doesn’t see the rabbit but doesn’t scatter the eagle, don’t expect them to invest before seeing the benefits.
Felix was satisfied with this outcome. Originally, he only wanted them to be neutral, and now that he was able to fool some of his supporters, he had already earned it.
This time the focus of public relations is the South German state, this is where Austria has the most influence, the mass base is deep, it is easiest to be fooled over.
(End of chapter)