Chapter 577: The Ottoman Crisis
Chapter 564 The Ottoman Crisis
Compared to his ancestors who had ravaged Europe, Asia and Africa, Abdul Aziz I could be called a good boy. Since his succession to the throne, he has been good to his neighbors and has been careful in diplomacy, avoiding conflict with European powers as much as possible.
With the exception of the Russo-Prussian War, when he fell on the Russians, Abdul Aziz I never initiated a war. He was one of the few pacifists among the sultans.
Moreover, the last war was also full of insiders, if not for the secret encouragement of the Great Powers, Abdul Aziz I would most likely choose to be a spectator.
Of course, he was not a “pacifist” by choice. It is entirely because the surrounding enemy is too powerful, really can not win but choose peace.
When the Ottoman Empire was strong, it made enemies everywhere, and now it has to pay the price.
Can’t just let you bully people and not let others retaliate? This is not the Ottoman Empire a decline. Austria and Russia have come to revenge, if not the strength does not allow, may be next door to Persia will also insert a hand.
Now Persia and the Ottoman Empire is a rotten brother and sister, all towards the decline. Because of the geographical location of the relationship, the Ottoman Empire at the same time and two big countries as neighbors, so the tragedy of some earlier.
In contrast, the Persians in the east were much better off and only had to face the British. At least there was hope of winning, and the Persians had crushed a British invasion a decade or so earlier.
“With a grunt, Abdul Aziz I tore the war report in his hand into pieces. No doubt it was bad news again, these days Abdul Aziz I was going crazy.
“Yesterday the Austrians just besieged Jerusalem and today the Bosphorus has fallen. Is it possible to lose even the Dardanelles in a few days and wait for the enemy to parade in Ankara?”
The people bowed their heads in silence, it is not that the Ottoman army did not try hard, it is really that the gap between the two sides of strength is too great. The Russians are not just fighting a dull battle, in the month after the outbreak of the war, the Russian army has landed from five ports.
Not waiting for the Sudanese government to send reinforcements over, the landing of the Russian army has already withdrawn, change the port to continue the attack.
It seems that not many results were achieved, but in fact the damage brought to the Ottoman Empire was not small. All the way to fight all the way to implement the scorched-earth policy, a large number of coastal areas of the people, forced to migrate to the inland areas.
While fighting the enemy, the Sultan’s government also had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of resettling war refugees. Don’t look at Abdul Aziz I clamor, want all the people and the enemy to fight to the end, the actual operation is not at all so.
The first thing the Russians did when they conquered a place was to start wreaking havoc, for example: destroying farmland, burning down houses, smashing up iconic buildings, and deporting the local populace to flood into the interior.
The Ottoman Empire’s coastline was too long to focus on defense in its entirety, and areas with weak forces allowed the enemy to exploit them.
Every time the Russians landed successfully, the Ottoman Empire had to produce tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of additional war refugees. The law does not apply in the Ottoman Empire, and it is unlikely that the Sultan’s government would hold so many people responsible for fleeing.
People always have to eat, and in just one time there were hundreds of thousands of refugees in the Ottoman Empire. The need to relieve so many victims left the Sudanese government, which hadn’t been prepared beforehand, with its hands full.
Other supplies are just, the Ottoman people do not require high, have a mouth to feed on the line. This simple request made the Sudanese government feel difficult.
Watching the stockpile of food dwindle, Abdul Aziz I is seeing in the eyes, anxious in the heart. Now that the Bosphorus had fallen, it meant that the number of war refugees would increase again.
One day or two days can hold out, if the war lasts for a year or two, the Ottoman government does not have so many reserves of food.
Minister of War Elmoid replied apprehensively, “Your Majesty, the enemy has the advantage of the sea and comes and goes like the wind on the battlefield. Without waiting for our reinforcements to arrive, they withdrew early and did not fight us at all.”
This explanation obviously did not satisfy Abdul Aziz I: “It is true that there are some of these problems in other areas, but the Bosphorus was fought all the way down by the Russian army. Don’t tell me that you didn’t have time to mobilize reinforcements?”
The number of Ottoman troops stationed along the Bosphorus were all over 200,000, while the attacking Russian army was only 100,000 or so, on the surface, the Ottoman army had absolute strength, and regrettably still lost the battle.
War can not just look at the number, or more to look at the force to put. It seems that the Ottoman army is more numerous, but in fact, it is necessary to divide the troops stationed in various places, and the Russian army when fighting the strength is not advantageous.
Elmhurst hurriedly explained: “Your Majesty, although the Bosphorus Strait was lost, but it also hit the Russian army hard, and the Russian army that landed in the short term has lost the ability to continue to start a big war.
We are mobilizing heavy forces and preparing to drive them down to the sea.
Now that the Russo-Polish War has broken out, the Tsarist government should not be able to increase its troops any further, we lost this meeting on the surface, but strategically the situation is moving in our favor.”
This explanation was enough to fool Abdul Aziz I, who had failed in his military ability. Subconsciously, Abdul Aziz I wanted to hear good news.
Whether or not the counter-offensive plan could be realized was no longer important. On the battlefield, there are so many variations that it is not unusual for some accidents to happen.
The Minister of the Interior, Muhammad, who saw the problem, frowned, glanced at the Sultan’s face, and decidedly chose to play dumb.
After a few moments of hesitation, perhaps because of a bad conscience, or perhaps because of the fear that if the Ottoman ship sank, everyone would be doomed.
Muhameda reminded implicitly, “As of now, the war refugees in the country have already exceeded the 750,000 mark, and this number is already very dangerous.
If it continues to increase, we won’t have that much food relief, and it’s likely to cause a big mess when the time comes.”
It wasn’t that it was likely to cause a big mess, but that it was bound to cause a big mess. The Ottoman Empire had a population of just over 16 million people, and the number of refugees already accounted for 4.7% of the total population.
With so many people losing their livelihoods, there simply weren’t that many positions in the country to house them, and they could only rely on government relief to get by.
If the battlefield continued to lose, this number of refugees would continue to climb. The Ottoman Empire is not a major food-producing country, and overseas trade has been blocked, so if the number of refugees continues to increase, the outbreak of a food crisis is almost inevitable.
In reality, the situation would be even worse. So many people have nothing to do every day, waiting for the government to relief, security is a big problem.
These words fell on different ears, and naturally had different interpretations. It was meant to put pressure on the military, but to the ears of Abdul Aziz I, it changed its flavor.
“In order to save food, future relief for refugees will be differentiated, prioritizing the relief of ****blessed own people, and the rest will be left to fend for themselves!
The concentration of refugees together is also a problem, the government finds a way to disperse them. If it can’t think of a way, then let the infidels make room.”
Hearing the Sultan’s words, Muhammadah broke out in a cold sweat. Was this not enough chaos in the country? If a different person had said it, he would have thought that he had been bribed by the enemy and had come specifically to cholera the Ottoman Empire.
Originally the Ottoman Empire ethnic and religious contradictions are serious, now so different treatment, is not forcing people to rebel?
The two words, “internal and external cooperation, internal and external trouble,” have already popped up in the mind of Muhammadah, and hurriedly persuaded: “Your Majesty, can not be ah!
We are now in a time of war, there must not be any trouble in the country. If we intensify the conflict now, this pagan will probably collude with the enemy, and then the empire will be in danger.”
Unfortunately, Abdul Aziz I was no longer the ambitious Sultan who had just succeeded to the throne, but a brain-damaged Sultan who had been defeated by reality.
Before 1872, Abdul Aziz I could still be called a wise ruler. He had taken a break from his people in internal affairs, established a university, set up a code of law, and reformed the Ottoman Empire by secularizing it.
After the failure of the Ottoman reforms in 1872 due to a strong backlash from the conservatives, Abdul Aziz I fell from grace and was never again a great man.
He became more and more radical in his actions and could not be persuaded at all. When confronted with religious issues and ethnic nationalities, he did not think of solving the problems at the root, but directly and brutally suppressed them by force.
The original time and space Abdul Aziz I is tossed overboard, in 1876 by the people overthrew, and finally died of depression.
If we do what Abdul Aziz I wants, maybe we don’t have to wait for two years, maybe we will change the owner in two months.
……
I’m in bad shape today, so I’ll write a little less.
(End of chapter)