Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 210: Chief Combatant Tsar Alexander Ii

Unlike the jubilant atmosphere of the British Government’s coronation ceremony, the Tsarist Government in Eastern Europe had a rather serious atmosphere at this time.

As the only Orthodox Christianity country among the great powers, the relationship between Orthodox Christianity and Tsarist Russia was much closer than the relationships between other great powers and Catholicism and Protestantism.

The Russian Government has always advocated Pan-Slavism, protecting groups that uphold the Orthodox Christianity faith and safeguarding fellow Slavic people.

Serbia, which rebelled against the rule of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkan Peninsula, perfectly met both conditions, being both a Slavic people and Orthodox Christianity.

For Tsarist Russia, it was absolutely impossible to abandon support for Serbia. This was not only to open the passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, but also to align with its own Pan-Slavism and provide justification for Tsarist Russia’s expansion.

On this point, the United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire clearly underestimated Russia’s determination. For Tsarist Russia, this was something that could not be conceded at all and worth staking everything on.

At the government meeting of Tsarist Russia, the officials discussed with serious expressions.

Although there was Russia’s support, the resistance of Serbia and other countries against the Ottoman Empire had fallen into a disadvantage, and there was even a possibility of being completely quelled by the Ottoman Empire.

This was completely unacceptable to Russia. If the resistance forces like Serbia were allowed to be annihilated by the Ottoman Empire, it would not only sabotage Russia’s expansion on the Balkan Peninsula but also cause Tsarist Russia to lose face greatly.

No matter from which perspective, for the current Russia, perhaps a war was the most appropriate choice. “Speak up, what should we do to help Serbia repel the Ottoman Empire?” Tsar Alexander II asked with a grim expression, turning his gaze to the ministers he trusted.

Born in 1818, Alexander II was already 59 years old and looked decrepit. But his advanced age did not diminish Alexander II’s ambition. During his rule, Tsarist Russia’s territory expanded by millions of square kilometers, which was a praiseworthy achievement for Alexander II.

Of course, the most famous initiative of Alexander II was his reform that abolished serfdom, earning him the affectionate title of Liberator from the public.

Unfortunately, Alexander II’s reforms were not that resolute, instead leading the Russian Government into new chaos.

Reformists thought that Alexander II, who supported liberalism more, was the dawn of reform, but Alexander II’s limited reforms clearly disappointed them.

While carrying out indecisive limited reforms in Russia, Alexander II brutally suppressed Russia’s revolutionary movement, putting himself in a rather awkward situation, standing opposed to both conservatives and reformists.

The conservatives’ dissatisfaction with this Tsar would only be hidden, waiting for the right moment to be released. While the reformists’ dissatisfaction would lead some more extreme individuals to take more extreme measures, such as assassinating Alexander II.

As early as a few years ago, revolutionaries had planned assassinations against the Tsar. Although they failed, the incessant assassination attempts indeed made Alexander II suffer immensely.

For Alexander II himself, the war between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire was also an opportunity for him, an opportunity for Tsarist Russia to expand greatly.

As long as the territorial expansion was completed, Alexander II would have a chance to restore his status in the minds of the public. In this way, he would still be the Tsar trusted and loved by the public, and the revolutionaries’ assassinations would be resolved effortlessly.

Facing Alexander II’s inquiry, the ministers naturally knew Alexander II’s own attitude.

The reformed Tsarist Russia was still an autocratic monarchy country, and as Tsar, Alexander II held unparalleled supreme status and authority.

Since Alexander II’s own attitude was clear, the next steps were easy: align with Alexander II’s attitude and promote the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

“Your Majesty, I believe we should begin preparing for war with the Ottoman Empire. There is no other way, unless we are willing to see Serbia annexed by the Ottoman Empire again.” A minister recently promoted by Alexander II spoke first, expressing his support for war.

Alexander II nodded satisfactorily; what he wanted was voices in the government supporting war: “Has the military considered this war?

If we launch a war against the Ottoman Empire now, what are our chances of victory?”

What Alexander II was asking about was not just the war with the Ottoman Empire, but in the situation where the British strongly supported the Ottoman Empire and might even join the war for it.

Moreover, it was not only the British Empire that was concerned with the situation on the Balkan Peninsula. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was also concerned with the situation on the Balkan Peninsula, which was equally troublesome for Tsarist Russia.

“Your Majesty, as long as the Germans do not support the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they absolutely will not join this war just to oppose us.

In that case, we only need to deal with the Ottoman Empire supported by the British. Without the United Kingdom joining the war, we should have a ten-in-ten chance of victory. The Ottoman Empire is absolutely no match for Russia, even with the support of the British Empire.” The Minister of War answered Alexander II confidently.

Although Russia had various problems, Russia was still one of the five most powerful countries in Europe at this time.

The Ottoman Empire was no match for Russia at all, just as Serbia was no match for the Ottoman Empire.

There were clear gaps in strength between countries, and even with support from other great power countries, it was impossible to bridge such strength gaps.

Unless the British Empire was willing to join this war for the Ottoman Empire, but would the British really join the war? There was probably a high chance they would not.

Given the British troublemaking nature, the United Kingdom would only strongly support the Ottoman Empire to counter Russia, at most provoke the Austro-Hungarian Empire to use military force to aid the Ottoman Empire, and probably would not risk itself.

The British, relying on their troublemaking nature, kept Europe in long-term chaos and mutual competition, but this was also an opportunity for Tsarist Russia.

As long as the British did not personally join this war, the Russians did not take the Ottoman Empire seriously.

Plus, with the support of the various ethnic groups in the Balkans, this war might be won in a short time, and Russia would obtain the coveted Black Sea estuary, as well as the opportunity to control the various ethnic groups on the Balkan Peninsula.

This was also a very good omen for Russia’s long-promoted Pan-Slavism. If it could gain the support of the Southern Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula through this war, Tsarist Russia’s Pan-Slav plan would be initially completed.

Tsarist Russia, controlling the Balkan Peninsula, would absolutely be qualified to stand at the top of the world again. At that time, even the British Empire, with the world’s number one navy, would not dare to guarantee a 100% victory in a direct confrontation against Tsarist Russia controlling the Balkan Peninsula.

Hearing the Minister of War’s report, Tsar Alexander II nodded satisfactorily and then issued his decision: “

Starting immediately, Russia will enter a state of war preparation. The army will be ready to deploy at any time, and when Serbia can no longer resist the Ottoman Empire’s attack, that will be the time for us to send troops against the Ottoman Empire.

Believers of Orthodox Christianity absolutely will not tolerate bullying by heretics, and Slavs absolutely will not tolerate abuse by foreign ethnic groups. The Balkan Peninsula is the land of the Slavs and should be ruled by the Slavs themselves.”

“As you command, Your Majesty!” The ministers all nodded solemnly, not daring to show any dissatisfaction with the Tsar’s order.

With Alexander II’s order, the entire Russia entered tense war preparations.

For Russia, this colossal entity with territory spanning tens of millions of square kilometers, war preparation required a very long time to complete.

Even mobilizing just a portion of the army often took several months.

Besides the reason of territory being too vast, a major reason was that Tsarist Russia’s political system was too corrupt, and information transmission between departments was too slow.

There was indeed also the reason of relatively backward technology, but other countries did not take as long as Russia for war mobilization.

Great power countries like Germany and France could mobilize over 200,000 troops to the border within a month and mobilize all domestic armies within three months.

But for Russia, mobilizing 100,000 troops in a month was insufficient; at least three months were needed to mobilize over 200,000 troops.

This was still because the Balkan Peninsula was in Europe. If the battlefield was in the Far East, even a year might not be enough for Russia to transport hundreds of thousands of troops to the Far East battlefield.

The reason Russia lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War in history was largely due to Russia’s poor logistics, making it difficult to transport troops and other materials to the Far East battlefield.

The Russo-Japanese War was indeed the war in which Japan proved itself a great power, but Japan’s enemy was only half of Russia, or even less.

This was also why Japan, although recognized as a great power after the war, could only rank at the bottom among great powers.

Reforming into a powerful great power country in just a few decades was a miracle for Japan, this quite backward East Asian country.

But it was undeniable that Japan, recognized as a great power, still had many defects, especially in industry and economy.

Under the order of Tsar Alexander II, Russia’s war machine began to start up like an elderly person in twilight.

At the same time, the war between the Ottoman Empire and other ethnic groups on the Balkan Peninsula was also raging fiercely.

On the Balkan Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire mobilized over 280,000 troops, commanded by General Abdulkerim Nadir Pasha.

In the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire, there were also over 126,000 troops, commanded by General Mehmed Muhtar Pasha.

The armies in Europe and Asia combined exceeded 400,000 men, with over 850 cannons; such a scale of army strength was quite powerful.

Although incomparable to great power countries, these army strengths crushing the Balkan ethnic groups like Serbia that rose in rebellion was no problem at all.

It was just that the anger of ethnic groups like Serbia against the Ottoman Empire was too intense, which caused this war to continue for a long time.

Moreover, the Ottoman Empire’s army was not that strong in discipline level and overall combat effectiveness, turning what should have been a one-sided war into a prolonged stalemate between both sides.

Although the United Kingdom provided the Ottoman Empire’s army with a batch of rifles and some relatively scarce strategic resources, this still could not effectively improve the Ottoman Empire army’s actual combat effectiveness.

On the side of Serbia and other ethnic groups’ armies, the equipment provided by Russia was even smaller in quantity and worse in quality, but they unleashed extremely formidable combat effectiveness with this equipment.

It was precisely because of the Ottoman Empire army’s poor performance in this war that Russia decided to intervene in this war and resolve the Ottoman Empire army at extremely fast speed, forcing the British Government to accept the fact that Russia had defeated the Ottoman Empire.

Although the Ottoman Empire army performed poorly on the battlefield, both the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire behind it were still relatively optimistic about this war.

Under the Ottoman Empire army’s offensive regardless of casualties, the anti-Ottoman Empire rebel forces like Serbia had been cornered.

Perhaps without a year, the Ottoman Empire could completely end this war and reestablish ruling status over ethnic groups and regions like Serbia.

This was also why the British confidently held Empress Vitoria’s coronation ceremony and reduced attention to the Balkan Peninsula.

The situation could be said to be very favorable, and the British Government’s aid to the Ottoman Empire had even been reduced.

After all, the economic crisis was affecting the British Empire, and places where expenditure could be reduced should naturally be reduced.

What the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire did not know was that Russia internally was already preparing for war. Russia also informed the ethnic groups resisting the Ottoman Empire, like Serbia, of the news of preparing for war, making these Southern Slavs delighted.

Under the boost of the good news, the Balkan ethnic groups’ resistance against the Ottoman Empire’s attack became even more intense, even forcing the Ottoman Empire army back several kilometers.

Unfortunately, Tsarist Russia’s equipment support for the Balkan ethnic groups was also gradually decreasing; after all, this equipment was to be invested in its own army to fight this war.

Between weapons and equipment support and Russia personally entering the fray, the Balkan ethnic groups naturally knew which choice was more beneficial to them.

Serbians, Bulgarians, Montenegrins waited eagerly, completely ignoring the fact that their own side on the frontal battlefield was retreating steadily.

After much anticipation, with the situation on the Balkan Peninsula becoming increasingly dire, Russia finally decided: war!