Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 204 The Second Economic Crisis

While compulsory primary education was in full swing in Spain, the smoke of war had already spread across the Balkan Peninsula, covering all ethnic groups living on this land.

The Russian government took a gloating attitude towards the chaos and weakness of the Ottoman Empire, and even strongly supported several Ottoman vassal states, including Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, in their resistance against the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the last Russo-Turkish war, that is, the treaty signed by various countries on the situation in the Balkan Peninsula after the Crimean War.

One of the demands was that the various countries demanded that the Ottoman Empire implement some reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including granting the people of these two regions the right to religious freedom, reducing taxes in these two regions and carrying out tax reforms.

The Ottoman government at the time expressed its agreement and expressed its willingness to implement relevant reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But the good times did not last long. After the Crimean War, the Ottoman Empire not only did not make any progress in reform, but also suppressed the uprisings and rebellions of various ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula more brutally.

This not only intensified the hatred between the various ethnic groups in the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, but also gave European powers led by Russia the opportunity to participate in the situation in the Balkans.

With Russia's strong support and call, many countries and nations in the Balkan Peninsula united, expressed their dissatisfaction with the Ottoman Empire, and joined the armed rebellion.

At present, except for the Kingdom of Greece, all other countries in the Balkan Peninsula are vassal states of the Ottoman Empire. No vassal state can pose a threat to the Ottoman Empire, but if all vassal states unite and have the support of the Russians behind them, it will be a considerable threat to the Ottoman Empire.

In early July, the armed rebellion between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan peoples had already entered a stalemate phase.

The Ottoman Empire had advanced weapons and equipment from Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the weapons and equipment of the rebel nation were no worse, all provided by Russia.

The Ottoman Empire had no tolerance for rebellions among these Balkan ethnic groups, and there was only one way to deal with these rebels, which was to use military force to brutally suppress them.

In just one month of July, the Ottoman Empire mobilized its army several times to suppress the rebellions of the Balkan peoples. Hundreds of rebels were eliminated in total, and thousands more were affected and faced long prison sentences.

Although the Ottoman Empire was relatively corrupt, behind it stood the two traditional European powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, which maintained a significant lead in weapons and equipment.

Even though the Balkan peoples actively participated in rebellions and armed uprisings against the brutal rule of the Ottoman Empire, they still could not pose much threat to the Ottoman Empire.

As long as Russia, as a great power, does not intervene personally, the current situation in the Balkans is acceptable to the Ottoman Empire.

This is also a question that the great powers including Austria-Hungary and Britain are concerned about: will the Russians personally take part in this conflict that has attracted the attention of the whole of Europe?
Whether to participate or not is a question worth thinking about for other European countries, but for Tsarist Russia, the answer to this question has actually been known long ago.

There are two major conflicts between Russia and the European powers: one is the conflict with the Austro-Hungarian Empire over the Balkan Peninsula, and the other is the conflict with Britain over Central Asia and East Asia.

These two major contradictions are related to another major shortcoming of Russia, which is that although Russia has a vast territory, it lacks natural ice-free ports.

Russia's three main seaports currently face the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Japan.

The Sea of ​​Japan is located in the Far East and does not help Russia's layout in Europe. Under such circumstances, Russia's outlets to the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea are particularly important.

However, both of these outlets faced the danger of being blocked by the enemy. If Russia wanted to go from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, it had to pass through the strait controlled by Denmark and the North Sea controlled by Britain.

If you want to enter the Indian Ocean or the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, you have to pass through the Strait of Constantinople controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

It is impossible to solve the problem of access to the Baltic Sea. After all, the Baltic Sea has many neighboring countries, including a powerful country like Germany, which is one of the five traditional powers in Europe.

Even if the Baltic Sea is controlled, it will be useless because the British sphere of influence is to the west of the Baltic Sea, and the British Navy can still blockade the Baltic Sea.

Under such circumstances, the relatively weak Ottoman Empire became the only choice for Tsarist Russia to expand its seaports, which was also the reason why the Russo-Turkish War broke out many times.

For Alexander II, this was a great opportunity that could not be missed. It was also the best opportunity for Russia to completely extend its hand into the Balkan Peninsula and seek control of the Strait of Constantinople.

Speaking of Alexander II, the reform of abolishing serfdom promoted by him still had a great impact on Russia. But at the same time, his reform was not thorough. Russia was still the corrupt empire in essence, but it was extended for a short time.

The entire Russian Empire was likened to a dam that was about to reach its capacity. Alexander II's reforms raised the height of the dam by a few meters, delaying the time for the dam to be filled with water by several decades.

But the dam still has to be filled with water. The moment the water is full, the corrupt Russian Empire will fall apart.

Judging from the current military strength and weaponry of both the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia, Tsarist Russia has an absolute advantage.

As one of the most populous countries in Europe, Russia has a terrifying number of standing infantry of 72 and nearly 3000 artillery pieces, which are divided into 16 armies distributed across Russia's vast territory.

On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire, despite some reforms, had only a little over 40 troops. Compared to Tsarist Russia, which had more than 3000 artillery pieces, the Ottoman Empire had only about 800 artillery pieces, many of which were relatively backward.

However, considering that British aid is arriving in a steady stream, the gap in weapons and equipment between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian army will actually become smaller and smaller.

Russia's 72 troops are scattered across a vast area of ​​Russia, and only a few can be deployed in the Balkans.

The Ottoman Empire was not much different. Although it claimed to have 40 troops, only about 28 were deployed in the Balkans, and the remaining nearly 13 troops were located in the Anatolian Peninsula, which was separated from the Balkans by the Strait of Constantinople.

As the year progressed to September 1876, the war between Serbia and Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire became increasingly tense.

Yes, it was a war. Serbia and Montenegro, which existed as vassal states, had declared war on the Ottoman Empire a few months ago, with the reason for the declaration of war being to recover the legal land illegally occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

Seeing the flames of the Balkan Peninsula becoming more and more intense, Austria-Hungary and Britain could only call on both sides to remain rational and support the Ottoman Empire as much as possible to ensure that the Ottoman Empire had an advantage in this war. In just one month in September, Britain transported a large amount of weapons and equipment and food supplies to the Ottoman Empire. With these weapons and equipment, the Ottoman Empire fought back and forth with Serbia and Montenegro, and even had the upper hand in most cases.

This valuable assistance from Britain was a life-saving straw for the Ottoman Empire, because as early as the end of last year, the Ottoman Empire had suffered a severe famine in the Anatolian Peninsula, which led to the collapse of the empire's finances and even made it unable to maintain its existing army.

On the Austro-Hungarian side, when the Balkan War was extremely intense, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already considering how to deal with Russia's intervention in the war.

Judging from the existing information currently available, it would be difficult for the Russians not to intervene in this war unless Britain directly announced that it would help the Ottoman Empire to quell the rebellion.

But this is obviously impossible. Unless there is enough benefit, the British will not take the initiative to join this war.

Even if the British were willing to join the war, would it be a good thing for Austria-Hungary? Probably not.

With Britain's personal involvement, the Ottoman Empire would certainly be able to put an end to the rebellion quickly without having to worry about the danger from the Russians.

But the Ottoman Empire would definitely be infiltrated by the British later, and it would not be so easy for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to infiltrate the Balkans again.

It is precisely because of these reasons that the current Austro-Hungarian Empire is in a rather ambiguous attitude. If anything, the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is more like hoping that Russia and Britain, who are involved in the situation in the Balkan Peninsula, will disappear completely, leaving only the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a great power in this land.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire rarely maintained neutrality on the situation in the Balkans, patiently waiting for a new round of diplomatic struggle between Britain and Russia.

At the same time, Franz Joseph I ordered the Austro-Hungarian army to be on standby at all times to ensure that Austria-Hungary could intervene in the Balkan war at any time.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not intend to interfere in this war, in line with the principle of "everyone who sees it has a share", no matter who wins the final victory in this struggle, the Austro-Hungarian Empire must be guaranteed to get a piece of the pie.

If Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire, Franz Joseph I would choose to ally with the British, and even use the threat of war to force the Russians to make concessions and divide the Balkan Peninsula into three parts instead of allowing the Russians to annex it all.

If the Ottoman Empire defeated Russia, it would be great news. Not only would the situation in the Balkans remain the same, but the ambitions of the Russian Empire would also be further frustrated.

But this idea is far less likely than the first one. Although both the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia were weak empires, the Ottoman Empire was clearly on its deathbed, and although Tsarist Russia was still lingering on, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

Since the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the war in the Balkans may be the most exciting news in Europe in recent times.

It is precisely because of this that the Balkan Peninsula has attracted not only the attention of the three major powers, but also a large number of newspaper media and Europeans who are concerned about news in this area.

Spain has also been busy during this period. On the one hand, it has vigorously promoted the promotion of compulsory primary education and carried out pilot work in Catalonia and Madrid.

On the other hand, it secretly contacted the Ottoman Empire and Russia to seek export opportunities for Spanish weapons and equipment.

In addition to weapons and equipment, other strategic materials including food can also be sold. Spain's environment has been relatively stable in recent years, and food production has been rising steadily, so it is not a problem to take out some food for export.

Seeing that Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula would not fight for a while, Carlo gradually began to pay attention to other things, especially how to deal with the economic crisis.

As stated at the cabinet meeting at the beginning of the year, according to estimates by the government and the finance department, there is a high probability that a second economic crisis will be triggered this year.

Indeed, this is the case. From February to March, the British economy experienced a new round of fluctuations, which also led to the outbreak of the second round of economic crisis.

Fortunately, Spain had already prepared for this, and the fluctuations of the economic crisis did not cause too serious an impact.

Of course, a big reason for this is that Europe is still experiencing an economic crisis.

The impact of the first round of economic crisis can only be said to have weakened, but the economic crisis itself was not over. By the beginning of 1876, the economies of many European countries were still in a mess, and industrial production suffered a serious impact.

Under such circumstances, although the second round of economic crisis affected many countries, it was no longer fatal compared to the first round of economic crisis.

Those companies that could not withstand the economic crisis had already gone bankrupt in the first round of the economic crisis. Most of the remaining companies that were able to hold on had government support, so they naturally had no problem with withstanding the second round of the economic crisis.

If the countries most severely affected by the first round of economic crisis were Germany, the United States and Austria-Hungary, then the countries most severely affected by the second round of economic crisis were Britain and France.

Britain and France relied on their large number of colonies to survive the first round of economic crisis for a longer time, and the impact of the economic crisis on industry and economy was far less severe than that on other countries.

But after the start of the second round of economic crisis, even though Britain and France could still suck blood from their colonies, it was obvious that they could no longer hold on.

Fortunately, the first round of economic crisis had bankrupted many companies with weak foundations, and the impact of the second round of economic crisis was really limited, and it was even more insignificant for countries with relatively large economies and industries such as Britain and France.

During the first round of the economic crisis, when Germany and the United States were most severely affected, more than one-third of factories stopped production and nearly half of workers faced the risk of unemployment.

In the second round of the economic crisis, the number of factories that stopped operating in the UK totaled less than one-fifth of the total number of factories, and this was the impact caused by the superposition of two rounds of economic crises.

Of course, the impact of the second round of economic crisis on the British Empire was still huge.

If there had not been a second round of economic crisis, the British Empire would have been able to support the Ottoman Empire much more. But now, because Britain's domestic industry and economy have also been affected, the support for the Ottoman Empire is not strong, and there is no intention of using the army to intervene in this war.

(End of this chapter)