Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 210: Tsar Alexander II, the Warlord

Unlike the British government which was filled with laughter and joy over the coronation ceremony, the atmosphere in the Tsarist government in Eastern Europe was quite serious.

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

The Russian government has always advocated Pan-Slavism, maintained the Orthodox Christian community, and protected fellow Slavs.

Serbia, which resisted the rule of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkan Peninsula, met both conditions: it was a Slavic nation and also an Orthodox Christian.

For Tsarist Russia, it is impossible to give up its support for Serbia. This is not only to open up a passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, but also to conform to its own Pan-Slavism and maintain the reasons for Tsarist Russia's expansion.

Britain and Austria-Hungary clearly underestimated Russia's determination. For Tsarist Russia, this was something that could not be compromised and was worth a try.

At the government meeting of Tsarist Russia, officials were discussing the matter with serious expressions.

Despite Russia's support, Serbia and other countries were still at a disadvantage in their resistance to the Ottoman Empire, and there was even a possibility that they would be completely suppressed by the Ottoman Empire.

This was totally unacceptable to Russia. If the resistance forces such as Serbia were allowed to be eliminated by the Ottoman Empire, it would not only undermine Russia's expansion in the Balkan Peninsula, but would also cause Tsarist Russia to lose face.

Regardless of the considerations, for Russia at present, perhaps a war is the most appropriate option.

"Tell me, what should we do to help Serbia repel the Ottoman Empire?" Tsar Alexander II's face turned pale and he looked at the ministers he trusted.

Alexander II, who was born in 1818, was already 59 years old and looked very old. But his aging age did not reduce his ambition. During his reign, the territory of Tsarist Russia expanded by millions of square kilometers, which was a commendable achievement for Alexander II.

Of course, Alexander II's most famous move was his reform that abolished serfdom, and he was affectionately called the Liberator by the people.

It’s a pity that Alexander II’s reforms were not so firm, and instead led the Russian government into new chaos.

The reformers thought that Alexander II, who was more supportive of liberalism, was the dawn of reform, but his limited reforms clearly disappointed them.

While carrying out limited and unsteady reforms in Russia, Alexander II brutally suppressed the revolutionary movement in Russia, putting himself in a rather embarrassing situation, standing on the opposite side of the conservatives and the reformers.

The conservatives' dissatisfaction with the Tsar would only be hidden, waiting for the right time to release it, while the dissatisfaction of the reformists would lead some more extreme people to take more extreme measures, such as assassinating Alexander II.

A few years earlier, the revolutionaries had planned to assassinate the Tsar. Although they did not succeed, the repeated assassination attempts did make Alexander II miserable.

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

As long as the expansion of the territory is completed, Alexander II will have a chance to restore his position in the hearts of the people. In this way, he will still be the Tsar trusted and loved by the people, and the assassination of the revolutionaries will be solved.

Faced with Alexander II's questions, the ministers certainly knew Alexander II's attitude.

After the reform, Tsarist Russia was still an autocratic monarchy, and Alexander II, as Tsar, had unparalleled supreme status and authority.

Now that the attitude of Alexander II himself is clear, the next thing is easy to handle, which is to follow the attitude of Alexander II and promote the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

"Your Majesty, I think we should start 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." The minister who was recently promoted by Alexander II spoke first and expressed his support for the war.

Alexander II nodded with satisfaction. What he wanted was the voice of support for the war in the government: "Has the military considered this war?
If we launch a war against the Ottoman Empire at this time, what are our chances of winning? "

Of course, Alexander II was not only asking about the war with the Ottoman Empire, but also about the situation in which the British strongly supported the Ottoman Empire and might even join the war for this purpose.

What's more, it was not only the British Empire that was concerned about the situation in the Balkans. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was also concerned about the situation in the Balkans, which was also a problem for Tsarist Russia.

"Your Majesty, as long as the Germans do not support Austria-Hungary, they will never join this war just to oppose us.

In this way, we only need to deal with the Ottoman Empire, which is supported by Britain. If Britain does not join the war, we should have a 100% chance of winning. The Ottoman Empire is definitely not a match for Russia, even with the support of the British Empire. "The Minister of War answered Alexander II confidently.

Although Russia had problems of one kind or another, it was still one of the five most powerful countries in Europe at that time.

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

There is a relatively obvious gap between countries. Even with the support of other powerful countries, it is impossible to make up for this gap in strength.

Unless the British Empire is willing to join the war for the Ottoman Empire, will the British really join the war? I'm afraid there is a high probability that they will not.

Given the British trouble-making character, Britain would only strongly support the Ottoman Empire in its fight against Russia, and at most instigate the Austro-Hungarian Empire to use force to support the Ottoman Empire. It would most likely not put itself in danger.

The British, with their trouble-making character, kept Europe in chaos and competition for a long time, but this was also an opportunity for Tsarist Russia.

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

Coupled with the support of the Balkan peoples, this war may be won in a short time, and Russia will also gain the Black Sea outlet it has longed for, as well as the opportunity to control the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula.

This is also a good omen for the Great Slavism that Russia has been promoting. If the support of the Yugoslavs in the Balkan Peninsula can be obtained through this war, the Great Slavism plan of Tsarist Russia will be initially completed.

Tsarist Russia, which controls the Balkan Peninsula, is absolutely qualified to stand on top of the world again. By then, even the British Empire, which has the world's number one navy, cannot guarantee that it can 100% directly defeat Tsarist Russia, which controls the Balkan Peninsula.

After hearing the report from the Minister of War, Tsar Alexander II nodded with satisfaction and then made his own decision:

From now on, Russia will enter a state of war preparation. The army is ready to go at any time. When Serbia can no longer resist the attack of the Ottoman Empire, it is time for us to send troops to the Ottoman Empire. Orthodox believers will never allow the bullying of pagans, and Slavs will never allow the abuse of foreigners. The Balkan Peninsula is the land of the Slavs, and the Slavs should decide for themselves. "

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The ministers nodded solemnly, not daring to express any dissatisfaction with the Tsar's order.

With the order from Alexander II, the whole of Russia entered into intensive preparations for war.

For Russia, a giant country with a territory of tens of millions of square kilometers, war preparations take a long time to complete.

Even if only a part of the army is mobilized, it often takes several months.

In addition to the reason that the territory was too vast, another major reason was that the political system of Tsarist Russia was too corrupt and the transmission of information between departments was too slow.

It is true that the technology is relatively backward, but other countries do not need as long as Russia to mobilize for war.

Powerful countries like Germany and France can mobilize more than 20 troops to the border within a month, and mobilize all the troops in the country in just three months.

But for Russia, one month is not enough to mobilize 20 troops. It will take at least three months to mobilize more than troops.

This is because the Balkan Peninsula is located in Europe. If the battlefield is in the Far East, Russia may not be able to transport hundreds of thousands of troops to the Far East battlefield in a year.

Historically, one of the main reasons why Russia lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War was that Russia had poor logistics and it was difficult to transport troops and other supplies to the Far East battlefield.

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

This is also the reason why although Japan was recognized as a great power after the war, it could only be ranked as the lowest among the great powers.

It took only a few decades for Japan, a relatively backward East Asian country, to reform and become a powerful nation, which is a miracle.

But it is undeniable that Japan, which is recognized as a great power, still has many shortcomings, especially in industry and economy.

Whether in World War I or World War II, Japan's industry was only below average among the great powers. Coupled with the lack of mineral resources in Japan, it was difficult for this country to develop as fast as emerging powers such as Germany and the United States.

Under the order of Tsar Alexander II, Russia's war machine began to work like an old man in his twilight years.

At the same time, the war between the Ottoman Empire and other ethnic groups in the Balkans was in full swing.

In the Balkans, the Ottomans mobilized more than 28 troops under the command of General Abdul Kerim Nadir Pasha.

In the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire, there were also more than 12.6 troops under the command of General Mehmed Mukhtar Pasha.

The combined European and Asian armies number more than 40 men and have more than 850 artillery pieces, which is a very powerful army of this size.

Although they cannot be compared with the great powers, these land forces can easily be said to have crushed the rebellious Balkan nations such as Serbia.

In other words, the anger of the Serbian and other nations towards the Ottoman Empire was too intense, which caused the war to last for a long time.

In addition, the Ottoman Empire's army was not that strong in terms of discipline and overall combat effectiveness, which turned this war, which should have been one-sided, into a protracted tug-of-war between the two sides.

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

As for the Serbian and other ethnic groups' armies, the equipment provided by Russia was less in quantity and of lower quality, but they were able to unleash extremely powerful combat effectiveness with these equipment.

It was precisely because of the poor performance of the Ottoman army in this war that Russia was determined to intervene in this war and quickly eliminated the Ottoman army, forcing the British government to agree with the fact that Russia had defeated the Ottoman Empire.

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

Under the Ottoman army's reckless attack, rebel forces such as Serbia that opposed the Ottoman Empire had been forced into a corner.

Perhaps within a year, the Ottoman Empire would have been able to completely end the war and re-establish its dominant position over Serbia and other nations and regions.

This is also the reason why the British boldly held the coronation ceremony of Queen Victoria and paid less attention to the Balkan Peninsula.

The situation was so good that the British government even reduced its aid to the Ottoman Empire.

After all, the economic crisis is affecting the British Empire, so it is better to reduce spending wherever it can.

What Britain and the Ottoman Empire didn't know was that Russia was already preparing for war. Russia also informed Serbia and other nations that were resisting the Ottoman Empire of the news of the war, which made these Yugoslavs happy.

With the blessing of good news, the Balkan peoples' resistance to the Ottoman Empire's attack became more intense, and they even forced the Ottoman army back several kilometers.

Unfortunately, Tsarist Russia’s equipment support for the Balkan peoples was gradually decreasing. After all, these equipments were to be invested in their own army to fight this war.

Between the support of weapons and equipment and Russia's personal involvement, the Balkan people naturally know which option is more beneficial to them.

The Serbs, Bulgarians, and Montenegrins were eagerly waiting, completely ignoring the fact that they were already losing ground on the front battlefield.

After much anticipation, as the situation in the Balkan Peninsula became increasingly worse, Russia finally decided to go to war!
(End of this chapter)