Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 239: Anglo-Russian Conflict, German Neutrality

While the Spanish government was discussing its actions against Portugal, the situation in the Balkans, which had been calm for several months, finally fell into chaos again.

In mid-to-late February 1878, the Russian government forced the Ottoman Empire to sign the Treaty of San Stefano in an attempt to end the war as quickly as possible and avoid interference from Britain and Austria-Hungary.

The content of this treaty had been discussed in advance by Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov and Tsar Alexander II, and the Ottoman Empire, which was suffering a crushing defeat, had no choice at all.

According to the treaty signed by both parties, the Ottoman Empire would be forced to recognize the full independence of Montenegro, Serbia and Romania, and recognize the autonomous status of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina would continue to remain within the Ottoman territory as an autonomous region, but the two countries would be responsible for their own internal affairs and the Ottoman Empire would have no right to interfere.

In addition, in order to establish the Greater Bulgaria in southern Romania, the Ottoman Empire must allow Russian forces to operate legally in the Bulgarian region.

The Ottoman Empire also needed to return the southwestern region of Sarajevo to Russia, and cede Kars, Batumi, Ardahan and Bayachit to Russia.

In addition to territorial changes, the Russian government also asked the Ottoman Empire to modify the rules for passage through the Bosphorus Strait and required the Ottoman Empire to permanently allow warships from all Black Sea coastal countries, including Russia, to pass through the strait.

According to the Russians' request, the content of this contract had to be kept strictly confidential for a short period of time to avoid arousing opposition from Britain and Austria-Hungary.

But the Ottoman Empire was not a fool. The empire's top leaders knew that only the British could prevent the Ottoman Empire from being dismembered at this time.

Thanks to the efforts of the Ottoman Empire's top leaders, the relevant content of the Treaty of San Stefano was also disclosed to the European media and known to European countries.

This time, the content of the contract caused strong dissatisfaction from Britain and Austria-Hungary.

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I could no longer sit still. He ordered the government to criticize the contract in a tough manner and issued a regional mobilization order.

The Russians gained a large amount of land in the treaty and were able to indirectly control Montenegro, Serbia and Romania by supporting their independence.

What about Austria-Hungary? Before the war, Russia promised to give Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary, which only gained autonomy and remained within the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

This also means that if the contract is followed, the Austro-Hungarian Empire can only watch Russia continue to expand its influence in the Balkan Peninsula, and it can only withdraw from the competition for hegemony in the Balkan Peninsula.

The British Empire was also extremely dissatisfied. Although the treaty did not allow Russia to gain control of Constantinople, it gained the right to free passage through the straits.

Without the restriction of the strait, Russia's Black Sea Fleet would move south to the Mediterranean with impunity, thus destroying Britain's layout at the two Mediterranean outlets.

The British had huge ambitions. After they gained control of the Suez Canal, they had achieved actual control over the Mediterranean.

Both the eastern and western seaports are in the hands of the British. If the Mediterranean countries want to move out of the Mediterranean, it depends on the attitude of the British.

The British enjoy this attitude. They don't want any country to destroy the existing system, let alone Russia, which has a strong competitive relationship with Britain.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire announced a partial mobilization, Britain sent the Royal Fleet directly to the Strait of Constantinople and convened a diplomatic conference, solemnly declaring that the Treaty of San Stefano signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire was illegal and was a unilateral blackmail by Russia against the Ottoman Empire.

The strong attitudes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Britain put Russia under great pressure for a while, and Tsar Alexander II could only place his hopes on his ally, the German Empire.

The Germans were also in a difficult situation. Their two allies were almost at odds with each other over the Balkan Peninsula issue, and any choice Germany made would undermine the policy of isolating France formulated by Prime Minister Bismarck.

But if no statement is made, it will not only disappoint the two allies, but may also affect Germany's international status in Europe.

This kind of conflict between the great powers is a time to demonstrate a country's status and international influence. If the Germans had acted like cowards, I'm afraid the French would have laughed at this matter for decades.

After careful consideration, German Chancellor Bismarck finally chose to mediate the conflict between the major powers as a neutral intermediary.

This also reflects the ability of the Iron Chancellor Bismarck. No matter which side Germany chooses to join the conflict, it will seriously damage its relationship with the other side.

But Germany has no choice but to step forward, so the most appropriate option is to mediate the conflict as much as possible in a neutral capacity.

Germany is also strong enough to act as a middleman. The role of a middleman requires not only sufficient international status and influence, but also sufficient strength to make countries compromise with each other under relatively fair conditions.

If there is not enough strength, there will be a situation where even though mediation is carried out, other countries will turn a deaf ear to it.

After Germany announced that it would mediate the conflict as an absolutely neutral intermediary, Russia actually lost the initiative.

The current situation is that Russia is fighting one against two, and one of the opponents is the British Empire, the most powerful country in the world today.

Under such circumstances, even though Russia had completed its control over the countries in the Balkan Peninsula, it was forced to re-enter negotiations with Britain and Austria-Hungary.

In late March 1878, at the invitation of the Germans, the British Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia held a conference in Berlin to resolve the competition and conflicts among the countries in the Balkans.

As the most powerful country today, the diplomatic representatives sent by Britain righteously denounced the treaty signed by Russia at the beginning of the meeting and stated that the British Empire would never accept such a contract.

British representatives demanded a redivision of the Balkans and ensure that the Bosphorus remained under Ottoman control.

The British also gave a reason for this. Because the Ottoman Empire did not lose Constantinople, the Bosphorus Strait should theoretically belong to the Ottoman Empire's inland sea.

Since it is the inland sea of ​​the Ottoman Empire, Russia naturally has no right to freely pass through the strait.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire also put forward its own demands. They demanded the annexation of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Serbia, and the change of Greater Bulgaria proposed by Russia into Small Bulgaria to prevent the rapid expansion of Russian power in the Balkan Peninsula.

When Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, who was attending the meeting, heard the demands of Britain and Austria-Hungary, his face suddenly became very gloomy.

If the plan proposed by Britain and Austria-Hungary was really implemented, then what would be the purpose of Russia fighting this war?

After so much effort in launching a war, all the benefits were taken by Britain and Austria-Hungary. Did Russia do this just to control a small Romania?
Although Russia seemed somewhat powerless in the face of pressure from the British Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, as Foreign Minister, knew that he could not retreat on his own initiative.

If he had any idea of ​​retreating, Britain and Austria-Hungary would definitely make more extreme proposals. For the benefit of Russia, he had to show a strong enough attitude in this diplomatic conference, at least to let Britain and Austria-Hungary know that Russia was definitely not a fat sheep that they could slaughter at will.

"You two, we absolutely cannot accept your proposal. The Treaty of San Stefano is an armistice treaty signed between our country and the Ottoman Empire. All the contents of the treaty are compensation from the Ottoman Empire to our country after its defeat. There is nothing unreasonable about it." Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov could not help but stand up and refute.

If we keep silent, who can guarantee that the foreign ministers of Britain and Austria-Hungary will not make even more outrageous demands?

"Reasonable compensation for defeat?" The British diplomatic representative smiled and said disdainfully, "Didn't your country start the war first? Your country started the war without any reason, and you still want the Ottoman Empire to bear the compensation for defeat. Isn't this an unfair clause?
The war claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ottoman civilians, which was already the most powerful punishment for the Ottoman Empire.

I think the Ottoman Empire was not at fault in this war, and the Treaty of San Stefano needs to be revised, otherwise my country will not recognize its legitimacy. "Because of the strength of the British Empire, the British diplomatic representative was very confident in his words. Even if he was sitting opposite the Russian Foreign Minister, Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, who was deeply trusted by Tsar Alexander II, he would not be timid at all.

The diplomatic representative of the Austro-Hungarian Empire also nodded and chimed in: "Not only did your country start a war without any reason, but it also completely failed to abide by the agreement between our two countries before the war began.

Our 3800 million people and His Majesty Emperor Franz Joseph all detest this betrayal of promise.

Like the United Kingdom, we do not recognize the legitimacy of the Treaty of San Stefano and demand that it be revised together in the presence of all of us to ensure that the interests of all the nations and countries involved in the treaty are not affected.

Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov never expected that his tough attitude would be even tougher than that of the British and Austro-Hungarian representatives.

In order to make the Russians give in, representatives from Britain and Austria-Hungary also expressed their pro-war attitudes.

The British representative stated that if the Russians did not agree to revise the Treaty of San Stefano, then the next time Britain and Russia met would be at the negotiating table for war.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire stated that the troops around Hungary have begun to mobilize. If Russia does not choose to give in in this conflict, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will take the initiative to declare war on Russia.

Faced with the almost naked threat of war between the two countries, Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov ultimately hesitated.

If Russia faced either Britain or Austria-Hungary alone, it would not be afraid of the other's threat of war.

But there was no way. The British Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire united and were in no position to be at all inferior to any country in the world.

Not to mention Russia, whose industry had just started, even a European upstart like Germany, or France, which once dominated Europe, would not be able to have a peaceful dialogue without any disturbance.

The naval power of the British Empire alone was enough to dominate the world, not to mention that the combined army strength of Britain and Austria-Hungary could pose a serious threat to Russia.

The British Empire is famous for its navy, but this does not mean that the British army's combat effectiveness is very bad. Although it is not as good as countries like Germany and France that mainly dominate the army, among the major powers, the British army's combat effectiveness is enough to rank in the upper middle.

Needless to say, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a tough place, with the Austrians, or South Germans, being the main ethnic group. This can also be seen from the German army's combat effectiveness.

Although the Austrian population did not account for a large proportion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the combat effectiveness of the army, which was a mixture of Austrians, Hungarians and other ethnic minorities, was not too weak.

The biggest problem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the language barrier among the armies of different nationalities. Not everyone was like Emperor Franz Joseph I, who had an unimaginable talent in languages.

Of course, no matter how many problems the Austro-Hungarian Empire had, they were one of the five traditional powers in Europe and their overall strength was still very strong.

Faced with the common threat of war from Britain and Austria-Hungary, the Russian ambassador could only turn his attention again to German Chancellor Bismarck, who was presiding over the meeting.

Bismarck had already planned to remain completely neutral in this conference so as not to seriously damage relations with Russia and Austria-Hungary.

Seeing that Russian Ambassador Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov was looking at him, Bismarck could only shake his head implicitly, indicating that he could do nothing about it.

Although he had already guessed that Germany might remain indifferent, when Prime Minister Bismarck shook his head at him, Russian Ambassador Alexander couldn't help but reveal a disappointed expression.

Without Germany's support, this also means that Russia can only fend for itself in this conference, or can only be slaughtered by Britain and Austria-Hungary.

As foreign minister, Alexander certainly understood the attitude and specific decisions within Russia. It was impossible for Russia to wage war against Britain and Austria-Hungary again, because Russia had already suffered a large number of casualties in the Russo-Turkish War and had a large military budget expenditure.

The Russo-Turkish War had been going on for a year. If Russia fought another war with Britain and Austria-Hungary, even if it could win in the end, it would not make any money from this deal.

Russia has a sufficient population, and the loss of troops is not a big concern for the Russian government.

But as troops were losing, weapons and ammunition were also being consumed crazily. Whether they were produced domestically or imported from Spain, this was a huge military expenditure.

If Russia could eventually win the war, it could still comfort itself with the land it had gained and the Balkan countries it controlled.

But if the war ends in failure, Russia will lose everything.

It is also for this reason that long before attending the Berlin Conference, Tsar Alexander II had already instructed the diplomatic ambassadors to show a tough attitude in the early stages of the negotiations to see if they could force Britain and Austria-Hungary to back down.

If Britain and Austria-Hungary were willing to resort to war to force Russia to surrender, then Russia would have no choice but to fall into the trap and raise its hands in surrender.

Ugh!
Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov sighed secretly in his heart, and then he seemed to be deflated and suddenly lost all his spirit.

After struggling for a few seconds, Alexander said helplessly: "Just do as you say, respected envoy. Russia is willing to revise the Treaty of San Stefano, but the premise is that our country's interests must also be sufficiently respected."

Seeing that the Russian ambassador had chosen to back down, the representatives of Britain and Austria-Hungary looked at each other and saw a smile in each other's eyes.

Although they have crushed Russia in comprehensive strength when they joined together, this does not mean that they want to start a war with Russia.

The most troublesome thing about Russia is its huge population, which means millions of troops. If Russia, this giant, is really provoked and mobilizes millions of troops, won't Britain and Austria-Hungary also have to mobilize millions of troops to maintain their advantage on the battlefield?

Even if this could win the war, Britain and Austria-Hungary would still suffer considerable losses.

Especially the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had no colonies, mobilized its own troops from its own population.

Among the many ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Austrian army was the most reliable in terms of combat effectiveness. If the Austrian army lost a lot of people in the war, even the stability of the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be affected.

One of the main reasons why the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismembered into several countries after World War I was that Austria, which suffered heavy losses, could no longer control Hungary.

Only by maintaining the advantage of the majority ethnic group over the minority ethnic groups at all times can the country achieve long-term stability.

This also reflects the importance of colonies. Although the colonial army armed by the indigenous people of the colonies is not strong in combat effectiveness, they are very good cannon fodder.

Even if the casualty ratio was 10 to 1, it would not be a loss for many colonial countries. Ten natives of the colonies were certainly not as valuable as one native, except for those countries with large populations.

For Spain, even if it loses all its indigenous population, it would not want its native population to decrease by 100 million.

Not to mention that the war also caused the loss of extremely excellent young and middle-aged labor force, and the value of these young and middle-aged labor force cannot be measured by the indigenous population.

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(End of this chapter)