Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 140 Changes in Situation

As Russian troops withdrew, Austrian troops began entering Wallachia to restore order.

Britain and France had gone to great lengths to persuade Austria to join the war, but now they had mixed feelings about Austria's intervention. They were pleased that Austria had helped expel the Russian army, but at the same time they suspected that the Austrians intended to occupy the two Danube principalities for a long time to fill the political vacuum left by the Russians, or to resolve the conflict between Russia and the Ottomans at the expense of British and French interests.

From the perspective of Britain and France, Austria's intervention to help the two Danube principalities was not an act of acting as a European mediator or to assert Turkey's sovereignty, but rather a move driven by self-interested political motives.

To counter the threat from Austria and to secure the Black Sea coast in case of an attack from southern Russia and Crimea, France sent a force to the Dobroga region of the Danube Delta. This army, composed of Arabs, Ottomans, and Kurds, withdrew after defeating Cossack cavalry, as an even more dangerous enemy had arrived: cholera.

Disease was rampant in the marshes and lakes of the Danube Delta, and the soldiers' mortality rate was alarming. Dehydrated from cholera and after marching under the scorching sun for days, soldiers collapsed and died by the roadside.

However, now that the Russian army had withdrawn from the Danube principalities, the Anglo-French allied forces could theoretically have returned home as victors. The war could have ended there, but what angered the Allied commanders was the Russian army's voluntary withdrawal. After the British and French had brought their troops all the way to Turkey, the Russian army abandoned the two Danube principalities, which disappointed the Anglo-French commanders.

They wanted to achieve a military objective to prove their efforts hadn't been in vain. For months after the mobilization, Allied soldiers had barely fired a shot at the enemy, drawing ridicule from the Turks and mockery from their own people.

In London, the British cabinet also felt that merely forcing Russian troops to withdraw from the Danube region was insufficient to compensate for the sacrifices already made. Palmerston and his "war faction" were unwilling to negotiate with Russia while its forces remained intact. They wanted to severely cripple Russia's strength and destroy its military capabilities in the Black Sea region, thereby not only ensuring Turkey's security but also preventing Russia from threatening British interests in the Near East.

But how could Russia's strength be severely crippled? The British cabinet considered several possibilities. They believed that pursuing Russian troops into Bessarabia would be pointless and would only expose soldiers to the threat of cholera; the French proposed a war to liberate Poland, but the British cabinet disagreed with the notion that a naval battle in the Baltic Sea would be enough to subdue Russia.

Shortly after the start of the war, Sir Charles Napier, the British general commanding the Allied fleet in the Baltic Sea, concluded that without gunboats and mortars capable of navigating the shallow reefs near the fortress, the Allied fleet would not be able to conquer Kronstadt, the fortified sea fortress defending St. Petersburg, or even Suomenlinna, which was less well-defended outside the port of Helsinki.

Therefore, when the Russian army withdrew from the two principalities along the Danube, the British cabinet had already decided that invading Crimea was the only way to effectively strike Russia.

Unfortunately, Palmerston was not Prime Minister. As long as the Earl of Aberdeen remained Prime Minister, Palmerston's proposals could not become Allied policy. Britain, France, and Austria finally agreed to a peace plan, which outlined more limited objectives. According to this four-point plan, the conditions for peace between the Allies and Russia included: Russia relinquishing the Danube Duchy and the opening of the Black Sea. The plan was conservatively worded but vague enough to allow the British to add conditions as the war progressed. At this time, although Britain wanted to weaken Russia's power, it did not yet know how to formulate a concrete policy. In fact, Austria was unaware of a secret fifth point, which had already been agreed upon by Britain and France, allowing them to add new conditions as the war progressed. For Palmerston, this plan was a way to guarantee Austria and France's entry into the European Grand Alliance and their participation in an open war against Russia, even after the goal of conquering Crimea was achieved, the war could still be expanded.

However, despite the strategic correctness of Crimea's plan, its preparations remained as poor as ever, with even the maps being published 20 years ago. This led them to believe that Crimean winters were very mild, when in reality, Crimean winters are already quite cold.

The consequence of adopting incorrect information was that they were unprepared for winter clothing and barracks, partly because they believed it would be a swift and decisive war, with victory achieved before the frost even arrived. Suspecting that the Russian troops retreating from the Danube region would be sent to Crimea, they decided the best strategy was to launch a full-scale attack before the retreating Russians arrived, capturing Sevastopol, destroying the Black Sea Fleet, and damaging the port's military facilities.

At the same time, Britain also began to aid Iran, not only by quickly delivering the goods ordered by Iran via the Mediterranean, but also by providing other supplies, much like the aid given to Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. Supplies worth £25, including sugar, coffee, and iron, were transported to Iran via the Ottoman Empire.

Palmerston consistently proposed providing Iran with financial aid free of charge, arguing that Iran's financial resources were insufficient to support a large-scale war and that only aid from either Britain or France would suffice.

But Britain and France aren't philanthropists; they only accept low-interest loans and would never offer aid. So, these supplies will do the job and hopefully boost their own economies.

This was no good news for Nicholas I. Defeats in both the Caucasus and Black Sea fronts severely damaged the government's morale. But Russia was not about to surrender so easily. After careful analysis, the government decided to rely on Sevastopol for defense in the Black Sea region, while focusing its offensive efforts on the Caucasus.

Compared to the Ottoman Empire, which had British and French aid, Iran was easier to conquer. Then, by marching south to attack Tabriz, occupying Iran, and threatening India, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?

However, this could only be done if the Crimean region, centered on Sevastopol, did not fall, and more soldiers would need to be recruited, and taxes would need to be increased. But if the war is won, none of these issues will matter.

By this time, Nicholas I had already learned of the fall of Yerevan, but in his view, this was all the strength Iran possessed. As long as Tbilisi was held, there was still room for maneuver.

(End of this chapter)