Chapter 206: The Second Round of Economic Crisis

While compulsory primary education was being fervently implemented in Spain, the smoke of war was already permeating the entire Balkan Peninsula, engulfing every ethnic group living on this land.

Regarding the chaos and decline within the Ottoman Empire, the Russian government maintained an attitude of schadenfreude. Russia even provided strong diplomatic support to several of the Ottoman Empire's vassal states, including Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, in their resistance against Ottoman rule.

Speaking of this, one must mention the treaty signed by various nations regarding the situation in the Balkan Peninsula following the last Russo-Turkish War, namely the Crimean War.

One of the clauses required the Ottoman Empire to implement partial reforms in the Bosnia and Herzegovina regions, including granting the people of these two regions the right to religious freedom, lowering taxes, and carrying out tax reforms.

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

But good times did not last long. After the Crimean War ended, not only did the Ottoman Empire show no signs of reform, but it also suppressed the uprisings and rebellions of the various ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula with increasing brutality.

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

Under the strong support and call of Russia, many countries and ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula united, expressing their dissatisfaction with the Ottoman Empire and joining the armed rebellion.

Currently, apart from the Kingdom of Greece, all remaining countries in the Balkan Peninsula are vassal states of the Ottoman Empire. No single vassal state could pose a threat to the Ottoman Empire, but if all the vassal states were to unite with the Russians providing support from behind, it would already be a considerable threat to the Ottoman Empire.

In early July, the armed rebellion between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan ethnic groups began to enter a standoff phase.

The Ottoman Empire possessed advanced weapons and equipment from Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the weapons and equipment of the rebellious ethnic groups were not inferior, as they were provided by Russia.

The Ottoman Empire had no tolerance for these rebellions among the Balkan ethnic groups, and for these insurgents, there was only one way to handle them: using military force to brutally suppress them.

In the single month of July alone, the Ottoman Empire mobilized its army multiple times to suppress the Balkan ethnic rebellions, eliminating a total of several hundred rebels, while thousands more were affected and faced long prison terms.

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

Even though the Balkan ethnic groups participated actively and enthusiastically in the rebellions and armed uprisings against the brutal rule of the Ottoman Empire, they still could not pose a major threat to the Ottoman Empire.

As long as Russia, the great power, did not personally intervene, the current situation in the Balkan Peninsula was acceptable to the Ottoman Empire.

This was also a question that powers including the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Britain were concerned about: would the Russians personally intervene and participate in this conflict that had already attracted the attention of all of Europe?

Whether to participate or not was a question worth pondering for other European countries, but for Tsarist Russia, this question had long since had an answer.

There were two major contradictions between Russia and the European powers: the contradiction with the Austro-Hungarian Empire regarding the Balkan Peninsula, and the contradiction with Britain regarding Central and East Asia.

And these two major contradictions were related to another major shortcoming of Russia: although Russia had a vast territory, it lacked natural ice-free ports.

Russia's three main current outlets to the sea faced the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Japan, respectively.

The Sea of Japan was located in the Far East and could not help Russia's layout in Europe. Under these circumstances, Russia's outlets to the sea in the Baltic and Black Seas appeared particularly important.

But both of these outlets faced the crisis of being blockaded by enemies. If Russia wanted to travel from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, it had to pass through the straits controlled by Denmark and pass through the North Sea waters controlled by Britain.

If it wanted to enter the Indian Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea, it also had to pass through the Constantinople Strait under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

Solving the problem of the Baltic Sea outlet was impossible; after all, the Baltic Sea had many neighboring countries, including Germany, a powerful nation that was one of the five traditional European powers.

Even if the Baltic Sea were controlled, it would be useless; further west of the Baltic Sea was the British sphere of influence, and the British Navy could still blockade the Baltic Sea.

Under these circumstances, the relatively weak Ottoman Empire became the only choice for Tsarist Russia to expand its outlets to the sea, and it was also the reason why the Russo-Turkish War broke out multiple times.

For Alexander II, this was a golden opportunity that must not be missed, and it was also the best chance for Russia to thoroughly extend its reach into the Balkan Peninsula and seek control of the Constantinople Strait.

Speaking of Alexander II, the reform he promoted to abolish serfdom still had a great impact on Russia. But at the same time, his reforms were not thorough; Russia was essentially still that decadent empire, only having its life extended for a short time.

Comparing the entire Tsarist Russian Empire to a dam where the water storage was about to reach its limit, Alexander II's reforms were like raising the height of the dam by a few meters, delaying the time for the dam to be filled with water by a few decades.

But the dam would always eventually be filled with water, and the moment the water was full would be the moment the decadent Tsarist Russian Empire fell apart.

Looking at the composition of troops and weapons and equipment of both the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia, Tsarist Russia possessed an absolute advantage.

As one of the most populous countries in Europe, Russia's standing infantry reached a terrifying 720, 00, and it possessed nearly 3, 00 artillery pieces, organized into 16 corps distributed throughout Russia's vast territory.

As for the Ottoman Empire, although it had undergone some reforms, the entire empire only had a force of just over 400, 00. Compared to Tsarist Russia, which had over 3, 00 artillery pieces, the Ottoman Empire only had about 800, a considerable portion of which were relatively backward.

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

Russia's 720, 00 troops were scattered across Russia's vast regions, and the number of troops that could be deployed in the Balkan region was not large.

The Ottoman Empire was not much different. Although it claimed to have 400, 00 troops, only about 280, 00 were deployed in the Balkan Peninsula, and the remaining nearly 130, 00 troops were located on the Asia Minor Peninsula, separated from the Balkan Peninsula by the Constantinople Strait.

As time reached September 1876, the war between Serbia and Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire became increasingly intense.

Yes, it was 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 being to recover the legal territory illegally occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

Seeing the flames in the Balkan Peninsula burning more and more fiercely, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Britain could only call on both sides to remain rational, while supporting the Ottoman Empire as much as possible to ensure that the Ottoman Empire had an advantage in this war.

In the single month of September, Britain transported a large amount of weapons, equipment, and food supplies to the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire relied on these weapons and equipment to trade blows with Serbia and Montenegro, even gaining the upper hand in most situations.

These precious aids from Britain were like a lifesaver for the Ottoman Empire. Because as early as the end of last year, the Ottoman Empire's fiscal collapse due to the great famine on the Asia Minor Peninsula left it unable to even maintain its existing army.

As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while the war in the Balkan Peninsula was raging, it was already considering how to handle the situation after Russia intervened in the war.

From the existing information currently mastered, it was difficult for the Russians not to intervene in this war, unless Britain directly announced that it would help the Ottoman Empire suppress the rebellion.

But this was obviously impossible. Unless there were sufficient interests, the British could not voluntarily join this war.

Even if the British were truly willing to join this war, was this a good thing for the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Perhaps not.

With Britain personally involved, the Ottoman Empire would certainly be able to end the rebellion quickly, and there would be no need to worry about the danger of the Russians.

But the Ottoman Empire would then certainly be infiltrated by the British, and it would not be so easy for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to infiltrate the Balkan region again.

It was precisely because of these reasons that the current Austro-Hungarian Empire was in a relatively ambiguous attitude. If one had to say, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's attitude was more like hoping that the Russians and British who were participating in the situation in the Balkan Peninsula would all disappear, leaving only the Austro-Hungarian Empire as the sole power on this land.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire rarely maintained neutrality regarding the situation in the Balkan Peninsula, patiently waiting for the 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 any time, ensuring that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could intervene in the Balkan war at any moment.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not intend to interfere in this war, based on the principle of "those who see it get a share," no matter who won the final victory in this struggle, it had to ensure that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could get a bite of the meat.

If Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire, then Franz Joseph I would choose to unite with the British, and even not hesitate to use the threat of war to force the Russians to retreat, partitioning the Balkan Peninsula into three rather than letting the Russians annex it all.

If the Ottoman Empire defeated Russia, that would naturally be the best news. Not only could the situation in the Balkan Peninsula remain as it was, but it could also further frustrate the ambitions of the Tsarist Russian Empire.

But the possibility of this idea was far lower than the first one. Although the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia were both decaying empires, the Ottoman Empire was clearly already on its deathbed, and while Tsarist Russia was lingering on, a lean camel was still bigger than a horse.

Since the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the war in the Balkan Peninsula might be the most lively news in Europe in recent times.

It was precisely because of this that the Balkan Peninsula not only attracted the attention of the three major powers but also attracted a large number of newspaper media and Europeans who were concerned about this aspect of the news.

Spain was not idle during this time either. On one hand, it vigorously promoted the popularization of compulsory primary education, doing a good job of pilot work in the two regions of Catalonia and Madrid.

On the other hand, it secretly contacted the Ottoman Empire and Russia, looking for export opportunities for Spain's weapons and equipment.

In addition to weapons and equipment, other strategic materials, including food, could also be sold. Spain's environment in recent years had been relatively stable, and food production was also rising steadily, so it was no problem to take out a portion of food for export.

Seeing that the Russians and the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula would not be able to fight for a while, Gao Da also gradually began to pay attention to other things, especially regarding the response to the economic crisis.

Just as mentioned in the cabinet meeting at the beginning of the year, according to the estimates of the government and the financial department, there was a high probability of triggering a second round of economic crisis this year.

The facts were indeed so. Between February and March, the British economy ushered in a new round of fluctuations, and this fluctuation also prompted 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 large part of the reason for this was that Europe was still experiencing an economic crisis.

The impact of the first round of economic crisis could only be said to have weakened, but the economic crisis itself had not ended. As of the beginning of 1876, many European countries' economies were still in a mess, and industrial production had suffered relatively serious impacts.

Under these 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 enterprises that could not withstand the economic crisis had already gone bankrupt in the first round of economic crisis, and the remaining enterprises that could hold firm mostly had the help of the government, so there was naturally no problem in surviving the second round of economic crisis.

If it were said that the countries most severely affected by the first round of economic crisis were Germany, the United States, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then the countries most severely affected by the second round of economic crisis were Britain and France.

Relying on a large number of colonies, Britain and France persisted for a longer time in the first round of economic crisis, and the impact of the economic crisis on industry and the economy was far less severe than in other countries.

But after the second round of economic crisis began, even if Britain and France could rely on their colonies to suck blood, they clearly could not hold on any longer.

However, fortunately, many enterprises with unstable foundations had already gone bankrupt in the first round of economic crisis, and the impact brought by the second round of economic crisis was really limited, and for countries with such huge economies and industries like Britain and France, it was not worth mentioning.

In the first round of economic crisis, during the period when Germany and the United States were most severely affected by the economic crisis, more than one-third of the factories were shut down, and nearly half of the workers faced the crisis of unemployment.

And in the second round of economic crisis, the total number of shut-down factories in Britain was less than one-fifth of the total factories, and this was the impact caused by the superposition of the two rounds of economic crisis.

Of course, for the British Empire, the impact caused by the second round of economic crisis was still quite large.

If there were no second round of economic crisis, the British Empire's support for the Ottoman Empire could have been much greater. But now, because the domestic industry and economy were also affected, the British support for the Ottoman Empire was not great, and there was no thought of using the army to interfere in this war at all.

(End of chapter)