Chapter 212: The Belligerent Tsar Alexander II

Unlike the cheers and laughter of the coronation ceremony with the British government, the atmosphere in the Tsarist government located in Eastern Europe was quite solemn at this time.

As the only Orthodox country among the great powers, the relationship between the Orthodox Church and Tsarist Russia was far closer than the relationships between other great powers and Catholicism or Protestantism.

The Russian government had always advocated Pan-Slavism, maintaining the Orthodox faith community and protecting their fellow Slavs.

Serbia, which was resisting the rule of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkan Peninsula, happened to satisfy both conditions: it was both a Slavic nation and Orthodox.

For Tsarist Russia, it was absolutely impossible to abandon its support for Serbia. This was 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 justification for Tsarist Russia's expansion.

Regarding this point, Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire clearly underestimated Russia's determination. For Tsarist Russia, this was a matter that could not be conceded, and one worth staking everything on.

At a government meeting in Tsarist Russia, officials were conducting discussions with solemn expressions.

Although they had the support of Russia, the resistance of Serbia and other countries against the Ottoman Empire had fallen into a disadvantageous position, with even the possibility of being completely suppressed by the Ottoman Empire.

This was completely unacceptable to Russia. If the resistance forces like Serbia were allowed to be wiped out by the Ottoman Empire, it would not only damage Russia's expansion in the Balkan Peninsula but also cause Tsarist Russia to lose face significantly.

Regardless of the considerations, for the current Russia, perhaps a war was the most appropriate choice.

"Speak your minds, everyone. What should we do to help Serbia repel the Ottoman Empire?" Tsar Alexander II, with a livid expression, cast his gaze toward the ministers he trusted.

Born in 1818, Alexander II was already 59 years old and looked quite aged. But his advanced age could not diminish Alexander II's ambition; during his reign, the territory of Tsarist Russia had expanded by over a million square kilometers, an achievement worth praising for Alexander II.

Of course, if one were to mention Alexander II's most famous measure, it would certainly be his reform that abolished serfdom, for which he was affectionately called the Liberator by the people.

It was just a pity that Alexander II's reforms were not that firm, instead leading the Russian government toward new chaos.

The reformists thought that Alexander II, who supported liberalism more, was the dawn of reform, but Alexander II's limited reforms clearly disappointed them.

While carrying out indecisive and limited reforms in Russia, Alexander II cruelly suppressed Russia's revolutionary movements, placing himself in a rather awkward position, standing in opposition to both the conservatives and the reformists.

The conservatives' dissatisfaction with this Tsar would only be hidden away, waiting for an opportunity to be released. And the reformists' dissatisfaction would lead some more extreme people to adopt more extreme methods, such as assassinating Alexander II.

As early as a few years ago, revolutionaries had plotted the assassination of the Tsar. Although it did not succeed, the incessant assassination attempts indeed made Alexander II miserable.

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

As long as the territorial expansion was completed, Alexander II would have the chance to restore his status in the hearts of the people. In this way, he would still be the Tsar trusted and loved by the people, and the revolutionaries' assassinations would also be easily resolved.

Facing Alexander II's inquiry, the ministers naturally knew Alexander II's own attitude.

The post-reform Tsarist Russia remained an autocratic monarchy, and as the Tsar, Alexander II possessed unparalleled supreme status and authority.

Since Alexander II's own attitude was already clear, the next steps were easy to handle: that was to conform to Alexander II's attitude and push for a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

"Your Majesty, I believe we should begin preparations for a war with the Ottoman Empire. There is no other way, unless we are willing to see Serbia annexed by the Ottoman Empire once again." The minister recently promoted by Alexander II spoke first, expressing his support for the war.

Alexander II nodded with satisfaction; what he wanted was a voice in the government supporting the war: "Has the military considered this war?

If we launch a war against the Ottoman Empire at this time, what are our chances of winning?"

What Alexander II was asking about was, of course, not just the war with the Ottoman Empire, but the situation where the British were strongly supporting the Ottoman Empire and might even join the war for it.

Moreover, it was not just the British Empire that was concerned about the situation in the Balkan Peninsula. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was also concerned about the situation in the Balkan Peninsula, which was also a trouble for Tsarist Russia.

"Your Majesty, as long as the Germans do not support the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they will absolutely not join this war just to oppose us.

In this way, we only need to deal with the Ottoman Empire supported by the British. In the event that Britain does not join the war, we should have a 100% chance of winning. The Ottoman Empire is absolutely no match for Russia, even with the support of the British Empire," the Minister of War replied to Alexander II with great confidence.

Although Russia had this or that problem, Russia was still one of the five most powerful countries in Europe at this time.

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

There were obvious gaps between countries, and even with the support of other great powers, such a gap in strength could not be erased at all.

Unless the British Empire was willing to join this war for the sake of the Ottoman Empire, but would the British really join the war? It was highly likely they would not.

According to the British "stirring stick" character, Britain would only strongly support the Ottoman Empire to counter Russia, and at most instigate the Austro-Hungarian Empire to use force to support the Ottoman Empire; they themselves would likely not take the risk.

The British, relying on their "stirring stick" character, kept Europe in a state of long-term chaos and mutual competition, but this was also an opportunity for Tsarist Russia.

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

Coupled with the support of the various Balkan peoples, this war might only take a short time to win, and Russia would also obtain the Black Sea outlet it had been longing for, as well as the opportunity to control the various peoples of the Balkan Peninsula.

This was also a good omen for the Pan-Slavism that Russia had been promoting. If they could gain the support of the South Slavs in the Balkan Peninsula through this war, the Tsarist Russian Pan-Slavic plan would be initially completed.

Tsarist Russia, having controlled the Balkan Peninsula, would absolutely be qualified to stand at the pinnacle of the world again. By then, even the British Empire, with the world's number one navy, would not dare guarantee it could 100% defeat the Tsarist Russia that controlled the Balkan Peninsula head-on.

Hearing the report from the Minister of War, Tsar Alexander II nodded with satisfaction and then issued his decision:

"From this moment on, Russia will enter a state of war preparation. The army is ready to move at any time; when Serbia can no longer resist the Ottoman Empire's offensive, that will be the time for us to send troops into the Ottoman Empire.

Orthodox believers will absolutely not allow the bullying of infidels, and Slavs will absolutely not allow the abuse of other races. The Balkan Peninsula is the land of the Slavs, and it should be decided by the Slavs themselves."

"As you command, Your Majesty!" The ministers nodded solemnly one after another, not daring to have the slightest dissatisfaction with the Tsar's order.

Following Alexander II's order, the entire Russian Empire entered into tense war preparations.

For a behemoth like Russia with a territory of over ten million square kilometers, war preparations required a very long time to complete.

Even if only a portion of the army was mobilized, the time required was often as long as several months.

Besides the reason that the territory was too vast, another major reason was that the political system of Tsarist Russia was too corrupt, and the information transmission between departments was too sluggish.

There was indeed the reason of relatively backward technology, but when other countries mobilized for war, the time required was not as long as it was for Russia.

Great powers like Germany and France could mobilize over 200, 00 troops to the border within a month, and could mobilize all the domestic troops in just three months.

But for Russia, one month was not enough to mobilize 100, 00 troops; it would take at least three months to mobilize over 200, 00 troops.

This was still because the Balkan Peninsula was located in Europe. If the battlefield were in the Far East, giving Russia a year might not be enough to transport hundreds of thousands of troops to the Far East battlefield.

The reason why Russia in history lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War was largely because Russia's logistics were terrible, making it difficult to transport troops and other supplies to the Far East battlefield.

The Russo-Japanese War was indeed the war that proved Japan as a great power, but Japan's enemy was only half of Russia, or even less than half.

This was also the reason why, although Japan was recognized as a great power after the war, it could only rank among the lowest-tier great powers.

It took only a few decades to reform into a powerful great power; for Japan, a rather backward East Asian country, this was a miracle.

But it could not be denied that Japan, recognized as a great power, still had many flaws, especially in industry and economy.

Whether during World War I or World War II, Japan's industry was only lower-middle among the great powers. Coupled with the lack of mineral resources in Japan, it was difficult for this country to develop as rapidly as the emerging great powers like Germany and the United States.

Under the order of Tsar Alexander II, the Russian war machine began to start up like a twilight old man.

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

In the Balkan Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire mobilized over 280, 00 troops, commanded by General Abdul Kerim Nadir Pasha.

In the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire, there were also over 126, 00 troops, commanded by General Mehmed Mukhtar Pasha.

The European and Asian armies combined totaled over 400, 00 people, possessing over 850 artillery pieces; such a scale of land force could be considered quite powerful.

Although it could not be compared with the great powers, it was perfectly fine to say that these land forces were crushing the Balkan ethnic groups like Serbia that had launched rebellions.

It was just that the anger of ethnic groups like Serbia toward the Ottoman Empire was too intense, which caused this war to last for a very long time.

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

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

As for the armies of Serbia and other ethnic groups, the quantity of equipment provided by Russia was smaller and the quality was worse, but they erupted with extremely fierce combat effectiveness relying on this equipment.

It was precisely because of the poor performance of the Ottoman Empire's army in this war that Russia made up its mind to intervene in this war, and to resolve the Ottoman Empire's army at an extremely fast speed, forcing the British government to agree to the fact that Russia had already defeated the Ottoman Empire.

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

Under the relentless attacks of the Ottoman Empire's army, the rebel forces like Serbia that opposed the Ottoman Empire had been pushed to the wall.

Perhaps in less than a year, the Ottoman Empire could completely end this war and re-establish its ruling status over the ethnic groups and regions like Serbia.

This was also the reason why the British felt safe and bold to hold Queen Victoria's coronation ceremony and reduced their attention to the Balkan Peninsula.

The situation could be described as excellent, and the British government's aid to the Ottoman Empire had even been reduced.

After all, the economic crisis was affecting the British Empire, and it was better to reduce expenditures wherever possible.

It was just that what Britain and the Ottoman Empire did not know was that Russia was already preparing for war internally. Russia also informed the ethnic groups resisting the Ottoman Empire, such as Serbia, of the news of preparing for war, which made these South Slavs feel a surge of joy.

Under the blessing of good news, the Balkan ethnic groups' resistance to the Ottoman Empire's offensive became more intense, and they even pushed the Ottoman Empire's army back by several kilometers.

It was a pity that Tsarist Russia's equipment support for the Balkan ethnic groups was also gradually decreasing, as these pieces of equipment had to be invested in their own army to fight this war.

Between the support of weapons and equipment and Russia's personal entry into the field, the Balkan ethnic groups naturally knew which choice was more favorable to them.

The Serbs, Bulgarians, and Montenegrins looked forward to it, completely ignoring the situation where their own side was retreating steadily on the front line.

Finally, as the situation in the Balkan Peninsula became increasingly worse, Russia finally made its decision: let's go to war!

(End of this chapter)