Chapter 213: Russia Enters the War

In April 1877, news from the Tsarist Russian Empire shocked all of Europe and immediately made the Balkan Peninsula the focus of global attention.

Tsar Alexander II formally declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Russian troops crossed Romanian territory with lightning speed and launched an offensive against the Ottoman Empire along the Danube River.

Because they lacked sufficient preparation, the Ottoman army was thrown into extreme panic when attacked by the Russian forces.

The Ottoman army, which had been fighting rebels like the Serbians, had never felt the pressure brought by the Tsarist Russian army.

Although Russia had only mobilized a little over 200,000 troops on the front line after several months of preparation, the combat effectiveness of these 200,000 troops was clearly different from that of the ethnic armies like the Serbians.

Because they had several months of preparation time, the Tsarist Russian offensive against the Ottoman Empire was divided into two prongs. The first prong, consisting of two corps totaling 100,000 men, formed the Caucasus Army Group, commanded by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, brother of Tsar Alexander II. Militia forces from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Ossetia also joined the Caucasus Army Group.

On the European battlefield, the Danube Army Group was expected to reach 300,000 men. Although over 200,000 soldiers were still on their way, the 100,000 troops already at the front, combined with the Bulgarian militia incorporated into the Danube Army Group, were more than enough to contend with the Ottoman Empire in the short term.

Although the Danube Army Group was temporarily short on manpower, Russia equipped it with over a thousand cannons, more than the total number of cannons in the entire Ottoman Empire.

This caused the Ottoman Empire to suffer greatly as soon as they met. Due to insufficient artillery fire, the Ottoman army was so suppressed by the Russian bombardment during direct engagements that they dared not even show their heads.

The disparity in firepower meant the Ottoman army could not advance an inch, which also affected the morale of the Ottoman troops.

With the tide turning, the Russian army advanced like a hot knife through butter, taking only a week to drive the Ottoman forces that had threatened Romania back more than ten kilometers.

The news of Tsarist Russia entering the war shocked the entire world, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, which had been closely watching the Balkan Peninsula.

Neither country had expected the Russians to have such resolve. With the possibility of Britain entering the war, the Russians had resolutely chosen to join the fight.

Looking at the paper military strength of both Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire, these were two completely mismatched nations.

The Russian regular army possessed 48 infantry divisions totaling 720,000 men, equipped with over 3,000 cannons.

The entire Ottoman army combined had only 400,000 men and just over 850 cannons.

Although the quality of the Ottoman Empire's rifles was higher than Russia's—as these rifles were provided by Britain and Austria-Hungary—Russia maintained an absolute lead in heavy firepower.

Of the 850 cannons in the Ottoman Empire, Britain and Austria-Hungary had provided over 300. But there was no help for it; the Ottoman Empire's industrial foundation was too weak, and being able to arm themselves with over 850 cannons in such a short time was already the result of strong British support.

Although Russia was not strong industrially among the five traditional great powers, compared to other non-great power nations, Russia's industry was still quite substantial.

720,000 troops armed with over 3,000 cannons—this level, let alone the Ottoman Empire, even the militarily powerful Germany and France would not dare claim to surpass Russia in paper data.

More importantly, Russia's military strength was definitely more than what appeared on the surface. Under full mobilization, Russia could arm millions of troops, which was also the reason Russia was feared by other European countries.

The Ottoman Empire's population was far inferior to Russia's, and the core Turkish population was even smaller. This led the Ottoman Empire, upon learning of Russia's entry into the war, to hesitate not at all, immediately shifting its strategic goal from offense to defense and seeking help from Britain and Austria-Hungary.

By the time the news of Tsarist Russia declaring war on the Ottoman Empire reached Spain, it was already the second day of the war.

The then-Prime Minister of Spain, Duke Serrano, found Gao Da with a look of surprise, bringing this news that Gao Da had already anticipated.

"What is the British reaction?" Gao Da asked with a smile, neither panicked nor worried by the outbreak of this war.

"The British government has not yet had any reaction, but we cannot rule out the possibility that they will announce their entry into this war," Duke Serrano replied. "Your Majesty, if the British announce their entry into this war, what should we do?"

This was a good question, but if one thought about it in the context of history, this question should not have arisen in the first place.

"The British are highly unlikely to join this war, unless the Ottoman Empire collapses faster than imagined," Gao Da replied with a smile.

Don't look at Britain as the current world hegemon; the British were equally unwilling to face the powerful Tsarist Russia.

Unless Russia intended to occupy Constantinople or achieved a massive victory in the Balkan war, the British were unlikely to step forward.

The title of "European troublemaker" was not called for nothing; this was also one of the aspects of the British Empire that people found annoying in this era.

Duke Serrano nodded, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes.

Gao Da smiled and said nothing more. He certainly understood what Duke Serrano was thinking: recovering a small piece of land in southern Spain, Gibraltar.

Ever since the British took advantage of Spain's distress to occupy Gibraltar, it had become a thorn in the hearts of all Spanish generals, one they wanted to pull out at any moment.

But unfortunately, after the British occupied Gibraltar, their national strength grew ever stronger. Meanwhile, Spain, since losing Gibraltar, had gradually declined from a powerful great power and remained in a rather awkward position.

To say Spain was strong, one could easily find more powerful countries in Europe. To say Spain was weak, compared to those truly small nations, Spain appeared quite strong.

Not good enough to be at the top, but better than being at the bottom—this awkward status meant Spain had always lacked presence, whether in the future European Union or on the world stage.

As the King of Spain, Gao Da certainly wanted to recover Gibraltar; this was a political achievement that ordinary territorial expansion could not compare to.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as Gao Da could recover Gibraltar, he would become one of the most influential monarchs in Spain, and no family would ever again be able to threaten the Savoy family's ruling status in Spain.

But unfortunately, the British Empire's strength was too great; relying solely on Spain's power made it impossible to recover Gibraltar.

Offending the British at this time was clearly not a good decision, especially since the British were highly unlikely to join the war between the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia.

If one were to speak of the true timing to recover Gibraltar, besides the Boer War which required a massive British commitment, perhaps one could only wait for World War I or World War II, when Britain was busy dealing with a global war, to recover Gibraltar through a trade of interests.

After Tsarist Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, all European countries were watching the attitude of the British Empire.

If the British also joined in, then this war in the Balkans would immediately evolve into a contest between two great powers, and the impact of the war would expand to all of Europe.

But if the British did not enter the war, Tsarist Russia would defeat the Ottoman Empire in a very short time and expand its influence to the entire Balkan Peninsula.

Would the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also coveted the Balkan Peninsula, allow Tsarist Russia to do this? If the British Empire did not enter the war, would the Austro-Hungarian Empire join in to stop Tsarist Russia's expansion?

The Balkan Peninsula was truly the powder keg of Europe. Although it was still decades away from World War I, the European powder keg at this time already had considerable power.

Several days passed, and the British government had no clear stance on this, maintaining a rather ambiguous attitude.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally could not jump into the fire pit alone, which led to the Balkan battlefield becoming a solo performance for Tsarist Russia.

Although there was no clear stance, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already urgently inquiring about the British Empire's attitude while ensuring the support of its allies, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Spain.

For Emperor Franz Joseph I, the Balkan Peninsula was a sphere of influence that the Austro-Hungarian Empire absolutely could not lose.

If Russia's influence were allowed to expand to the Balkan Peninsula, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be completely restricted to its existing territorial scope and would forever remain a mid-to-low-tier great power.

It is often said that Germany is located in a land of four battles; in reality, the geographical location of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not much better than Germany's.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had five neighbors; the neighbors to the north and east were the German Empire and Tsarist Russia, both of which were among the five traditional European great powers.

The neighbor to the southwest was the newly emerged great power, the Kingdom of Italy, and to the south were the two neighbors, Romania and the Ottoman Empire.

Among all the neighbors, only the Ottoman Empire and Romania in the Balkan direction were relatively easy to bully.

Even the small Italy was no longer so easy to bully for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Before Italy was unified, the Austro-Hungarian Empire still occupied large swaths of Italian land. But after Italy unified, it became extremely difficult for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to expand further in the direction of Italy.

Although Italy was only a bottom-tier great power, a bottom-tier great power was still a great power. Although Italy's strength was far inferior to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's, other countries clearly did not want to see the Austro-Hungarian Empire annex the Kingdom of Italy.

Expanding in the directions of Germany and Russia was even more impossible, as the comprehensive strength of neither of these countries was weaker than the Austro-Hungarian Empire's.

Facing the only direction on the continent where it could expand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire absolutely would not allow itself to lose control over the Balkan Peninsula, even if the enemy was the more powerful Tsarist Russia.

Emperor Franz Joseph I had even prepared to interfere in the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire without British support.

If the British really did not participate, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have no choice but to face the challenge, at least to ensure that it could also gain sufficient benefits from this war.

That's right, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's idea was not to help the Ottoman Empire defeat Russia, but to take advantage of the time when the Ottoman Empire's main force was engaged with the Russian main force to send troops to invade Serbia and Bosnia, at least to occupy these two places.

Of course, this would only be done after confirming that the British would not interfere in this war at all.

If there were British support, perhaps the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not need to launch a war to snatch a large piece of fat from the Russians' mouths.

Spain, as an ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was naturally on the Austro-Hungarian Empire's contact list.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not reveal its action plan, only requesting that Spain support the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the situation on the Balkan Peninsula.

In return, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would convert all of Spain's previous loans into interest-free loans and provide Spain with a new batch of industrial and financial aid.

This industrial and financial aid was still very useful for Spain, and Gao Da naturally did not mind supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire diplomatically.

Although the British were troublemakers, in matters of great principle like Constantinople, the British stance was still very firm.

No matter how the situation on the Balkan Peninsula developed, it was fundamentally impossible for Russia to monopolize the Balkan Peninsula. Supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have no downsides for Spain, and the benefits provided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire were things Spain currently lacked.

Regardless of how the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepared in secret, on the surface, neither Britain nor the Austro-Hungarian Empire had any overly intense reactions.

This also caused the confidence of the various Balkan peoples in defeating the Ottoman Empire to inflate further; Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other countries and regions also announced their entry on the Russian side a few days after Russia declared war, to jointly deal with the enemy that was the Ottoman Empire.

From the expectations of the various Balkan peoples for this war, it could be seen that the Ottoman Empire was indeed not welcomed in the Balkans.

It was mainly because the Ottoman Empire's policy of ruling the various Balkan peoples was too cruel; with the changes of the times, blind suppression was completely ineffective.

The long history of resisting the Ottoman Empire also gave the various Balkan peoples a brave and warlike bloodline. This also made the combat effectiveness of the various Balkan peoples very formidable, and the military strength of those Balkan countries that later became independent was also not to be underestimated.

After the various Balkan peoples joined the Russian side, the number of Russian troops on the European battlefield quickly exceeded 200,000.

By contrast, the Ottoman Empire had only a little over 200,000 troops concentrated in Europe, which also meant that the Ottoman Empire had lost its numerical advantage.

And on the Caucasus battlefield, the Ottoman Empire also did not possess a numerical advantage. The Asian army commanded by Mehmed Mukhtar Pasha had only 120,000 men, while the Russian Caucasus Army Group, combined with the militias of various ethnic groups, also numbered over 120,000 soldiers; both sides were on the same level in terms of soldier numbers.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 214 =====