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 a focal point of global attention.

Tsar Alexander II officially declared war on the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian army crossed Romanian territory with lightning speed, launching an offensive against the Ottoman Empire along the Danube River.

Because they were not sufficiently prepared, the Ottoman army appeared extremely panicked when attacked by the Russian forces.

The Ottoman army, which had been fighting against rebel forces like Serbia, had never before experienced the pressure brought by the Tsarist Russian army.

Although Russia had only mobilized a little over 200, 00 troops on the front line after several months, the combat effectiveness of these 200, 00 troops was clearly different from that of the ethnic armies like Serbia's.

Due to several months of preparation, the Tsarist Russian offensive against the Ottoman Empire was divided into two fronts. The first front, consisting of two corps totaling 100, 00 men, formed the Caucasus Army Group, with Tsar Alexander II's brother, Mikhail Nikolayevich, serving as the commander-in-chief; 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, 00 men. Although more than 200, 00 soldiers were still on their way, the 100, 00 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 firepower, the Ottoman army was suppressed by Russian fire and dared not even show their heads when engaging the Russian army head-on.

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

With one side gaining strength while the other waned, the Russian army swept forward like a hot knife through butter, taking only a week to push back the Ottoman forces that had originally threatened Romania to a distance of over ten kilometers.

The news of Tsarist Russia entering the war shocked the entire world, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, both of 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 disproportionate nations.

The Russian regular army possessed a total of 48 infantry divisions totaling 720, 00 men, equipped with over 3, 00 cannons.

The entire Ottoman army, by contrast, totaled only 400, 00 men, with just over 850 cannons.

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

Of the 850 cannons in the Ottoman Empire, Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had provided over 300. However, there was no helping it; the Ottoman Empire's original industrial foundation was simply too weak, and being able to arm themselves with over 850 cannons in such a short time was already the result of strong support from the British.

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

720, 00 troops armed with over 3, 00 cannons—at this level, let alone the Ottoman Empire, even the militarily powerful Germany and France would not dare claim they could 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 the reason Russia was feared by other European countries.

The population of the Ottoman Empire 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 shift its strategic goal from offense to defense without the slightest hesitation, while also seeking help from Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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

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

"How 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 the possibility that they will announce their entry into this war cannot be ruled out," 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 considered it in the context of history, this question should not have arisen in the first place.

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

Do not be fooled by the fact that Britain was the current world hegemon; the British were also unwilling to face a 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 earned for nothing; this was one aspect of the British Empire in this era that made people annoyed.

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

Gao Da smiled and said nothing more. He naturally understood what Duke Serrano was thinking: the recovery of 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 remove at any moment.

But unfortunately, after Britain occupied Gibraltar, its national strength grew increasingly powerful. Meanwhile, since losing Gibraltar, Spain had gradually declined from a powerful great power and had remained in a rather awkward position.

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

Neither top-tier nor bottom-tier, this awkward status meant Spain had always lacked a sense of presence, whether in the later European Union or on the world stage.

As the King of Spain, Gao Da naturally 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 position in Spain.

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

Offending the British at this time was clearly not a good decision, especially since the British were 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 would require a huge investment from the British, perhaps one could only wait until 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 the whole 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 was also eyeing 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 the expansion of Tsarist Russia?

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 very 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 Russian influence were allowed to expand to the Balkan Peninsula, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be completely restricted to its existing territory and would forever remain only a mid-to-low-tier great power.

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

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

Its neighbor to the southwest was the Kingdom of Italy, which had newly become a great power, and to the south were its two neighbors, Romania and the Ottoman Empire.

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

Even little Italy was not so easy to bully for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Before Italy was unified, the Austro-Hungarian Empire still occupied large swathes of Italian land. But after Italy's unification, 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 were clearly unwilling to let the Austro-Hungarian Empire annex the Kingdom of Italy.

Expanding in the directions of Germany and Russia was even more impossible; the comprehensive strength of neither of these two countries was weaker than that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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.

In fact, Emperor Franz Joseph I was already prepared to intervene 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 to face the difficulties head-on, at least to ensure that it could also obtain sufficient benefits in this war.

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

Of course, this was something they would only do 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 start a war to snatch a large piece of fat from the mouths of the Russians.

As an ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain 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 quite useful to Spain, and Gao Da naturally did not mind supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire diplomatically.

Although the British were troublemakers, in the face of major issues like Constantinople, the British stance was still very firm.

No matter how the situation on the Balkan Peninsula developed, it was simply impossible for Russia to monopolize the Balkan Peninsula. Supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not have any downsides for Spain, and some of the benefits provided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire were things currently scarce in Spain.

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 caused the confidence of the various Balkan peoples in defeating the Ottoman Empire to swell even further; countries and regions like Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro 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 also be seen that the Ottoman Empire was indeed not welcome 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 no longer effective at all.

The history of long-term resistance against 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, 00.

By comparison, the Ottoman Empire only had a little over 200, 00 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, 00 men, while the number of soldiers in the Russian Caucasus Army Group combined with the various ethnic militias also exceeded 120, 00; both sides were on the same level in terms of soldier numbers.

(End of chapter)