Chapter 275: War and Response

When receiving France's ultimatum, the Tunisian government was stunned.

First of all, the conflict between the two large indigenous tribes on the Tunisian border, even the Tunisian government had not received the news yet; how did the French government know?

Secondly, Europeans are properly first-class citizens in Africa. Even large indigenous countries like Morocco and Egypt dare not provoke Europeans, let alone the Tunisians.

In this day and age, isn't it only the Europeans who kill the Africans? How were the French killed by the Tunisians?

Although the Tunisian government has various questions, it is clear that the French government will not give them enough time to think clearly about the details.

The French government only gave 24 hours. What can 24 hours be used for? Even notifying the Ottoman Empire, Tunisia's nominal suzerain, could not be done.

Yes, there is no cable connection between Tunisia and the Ottoman Empire, and even the Ottoman Empire government did not use telegraphs as a communication method in large quantities, let alone Tunisia, which is more than 1,600 kilometers away from the Ottoman Empire's capital.

There are only two ways to go from Tunisia to Constantinople: either take the land route through Libya and Egypt, along the Palestine region northward into the Asia Minor Peninsula, then pass through the entire Asia Minor Peninsula and cross the strait to reach Constantinople.

The sea route is not that troublesome. Starting from Tunisia's largest city, Tunisia, after crossing the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, and then crossing the entire strait, one can reach Constantinople.

Although the journey is not far, Tunisia's own naval power is equal to nothing, which also caused Tunisia to be relatively closed compared to other lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire. In this situation, it is almost unsolvable.

Of course, I believe that even if the Tunisian government could contact the Ottoman Empire government at this time, the Ottoman government would only righteously state that Tunisia has nothing to do with the Ottoman Empire anymore.

Although the harvest Russia obtained in the Russo-Turkish War was small, this does not mean that the Ottoman loss was small.

Besides the loss of land in the Balkan Peninsula, the most important thing is that it completely exposed the weakness of the Ottoman Empire.

For the Ottoman Empire at this time, the most important thing is to recuperate and seek reform, rather than breaking out in contradictions with European Great Powers for the sake of remote land.

Furthermore, the Ottoman Empire at this time also has no ability to conduct wars with European Great Powers again.

France's comprehensive national strength is even more powerful than Russia's. For the Ottoman Empire, it is naturally to hide if it can.

The good news is that the Tunisian government does not need to consider how to deal with France's ultimatum. Only more than ten hours later, the French army, which was already ready to go in Algeria, marched eastward in a grand manner, dividing into two routes to attack Tunisia from the north and south.

The Northern Army is composed of about 40,000 French troops, including two temporarily formed infantry divisions, one cavalry division, and one artillery regiment.

While the Southern Army only has one temporarily formed infantry division, with a total number of about 10,000 people.

The reason why the Northern Army is larger in scale, besides the fact that almost all important cities in Tunisia are in the north, is that if the Italian army interferes in the war, they can only attack the north of Tunisia.

The more important role of the Southern Army is to occupy the important city of Gabes in the southeast from Redeyef, thereby completely eliminating the possibility of Tunisia fleeing to Libya in the southeast.

As long as the Southern Army can occupy Gabes, the Tunisia Peninsula will fall into the encirclement of the French army. Unless the Tunisians can all swim and can swim across the Mediterranean to the Ottoman Empire themselves, they have absolutely no possibility of escaping.

As the town closest to Algeria in the northern region of Tunisia, Kef became the first Tunisian city to suffer from the French army.

For this town with a population of less than 20,000, 40,000 troops pressing on the border is definitely the first time.

After all, it is a formal town. Compared to scattered tribes, Kef possesses about 200 "regular troops," which is also an important force for maintaining town order.

But in front of France's 40,000-strong army, what can these 200 troops do?

Let alone resisting the French army's attack, the first time they saw the French army pressing on the border, these so-called garrison troops had already scattered in all directions.

Yes, it is a true sense of scattering in all directions.

Indigenous people in Africa will not build any city walls and fortresses. There are countless dirt roads connecting the forests and rivers outside the towns, and these indigenous soldiers also escaped from these roads.

As for the residents in the town, that is not something these soldiers should consider.

Indigenous people who care more about their families might rush home in a hurry, taking their families to escape together.

Those who care more about their own lives run towards the forest outside the town regardless of anything. The forest is their hunting ground for generations. As long as they can run into the forest, the French are likely not to find them.

If these garrison troops could escape at the first time, then the indigenous people in Kef town could only shrink and hide outside their own "houses," observing the gradually approaching French army through the cracks in the wooden doors, nervous and uneasy.

The good news is that the French did not stay in this small town for too long. After confirming that the entire town had no resistance power, the French army left about one battalion of troops to temporarily maintain order, waiting for officials and police from Algeria to come and maintain order.

The remaining main force continued to march eastward in a grand manner. A few dozen kilometers east of Kef, there was a small town named Bou Arada.

And the destination of the French army was less than 100 kilometers northeast of Bou Arada.

In order to occupy the entire Tunisia before the Italian government reacted, the French army issued orders from top to bottom, requiring this operation to be fast and to save more time at all costs.

Precisely because the army department issued a death order, the French general responsible for commanding this army did not dare to waste time at all.

Along the way, besides spending some time occupying the towns, the French army marched rapidly in a grand manner, appearing neat and orderly.

Starting from this small town of Kef, the 40,000-strong French army chose to divide into two routes.

One route of the army set off northward, occupying small towns such as Beja, Mateur, and Bourguiba camp, and then would arrive at their destination, Bizerte.

They would build a defense line in Bizerte to guard against possible sneak attacks by the Italians.

The remaining main force would continue eastward and surround Tunisia at a relatively fast speed.

As long as the capital of the Tunisia region, Tunisia City, is taken, this war can basically be declared a victory.

France did not encounter no resistance in the Tunisia region.

As a subordinate kingdom under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Tunisia also has its own rulers and government.

Like the Ottoman Empire, the Bey of Tunisia, Muhammad III as-Sadiq, also once tried to Westernize and pushed for a series of reforms including improving infrastructure, building railways and highways, improving education, and focusing on economic development.

But the reforms that the Ottoman Empire did not succeed in, Tunisia could do even less.

It is a small country with a population of less than 1 million, and coupled with the fact that tribes are numerous within Tunisia and the political system is relatively corrupt, the tax revenue that can be handed over to the Tunisian government every year is simply pitifully small.

Most of the tax revenue is controlled by those tribal leaders; only the cities controlled by Tunisia can collect tax revenue.

This led to the fact that Tunisia's reforms had almost no effect. Besides the Tunisian ruler establishing an army of about 2,000 people, the reformed Tunisia and the Tunisia before the reform had no difference.

The only obstacle encountered by the French army was precisely this new army established by the Tunisian ruler.

Although the number of people was only over 2,000, because it was an army built by Muhammad III as-Sadiq himself, and this war was a war to protect his own country, this new army did not lose its nerve in the face of the French army, which was dozens of times larger than itself, but instead heroically launched one round of attacks after another.

But reality soon shattered their dreams.

Besides having more people than them, the French army also possessed more cavalry and artillery, and rifles naturally go without saying.

Under such circumstances, the Tunisian army, with only over 2,000 people, had no way to resist at all.

The first round of charges caused the Tunisian army to lose more than one-third of its people, and after two consecutive rounds of charges, the Tunisian army almost had no combat effectiveness.

After the French army solved the Tunisian new army, several days had passed since France officially provoked the war.

No matter how slow the European countries were, they had already received relevant news at this time.

When the news that Tunisia was invaded by France reached Italy, it immediately attracted the high attention of the Italian government.

Compared to France, Italy has more and larger colonial investments in Tunisia. If Tunisia is occupied by France, it means that Italy's colonial investment over these years will all be wasted.

This is something Italy absolutely cannot accept. Therefore, on the day of receiving the news, Italian Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli convened an emergency cabinet meeting and invited the current Italian King Umberto I to participate.

At the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli introduced the reason for convening the emergency cabinet meeting to Umberto I and stated that the current French army is not far from Tunisia City.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen. It is time to make a final decision. If Tunisia gives up resistance, the efforts we have made in Tunisia for these decades will be completely wasted," Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli said solemnly.

As Great Powers, Italy and Germany are relatively special. Neither country has colonies, and their comprehensive strength relies entirely on the accumulation of the mainland.

Germany is still a bit better because of the proud battle results of the previous Franco-Prussian War, and Germany is also actively participating in colonizing Africa and other regions, and the results achieved are more than Italy's.

Italy has not obtained any colonies at present. The Tunisia and Libya regions that Italy set its sights on are also in the French colonization plan.

If Tunisia is abandoned like this, it not only means that Italy's previous colonial investment in Tunisia will be completely wasted, but also means that Italy's colonization will completely lose its target and will become the only country among the Great Powers without colonies.

"Damn it, when did the French invade Tunisia?" Umberto I at this time was full of surprise and astonishment. Italy, from top to bottom, had never thought that France would invade Tunisia so suddenly.

"They were clearly prepared, Your Majesty," Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli shook his head helplessly and sighed: "If we don't respond in time, perhaps Tunisia will really move away from us."

"What about the attitudes of Britain and Germany? Are the British and Germans willing to let France occupy Tunisia?" Umberto I continued to ask.

"France provoking the war has already passed for several days. Up to now, Britain and Germany have not expressed any attitude of opposition.

Perhaps we can speculate that even if Britain and Germany do not support France's war, they are very likely to maintain neutrality in this war and will not forcibly interfere with France's war behavior," Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli continued to shake his head.

"Damn it, haven't they considered Italy's opinion? We have invested so much in Tunisia; we absolutely do not allow France to occupy Tunisia just like that!" Umberto I stood up angrily. Having just become king not long ago, he had great ambitions. How could he accept the reality that his strong country plan had not yet been implemented, and Italy was about to lose the only land it had hope of colonizing?

"Prime Minister, first express Italy's attitude to France; we absolutely cannot accept France occupying Tunisia just like that," Umberto I was silent for a few seconds, and then ordered Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli.

Seeing Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli nod, Umberto I then turned his gaze to the Italian Minister of War and continued to order: "The army needs to be mobilized. Before this matter is completely resolved, the military needs to be prepared for war with France."

The Minister of War also nodded. Let alone whether the Italian army can beat the French army, this matter concerns honor and shame. As long as he dares to refuse, what he will face is the punishment of dismissal and accountability.

"Your Majesty, perhaps we still have a certain hope," Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli stood up to cheer them on: "Although Britain and Germany are very likely to maintain neutrality, we still have hope of obtaining Spain's support.

After Spain exchanges colonies with Britain, they will conduct more intense colonial competition with France in the West Africa region.

I believe Spain is also absolutely unwilling to see France occupy Tunisia. Once France fully occupies North Africa, the French will absolutely not give up their covetousness for Morocco.

As long as we can obtain Spain's support, our two countries will join forces, and we don't have to worry about the French threat.

Even, if the situation becomes intense, the Germans may change their attitude. Even if they maintain neutrality in this war due to some factors, I believe they are absolutely willing to see France suffer in the war."

Umberto I nodded and turned his gaze to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, ordering: "The task of contacting the Spanish government is handed over to the diplomatic department; I hope you can try your best to move the Spanish government.

I will contact Gao Da in the name of the royal family to seek the support of the Spanish royal family. Tunisia is very important to Italy; the cabinet needs to be fully prepared. If the French are unwilling to retreat, we still need more means to make the French retreat."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 276 =====