Chapter 416

At the very least, the war that broke out because of the surprise attack was like a bolt from the blue for the Russian government, making the Russian government recognize reality all of a sudden.

Facts have proven that comprehensive national strength cannot determine the quality of an army's combat effectiveness, and even less can it determine the actual direction of a war.

Russia did not have sufficient preparations in this war, and their early rout was a matter of course.

It is just that this was, after all, a shocking rout; the poor performance of the Russian Far East Army aroused the dissatisfaction of many officials and the public, and Nicholas II also understood that the blame for the early war failure must be found for someone with sufficient status and position to take, otherwise this blame would fall on his own head.

After all, Nicholas II was one of the culprits who caused the relationship between the Island Nation and Russia to go to extremes. The hateful attitude of Tsar Nicholas II toward the Island Nation made the Island Nation people completely give up the idea of peaceful negotiations with Russia, and instead, the intention to achieve their goals through war was born.

In order to get rid of his own responsibility as much as possible, Tsar Nicholas II soon held the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Far East accountable, relieved General Stark, the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, of all his duties, and demanded that General Stark immediately head to Shengbidebao, where he would accept trial.

Succeeding the incompetent General Stark was the famous general of the Tsarist Russian Empire, Makarov. Makarov's full name was Stepan Osipovich Makarov, a famous Russian naval general, military theory expert, and scientist.

The reason why he took over the position of commander-in-chief of the Russian Pacific Fleet was, on one hand, that General Makarov's talent was indeed excellent, and on the other hand, there were indeed no talents within the Russian Navy that made people's eyes light up.

The interior of Russia was chaotic and rotten to the core; do not look at the fact that the scale of the Russian Navy was still quite good, in reality, the naval combat effectiveness was already a complete mess.

At that time, Vice Admiral Makarov, who served as the naval commander of the Kronstadt port in Shengbidebao, had once submitted a letter to the Imperial Navy Ministry, in which he solemnly reminded the Navy Ministry and the Tsarist government that he believed the war between the Empire and the Island Nation was already imminent, and it was necessary to guard against the Island Nation's undeclared war and surprise attack.

Vice Admiral Makarov believed that only by concentrating most of the main warships of the Pacific Fleet in Port Arthur as much as possible would there be hope of guarding against the Island Nation's surprise attack.

Only the naval power gathered together could be twisted into a rope; if the war suddenly broke out, this naval power could also play a vital role.

In fact, according to common sense, General Makarov's proposal was very reasonable. Port Arthur was very important to the Russian Pacific Fleet; it was the only ice-free port under Russian control.

The so-called ice-free port is actually a port that will not freeze in any season. Most of Russia's territory is located in the north; although the coastline is not short, these ports close to the north will freeze in winter, and ships are simply unable to dock at the ports.

The reason why Russia was constantly expanding southward in Central Asia and East Asia was precisely to find a natural ice-free port like Port Arthur.

But there was no way; the reason why General Makarov could not be reused was entirely because his overly straightforward personality offended most of the high-ranking officials of the Russian Navy Ministry.

General Makarov was like a bright pearl in the rotten Russian naval department, but this dazzling quality was, to the other officials of the Navy Ministry, like a bright light bulb, illuminating their darkness.

The naval department did not need such an upright, clean, and capable general; for any proposal put forward by General Makarov, those rotten high-ranking officials of the naval department would also shelve them one after another.

When the letter submitted by Makarov to the naval department was learned of by Nicholas II, more than half a month had already passed since the Russian Pacific Fleet was attacked by surprise.

Although he was very angry at the high-ranking officials of the Navy Ministry and General Stark, the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, Nicholas II still valued Vice Admiral Makarov, who had proposed the plan to guard against the Island Nation's surprise attack, quite highly.

Under the personal appointment of Nicholas II, General Makarov was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Russian Pacific Fleet and possessed the command of all warships of the Baltic Fleet supporting the Pacific Fleet.

All Russian warships that appeared in the Far East would be assigned to the command of Vice Admiral Makarov.

This appointment fully reflected Nicholas II's trust in Vice Admiral Makarov and also made General Makarov determined to fully demonstrate his talent and repay His Majesty Nicholas II, who trusted him.

Gao Da was also paying attention to the progress of the Russo-Japanese War; after all, this was the only large-scale war that had broken out in recent years, and the military strength of both participating sides was also at the level of great powers.

In the original history, this would be the battle for the Island Nation to establish its status as a great power. After this war, the Island Nation was recognized as a world great power, and this was also the only great power since the Industrial Revolution whose main population was not European.

One must know that before the Island Nation became a great power, the populations of all great powers in the world were composed of Europeans.

Although the United States' population was not purely European, the vast majority of their white population were descendants of European immigrants.

According to reason, if the Island Nation could defeat Russia on the front battlefield, they could indeed rank among the great powers.

But this world is different from history; currently, Spain has not only not continued to decline, but instead has become a member of the super great powers again.

Currently, the world's eight great powers are Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Spain, Austria, America, and Italy; the one with the worst comprehensive national strength and military strength might be Italy.

But to say whether the Island Nation could squeeze Italy out and become a great power itself, this matter is really hard to say.

There are many reasons why Spain could be squeezed out in history; on one hand, it was because the political situation within Spain was relatively chaotic, the nobility and the church still maintained most of Spain's political power, and no one cared about the interests of the public.

On the other hand, it was because Spain's industry and economy were relatively backward, and its population was also the smallest among all great powers.

But these points do not exist in today's Italy; the difficulty for the Island Nation to squeeze Italy out of the great powers is absolutely very great.

Although Italy's industrial and economic level is at the bottom of the great powers, compared to the Island Nation, it is obviously still in a leading position.

Italy's population has already exceeded 34 million; although it is a bit less than the Island Nation's 46 million, this is obviously not enough to become the key for the Island Nation to squeeze Italy out of the throne of great powers.

After all, in the industrial field, Italy leads the Island Nation by more than just a little bit.

As of the beginning of 1903, the world's steel production had already reached an exaggerated 37.42 million tons, among which the steel production of the great power countries had already reached 35.98 million tons, occupying the majority of the world's total steel production.

The comparison of steel production between great power countries and non-great power countries is quite obvious; Italy is the one with a relatively weak industrial scale among the great power countries, and the Island Nation is the one with a relatively strong industrial scale among the non-great power countries, and there still exists a world of difference between the two.

Italy's steel production has already exceeded 120,000 tons, and pig iron production has even reached 390,000 tons. And the Island Nation? Steel production is only 3,000 tons, and pig iron production is only 52,000 tons.