Holy Roman Empire

On October 7, 1866, the Sudanese government submitted an ultimatum to the Russian Minister, requesting the Russians to hand over Constantinople within 48 hours, otherwise it would be war.

I didn't wait for 48 hours for this war ultimatum. I received the ultimatum's Tsarist Russian Minister and directly replied: Then let's war!

The Ottoman Empire prepared for war so much, how could it be possible to hide the Russians?As a rival, the tsarist government never relaxed its surveillance of the Ottoman Empire.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also attracting the Ottomans, but they are unable to bring out the benefits, and the result is naturally futile.

Seeing the mobilization of the Sudanese government, Alexander II knew that war was inevitable.

Just open the map and make sure.The Ottoman Empire had few options, and there were a total of three neighbors.

The geographical location determines that Persia is not easy to fight. Even if it wins, there is not much oil and water. The Sudanese government in the Gyrib region does not need to fight.

Austria dared not fight, or could not touch it. The Sinai Peninsula is bordered by the vast desert.Attacking the Balkans by sea is not enough, and there is no chance of landing.

Russia is the only one left, and the Black Sea Fleet was annihilated in the Near East War, limited by finances. It has not recovered for so many years.

With British and French support, it is possible to attack the Caucasus or Constantinople.It is too easy to seal the Bosphorus Strait a few hundred meters wide. It can be done directly by landing a gun.

The war excuse that the Sudanese government prepared with great care has directly turned into a farce.

Constantinople has assembled 80,000 Russian troops. The total strength of the Russian army on the Russian Balkan Peninsula has reached as high as 150,000. The Caucasus region is relatively weak.

Both sides declared war, and the battle is still to be fought.This time, the Ottomans finally had an absolute strength advantage, so naturally they had to do a lot.

In Saint Petersburg, Alexander II's brows became tighter when he received news that the Ottomans declared war.There are more and more enemies, which is not a good thing.

The war potential of the Russian Empire has actually been almost launched, limited by transportation and productivity, which is already the largest force they can use.

Five or six hundred thousand troops in Eastern Europe are about to die with the coalition forces of Pupo. At present, there is no opportunity to win the war. In order to prevent Sweden from taking advantage of the fire, the Nordic region also deployed 50,000 troops.

Seventy or eighty thousand troops have also been deployed in the Far East, but because the area of ​​rule is too wide, not many troops can be invested in the army.

More than 300,000 Russian troops in Central Asia are fighting hard against the enemy, or they are being crushed and beaten.This part of the army is basically recruited temporarily, and it is good to be able to stabilize the front.

The Balkan Peninsula seems to have sufficient troops. In fact, 150,000 Russian troops defended Constantinople at most. Fortunately, the French sold the Balkan colony to Austria, otherwise they would have one more potential enemy.

The Caucasus region must now have additional troops, and no one can guarantee that the Sudanese government is not going all out. If the Caucasus region is lost, the enemy can kill the Volga River all the way.

The army is not enough, this is the true feeling of Alexander II.Millions of Russian troops are fighting hard on the battlefield. To support this war, the domestic economy has been severely affected.

Fighting the war of attrition is the most painful. It is impossible to invest more troops, and the tactics of the sea cannot be brought into play. This is really a serious challenge to the Russian army.

What's worse is that the European countries have seen the reality of the Russian Empire. The so-called million Russian army is a joke. In any battlefield, the tsarist government cannot invest a million troops.

These changes also affected Russian-Austrian relations. The Austrians felt that the alliance was optional, and the Russians felt that the Austrian allies did not contribute.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Christanval, whispered: "Your Majesty, after the outbreak of the war with Ottoman, we are left with only Austria.

This year's fiscal revenue may be the lowest in 30 years, and it may continue to decline next year."

Such a change makes the Chancellor of the Exchequer really have no confidence to speak.Although the responsibility is not on them, the problem falls on them when they have no money.

Fortunately, a sum was paid from the Jews before, otherwise the tsarist government would have long gone bankrupt.Even so, Kristenval dare not relax his guard.

This kind of windfall cannot happen every day. According to the current situation, it will not be long before they face financial crisis again.

Alexander II asked indifferently: "How low will it be?"

"This year's fiscal revenue will drop to approximately 150 million rubles, and if the war continues, it may drop to 120 million rubles next year."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Christanval, answered less and less.Before the outbreak of war, the tsarist government ’s fiscal revenue had exceeded 300 million rubles, and now it is directly cut.

The reality is so cruel. The Russian empire is now all around, besides the Arctic Ocean is also safe, from Eastern Europe to the Far East all the way to war.

Overseas trade has shrunk sharply, and the huge profits brought about by grain exports in the past no longer exist.

Compared with less export trade, the volume of import trade has increased dramatically.Russia ’s foreign trade is settled in gold and silver. This change has caused a large amount of domestic gold and silver to flow out.

The consequences of the loss of wealth quickly reflected in the economy, and deflation has become a social problem that the Tsarist government cannot avoid.

"It seems that the Austrians have made a lot of money."

A seemingly unintentional statement by Alexander II has already completed the transformation of Russian-Austrian relations.I'm out of luck and you get rich. No matter how good your friendship is, you will become estranged, and it will be the same when you rise to national relations.

No one answered this statement. Russia-Austria friendship is still politically correct.No matter how jealous or jealous, these can't change the fact that the Tsar cannot leave Austria.

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Alexander II was right, Austria has indeed made a lot of money recently.Because of the war, the Bosphorus was blocked and Austria naturally monopolized trade with Russia.

Sweden in the Nordic region also made a small fortune, but their national strength is limited and not many products can be exported.

In addition to trade with Russia, another benefit is that Austria's market share in agricultural products has increased.Russian grain exports can now only be sold to Austria, and then processed and sold on the international market.

This has hit another wave of competitors. Enterprises that originally bought Russian grains for fine processing are now forced to buy in the international market due to lack of raw materials.

After the war between the Russians and Ottoman, the transaction price on the international grain market rose by another ten points in a short period of time.This is just the beginning. As long as the relationship between supply and demand is not resolved, food prices may still continue to rise.

In the mid-19th century, half of the world ’s population was hungry, and hundreds of thousands, or even millions, died of hunger every year.

Against this background, the European food shortage is obviously not a short-term solution.Increasing grain output is easy to say, but it is difficult to put into practice.

The major colonial empires of the land are not lacking. The problem is that the initial investment to open up wasteland for planting grain is not small, and the market return rate is not high enough.

If there is a bumper grain harvest, it is likely to rot in the ground.It ’s not that we do n’t need food anymore. On the bigger issue, many people ca n’t afford food.

At this time, only the European countries have the purchasing power of the market. Other regions are self-sufficient. Where they cannot be self-sufficient, they can only starve.

Purchasing power limits production capacity. In case of emergencies, food prices will naturally rise in the short term.Perhaps everyone has reserves in their hands, but capitalists want to make money, and ultra-high food prices are also one of the means.

These have little to do with Austria. No matter how the international food prices change, as the world's largest food exporter, domestic food prices are very stable.

As one of the beneficiaries, Franz's purse has bulged a lot.This has not lifted Franz ’s interest. At the critical moment of the industrial revolution, it is obvious that emerging industries have more money.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the Russian Minister told us that they would raise tariffs because of the war."

Franz frowned, raising the tariffs will inevitably affect the trade volume of the two countries.But does the Russian Empire now have capital to raise tariffs?

Unsure about the plans of the tsarist government, Franz didn't bother to bother.

"Perhaps our export commodities should also rise in price!"

Wool comes from sheep, and rising tariffs cause commodity prices to rise, which is normal business law.

Perhaps the increase in tariffs can protect certain industries in Russia.However, it is now the era of war, and the biggest trade commodities of the two countries are strategic materials.

This is a necessity, and the Czar government must also accept the price increase.Isn't raising tariffs now an excuse for capitalists to raise prices?

This price increase will definitely exceed the tariff increase, and it is the tsarist government that will ultimately suffer the loss.

Franz was sure that this decision was definitely not made by Alexander II.Obviously lifting stones and hitting his feet, Alexander II was not such a fool.

Either the tsarist government had financial problems, and the bureaucrats rushed into a stupid policy formulated by the doctor; or it was driven by domestic capitalists in an attempt to obtain greater benefits.

The truth was covered up, and no one thought of the sentiment of Alexander II, which caused the bureaucrats to make associations and make a fool's decision, thus ending the honeymoon period between Russia and Austria.

If Alexander II knew, he would definitely regret it.

This decision has indeed protected many domestic industries.On the surface, it seems to be a good policy. At the beginning of industrial development, protecting national industries is conducive to the development of domestic industries.

However, the benefits were not reflected, and the evil had already happened first, and the tsarist government soon paid a terrible price for it.

Because tariffs have led to an increase in the prices of imported goods from Austria, in order to save money, the bureaucrats of the Tsarist government chose to purchase materials from local companies-Tiankeng is about to be born.

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