Chapter 418 Russia-Austria Relations Are Cold

On October 7, 1866, the Sudanese government delivered an ultimatum to the Russian minister, demanding that the Russians hand over Constantinople within 48 hours, or war would begin.

This war ultimatum did not wait for 48 hours. The Tsarist Russian minister who received the ultimatum replied directly: Let’s go to war!

The Ottoman Empire's preparations for war were so loud, how could it be hidden from the Russians? As an old enemy, the Tsarist government has never relaxed its surveillance of the Ottoman Empire.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also attracting the Ottomans, but they can't get benefits, and the result is naturally futile.

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

Open the map and see to be sure. The Ottoman Empire has few choices, with three neighbors in the surrounding area.

The geographical location determines that Persia is not easy to fight. Even if it wins, there is not much oil and water. There is no need for the Sudanese government to fight in the tasteless area.

Austria did not dare to fight, or could not touch it. The Sinai Peninsula was bordered by it, and it was also separated by the vast desert. Attacking the Balkans by sea, with more than enough energy, there is no chance of landing.

Only Russia is left. In the Near East War, the Black Sea Fleet was completely wiped out. Due to financial constraints, it has not recovered for so many years.

With the support of Britain and France, whether it is to attack the Caucasus or attack Constantinople. It is too easy to seal the Bosphorus Strait several hundred meters wide.

The Sudanese government's painstakingly prepared excuse for war turned into a farce.

Constantinople has assembled 80,000 Russian troops, and the total number of Russian troops on the Russian Balkans has reached 150,000. Relatively speaking, the Caucasus region is the weak point.

Both sides have declared war, and the battle is still to be fought. This time, the Ottomans finally had an absolute military advantage, and naturally they had to do a big job.

St. Petersburg, when the Ottomans declared war, Alexander II frowned even more. There are more and more enemies, which is not a good thing.

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

The 50,000-600,000 troops in Eastern Europe will fight to the death with the Pubo coalition, and there is still no chance to win the war. In order to prevent Sweden from taking advantage of the fire, 50,000 troops have also been deployed in the Nordic region.

There are also 70,000 or 80,000 troops deployed in the Far East, but because the area under control is too wide, there are not many troops that can be invested in the CCP.

More than 300,000 Russian troops in Central Asia are fighting hard against the enemy, or they are being beaten. This part of the army is basically recruited temporarily, and it is not bad to be able to stabilize the front line.

The Balkans seem to have enough troops, but in fact, at most 150,000 Russian troops can defend Constantinople. Fortunately, the French sold the Balkan colonies to Austria, otherwise they would have one more potential enemy.

The Caucasus region must also increase its troops now. No one can guarantee that the Sudanese government will not attack the west. If the Caucasus region is lost, the enemy can kill all the way to the Volga River Basin.

The army is not enough, this is the real feeling of Alexander II. Millions of Russian troops are fighting hard on the battlefield. In order to support this war, the domestic economy has been seriously 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 used. This is really a serious challenge to the Russian army.

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

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

Chancellor of the Exchequer Christan Wahl whispered: "Your Majesty, after the outbreak of the war with the Ottomans, the only object of our trade is Austria.

This year's fiscal revenue is likely to hit the lowest record in three decades, and it may continue to decline next year. "

Such a change made the Minister of Finance really have no confidence to speak. Although the responsibility is not on them, the problem falls on them when there is no money.

Fortunately, it was sent from the Jews before, otherwise the tsarist government would have gone bankrupt long ago. Even so, Kristenvall did not dare to let his guard down.

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

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

"Financial revenue this year will fall to about 150 million rubles, and if the war continues, it may drop to 120 million rubles next year."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kristan Wahl's answer was getting quieter. You must know that before the outbreak of the war, the fiscal revenue of the tsarist government had exceeded 300 million rubles, and now it has been cut in half.

The reality is so cruel, the Russian Empire is now also beleaguered from all sides, except for the safety of the Arctic Ocean, all the way from Eastern Europe to the Far East is war.

Overseas trade has shrunk sharply, and the huge profits brought by grain exports in the past are now gone.

Compared with less export trade, the value of import trade is increasing sharply. Russia's foreign trade is settled in gold and silver, and this change has caused a large outflow of domestic gold and silver.

The consequences of the loss of wealth were quickly reflected in the economy, and deflation had become an unavoidable social problem for the tsarist government.

"Looks like the Austrians are making a lot of money again."

The seemingly unintentional words of Alexander II have already explained the transformation of Russian-Austrian relations. I'm unlucky, you get rich, no matter how good a friendship is

It will be alienated again, and it will be the same when it rises to state relations.

No one accepts this sentence, Russia-Austria friendship is still politically correct. Jealousy, jealousy, none of these changes the fact that the tsar can't live without Austria.

...

Alexander II is 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 there are not many goods that can be exported.

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

This has hit another wave of competitors. Enterprises that originally bought Russian grain for finishing are now forced to snap up purchases on the international market due to lack of raw materials.

After the Russians and the Ottomans went to war, the transaction prices on the international grain market rose another ten points in a short period of time. This is just the beginning, as long as supply and demand are not resolved, food prices may continue to rise.

In the mid-19th century, half of the world's population was hungry, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, died of hunger every year.

Against this background, the food shortage in Europe is obviously not something that can be solved in a short time. Increasing food production is easier said than done in practice.

There is no shortage of land in the major colonial empires. The problem is that the initial investment in reclaiming wasteland and planting food is not small, and the market rate of return is not high enough.

If there is a bumper harvest of food, there is a high probability that it will rot in the ground. It's not that everyone doesn't need food anymore. The bigger problem is that many people can't afford food.

In this era, only European countries have market purchasing power. Other regions are self-sufficient, and where they cannot be self-sufficient, they can only starve.

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

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

As one of the beneficiaries, Franz's wallet swelled a lot again. This has no interest in Franz. At the critical moment of the industrial revolution, it is obvious that emerging industries have more "money opportunities".

Foreign Minister Weisenberg frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the Russian minister informed us that they are going to increase tariffs because of the war."

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

Franz was too lazy to pay attention to the plans of the tsarist government.

"Maybe it's time for our exports to go up too!"

The wool comes from the sheep, and rising tariffs lead to higher commodity prices. This is a normal business law.

Perhaps tariffs have been increased to protect certain Russian industries. However, now is the age of war, and the biggest trade goods between the two countries are strategic materials.

This is a necessities, and the tsarist government must 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 in the end the tsarist government itself will suffer.

Franz was certain that this decision was definitely not made by Alexander II. Obviously shooting himself in the foot, Alexander II was not such a fool.

Either the tsarist government had financial problems, and the bureaucrats rushed to the hospital to make stupid policies; or it was promoted by domestic capitalists in an attempt to gain greater benefits.

The truth was covered up, and no one thought that Alexander II's sigh caused the bureaucrats under him to make an association and made a foolish 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 looks like a good policy. At the beginning of industrial development, protecting national industries is beneficial to the development of domestic industries.

However, the benefits were not manifested, the bad consequences had already happened, and the tsarist government soon paid a heavy price for it.

In order to save money, the bureaucrats of the tsarist government chose to purchase supplies from local companies because the tariffs caused the price of imported goods from Austria to increase - Tiankeng was about to be born.

...