Chapter 598 The British Counterattack

London, England.

"Damn it! What did that fool in Aberdeen do!"

Prime Minister Robert Peel couldn't help but get furious. He felt a little incredible about the situation happening in front of him. How did France and Austria end up together? What is that idiot Magid doing again! ?

Canning said: "Your Majesty Prime Minister, the top priority is that we must break up the alliance between France and Austria."

Robert Peel: "Damn it! That alliance with its own ulterior motives never existed. Just like our alliance with the Russians, it was just a cover-up for others to see!"

The latter statement revealed the essence of the relationship between the two alliances, but it made the cabinet members even more confused. Why is the Prime Minister so angry over a non-existent alliance?

In fact, although Robert Peel felt that Britain and Russia could not become allies, he did not mind using the influence of this incident to further weaken Russia and at the same time create an invincible image for Britain to obtain a more flexible diplomacy. position.

However, the Europeans seemed to have overreacted to this incident. Not only did the UK not gain any advantage in this incident, but it also lost its national image and even cut off another possible "road."

In addition, Osman seems to have become a frightened bird. The frightened bird is easy to fly around, and even has a relationship with the Austrians.

The reason why Britain is so wary of Russia is because the latter borders the Ottoman Empire. Although Austria is not as aggressive as Russia, it is also bordered by the Ottoman Empire. It has an inherent advantage in the competition for the inheritance of the Near East.

At this time, the Duke of Haddington, who was the Lord of the Admiralty, came up with another hypothesis that raised Robert Peel's blood pressure.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I think the Austrians may be drunkards who don't care about wine." (Pack sacks, drive donkeys - German proverb, but it seems even more inappropriate to use it here.)

(The phrase "drunkard's intention is not in the wine" is a Western proverb, or it may be in Latin, French or the like. Of course, someone with a hand can help replace it with a Western proverb with a similar meaning.)

"Damn it! Sir Duke, please speak frankly. The British Empire is facing challenges. I am not in the mood to listen to your literary verses."

"Your Majesty Prime Minister, please look at Albania's position."

As he spoke, Duke Haddington unfolded a Mediterranean chart, pointed directly at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, and then continued.

"Your Majesty Prime Minister, this is the Strait of Otranto. It is the chokepoint of Austria's maritime power. As long as we block it, the Austrian navy will only be a fish in the pond for us to catch."

Although Robert Peel did not understand military affairs, he still knew something about some important straits. The reason why Britain dared to bully the Austrian Empire unscrupulously was because it could not pose a threat to the former.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, Austria's coastline once only reached Dalmatia, but now they lease Sanguini from the Ottoman Empire, and their coastline has advanced to 170 kilometers away from the Strait of Otranto.

It's hard to say whether the Austrians have any further plans? If they control the Strait of Otranto they can escape the Adriatic Sea.

This undoubtedly adds another strong opponent to the British Empire."

At this time, Colonial Secretary William Gladstone made a disdainful snort.

"Tsk, your navy gets sky-high remuneration every year but doesn't want to work. Sanguini is 170 kilometers away from the Strait of Otranto! Even if they build forts on both sides of the Strait of Otranto, do you know how wide the Strait of Otranto is?

74 kilometers! Have you heard of artillery with a range of 37 kilometers? Or do you think the Austrians intend to fence off the 74-kilometer-long strait with wooden barrels?

Since ancient times, only warships have been able to perform maritime blockade missions! Even if the Austrians occupied the entire Albania, would the Mediterranean fleet stationed on Crete be free of charge? "

(The wooden barrel refers to the mine, and here the Army is humiliating the Navy, because during the American Revolutionary War, many Royal Navy battleships were blown up by Americans with wooden mines, but the Army's troop transports were unharmed every time.

Later, someone discovered that the reason why the Navy was blown up by mines was because the Navy had the habit of picking up floating objects on the sea, while the Army was often busy vomiting at sea at this time and would not pay attention to those unknown objects. )

William Gladstone's words are not unreasonable. After all, the range of conventional artillery at this time is less than one kilometer, and it is simply impossible to block the 74-kilometer-long strait.

As for the so-called barrels, they actually refer to mines, but the mine tactics of this period were not mature. It was too difficult to block 74 kilometers of sea with mines, and it would waste a lot of money.

In addition, when the Whigs were in power, the navy told the cabinet that it could control the entire Mediterranean as long as it garrisoned troops in Crete. But now, when the Tories were in power, the Navy's Armada was actually afraid of the Austrians rushing out of the Adriatic Sea.

This contrast outraged both William Gladstone and Robert Peel.

“My Lord, England expects that every man will do his duty (Nelson’s famous quote).

If the Navy cannot fulfill its mission, I think you should look for the problem within yourself instead of shirking responsibility or wasting the precious financial resources of the British Empire. "

Robert Peel's words were very sharp and harsh, but as a naval commander, he couldn't refute them.

"Prime Minister! I ask you to think about it again. Now due to our country's global strategy, the strength of the Royal Navy is already stretched to its limits. We can deal with France and the United States now, but if Austria and Russia go out to sea, the consequences will be disastrous."

William Gladstone interrupted again at an inappropriate time.

"The Strait of Gibraltar is still in our hands now. Your navy can't even defend one strait, right?

As long as Gibraltar is in France's Western Fleet, Ottoman, Austria, or Russia, they can't escape the fate of being dominated by us!

You just need to do your duty."

"You short-sighted fool! What if the French attack Gibraltar from land one day?!"

The Duke of Haddington roared, unable to bear it any longer, but William Gladstone did not show weakness.

"What does that have to do with Albania? You just want our army to die!"

"Shut up!" Robert Peel had to stop them. He was fed up with his subordinates' self-righteousness. Although he was good at economics and politics, his understanding of the military was very limited, and he had to rely on these guys.

This made Robert Peel even more annoyed. Fortunately, the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Canning, said at this time.

"In fact, we don't need to punish Austria or the Ottoman Empire."

"What do you mean?"

"Isn't the Austrian Empire going to manage the mountains in northern Albania for the Ottoman Empire? We can use the same excuse to manage the plains in the south!"

Now the ranking has dropped again, please give me some monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.