Chapter 211 Russia Joins the War

In April 1877, a piece of news from Tsarist Russia shocked the whole of Europe and immediately made the Balkan Peninsula the focus of world attention.

Tsar Alexander II officially declared war on the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian army also crossed the Romanian land at lightning speed and launched an attack on the Ottoman Empire along the Danube River.

Because of the lack of sufficient preparation, when the Ottoman army was attacked by the Russian army, they seemed extremely panicked.

The Ottoman army, which had been fighting against rebels such as Serbia, had never felt the pressure brought by the Tsarist Russian army.

Although Russia had only more than 200,000 troops on the front line after several months of mobilization, the combat effectiveness of these 200,000 troops was obviously different from that of the armies of Serbia and other nations.

Because there was several months of preparation time, Tsarist Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire in two ways. The first route consists of two armies with a total of 100,000 people, and the Caucasian Army is composed of two armies, led by Tsar Alexander II's brother Mikhail Nikolayevich, as the commander-in-chief of the army. The militias in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Osezia also joined the Caucasian Army.

On the European battlefield, the estimated number of the Danube Army is as high as 300,000. Although there are more than 200,000 soldiers on the way, the 100,000 troops who have already rushed to the front line plus the Bulgarian militia incorporated into the Danube Army are enough to counter the Ottoman Empire in a short period of time.

Although the Danube Army is not strong enough for the time being, Russia has equipped it with thousands of cannons, which is more than the total number of cannons in the Ottoman Empire.

This also made the Ottoman Empire suffer as soon as they met. Because of the lack of artillery firepower, the Ottoman army was suppressed by artillery fire when it was fighting the Russian army head-on.

The gap in firepower prevented the Ottoman army from making any progress, which also affected the morale of the Ottoman army.

As one side gained strength while the other lost strength, the Russian army was unstoppable. It took only one week to push back the Ottoman army that originally threatened Romania to more than ten kilometers away.

The news that Tsarist Russia joined the war shocked the whole world, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, which were always paying attention to the Balkan Peninsula.

Neither country expected that the Russians would have such determination. When Britain might join the war, the Russians resolutely chose to join the battle.

Judging from the paper military strength of both Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire, these are two completely disproportionate countries.

The Russian regular forces have a total of 48 infantry divisions with a total of 720,000 people, equipped with more than 3,000 artillery pieces.

The total number of the Ottoman army is only 400,000, and the number of artillery pieces is only over 850.

Although the quality of the Ottoman rifles is higher than that of the Russian infantry, after all, these rifles are provided by Britain and Austria-Hungary. But in terms of heavy firepower, Russia maintains an absolute lead.

Of the 850 artillery pieces of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and Austria-Hungary provided more than 300 artillery pieces. But there is no way, the original industrial foundation of the Ottoman Empire is too weak, and the fact that it can be armed with more than 850 artillery pieces in a short period of time is the result of strong support from the British.

Although Russia's industry is not strong among the five traditional powers, compared with other non-power countries, Russia's industry is still very large.

720,000 troops are armed with more than 3,000 artillery pieces. This level is not only the Ottoman Empire, but even Germany and France, which have strong armies, dare not say that they can surpass Russia on paper data.

More importantly, Russia's military strength is definitely more than just the surface. In the case of full mobilization, Russia can arm millions of troops, which is why Russia is feared by other European countries.

The population of the Ottoman Empire is far less than that of Russia, and there are even fewer Turks who are truly core. This also led to the Ottoman Empire not hesitating at all after learning that Russia had joined the war, and immediately changed its strategic goal from offense to defense, and asked for help from Britain and Austria-Hungary.

When the news that Tsarist Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire reached Spain, it was already the second day of the war.

Archduke Serrano, then Prime Minister of Spain, found Carlo with a surprised look on his face and brought the news that Carlo had already expected.

"How did the British react?" Carlo asked with a smile, not panicking or worried about the outbreak of this war.

"The British government has not responded yet, but it does not rule out the possibility that they will announce their participation in this war." Archduke Serrano replied: "Your Majesty, if the British announce their participation in this war, what should we do?"

This is a good question, but if you think about it in combination with history, this question should not have arisen.

"The British are unlikely to join this war unless the Ottoman Empire collapses faster than expected." Carlo replied with a smile.

Although Britain is the current world hegemon, the British are also unwilling to face the powerful Tsarist Russia.

Unless Russia were to occupy Constantinople or win a great victory in the Balkan War, the British would most likely not stand up.

The title of Europe's troublemaker is not for nothing, and this is also the annoying point of the British Empire in this era.

Archduke Serrano nodded, with a hint of pity in his eyes.

Carlo smiled and didn't say much. He certainly understood what Archduke Serrano was thinking, which was to recover Gibraltar, a small piece of land in southern Spain.

Ever since the British occupied Gibraltar when Spain was in trouble, Gibraltar has become a thorn in the hearts of all Spanish generals, and they want to remove it all the time.

But unfortunately, after the British occupied Gibraltar, the national strength has become stronger and stronger. Since the loss of Gibraltar, Spain has gradually weakened from a powerful country and has been in a rather embarrassing position.

If Spain is strong, Europe can easily find a country stronger than Spain. If Spain is weak, compared with those real small countries, Spain seems so strong.

Not as good as the best but better than the worst, this embarrassing position has also made Spain have no sense of existence, whether in the later European Union or on the world stage.

As the king of Spain, Carlo certainly wants to recover Gibraltar, which is also a political achievement that ordinary expansion of territory cannot match.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as Carlo can recapture Gibraltar, Carlo will become one of the most influential monarchs in Spain, and no family will be able to threaten the ruling position of the Savoy family in Spain.

But unfortunately, the British Empire is too powerful, and Spain alone cannot recapture Gibraltar.

It is obviously not a good decision to offend the British at this time, not to mention that the British are unlikely to join the war between the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia.

To say that the time to really recapture Gibraltar, in addition to letting the British invest heavily in the Boer War, perhaps we can only wait until World War I or World War II, and recapture Gibraltar by exchanging interests when Britain is busy dealing with the world war.

After Tsarist Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, European countries were paying attention to the attitude of the British Empire.

If the British also joined in, then the war in the Balkans would immediately turn into a contest between the two great powers, and the impact of the war would also expand to the whole of Europe.

But if the British did not join the war, Tsarist Russia would defeat the Ottoman Empire in a very short time and expand its influence to the entire Balkan Peninsula.

Will the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is also eyeing the Balkan Peninsula, allow Tsarist Russia to do so? If the British Empire does not join the war, will the Austro-Hungarian Empire join in and stop the expansion of Tsarist Russia?

The Balkan Peninsula is indeed the powder keg of Europe. Although it is still decades away from World War I, the European powder keg at this time has already had considerable power.

For several days in a row, the British government did not make a clear statement on this, and its attitude was quite vague.

It is natural that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not jump into the fire pit alone, which also led to the Balkan battlefield becoming a unique place for Tsarist Russia.

Although there was no clear statement, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already urgently asked the British Empire about its attitude, while ensuring the support of its allies, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Spain.

For Emperor Franz Joseph I, the Balkan Peninsula was a sphere of influence that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not lose.

If Russia's power were to expand to the Balkan Peninsula, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would be completely restricted to its existing territory and would always be only a middle-lower-class power.

It is said that Germany is located in a place where four wars are fought. In fact, the geographical location of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is not much better than that of Germany.

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The Austro-Hungarian Empire has five neighbors in total. The neighbors to the north and east are the German Empire and Tsarist Russia, which are also the five traditional powers in Europe.

The neighbor to the southwest is the Kingdom of Italy, which has become a new power, and the neighbors to the south are Romania and the Ottoman Empire.

Among all the neighbors, only the Ottoman Empire and Romania in the Balkan direction are easier to bully.

Even small Italy is not so easy to bully for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Before Italy was unified, the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied a large area of ​​Italy. But after the unification of Italy, it became extremely difficult for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to expand in the direction of Italy.

Although Italy is only a low-class power, low-class powers are also powers. Although Italy was far less powerful than Austria-Hungary, other countries were clearly unwilling to let Austria-Hungary annex the Kingdom of Italy.

It was even more impossible to expand in the two directions of Germany and Russia, as the comprehensive strength of these two countries was not weaker than that of Austria-Hungary.

Facing the only direction of expansion on this continent, Austria-Hungary would never allow itself to lose control of the Balkan Peninsula, even if the enemy was the more powerful Tsarist Russia.

Even Emperor Franz Joseph I was ready to interfere in the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire without the support of the British.

If the British really did not participate, Austria-Hungary would have to face the challenge and at least ensure that it could gain enough benefits in this war.

That's right, the idea of ​​Austria-Hungary was not to help the Ottoman Empire defeat Russia, but to take advantage of the opportunity when the main forces of the Ottoman Empire and the main forces of the Russian army were fighting, and to send troops to invade Serbia and Bosnia, at least to occupy these two places.

Of course, this would only be done if it was certain that the British would not interfere in this war at all.

If it had the support of the British, perhaps Austria-Hungary would not need to start a war and could grab a large piece of fat from the Russians.

As an ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain is naturally also in the contact list of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not reveal its action plan, but only asked Spain to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the situation in the Balkans.

In return, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will convert all previous Spanish loans into interest-free loans and provide Spain with a new batch of industrial and financial assistance.

These industrial and financial assistance are still very useful for Spain, and Carlo certainly does not mind supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire in diplomacy.

Although the British are troublemakers, in the face of major issues such as Constantinople, the British position is still very firm.

No matter how the situation in the Balkans develops, it is impossible for Russia to monopolize the Balkans. Supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire will not do any harm to Spain, and some of the benefits provided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire are also relatively scarce in Spain now.

No matter how the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepares secretly, on the surface, neither Britain nor the Austro-Hungarian Empire reacts too strongly.

This also led to the Balkan peoples' confidence in defeating the Ottoman Empire growing. Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and other countries and regions also announced to join Russia a few days after Russia declared war to jointly deal with the enemy of the Ottoman Empire.

It can be seen from the expectations of the Balkan peoples for this war that the Ottoman Empire is indeed not welcome in the Balkans.

The main reason is that the Ottoman Empire's policy of ruling the Balkan peoples is too cruel. With the changes of the times, blind suppression is no longer feasible.

The long history of resisting the Ottoman Empire has also made the Balkan peoples have a brave and warlike bloodline. This also makes the combat effectiveness of the Balkan peoples very strong, and the military strength of the Balkan countries that later became independent should not be underestimated.

After the Balkan peoples joined the Russian side, the Russian army on the European battlefield quickly exceeded 200,000.

In contrast, the Ottoman Empire's concentrated troops in Europe were only over 200,000, which also meant that the Ottoman Empire had lost its advantage in numbers.

On the Caucasus battlefield, the Ottoman Empire also did not have a numerical advantage. The Asian army commanded by Muhammad Mukhtar Pasha had only 120,000 soldiers, while the Russian Caucasus Army and the combined number of soldiers from militias of various ethnic groups also exceeded 120,000. The two sides were on the same level in terms of the number of soldiers.