Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 179
Chapter 179: Chapter 66: The Making of a Pig Teammate
Translator: 549690339
April 25, 1852, England, France, and the Ottoman Empire held high-level government talks in Paris to discuss the Near Eastern War. Napoleon III, eager to bring France back to the center of the world, personally presided over the meeting.
“The Russians are launching fierce attacks on the Bulgarian region and the Caucasus region; our troops have repelled their assaults multiple times.
However, to defeat the Russians, our strength alone is insufficient.
Moreover, with the Austrians also covetously watching, a significant portion of our forces is tied down.
If we had only one enemy, we could cope, but now facing two formidable foes, we are truly struggling,” said the exhausted Ottoman Foreign Minister Fuad.
This speech was truly difficult to deliver, having to convince England and France to send troops quickly without revealing the weakness of the Ottoman Empire.
It’s a tough act to maintain; carelessly overdo it, and if England and France think the Ottoman Empire can hold on, choosing to sit back and watch, then we can only weep.
Conversely, if the weakness of the Ottoman Empire is exposed and England and France deem us not worth the investment, turning to join Austria and Russia in partitioning us, then we are doomed.
Besides diplomatic troubles, the internal struggle within the Ottoman Government also caused Fuad endless headaches, as Abdulmejid I was not an easy ruler to deal with.
Not long ago, Abdulmejid I, under pressure from the Russians, dismissed Fuad, the pro-British and French Foreign Minister, and appointed the pro-Russian Rifat in his place.
As the negotiations in Constantinople failed, the value of the pro-Russian Foreign Minister seemed to diminish rapidly, and he was immediately dismissed, replaced once again by the pro-British and French Fuad.
This is a maneuver that could only be pulled off in a country like the Ottoman, where chopping and changing ministers so frivolously without treating the Foreign Minister position seriously would have had any minister in European countries throwing in the towel long ago.
In truth, Fuad was reluctant to take on this thankless task; performing well went without recognition, as this was the nature of a Foreign Minister’s work, while failure invited accountability.
But he had no choice, for Abdulmejid I’s will could not be defied. In the Ottoman Empire, ministers did not hold as high a status as they did in European countries.
“Mr. Fuad, do not worry. According to our intelligence, the Austrian Government has had its fill and is now looking to secure its gains.
While we are unclear about the specifics of their secret pact with the Russians, a preliminary assessment suggests that the Russians likely exchanged material support from Austria for the two principalities in the Danube Basin.
Just recently, the Austrian Government provided the Russians with a loan of 100 million shields at low interest, with almost no strings attached.
We’re all aware of the Russian ambitions, and presumably, the Austrian Government doesn’t wish for them to expand further; to provide material support at this stage is already their limit,” analyzed British Foreign Secretary Palmerston.
His point was clear, a warning to Fuad that their common enemy was Russia; he should not attempt to use their strength to tackle two enemies at once.
For a very simple reason: Russia was the greatest threat to the Great Britain Empire, and naturally, they took priority to strike.
As for Austria, after defeating Russia, they could turn their attention to settling scores. John Bull’s foreign policy has always adjusted according to the threat level of the enemy.
In Palmerston’s view, facing both Russia and Austria simultaneously was utterly unwise.
England, France, and the Ottoman Empire VS Austria + Russia conducting warfare in the Near East, was clearly an evenly matched battle.
Such battles typically end with both sides suffering, with no one gaining an advantage.
Without a doubt, he greatly overestimated the strength of the Ottoman Empire, unaware that this main force was already crippled.
Napoleon III nodded and said, “Mr. Palmerston is right; we must first stabilize Austria before we consider how to deal with them after we handle the Russians.”
Confident as he was, not only in France’s abilities but also in England’s, he believed that the combined strength of England and France far exceeded that of Austria and Russia, adding in a quasi-great power like the Ottoman Empire, the war was sure to be won.
Confidence aside, no one minded weakening the enemy further, so it was crucial to create divisions and disintegration.
Fuad laughed heartily, pretending to be relaxed, and said, “Of course, it would be best to defeat the enemies one by one.
The Russian reinforcements continue to pour in steadily; to win the war with minimal cost, we must take immediate action now, lest delays introduce uncertainties.”
He didn’t care how England and France planned; his task would be mostly complete as long as he could lure their forces to the battlefield.
The outcome on the battlefield was not a matter for him, the Foreign Minister, to worry about. By binding England and France to their cause, the Ottoman Empire could at least survive the current crisis.
Napoleon III said with implication, “Rest assured, Mr. Fuad, the French Army is ready and will set out a week from now.
France is a responsible country; we will not stand by and watch our allies shed blood on the front lines and do nothing.”
Hearing Napoleon III’s words, Palmerston remained unfazed as if none of this was of any concern to him.
He said with a smile, “We are persuading Parliament; the result should come at the latest by next month, at which point the British Army will also appear on the Battlefield of the Balkan Peninsula.”
Fuad’s face looked somewhat displeased, as if he were quite unsatisfied with the British’s behavior. But in his heart, he breathed a sigh of relief; this outcome was enough to explain to his domestic audience.
With the issue of dispatching troops resolved, the next matter of the loan would be easier to handle. It was simply a question of how high the interest rates would be and how many additional conditions there would be.
In this aspect, the Ottomans had no negotiating power whatsoever. Fuad didn’t dwell on this matter; as long as the conditions weren’t too excessive, he agreed to all of them readily.
If the conditions were indeed too excessive, at worst, he could just send them back for Abdulmejid I’s approval. After all, the Ottoman Empire had no other choice at this time.
Without the support of England and France, it was possible that this Near East war might cost the Sultan Government its life; at a juncture of life and death, bottom lines and integrity are non-existent.
On May 9, 1852, the Russian Army’s main force, with the cooperation of the Bulgarian Guerrilla Team, captured Ruse, an important military fortress of the Ottomans.
The fall of Ruse meant that a breach had appeared in the Ottoman Empire’s defense line in Bulgaria, and after nearly a month’s worth of fighting, the Russians finally achieved a strategic breakthrough.
Unfortunately, due to the chaotic command structure of the Russian Army, the surrounding units didn’t manage to coordinate in time after the capture of Ruse to continue expanding the victory. By the time the expeditionary force’s headquarters reacted, it was too late.
After missing the opportunity, the Russians lost the chance to seriously damage the main force of the Ottoman Army, and the war continued.
Just at this time, the first group of reinforcements from France had arrived at Constantinople; fifty thousand elite French soldiers, after a brief period of reorganization, were thrown into the war.
After being accustomed to fighting the disorganized Ottomans, the Russian expeditionary force’s headquarters made an erroneous judgement when they suddenly faced a French elite force and were caught off guard.
On May 11, 1852, the overzealous 16th Infantry Division, while pursuing the Ottoman Army, happened to collide with the Sixth French Infantry Division and were thoroughly beaten by the French.
If not for the timely arrival of reinforcements, they would have been the first division-level force to be completely annihilated since the start of the war.
Perhaps out of a desire to avenge the losses from the anti-French wars, these elite French soldiers displayed exceptionally high morale, exhibiting extraordinary combat effectiveness on the battlefield.
Having given the Russians a surprise blow, on May 13, 1852, the French forces once again cracked down and engaged the Russian Army in Razgrad. Facing off directly against ninety thousand Russians with not even fifty thousand men, the two sides fought to a standstill.
Unfortunately, the outstanding performance of the French Army could not change the overall situation. Their numbers were too few, and against increasing Russian forces, the French casualties rose sharply.
After seven days of fierce fighting and suffering the loss of 15,200 soldiers, the French were eventually forced to break out, and the Battle of Razgrad ended in defeat for the French Army.
However, they were still deemed to have fought honorably in defeat; even though they had lost, they managed to achieve a casualty exchange ratio of 1:1.3 with the Russians, as the victorious Russian Army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties.
This was certainly due to the superiority of French weapons and equipment, but it was also inseparable from their strict training and high morale.
As for the Ottoman Army, these unreliable allies could not be counted on. After one failure, they seemed to have lost their nerve to the Russians, their morale dissipated, and they were chased all over by the Russian Army.
If only the allies had been a bit more reliable and held back the main Russian force, the French Army wouldn’t have suffered an attack by a large Russian force, and the outcome of the Battle of Razgrad would still be in question.
Paris
News of the loss of Ruse arrived on May 12. The weakness of the Ottoman Empire was exposed, but by that time, it was too late for England and France to back out.
The loan had been given, which was a minor issue; if need be, a shameless solution would be to simply tear up the agreement.
The key was that the first batch of French reinforcements had already reached the Ottoman Empire and had entered the battlefield; at this point, Napoleon III was in no position to back down, regardless.
Knowing full well that there’s a pit ahead, yet still having to jump in—political needs were sufficient to make Napoleon III insist on continuing the fight.
Palmerston wasn’t pleased either. By that time, Prime Minister Russell had convinced Parliament, and two days earlier, the London Government had declared war on the Russian Empire.
War is no trifling matter; if the London Government didn’t want to be ousted, they had to grit their teeth and continue the fight with Russia. This concerned the world’s supreme leader’s prestige and influence.
On this issue, the British couldn’t possibly yield; if they lost to the Russians, then their already precarious position as the world’s supreme leader would be lost for good.
If this news could only make England and France feel despondent, then the news that followed enraged them.
Especially for Napoleon III. While the French soldiers were bloodily fighting the Russians on the front lines, the Ottoman Army was actually retreating. Who’s territory were they defending?
Of course, as a savvy politician, Napoleon III knew how to maximize benefits. He immediately touted the French military achievements through the newspapers, boasting to the public and indirectly extolling his own martial accomplishments.
The battle was lost? That’s all the Ottomans’ fault; what does it have to do with the brave and capable French Army? In the face of a disadvantage in numbers, they managed to achieve an astonishing exchange ratio.
The gap in weaponry was conveniently ignored by Napoleon III. After all, the public wasn’t concerned with such details; all that needed to be emphasized was that the Russian losses were greater.
