Holy Roman Empire

St. Petersburg, since receiving news of the secret Anglo-Polish pact, Alexander III had been losing even more hair.

He tossed aside the telegram in his hand and complained, "Damn the British, can’t they keep quiet for a bit?

Just a few peaceful days had passed before they started causing trouble again. Do they really think we’re easy to bully...?"

He really didn’t want to stir up trouble now. Wouldn’t it be better to quietly farm the land? Why cause trouble?

Finance Minister Alisher Gurov advised, "Your Majesty, this is a British trick.

They are stirring up the Persian conflict at this time just to interrupt the recovery of the Russian Empire, and we must not let their scheme succeed."

He was genuinely afraid that the impetuous Tsar, in a fit of rage, might rush into war with the British — an all-too-common occurrence among past Tsars.

To be precise, such incidents were not rare worldwide. Only after learning countless lessons from predecessors did people start becoming rational, continuing into modern times.

The Russian Empire now was unfit for external warfare; first the Russo-Prussian War, followed by an economic crisis, placed Russia in its most vulnerable period.

Before Alexander III could respond, Minister of Army Parladro Wald interjected, "Everyone knows it’s a British plot, but what of it?

The interests of the Russian Empire are inviolable. The Persian issue is merely a British test. If we do not cut off their wild ambitions, more troubles will follow.

Once the outside world perceives the decline of the Russian Empire, the enemies we face will not just be the British."

There was too much animosity. When the Russian Empire was strong, these were mere trifles, hardly worth worrying about.

Now, however, things have changed. Russia is at its most vulnerable. What has allowed us to live peacefully till now is our former fearsomeness.

No matter how fierce, it doesn’t change the fact that we are a sick tiger. If we can’t deter the jackals and leopards in the forest, we’ll end up with a scenario of wolves hunting the tiger.

To avoid the worst-case scenario, the Tsarist Government had made many efforts, including: restoring the Russian-Austrian Alliance, actively participating in the Near East war...

On one hand, by leveraging the power of the alliance to deter powerful rivals, and on the other, flexing its muscles on the battlefield to convince everyone that the Russian Empire is still powerful.

To speed up recovery, the Tsarist Government even sold war trophies from the Near East conflict, acquiring substantial funds to improve the finances.

Nevertheless, the probing still came. The Persian issue was merely a shadow; once the Russian Empire showed signs of weakness, there would be no peace.

The more they thought, the tenser everyone became; after much speculation, a conspiracy theory targeting the Russian Empire formed.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Foreign Minister Oscar Ximenes hurried to explain, "Your Excellency, it is not as serious as it appears.

The British might be testing us, but the Persian issue also affects Austrian interests. As long as we stand with the Vienna Government, the situation will be under control.

The Foreign Ministry has already communicated with the Vienna Government, and they suggest confronting the Persian Government directly, ignoring the British presence."

The Russian-Austrian Alliance on the World Island is invincible, especially after the Prusso Federation’s downfall, with no combination of other countries able to shake this big boss.

It’s no issue for the British to stir up trouble; after all, they are not on the Eurasian continent, and the Royal Navy is enough to ensure their safety. It’s not possible to directly undermine the Russia and Austria.

Minister of Army Parladro Wald asked in confusion, "Does Austria intend to make a move on Persia?"

Oscar Ximenes massaged his forehead, unable to lead this group who preferred violence to solve problems — a common trait among the top echelons of the Tsarist Government.

He explained reluctantly, "The British and Polish signed a secret treaty, which neither government has admitted to. We can also act as if we know nothing about it.

Now, by confronting the Persian Government, we can deliberately make demands that contradict the terms of the secret treaty, thwarting the British plans.

If the Austrians wanted to act against Persian regions, they wouldn’t need to make it this complicated — they could just attack directly."

"Attacking directly" is the style of great powers. War pretexts can be found afterward; since an invasion has begun, there’s nothing to whitewash.

This is different from the Near East War; the Ottoman Empire was Europe’s public enemy of the past, a glance at history books can turn an invasion into a war of revenge.

International opinion inherently has strong biases, and a revenge war representing the will of European people must be just.

Under the influence of the broader context, even the British, who stir up trouble, did not dwell on this issue.

Attacking Persia is unquestionable; after all, the Persian Empire and the Habsburg dynasty have no feud, and it is miles away from the European world.

This answer left Alexander III with mixed feelings. He was glad the problem would be resolved without fear of the situation worsening; however, the Russian Empire’s dependency on Austria had deepened.

To escape dependence on Austria, from the time of Alexander II, the Tsarist Government had intentionally distanced itself from the Vienna Government.

Yet, after all the wrangling, it had come full circle, even exacerbating the issue. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

So much for escaping dependence on Austria; in the end, the dependency had grown stronger, and continuing this way would mean settling as a subordinate.

Having learned from his father’s lessons, Alexander III did not blindly distance diplomatic relations between the two countries in his attempt to escape Austria’s influence.

And that was that, Alexander III simply didn’t know what else to do. Escaping Austria’s influence wasn’t impossible, but the cost was too great.

Political dependence is easier to solve; the troublesome part is the economic impact. Once again, it proved that international loans were not easy to secure.

Affected by the condition that only Austrian products could be purchased, Russian industry lost its own style, entirely copying Austria.

No, they still had their own style, and the mechanical equipment they purchased was improved in design, size, and functionality in the products they produced.

Regrettably, these improvements were not beneficial but progressed in the opposite direction. They couldn’t even copy homework correctly, let alone think about independently researching and upgrading technology.

Having bought the first generation, they were compelled to buy the second generation, and over time, everyone grew accustomed to this. The consequence was that Russian industry was forced to adopt Austrian standards.

To this day, aside from Austria, no other country’s industrial equipment could sell in the Russian Empire.

It wasn’t a matter of price or quality, the key issue was the mismatch in standards systems.

Industrial development is about the supply chain, and to change standards, the entire upstream and downstream must change together. If only one link is changed, the supply chain will immediately encounter problems.

Even in industries that are not highly dependent on supply chains, capitalists must consider the maintenance issues of later equipment.

Without a matching standards system, even changing a screw would require imports from the country of equipment purchase.

If one argues that these small parts are inexpensive and that manufacturers might provide them for free, if the machinery breaks down, having to invite repair technicians from overseas means there’s no way around it.

Everyone considers costs, and no one wants to trouble themselves unnecessarily. There aren’t many large factories in the Russian Empire that can have equipment suppliers send technicians to stay permanently.

Alexander III still understood some economics and didn’t recklessly try to escape limitations.

If we must import anyway, buying from Austria is better than buying from England and France since they are at least allies.

Within a free trade system, relying on the promotion of standards, they achieved a monopoly on industrial equipment, which taught many European economists a lesson.

Even in some universities, the Russian Empire was cited as a classic business case, openly appearing in students’ textbooks.

Right from the start, the Tsarist Government never anticipated that the British would act this way; it was simply a response to the conflict in Central Asia.

In this regard, the British Government’s "warning" ended up being a futile exercise, as the Russians hadn’t thought of that at all.

This wasn’t because the Tsarist Government was foolish, but rather due to a difference in perspective. Perhaps minor antics by the Russian Army in Central Asia seemed significant to outsiders, but to the Tsarist Government, they appeared trivial.

Was it merely about stealing some sheep, cattle, horses, and occupying a pasture? These were things the Russians had been doing for hundreds of years.

Habit becomes nature, and from top to bottom, the Tsarist Government saw no issue. Who would have imagined the British making a big deal out of it?

The British Government might have collated and sent all the evidence directly to the Tsarist Government, but the Russians might still not have believed it.

...

On April 13, 1885, the Mahdi Rebel Army ambushed the advance units of the French Army Suppressing Rebellion in the Iddefu area, and the battle scene was deeply emotional.

With a numerical advantage and the element of surprise from an earlier ambush, both sides managed to end up with a draw.

Upon receiving the news, Hutile and others first reacted with disbelief. Even if the French were made of paper, they couldn’t be this fragile.

During a military meeting, Mahdi scolded with an ashen face, "You’re so capable, aren’t you? Over thirty thousand troops ambushing fewer than five thousand enemies, holding all the advantages, and still ending in a draw.

If you hadn’t had the geographical advantage and had encountered the enemy in the open, would you have been entirely annihilated by the French?

Useless…"

After listening to Mahdi’s scolding, Hutile likely understood what "draw" meant.

With a sixfold advantage in troop strength, added to the ambush they had set, failing not only to annihilate the enemy but also allowing them to break through was indeed a joke.

"Draw" was merely a consolation, and looking at the casualty ratio of 3.4:1, it was about almost annihilating one French battalion, yet the cost was losing a division.

From everyone’s expressions, Hutile felt that the "French Army" supposedly annihilated might have included some exaggerations. If they had really eliminated a regular French battalion, they probably could have held a victory celebration here.

A foreboding feeling arose in Hutile, speculating: Could it be that the French Colonial army acted independently?

Fortunately, there were genuine French Soldiers captured, proving that the main force participated in this battle.

If even the Colonial army achieved such results, then there’s nothing to say. Better pack up and go home right away, you can forget about the mission.

The Rebel Army’s main troops suffered heavy losses, forcing Mahdi to once again seek more support from representatives of the Anglo-Austrian two countries.

Habituated to big crises, General Jeret wasn’t dissatisfied with the outcome of this ambush: "Gentlemen, it has happened, let it go!

As usual, the French Army’s vanguard is typically elite, and it’s normal for them to be a bit stronger. The subsequent troops won’t be as formidable.

The immediate priority is to urgently retrain the Rebel Army and improve their combat effectiveness as much as possible.

I hope the issues revealed in this ambush don’t recur in future battles."

Read the latest on empire

...