Chapter 399: Chapter 86, The Art of Politics
 

As the anti-Semitic movement began, the atmosphere on the European Continent grew increasingly oppressive, and anti-Semitic activities proliferated among various countries.

However, at the governmental level, the focus was not on anti-Semitism but on how the Tsarist Government took the opportunity to rid itself of the financial crisis. Only with money could the Russian Empire truly live up to its name.

In the Berlin Palace, Wilhelm I expressed his own anxiety. Yet, Wilhelm I, who would become known as “Wilhelm the Great,” naturally had deep wiles. Though he felt anxious internally, he presented himself as having everything under control.

The King’s composure reassured the Berlin Government. They were not fighting this war alone; they had a host of backers, and as long as these behind-the-scenes tycoons were willing to invest more, they had a chance of winning.

At the signal of Wilhelm I, Foreign Minister McKate said, “Thanks to our diplomatic efforts, the Swedish people are already showing interest.

If we achieve another big victory in the war next year, it is very possible they will take our side.

The Foreign Ministry is now working hard to court the Ottoman Empire, with London and Paris having provided clear responses—they will encourage the Ottoman Empire to join the war.

The British have also promised to cause trouble for the Russians in Central Asia and the Far Eastern region.

We are still lobbying the British Parliament to have the Royal Navy blockade the Baltic Sea and cut off the Russians’ maritime transport routes.

…”

It sounded good, but if interpreted in the context of workplace euphemisms, that was essentially the harsh truth.

The Swedish people were indeed interested, but this meant only the general Swedish public, not King Carl XV, who had no intention of joining the war.

Of course, if the Kingdom of Prussia were to defeat the Russian Empire, the Swedish Government wouldn’t mind joining in to kick them while they’re down.

“Working hard to court the Ottoman Empire” translates to: the Foreign Ministry has done its best, but without any results.

England and France were indeed advocating for the Ottomans to join the war, but the Sultan Government remained impervious to persuasion, continuing to assess the situation.

The “promises of the British” have always been empty words; they can be disregarded without much hope, as this war still depends on Prussia itself.

“Lobbying the British Parliament” is a project of the century; who knows when the members will pass the motion.

In summary: we have many allies, as long as our military wins on the battlefield against the Russians, these allies will all come forward to help divide the spoils of war.

Those present at the meeting were the elites of the Kingdom of Prussia, who naturally understood the underlying message, but everyone tacitly chose to feign ignorance.

If the top brass themselves lacked confidence in securing a victory, then what would those below do? Whether to reassure the public or to go all out, morale could not be allowed to wane.

Army and Navy Minister Loen stated, “There’s no hurry to win over Sweden and the Ottoman Empire. As long as we keep winning, they’ll join us sooner or later.

The one thing we must do immediately is have the British blockade the Baltic Sea. Only by cutting off the Russians’ maritime transport routes can we have a chance of winning.”

Compared to drawing in allies to share the burden, cutting off the Russians’ maritime transport routes was the most feasible. The British have always been resolute on the matter of hitting the Russians.

Once the sea routes were cut off, even if the Tsarist Government had money, it would be difficult to obtain enough strategic resources.

By land transportation, the poor state of Russian transport would become Prussia’s best ally, limiting the number of troops the Tsarist Government could send.

In this era, the total mileage of the Russian Empire’s railways was just over 3,000 kilometers, less than Spain, the German Federation, or Prussia.

In the original timeline of World War I where Russia had over 70,000 kilometers of railways, they were still unable to support the needs of several million troops on the front lines—let alone now.

The Junker aristocracy dared to challenge the Russians because they saw that Russia’s power projection was limited. If the Tsarist Government were able to deploy a million troops on the front line, no country besides France and Austria could withstand them.

Foreign Minister McKate explained, “This will take time. The British are still hesitant—they’re worried that blockading the Baltic Sea might…”

Roon interrupted without any pleasantries, “Whatever it might do, the sooner we cut off the Russians’ maritime transport routes, the more we increase our chances of victory in next year’s war.

The British are dragging their feet; is it the capitalists who want to make a war fortune? There’s nothing more to say; we’ll take over all the orders placed by the Russians.

We should lay our cards on the table with the London Government—if they want us to win the war, they should blockade the Baltic Sea immediately.

If they don’t want us to win, and we can’t beat the Russians fighting alone, it’s better to cut our losses and compromise with the Russians.

We can just sell out the Polish and return to the pre-war borders, conceding to the Russians. Let the British do as they please.”

Roon was confident; the Kingdom of Prussia had accrued debts of over a hundred million British Pounds to the British, and only a war victory could repay them.

If the war was lost, whether the Kingdom of Prussia would even exist was in question—so who would they repay the debt to?

If the British didn’t want their investments to go down the drain, cutting off the Russians’ maritime supply lines was the only option.

The political system in Europe allowed them to take such a gamble. If they won, they would advance further; if they lost, they would still be wealthy.

“Let’s do that!”

Wilhelm I made a decisive decision. Once at the gambling table, one is a gambler. If you want to hesitate, it’s better to quit early. War is not a game, and every bit of possibility of victory is crucial.

…

In London, Prime Minister John Russell found himself in an awkward position, as they had somehow become bound together with the Prussians.

Initially, they had only intended to fight a proxy war, but as time went on, their investment grew larger and larger.

Especially after the Battle of East Prussia ended, they had sold another 30 million British Pounds of war bonds for the Berlin Government. Now the total debt of the UK and Prussia had actually exceeded 100 million British Pounds.

The debt holders were mostly the general public, and if they didn’t want to lose the next election, it would be better not to let this debt become bad.

Despite the Prussians mortgaging the customs, railways, and mines, if the Kingdom of Prussia ceases to exist, could those pledges still be cashed in?

Prime Minister John Russell didn’t believe that the Russians, French, and Austrians would honor these debts. Even for their own interests, the Prussian piece had to be preserved.

“Sir Edward, would there be any difficulty in blockading the Baltic Sea?” John Russell asked.

Minister of the Navy Edward confidently replied, “No, the Royal Navy has enough strength to accomplish this task.”

Blockading the Baltic Sea is one thing, it’s not like asking them to charge into the Baltic Sea and destroy the Russian navy. For the Royal Navy, there really is no difficulty.

Foreign Minister Reslin, dissatisfied, said, “Of course, there’s no problem for you—it’s true that the Royal Navy could defeat the Russians ten times over. However, we are the ones who face the bigger issue.

As a neutral country, rashly intervening in this war would naturally bring us under immense diplomatic and public opinion pressures.”

Interest moves people. Once the Baltic Sea is blockaded, trade of numerous countries will be affected. Diplomatically, they will inevitably face pressure from other European nations.

The Prussians can take over the orders between UK and Russia, but that doesn’t mean they still have the capacity to take on the Russian orders in other countries.

Not all countries are easy to bully. Offending people now will surely lead to future retaliation. This will bring massive trouble to their subsequent diplomatic work, making the Foreign Office the scapegoat.

Prime Minister John Russell, smiling, consoled, “Sir Reslin, this is a minor issue. I believe you can handle it.

As long as we achieve the great strategy of weakening the Russians, whatever we pay now is worth it. At the very least, compared to the Near Eastern war, the cost we are paying this time is much lower.”

Everyone exchanged knowing smiles. Without comparison, there would be no hurt. In the Near Eastern war, the London Government not only spent hundreds of millions of British Pounds on military expenses and lost a substantial amount of troops, but the key issue was that they damn well lost.

A war with mutual destruction, to the British people, is a failure. The current situation is much better. It’s the Prussians who are fighting to the death on the front lines, and the money lent out must be returned.

If they achieve mutual destruction, it’s a great victory for the British. And if Prussia wins the war, then it’s an even bigger profit for them.

Foreign Minister Reslin said with some hesitation, “The envoy to the Ottoman Empire sent a message that the Austrians are fiddling again over there, apparently looking to provoke a war between the Ottomans and the Russians.

We’ve conducted an in-depth analysis, and there’s no clear benefit for Austria if war breaks out between the two nations.

If it’s about weakening the Russians, a slight delay in their logistics would inflict heavy losses on the Russian Army.”

In that era, the Arabian Peninsula was just a desert, housing at most a herd of camels, definitely not worthy of the gaze of a major power.

Finance Minister Agawar speculated, “Perhaps it has something to do with the Suez Canal. The Austrians might want to take the lead in controlling the canal, laying out their plans in advance.”

Minister of the Navy Edward challenged, “But this seems somewhat illogical. Many domestic experts believe that the Suez Canal is not navigable.

Even if it were to be dug through, it could only allow passage for some small ships, which hardly have any strategic value.”

It’s all the experts’ fault. The British had organized experts to survey the area long ago, and these experts concluded that the Suez Canal was not navigable.

This erroneous conclusion directly affected the decision-making of the London Government. When France and Austria started digging the Suez Canal, the British threw themselves into the Suez Railway project.

Historically, up until the opening of the Suez Canal, the British never believed in the canal’s value.

Finance Minister Agawar said nonchalantly, “Who knows what the Vienna Government is thinking. If they dare to put a large sum of money into the canal, would they really worry about it not being navigable?

Of course, it might not be about the canal. Franz is the King of the cold Jerusalem. Perhaps they intend to reclaim the Holy Land.”

The latter explanation was clearly more credible than the former. Austria already had Sinai Peninsula, and they effectively controlled half of the Suez Canal. Even if they did control the Red Sea, they couldn’t expand further.

By comparison, taking the opportunity of a war between the Ottomans and Russians to reclaim the Jerusalem area seems more convincing.

Colonial Minister Steve suggested, “In recent years, France and Austria’s expansion into the African Continent has been very rapid. We need to contain their actions.

In the Colonial Department’s Africa Strategy, there is also a plan to occupy Ethiopia. Conveniently, the gateway to the Red Sea, the Mandeb Strait, is also there.

We can take the initiative and occupy Ethiopia, while also cutting off the Austrian’s East Africa Strategy.”

“East Africa Strategy” is a smokescreen released by Vienna. To cause trouble for Austria, in the past few years, the British haven’t hesitated to sell arms to native East African countries.

But plans can’t keep up with changes. Austrian colonial progress has slowed down, and they haven’t ventured into East Africa, focusing instead on consolidating existing gains.

The world is almost entirely divided, and the British Colonial Department naturally doesn’t want to sit idle, hence the plan for colonizing Africa emerged.

Foreign Minister Reslin objected, “Blocking the Mandeb Strait is easy, but if we actually do it, we should get ready to face an alliance between Vienna and Paris!

They are digging the Suez Canal at all costs to break free from our control of the Strait of Gibraltar. Hasty intervention is bound to provoke an intense backlash from France and Austria.

Before we are certain of the strategic value of the Suez Canal, to face off against France and Austria prematurely doesn’t serve our interests.”

The butterfly effect is powerful. In the original timeline, the Mediterranean only had France as a naval power; the Royal Navy did not secure control over the Suez Canal until after the Prussian-French war.

The situation is now different. The combined navies of France and Austria are strong enough to challenge the Royal Navy, at least in the Mediterranean—the Royal Navy has lost its advantage here.

Moreover, straits and canals are not the same; the difficulty of control is not on the same level. With a width of dozens of kilometers, blocking it would mean naval engagement.

While it seems tempting to trap France and Austria inside the Mediterranean ‘bathtub’, mismanagement in practice could spell the end of Britannia’s dominance over the seas.

Colonial Minister Steve countered, “Indeed, such a scenario might occur. However, as long as the situation is managed well, we won’t necessarily face off against France and Austria.

We are just preparing and staying cautious. If necessary, we can completely compromise.”

…