Chapter 145: Tsar Augustus, Alexander III, Philip II of Macedonia(April-June, 1897).
Russo-Turkish War: April 6]
The Russian army had entered Constantinople, years of dreams had finally reached a culmination, the Russian forces fought house to house to fight their way between troops and guerrillas with the help of their own Christian collaborators (Armenians, Greeks, etc.).
Until finally on April 6, the Russians had reached defining points of the city, the Hagia Sophia, the Imperial Gate and other buildings (administrative headquarters) of the Ottoman Empire.
War flags, tricolor black-gold-white with a black eagle, flew over these buildings, with most of the Ottoman authority captured by the Russian authorities.
At 3 p.m. (15:00 p.m.) Tsar Alexander III, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich Romanov and various members of the Tsar's cabinet (Stepan Makarov, Mikhail Skobelev), generals and members of the general staff, entered a triumphal cavalcade to the city of Constantinople, free of enemy troops.
This cavalcade was photographed, drawn and painted by various members of Russian society, military and civil. In addition to images of Tsar Alexander III and said escort in front of buildings such as the Hagia Sophia.
It was once again a humiliation for the Ottoman Empire, but for the Orthodox population worldwide it was just something completely necessary, and very important. The Ottoman power had been destroyed, the second Rome was retaken, and now the Orthodox world had avenged the Eastern Roman Empire.
Of course, this only meant that there was now one great power among all the Orthodox, Russia.
*******
Tsar Alexander III and Sultan Abdul Hamid II met again, actually this time the Tsar had met all of Osman's descendants, the family's wives and children, etc.
It was the final diplomatic meeting, Serbia was about to be defeated and there were some other very important decisions to be made.
The tsar shook hands with everyone present, hard to tell if it was a mockery or a symbol of respect, but his demands were clear.
"The Ottoman Empire will cease to exist, the monarchy will abdicate, your family will renounce any claim to a Caliphate or any royal title, most of its wealth and heritage that has been taken by the coalition forces." Tsar Alexander III sentencing. "And that's just the beginning."
"The other powers will not accept-" Abdul Hamid II tries to say.
"The other powers are going to starve then." Tsar Alexander III exclaims. "Accept it, no one is going to come to save the Ottoman Empire, it is already dead."
*******
The conference would be attended by Greeks, Ottoman generals, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Albanians, Kurds and other stakeholders who supported Russia.
Many simple conclusions were reached.
* Alexander III's demands on the Ottoman imperial family would be met.
* Russia would annex the straits and their conquered territories.
* Albania would be made independent under Prince Pedro I Kastriota as King Pedro I of Albania.
* Greece would get part of Macedonia, northern territories and Crete. The Greeks also claimed western parts of Anatolia but that was more disputed.
* Bulgaria would annex the Bulgarian Macedonia (and if possible the rest of Macedonia ...).
* Kurdistan would annex conquered territories of Kurdish descent.
* Money and wealth for Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania.
Tsar Alexander III did not plan to obtain or divide all of the Ottoman territory, but he did make it clear that the Ottoman Empire would simply abandon all the territory south of the Levant - Syria and Mesopotamia.
Letting the Arabs decide their own fate, or simply be eaten by others (simply letting someone else take all the troubles of the region).
Then there was the decision of what to do with the conquered territories in Anatolia and the Middle East that were not going to be annexed, the tsar drew up with his Kurdish allies (the only relevant ones on that front) a map regarding a series of states that were military or economically (sometimes both) dependent on Russia for their survival.
In southeastern Anatolia the Tsar and his allies rewarded the Turkish-Ottoman collaborators, moderates, democrats, and republicans with the Republic of Cilicia.
The plan was to divide the Turkish land along political lines and economic development to avoid a unification in the medium term, and if Turkish Anatolia did eventually unify, it would be under something more pro-Russian or neutral, and not a threat.
The issue came with southwestern Anatolia, that portion was not going to be left to Turkey, the problem was the Greek claims of their Megali ideas, but at that time there were no Greek troops there.
There were only Greek and Turkish-Ottoman civilians, natives and displaced (forming a plurality). These administered by collaborating Ottoman generals, who wanted their own country (an oligarchic "Republic").
Greece had spent its forces taking the Aegean Islands, Crete and northern territories, they had spent a lot of time and could not launch an incursion into Asia Minor.
That is why Tsar Alexander III proposed a series of special leases, the Ottomans would lease special cities and ports to Greece in exchange for money until the possession of the territory is resolved.
George I accepted for the moment with the great Greek expansion, that was good enough and the possibility of more was still there, so there would be no decline in popularity with the Greek population, for now.
This left a single pseudo-independent Turkish state in the center of Anatolia, around Ankara, with no outlet to the Mediterranean Sea, and even being able to be defeated by Russia at any moment.
*******
Various patriarchs of the Orthodox faith gathered at the call of Tsar Alexander III and the conquest of Constantinople, a city that the Russian authorities soon re-named Tsargrad.
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Tsargrad (Constantinople), who had been under Ottoman authority, now under Orthodox authority in the Straits, was to be "reestablished" subject to the authority of the Russian state and must be a Russian citizen to exercise.
Of course the most important patriarch of Russia, in theory, remained the patriarch of Moscow, with the patriarch in Tsargrad being a "first among equals" limited to his territories.
Tsar Alexander III was also blessed by the patriarchs for the conquest of Tsargrad in a new pseudo-coronation, Tsar Alexander III received the title of "Tsar Augustus" (Caesar Augustus) in a Byzantine ceremony, propagandistically proclaiming the Orthodox restoration of the second Rome and the role of the Russian state in world orthodoxy.
It was obvious that this event would go down in the history of Russia and the Orthodox world.
*******
* Alexander III.
Tsar Augustus, Alexander III, was attending to business in a Tsargrad office when he was called by various Kurdish delegates, forcing him to attend to a recent business.
"Our troops in Syria, they, well, during the war against the Turks had to go through northern Syria, as you well know." The Kurds explain.
"Yes, and?". Tsar Alexander III questions.
"We are in possession of Suleyman Shah's tomb and its treasures. Under the agreements Osman's descendants and the Turkish governments abandoned any claims to such territories and material objects, so it is up to our alliance to decide what to do." One of the Kurdish delegates explains.
"... We are going to leave the grave there, but some of the objects go to my museums, you, the Kurdish government, you can take some too." Alexander III responds.
*******
[The remains of the corpse]
Of course, Italy received Libya without much inconvenience, although since it was not in the coalition, it was not allowed access to the discussions with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire proper, although Tsar Alexander III also offered the offer of leases from south-west Anatolia to Italy if it wanted, at the moment the Italians were very busy.
But there were still the Arab territories to the south of the comquista, obviously there were people willing to claim them, for example the Arabs themselves.
But France and the United Kingdom did not want to leave this to chance, Albert Victor ordered the British expansion through the Arabian peninsula to expand against the Russians and the French.
Of course the English king was so foolish as not to improve the situation of the army much, not to take into account diplomacy or ethno-religious problems.
Boulanger on the other hand, to secure French Egypt, and therefore Suez, began an expansion throughout the holy land, Israel and Palestine.
Needless to say, this wasn't the brightest idea either.
"Are you sure it's not an inconvenience?" The French ambassador questions Tsar Alexander III.
"As long as France respects the divisions of the Ottoman north, we can allow France to take the south, in fact we will allow some more trade. Do you agree? Tsar Alexander III calmly offered, and of course France accepted.
The reopening of the straits meant Russian economic independence to send its exports beyond the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea (between Suez and Gibraltar of course, but it was still a huge advance).
So the Russian trade to the French territories just exploded while the UK kept issuing empty threats at the time.
Of course this was also an equivalent exchange and apparently beneficial for both parties, Russia maintained its new territories and puppets while the French obtained continuous necessary resources.
*******
[Loose ends]
The Ottoman Empire fell on April 6, but that did not mean that everything was finished, it meant that there were many issues to attend to, population and lands to administer, population movements and exchanges to resolve, etc.
The coalition also had to crush Serbia and resolve the issue of the socialists, federalists and other leftists in North Macedonia.
The first objective came relatively quickly, Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, Montenegrin and Bosnian troops (in addition to Russian support) were besieging Belgrade in the first weeks of April.
On the 14th of that month, Serbian rebels shot King Alexander I, definitively ending the Serbian monarchical dynasty at that time.
Belgrade was taken over by the coalition and Tsar Alexander III installed Peter I, of the Кarađorđević dynasty, as King of Serbia. Establishing a pro-Russian government in the Serbian country.
Only Macedonia was left, but the other members of the coalition were less involved-willing to help, and Russia was very busy with economic-bureaucratic matters so that mainly left Bulgaria and Greece to resolve the matter.
After all, it didn't seem like the small region could do much, but guerrilla warfare and the Macedonian terrain became a death trap for Bulgarians and Greeks.
Of course this socialist revolution could not yet fully confront isolationism, and began to moderate little by little as the confrontation continued.
*******
In the meantime regarding the Muslim populations in the new territories, there was a lot to resolve of course, for example there were Turkish-Muslim citizens in Greece, in the part of Macedonia annexed by Bulgaria, in Russia and Kurdistan.
And not everyone wanted to be part of said countries for many reasons, others did not care as long as they will more or less leave them alone.
There were also other pseudo-displaced populations within the territory or the new territories / countries. This is why Tsar Alexander III set up some traders to resettle the population in the Turkish states.
In addition, the Tsar himself, for the benefit of the Russian state, took advantage of the Turkish-Muslim displacements or migrations to resettle veteran soldiers and other Russian citizens in the conquered territories, to initiate the integration of the region.
Also the diplomatic service of Tsar Alexander III initiated diplomatic-economic projects with the members of the coalition to prevent them from starting to kill each other immediately after the apparent problems ended (or sooner).
*******
* A Macedonian soldier.
"An alliance with the liberals? That goes against everything we are looking for." One of the soldiers, a Muslim (probably Turkish, although some say he could be Bulgarian or even Jewish) who had joined the Macedonian revolts exclaims angrily.
"What's the problem? We need to reach a diplomatic resolution soon with the other Balkan states, or we will be crushed. We have no choice but to adopt more moderates. We only have food for a few years of fighting, if we are successful in the Best of cases." The commanding officer proclaims.
"... That is revisionism." The soldier insists.
"We don't have many options, Mustafa." The officer proclaims while Mustafa leaves for a few moments, the betrayal of the Macedonian revolution carried out by some (the idea of the project of the betrayed Balkan socialist federation) affected him a lot, after all much had been lost with the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, Thessaloniki was in Greek hands.
"It was at that moment that I officially took the nickname Mustafa Kemal, a nickname given to me by the Captain, Üsküplü Mustafa Efendi.
The Macedonian revolution was stifled by the effort of Macedonian liberals and social democrats, foreign pressure, and weak material conditions. We had the military victory but our elites were corrupted and our dialectic kidnapped by the bourgeoisie.
So when the Macedonian revolution died in its cradle and something completely different was established that I was fighting for, I went to another place where I thought the socialist revolution could succeed. "
-Mustafa Kemal.
*******
[Economy]
On May 15, 1896, the euphoria was still felt. Tsar Alexander III had returned to Saint Petersburg together with important members of the state on April 17, the recovery of Tsargrad (Constantinople) was a remarkable mark on the Russian world and the ideology of the Alexandrian state.
It is during this period that the Russian Economic Review (Русское экономическое обозрение, Russkoye ekonomicheskoye obozreniye), by Mikhail Mikhailovich Fedorov, was founded.
This magazine served as a very useful tool for Fedorov, from the finance ministry, to analyze and inform the population about the economic situation of the Russian Empire.
The war of course caused some incidents in the beginning, but the rapidity of the wars with the Ottoman Empire and the fact that the wars occurred on the periphery of the Russian world, meant that they did not currently cause much economic problems.
Except for for example Kurdistan or Russian Armenia and some ports on the Black Sea, everything normal apart from that.
The important thing was the enormous benefits obtained from the war, Russia obtained many potential markets in the Middle East (and therefore its resources), not only that but they obtained the ultimate prize, the straits.
This now allowed the almost total passage of Russian products to Mediterranean lands, without going through another foreign country (the Ottoman Empire formerly), literally an investment that would pay for itself.
Of course for various reasons there were many people interested in moving to the new territory, and the government was interested but there were certain considerations to take first (the needs of the administration and urban design, green spaces, sites of historical importance, etc).
Everything was going to happen in time.
*******
[Diplomacy: Austria-Hungary]
May 19 arrives, and Tsar Alexander III enters into talks with Austria-Hungary to check the opinion of Kaiser Franz II regarding the situation in the Balkans, after all the Serbian monarchy had fallen after the stupidity of Alexander I .
But nobody cared more than Albert Victor from the United Kingdom, the rest of the countries were very busy with other issues or were neutral about it (for example Austria-Hungary itself, the United States or Germany).
"The UK is not happy." Franz II exclaims.
"Franz, neither of the two UK pawns. Victor I's opinion only matters if he is a threat, and for the moment he has his hands full. When he can respond, it will be too late" The Tsar Alexander III answers simply. "Franco-Italian relations are getting closer, Germany is maintaining splendid neutrality and the UK is going to change policy after the Fashoda war, it is already changing today. My point is that it is better for both of us to save ourselves trouble, and acknowledge the reality of the Balkan situation. "
"What do you mean by that exactly?" Kaiser Franz II questions.
"We simply recognize both the change of monarchies in Serbia, the independent Albania and the other territorial changes of the Ottoman fall." Tsar Alexander III responds.
Franz II had nothing to lose, nor did he have the initiative or political momentum for a counter offer, it would basically push the entire coalition of states against him.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was an undead empire, the idea of an Anglo-German rapprochement and a Franco-Italian alliance would simply leave Austria-Hungary isolated from any potential enemy.
The problem was that under no condition would Russia ally itself with Austria-Hungary because of her support for other nations (Romania, the new Serbia, etc).
*******
[Moscow and medicine]
With so many wars and new developments, the medical talent and research in Moscow under Governor Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov continued to grow.
In particular I was a bit late, but new interesting discoveries came with the Russo-Turkish war over and the Fashoda war in progress.
Ernest Duchesne, a military medical officer from France who wanted to complete his studies in the prestigious Moscow, for this Duchesne presented "Contribution à l'étude de la concurrence vitale chez les micro-organismes: antagonisme entre les moisissures et les microbes" (Contribution to the study of vital competition in micro-organisms: antagonism between molds and microbes), and gained the attention of the Russian authorities of course.
Duchesne proposed and considered the therapeutic capacities of molds, resulting from their antimicrobial capacities.
Duchesne proposed that there is a battle between bacteria and molds so he conducted an experiment, using cultures of Penicillium glaucum with elements that contained bacteria that cause typhoid fever or Escherichia coli.
The first results were that Penicillium succumbed to bacteria. But Duchesne wondered if Penicillium might have weakened the bacteria before the mold died.
So he injected guinea pigs with the aforementioned bacteria and later with Penicillium glaucum. At first it was surprising that the animals survived, in fact they became immune to the aforementioned bacteria.
In France little attention was paid to Ernest Duchesne, but the Russian authorities took advantage of his full potential to help him develop such ideas in exchange for advances in Russian medical science.
This was basically the start of penicillin.
*******
* Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.
"Father, I assured you, I had revelations." Grigori Rasputin exclaims with a priest in Moscow.
"What revelations, my son?" The priest asks.
"Travel through the holy sites of Russia in Abalak and Tobolsk, Mount Athos in Greece and Jerusalem ... I have recently had a crisis of faith, but now Tsar Alexander III has regained Tsargrad. I believe there is a new era for Russia in road." Rasputin explains.
"A new age?". The priest exclaims.
Around this time Grigori Rasputin also began his period as a vagabond saint (strannik), a personality who wanders through Russia to visit holy places and perform certain activities.
Rasputin already had a wife and a child (and another on the way), and he was leaving his house for supposed religious reasons for months or years.
Rasputin in general was weird, a vegetarian and alcohol abstainer who promoted populist politics and religious and other activities (such as hypnosis sessions), but the curious thing is the importance of him within medicine.
Through traditional medicine Rasputin was responsible for some developments in coagulant medicine with the use of bark and other natural elements (seeds, leaves, bark or sap, roots and fruits of trees and plants).
Which developed during Rasputin's travels and was only accepted as a medical reality a few years later during his activities in Moscow.
*******
[Moscow and politics]
The new experimental realities regarding workers' rights in Moscow caused the founding of the General Jewish Labor Bund in Russia (אלגעמיינער יידישער ארבעטער בונד אין רוסלאנד, algemeyner yidisher arbeter-bund in rusland) or The Bund in the Moscow governorate, which was allowed by the authorities.
Yes, it was a labor and socialist movement but it rejected the revolution. It was a Jewish labor movement but secular, only saying that the reality of the Jewish worker was somewhat different from that of the rest of Russian workers.
Julius Martov himself, who had been an inspiration to the Bund, rejected this organization to some extent, but Tsesarevich Nicholas embraced it to some extent.
Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov united the Bund to the series of union groups under his wing with one purpose, not only to fight against the problems of the working class in Moscow, but also to fight against anti-Semitism through secularism and the Jewish voices themselves.
Bringing people together through work, after all a Slavic citizen works day by day with Cossacks, Jews, Armenians, Georgians, Azeris, Turks, etc. So racism went against Russia itself and its multi-ethnic identity.
The Russian Empire and its people were connected through many things, and that had to be shown.
At some point it would be unthinkable to see the Tsesarevich of the Russian Empire interacting so closely with the working-peasant class or with ethno-religious minorities, but by using it as a political tool it was possible to fight against these problems within Russian society.
After all, Russian exceptionalism was on the rise, and through this men like Tsar Alexander III or Mikhail Skobelev, and the media below it (newspapers, government institutions, politicians, and legal measures) were able to successfully promote certain visions.
A Russia not separated by classes or ethno-cultural traits in a negative way. After all, Russia was a particular civilization with its own characteristics, such as a multicultural space.
*******
[International]
On April 6-9, the conferences in Tsargrad put an end to the Ottoman Empire after the East's war with Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kurdistan and Greece.
In mid-April oil is found for the first time in Oklahoma, United States, in an Indian territory ... needless to say, the white man will not respect his dealings with Native Americans, once again.
April 10, Sir Joseph Jhon Thomson announces his discovery of the electron.
On April 14, King Alexander I of Serbia is shot by Serbian rebels under besieged Belgrade. King Peter I of a different dynasty is installed, bringing Serbia into the pro-Russian fold.
April 15, attack against the Japanese prime minister. Failure.
*******
* [USA: Hippo Bill]
Something very curious happens, in March, the Democrat Robert Foligny Broussard was voted as a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (and would be until 1915).
And Broussard here proposed the American Hippo Bill, HR 23261. The law said that $ 250,000 in federal government funds had to be invested to import the hippopotamus from Africa in order to solve the meat shortage in the United States and fight against the An invasive plant species called Water Hyacinth that invades Louisiana's waterways.
The law was approved in the Senate of Vice President Bryan by 2/3 of the votes on April 23 and hippos were imported from Africa to Louisiana for their meat and to fight against the mentioned invasive plant.
... And that's why hippos became an invasive species in Louisiana.
(OOC: OTL this law was proposed in 1910, but I liked it so much that I had to put it in XD).
*******
* [Japanese Spanish War]
April 27 and May 6 arrive, where the Japanese imperial forces finally defeat the last strongholds of important Spanish forces.
The King of Spain of Carlos VII signs the peace and cedes the territory of the Philippines to the Empire of Japan, which turns it into a colony.
Almost immediately, Japanese Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo proposed the need for martial law to fight and eradicate Filipino separatist leaders early before they became a problem.
Putting the Philippines under the authority of the Imperial Japanese Army.
The problem is that the Philippines was far from even the island of Taiwan, so the navy demanded larger budgets and certain rights in the colonial administrations.
Yamagata Aritomo agreed, and the navy continued to plan against the interests of the army (even after their demands were accepted, as a result of the rivalries of the armed forces).
On May 11, Japanese army officers fired at various Philippine political leaders such as Emilio Aguinaldo, the first "president" of the Philippines. Obviously after this the Filipinos were not slow to continue fighting the Japanese with claws and teeth.
But the army and navy had already divided some areas to form strategic sites and extract resources, the fighting was intensifying and both sides were willing to fight for years for every inch of territory.
*******
Another event on May 6, John Jacob Abel announces the successful isolation of epinephrine (adrenaline).
May 10, 19 zinc miners die of carbon monoxide poisoning at a mine on the Isle of Man. Provoking various strikes in favor of better working conditions, against which Albert Victor and the social aristocrats are quick to fire using the police forces.
On May 11, Russian Vladimir Ulyanov accompanied by his fellow pupil Karl Liebknecht founded the Kommunistische Vereinigung der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands (Communist Association of the SPD), a group for socialists (young people entering politics and the Marxist area of the SPD) to support the communist cause within the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
This of course is only for the eventual German revolution.
On May 14, in Germany, in the city of Berlin, Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) is founded, the first LGBT organization in history.
May 22, due to corruption cases and diversion of funds to the Fashoda war, the Blackwall Tunnel is delayed.
May 26, Bram Stoker publishes the work Dracula.
June 12, the Assam, British Raj earthquake occurs, killing more than 1500 people.
*******
* [Fashoda War]
Between June 18 and 22 the Fashoda war only continues.
Albert Victor was not willing to negotiate, he demanded from his admirals the recovery of Suez as soon as possible, without negotiations with Georges Boulanger. Some observers proposed an operation similar to the Russian invasion of the Straits or the development of a strategic air force.
King Victor could accept this, but he disliked having to imitate the Russians.
The problem was that the United Kingdom was in the midst of new voting, with only "some" cases of corruption and bribery (votes that ended in rivers or disappeared, etc. A tradition of the time).
The authorities could handle this to some extent however, but the social aristocrats (British boulangists by another name ...) wanted to maintain their power first, so there was no problem with a bit of electoral fraud, strategic alliances with other willing politicians or make the trains wait a few moments.
The strategic situation did not look so good, the small British colonies in West Africa were lost.
Fortunately the Empire could still turn to Nigeria (although the north was disputed by the French), the conquered French Congo and the southern colonies of the African continent, India, Canada, and the rest (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, etc).
Even the British could draw resources from the Kongo and move troops from there.
Both the UK and France violated the neutrality of the Scandinavian Kongo on occasion, causing problems from time to time but as long as the situation did not escalate everything was fine. They only needed the Kongo for the war effort, and if they could turn Sweden-Norway against their enemy, so much the better.
Under Albert Victor however the British lost many possible allies in the natives, when they applied brutal policies towards the French colonial subjects, burning villages and stealing resources, including many cases of abuse against other humans (natives, women and children).
France for its part managed to expand into the holy land and fortify its portions of the Red Sea and Egypt, while continuing to solidify the rapprochement with Italy.
*******
Marie Curie initiates the development of the first flamethrower in return for the British burning of some French positions in the Congo and the Nigerian front.
A French soldier began burning a mannequin with a flamethrower, Marie and others were in awe of the device's early successes.
"... That is inhuman. Burning a real person is completely different from this ...". Pierre Curie suddenly exclaims.
"Oh come on Pierre, think we're going to use them against Brits. Any weapon is small if we need to win, think of all the good we can do once we do." Marie exclaims, caressing her husband's hand.
Pierre stared into the flames for a moment, and fell silent, but his heart was heavy.
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