The horseman of Death (January-March, 1897)
Okhrana: Lubyanka]
In 1897, the Russian Empire was at war with the Ottoman Empire (again) advancing towards the Armenian lands in Anatolia and the coast of the Black Sea, but life did not stop in the heart of Russia (precisely the periphery passed in the " edge "of the Russian world).
The State Security Building on Lubyanka (Здание госбезопасности ostна Лубянке, Zdanzopasiye Lubyanka) began the construction project of the State Security Building on Lubyanka, precisely in the Moscow governorate, on one of the lands of Lubyanka Square, acquired by the administration of Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov.
The building was designed by Alexander Vasylievich Ivanov, to become the main headquarters of the Okhrana according to directives of Tsar Alexander III.
Once again paving the way to move the royal power to Moscow and also restructure the Okhrana (prepare the way for future reforms).
The building featured Renaissance styles, and not only served as a state security building, it also served as a prison for certain items if necessary.
There was also room for expansion and updating of the building when necessary, but everything was on time. The building was only finished in 1898, but the Okhrana was already moving to Moscow.
*******
"Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, I am your superior officer." Felix exclaims excitedly as he squeezes the hand of his new partner.
"Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili." The Georgian man responds in Russian, with an accent that initially surprises Felix a bit. On the other hand Iosif was not very impressed by his 'superior officer'.
"Sorry I'm late." Agent Prus exclaims, "Are you the new one?" Prus questions.
"Iosif Dzhugashvili, my pleasure sir." Dzhugashvili introduces himself as does Zachariasz Prus, who becomes Iosif's immediate superior after having been training Felix for around 2 years.
*******
Iosif was working diligently at his desk in the Moscow temporary office, filing papers, writing reports and jotting down various notes, censoring some words, etc.
Beside him was Felix, twirling in his chair.
"I am so bored." Felix exclaims. "You want to eat something?".
"Didn't you go to eat something five minutes ago?" Iosif indicates.
"We still have time." Felix indicates before returning to work and continuing to annoy Iosif from time to time, chatting to get to know each other better, meanwhile the agent Prus returned for the next objectives of the group.
"Iosif and Felix were two sides of the same coin, Felix was very energetic and a great speaker, although Iosif also had his skills in public speaking (and he was not a fool either), his talent lay in his work discipline, a direct person and simple at first glance.
They both also had the same skills to climb high, they just had to develop them a little more, and time would give them a lot. "
-Written by Zachariasz Prus.
Agent Prus's team, like many other private Okhrana teams, had some of the first missions to pave the way for Russian intelligence services abroad and the continued expansion of the Okhrana as an internal service of Russia.
Although the team went relatively unnoticed, in later periods of the Alexandrian reforms, Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky and Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili would become notable members of the Russian government.
*******
[Russo-Turkish war]
Sultan Abdul Hamid II tried to form a desperate defense, on the one hand to form the defense of the straits through the accumulation of weapons and part of the general staff and armies in Thrace and the straits.
The problem with this strategy was the reality of the war situation and that the sultan, and caliph, Abdul Hamid II, did not want to be seen as weak (because that would be very bad for the government).
The main force of the Russian army was marching through Anatolia towards the city of Merzifon in central Anatolia, and it would be easier to fight them if not for all the other invasions and revolts.
*******
* Greece, Montenegro and Bosnia.
The Kingdom of Greece managed to defeat the Albanian forces on January 2 in Northern Epirus, a defeat that would cost Albania its southern territories and mark the beginning of the end of Albanian participation in the Russo-Turkish war of 1896.
On January 4, 2 days after the Greek victory, the Montenegrin and Bosnian forces carry out a successful ambush on the Kosovar-Albanian forces.
The defeat in Kosovo not only causes the surrender of various elements but ultimately calls Prince Pedro Kastriota to the negotiating table, surrendering to the coalition authorities in exchange for keeping what is left of Albania.
The only condition was that the Albanian army be put at the disposal of the coalition to crush the Ottoman Empire, and obviously Prince Pedro chooses to ally himself with the coalition against the Ottoman Empire, because as "Albanian" (actually Spanish), he does not have so much blind loyalty to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, but he has loyalty to Albania (the identity that Prince Pedro Kastriota has defended over religion)
This surrender allows the coalition forces in the Balkans to move many more troops to the east, towards the Bulgarian and Macedonian fronts, but there is a problem, this gigantic mobilization by the standards of the countries we are talking about, causes a Serbian mobilization in answer.
King Alexander I threatens to put forces dangerously close to the Kosovo of the new allied Albania, which obviously makes Prince Peter a bit uncomfortable.
Also some Serbian nationalist factions claimed Macedonia, but they did not like King Alexander I.
There was a very important question: Was Alexander I foolish enough to think he had a chance? Yes, yes, he was.
Partly because Alexander I thought he had the support of Austria-Hungary, with such a diplomatic-military coalition in his backyard, the problem was that Austria-Hungary was busier in solving the Borneo question and the Fashoda war.
*******
*Macedonia.
With January 4 marking the Albanian exit and therefore Greece gaining the north of Epirus, the main Greek forces were able to march towards Macedonia.
The island of Crete rebelled and Greece was sending support to unite the island to the kingdom of Greece, but Macedonia on the mainland was also very important (and needed more men).
The Bulgarian-Romanian forces would conquer the region of Bulgarian Macedonia (Blagoevgrad) on January 6, but then considerable trouble began as the Greeks pointed northeast.
On the one hand the leftist socialist rebels of Macedonia, supported by other socialists from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and other Balkan states, simply continued to drive out the increasingly weakened Ottoman authorities.
And this allowed them to take control of most of the region, demanding their independence from any power.
Of course this was not within the plans of Bulgaria, and some other states could have their ambitions in the region. But the first skirmishes between Bulgarians and Macedonian socialists resulted in very unprofitable stalemates.
As if that were not enough, Serbia declared war on Greece and Bulgaria for his actions in Macedonia, Alexander I asked for British and Austro-Hungarian help ... which never came.
Anyone with sense could find some way to change this situation quickly, but the coalition was quite angry with Alexander I. It was also the perfect time to take advantage of this situation.
Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Greece as well as Russia simply decided that they were also going to beat Serbia, and by sheer force of numbers it was very possible.
Not only that, Russia began to support a regime change regarding the kingdom of Serbia, with the intention of putting Peter I of Serbia on the Serbian throne.
Even other Serbs were quick to join the coalition army against King Alexander I of Serbia, leading to an increase in widespread violence in Serbia and eventually to the invasion of Serbian borders by members of the coalition.
The Serbian army didn't get much of a chance, but they were the sacrificial lamb of the Macedonian socialists, who took advantage of the Serbian insanity to establish themselves more firmly and prevent an invasion.
The Russians also took the opportunity to continue their plans for an invasion of the Straits.
*******
* Kurdistan and Russia in the Middle East.
While the Russians continued their advance into Anatolia without much trouble, on January 23 onwards much more considerable maneuvers began for the combined armies.
Kurdish-Russian forces were either crossing the Syrian region to head towards the Mediterranean or were heading south towards Mesopotamia before something happened.
On January 31 and February 10, the Kurds captured various regions of Syria, while Russian troops and collaborators crossed the southeast of Anatolia to Cilicia with success and reached the Alawite lands.
Assyria was also liberated between these dates by the Russian-Kurdish armies.
On February 24, the Russian-Kurdish troops continue their advance towards southern Syria, Lebanon, the lands of the Druze and southern Mesopotamia.
On February 26, Tsar Alexander III begins diplomatic relations with nearby Kuwait regarding various businesses now that Russian troops are advancing through Mesopotamia, not to give land to Kuwait of course, but simply to ensure its neutrality and good commercial relations .
*******
* Italy and Libya.
Italian troops simply seized the Libyan shores and succeeded in surrendering the Ottoman officers, many of whom were able to return to what was left of home.
The issue is that the Italians moved further inland seeking to expand the jurisdiction of their colony, thinking of new lands for settlers and possible riches.
The military officers left, yes, but they left their weapons and a population of Libyans angry with the Italians. Violence began to become common between Italian men and Libyan natives.
France "ceded" some territory to Italian Libya, getting a completely positive restart with Italy in the process (with some military pacts involved).
Thus giving Libya its actual frontiers.
*******
* Collaborators.
The surrender of Albania was only the first step, after this many Ottoman generals surrendered to the Russian troops to obtain benefits similar to those that Albania would obtain.
Some just wanted money, others offered their services and others wanted much more, land and power of their own.
Tsar Alexander III supported a light coalition of general-oligarchs who in the final weeks of March rebelled against the power of Abdul Hamid II in southwestern Anatolia.
The Ottoman Empire was simply collapsing piece by piece.
*******
* [Operation Catherine]
Coalition troops were advancing through Serbian lands with simplicity, Macedonia was de-facto independent, and various chunks of the Ottoman Middle East were taken over by Russia and Kurdistan.
Arab regions were in revolt, but the coalition was not going to get there, many problems with an uncertain profit.
Russia proper had conquered parts of central Anatolia and most of the Ottoman coast on the Black Sea, it was an unprecedented victory.
It is on March 23 when the Russian Empire finally begins its great operation, Operation Catherine, an amphibious assault against the straits of the Ottoman Empire, with the intention of taking Tsargrad.
This effectively puts Constantinople under siege from Russian forces, whose navy deploys troops north of the straits (Thrace and northwestern Anatolia).
During this period, instability continued to grow in the government of Abdul Hamid II, until indeed the CUP was planning a revolt, because they believed that they could better respond to the war with Russia.
But the truth is that by that time everything was lost and it was only a matter of time, the Ottoman Empire did not have the allies, the logistics or the necessary force to resist Operation Catherine ...
*******
* Marine assault.
"We had nothing similar to what the Russians deployed, they had groups of submarines hunting our most distant or lonely ships.
Then there were these gigantic ships, with a firepower that we had never seen before, the pre-Drednouts. Some of these earned the title of fleet assassins.
There was no money or personnel to compete with something similar, many of our best ships had surrendered, been sunk or surrounded and destroyed by the Russian forces.
Those gigantic ships and those who accompanied them passed over our forces, overwhelming us, to deploy troops near the straits.
It is in these moments that I realized that all was lost. "
-Ottoman sailor in Operation Catherine.
*******
* Mikhail Skobelev.
"After having had to retreat before the possible Anglo-Saxon intervention in 76, we now return to the possibility of capturing Tsargrad.
Neither the British, the French, nor anyone else will save the Ottomans this time.
I am sure, as a minister of war, that our ancestors smile at us, and the hearts of all Russians flow with emotion. The excitement of those at home who wait for their relatives to return, and the excitement of the first soldiers to set foot on the Ottoman shores towards the second Rome.
The weeks of the Ottoman Empire are numbered. "
-Mikhail Skobelev, written in the newspaper.
The Russian troops had managed to reach the coasts after a coordinated action with the Black Sea fleet and a very strategic action by the Russian bombers.
The metropolitan areas would undoubtedly present resistance, but one by one the cities began to fall as the days went by, many Turks-Ottomans or Muslims left the metropolitan regions towards the center of Anatolia (Ankara for example).
Some Muslims remained of course, but there were also soldiers who were dying, deserting or being captured, Christians and collaborators with the Russians, and extremists such as some members of the Committee on Union and Progress.
Tsar Alexander III, Mikhail Skobelev, high-ranking generals and other members of the general staff and navy were approaching personally to prepare for the final entry into Tsargrad, it was only a matter of time.
*******
"One more picture." One of the photographers asks the group of bombers, who had inspected and destroyed various of the Ottoman coastal defenses in the early days of Operation Catherine, led by Charles Aigle.
"Sure, but when can we see one." Charles asks excitedly as he and his friends pose for the next photo.
"One of our colleagues will have it in a few hours, but we can show them the ones we took a few weeks ago." The photographer reports, attracting the curiosity of the bombers.
The photographer brought up color photos of the group, who were quite surprised.
*******
[Photography]
In curious honor of the Russo-Turkish War of 1896, which was drawing ever closer to an end, color photo technology by chemist Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky and SEiPK scientists had ended just in time.
Of course it was not a technology that could be used en masse yet, but it was a very important occasion, and the potential of using color photos in propaganda was very remarkable.
For example, the Alexandrian government began to print special editions of newspapers, books, and other propaganda with color photos to defend certain ideas.
For example books about the cultures and geography of Russia, war heroes and veterans, special Russian locations, military parades, etc.
And the wealthy and city people, who could access that more easily, were quite fascinated. Black and white photography would still reign, but interest in color photography grew.
*******
[Census]
Even with the war the first official census of the Russian Empire was carried out without too many inconveniences in January, although there were people outside (and obviously some would die in the war) it was also necessary to count that new people would be added with the conquests of territories, so the population was currently expected to rise (and not decline).
This census included the newly annexed Korea, it included the principality of Finland and the congress of Poland, and obviously all the rest of Russia proper.
As something very basic he wondered about ethnicity, religion and some other issues.
In total, the Russian Empire had about 193,020,121 inhabitants, that is, just over 190 million inhabitants.
Most of these inhabitants were of Slavic and Orthodox origin (Russians, Great Russians and White Russians, the Poles also fall within the Slavs but not the Orthodox), followed by Muslim peoples and other Christians (mainly Catholic Christians), and finally by Buddhists and other native religions.
*******
[International]
January 22, for the first time the name 'computer' is used to describe a device intended for mechanical calculation.
January 31, in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, the Czechoslovak Trade Union Association is founded.
March 4, Adlai E. Stevenson I is officially sworn in as President of the United States after his victory in last year's presidential election.
*******
*[USA]
Curiously, during this time there are certain political changes in the United States, the Republican party takes a turn towards the influence of big businessmen, monopolies and businesses in the party.
While the Silverite Democrats, populists and agrarian politicians form their own faction in the Democrats, in favor of progressive policies and expansive fiscal policies.
Pro-gold Democrats are closer (across the political spectrum) to Republicans.
Also during this time various student organizations are formed, which are in favor of the need for the expansion of reforms in education and workers' rights.
Many of them end up repressed by the police.
*******
* [Fashoda and UK]
The war on the Nigerian coast became more and more complicated, the French now attacking various positions in the colony with gas, also burning resources vital to the British resistance to the French attacks.
Fortunately, the marine war seemed to be going well, but then on January 23 the situation turned from bad to worse.
On January 23, a Portuguese republican-socialist, Manuel dos Reis da Silva Buíça assassinated King Edward VII, as a result of the repression and riots due to the British military presence in Lisbon.
The murderer was shot by the police on the spot, but it was too late, the King of the United Kingdom had died on the spot, and in various parts of Portugal revolts of republican origin broke out against the monarchy of King Carlos I.
Manuel Buiça inspired others like the young Alfredo Luís da Costa.
This meant the rise of Prince Albert Victor to the position of monarch, deciding to keep the name of Victor (in honor of Queen Victoria) as the main name as monarch.
The king immediately abolished the British parliament to call new elections and elect a new prime minister, primarily one who was more in line with his ideals.
Of course this aroused some contrary reactions from nationalists in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and the English socialists, but most people did not care.
They also would not have cared if the Victor I government had been capable, but they initiated quite a few issues of corruption and mismanagement of military strategy and funds.
Albert Victor or simply Victor I was also particularly angry about the situation in continental Europe, with the trade in foreign goods to France and the war in the Ottoman Empire.
While the prices of tea and various products increased in the United Kingdom after the defeat, in the battle of Suez.
Albert Victor was not exactly stupid but he was ... absent at times, prone to anger and sometimes very lazy according to many acquaintances.
Things were easier for him if they were conveyed orally rather than in writing, leaving a lot of parliament paperwork in poor condition or neglected.
And obviously there was private influence in his government.
*******
* [Spanish-Japanese War]
Surprisingly for the imperial Japanese army, the victory of the navy was much simpler than a land victory over the Spanish.
They opposed the IJA's efforts tooth and nail, being able to delay its advance even with the support of native Filipinos.
Of course the attacks by the Japanese Imperial Navy were helping to drive the Spanish back, allowing the capture of ports and equipment, as well as allowing the IJA to land on land.
It was only a matter of time to expel the Spanish from various fortresses and strategic points.
But it was still extremely difficult and to some extent expensive.
However, by the end of March, the Spanish had finally retreated to the southernmost parts of the Philippine archipelago.
For March 22, for example, the Katipunan (KKK) officially allied under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo (who managed to overcome Andrés Bonifacio) with the Japanese forces for the final assaults.
The war, similar to the Russo-Turkish war, was coming to an end, but the Japanese were now planning something else, it was necessary to do something against the Philippine revolutionary elites to allow control of the archipelago to the Japanese colonial authorities.
Of course this would mean the murder of said elites and some collaborators.
*******
[A changing world]
Tsar Alexander III drank some tea in one of the Bulgarian cities near Thrace, near Operation Catherine, where his soldiers were finally conquering the straits.
Of course Mikhail Skobelev, Stepan Makarov, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, Orthodox metropolitans, Bulgarians and Russians were excited about the success of this operation.
"Are you worried about something, dad?" Michael asks accompanying his father, the youngest of the emperor's sons chose to be his own father's secretary.
"... I'm just thinking a bit. Have you noticed that every year, where my wars with the Ottoman Empire start, end with 6? 1876 and then 1896" The tsar exclaims, confusing his son with that. "It's just a curious fact. Well, anyway, I was just thinking, a little about the present and the future. the future reforms for Russia and the Okhrana, what means the death of Edward VII for us and how close we are of Tsargrad."
"Do you have a plan in mind?" Michael questions.
"Yes, some plans, but I'm getting old." Tsar Alexander III calmly exclaims.
"Don't say that dad, you're not even 60 years old yet." Michael exclaims.
"Yet is a good word, but they will come, maybe." Alexander III answers.
"The death of Edward VII could be a setback for us in the longterm, Albert Victor does not plan to negotiate with France for now, he is blinded by his anger, that is a good thing for us, but it becomes too unpredictable."
-Writings of Alexander III in some bulgarian notebook
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