Struggle in Russia - v3 Chapter 848 hit again

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For Napoleon III, he desperately needed Russia to remain neutral so that he could focus on Austria. And Palmerston is obviously impossible to support his ambition, and even Palmerston hopes to simply close the door of Russia's expansion into the Balkans and the Black Sea region, hoping to force Russia to cede Wallachia and Molda in the form of a treaty Via.

Palmerston's request was very much in line with Austria's taste, they had long coveted Wallachia and Moldavia, and in 1848 they would not have given up these two principalities to Russia if they were not forced to.

Now they have the opportunity to regain their sphere of influence, and they can also strike out the Russians who have been vying for territory in the region. If they can succeed, the Austrians will wake up with a smile.

It's just that the Austrians are just scumbags now. They can influence the overall situation but cannot control the overall situation. Once the French strongly oppose it, they can only retreat.

It's just that although the French have demands from Russia, it does not mean that they will condone and let Russia go. After all, the old and new hatreds still have to be settled. At most the French will only give Russia a slightly more respectable result.

For example, according to the original idea of ​​Count Wallevsky, Russia needs to cede Moldavia and western Wallachia to Austria, and also promises to withdraw its troops from Wallachia and Moldavia within a specified time. Guarantee the demilitarization of the Danube Delta.

This condition is relatively harsh to tell the truth, and it also shows the true thoughts of the French.

It's just that with the development of the situation, the French gradually found that such conditions were a bit unrealistic. After all, although the coalition forces had an advantage on the battlefield, it was in Crimea, and the coalition forces in Wallachia were cheap at all. Can't even cross the Danube.

In this way, it would be a joke for Russia to completely abandon Wallachia and Moldavia, not to mention that with Bariatinsky's efforts in the Caucasus, Turkey there is still broken, and this account is even worse. smoothed.

Therefore, after some negotiation, Napoleon III and Count Wallevsky reached an agreement that Russia ceded a small part of Wallachia and Moldavia to "compensate" Austria, which was considered a small favor to block the mouth of the Austrians.

Then Russia promised to withdraw its troops from Wallachia and Moldavia within the specified time. In addition, it must immediately stop the aggression in the Caucasus and return to the pre-war state. Finally, the Black Sea Fleet will be strictly limited, whether it is tonnage or The number of battleships had to meet the British requirements.

Only when Count Wallevsky excitedly informed Clarendon of the latest new conditions acceptable to all, the British once again gave up, because Palmerston insisted that in addition to the above conditions, Russia The southern Caucasus must also be completely abandoned, including Circassian, Georgia, Yerevan, and Nakhichevan.

This is almost to take away from the Russians the fruits of their expansion in the Caucasus for nearly two decades, which is not without harshness.

Of course, this is also understandable, because the United Kingdom is very concerned about the Persian issue and is always on guard against Russia's expansion from Iran to India via Afghanistan. India is their ban, even if there is only such a possibility, they cannot accept it.

Naturally, when the British added these to the conditions, the Russians immediately quit, leading to an immediate stalemate in the negotiations.

This made Napoleon III very distressed. On the one hand, he felt that the British were a bit excessive, and he would not accept this condition if he were Alexander II. On the other hand, he had to maintain a certain degree of friendship with the British, after all France has not yet put aside the strength of Britain to go it alone. If it falls out with the British, I am afraid that things will not end.

So he can only find ways to do British work, but what's that old saying? When people are unlucky, drinking water will jam their teeth. This sentence is very suitable for Napoleon III.

Before he could do his work in the UK, something happened again in Turkey, because of ethnic and religious issues. In this regard, whether it is the United Kingdom, France or Austria, all have great opinions on Turkey. For example, in January, representatives of the British and French allies met with Turkish Prime Minister Ali Pasha and Tanzimat reformist representative Fuad Pasha in Istanbul. The two were delegates sent by the Sudan to Paris for the peace conference.

During this meeting, representatives of the Allied Powers demanded that the Sultan make a gesture that he was giving full religious and civil equality to the Ottoman Empire's non-Japanese population, including Jews, and emphasized that the Allied Powers were serious on this point.

The then British ambassador to Turkey, Stratford Canning, in his report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after attending the talks, directly admitted that they were not optimistic about Turkey's determination to reform. Ambiguous and very unhappy with foreign pressure.

He said that the Turks felt that such Western-imposed reforms would weaken the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, and that they always considered Christians inferior to them and that it would be humiliating and blasphemous to put them on an equal footing.

Even Canning put it bluntly: "The Turks believe that no matter what laws the Sultan passes, nothing can change the fact that Christians are more base."

Therefore, Canning directly warned that if Turkey continues to force reforms, it is likely to intensify contradictions and cause Turkey's domestic political situation to fall into turmoil.

It's just that Canning's warning did not attract Palmerston's special attention, so Britain and France continued to exert pressure on Turkey through diplomatic channels, and finally Sudan was forced to issue the "Reform Edict" before the Paris Peace Conference, promising non-*** Full religious and legal equality of subjects gave non-ministers the right to own property and join the Ottoman army and officials by virtue of their abilities.

For Sudan, his wishful thinking was to prevent further European interference in its internal affairs by promising these reforms. In particular, the "Reform Edict" was promulgated before the Paris Peace Conference, which also announced to the outside world that the Paris Peace Conference could not involve Turkey's internal affairs.

It’s just that this move is of no use, because Count Orlov strongly insists that the peace conference must discuss the issue of Turkish reform. If Turkey cannot sign these clearly in black and white at the peace conference, who can guarantee that in the future? Can the so-called "Edict of Reform" really be implemented?

So he insisted that this point must be discussed at the negotiating table, otherwise, once Russia makes concessions, who can guarantee the interests of Christians in Turkey?

It is conceivable that Russia and Turkey will be on the hook again, making the already troubled peace talks even more difficult...

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