The Fox of France - Chapter 487 (Patreon)

Chapter 487: Retreat

After another bargain sale of their nation, the Turks finally managed to hold off the Russians by relying on a crusade sent by the Papal States—ah, it was the Southern Italian volunteers who based themselves along the Prut River.

In fact, neither side engaged in much serious fighting. The Russians had depleted much of their ammunition in previous battles. (Kutuzov: I have already been very frugal!) And Arıncar Mustafa Pasha’s most significant act before surrendering was to deplete all kinds of supplies, especially ammunition, carried by the Turkish army. By the time they surrendered, the Russians were hoping to profit from the captured supplies. However, while they did capture a good amount of weapons, the ammunition was disappointingly scant. As a result, each Russian cannon was now allocated less than five shells on average.

If the enemy had been a group of Sultan's personal guards, the Russians might have still tried to fight seriously to see if they could blast some ammunition out of them. But with the Italians... well, if it were many years later and the Russians heard that they were facing "lovable Italians," there wouldn’t even need to be a commissar to boost morale; their spirits would skyrocket on their own.

Imagine that, "lovable Italians"! They always carry delicious Italian sausages, and Italians are versatile, each knowing how to play one or two musical instruments. With them around, one could stage an opera like "The Marriage of Figaro" right in the POW camps. The whole army could instantly gain a whole bunch of military bands. Moreover, the Russian cooks could all take a collective break—how nice would that be!

However, the Italians of this era weren’t yet the "lovable Italians." In this time, the Italian states were fragmented, and warfare was a common occurrence. Although Italians were famously slippery and dishonest, their combat effectiveness was still guaranteed.

Moreover, under the command of the old Marshal Suvorov, many Russian generals had personally seen how the Northern Italians had tormented the Austrians in defensive battles. Although the Austrians insisted that it was Frenchmen wearing Italian uniforms, everyone knew they were Italians. Since the Northern Italians were so capable, the Southern Italians probably weren't too far off... With this in mind, and considering the current state of their forces, the Russians decided it was time to cut their losses.

As for the Southern Italian volunteers, they had even less intention of attacking. After all, they were just there to make money. If they could get paid just for standing off, that was certainly better than fighting.

Thus, the two armies faced each other across the Prut River. Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey began negotiations.

The Russians, of course, started with outlandish demands. They wanted territorial concessions and reparations, typical demands. They also wanted Turkey to allow Russian ships, including warships, free passage through the Bosphorus Strait. They demanded the restoration of the Hagia Sophia, converting it back from a mosque to an Orthodox cathedral, and the removal of the minarets added by the Turks.

The Turkish instantly refused the demand about the Hagia Sophia. If they agreed to that, the legitimacy of the Turkish regime would be practically non-existent.

Of course, when the Russians made this demand, they knew the Turks would refuse. It was just a way to put pressure on them and provide a pretext for Turkey to make concessions in other areas. It allowed the Turks to say to their people, “Look, we still maintain our national interests, we have firmly rejected their unreasonable demands... What about land and reparations? That’s not our fault, it’s because the previous Sultan Selim III was not devout enough, didn’t rely on true faith to solve problems, and instead indulged in the heresies of the infidels... Remember when we Turks were victorious in every battle? That was because we were devout believers in the true God. The more these reformers did, the worse they made things...”

After such propaganda, the new Turkish Sultan even managed to sell this as a tragic necessity. Many years later, there were still Turks who thought Sultan Mustafa IV was actually not too bad, and that he couldn’t be blamed for the land cessions and reparations. There was even an internet meme saying, “Young I didn’t know the hardships of the fourth Sultan, only when old do I recognize a true Sultan.”

The remaining issues were land and navigational rights. According to Sultan Mustafa IV’s view, these were negotiable. It was just a matter of how much Turkish territory and resources could ensure national happiness.

Sultan Mustafa IV said to his Grand Vizier Cevaz Pasha Mimars, “My brother, Sultan Selim III, was far superior to me in talent and wisdom. But he ultimately failed. Do you know why?”

Grand Vizier Mimars shook his head.

“Sultan Selim III pursued unreachable goals. He spent too much

 time stargazing and forgot what the earth was really like. He saw the infidel nations of Europe rising rapidly, becoming stronger day by day, while our crescent moon flag was not as dazzling as it had been years ago. So, he tried to learn from those infidel nations, without considering that fundamentally, those nations were different from Turkey.

“The rise of those nations came at the cost of weakening religion, and their kings had a completely different relationship with the church than we do. Their kings have always struggled with the church for power. As the church weakened, government power increased. But we are different; in our tradition, religion and government are one. To weaken religion is to weaken the government. Perhaps his approach could have made Turkey stronger, but it would have weakened our government. My brother always thinks I’m a naive bumpkin who doesn’t understand the outside world. Ha...

“The rise of those infidel nations came not only at the cost of religion’s decline but even at the cost of the monarchy’s decline. Look, in England, they were the first to behead a king, although they kept the monarchy, the king’s power and dignity were trampled by Parliament. At that price, England once became the most powerful country in the world.

“To surpass England, the French also beheaded their king and queen, and turned their kingdom into a republic—afterwards, they didn’t even have a king.

“After paying such a price, France surpassed England and became the strongest country in the world. So, if we follow their lead, wanting to be as strong as they are, what price must we pay? Is it like England, beheading a Sultan and then giving the next Sultan a set of laws dictating what he can and cannot do? Or like France, beheading both the king and queen, then turning Turkey into a republic?

“No, if we want to make Turkey as strong as it was under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, merely reaching the level of the French is probably not enough. Perhaps we need to sacrifice the entire Ottoman family. So, the path my brother took is definitely the wrong one. It’s a path that might preserve Turkey but not the Ottomans!

“If the rulers of Turkey are not the Ottomans, then no matter how advanced or strong Turkey becomes, what meaning does it have? The real difference between me and my cousin is whether to preserve Turkey or to preserve the Ottomans.”

So, the Ottoman Turkish elite quickly united around the idea that their first priority was to preserve the Ottomans, and their second priority to preserve the Ottoman nobility and clergy, and then, incidentally, to preserve Turkey.

With this guiding principle, the rest was predictable. However, the French threw a spanner in the works. They not only encouraged the Turks, telling them that reparations could be considered (since Turkey had no money and would have to borrow from France, and at least in this timeline, no one who borrowed from the French dared default on principal or interest), but were adamant that territory already occupied by the Russians could be ceded, but unoccupied areas must not be ceded. As for the Russian demand for navigational rights, they were even more uncompromising.

“Absolutely not let Russian warships enter the Mediterranean!” The French ambassador to Turkey simply stepped up and directed Turkish diplomacy.

“But Mr. Ambassador, if we don’t compromise on this issue, the Russians will not agree. We can’t beat them right now...” explained Grand Vizier Mimars.

The French ambassador immediately responded, “The Russian swords are sharp, are not our French swords also sharp? Allowing Russian warships into the Mediterranean harms our interests. If your country cannot protect our interests... do you intend to see how the French protect French interests?”

So, the issue of navigational rights became really difficult to negotiate. No matter how much pressure the Russians applied, the Turks would not budge, since they had already offended the Russians and could no longer consider them friends. Of course, if they found out who was plotting to overthrow the Sultan, that might temporarily make them friends. But that was only temporary. Geographically, they were natural enemies. To satisfy the Russians and anger the much stronger France was clearly not workable. Thus, negotiations dragged on, but the Italians were not in a hurry, since each day of delay meant another day’s pay.

Finally, the Russians became anxious. They needed a reparations payment to settle their war debts and to fund domestic legal reforms. So, the Russians took a step back. They proposed that Turkey ensure free passage for Russian merchant ships through the Bosphorus Strait, and as for warships, that could be discussed, such as excluding capital ships.

Of course, defining what constituted a capital ship was another contentious issue. Eventually, it was agreed that battleships and super cruisers were not allowed through. Cruisers and smaller warships could pass, but the annual tonnage through the strait could not exceed a certain amount. The standards

 for battleships and super cruisers would be based on the existing standards of the French navy.

With this most difficult issue resolved, Turkey and Russia signed a new peace treaty. According to this treaty, Turkey ceded the entire Bessarabia region and parts of the Caucasus to Russia. In addition, they paid Russia one hundred million francs.

Even for Turkey, which boasted of having wealth as vast as the seas, this was not a small sum easily procured. But the Russians demanded that Turkey pay in one lump sum, and the timeline was very tight. To gather this money, Turkey applied for a loan from the Bank of Rome.

Eventually, Turkey spent a total of three hundred million francs, of which one hundred million was paid to the Russians, and the remaining two hundred million, of course, was the lawful income of the Bank of Rome.

Just as the fires of war in the east gradually extinguished, in Ireland, the siege of Dublin also reached its final stages. After ceasing to supply ammunition to the Russians, the ammunition supply for the French artillery outside Dublin finally improved. The Franco-Irish forces' attacks on Dublin became much more efficient.

Now, the number of shells falling on the British daily was at least three times what it had been before. Additionally, with the ultra-long range of the French cannons, they had a clear advantage over the British artillery.

Using hot air balloons for high-altitude observation, along with 280mm and 203mm cannons' tremendous range, the French forces continued to destroy many British cannons. Particularly because the British lacked smokeless powder technology, their cannons were very conspicuous when firing, allowing the French to quickly locate and bombard them.

Now, a faction of the independence army had already occupied the last strategic point leading to the city center, so the British had already been preparing to retreat.

When it comes to the history of world warfare, the British Army is not particularly outstanding in many respects, but there is one technique at which they excel, and that is organizing retreats, especially retreats by sea...

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