Bulgarian Empire

The Minister of the Navy argued: I think their navy is just right now! The Russian Empire's influence in Bulgaria is increasing day by day, but its influence on their army is extremely limited!

Now that the Bulgarian army has formed its own system, we can't penetrate it at all, so it is very important to master their navy!

The prime minister asked suspiciously: You mean, we have complete control over the Bulgarian navy? But is this necessary? We must know that the navy cannot be built in a short period of time. Does it take so much effort?

The Secretary of the Navy said firmly: No, Mr. Prime Minister, you misunderstood me! We have no intention of training a navy for Bulgaria. Even if we give him a navy, they can't afford it!

as long as necessary. It is enough to have a navy with the Bulgarian flag appear! Seizing the Bosporus Strait and even the Aegean Sea still needs to be done by ourselves!

Everyone understood, after all, the navy still wants to control the sea route to the Mediterranean, and Bulgaria is just a target on the surface, so as not to stimulate the sensitive nerves of the British!

Nicholas II was tempted. Even if the strategic goal is the Far East now, it is good to grasp the main road leading to the Mediterranean. In the future, the strategic center of gravity of the Russian Empire will return to Europe!

The foreign minister who advocated putting Europe first and then Asia took the opportunity to say: Your Majesty, the British are now busy fighting the Boers, and the whole of Europe is stumbling them. It will be difficult to get out for a while. Now is a good opportunity for us to act!

The Minister of the Interior objected: No! It is okay to support the Bulgarians, but we cannot end in person. This is likely to trigger a new round of war in Europe!

The British are not fools, it is impossible to deceive them! And the Triple Alliance will not watch us act!

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In the end, Nicholas II vetoed the proposal to attack the Bosporus Strait now. After all, the Turks will not become stronger in a while, and the weakened Ottoman Empire has no guts to confront Russia head-on!

However, the proposal to support Bulgaria was passed, and weakening the Ottoman Empire has been a long-standing national policy of the Russian Empire!

The Ottoman Empire, with a territory of several million square kilometers and a population of more than 30 million, was an existence that overwhelmed Europe at its peak. Now that it has declined, how could Nicholas II not beat the dog in the water?

As for whether Bulgaria will become bigger, this is out of his consideration. Anyway, now Bulgaria has been tied to the Russian chariot, and it can't get off!

Backlash does not exist, politics, economy and culture are already connected with each other, the Russian Empire will feel pain if it leaves Bulgaria, and Bulgaria will have to consider the issue of survival if it leaves Russia!

Chancellor of the Exchequer: So what can we gain from it now? Who can tell clearly about the future situation. If we help the Bulgarians for no reason, we will suffer a loss now!

Talking about the benefits, the Prime Minister said coldly: But now we are allies, and the good non-governmental relations between Russia and Russia are hard-won, which is very important for the future strategy of the empire.

When we raise conditions, we must take into account the sentiment of the people, and many demands cannot be raised at all! In addition, although we are still two countries, we have come together economically!

The words of the Prime Minister were unanimously approved by everyone. This has nothing to do with a trend of thought at the time - Pan-Slavism!

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Slavs living in Austria, Hungary and the Balkans, affected by the development of capitalist production relations and the French bourgeois revolution, raised the liberation movement of the Slavic nation, and Pan-Slavism came into being.

Slavic intellectuals first advocated the study of the history, folk songs and folk tales of the Slavic peoples to enhance cultural ties and achieve political unity.

Work together to deal with alien rule and change the status of the Slavs being bullied and oppressed.

In June 1848, the Slavophiles held a congress in Prague, demanding that all Slavs commit themselves to unity and cooperation to achieve equality among all nationalities. Due to the different opinions of the representatives of various countries, no agreement could be reached.

Similarly, Slavic factions also appeared in Russia. They praised the Tsar and the social system of Tsarist Russia. Many of them established correspondence or mutual visits with Pan-Slavists in Austria and the Balkans.

In the middle of the 19th century, the crisis of Russian serfdom deepened and capitalist relations gradually developed. The tsarist government was eager to expand abroad in order to ease domestic class contradictions.

The Russian Pan-Slavists took advantage of the early pan-Slavist ideas that had emerged in Austria and falsified them to serve the Tsar. Their basic claims are:

1. Declare that the Slavs and Russians share a common history and blood relationship, have similar languages ​​and cultures, have the same religious beliefs, live in adjacent areas, share a common destiny and interests, and that the Russian nation is the leader of the Slavs;

2. Propaganda that Russia is the protector of the Slavic peoples, and that the future of the Slavic people can only be guaranteed by relying on the Tsar;

3. The establishment of the Great Slavic Empire with Russia as the leader can free the Slavs from the rule of Austria and the Ottoman Empire, and finally achieve the goal of advancing Russia's European borders to the west and south.

These propositions are in line with the interests and needs of the Russian rulers, and have become the ideological weapon of the Tsarist Russian government’s foreign aggression and expansion. Therefore, from Alexander I to Nicholas II, they all regarded support for Pan-Slavism and its movement as the basic national policy of the Russian Empire !

Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the relationship between Bulgaria and Russia has shown a good development trend, people-to-people exchanges are increasing day by day, and Pan-Slavism has begun to grow, especially among the younger generation.

This situation happened to be what the tsarist government needed! Everyone present knew that if it continued, after another 20 or 30 years, no one would be able to stop Bulgaria and Russia from establishing the Great Slavic Empire with the Russian Empire at its core!

In this context, any move to damage the relationship between the two countries is not something Nicholas II can tolerate!

This is also the reason why the Minister of the Navy will support Bulgaria's expansion to the Ottoman Empire, anyway, sooner or later it will be his own!

As for whether Bulgaria will become bigger? No one in the Russian government will worry, the size gap is too big!

One is a large empire with a territory of more than 20 million square kilometers and a population of more than 150 million; compared with a small country with a population of only 4 million and a territory of less than 100,000, the gap is really huge!

Even if Bulgaria grows two or three times bigger, so what? Can it also change the balance of strength between the two sides?

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