My Italy

Negotiations with Britain moved quickly after Rome agreed. In the end, Italy gained the acquiescence of the British by agreeing to withdraw from the Tana River Basin in Kenya and ensuring the independence of Crete.

Of course, this does not mean that the British paid nothing. Italy demanded that Egypt under its control not allow the Ottoman army to pass, which was also agreed by Prime Minister Cecil.

In addition, the two countries also have a secret agreement. When a war breaks out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Italy must ensure that it is consistent with the British attitude, even if it is a declaration of war, Italy must also follow the British in declaring war with Russia.

In some ways, the price paid by Italy this time was quite high, and it felt that it was tied up by the British in its diplomacy with Russia.

But who would know that Russia never had the opportunity to declare war on the Ottomans, except for the First World War in which all countries participated.

Except for a certain soul from later generations, everyone in the Italian government believed that this time Italy paid a high price to win the support of the British.

After gaining the support of the British, Italy has basically achieved its goals in diplomacy, and then it needs to look at its own performance.

During this period of time, preparations for war in Italy have continued. Various arsenals are working overtime to produce weapons and ammunition. In addition to changing their equipment, the intensity of training of each unit is also increasing.

The Navy's various trainings are also increasing this year, especially after the three Turin-class ships were put into service in the second half of the year (named Turin, Palermo, and Bari respectively), the officers and soldiers on the ships are basically There is not much vacation time, and its officers and soldiers spend most of their time on warships.

Speaking of the Turin class in service, there is another story, that is, after the British got three Turin class ships in service, they immediately compared their newly designed warships and were surprised to find that the Italian Turin class was different from their newly designed warships. There are high similarities in the monarchy level.

This is not to say that the British suspected that the Italians had stolen their designs. According to the information they found, the other party started the design work of new battleships in 1886. To say that the theft was their own fault. But this will cause the new warships of the two countries to be very similar.

In addition, the British also discovered that their own new warships would be at a disadvantage when facing new Italian warships. Although this disadvantage is not too big, it is still a disadvantage after all.

This made the naval generals of the British Empire feel embarrassed. As the world's largest navy, it is unacceptable to be inferior to the Italians in new battleships.

So the Admiralty approached Sir William White, the designer of this class of warships, and requested that the new warships still in the dock be modified, at least not worse than the Italian Torino class.

Faced with the requirements of the British Empire's Admiralty, Sir William White got inspiration from the Turin class. The modification of the Sovereign class mainly changed the chimney, changed the horizontal row to a compact vertical row, and added a turret to the open-air main gun. There are some other changes, but after these changes, the two are more similar.

Facing the changes made by Sir William White, the British Navy was a little depressed. It was difficult to choose whether to choose performance or face. However, in the end, performance was more important than face, so Sir's changed design was approved.

In addition to the commissioning of the Turin-class battleships, public opinion also became unfavorable to the Ottoman Empire.

After more than a year of slander through newspapers and other propaganda methods, it is not actually a smear. It just focuses on the customs that the Italian people are not accustomed to, and adds a few modifiers. At present, the Italian people have nothing to do with the Ottomans. good. According to survey statistics, 69% of Italian people currently dislike the Ottomans. This is the role of propaganda. You must know that two years ago, only 12% of the Italian people disliked it. This 57% increase is the result of continuous propaganda in the past two years.

Faced with this situation, the Ottoman envoy to Rome, Akhtar Muhammad Mansu, sent a worried telegram to Istanbul to inform him of the current situation in Italy.

"Dear Grand Vizier Mustafa, I want to report something to you with a worried heart. The atmosphere in Italy is getting worse and worse, and the domestic newspapers and public opinion are very unfriendly to our country. For this reason, I met with the Italian Prime Minister. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Depretis, told me calmly that this was just a matter of some boring newspapers. Although the Prime Minister gave comforting words, this made me even more sad. I am worried. I hope that when the Grand Vizier reads this letter, His Majesty the Sultan will be on guard against Italy.”

Although this letter full of Mansu's thoughts was sent back to the Ottoman Empire, just like his respected Sultan Abdul Hamid II, there was no further content.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II currently lives in the Yildiz Palace in Istanbul and relies on the secret police to maintain his rule.

It is strange that the Ottoman Empire could develop under such a rule. It can be said that compared with the European countries that are developing rapidly, the Ottoman Empire, just like its name, is really a sick man.

Of course, this sick man still has some strength, so Italy still needs to prepare.

When it comes to preparation, funding is essential. In order to raise funds, the Italian Ministry of Finance issued debts from the securities market under clever pretexts.

According to statistics, this year the Italian government issued 650 million lira in government bonds. Don’t think this is less. Last year, 610 million lira of government bonds were issued, and another 590 million lira of government bonds are expected to be issued next year.

The large-scale issuance of government bonds has increased the discount on Italian government bonds by 3 percentage points, and the interest rate has also increased by 1.5 percentage points, with the annual coupon rate reaching 5.75%. There is no way to issue such a large-scale treasury bond. The underwriter and the purchaser must make profits. Otherwise, how can such a large amount be sold?

Fortunately, Italy's economic situation has been pretty good in the past two years, which can give potential buyers a certain degree of confidence.

Part of the money raised from the issuance of national bonds was used to prepare for war, part was used as funding for the subsequent war, and only a small amount was used for various government expenditures.

Due to preparations for the war, railway construction in Italy has been slowed down in the past two years, not to mention other construction. Now the government requires all departments to minimize investment in other projects based on the principle of saving what they can. Therefore, various departments have also been very difficult in the past two years, and they can only open as few projects as possible.

In this state of comprehensive preparation in Italy, the time came to 1890.

I overslept yesterday, so I'm sorry I couldn't update. I'll make up for it tonight. I hope you don't mind.