Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 587: Ruthlessness

In London, after hearing the news of the coup in Ankara, Prime Minister Gladstone knew that things were going downhill.

The problems of the Ottoman Empire could not be solved simply by changing the government. Whoever took power would first have to deal with the refugee crisis and suppress the rebellions.

The failure of the Ottoman government to accomplish these two tasks wasn’t just because they were corrupt and incompetent; it was genuinely impossible. Even the most capable leader couldn’t succeed without resources. Simply changing leaders wouldn’t change the situation.

Prime Minister Gladstone asked, “How much money would it take to restore agricultural production in the Ottoman Empire, at least to a basic level?”

Foreign Secretary Maclean shook his head, “Prime Minister, I’m afraid no one can give you an exact figure. The Russians were too thorough. Before their withdrawal, they destroyed every piece of infrastructure they could.

According to reports from our embassy, in areas occupied by the Russian army, you can hardly find a single intact building. They blew up everything except the churches.

Even the rural areas weren’t spared. Houses, farmland, bridges, and dams were all destroyed, and they even deliberately blocked rivers, turning downstream farmlands into swamps.

It’s said that the Russians used tens of thousands of tons of explosives just for this destruction, leaving the occupied areas completely barren.

The Ottoman government’s plan to resume spring planting failed entirely because of this Russian sabotage. Based on the current situation, even by 1876, the Ottomans would likely only be able to restore half of their agricultural production in the affected regions.

The Ottoman government simply doesn’t have the financial capacity to last that long. To provide aid to the refugees, the government diverted most of its funds, including those allocated for education.

The root cause of this coup was precisely the Ottoman government’s misappropriation of education funds. Now this problem belongs to the Young Ottomans.”

Prime Minister Gladstone nodded. The deep-seated hatred between Russia and the Ottoman Empire was nothing new, and he wasn’t surprised that the Russians resorted to extreme measures for revenge.

In the previous Russo-Turkish wars, there had been even bloodier incidents, with massacres of tens of thousands of people being unsurprising.

The reason why earlier wars didn’t see such widespread destruction of farmland and waterways wasn’t due to Russian restraint. It was because industrial technology hadn’t yet advanced to the current level.

This time, Austria provided the logistics, so the Russians didn’t need to be conservative. Now that they were withdrawing, the ships were again supplied by Austria, and all the hidden stockpiles of materials couldn’t be concealed any longer.

While food and other supplies could be explained as spoils of war, the Austrian-manufactured ammunition was harder to justify.

The Russians were ruthless, expending all of this ammunition on the Anatolian Peninsula. Except for sparing the churches out of respect for God, they blew up everything they could.

After imagining the scenario, Prime Minister Gladstone found himself with a headache. The Russians had indulged themselves in destruction, and now the question was: what should happen to the Ottoman Empire?

To intervene would come at a high cost, but if they didn’t, the Ottoman Empire would surely collapse under the burden of refugees, ultimately being annexed by Austria.

He asked, “What does the Foreign Office plan to do?”

Maclean furrowed his brow, clearly troubled, and answered, “For the Ottoman Empire, the solution isn’t too difficult—at least not for them. If they are ruthless enough, they could completely…”

Everyone’s faces changed dramatically. The number of refugees in the Ottoman Empire was substantial. Even with the death of hundreds of thousands during the winter, at least two million people still remained.

According to Maclean’s plan, while it would indeed solve the refugee crisis once and for all, the damage it would inflict on the Ottoman Empire would be catastrophic.

However, no one opposed the idea. To have risen to this level of power, these people were all firm in their resolve, and not easily swayed by personal emotions. The fate of the Ottomans had nothing to do with them. In an era when millions of people died from hunger every year worldwide, their sympathy had long been exhausted.

After pacing for a moment, Prime Minister Gladstone said, “This matter has nothing to do with us. It is entirely the Ottomans’ own choice.

What we need to do now is provide them with funds to suppress the rebellion and stabilize the situation in the Ottoman Empire as quickly as possible. The Foreign Office must oversee how this money is used.

At the same time, the Foreign Office must be prepared. If the Ottoman government takes action, they will surely face widespread condemnation. Let the international media criticize them; that’s fine. The only thing we must avoid is giving the Austrians any excuse to interfere in Ottoman internal affairs.”

On this point, Prime Minister Gladstone was quite reassured. Intelligence showed that Austria was currently occupied with its gradual takeover of the Arabian Peninsula, a process that would take years.

Given the Austrian government’s cautious approach, they would not stir up trouble elsewhere until they had fully absorbed the Arabian Peninsula.

…

In Ankara, the newly established Young Ottomans, who had just seized power, found themselves lost before they could even savor the thrill of their victory.

This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go! Normally, after overthrowing a corrupt government, under their leadership, the Ottoman Empire should have immediately been on the path to revival, right?

Yet, in reality, the opposite happened. After overthrowing Abdulaziz I, they were left directionless.

This was merely a coup, not a revolution, so the Young Ottomans quickly took control of the government. Of course, some conservative and religious figures infiltrated the government as well, which was inevitable.

Politics always requires compromise. How else could they gain widespread support without sharing power?

However, after gaining control, the Young Ottomans became confused. What they had taken over wasn’t a prosperous and powerful empire but a crumbling, decaying state that could collapse at any moment.

As the leader of the Young Ottomans, Midhat, who had just assumed power, was quickly dumbfounded. The power struggle could be set aside for now, but the issue of financial bankruptcy was urgent.

The overthrown corrupt government wasn’t wealthy either. Many of the officials might have been well-off individually, but on a national scale, their wealth was insignificant.

After paying the overdue government administrative salaries, the treasury was empty again. There was no money to fund refugee relief or suppress rebellions.

Only now, after being in charge, did Midhat truly understand the difficulties of the Ottoman government. Without enough money, the government could do nothing.

“What’s the response from Britain and France? Are they willing to provide us with a loan?”

Borrowing money when broke has always been the Ottoman Empire’s go-to strategy. At this time, the biggest lenders were Britain and France, which provided over 80% of the world’s international loans.

“Grand Vizier, the French refused to grant us a loan, and while the British didn’t outright reject us, they imposed conditions. The loan can only be used for suppressing rebellions.

Moreover, they demanded that we quickly resolve the refugee crisis to prove the government’s ability to govern,” said Foreign Minister Hâdifaou bitterly.

The refugee crisis would be easy to solve if they had money. If there’s not enough food, they can buy as much as they need from neighboring countries.

Unfortunately, the one thing the Ottoman Empire lacks most is money. At this point, they can barely find anything left to offer as collateral for a loan.

This mess was left behind by the previous government. In their effort to fund the war, the Ottoman government had scraped together every last bit of cash. If it weren’t for international loans, the previous government wouldn’t have been able to provide aid to refugees either.

Midhat was unlucky to come to power right when the previous government had exhausted the funds, leaving him with this disaster.

Of course, if the previous government hadn’t run out of money and resources, the coup wouldn’t have succeeded, and he wouldn’t have taken power.

Midhat slammed his hand on the table and said, “How are we supposed to solve this? Millions of people are reaching out to us for food, and the government’s grain will only last two months at most.

Even if we could get back on track with spring planting in that short time, we wouldn’t have enough time to wait for the harvest. Plus, our farmland has been severely damaged, and most of the land won’t be ready for cultivation this year.

This year, we face a food shortfall of 3.16 million tons. To fully resolve the refugee crisis, we’d need at least 5 million tons of grain to pull ourselves out of this predicament.”

The British data was inaccurate. The Ottoman Empire’s refugee population wasn’t just the original 3 million. It also included those being deported back by Austria.

This number was increasing daily, as the Austrian government strictly enforced the repatriation of Ottomans.

On top of that, the civil war was a major cause of the rising refugee numbers. During the suppression of the rebellion, both sides created even more refugees.

Under these circumstances, despite a harsh winter that claimed many lives, the total number of refugees continued to grow.

If someone were to do a proper count, they would be shocked to discover that the number of refugees in the Ottoman Empire was approaching 30% of the total population, far exceeding what any normal country could handle.

Hâdifaou, looking dejected, said, “The British suggested that we deport the citizens who have lost their livelihoods to Persia, to reduce the domestic grain crisis. Alternatively, they proposed establishing quarantine zones to isolate the refugees and leave them to fend for themselves.”

Midhat was stunned. He hadn’t imagined such drastic measures. Whether it was deportation or creating refugee isolation zones and abandoning them to their fate, either option would result in the deaths of millions.

Compared to direct massacres, there was no real difference between these methods—the only distinction was that it wouldn’t leave them with the reputation of being butchers.

This was beyond Midhat’s ability to accept. Having just risen to the position of Grand Vizier, he still retained a sliver of conscience.

As someone who had always seen himself as the savior of the Ottoman Empire, it was a significant challenge for him to make a decision that would result in the sacrifice of millions of people.