"Are you crazy? I will never agree to your request! Nicholas II cried out in horror: "And, stop your madness at once!" Immediately! ”

"Your Majesty! Now the state of affairs has reached the point where a general mobilization is necessary! The Chairman of the Defense Committee, Grand Duke Nicholas, tried to explain, but his words were rudely interrupted by Nicholas II.

"This is a rebellion! How can you get the army mobilized without my orders! Nicholas II roared: "Now I command you, with the power of the tsar, to stop the general mobilization at once!" Even if we had to respond, we wouldn't need to mobilize! It is enough to carry out a partial mobilization only for a possible war in the Balkans! ”

Nicholas II's heart was filled with the anger of betrayal and the horror of the possible consequences of the rash decisions of his ministers.

As early as a few days ago, a group of ministers, led by their uncle Grand Duke Nicholas, began to exhort themselves with all their might to carry out domestic mobilization. In the absence of clarity about the reactions of the countries and the development of events, a series of contradictory and disinformation led Nicholas II to believe that the Balkan war was inevitable and that domestic mobilization seemed inevitable.

However, Nicholas II did not realize that his ministers were hiding from him an important fact: that Russia was about to carry out a "general mobilization" and not only a partial mobilization for the Balkans.

When Nicholas II, reminded by Count Frederick, finally realized that general mobilization meant an all-out war against the Central Powers, Nicholas II immediately refused to sign the mobilization order. At this time, however, he was horrified to hear Grand Duke Nicholas tell him that "the general mobilization has been going on for a long time."

Of course, Grand Duke Nicholas was lying, he really did not dare to order a general mobilization without the signature of the tsar, but he could make Nicholas II think that the situation was irreversible. Eventually, he signed the mobilization order, which he has done historically.

But Nicholas II was still making a final resistance, insisting that the general mobilization be stopped, and that Russia could only carry out a limited partial mobilization to avoid the situation getting out of control, but his ministers did not intend to let their tsar go as happy this time. The Prime Minister, the National Defense Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and almost all the important ministers gathered in the Tsar's study. Tried to persuade Nicholas II to abandon resistance.

"Your Majesty! We must respond to the secret mobilization of the Germans! Now is a critical moment, and if we do not carry out a general mobilization, then we will be powerless to resist at that time! Oblivious to the anger and horror of His Majesty the Tsar, Grand Duke Nicholas persisted in his attempts to persuade Nicholas II.

"It can't be! The German envoy is still on his way to St. Petersburg, how can Germany carry out a secret mobilization against us?! Nicholas II shouted in disbelief.

"Your Majesty, this is absolutely true! Now all the information points to the fact that the Germans have already made a move. Grand Duke Nicholas swore to it.

Nicholas II did not believe his assurances, but there was no evidence to refute them, so he could only remain silent with a dark face.

"Your Majesty, Germany is not to be trusted." Prime Minister Kokovtsov said to the sidelines: "Your Majesty, you should know that the Eastern question has always been one of the most important issues in our country. 37% of our country's foreign trade needs to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. Moreover, almost all of the main commodities of our exports - agricultural products - need to pass through there. The proceeds from these exports are used to support industrial imports from the Baltic Sea. If our export chains were broken, our trade balance would be devastated, and our credibility in the Paris and London loan markets would be ruined. However, China's financial and military construction are extremely dependent on foreign loans, so this issue is the top priority of our country. And Germany has repeatedly harmed our interests in this matter, and now the Germans continue to woo the damned Ottomans. ”

The 'Eastern question' is not a 'Far Eastern question', at its core is the issue of the area around the Turkish Straits and, in addition to economic and trade issues, there are also religious issues. If Russia could get Constantinople, then it would be able to get the orthodox status of the Orthodox Church.

However. Bismarck's betrayal of Russia at the Berlin Conference made Germany completely touch Russia's core interests on this issue. So what Jochen did in Osman naturally became a target to be set up.

In fact, what Germany was doing in the Ottomans at this time did not infringe on Russia's interests, trade and arms transactions were nothing more than commercial activities, and even when the Ottoman navy, army, and air forces were extremely dependent on the Germans, the two countries did not conclude any alliance treaty. Jochen did much more than what Britain did to the Qing Dynasty in history, if only to say that German power in the Ottomans expanded. In the Middle East, Germany's power is far inferior to that of the British, and how far the 3B railway will be built depends on the face of the British?

But at this time, these problems were naturally selectively ignored, and Germany had other intentions in the Ottomans. And a direct threat to Russian interests, it is enough to be able to convey this concept to His Majesty the Tsar.

"Even then, there is no need for a general mobilization now! There is no need for a total war for us! Nicholas II retorted.

"Your Majesty, the Germans have mobilized us, and this is the most definite act of war." Grand Duke Nicholas said: "The war has broken out, and this is a total war. ”

Grand Duke Nicholas expounded the "theory of mobilization for the causes of war" created by the Russians. The Russians, who had suffered a series of setbacks after Bismarck's Berlin conference, found that if a conflict broke out over bilateral issues alone, Russia was likely to be multifaceted because its allies were likely to stand by on the sidelines.

Therefore, only by pulling its allies into the water, muddying the waters, and turning bilateral issues into multilateral issues, can Russia gain the support of its allies against the other party's bloc. So they came to the terrible conclusion that it was in Russia's interest only to make every war a full-scale war.

The idea of the Russians is simple: as soon as the war begins, even if it is only caused by trivial reasons, then the allies must be brought in, the war must be turned into a full-scale war, and the war will attack the other side with all their might, until it is defeated or no longer enough to pose a threat to Russia.

So if you have to go to war, you have to do everything you can to sabotage any diplomatic effort to localize the war from the outset, so that your allies have no official website or choice, and you have to make the war a battle to the death where all the members of the two camps have no way out. Either you don't do it, once you make up your mind, then you have to do it!

But if you want to pull people into the water, traditional alliances are not enough. There is also a key element in this, which is that the allies will only fulfill their obligation to participate in the war and support the side that is being "invaded" if the war meets a specific "cause".

To this end, in 1892 the Russians created the crazy theory of "mobilization for the causes of war", according to which the future war would no longer be determined by "who fired the first shot" to determine aggression, but by who mobilized someone else first, even if it was who started the war first. In a letter to Foreign Minister Gilles, the Russian Minister of War at that time clearly stated: "The act of mobilization can no longer be regarded as a peaceful act, but on the contrary represents the most accurate act of war." ”

As the Tsar, it is impossible for Nicholas II not to be unaware of this set of theories, and Grand Duke Nicholas wants to make His Majesty the Tsar understand that a local war is simply unrealistic, and that the secret mobilization of the Germans will cause a chain reaction of mobilization between the two camps against each other, that a total war is inevitable, and that Russia must also carry out a general mobilization in a total war.

This is a Russian roulette game in which lives are at stake, and no one knows the outcome.

In the face of the persuasion of his subordinates, Nicholas II remained silent, trying to passively resist with an uncooperative attitude.

"It's really hard to decide." General Tatisev, the chief of the guard, who was standing on the side, inadvertently sighed.

An unintentional word immediately pricked the fragile nerves of Nicholas II, who had always been afraid of being perceived as indecisive, immediately jumped up: "Well, since this is the case, then let's mobilize!" ”

In the end, as in history, Nicholas II made a 180-degree turn, stimulated by another unintentional remark.

One day later, a telegram from St. Petersburg reached Jochen.

"Thank you for my efforts to mediate? And Russia has already taken military measures? Jochen looked at the telegram. Historically, Wilhelm II also received a telegram with similar contents, except that Wilhelm II misinterpreted his cousin's "decision" to take military measures as having "carried out" military measures. This meant that Russia had already begun a secret mobilization, and the angry Wilhelm II finally decided to strike first under the persuasion of the prime minister and generals.

Jochen was not as impulsive as Wilhelm II, but at this time he also had a sense of fatalistic heaviness. Even if you try to do anything now, the result will not change much, and the remaining question is just a matter of who will do it first in a few days.

"Our envoy is still on the train, right? Send a telegram to the nearest station and call him back, there is no need to go to St. Petersburg. Jochen said weakly to Holwig.

"Colmar, Alfred, bring the whole army to combat readiness, and I decided to carry out a general mobilization." Jochen ordered his retainers: "Bateman, draw up a declaration of war. ”

"Your Majesty, shall we do it first?" Goltz asked.

"No, let the Russians do it first, Bateman, make sure that the Italians declare war on France at the first opportunity, they must fulfill their obligations, even if they are just standing in the Alps and pretending!" (To be continued.) )