Christmas in 1879 was a very heavy Christmas gift for England, Germany and France.

Unlike the British and Germans, who struggled to figure out the origin of this great gift, the French, or perhaps the highest echelons of French military and political circles, were well aware of the arrival of the Russian Baltic Fleet.

It can even be said that half of the credit for the arrival of the Russian fleet in the port of Brest on Christmas Day was due to the planning of the French Navy.

At the end of November, after the Russians proposed to France that in order to intervene in South American affairs, the French must pay an asking price of 300 million francs, and the Russians had to inch by inch again to suggest that the Baltic Fleet, which supported the French, must appear in front of the Europeans, especially the British, in an unusual way, in a simple word, to be as energetic as vodka.

The proposal of the Russians was very much in line with the appetite of the highest echelons of the French government, and it was not in front of the Germans in a shocking way, and not in a shocking way?

In 1879, the French government kept making a fool of itself, and was continuously played by Russia, Germany and Britain, in addition to the money sent to Russia called loans, after a lapse of 7 years, the words "reparations to Germany" appeared again in the French public opinion circles, and the entire French society was like an oil pot on a fire, not whether the hot oil would splash the situation, but whether it would become a fire that burned the republic.

The Russians hoped to divert the attention of the British from Central Asia by flexing their muscles to facilitate the smooth development of their military operations against Central Asia in the coming year of 1880, and the French also hoped that through this action, they would incite the populist movement at home, so that the people would focus on the pride of the country and the nation, and relieve the enormous pressure on the republic and the government.

Although everyone's ultimate goal is different, France and Russia stand under a common banner and are ready to make Europe tremble for the newly baked Franco-Russian alliance!

After all, the affairs of the navy are under the control of the navy, and the French naval staff immediately took action, and within three days, a bold and whimsical plan of action was released.

Before we officially talk about this great plan, we have to say that we must first talk about the difficulties faced by the French and Russian navies.

Geographically, there are only two areas of the French Admiralty that are considered to be the most dangerous on the voyage of more than 2,000 nautical miles from the military port of Kronstadt in St. Petersburg to the military port of Brest in France.

First, there is a series of straits consisting of large islands on the north and south coasts controlled by the Danes, mainly Danish, and controlled by Germany and Sweden.

Especially in the area with the core of Zealand, Infich and Loren Island, which are controlled by the Danes, there are three narrow waterways from west to east: the Little Belt, the Great Belt and the Øresund, among these three waterways, the Little Belt Strait is the narrowest, the narrowest point is less than 1 km, and the Øresund Strait between Denmark and Sweden, that is, the Swedes call the Sunder Strait, the narrowest point is more than 3 kilometers, and the coast of this strait has large cities such as Malmo, Copenhagen and Helsingborg, and it is also the busiest strait.

The Great Belt Strait, with an average width of 12 kilometers, was the widest of the three, but it was not an easy waterway for the Russian navy, because the southern end of the strait was directly opposite the port of Kiel, the largest military port of the Germans, and the ships sailing in the strait were constantly under the watchful eye of the German navy.

Even if it was possible to cross the many Danish islands in the Baltic Sea, the Russian fleet would have to cross the Kattegat Strait and the Skagerrak Strait from south to north before entering the North Sea.

Compared to the previous three narrow straits, the narrowest point of the Skagerrak Strait is about 110 kilometers in Cretemolle, and the narrowest point of the Kattegat Strait is about 60 kilometers wide at Cape Skagen, which is not the most difficult place.

The second is the Strait of La Manche, or the English Channel, which is jointly controlled by Britain and France.

Crossing the English Channel from north to south, you must face two of the most important naval bases of the British, the first is about 100 kilometers from London, located directly south of the island of Great Britain, next to the Isle of Wight, the first largest military port of the British Royal Navy, Portsmouth, and the second is Plymouth Harbour in Devon, the southwest corner of the island of Great Britain, 300 kilometers from London.

These two military ports gather all the essence of the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet of the British Empire, as a strong support for the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet, and the other three reserve fleets are located in Scarpa's Bay, Edinburgh and Fasland in Scotland, of course, at the mouth of the Thames, in fact, it should be the mouth of the Medway River, anchored in the Chatham Naval Base, and the strength of the ships of the Royal Navy waiting for maintenance should not be underestimated.

In order for the appearance of the Baltic Fleet to create a psychological deterrent effect on the British, it is necessary for the Tsarist fleet to quietly enter the port of Brest, and then throw out the news of the Russian Navy's garrison in the English Channel through the media, and completely stun Britain and Germany with a shocking news.

To do this, it is necessary to make the Russians move quickly and forcefully, which means that the Russian fleet has to sail more than 2,100 nautical miles in the shortest possible time and reach Brest as quickly as possible, so the secret night voyage of the Russian fleet is inevitable.

In the nineteenth century, when there were no GPS, radar and transponders, ships could sail at night, with the help of a compass, a sextant and a lighthouse on a starlit night.

Poor visibility, weakened recognition of object features, personnel fatigue and unusual contingencies are all headaches in the twenty-first century, and the risks of night navigation are even more unsolvable in the nineteenth century, in addition to the threat of no effective means of communication, the inability to observe changes in the weather with the naked eye, and the high speed of night navigation caused by tight time requirements.

Therefore, the Russians are faced with difficulties not only from a geographical point of view, but also from a technical point of view.

Moreover, there are also many diplomatic and military difficulties, the sudden dispatch of the Baltic Fleet, leaving aside the British, will also cause dissatisfaction between Sweden and Germany, because it violates the Baltic Sea military navigation guidelines formulated by Russia and the above two countries during the Catherine period, and will lead to diplomatic disputes.

The Great Fleet, which dragged on for so long, was extremely vulnerable to a deadly attack.

Finally, according to the Treaty of Copenhagen in 1864, only merchant ships were allowed to cross the Great and Small Belt and Öresund Straits, and the passage of warships of a fleet had to be applied to the Kingdom of Denmark in advance.

said a lot of difficulties, but it does not mean that France and Russia do not have a chance, on the contrary, in the eyes of the French naval staff, the Tsarist Russian Navy also has a lot of opportunities for success.

In terms of time, if the time of the operation is set at the end of December, all the countries of Western Europe will enter the rhythm of the Christmas holiday, whether it is the government or the army, they have all entered a period of laziness in thought and action, and the Russians' Christmas is in January, in contrast, the combat effectiveness of the Tsarist Russian Navy has become a bright spot.

In winter, the arrival of the Siberian cold snap made European sea navigation more unsafe, but it also greatly reduced the number of civilian ships on the sea, and the Christmas factor, in fact, made the Russian navy sailing on the sea much less likely to be detected.

The night at the end of December happens to be the last quarter of the moon, and if you are lucky enough, it happens that the cold snap has crossed, which means that after midnight, the Russian fleet can sail under the bright moonlight, which greatly increases the safety of night sailing, if you are unlucky, it is still cloudy, and you can only sail at night with the help of a compass and map, then it is still the Russians who play with their lives.

On the Danish issue, it is indeed a tricky thing to quietly pass through Denmark, but it does not mean that there is no turning point, and the current Danish kingdom can almost be divided into three factions, the cities along the North Sea are pro-British, the cities on Jutland near the European continent are pro-Prussian, and the Danish capital area is pro-Russian.

The coastal cities of the Esbjerg-Cretemoller-Hishals line were naturally close to the British because of their long-term business with the British, and the Henin-Silkeborg-Vyborg-Aalborg were naturally close to Prussia because of their long-term business dealings with Prussia, while the Danish capital area led by the Isle of Zealand hated the Prussians because of the Prussian-Danish War.

The Prussian-Danish War of 1864 not only gave up the territorial rights claimed by the Copenhagens on Zealand, but also signed the "Copenhagen Agreement" under the pressure of the British, so that the Øresund Strait and the Great and Small Belt Strait became international straits from national territory, and became the result of the international strait, that is, Denmark imposed a "strait tax" for hundreds of years, and it has never returned.

Under the Copenhagen Accord's regime of navigation in the Greater and Lesser Belts and Øresunds, merchant ships are allowed to sail day and night without any restrictions, and individual warships are free to pass through the Øresund, Great Belt, Kattegat and Skagerrak, with prior notification to the Danish authorities in the case of passage through the Lower Belt, and prior notification to the fleet (warships of more than three vessels) passing through the Greater Belt and Øresund Straits, or warships staying for more than two days and nights.

In fact, the Danes in Copenhagen hated the Prussians as much as they hated the British, so in 1866 they married their most beautiful princess to Russia, in order to win over the Russians, so that they could find a strong backup to rely on in the changing European continent, not only from the Prussians' bullying, but also from the British deception.

After marrying into Russia, Princess Maria Sophie Frederick Dagmar, also known as Crown Princess Maria Feodorovna, although she has converted to Orthodox Christianity, every Christian Christmas, she also sends greeting cards to her Protestant parents in Copenhagen, and sends envoys to send Russia's famous specialties, all kinds of jewelry.

If it happens that this year, the gift given to Christian IX by Alexander Alexandrovich and Crown Prince Fedorovna is so special that it needs to be escorted by warships, presumably Christian IX has no intention of paying attention to and paying attention to the small movements of the Tsarist Russian navy through Denmark in front of the dazzling jewels sent by the Russians.

What better excuse than to give a gift?

On the issue of the English Channel, breaking the British Royal Navy's monopoly on the English Channel and crossing the Channel is also not without opportunities.

In 1879, the Royal Navy had six fleets around the world, with the Mediterranean Fleet being the strongest, while the Channel Fleet was the oldest, if not the weakest.

According to the intelligence analysis obtained by the French Navy under long-term surveillance, in bad weather and night conditions, the number and frequency of patrols of the Channel Fleet in the Strait of La Manche will be significantly reduced, and even in recent years, during Christmas, the Channel Fleet will be suspended for several days to celebrate the holiday.

That is, the Christmas period, especially at night, will be the best time for the Russian fleet to rush through the English Channel.

IN TERMS OF THE MILITARY EQUIPMENT OF THE TSARIST RUSSIAN NAVY, ALTHOUGH NOT ALL LARGE WARSHIPS CAN BE SUITABLE FOR THIS MILITARY OPERATION, IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO PICK OUT THE RIGHT GUYS AMONG THEM, FOR EXAMPLE, THE "PETR VELIKI" IRONCLAD WEIGHING 10,406 TONS AND HAVING 8,250 HORSEPOWER AND RUNNING 14 KNOTS, AND THE "GENERAL ADMIRAL" AND "GERZOG" WITH 5,222 HORSEPOWER AND RUNNING 13.7 KNOTS EDINBUGSKI) ARMORED CRUISER, AND THE 2,997-TON, 3,000-HORSEPOWER PROTECTIVE CRUISER WITH THE LEGENDARY NAME OF THE SHIP, THE PAMIAT MERKURIA.

Therefore, the French Navy's suggestion to the Russians was that the above four warships with excellent performance should form the First Task Force, and the remaining ten or so large surface fleets of the Baltic Fleet would form the Second Task Force, which would go to Brest, France, in batches.

In view of the general short-legged problem of the Russian fleet, that is, the short range, the French suggested that the Russians dismantle everything that could be dismantled from the warship, stuff in the most coal, carry the least ammunition, and ensure a range of more than 2,000 nautical miles in the winter when the wind and water are smooth.

Aside from objective factors such as geography, weather, science and technology, politics, and military affairs, what remains is the subjective factor of how to stimulate the morale of the officers and men of the Tsarist Russian Navy.

Historically, the Imperial Russian Navy, the Red Navy, and the Russian Navy had nothing to praise the world for their naval battles, except for a few naval tactical victories against the Ottoman Empire.

For example, the famous historical "our ship was ordered to ram you", more than 500 shells sank a foreign country's merchant ship, the "crazy Ivan" type anti-submarine in which the nuclear submarine stopped batting, and the Russian ship was killed while pursuing the rebel ship

This kind of show of force at the door of someone else's house is really too suitable for the wartime cowardice, the usual bullish Tsarist Russian Navy, plus the additional reward of His Majesty the Tsar, gold coins, spicy vodka and wonderful French girls.

In the early morning of December 18, 1879, the officers and men of the Russian Navy in the Kronstadt military port in St. Petersburg were gearing up!