The Admiralty Chancellor argued: "I think their navy is just right now!" The influence of the Russian Empire in Bulgaria was growing day by day, but its influence on their army was extremely limited!

Now that the Bulgarian Army is self-contained, we simply cannot penetrate into it, then it is crucial to master their Navy! ”

The Prime Minister asked suspiciously: "What do you mean that we have full control over the Bulgarian navy?" But is it necessary? Do you know that the navy can not be built in a short period of time, and it takes so much energy? ”

The Admiralty Minister said firmly: "No, Mr. Prime Minister, you have misunderstood what I mean!" We are not planning to train a navy for Bulgaria, and even if we give him one, they will not be able to raise it!

As long as necessary. It would be enough to have a navy with the Bulgarian flag appear! The seizure of the Bosphorus, and indeed the Aegean Sea, is still something that we need to do on our own! ”

Everyone understood, and to put it mildly, it was still the navy that wanted to master the sea route to the Mediterranean, and Bulgaria was just a target to push to the surface, so as not to stimulate the allergic nerves of the British!

Nicholas II was tempted, even if the strategic goal is the Far East, but it is good to master the main route to the Mediterranean. In the future, the strategic center of gravity of the Russian Empire will still return to Europe!

The foreign secretary, who advocated Europe first and then Asia, took the opportunity to say: "Your Majesty, now the British are busy with the war with the Boers, and all of Europe is stumbling on them, and it will be difficult to get out for a while. Now is our chance to act! ”

The Home Secretary objected: "No! It's okay to support the Bulgarians, but we can do it ourselves, and it is likely that this will provoke a new round of big war in Europe!

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

……

In the end, Nicholas II vetoed the proposal to do something on the Bosphorus now, after all, the Turks will not be able to become strong in a while, and the weakened Ottoman Empire will not have the courage to fight Russia!

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

The Ottoman Empire, with a territory of millions of square kilometers and a population of more than 30 million, at its peak was terrifyingly pressing the existence of Europe, and now it is in decline, how could Nicholas II not beat the water dogs?

As for whether Bulgaria will become bigger, this is not in his consideration, anyway, now Bulgaria has been tied to the Russian chariot and can't get off!

There is no such thing as a backlash, politics, economy and culture are already connected to each other, the Russian Empire will be painful if it leaves Bulgaria, and Bulgaria will have to think about survival if it leaves Russia!

Chancellor: "So what do we have to gain from it now?" Who can say clearly what the future will be, if we help the Bulgarians for nothing, now we will suffer! ”

Talking about interests, the prime minister said coldly: "But now we are allies, and the good people-to-people relations with Russia are not easy to come by, and this is important for the future strategy of the empire."

When we put forward conditions, we must take into account the sentiment of the people, and many requirements cannot be mentioned at all! In addition, although we are still two countries, we are already walking together economically! ”

The Prime Minister's words were unanimously endorsed by everyone. This is related to a trend of thought at that time - Pan-Slavism!

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Slavs living in Austria, Hungary and the Balkans were influenced by the development of capitalist relations of production and the bourgeois revolution in France, which led to the emancipation of the Slavic nations, and Pan-Slavism arose.

Slavic intellectuals first advocated the study of the history, folk songs and folk tales of the Slavic peoples, the strengthening of cultural ties, the achievement of political unity, the common fight against alien domination, and the change of the status of the Slavs who were bullied and oppressed.

In June 1848 the Slavophiles held a congress in Prague and demanded that all Slavs commit themselves to unity and cooperation and to the equality of all peoples. Owing to differences of opinion among the representatives, no agreement could be reached.

Likewise there were Slavic factions in Russia, which praised the Tsar and the social system of Tsarist Russia, many of whom established correspondence or exchange of letters with the Pan-Slavists in Austria and the Balkans.

In the middle of the 19th century, the crisis of serfdom in Russia deepened, capitalist relations gradually developed, and the tsarist government was eager to expand abroad in order to alleviate class contradictions at home.

The Russian Pan-Slavists took advantage of the ideas of Pan-Slavism that had emerged in Austria earlier and tampered with them to serve the Tsar. Their basic propositions are:

1. Claiming that the Slavs and Russians have a common history and blood relationship, similar language and culture, the same religious beliefs, adjacent geographical areas, 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 relying on the tsar can guarantee the future of the Slavs;

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

These ideas were in line with the interests and needs of the Russian rulers, and became the ideological weapon of the Tsarist Russian government's foreign aggression and expansion, so that from Alexander I to Nicholas II, support for Pan-Slavism and its movements was regarded as the basic state policy of the Russian Empire!

As a result of Ferdinand's butterfly effect, relations between Bulgaria and Russia are now developing in a good way, with increasing people-to-people exchanges and the growth of Pan-Slavism, especially among the younger generation.

This situation happened to be exactly what the tsarist government needed! Everyone present knew that if it continued, in another twenty or thirty years, no one would be able to stop the establishment of the two countries: the "Great Slavic Empire" with the Russian Empire at its core!

Against this background, any move to undermine relations between the two countries is not something that Nicholas II could tolerate!

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

As for whether Bulgaria will be bigger? No one in the Russian government will worry that the volume 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 only more than 100,000, the gap is really too great!

Even if Bulgaria grows two or three times stronger, what can it do? Can it still change the strength of the two sides?

……