Although the Russo-Japanese War appeared to be a war between the island nations and the Russian Empire over hegemony in the Far East, in fact, the outcome of this war was related to the situation of the whole world.

The island nation suffered heavy damage, but it was also recognized by the Western world as an industrialized power.

The Tsarist Empire did not completely lose its hegemony in the Far East, as it had historically been.

At present, the Tsarist Russian Empire is in a balanced state in the Far East and the island countries, although it has no plans to wage war, but it has also made many arrangements for the Far East, which can be regarded as barely safeguarding its own interests.

In this way, many eyes of the Tsarist Empire were drawn to the Far East, but not so much to Europe.

This caused displeasure in France, which supported the Russian war in order to get Russia to end the war quickly, and then return its attention to Europe to continue to achieve a Franco-Russian situation against Germany.

Russia's focus on the Far East and its proximity to Germany during the war made France increasingly unhappy, and it repeatedly reaffirmed the importance of the Franco-Russian alliance.

The situation in Europe has become increasingly chaotic. As early as April 8, 1904, Britain and France formally signed the Anglo-French Entente, which settled the long-standing dispute between the two countries over the colonial issue and established a good treaty relationship.

Although the Anglo-French Treaty was not an alliance treaty, the whole treaty did not mention anything about a common struggle against Germany, nor did it contain any secret military provisions.

But once the two countries had settled their long-standing dispute in the colonies, they faced only one of the biggest problems: the new hegemon on the continent, the powerful and aggressive German Empire, which was emerging on the continent.

With the signing of the Anglo-French Entente, the German Empire was naturally a tense country.

The union of the two countries was enough to threaten the security of the German Empire, and Kaiser Wilhelm II immediately decided to take counter action.

Germany's counterattack revolved around the Moroccan question with the aim of striking at France and weakening the Anglo-French Entente.

With the signing of the Anglo-French Entente, France carried out aggression in Morocco with even greater brazenness.

In February 1905, France presented the Moroccan government with a plan for a comprehensive reform, calling for the creation of a police system under French supervision, as well as the construction of railways and mining.

If the Moroccan government agrees, then the whole of Morocco will become a French protectorate and lose its sovereignty.

Germany, which had the same aggressive ambitions towards Morocco, immediately intervened and instructed the Moroccan Government to refuse.

In order to show Germany's decision to fight back, Kaiser Wilhelm II made a surprise visit to the Moroccan port of Tangier on March 31 and made a provocative speech declaring that he wanted to preserve the sovereignty and independence of Morocco as a whole and contribute to world peace.

Of course, Wilhelm II also made a point of mentioning that Germany was very opposed to the special status that France had achieved in Morocco, claiming that it was a barbaric act.

Immediately afterwards, German Chancellor Bilov proposed to convene an international conference to solve the Moroccan problem and coerce France with the threat of war.

This was the first Moroccan crisis in history, and it was one of the triggers that almost provoked the First World War.

The birth of the Moroccan crisis has led both France and Germany to seek more support from the international community.

Coincidentally, at the end of the previous year, on October 22, 1904, the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire, on its way to the Far East, sank a British fishing boat near the port of Hull, England.

This move immediately increased tensions between Britain and Russia, and Britain not only lodged a diplomatic protest, but also sent warships to follow the Russian fleet.

Even among the British people, some capitalists and newspapers with ulterior motives are already agitating for war against Russia and comforting the dead British compatriots with a hearty victory.

What was the state of Russia at this time? Because of the fact that they were busy with the war, diplomacy was in relative isolation.

In addition to the limited support of his ally France, it was Germany that was willing to support Russia.

Because of its own diplomatic isolation dilemma, Russia was in great need of German-Austrian friendship, which also promoted the possibility of further development between Germany and Russia.

At the same time that Australia exported a large amount of arms to Russia, Germany also signed a treaty of commerce with Russia, and in exchange for a large amount of loans, Russia was forced to agree to lower tariffs on German industrial products, which led to an influx of German goods and capital into Russia, and strengthened economic exchanges between Germany and Russia.

At the same time, with the support and mediation of Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary reached an agreement on maintaining the status quo in the Balkans, which also greatly eased the tension between Russia and Austria-Hungary.

A few days after this incident, Kaiser Wilhelm II telegraphed the Tsar that Britain intended to block the supply of coal from Germany to the Russian navy, and that Kaiser Wilhelm II suggested that Germany and Russia form a strong anti-British alliance to crush the British plot.

Tsar Nicholas II quickly agreed to the treaty because of the current tensions between Britain and Russia, and asked Kaiser Wilhelm II to send the steppe article and the two sides to study a formal treaty together.

The first article of the draft blatantly stated that if one of the two great empires that concluded the treaty was attacked by one of the great powers of Europe, the other country must use all its army and navy forces to support it.

If necessary, Germany and Russia should also act together to remind France of its obligations under the Franco-Russian Treaty of Alliance, that is, to help Russia in the war effort.

The first provision of the treaty straightforwardly tied Russia and its ally, France, to Germany's chariot, and Germany's purpose was self-evident.

But the final negotiation of the treaty was soon stalled over whether it needed to be reviewed by France.

The Russians believed that the draft involved France and that Russia had an alliance with France, and therefore felt that it would need to be approved and agreed by France before it could be signed.

Germany, on the other hand, took into account the hatred between France and Germany, and the French would not agree to this draft, so they held the position that they would rather not make a treaty than inform France.

Germany's attitude aroused the alarm of Russia, whose current diplomatic environment was very dangerous, and therefore did not want to lose France, an ally who had helped Russia in many ways.

The impasse is fought over a new country name, which is Australia.

In fact, Wilhelm II did not expect Australia to change the attitude of the Russians. He mentioned Australia only to test the attitude of the Russians towards the Far East.

Unexpectedly, Russia was so angry about the defeat in the Far East that they were already looking forward to accumulating strength to restart the war with the island countries in the next few years and regain hegemony in the Far East.

In May 1905, a month after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Russia and Germany resumed negotiations on the Russo-German Alliance, which were much faster.

The reason why the Russians are so anxious is that in this war, Russia's internal troubles have already been revealed.

Russia's internal troubles have to start with the cause of one thing.

From the 15th century onwards, individual or collective petitions were established as a way to express grievances to the tsarist government.

Even today's Russian society still follows such a unique tradition.

In 1904, inspired by the liberal movement, the St. Petersburg Congress of Factory Workers, a legal trade union organization in Russia, decided to submit a petition in an independent capacity, which was completed by the leader of the congress, Fr. Georgy Apollonovich Gabon.

In December 1904, four workers at a factory in St. Petersburg who had attended a workers' congress were fired by their foreman.

This would have been a common occurrence in Russia, but it led to one of the worst crises in Russia in recent times.

The four dismissed workers demanded that they be reinstated, but the tyrannical factory management ignored them and gave a sarcastic reply: "Go back to your congress and let your congress support you!" ”

The workers' congress appealed the matter, but ultimately failed.

In January 1905, the workers' congress began to organize strikes.

The next day, the strike began at this factory and spread to other factories. Just three days later, more than 10,000 workers had joined the strike.

The intensity and scope of the strikes continued to expand because the factories repeatedly refused workers' requests, and even affected other parts of the Russian Empire.

Finally, Father Gabang and the leadership of the congress believed that the grievances of the workers should be expressed to the highest authority, the Ministry of the Interior, and even to His Majesty the Tsar himself, bypassing the officials and capitalists.

Having obtained the consent of the majority, the congress decided to take advantage of the strike to submit a petition directly to the tsarist government.

In just a few days, the petition was written and published for distribution to all sectors of society.

At the same time, the total number of workers participating in the strike in the capital region of the Tsarist Empire has already reached more than 150,000 and is already endangering the rest of the surrounding areas.

The workers' march was originally intended to defend the interests of the workers, but it was regarded by the highest authorities as a revolutionary uprising, which used the army and brutally suppressed it after warnings to no avail.

The enormous sacrifice on the day of the march caused the workers of St. Petersburg to angrily build barricades and confront the military and police.

The crisis was not confined to St. Petersburg, but also to protests and strikes across Russia, and the contradictions between the tsarist government and the working class were deepening.

Of course, the crisis for Russia does not end there. Prior to this, the overwhelming majority of the Russian population had been supportive of the Tsar.

This is because the Tsar has always maintained the image of a benevolent little father that has always been cherished by Russians, which is supported by the vast majority of Russians.

But this bloodshed turned the citizens of Russia against the tsarist regime and led to a series of revolutionary events to follow.

The first update of 3,000 words, ask for support!

(End of chapter)