Chapter 195 German-Russian Negotiations and Australia

Although the Russo-Japanese War seemed to be a war between the island country and the Russian Empire for hegemony in the Far East, in fact, the outcome of this war was related to the situation of the entire world.

The island country suffered heavy losses, but it was also recognized by the Western world and was considered an industrialized power.

The Russian Empire did not completely lose its hegemony in the Far East as it did in history.

At present, the Russian Empire is in a state of balance between the Far East and the island country. Although it has no intention of going to war, it has also made many arrangements in the Far East, which can be regarded as barely maintaining its own interests.

In this way, many eyes of the Russian Empire were attracted to the Far East, and not so much attention was paid to Europe.

This caused dissatisfaction in France. The reason why the French supported Russia's war was to let Russia end the war quickly, and then return its attention to Europe and continue to achieve a situation where France and Russia confront Germany.

Russia focused on the Far East and got closer and closer to Germany in the war, which made France increasingly dissatisfied and repeatedly reiterated 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 resolved the long-standing disputes between the two countries on the issue of colonies and established a good entente relationship.

Although the Anglo-French Agreement was not an alliance treaty, the entire entente did not mention the issue of jointly resisting Germany, nor did it have any secret military clauses.

But after the two countries resolved the long-standing disputes over colonies, the biggest problem they faced was only one, that is, the new hegemon that was rising on the European continent, the powerful and aggressive German Empire.

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

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

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

With the signing of the Anglo-French Entente, France invaded Morocco more unscrupulously.

In February 1905, France proposed a comprehensive reform plan to the Moroccan government, requiring the establishment of a police system under French supervision, the construction of railways, and the mining of mines.

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

Germany also had the same aggressive ambitions towards Morocco, so it immediately intervened and instructed the Moroccan government to reject it.

In order to show Germany's decision to fight back, Kaiser Wilhelm II suddenly visited the port of Tangier in Morocco on March 31 and delivered a provocative speech, declaring that he would safeguard the sovereignty and independence of the whole of Morocco and contribute to world peace.

Of course, Wilhelm II also specifically pointed out that Germany was very opposed to France's special status in Morocco, claiming that this was a barbaric act.

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

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

The birth of the Moroccan crisis made both France and Germany seek more support in the international community.

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

This move immediately intensified the tension between Britain and Russia. Britain not only lodged a diplomatic protest, but also sent warships to track the Russian fleet.

Even among the British people, some capitalists and newspapers with ulterior motives have been inciting war against Russia, using a hearty victory to comfort the dead British compatriots.

What is the state of Russia at this time? Because it is busy with the war, diplomacy is relatively isolated.

In addition to the limited support of its ally France, the only country willing to support Russia is Germany.

Because of its own diplomatic isolation dilemma, Russia is in great need of the friendship between Germany and Austria, which also promotes the possibility of further development between Germany and Russia.

While Australia exported a large amount of arms to Russia, Germany also signed a trade treaty with Russia. In exchange for a large amount of loans, Russia was forced to agree to reduce tariffs on German industrial products, resulting in a large amount of German goods and capital pouring into Russia, strengthening economic exchanges between Germany and Russia.

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

After this accidental injury, Kaiser Wilhelm II called the Tsar a few days later, saying that Britain intended to block Germany from supplying coal to the Russian Navy. Wilhelm II suggested that Germany and Russia form a strong anti-British alliance to crush Britain's plot.

Tsar Nicholas II quickly agreed to the treaty because of the current tense relationship between Britain and Russia, and asked Kaiser Wilhelm II to send the draft of the steppe so that both sides could study the formal treaty together.

The first article of this draft clearly stipulates that if one of the two empires that signed the treaty is attacked by a major European power, the other country must use all its land and naval forces to provide support.

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

The first provision of this treaty directly tied Russia and Russia's ally France to Germany's tank, and Germany's purpose was self-evident.

But the final negotiations on the treaty soon reached a deadlock over whether it needed to be reviewed by France.

The Russians believed that this draft involved France and that Russia and France had an alliance, so they felt that France needed to review and agree before it could be signed.

Germany, considering the hatred between France and Germany, the French would basically not agree to this draft, so they would rather have no agreement than inform France.

Germany's attitude has aroused Russia's vigilance. Russia's current diplomatic environment is very crisis, so it is unwilling to lose France, an ally that has helped Russia a lot.

The deadlock was fought over the name of a new country: Australia.

In fact, William II did not expect that Australia would change the attitude of the Russians. The reason why he mentioned Australia was just to test the Russians' attitude towards the Far East.

But unexpectedly, Russia was still worried about the defeat in the Far East. 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, one month after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Russia and Germany restarted negotiations on the Russo-German Covenant, and the progress of the negotiations accelerated a lot.

The reason why the Russians are so anxious is because during this war, Russia's internal worries have been revealed.

Russia's internal worries also start from the cause of one thing.

Since the 15th century, individual or collective petitions have been established as a way to express dissatisfaction to the tsarist government.

Even up to now, Russian society still follows this unique tradition.

In 1904, inspired by the liberal movement, the Russian legal trade union organization "Congress of St. Petersburg Factory Workers" decided to submit a petition in an independent capacity, and the content was completed by the leader of the conference, Father Georgy Apollonovich Gabon.

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

This was originally a common thing in Russia, but it led to the most serious crisis in Russia in recent times.

The four fired workers asked for their jobs to be reinstated, but the arrogant factory management not only ignored them, but also gave a sarcastic reply: "Go back to your assembly and let your assembly support you! "

The workers' conference appealed this matter, but ultimately the appeal failed.

In January 1905, workers' conferences began organizing strikes.

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

Because major factories repeatedly rejected workers' requests, the intensity and scope of strikes continued to expand, and even affected other areas of the Russian Empire.

Finally, Father Gapon and the leadership of the Congress believed that the workers' dissatisfaction should be properly expressed to the highest authority, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and even to His Majesty the Tsar himself, bypassing officials and capitalists.

After obtaining majority consent, 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, published and distributed to all walks of life.

At the same time, the total number of workers participating in strikes in the capital of the Tsarist Empire has reached more than 150,000, and has endangered other surrounding areas.

This demonstration of workers was originally intended to safeguard the interests of the workers, but the highest authorities mistook it for revolutionary unrest and used the army to brutally suppress it after warnings to no avail.

The huge sacrifice on the day of the march made the workers in St. Petersburg angrily build barricades to confront the military and police.

The crisis was not limited to St. Petersburg. Waves of protests and strikes also broke out across Russia. The contradiction between the tsarist government and the working class became deeper and deeper.

Of course, the crisis for Russia does not end there. Before this incident, the vast majority of the people in Russia supported the Tsar.

This is because the Tsar has always maintained the image of a benevolent little father that Russians have always cherished, and this is why he is supported by the vast majority of Russians.

But this bloody incident turned Russian citizens against the tsarist regime, and also prompted a series of revolutionary events that followed.

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