Struggle in Russia

The advent of winter made the two opposing armies choose a truce. The British and French troops were busy preparing for the winter, while the Russian military executives were arguing.

Why are you arguing?

Not for the next step, Menshkov was confident before, thinking that he could destroy or drive the coalition forces into the sea. But after a fierce battle, his confidence blew up like a punctured balloon.

At this moment, the old **** was full of depression, and he was not generally pessimistic about the prospect of war. He believed that the coalition forces were invincible at all, and the best way to do this was to quickly abandon Sevastopol, and even abandon Crimea for strategic contraction.

According to his idea, the best way to defeat the enemy is to take a big step back like Napoleon in 1812 and let the back wall clear, and use the generals of January and February to drag the coalition to the death to win the victory.

Unsurprisingly, this proposal was met with unanimous opposition. For example, Mikhail and Nikolai, the two archdukes who came to supervise the war, slammed Menshkov, saying that he was an escapeist thinking. Thinking that the current situation is completely different from 1812, and that there are still nearly 100,000 troops in Sevastopol, why should they abandon this fortress and run away?

The two young and vigorous grand dukes believed that although the Russian army suffered heavy losses in the previous stage, the casualties of the coalition forces would not be small, and their supply in the away battle was very problematic. The Russian army should not only escape but also continue to take the initiative to attack the coalition forces. Check out a little color.

They thought that as long as they could fight one or two victorious battles, the coalition would likely collapse, so they should continue to take the initiative and teach the coalition a lesson.

The opinions of the two grand dukes Mikhail and Nicholas were actually the opinions of Nicholas I. The tsar was very dissatisfied with the results of the battles around Menshkov and Sevastopol, and believed that the old **** had completely failed. Having lost his trust, he has been completely controlled by escapeism. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't find a replacement for a while, Nicholas I really wanted to replace the old **** immediately!

However, even if he resisted this urge, Nicholas I could not bear to abandon the arguments of Crimea and Sevastopol. He believed that the situation has not deteriorated to that point. If he can win one or two battles, he can still win. To save the situation, he instructed his two sons to put pressure on Menshkov and the Crimean generals to see if they could manage to continue the attack.

It's just that this requirement is difficult to achieve, because as long as anyone who is not blind can see that the Russian army is not an opponent of the coalition army at all, both in terms of equipment and morale, it is far behind the opponent, and with the arrival of the coalition reinforcements, the number of companies The upper Russian army has no advantage, how can it take the initiative to attack?

On this point, even Kornilov and Nakhimov, who advocated sticking to Sevastopol, disagreed with the two grand dukes. They see no chance of defeating the enemy at the moment, and continuing to attack blindly is simply self-defeating.

"For now, we can only defend Sevastopol and use the strong city defense to deal with the enemy. We should continue to step up the construction and renovation of fortifications, and reserve more materials, especially food and medicine. If we can stick to one or two Years, can definitely drag down the enemy!"

Menshkov and the two archdukes couldn't agree with Kornilov's and Nakhimov's suggestion, because they felt it was too passive, and they were nothing but heroes. What's more, Russia's current economic situation and international situation are in a mess, so what if they wait for bad news?

This kind of worry is not unfounded, because the international situation is indeed quite unfavorable for Russia. First, Austria and Britain and France colluded and seemed to have a tendency to form an alliance.

This made Russia both painful and angry, because in any case it was Russia's help that helped the Habsburgs out of the predicament a few years ago, but as soon as they turned around, the Austrians stabbed themselves in the back.

It would be a bit sneaky to say that the fake neutrality was secretly deployed on the border to contain Russia. Now it is not shy to flirt with Britain and France directly.

Nicholas I was so angry that he almost flipped the table. Anyway, he no longer trusted the Austrians and vowed to find the Austrians to recover this **** debt.

It's just that Russia doesn't have this ability for the time being. As long as the Austrians can maintain the status quo, they will be Amitabha.

But how could the Austrians maintain the status quo? They were also very angry with Nicholas I before, and the Balkans have also been their focus for hundreds of years. They were very annoyed when Wallachia was robbed of love by Russia. Now that they have the opportunity to make a comeback, how could they let it go.

Therefore, the Austrian ambassador to Britain and France was not very busy. He was busy discussing alliance matters with the foreign ministries of Britain and France every day.

But there is one thing to say, the Austrians think that the alliance between Britain and France is not going to really do anything to Russia~www.readwn.com~ They also know very well that Britain and France are not good stubborn, once the Russians in the Black Sea and the Balkans are greatly weakened. Power, that Britain and France will definitely take advantage of the situation.

Their purpose is to weaken Russia to a certain extent, to break Russia's arms extending to the Balkans, and at the same time not to completely offend Russia. It is better to act as a peacemaker and use the military pressure of Britain and France to force Russia to surrender and regain its interests in the region. After that, they began to mediate disputes and persuade them to reconcile.

It's just that the Austrians didn't expect that the means they thought were fair and reasonable were deeply hated by Nicholas I and Russia. There was absolutely no possibility of reconciliation between the two royal families and the contradiction between the two countries. Talking about restoring relations and being friends, without directly declaring war, it is because Russia is suppressed by Britain and France and there is no way.

Anyway, Nicholas I and Russia have already remembered this account.

In addition to Austria, Prussia, another traditional ally of Russia, also hooked up with the United Kingdom. Not long ago, Friedrich Wilhelm Nicholas Karl, the unfortunate Friedrich III who did not hold the throne for two days in the future, just had a relationship with The engagement of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, has brought the two countries closer together.

Considering the announcement of this news at this sensitive time, in a sense, it is also a rejection of Russia. This former little brother in the Holy Alliance is really ready to start his own business. The traditional friendship between the two countries will not be repeated. It exists, but it has also deteriorated.

Anyway, when Nicholas I looked around, he didn't have a friend in the whole of Europe. The pressure at home and abroad was getting bigger and bigger, and any changes would be the last straw that broke the camel's back!