Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 553: Creating Panic

In the Vienna Palace, Franz had just received the good news that Ağva had been captured, but before he had a chance to celebrate, the bad news quickly followed.

Franz didn’t care about the reasons provided by the Russians. The fact was that a “massacre” had taken place, and with so many participants, keeping it a secret would be nearly impossible. What was needed now was damage control.

If it had happened at another time, it might not have mattered. After all, the Russian Bear already had a bad reputation, and adding the title of “butcher” wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Although massacres were rare in Europe, similar events happened frequently. On the surface, looting seemed more civilized than a massacre, but in reality, the consequences were often the same. If all the food was looted, how would the people survive?

Before the 19th century, one of the main reasons Europe’s population couldn’t grow was the looting that accompanied wars. Many civilians starved to death due to lack of food.

As for the colonies, the situation was even worse. None of the colonial powers were innocent. However, since the colonial empires controlled the world’s narrative, everyone pretended not to see.

Foreign Minister Wessenberg said, “Your Majesty, the news of the massacre at Ağva will certainly leak. What we need to do now is immediate damage control.

Public opinion isn’t the issue. The people won’t care about the deaths of Ottomans. At most, they’ll express some mild sympathy.

The real problem is the British. If the British government seizes this opportunity to stir up trouble, it could be politically disadvantageous for us.”

Franz didn’t believe the Russian explanation either. He could accept that there was some resistance from the local population, but for everyone to rise up and resist the Russian invasion? That was laughable.

The Ottoman Empire was a multi-ethnic state, with many of its ethnic groups dreaming of independence. Since the outbreak of the war, the Austrian government had already been in contact with several ethnic leaders within the Ottoman Empire.

Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Arabs, Kurds, and other ethnic groups all had aspirations for independence.

If you asked them to rebel, they might hesitate, but asking them to fight for the Ottoman Empire? That was absolutely impossible.

Was it believable that there were no minorities left in Ağva? Hardly. To cover things up, they’d at least need to leave some people alive to testify!

The ethnic tensions in the Ottoman Empire were severe, and under normal circumstances, finding an oppressed minority group to testify wouldn’t be difficult. In the face of hatred, who cared about the truth?

Many might even applaud the Russians for what they did. Not just the oppressed minorities, there were likely many within Austria who would cheer on the Russians as well.

Prime Minister Felix said, “Napoleon III has just died, and Napoleon IV has only just ascended the throne. France is too busy with its own internal issues, and for the time being, they won’t have the energy to get involved in the Near East War.

If the French government only waves its flags and takes no real action, then the British government won’t be able to do much either.

The Prussians are preoccupied with their plans to annex Poland and they can’t care less about the fate of their Ottoman allies. In fact, they might be glad that this event is distracting international attention from their own actions.

The war in Ağva was fought entirely by the Russians, so it doesn’t directly implicate us. As long as the Russians firmly deny it, they can drag this out indefinitely.

The world is never at peace, and there’s news happening every moment. If we let this cool down for a while, new stories will come up, and public attention will shift away from this incident.”

This approach was a bit sinister, with the Russian government bearing all the pressure. Austria, having no soldiers on the ground, could easily distance itself from the situation.

After hesitating for a moment, Franz made his decision, “No need to rush, let’s leave the choice to the Russian government.

The Russian army can either discipline its troops to prevent similar incidents from happening again, or double down and continue the killing spree. While many will oppose it, there will also be plenty of supporters.

The Ottoman Empire has long been Europe’s nightmare, and now that it can be permanently dealt with, the public likely won’t resist. The Russians already have a bad reputation. What’s the harm in getting it worse?”

Better the Russians suffer than Austria. Since the Russian army caused the problem, the Russian government should handle the fallout. Franz had no intention of taking the blame.

In fact, this might even work out well for the Russian government. The Russian people have never been afraid of their Tsar being brutal to enemies, and the Ağva massacre could distract the domestic populace.

One way or another, as long as they win, the Russian government can use the prestige gained from the war to suppress the backlash caused by their reforms.

...

In St. Petersburg, Alexander II’s face was terribly gloomy. At a critical moment, they had dropped the ball again. The truth of the “Ağva massacre” wasn’t important. What mattered was how to deal with the aftermath.

No matter what, it was the Russian army that did the killing. Even if they denied it, public opinion could not be stopped. There was no way to shift the blame.

Alexander II casually threw the document in his hand, coldly snorting, “Hmph!”

Turning his back to the others, he asked, “What is the stance of the Austrian government? They’re responsible for the diplomacy in this war, right?”

Indeed, Russia and Austria had divided responsibilities. In the field of diplomacy, something the Russian government wasn’t good at, they naturally didn’t take the lead.

After a series of harsh lessons from reality, Alexander II had come to realize that diplomacy wasn’t child’s play and couldn’t be resolved by mere wishful thinking.

Foreign Minister Chris Basham stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, the Austrian government has promised to handle the European countries, but they cannot control international public opinion.”

This answer was somewhat unexpected for Alexander II. In his view, this incident was caused by the Russian army. With such a thing happening, the Austrian government should be worried too. How could they agree so readily?

In comparison, Alexander II didn’t care much about public opinion. If the newspapers wanted to criticize, let them. He was used to it. In fact, if there was ever a day when European papers weren’t criticizing the Russian government, that would be real “news.”

“Can’t be that simple, can it? The Austrian government agreed too easily. What is Franz up to?”

This was the lesson Alexander II had learned from dealing with Austria. There were always strings attached whenever the Austrian government readily agreed to something.

Foreign Minister Chris Basham awkwardly explained, “The Austrian government suggests that we either discipline our troops to prevent such incidents from happening again, or continue with the massacres.”

Upon hearing this, Alexander II was first shocked, but then his eyes lit up.

A “massacre” would provoke international condemnation and strengthen the resolve of the Ottoman people to resist. At the same time, it would drive more people to flee.

It wasn’t easy to force the local population to leave, but a fearsome army with infamy as “butchers” would likely cause most people to flee in terror.

No matter how hard the Ottoman Empire tried, it couldn’t possibly keep all its citizens confined in one place. Such a high level of control wasn’t something a feudal empire could achieve.

Only by creating panic and making a large number of Ottoman people become refugees would the coalition strategically achieve victory.

If the Russian army swept through the region, the sheer number of refugees could collapse the Ottoman Empire. People needed to eat, and if the Ottoman government couldn’t feed them, starving people would resort to desperate measures.

If the rear is in chaos, how can they fight on the front lines? Alexander II didn’t believe that the strategic resources stored by the Ottoman Empire would be enough to sustain this war.

After thinking it over, Alexander II still wasn’t willing to make a hasty decision, so he asked the group, “What do you think?”

Finance Minister Kristanval responded, “Your Majesty, this requires balance. There are tens of millions of Ottomans. We can’t kill them all, and the international community wouldn’t tolerate it.

The Austrians intend to create an atmosphere of panic, forcing coastal residents to move inland, not to actually kill all the Ottomans.

If we push the Ottomans too hard and they decide to fight us to the bitter end, this war could drag on indefinitely. We’ve already delayed too long. First, we need to defeat the Ottoman Empire and force them to cede territory and pay reparations.

Destroying the Ottoman Empire isn’t something that can be done overnight. We must be prepared for a protracted war.

Every 10 or 20 years, we can launch another war against the Ottoman Empire, gradually eating away at them. That is the best course of action.”

This “best option” was grounded in financial considerations. The Russian government had limited resources. If they were to suddenly annihilate the Ottoman Empire, they wouldn’t be able to manage it, and it would only benefit the Austrians.

After pondering for a while, Alexander II nodded and said, “Send a telegram to the front, instructing them to proceed with this plan. Make sure to tell that fool Ivanov that the remaining battles must be fought properly.

I don’t want to see another blunder like this again. The Russian Empire can’t handle such setbacks. If he can’t manage the job, he should just go home early.”

As the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Ivanov couldn’t escape responsibility for the massacre at Ağva.

As for those directly involved, even if responsibility needed to be pursued, it wouldn’t be Alexander II’s task to deal with them personally. That’s what subordinates are for.

In any country, bypassing proper channels to handle issues is a grave mistake. If the Tsar were to handle everything himself, what would be left for his ministers to do?

Once these officials have nothing to do, internal conflicts will arise. If you look through history, you’ll find that most political infighting erupts when ministers are idle.

When people have too much time on their hands, they start to develop unnecessary schemes. Today you plot against me, tomorrow I plot against you. Over time, internal strife dominates, and nothing else gets done.

“The more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes; if you do nothing, you make no mistakes.” If this becomes the guiding principle of official conduct, the country is doomed.

...

After the bloodbath, the city of Ağva became eerie, sending chills down people’s spines as they walked the streets.

The Russian army, after all, were outsiders and couldn’t search every corner. There were still some who slipped through the net.

Akyol and his apprentice were among the lucky ones. They hid in the basement of a blacksmith’s shop during the chaos and survived.

Late at night, the Russian army had already withdrawn to their camp. The people of Ağva were all dead, so the Russians were naturally not on high alert.

The few who slipped through the net weren’t taken seriously by the Russians. During the battle, quite a few people had already escaped in the chaos.

With so many Russian soldiers involved, keeping things secret was impossible. Even if they wanted to silence everyone, the Russians couldn’t do it.

Instead of spending effort hunting down the possible survivors, they might as well focus on the upcoming battles. The fact that some people escaped could help spread fear. Perhaps, before they even start driving people out, the nearby villages will already be abandoned.