Those borders are going to be next-to-impossible to defend!
But congratulations Alex, well done.
But congratulations Alex, well done.
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An excellent victory, now to defend your gains against the future alliance of Austria-Prussia.
Who said I was going to defend anything? I am one province away from Berlin, three from Vienna 
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Hm. My complete and utter overrunning of Turkey has run into a problem: for some reason the ingame screenshot button did not work and... well... all my enthusiastic screenshotting came to nothing. Which leaves me pretty much without illustrations for my next post
As such, stand by while I try to figure something out.
As such, stand by while I try to figure something out.
The Revenge of the Bear
Chapter 7 : Onwards to Tsargrad!
Borders in the Balkans and the Middle East after the Treaty of Tsargrad
With Germany defeated, Russia had guaranteed itself a victory far beyond mere territorial acquisitions. Indeed, she had proven herself as the greatest military power on land, capable of rapid and successful offensives far from its borders. The Russian Imperial Army was well trained, well equipped, well staffed and gigantic in size. By its sheer might, the Army compensated any shortcomings of the small Russian Imperial Fleet, until then comprising twenty five raiders in one fleet and two squadrons (Imperial Northern Fleet of fifteen ships, Imperial Aravian Squadron and Imperial Pacific Squadron of five ships each).
One important victory achieved by Russia was that it had all the reasons in 1870 to shed off the last shackles imposed by the Crimean War and reestablish an Imperial Black Sea Fleet. The hulls for ten new raiders were laid at the wharfs off Sevastopol that year. The Turks could do nothing but complain to the British and French. The French were far too preoccupied with the fact that Russia had easily defeated those who easily defeated them. Britain was left alone and, with Russian troops sitting on the border of Afghanistan, within striking reach of its Imperial Jewel of India, it closed its eyes on Petersburg’s audacity.
Another important innovation was the creation of a brand new type of infantry force attached to the Imperial Russian Fleet. The Novorosskiy Korpus Morskoy Pehoti (Novoros Marine Infantry Corps), formed from conscripts enrolled in the governorates of the New Russia region (along the northern banks of the Black Sea), was trained to conduct amphibious landings on hostile ground. For two years the Marine Infantry Corps would sharpen its skills and traditions along the rugged coasts of southern Russia, preparing for whatever mission the Emperor would have for them.
And, finally, on March 17 of the year 1872, their hour of glory came as the State Parliament of the Russian Empire in a unanimous vote approved an “extensive intervention by the Russian Empire to stop once and for all the criminal persecution and oppression of Christians in the Ottoman Empire”. Translated from Diplomatian to Russian, it meant one word: Voyna!
From the Danube to the Caucasus, hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers crossed the border
On the Danube, Russian armies first completely smashed and obliterated foolish Romania, which had the misjudgment to side with the Ottomans against their very own Orthodox brothers. It took less than a month for the Romanians to see reason, however, as they agreed to cede southern Bessarabia back to the Russian Empire and exit the war.
However, the most important Russian victory came a mere week after the start of the war as the Black Sea Fleet entered the Marmara Sea, bombarding coastal fortifications. And with them came the Novoros Corps of Marine Infantry. In a single day, a hundred thousand Russian soldiers unfurled upon Constantinople as a gigantic green uniformed tsunami that swept away the Porte, Ottoman Ministers and the Sultan’s Harem. Sultan Abdülaziz, however, managed to escape aboard a British cruiser. Despite not taking direct part in hostilities, London did not miss the opportunity to cause the Russians a major headache.
The Imperial Black Sea Fleet in the Marmara Sea, off the shores of Tsargrad
Regardless, it would not save the Ottoman Empire from full and complete collapse. As the month of March neared its end, further offensives were launched. In the Caucasus, troops of the Caucasian Military District battled heroically in difficult terrain and, even if taking heavy casualties (which led to the permanent disbanding of at least three infantry divisions), managed to encircle Ottoman armies in several provinces and liquidate all menace. And this was the favourite tactic of the Russians: pierce into territories least protected and then outflank large opponent forces to completely annihilate entire corps and army strength formations.
Simoultaneously, troops of the Persian Military Districts, dislocated within Persia as the Shah’s “favoured guests” crossed the border and cut off Mesopotamia from the rest of the Ottoman Empire by taking Baghdad. They were followed by Persian troops, who secured the areas lower along the Tigris and Euphrates.
And, quite importantly, Totleben’s Aravian corps came out from the desert. Eduard Araviyskiy sent a corps of fourty thousand men to secure Mecca and Medina, defended by local bashibouzouk militias and, thus, presenting no threat to the regular Russian soldiers. In the meantime, he led his force of a hundred thousand men to take Jerusalem.
By the end of summer 1872, the Ottoman Empire effectively ceased to exist as a cohesive (as cohesive as it could be, anyway) entity. Local Pashas were left to fend for themselves with what forces they had. In Bulgaria, Osman Nuri Pasha was surrounded in the coastal areas near Burgas, in southern Bulgaria. His sixty thousand men at first gave the Russians a major headache as Imperial armies took heavy casualties storming the fortified Ottoman positions. However, eventually, Osman Pasha surrendered. Subject to constant artillery bombardment form land and sea, cut off from supplies and having to deal with an extremely hostile local Bulgarian population, he raised the white flag.
General Skobelev led fifty thousand men into Bosnia, as Russia feared reports of Austrians amassing large armies on the border. Austrian interest in Bosnia, Herzegovina and even Sandjak were well known, but Russia had other plans for these areas. Plans that included thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Serbian volunteers that rallied the advancing Russian armies. A small force of Russian soldiers was dispatched to Belgrade to “greet the Emperor’s brother Milan IV of Serbia and prove by their presence that freedom had come to the Slavs of the Balkans”. Milan IV was very touched and set out with his twenty thousand strong army against whatever remained of the Ottomans in the Balkans. Disparate bands of bashibouzouks, mostly.
Grand Duke Nikolay, commander of Russian armies in the Balkans,
was greeted as liberator in Bulgaria
More to the south, Greece joined the war on Russia’s side, taking bordering Ottoman lands before joining with Russian armies in Albania and Macedonia. Constantine II of Greece set out to meet with Alexander to discuss possible cessions in favour of Greece after the inevitable Ottoman defeat.
It took another two years, however, to fully crush all hopes of the Ottomans getting away with minor concessions. Despite the British backing of the Sultan, exiled in Lodnon, the Russian Empire did not budge. And it had good reasons not to. Despite the continued war effort and the ever growing discontent amongst the muslim populations of the Empire, Russia had not even mobilized her reserves yet. If the British intervened, Russia could send more than a million men of regular and reserve divisions into British India within months. This would spark gigantic uprisings against British rule, last thing London wanted to happen to its precious jewel.
Finally, exasperated with the stubbornness of the Sultan, Alexander threatened to burn Mecca and Medina to the ground and leave not a stone standing of these holy sites. Abdülaziz, much to the dislike of the British, accepted the harsh Russian conditions. The Treaty of Tsargrad was signed on the 21st of March, 1874, and comprised the following elements:
I. The Ottomans were once and for all deprived of all their European Possessions, namely that Bosnia, Herzegovina, Sandjak, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria and all other lands in the Balkans be transferred to Russia.
II. The isles of Crete, Rhodos, Cyprus and outlying islands and islets were ceded to Russia.
III. The city of Constantinople and areas east of it were ceded to Russia.
IV. The areas around Kars and south of Batum were ceded to Russia.
V. Southern Mesopotamia and the city of Baghdad were ceded to Persia.
VI. The City of Jerusalem, Mount Lebanon and the Holy Land were ceded to Russia.
II. The isles of Crete, Rhodos, Cyprus and outlying islands and islets were ceded to Russia.
III. The city of Constantinople and areas east of it were ceded to Russia.
IV. The areas around Kars and south of Batum were ceded to Russia.
V. Southern Mesopotamia and the city of Baghdad were ceded to Persia.
VI. The City of Jerusalem, Mount Lebanon and the Holy Land were ceded to Russia.
Postwar Serbia, which would become a Kingdom in 1875. What could ever possibly go wrong?
Negotiations out of the way, the post-war settlements began. First of all, large territories were gifted by Russia to Serbia, namely Bosnia, Herzegovina, Sandjak and Northern Albania. To the south, most of Macedonia, southern Albania, Rhodos and Cyprus were gifted by Russia to Greece. In return, the two Balkan nations pledged themselves as eternal allies of the Russian Empire. The isle of Crete, much to the sadness of Greek nationalists, was annexed directly into the Russian Empire, however, and intended as a major naval base from which to project future Russian might in the Mediterranean.
Postwar Greece. Lack of control over Crete upset many Greeks, but others
were thankful to Russia for quadrupling the size of their until then little Kingdom.
Bulgaria’s fate was for now left undecided. Indeed, unlike with Serbia or Greece, there was no Bulgarian “state”, no prince, no king. The State Duma of the Russian Empire even put forward a motion to include Bulgaria into the Russian Empire on autonomy provisions similar to that of Finland and Poland. The final status of Bulgaria was to be decided in the coming years, but everything indicated that the State Duma would have its way in the matter.
Finally, in the year 1875, work began on dismantling the minarets built by the Ottomans around the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople and on removing Islamic verses painted atop ancient Orthodox icons. The “liberation” of Constantinople would cause the Emperor a quite an unexpected headache in relation to his own Orthodox subjects. Indeed, having been abolished under Peter the Great, the post of Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias was vacant. The Patriarch’s tasks were shared by the Emperor and the Holy Synod of the Russian Church, a sort of a Church executive chancellery. Who would be the Ecumenical Patriarch? A Russian? A Greek? Or even a Bulgarian? Would the Emperor have to reestablish the Patriarchal see of Moscow and all Russia? The debate was on.
The Hagia Sophia after her minarets were removed. The heart of Orthodoxy
would cause the Emperor of all the Russias and King of Many Lands quite
some unexpected headaches.
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As noted earlier, I ran into a "non-taken screenshots" problem, so had to steal pretty stills from the Turkish Gambit movie, as well as a painting I find very nice.
And yeah, in case you didn't guess, I have more or less made my own blank map for Vicky. I lack Americas and Africa south of Sahara for now, though.
And yeah, in case you didn't guess, I have more or less made my own blank map for Vicky. I lack Americas and Africa south of Sahara for now, though.
RGB said:
Yep. It took some fiddling in Photoshop, but I am quite pleased with the end result.
Nope.
Nope. A custom event I've made that does not make the Ottomans my sattelite or reduce them to Unciv state. Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania are independent. The event also gave me a nice little BB bonus of 30, which means I am going to keep low for a couple years >.>
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That was one heck of a victory! Now lets hope the rapid expansion doesn't lead to internal revolts, all those new citizens in the south may be happy as Russians, for now.
Cooling down seems like a good idea. The last thing you need is a protracted with with someone who refuses to make peace (ie Britain) and causes the WE to climb and revolts to proliferate.
Well, first of all I wish to thank what appears to be my permanent readAAR base for continuing to read about the cuddly little teddy bear fiddling with the world!
And now, personalised replies.
Not really. I need time to replenish divisions, recruit new divisions, reposition forces. Do understand that I need to watch my western and southern borders closely, all while dedicating forces to the east and Alaska. That's the big issue with Russia: I have very powerful neighbours whom I have to match in forces at all times.
Thank you. Also, I have added Bulgarian (which I renamed to Balgar for text not to overspill) as national culture. Bringing the list up to five: Ros, Beloros, Maloros, Polish, Balgar.
Revolts were beginning to be a problem and I guess my soldiers in Turkestan now have very muscular legs, after running all over the place recapturing provinces But I've played a couple years after the Treaty of Tsargrad and had some event, not written by me, which brought Sunni militancy down. Now I have to make an event to bring it back up
All in due time. I have to watch my western border closely and always have sufficient forces there to repel Germany even while having hundreds of thousands of men in British India. In other words, my division numbers must go through the roof and reach the sky. And for that, I need to boost my economy by increasing my industry, railroads, etc...
And now, personalised replies.
robou said:
Not really. I need time to replenish divisions, recruit new divisions, reposition forces. Do understand that I need to watch my western and southern borders closely, all while dedicating forces to the east and Alaska. That's the big issue with Russia: I have very powerful neighbours whom I have to match in forces at all times.
Estonianzulu said:
Thank you. Also, I have added Bulgarian (which I renamed to Balgar for text not to overspill) as national culture. Bringing the list up to five: Ros, Beloros, Maloros, Polish, Balgar.
stnylan said:
Revolts were beginning to be a problem and I guess my soldiers in Turkestan now have very muscular legs, after running all over the place recapturing provinces
But I've played a couple years after the Treaty of Tsargrad and had some event, not written by me, which brought Sunni militancy down. Now I have to make an event to bring it back up Mango Man said:
All in due time. I have to watch my western border closely and always have sufficient forces there to repel Germany even while having hundreds of thousands of men in British India. In other words, my division numbers must go through the roof and reach the sky. And for that, I need to boost my economy by increasing my industry, railroads, etc...
As an Orthodox Christian, I must give the obligatory...
Hooray for super-Russia and restored Aghia Sofia!
Great AAR (subscribed)
asd
Hooray for super-Russia and restored Aghia Sofia!
Great AAR (subscribed)
asd
The Revenge of the Bear
Chapter 8 : Spring Cleaning
The tragic fate of Balkan Turks
The Treaty of Tsargrad meant tears of joy and years of happiness for some, but it also brought horror and tragedy to others. The most obvious victims of the treaty were the Balkan Turks, on whom liberated Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians committed all sorts of atrocities, avenging centuries of occupation in a barbaric fashion. Russian commanders were “in a confidential non official” manner ordered to let the “Orthodox brothers” do whatever they wanted. At first, the persecutions were timid, but became much bolder when Russian occupying forces left the lands gifted to Serbia and Greece.
The fate of Balkan Turks was not enviable and proved that with all of its “democracy”,
the Russian Empire was still a ferociously nationalist bear with constitutionally combed locks of fur
In Russian Bulgaria, the Governorate of Constantinople and the Governorate of Kars, the situation was only slightly better. The Turks were not welcome and the local authorities made it quite clear. However, the “resettlements” (read: expulsions) were done in a more or less organize manner, with columns of Turkish refugees escorted by armed soldiers (in fact, more to protect them from angry Bulgarians and Greeks than to keep the refugees in line) leaving for Anatolia, still held by the Ottomans.
Kingdom of Bulgaria
In the year 1875, the State Parliament of the Russian Empire came to the definitive conclusion that Bulgaria was not going to be independent. Instead, it would become a Kingdom within the Russian Empire, benefiting from privileges similar to the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland. The new Kingdom received in addition to Bulgaria proper also the region of Eastern Rumelia, what was left of Macedonia and southern Dobruja. After many considerations, northern Dobruja was integrated into the governorate of Bessarabia rather than given to Bulgaria.
Administrative borders of the Kingdom of Bulgaria within the Russian Empire
In line with the Russian Empire and the two autonomous entities it was based on, Bulgaria was granted with a constitution. It took a year for the text to be written, prepared and approved by the State Parliament of the Russian Empire and by the Emperor. Finally, on the 6th of April of the year 1876, the Narodno sabranie of Bulgaria convened in the city of Tarnovo, famous for being the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire and adopted the text, which came to be known as the Tarnovo Constitution. The constitution foresaw arrangements similar to those of the Russian Empire and was, in fact, far less liberal than its Finnish and Polish counterparts. But just as the latter, the text foresaw an executive (Senate of Bulgaria) led by the Minister for Bulgaria. The Minister for Bulgaria was chosen by the unicameral legislative branch (National Assembly) and required approval by the Emperor of all the Russias, in his capacity as King of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian language was made official alongside Russian.
Church matters
However, unlike what many Bulgarians wanted, the autocephalous Bulgarian Church of the middle ages was not recreated. Instead, the Bulgarian Exarchate was to be under the canonical authority of the Russian Church. And speaking of the Russian Church, one of the effects of the Treaty of Tsargrad was that Alexander II moved to reestablish the Patriarchal see of Moscow, abolished under Peter the Great. Until the reestablishment of the Patriarchal see, the Church was governed by the Holy Governing Synod, a college of hierarchs presided over by the Oberprokurator, appointed by the Emperor.
The Church Reform split public opinion. Ros, Maloros and Beloros were content, Greeks and Bulgarians outright mad. Also… TYPE-O!
No more. With the new Church Reform, the position of Oberprokurator was downgraded from leading the Synod to “overseeing” the Synod and the Patriarch. The Patriarch was to be elected by the Council of Archierei, regrouping all bishops, archbishops and metropolitans of the Russian Church. But there was little doubt that Alexander was reluctant to let go completely of all Imperial authority within the Church. After all, maybe the position of Oberprokurator was not all that "downgraded" as some thought...
Another important point of the reform was the fate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The seat, held until then by Greeks, was seen with suspicion by both the Russian State and the Russian Church for its long history of “cooperation” with the Turkish “occupants”. However, the Emperor could not simply go ahead and abolish the Primus Inter Pares of all Orthodox hierarchs. Instead, another solution was found. Joachim II, the Ecumenical Patriarch, was deposed for “collaborating with the Turks and betraying the Holy Church”. The see of Constantinople was kept as de iure separate, but it was tied to the see of Moscow in the sense that the Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias also automatically became the head of the see of Constantinople and, thus, Ecumenical Patriarch. The solution was not perfect and caused much anger amongst the Greek subjects of the Empire, but the Emperor stood firm on his position and the reform was enacted.
The Holy Land and the Bulgarian surprise
Another important and complex area that came under Russian dominion was the Governorate of Jerusalem, or simply speaking the Holy Land. The most contested bit of real estate on the planet, which Russia just happened to hold the deed and keys to. And the situation there was complex beyond all imagination. From several Orthodox Patriarchal sees, to Latin rite Catholic dioceses, to Eastern rite Catholic sees, and Oriental Orthodox sees and on to Jews, to Muslims and even to ancestral local faiths, the Holy Land was a Greek salad of confessions. There were three Patriarchs sitting in Jerusalem alone!
The Emperor quite wisely decided that he would leave the little local Orthodox Patriarchs alone. And do the same with pretty much everybody else. However, in violation of the canonical territory of the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, several eparchies of the Moscow Patriarchate were established. After all, the Empire enacted an impressive policy of colonization, bringing in thousands of settlers to solidify Russian hold on the area.
The Emperor decided that Holy Land did not have enough Russians
In just a year, the share of Russians in the local population would jump from nil to approximately ten percent. Which was a good start. In the coming years, more settlers would be brought into the areas, in addition to the Russian soldiers that would demobilize and surely settle in the territories, marry local women, raise Russian children and impose Russian culture. After all a similar policy was enacted in Bulgaria. But it led to an unexpected result.
The idea behind allowing Russian soldiers to settle locally was to achieve a slightly different result
When Russia liberated Bulgaria, there were many celebrations and nine months later, many children were born. And as soldiers stationed in Bulgaria demobilized, they married local women. This was encouraged. But then they learned local language and customs and pretty much assimilated in the Bulgarian population, much to the dismay of Imperial census agents.
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I have decided to go with the "convert" command rather than "add" because of a very simple concern: I did not want my population to artificially grow larger. Indeed, adding in Ros POPs while leaving old ones in place would increase the number of people in Russia. And the remove POP command is quite... random in results, I find. And I don't like it, so I don't use it.
Anyway, I have now converted POPs in Russia, next I'll have to balance it by using the add POP command for a Turkish event to simulate the flows of refugees.
And now I am off to bed
Anyway, I have now converted POPs in Russia, next I'll have to balance it by using the add POP command for a Turkish event to simulate the flows of refugees.
And now I am off to bed