Chapter 542 The Assassination of Stolypin
The Kingdom of Bulgaria, with a total population of only 4.4 million people, can actually mobilize 400,000 people to participate in the war, and its mobilization ability is second to none among European countries.
After Valdemar came to the throne, the Kingdom of Bulgaria actively moved closer to Germany and fully imitated Germany militarily. It was called "Eastern Prussia". Although the Kingdom of Bulgaria was greatly weakened during the Berlin Conference, the Bulgarians did not There was no abandonment of "Greater Bulgaria" and the dream of building an empire spanning the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
The dream of the Russians is to turn the Black Sea into Russia’s inland sea.
So the idea of "Greater Bulgaria" seriously conflicts with the interests of the Russian Empire.
Based on this premise, George would definitely be more willing to see the strength of the Kingdom of Bulgaria weakened.
What George did not expect was that the Ottoman Empire was so intolerant. Less than a month after the Balkan War broke out, the Ottoman Empire collapsed across the board and retreated to the line from Luleburga to Bunahir to reorganize its defense lines.
It should be noted that this line of defense was built by German engineers with the help of the Ottomans.
Brushinov really wanted to take advantage of the Ottomans' unstable foothold to capture the Bosporus in one go.
The Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Greece clashed in Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki is an important port on the Aegean coast. If the Kingdom of Bulgaria captures Thessaloniki, the Kingdom of Bulgaria's dream of "Greater Bulgaria" will become a reality.
Before the Bulgarian army arrived in Thessaloniki, the Ottoman army stationed in Thessaloniki had been defeated by the pro-defense Macedonian rebels.
The army of the Kingdom of Greece arrived in Thessaloniki four hours earlier than the Bulgarian army.
The Ottoman army trapped in Thessaloniki surrendered to the Kingdom of Greece.
The Kingdom of Bulgaria demands that the Greek army withdraw from Thessaloniki and hand over Thessaloniki to the Bulgarian army.
The Kingdom of Greece naturally disagreed.
As a result, in Thessaloniki, there was a serious confrontation between the army of the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Greek army, and small-scale conflicts occurred from time to time.
George was helpless.
The Ottoman Empire has not surrendered yet, but the Balkan Alliance is already full of civil strife. It is indeed a European powder keg.
George was just helpless, while Nicholas was extremely worried.
The King of Greece was Nicholas's biological uncle.
The Tsar of Bulgaria was Nikolai’s uncle.
Greece and Bulgaria both hope to get the support of the Russian Empire, but the palms and backs of their hands are full of flesh. Nicholas really doesn't know who to speak for.
At the critical moment, Stolypin had to be better at making peace with the mud, so Thessaloniki was temporarily co-administered by Greece and Bulgaria.
Before Nikolai had time to take a breath, Stolypin was assassinated at the Kiev Bolshoi Theater on September 1st.
Stolypin was watching the play "The Life of Tsar Saltan" by Russian composer Nikolai Andreevich with Nikolai. A secret policeman broke into the theater and opened fire on Stolypin. Gun shooting.
Stolypin was shot in the chest and died on September 5.
This was the 11th assassination attempt Stolypin suffered after becoming prime minister.
During Stolypin’s administration, the Russian Empire’s coal production increased by 121%, cotton processing volume increased by 62%, total exports increased by 112%, national income increased by 78.8%, and per capita grain production reached a historical high. Total production exceeds the combined grain production of Argentina, Canada and the United States, making it Europe's largest grain exporter. Prior to this, Stolypin had just announced that Russia’s agricultural reform had basically ended and that the next stage would be industrial reform.
There are different opinions about the reasons for Stolypin's assassination. Some people say that Stolypin's agricultural reforms offended the interests of too many powerful people. Others say that the capitalists in the Russian Empire were afraid of Stolypin's reforms, so they took the initiative to get rid of them. Stolypin.
Due to the existence of the latter statement, George actually became one of the suspects in Stolypin's assassination.
After the Russo-Japanese War, Amur's industrial strength has surpassed St. Petersburg, becoming the most developed region in the Russian Empire.
Stolypin’s agricultural reform started with Nikolai, and he sold 1,000 hectares at the beginning, which was a good start for the agricultural reform.
So there have always been rumors that if Stolypin's reforms enter the industrial field, then Amur industry will be nationalized.
Looking at it this way, George did have a reason to kill Stolypin.
This is not actually the case.
While in St. Petersburg, Stolypin had many in-depth exchanges with George on reforms. Compared with the Amur industry, Stolypin was more dissatisfied with the St. Petersburg industry. If reforms were to be carried out, he would definitely start with St. Petersburg. start.
Many people in Russia did applaud Stolypin's death.
George only felt sorry for Stolypin.
If Stolypin's reforms can proceed, then given Stolypin 20 years, he might really be able to bring about a powerful Russian empire.
Nicholas did not thoroughly investigate the cause of Stolypin's assassination, and hastily closed the case after sentencing Stolypin's murderer, Dmitry Boglov, to death.
Dmitry Boglov is a Hebrew. He claims to be an anarchist and hates the autocratic system. But when he fired, it was clear that Nikolai was in Storey. Ping was next to him, but he pointed his gun at Stolypin, with a very clear target.
Stolypin was buried in the Cave Monastery in Kiev. This is because Stolypin said: Bury me where I die.
George attended Stolypin's funeral. That night, Nicholas summoned George and hoped that George would rapidly expand the army based on military reforms.
The disarmament of the Russian Empire aroused concerns in Britain and France. One of the conditions for this joint loan by Britain and France was that the Russian Empire should expand the size of its army and maintain pressure on Germany.
"We have recruited 250,000 soldiers this summer. In the past two years, the nominally retired soldiers have only been converted into engineering corps and have not left active service, so we have been expanding the army."
George doesn't want to It over-stimulates the Germans, but Nikolai's concerns are also necessary.
The Italian-Turkish War and the Balkan War broke out one after another, and the situation around the Mediterranean suddenly intensified.
Not only has the arms race between Germany and Britain not stopped, but at the beginning of this year, they respectively proposed naval expansion plans, taking the arms race to a new level.
Once George's plan to open the Black Sea is exposed, it will definitely arouse opposition from relevant countries, and the tragedy of the Berlin Conference may happen again.
George asked Nicholas to rest assured that the current Russian Empire is no longer the Russian Empire in 1878.
In the past two years, George has been disarmament while reorganizing his armaments. The Russian Empire now has 6,500 artillery pieces, including more than 2,000 heavy artillery pieces. Its strength far exceeds that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is on par with Germany. .
Not only will Germany not oppose the Russian Empire's seizure of the Black Sea outlet, but it will be happy to see it happen. For this reason alone, the Russian Empire is already in an invincible position.
(End of this chapter)