Struggle in Russia

The victory of the Sinop naval battle declared that the Turkish navy was basically destroyed, and there was no longer any sea power in the Black Sea that could stop the Black Sea Fleet.

When the news of the victory reached St. Petersburg, Nicholas I was very happy. He immediately announced the promotion of Kornilov and Nasimov as admirals, and ordered them to make persistent efforts to deal more serious blows to Turkey and cooperate with the army to liberate them as soon as possible. Bulgaria.

This victory concealed many problems, such as the problem of naval construction, because almost everyone only saw Nasimov's overwhelming victory, but did not realize that the Turkish navy was not an opponent worth mentioning at all.

Maybe the Russian navy can crush the belly of the Turkish navy, but it is another matter when it meets the British and French fleets.

It's just that Nasimov and Kornilov are still relatively sober. They also saw many problems from this brilliant victory. For example, the battleships of the Black Sea Fleet are powerful, but their mobility is really hard to compliment.

In the face of steam-powered ships, it is impossible to catch up. If the Turkish navy is not too weak, it is impossible to confront the Black Sea Fleet head-on, otherwise the result is hard to say.

From this naval battle, it can be clearly seen that sailing ships are really outdated. They may still have the advantage of being cheap for civilian ships or merchant ships, but for warships, they are really out of date.

So Kornilov and Nasimov submitted a memorandum to the Admiralty and Nicholas I immediately after the victory, requesting that more steam-powered warships be built as soon as possible, and it is best to try to introduce relevant shipbuilding technology from Western Europe. Otherwise the Russian Navy will be left far behind!

Nicholas I's attitude towards this memorandum is not bad, because he has always been more tolerant of generals who have won battles. Even though he himself disliked steamships, he still agreed to part of Kornilov's and Nasimov's requests and ordered Prime Minister Nesselrode to list more steamships in the new year's naval budget. Budget.

As for the introduction of relevant technologies from Western Europe to develop related industries in the country, he also agreed in principle, but he asked the Ministry of the Navy to investigate carefully first, and then take it slowly when there are results.

This is a bit perfunctory. Who doesn’t know that the senior officials of the Ministry of the Navy all follow Menshikov’s lead? The Minister of the Navy hates steamships very much, so it’s really not good to be able to find out what the results are. It is very likely that it will be perfunctory in the end. .

Kornilov and Nasimov have nothing to do about this. After all, they are not the Minister of the Navy and their influence on Nicholas I is very limited. If they did not create a brilliant victory this time, I am afraid they would not even make the first request. be satisfied.

Closer to home, this victory must have greatly boosted the morale of Russia,

The downturn that made Bulgaria's battle very difficult was swept away. Both the ruling and opposition parties firmly believe that Bulgaria is just an accident, Turkey's dying struggle or a flashback.

As long as they keep on rushing and beating to put more pressure on Turkey, Turkey will soon collapse and then bow their knees and surrender!

This kind of cognition made Li Xiao very speechless, because the victory at sea really can't explain anything. The Turkish navy's disastrous defeat was due to its strength. But if they have a navy that is almost the same size as the army, then Nasimov wants to win easily. Impossible.

Maybe there will be a stalemate at sea, not to mention that this so-called brilliant victory is not necessarily a good thing, it may become a reminder for Russia!

Why do you say that?

The reason is simple, Nasimov almost destroyed the port of Sinop while destroying the Turkish navy. The Black Sea Fleet fired a large number of explosive shells along the coast of the pier, which not only caused a fire but also injured the British merchant ships on the pier!

To make matters worse, the fire was extremely tragic and almost burned the coast of the port, killing and injuring a large number of civilians, including businessmen from Britain and France.

This problem can be big or small. If it was before, naturally no one cared about the life and death of the pagans in Turkey, and for Britain and France, the problem of killing or injuring a few small businessmen is not particularly big, at least compared with the fallout in Russia, the death of people is relatively small.

But now the situation is completely different. In the past, the great powers happily hunted chicken together and ate chicken together happily. But now Turkey is considered to be in the same trench as Britain and France, and Russia is the unwelcome nuisance instead.

Do you think it is possible to expect British and French public opinion to speak well of Russia?

In fact, just after the Sinop naval battle, British journalists wrote a battlefield letter condemning Russian atrocities. Anyway, when St. Petersburg was celebrating victory, a new anti-Russian upsurge was set off in London.

British military and political leaders headed by Lord Palmerston and Canning unanimously strongly condemned Russia and demanded that the Parliament and the Cabinet pass a resolution to stop Russian atrocities and even declare war on Russia as soon as possible.

This round of frenzy was so aggressive that it was immediately reported to St. Petersburg by the Russian ambassador, but Nicholas I was still intoxicated by Sinop's victory, and did not realize the seriousness of the problem at all.

So there was almost no response from the Russian side to Britain's anger, that is to say, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs panicked for a while, but Nesselrode's warning to Nicholas I had no effect at all. The old man dismissed.

And Russia's indifference and cruelty naturally made the British even more angry. At this time, more news about the tragedy of Sinop continued to come back. The war reporters instructed by the British Foreign Office described in detail the tragedy of Turkey. The cruelty of Russia has made the impression of Russia in the British public even worse.

At this time, no more fuel is needed, the raging flames in the chests of the British people have intensified, and the House of Commons has held an emergency meeting to discuss the declaration of war on Russia.

It can be said that the British war machine has already started rumbling, and it only needs the last step to crush the polar bear.

Soon, the House of Commons came to a conclusion and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a note to Russia, asking Russia to apologize immediately and withdraw from Bulgaria immediately.

Will Russia agree to this request?

Naturally impossible, Nicholas I stubbornly believed that this was just another British bluff, so he ordered Nesselrode to ignore these harsh noises.

It’s just that this time it’s really not noise, the situation is extremely urgent, because soon the Russian envoy to France also immediately reported the latest developments in France, and France also put forward a similar request to the United Kingdom, asking Russia to immediately withdraw its troops and pay compensation and apologize!