Struggle in Russia

Count Orlov was very dissatisfied with the double standards of Britain, France and Austria. Think about it, they are extremely harsh on Russia. Even if Russia is willing to promise in the contract to give up expansion in the Black Sea and the Balkans, they are not willing. For example, the British keep saying that Russia's promises are worthless and must be eliminated in real terms. Existence counts.

But, when it was Turkey's turn to resolve ethnic and religious issues, these people were extremely generous. The Turks were not even willing to sign a treaty, and they just issued a so-called edict in the form of an advertising post to fulfill their promise.

If Count Orlov agreed to such a huge double standard, then Alexander II would never spare him after returning to St. Petersburg.

Therefore, his attitude is extremely tough. If Turkey's reform issues are not discussed at the peace conference and the protection of Orthodox Christians cannot be fully implemented, then he will never sign the treaty.

As a result, the French, who wanted to end the war as soon as possible, naturally exerted tremendous diplomatic pressure on Turkey, and even threatened Turkey that France might unilaterally reach an armistice agreement with Russia, and did not even rule out unilateral withdrawal of troops from Crimea.

The Turks suddenly felt a lot of pressure. The reason was very simple. In the Crimean War, although the British seemed to be shouting and killing as if they wanted to cut Russia into eight pieces, in fact the British army was not the main force on the battlefield.

The real main force is the French. If the French withdraw, the British army alone may not be able to do anything to the Russian army. Therefore, France's attitude is very critical to Turkey. If you don't want things to go awry, it's best to serve the French gentlemen well.

So after a series of wrangling between France and Turkey, the Turks had to make concessions. Of course, France also gave certain commitments, so a compromise plan was worked out:

Turkey will sign an international declaration with Western countries, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the rights of Christians in the Ottoman Empire. In addition, in accordance with the request made by the Russians on behalf of Greece, which is to restore the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Church of the Nativity in Jerusalem to their original state.

The latter one is actually of critical significance to Russia or to the dead Nicholas I, because the trigger of this war was the dispute between Orthodox Christians and Catholics over the dominance of the two churches.

France and Turkey's promise to restore the status quo ante at least gives the Russians some face, and at least they can publicize internally that we were not forced to sign an alliance after defeat, but that we had won the legitimate rights and interests of our Orthodox brothers through reasonable struggles.

In fact, on the day when the peace agreement was announced to everyone, Alexander II publicly declared his gratitude to God for achieving "the original core goal of the war...Russians! Your efforts and sacrifices have not been in vain!"

Of course, this kind of thing is just for fooling people. Anyone with normal intelligence will know that this is just a fig leaf. In fact, Russia almost didn’t even have this fig leaf and was almost publicly executed in front of the whole of Europe!

The reason is this. Although France supports treating Russia with tolerance and achieving peace as soon as possible, and does not recommend pushing Russia too hastily on the Balkans issue, the French are also full of bad ideas. They mean that the Balkans issue can be settled as a matter of course, but On other issues, we cannot just scratch the surface and must take them seriously.

This so-called other problem is the Polish problem. Count Wallawski proposed Poland's independence from Russian rule at a diplomatic meeting within the Allies.

Some people may wonder, why are the French so enthusiastic about helping Poland win independence?

The water here is relatively deep, or the origins here are relatively deep.

First of all, we have to start with Count Alexander Walewski. This guy is actually Napoleon's illegitimate son. And his mother is the famous Countess Walewski. In fact, just by hearing this name, you know that this countess is of Slavic descent.

In fact, she is Polish, so Count Walewski also has Polish ancestry. If you think about it, he is both the son and mother of Napoleon and a Pole, so he must have contributed to Poland to some extent.

At the same time, what Count Walewski's cousin Napoleon III wanted to do most was to break the political map of Europe in 1815 and establish a new pattern that conformed to his wishes. Therefore, liberating Poland is the simplest and most effective good idea.

At the same time, Prince Czartoryski of Poland was also active in demanding the reestablishment of the Congress Kingdom of Poland. The prince's request is actually in line with the "Vienna Peace Treaty", but, as you know, Russia directly overturned these terms.

Now that Russia is in trouble, Napoleon III and Count Walewski feel that they can use this to influence the Russians.

However, after the peace talks began, Napoleon III and Walewski contacted representatives from other countries and found that other countries had no interest in the Polish issue and did not want to help Europe.

As a result, Napoleon III and Count Walewski could only wait and propose new conditions including maintaining the status of the Polish language and protecting Poland from being completely Russified.

Speaking of which, in fact, the British were the ones who took the highest risk on the Polish issue. Before the war started and before the peace talks, the British had been inciting Polish exiles to create public opinion. This was really a big deal for Russia.

However, when it came to the peace talks, even Palmerston, who advocated being tough on Russia, was not interested in speaking out for Poland. He even bluntly advised Clarendon not to make a fuss about the Polish issue, and even helped Russia find a good partner. Excuse:

"If Poland can become independent from Russia, it will be a good thing for Poland and Europe. But whether it is good for Poles or Europeans, the current situation of the Kingdom of Poland is indeed consistent with the conditions stipulated in the Treaty of Vienna. The difference is not commensurate with the efforts we must expend to achieve this goal. But Russia will say that Poland rebelled in the past because the Poles first did not abide by the Treaty of Vienna, and then Russia had to send troops to conquer Poland. Therefore, Russia relied on Poland was conquered militarily rather than occupied by the Treaty of Vienna, and thus had no obligation to abide by the provisions of the treaty. The Russians would also say that making demands on Poland is interference in Russia's internal affairs..."

Well, let’s silently mourn for the Poles for three minutes. After working up and down for a long time, the British sold them out in the blink of an eye. It was precisely because of the British indifference that France could not help itself on the Polish issue. Russia exerted greater pressure, not to mention that as France and Russia had more and more frequent contacts in private, both countries found that it was particularly beneficial to both parties to form a certain degree of friendship. This made it even less likely that Napoleon III would be in Poland. Making irresponsible remarks on the issue...

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