Chapter 235: Chapter 122: Terrible Disease
Palace of Versailles

Foreign Minister Auvergne said, “Your Majesty, the Envoy of the New Holy Roman Empire in Paris has sent us a diplomatic note, proposing a joint action between our two countries on the Greek issue.

It seems that the Vienna Government is worried that the British will take the opportunity to annex the Kingdom of Greek and threaten their interests.”

In this era, the population of Greek people had just exceeded one million, and after this war, there was a severe loss of young and able-bodied people in Greece.

If the British are intent on turning the Kingdom of Greek into one of their colonies, the difficulty is not very great.

Such concerns are clearly not superfluous; annexing Greece could bring the British a great deal of strategic benefits, not only blocking the Russians from entering the Mediterranean but also increasing their say in the Near East.

This is something the Paris Government is also very worried about. The pie in the Near East is only so big; if the British take more, they are bound to squeeze out their interests in the region.

Napoleon III thought for a moment and said, “The British annexing the Kingdom of Greek would be very detrimental to our Near East strategy. Send someone to talk with the Austrians; as long as our interests do not clash severely, we will take joint action with them.”

When it comes to confronting the British alone, Napoleon III is rather timid, but with Austria joining in, he has nothing to fear. In this era, the disparity in strength among the four nations of England, France, Russia, and Austria had not yet widened, and even with the British advantage, it was not possible to fight against two.

Common interests are always the basis for cooperation. France and the New Holy Roman Empire are in contention for supremacy on the European Continent; logically, the two should be full of contradictions.

However, the dominant power on the European Continent is still Russia. Before the “Mao Xiong” collapses, both countries are just substitutes and it’s not yet time to turn against each other.

Under the influence of the anti-French wars, every move of France on the European Continent is closely watched by everyone.

Against this backdrop, any external expansion action by France on the European Continent could be misinterpreted and met with joint resistance from the outside world, and the Paris Government has to act low-key at this time.

The New Holy Roman Empire is also biding its time. Although Austria has developed for over four years under Franz’s rule, this development has only kept Austria up with the times and has not given it an advantage over other countries.

After annexing the South German Region, the newly established New Holy Roman Empire entered a period of internal integration and did not have the energy to create trouble in the short term; Franz did not yet have a plan to compete for continental supremacy.

Both parties were quite compliant, so conflicts between France and Austria naturally hadn’t reached the point of ignition, which undoubtedly created favorable conditions for the subsequent cooperation.

Minister of Internal Affairs Pesini analyzed, “Your Majesty, the Austrians’ motives are probably not so simple.

According to what we have learned, since the failure of the unification in the Germany Region, there has been a rising call within the Vienna Government to open up Overseas Colonies.

Now that the situation on the European Continent has stabilized and the Austrian path to German unification has been cut off, it is likely that Russia and Austria have already reached an agreement over the Balkan Peninsula.

No matter what the outcome of the Near East war, Austria’s expansion on the European Continent has reached its limit. Even the interests they gain in the Balkans are questionable as to whether they can really secure them.

Against this backdrop, it is very likely that the Austrians will abandon Metternich Era’s national policy and restart their overseas colonization strategy.

We need to be prepared in advance; another new competitor will soon enter the arena.”

Just recently, the Paris Government had confirmed the following national policy—temporarily giving up expansion on the European Continent and focusing on developing Overseas Colonies.

Now with Austria joining the overseas colonization activities, the French naturally have to be vigilant.

It is still the Age of Sail; there has yet to be a revolutionary gap in the naval technology of nations, and for the Great European Nations with a solid foundation, trying to build a navy is not an insurmountable difficulty.

Of course, this does not mean that with Austria joining overseas colonization, the French are frightened. On the contrary, the French hold an absolute advantage over Austria in overseas colonization.

However, competitors in overseas colonization are not limited to Austria alone. There are many rivals, and usually, the competition for colonies is exercised with restraint.

As long as it’s not a core interest dispute, it’s generally just a rivalry for influence in a certain area, and there is rarely an all-out effort for acquisition.

If it comes to blows at the drop of a hat, then it’s a winner-takes-all scenario. Obviously, this is not feasible. With so many competitors, suppressing one will only lead to another rising.

If this carries on, being busy suppressing competitors will leave no energy for establishing colonies. There are limits to colonial expansion, and blind expansion could lead to devastating losses.

Not all lands have colonial value; even the same region under the rule of different nations may yield different benefits.

Colonies with general economic value and no strategic significance are typically claimed by whoever gets there first; for colonies with high strategic value and rich benefits, a fierce struggle is naturally inevitable.

After the mid-19th century, nations had disputes over overseas colonies, but conflicts over colonies that led to wars between Colonial Empires were very rare.

The reason is that the most fertile lands had already been divided, leaving lands not worth waging war over. After all, everyone is in it for profit, and no one does business at a loss.

After pondering for a moment, Napoleon III confidently said, “For us, this should be good news. The Austrians beginning overseas colonization will inevitably have to increase their naval development efforts.

As a result, the military pressure we face at home will be greatly reduced. Compared with the Austrians at sea, we have a much greater advantage than on land.”

Due to geographical reasons, Austria is at a natural strategic disadvantage in the competition for overseas colonies.

Unless it is simply developing towards the African Continent across the Mediterranean, getting to other regions requires passing under our watch, as well as under the watch of the British.

The more they invest overseas, the less daring they will be in facing us in diplomacy in the future, because we can choke them anytime.”

Having said that, Napoleon III’s expression darkened. Austria’s situation was indeed as he described; by opening up colonies overseas, they exposed their weaknesses to them.

Yet, didn’t the British people, who control the Strait of Gibraltar, also hold a chokehold on them? Should war break out between the two nations, the British could split the French Navy in two, leaving them unable to fend both front and rear.

Why did the Vienna Government give up opening overseas colonies? Could it be that they really were not interested in the profits that colonies could bring?

It was clearly impossible. Everyone understood that overseas colonization could bring substantial profits. However, due to Austria’s geographical location, they were disadvantaged in the process of overseas colonization.

If they had not developed and grown stronger, relying on Austria’s strength, they could still retain colonies with average strategic and economic value. But once they encountered a juicy opportunity, they definitely couldn’t outcompete England and France.

For a few colonies with neither high strategic nor economic value, it seemed disproportionate to the Vienna Government to invest a large amount of financial resources into naval development.

But times were changing. With the development of industrialization, the overseas colonies that once seemed useless were revealing their value again.

Franz was well aware that Austria’s geographical disadvantages would become increasingly minor with the advancement of naval technology.

In the Age of Sail, Austrian overseas colonies were thousands of miles further than those of England and France, which was extremely fatal as it meant a double increase in cost and risk.

However, with the arrival of the Ironclad ship era and the application of steam engines on warships, the difficult issue of distance was gradually being resolved.

Especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, Austria’s route out of the Mediterranean into the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean would be significantly reduced, and safety would be greatly improved.

This was one of the reasons why the Vienna Government eased its relations with France. Franz had proposed the idea of digging a canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

This required cooperation with the French, as Austria’s influence in Egypt was still too weak. Even after Franz acceded to the throne and strengthened penetration into the region, catching up wasn’t going to happen overnight.

In Crimea Peninsula, England, France, and Russia engaged in a fierce battle. The casualties on the battlefield were within the tolerance of all parties.

But the humid climate, a multitude of small insects, and the vicious blood flukes brought about the spread of diseases, causing a large number of non-combatant casualties, which proved intolerable.

By the spring of 1854, the allied forces’ non-combatant casualties for the first time exceeded the battlefield wounded. Of course, the Russians did not escape either, but they were better adapted to the local climate, so their number of non-combatant casualties was relatively fewer.

The Russian Army Commander, Fitzroy Somerset, couldn’t have dreamed that it was not the arrival of new equipment that evened out the casualties between the two sides, but rather diseases that lent a big helping hand.

Of course, he didn’t have the luxury of paying attention to this just yet. Right now, Fitzroy Somerset was equally troubled by a large number of soldiers falling ill in the Russian Army, and the harsh reality of insufficient medical supplies left him powerless.

If he knew the dire situation of the allied forces, Fitzroy Somerset’s mood would probably be much better. If possible, he wouldn’t mind having the Russians on the island join the enemy in mutual destruction.

This war was now a matter of the fate of the Russian Empire. With the war reaching this point, more than three hundred thousand Russian soldiers had fallen. Just in Crimea Peninsula, the Russian casualties exceeded seventy thousand.

A middle-aged officer reported back, “Your Excellency the Commander, the enemy has recently slowed down their offensive. According to the prisoners we’ve captured, a large number of their soldiers have fallen ill, reportedly with colds, dysentery, and even syphilis.”

“Syphilis?” Fitzroy Somerset asked doubtfully

“Yes, Your Excellency the Commander, it is indeed syphilis!” the middle-aged officer affirmed.

Upon receiving this answer, Fitzroy Somerset didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. Besides war, there were very few recreational activities on the Crimea Peninsula.

Gambling, tobacco, alcohol, and women were the soldiers’ favorites.

Apart from smoking and drinking, the Russian soldiers seldom participated in the remaining activities—the reason being, who but paupers were the Russian soldiers? With no money, naturally, they couldn’t afford such entertainments. Playing less meant a lower chance of contracting diseases.

The situation for the Allied Forces of England and France was much better; they had military pay. With market demand, naturally, there would be a market, and the service industry within the Allied Forces thrived.

All were slogging it out on the battlefield, having survived today, with no guarantee of a tomorrow, they naturally sought immediate pleasure!

Due to a lack of personal hygiene, some unfortunate soul contracted syphilis, and then it quickly spread throughout the entire army via the service industry.

(Note: In history, the Crimean War saw over ten thousand deaths due to syphilis infections)

In that era, there was no effective treatment for syphilis. The most reliable method was to take antibiotics as soon as one got infected, but sadly, penicillin was still lying in Franz’s laboratory, and commercialization was far in the future.

Since there were no medications available, they were left to leave it to fate and endure it directly! Anyway, the normal mortality rate from syphilis was only about twenty percent. Those who were lucky could mostly fight it off.

Considering the deplorable conditions in the military camp and the soldiers’ disregard for personal hygiene, that mortality rate was probably going to rise.

These were minor issues, however, as cold and dysentery could likewise be lethal, with death rates not much lower. In the end, death is death, and what difference does the disease make?

It wasn’t just the Russians who were short of doctors and medicine; the situation was much the same for the Allied Forces. Among them, the British Army’s situation was even worse; the chaotic logistical system meant most soldiers had no idea where the field hospitals were.

Reaching a hospital didn’t necessarily mean anything—the number of doctors was too few to meet the needs of everyone. Unless one was an officer, ordinary soldiers had little chance of receiving proper treatment without a bribe.

Many of the medicinal supplies required soldiers to bribe the quartermasters in order to access them; otherwise, they wouldn’t even know where the supplies were placed.

If you found out that the supplies and hospital were miles apart, do not be surprised, do not panic, that’s just standard procedure; even if they were tens of kilometers apart, it wouldn’t be unusual.

The mechanical bureaucrats operated entirely by the book; often, the field hospital moved with the troop, but the drug warehouses were left behind. They had to complete all the procedures before they could move.

Here’s a joke: A transport ship named the “Pioneer” delivered over 150 tons of vegetables to Balaklava, but the quartermaster’s department suddenly realized it lacked the proper paperwork and strictly banned the unloading of its cargo.

As per regulations, it had to return to London to complete the paperwork before the materials could be registered in the warehouse. In the end, the paperwork was completed, but those 150 tons of vegetables had rotted away.

Logically, they should have been discarded, right? But the mechanical bureaucrats simply took the supplies and stored them in the warehouse, then distributed them to the troops.

One can imagine the consequences. According to post-war statistics, the losses caused by the British logistics department to the expeditionary force far exceeded those inflicted by the Russians.