I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 540 Sharpening the Knife
Although the Italians dispatched troops quickly, they were not prepared for battle. It was not until July 7 that the first Italian troops landed in Tripoli.

King Victor Emmanuel II should be grateful for George's recklessness. If the Russian Empire's reinforcement fleet had not been trapped on Crete, effectively restraining the Ottoman Empire's navy, the Italians would probably not have dared to provoke a war.

The Ottoman Empire was now in a difficult situation, with their navy trapped in the Dardanelles and unable to provide support to North Africa from the sea.

Britain would not allow the Ottoman army to pass through Egypt, nor could it send reinforcements to North Africa by land.

The Ottoman Empire has been passed down for more than 1299 years since 600. It is the oldest empire in Europe and still has considerable heritage.

Although unable to gain support from within their own countries, officials in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica mobilized local Arabs and Bedouins to fight against the invasion of the Kingdom of Italy.

George ignored the infighting between the Italians and the Ottomans in North Africa. The military mobilization of the Balkan League aroused great vigilance of the Ottoman Empire. Since the beginning of the year, the Ottoman Empire has sent reinforcements to Rumelia to prevent any accidents.

Eastern Rumelia was annexed by the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1885, and Western Rumelia consisted of the three provinces of Edirne, Monastir and Thessaloniki.

George arrived in Sevastopol on July 7 to inspect the preparations of the Black Sea Fleet.

In the past two years, the Black Sea Fleet has not added any large warships, and has focused its main task on the construction of small warships and submarines. The Black Sea Fleet now has 6 light cruisers and 11 submarines, as well as more than 60 combat aircraft.

"Our torpedo planes are already capable of combat, but due to limited range, they are temporarily unable to reach the Bosphorus Strait."

Ozdoyev did not take the Ottoman battleships seriously.

The Ottoman Empire's army could still fight back against the Russian Empire's army, but its navy performed very poorly and was completely destroyed by the Russian navy in the Ninth Russo-Turkish War. It has only shown some improvement in recent years.

On the surface, the Ottoman Navy had four all-heavy artillery battleships, giving it an advantage over the Black Sea Fleet.

Since its reconstruction, the Ottoman Navy has never participated in a war. From top to bottom, it is a group of rookies, which is a huge gap from the Russian Imperial Navy that has experienced the test of the Russo-Japanese War.

Now most of the officers of the Black Sea Fleet were transferred from the Siberian Fleet. They are all holding their breath and want to prove their strength through the Ottoman Navy.

Defeating Japan is nothing for the Russians to be proud of.

Only by defeating the old rival, the Ottoman Empire, could the Cossacks' bravery be proven.

"Brusinov is building a new airport in the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and it will definitely be completed by the end of the month."

George was well prepared. The airport of the Kingdom of Bulgaria was only 230 kilometers away from the Bosphorus Strait.

Just three days ago, the Italian Kingdom's Air Force officially launched its first bombing of Tobruk.

When attacking Tripoli, the Italian Air Force's airship unit had already bombed Tripoli.

This was the first time that airships took part in the war in North Africa. The Austrian army defending Tripoli was panicked. Although the attacking Italian army had only 1500 people, the Austrian army still handed over Tripoli to the Italian army.

After occupying Tripoli, the Kingdom of Italy increased the expeditionary force to 20000 men, and King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy proudly declared that the war would be over within a month.

But then, the Italian expeditionary force suffered its first failure after invading North Africa.

When the Italian army attacked Tobruk, the Austrian commander Mustafa Kemal led 3000 Austrian troops to defend on the front, while the Bedouin cavalry on the flanks made outflanking moves. The Italian army had never expected the Bedouins to join the battle, and the 2500 people who participated in the attack were almost wiped out.

This defeat was a heavy blow to the Italian army. Victor Emmanuel III realized that the war would not end in the short term, so he continued to send troops to North Africa. The Italian army in North Africa soon reached 10. George's preparations were basically complete. The troops of the Balkan League countries had assembled and were ready to launch an attack on the Austrian army at any time.

As long as a war breaks out in the Balkans, George will send troops to the Bosphorus Strait to decide the outcome of the battle.

"The number of troops we can deploy has increased to 4, but the Austrian army is heavily defending the Bosphorus Strait. With only 4 troops, it will be difficult to succeed before other countries intervene."

Ozdoyev was worried about the lack of troops, as landing operations were a completely new subject for the Russian army.

Since the reinforcement fleet was blocked outside the Dardanelles, the only one that could provide cover for the landing operation was the Black Sea Fleet.

If the torpedo planes and submarines cannot destroy the Ottoman battleships immediately after the war begins, the landing troops will face a huge threat from the Ottoman Navy.

"The six divisions of the Guards are already in St. Petersburg, ready to go. We have enough troops."

George worked hard for more than two years, and it was finally time to test the results.

While George was inspecting work in Sevastopol, Nikolai released smoke bombs in St. Petersburg.

The establishment of the Balkan League made the situation in the Balkan Peninsula more tense. Now not only the Ottoman Empire, but also the Austro-Hungarian Empire felt a huge threat.

On July 7, British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey visited St. Petersburg again, hoping that the Russian Empire would effectively restrain the Balkan Alliance and not easily provoke war.

"The Empire has been disarming for the past two years. How could it take the initiative to provoke a war in the Balkans?"

Nicholas firmly denied that Stolypin and George's reforms were not complete and the Russian Empire did not have the ability to wage war.

"I believe that Your Majesty is a peace-loving person. The situation in the Mediterranean is already very bad. If the conflict continues to intensify, it may escalate into a world war."

Grey was worried. This time he came to St. Petersburg, in addition to hoping that the Russian Empire would exercise restraint, he also hoped to upgrade the relationship between the Russian Empire and Britain to that of an alliance.

The arms race not only caused great trouble to Germany, but also to Britain.

Despite its best efforts, Britain could only maintain its naval advantage over Germany, but had no advantage in the army.

The Second Boer War exposed the weakness of the British Army.

The result of the Russo-Japanese War proved that the Russian Empire, as a traditional land power, could pose sufficient threat to Germany on land.

So how could the Russian Empire disarm at this time? It should continue to strengthen the advantages of its army.

"What does the deterioration of the situation in the Mediterranean have to do with the Russian Empire?"

Nicholas' words were full of anger. Britain's attitude towards Russia and Italy was completely different.

Britain sided with Italy in the Italo-Turkish War because it hoped to win over the Kingdom of Italy.

Then, it depends on whether the Kingdom of Italy is worthy of Britain's wooing.

(End of this chapter)