I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 542 Stolypin's Assassination
The Bulgarian Kingdom, with a total population of only 440 million, was able to mobilize 40 people to participate in the war, and its mobilization capacity was second to none among European countries.

After Valdemar ascended the throne, the Bulgarian Kingdom actively moved closer to Germany and learned all aspects of German military affairs. It was called "Eastern Prussia". Although the Bulgarian Kingdom was greatly weakened at the Berlin Conference, the Bulgarians did not give up "Greater Bulgaria" and dreamed of establishing an empire spanning the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

The dream of the Russians is to turn the Black Sea into Russia's inland sea.

Therefore, the idea of ​​"Greater Bulgaria" was in serious conflict with the interests of the Russian Empire.

Based on this premise, George would certainly prefer to see the power of the Bulgarian Kingdom weakened.

What George did not expect was that the Ottoman Empire was so weak that less than a month after the outbreak of the Balkan War, the Ottoman Empire collapsed across the board and retreated to the line from Luleburga to Bunasir to reorganize its defense line.

It should be noted that this line of defense was built by the Ottomans with the help of German engineers.

Brusinov wanted to take over the Bosphorus in one fell swoop while the Ottomans were still unstable.

The Bulgarian and Greek kingdoms clashed in Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki is an important port on the Aegean Sea coast. If the Bulgarian Kingdom occupied Thessaloniki, then the Bulgarian Kingdom’s dream of “Greater Bulgaria” would become a reality.

Before the Bulgarian army arrived in Thessaloniki, the Ottoman army stationed in Thessaloniki had been defeated by the pro-Bulgarian 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 demanded 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, a serious confrontation broke out 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 yet surrendered, but the Balkan Alliance is already in turmoil. It is indeed the powder keg of Europe.

George was just helpless, and Nicholas was extremely anxious.

The King of Greece is Nicholas' uncle.

The Bulgarian Tsar was Nicholas's elder brother.

Both Greece and Bulgaria wanted the support of the Russian Empire, but Nicholas didn't know who to speak for.

At the critical moment, Stolypin was better at smoothing things over, so Thessaloniki was temporarily jointly administered by Greece and Bulgaria.

Before Nicholas had time to catch his breath, on September 9, Stolypin was assassinated at the Kiev Bolshoi Theatre.

Stolypin was watching a play called "The Life of Tsar Saltan" by Russian composer Nikolai Andreevich with Nikolai when a secret police officer broke into the theater and shot Stolypin.

Stolypin was shot in the chest and died on September 9.

This was the 11th assassination attempt on Stolypin since he became prime minister.

During Stolypin's administration, the Russian Empire's coal production increased by 121%, cotton processing increased by 62%, total exports increased by 112%, national income increased by 78.8%, and per capita grain production reached a historical high. The total output exceeded the total grain production of Argentina, Canada and the United States, making it the largest grain exporter in Europe. Prior to this, Stolypin had just announced that Russia's agricultural reform had basically ended and that industrial reform would be the next stage.

There are many different opinions about the reasons for Stolypin's assassination. Some say that Stolypin's agricultural reforms violated the interests of too many powerful people, while others say that the capitalists of the Russian Empire were afraid of Stolypin's reforms, so they took the initiative to get rid of Stolypin.

Because of 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 surpassed that of St. Petersburg and became the most developed region of the Russian Empire.

Stolypin's agricultural reform started with Nikolai. He sold 1000 hectares right away, which set a good start for agricultural reform.

So there have always been rumors that if Stolypin's reforms entered the industrial field, then the Amur industry would be nationalized.

From this perspective, George did have reasons to kill Stolypin.

Actually not so.

When in St. Petersburg, Stolypin had in-depth exchanges with George on reforms many times. Compared with the Amur industry, Stolypin was more dissatisfied with the St. Petersburg industry. If reforms were to be carried out, they would definitely start from St. Petersburg.

Many people in Russia did applaud Stolypin's death.

George felt only pity for Stolypin.

If Stolypin's reforms could continue, then if given 20 years, he might really be able to create a powerful Russian Empire.

Nicholas did not thoroughly investigate the reasons for Stolypin's assassination, and hastily closed the case after sentencing Stolypin's assassin, Dmitry Boglov, to death.

Dmitri Boglov was a Hebrew. He called himself an anarchist and hated the autocratic system. But when he shot, Nikolai was clearly next to Stolypin, but he pointed the gun at Stolypin. His target was very clear.

Stolypin was buried in the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev because Stolypin said: Bury me where I die.

George attended Stolypin's funeral. That night, Nicholas summoned George, hoping that George would quickly expand the army based on military reforms.

The Russian Empire's disarmament caused concerns among Britain and France. One of the conditions for the joint loan between Britain and France this time was that the Russian Empire must expand the size of its army and maintain pressure on Germany.

"We recruited 25 soldiers this summer. The soldiers who nominally retired in the past two years were just transferred to engineering troops as a whole, and did not leave active service, so we have been expanding the army."

George didn't want to overly provoke the Germans, but Nicholas's concerns were justified.

The Italo-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 each proposed plans to expand their navies, and the arms race has reached a new level.

Once George's plan to gain access to the Black Sea is exposed, it will certainly arouse opposition from relevant countries, and the tragedy of the Berlin Conference may be repeated.

George asked Nicholas to rest assured that the current Russian Empire was no longer the Russian Empire of 1878.

In the past two years, George has been disarming and rearming. The Russian Empire now has 6500 artillery pieces, including more than 2000 heavy artillery pieces. Its strength far exceeds that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is comparable to that of Germany.

Not only would Germany not oppose the Russian Empire's seizure of access to the Black Sea, but it would be happy to see it happen. This alone would make the Russian Empire invincible.

(End of this chapter)