Romanian Eagle

, Eder is doing everything possible to avoid war, and the same is true of other countries. But sometimes it is completely unavoidable, and being brought into this century war, this country is Ottoman Turkey.

After the Balkan Wars, the declining country came under the rule of the Big Three. Among them, Enver Pasha, the Minister of War, held most of the power in the Big Three. The Big Three were very dissatisfied with the performance of the Ottoman army in the Balkan war, and planned to spend huge sums of money to transform this large and unjustified army.

Among them, Enver Pasha, with the help of the German advisory group, rebuilt the disorganized army of the Ottomans, and also purchased a large number of German arms to enhance its strength. The navy is more optimistic about the British ships, because the army has different qualities of the Germans. They ordered two super dreadnoughts in the UK, one of which is the famous seven-turret battleship "Sultan Osman I", which is also later "Agincourt". "No. The other was also renamed the Irish.

Contrary to what many had assumed, it was Russia's request to Britain to hold him temporarily. Because the Russian Black Sea Fleet has no dreadnoughts in service now, if the Ottomans take these two battleships, then the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be temporarily at a disadvantage. At the time, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov sent a telegram to the British government, requesting that the delivery of the Ottoman warships be postponed. Just as World War I broke out, in the face of the German High Seas Fleet, Admiral Churchill felt that his own dreadnoughts were not in an absolute dominant position, so the two Ottoman warships were directly detained.

In the face of such a situation, the Ottoman Empire did not intend to fight against the Allied Powers, and its three giants are still very clear-headed, knowing that the Ottomans participating in this war will not benefit much. However, at this time, Germany sent them a "gift" that they could not refuse, the battle cruiser Goeben.

USS Goeben was the second ship of the Moltke-class battlecruiser. On 9.03.2, launch. 92.0.2, completed. Displacement: standard 2266 tons, full load 25300 tons. Hull: 6.5, 29.5, .2. Power is 4 Parsons-type steam turbines and 24 Schultz-Thornycroft-type coal-fired boilers. The power is 52,000 horsepower, the coal-fired load is 3,050 tons, the speed is 25.5 knots, and the endurance is 420 nautical miles/4 knots.

Protection: main armor belt 02~270mm, armor compartment 02~203mm, horizontal protection 50mm, main turret 52~203mm, main gun mount 30~229mm, conning tower 350mm;

Weapons: 5 twin .inch SKL/50 main guns, 2 50mm SKL/45 secondary guns, 2 mm SKL/45 rapid-fire guns, 4 500mm underwater torpedo launchers. Preparation: 053 people.

In the face of Germany's gift to Ottoman, the government was overjoyed and immediately agreed. So Goeben was renamed Yavos, and another cruiser, Breslau, was renamed Mitia. Its officers and soldiers changed into Ottoman naval uniforms and continued to serve on their own warships, and General Sorochin, who led the small fleet, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Ottoman Navy and still commanded the fleet.

In fact, Sorochin's fleet did not go to Turkey to escape for his life. He also had a arduous political mission, that is, to fully assist the local German diplomats to make Turkey fall to the German side to participate in the war.

Faced with such a situation now, the Ottoman Empire also began to turn towards Germany. However, the final decision for Osman was indeed brought by the Goeben. Seeing that the attitude of the Ottoman Empire was about to turn towards him, in order to avoid long nights and dreams. General Sorochin left the port in the name of training at sea after replenishing the ships in Istanbul.

This was the start of German diplomats lobbying the Ottomans at their best, knowing that the Ottomans would not be part of the war. On the Goeben, General Sorochin interpreted the order of the Admiralty,

They were asked to bombard Savastopol, the home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and Odessa, its largest Black Sea port. In the face of this Ottoman navy, which is all operated by German naval officers and soldiers, of course there will be no objection.

So on 30 October, General Sorochin raided two ports with the Goeben. In the face of the powerful Goeben replaced by the Star and Moon Flag, the Russian Navy was caught off guard. The minelayer "Prut" was sunk, and the 4,500-ton cruiser "Captain Pushkin" was seriously injured. A large amount of ammunition stacked in the port of Savastopol was hit and exploded, causing considerable losses to the Russian Navy.

In fact, after this attack, the Ottoman government knew that this time they had to get on the Allied ships, and they had been cornered.

The Russian government was overjoyed in the face of the attack by the Ottoman navy, which was actually the German navy. They were bitter about not taking Istanbul in the 10th Turkish-Russian War, and now the attack gave them an excuse. And this time, Britain and France, who could prevent Russia from gaining Istanbul and entering the Mediterranean Sea, were also on their side, so they also believed that the Ottoman navy had attacked them.

It also turned a blind eye to the situation that the Black Sea passage would be blocked by the Ottomans and affect Russia's access to aid. In Russia's view, the Ottoman army only needs a single blow from its own army to collapse, and it has British and French allies, so it does not pay attention to this issue.

In the end, Russia, blinded by its interests, declared war on the Ottomans on the 4th, and Britain on the 5th.

Sitting in the office, Edel could only watch the closure of the Black Sea Strait, and he could do nothing about it.

He looked at the prime minister who brought him news and said reluctantly. "Can't we also use the right of passage in the strait now?"

In the face of the king's inquiry, Prime Minister Bretianu also said helplessly. "Now the Ottoman Empire doesn't let any ships go through the strait at all, and neither can ours."

"Is it a big loss for us?"

Now Edel still cares about the domestic economy. At the moment when he was happily making a fortune in war, Osman's hand made him impatient. Even if he knew that Osman would also participate in the war, it was just that everyone wanted to think in their favor.

"The loss is not big, mainly for vehicles and spare parts orders. We can only ship orders from Britain and France in Thessaloniki through Bulgaria. It's just that Bulgaria's asking price is higher, and we haven't reached an agreement yet."

Hearing the Prime Minister's words, Edel moved in his heart and asked. "How much are they asking for transit fees?"

"20% of the transit fee, and the railway transportation fee is calculated separately. At this price, our profit is not as good as before the war."

Hearing the Prime Minister's words, Eder knew that this was Bulgaria's revenge for the war a year ago. He thought about it and said, "Then you can talk to the British and French ambassadors and tell them that the fee is too high and ask them to increase the price. If not, ask them if they can transfer the order to Russia."

The Prime Minister pondered that he had no other better way, and sighed. "we can only do this."