After Eder returned to Bucharest, he specifically approached the Prime Minister on this issue.
It may be that it withstood the German offensive on the Western Front, but on the Eastern Front, due to Russia's return to Missilia under the leadership of Commander Brushilov, the negotiations between Romania and the Allies reached a deadlock.
In the palace, Edel was listening to Prime Minister Bretianu describing the results of the negotiations. The scene that Austria-Hungary saw made him decide not to hide behind the scenes, so he summoned the Prime Minister to hear the results of the negotiations in person. Unfortunately, the gap between the two sides was still very large.
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"Your Majesty, we ask that the Allied Powers only promise to give us the areas of Patna, Crisana and Maramures as our additional reward. So our negotiations with the Allied Powers have reached a deadlock, and no one is willing to give in now.
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After hearing this, Edel first checked the map. From the map, he saw that the conditions offered by the Allied Powers were about the same size as Romania.
"This is almost the biggest concession the Allies have made now."
Edel looked at the map and muttered to himself.
Prime Minister Bretianu also heard Edel's words beside him. "His Majesty sees that this is also the biggest concession for the Allied Powers, and he wants them to continue to make concessions unless there is a major change in the situation."
The Prime Minister's words inspired Edel, because he knew that the situation in Russia would soon change significantly. He had known about the famous Russian Revolution since he was a child. However, it seemed that it was the February Revolution at the beginning, but the specific circumstances depended on the time.
It has been too long for Edel to remember clearly, but judging from the current situation in Russia, it is probably not much better.
Edel asked the captain of the guard to get the Russian investigation report and began to read it. He wanted to personally check the current situation in Russia. It is also interesting to talk about this investigation report. This is Russia's own statistics. Milok's men spent 200
Sterling, I got this confidential information about Russia from a small clerk in charge of sorting it out. It seems that the ethics of Russian officials are 'too high'.
Before World War I, Russia was a country that was not self-sufficient. This does not mean resources, but machinery and equipment. Data in 1913 show that although the national steel production reached 4.2 million tons that year, the machine manufacturing industry and chemical industry were weak.
, there is no automobile manufacturing industry. Many machines and weapons rely on foreign countries. Before the war, Russia imported 37% of its machinery, and its self-sufficiency rate for important equipment and lathes was less than 1/3.
After the war broke out, Russia pushed Ottoman to the Allies because of greed, which greatly shrank his import channels. You must know that the Black Sea has always been Russia's main export shipping channel, but because of Russia's peek at Constantinople, he
Eat what you reap.
On the other hand, Russia's production since the war has tilted sharply towards military items. In 1916, agricultural machinery products were only 1/5 of those before the war. The production of locomotives and carriages was significantly reduced, with locomotives reduced by 16% and carriages reduced by 14%. Machines,
There was a serious shortage of lathes, which also affected the decline of ore, coal, and oil mining. Due to the lack of fuel, raw materials, and blast furnace ceasefires, many factories had to close. Before the war, textile factories that relied on imported cotton production stopped production.
In 1916, 20% of the looms in Petrograd could not operate. On the front line, there was a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition. 60,000 rifles were needed every month, but only 134,000 rifles were produced from August to December 1914.
800 machine guns are needed every month, and only 860 machine guns were manufactured in the second half of 1914. Traffic and transportation were seriously blocked. The railways could not bear the sharp increase in transportation tasks.
In the last five months of 1916, the food transported by the railways to the army could only meet 61% of the needs. Some wounded soldiers could not receive food and gauze for several days. Food was scarce in Petrograd, Moscow and other industrial cities, but in
However, a large amount of grain, meat, and fish rotted in Siberia, the Urals, the Caspian Sea, the Volga River, and the Don River. In 1916, 150,000 freight cars of stored grain were spoiled.
The British and French efforts to open up the Black Sea channel were thwarted by the Ottomans, so British and French aid to Russia could only pass through Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok. However, there is no railway between the mainland and Murmansk (you have to wait until
Railways were only opened during the Soviet period). The railway from Arkhangelsk to Vologda is narrow gauge (changed to broad gauge in 1916), making transportation inconvenient. Vladivostok is too far from the Russian hinterland.
As a result, large quantities of goods were piled up at the port and could not be transported into the interior. In Arkhangelsk, coal was piled like mountains, and boxes of lathes for arsenals were piled along the docks. In Murmansk, ships were waiting to unload.
How many weeks or months will it take?
After the outbreak of the war, agricultural production was seriously affected. The number of people with working ability who were recruited into the army reached 14 million, mainly from rural areas. According to a 1916 survey, in 50 provinces in Europe and Russia, the rural male labor force decreased by 42.4%, and the cultivated land area decreased by 9
One million dessiatines. The number of farm animals decreased from 18 million in 1914 to 14 million at the end of 1916, and the grain harvest decreased by 1/5.
Transportation difficulties caused an actual interruption of urban-rural connections. In the market, there was an increasing shortage of grain, meat, sugar and other agricultural products. In October 1916, Petrograd could only receive 24% of the planned supply of grain. Landowners, rich farmers and businessmen were unable to
Controlling a large number of daily necessities, they hoarded and speculated. Food often disappeared from stores, but was sold at high prices on the black market. In the summer of 1916, the price of food in Petrograd increased by 1.5 to 3 times compared with before the war, and meat and sugar were especially expensive.
The vast majority of the people were on the verge of starvation, filled with complaints, and had to rise up to fight. In 1915, there were 684 peasant riots caused by hunger in Russia. In the first five months of 1916, there were 510 peasant riots.
Among the warring countries, Russia had the longest front. The war was fought on 50,000 square kilometers of Russian territory. Three million refugees were homeless and lacked food and clothing. Many people lost their lives in the war, were injured, maimed, and died of plague.
.As of November 1916, Russia had lost a total of 7.8 million people. Many soldiers' families had no one to support them, and their lives were very painful.
In order to maintain the war, the Tsarist Russian government's military expenditures increased day by day, reaching more than 28 billion rubles by November 1916. One-third of which was paid by borrowing foreign debt, and the rest was paid by borrowing domestic debt and indiscriminate issuance of banknotes. In November 1916, the official ruble
The price dropped to 58 kopecks, and the purchasing power dropped to 24 kopecks.
The national debt increased from 8.8 billion rubles in 1914 to 30.7 billion rubles in November 1916. The Tsarist Russian government's finances were facing collapse. In order to meet the needs of the war, the Tsarist Russian government established four special departments for national defense, food, fuel and transportation in 1915.
conference to regulate domestic economic life. However, it failed to save the economy from bankruptcy, and instead carried out extremely cruel plundering of the people.
In order to complete military orders, most factories extended working hours, increased labor intensity, and exploited the labor of women and teenagers. According to statistical data from 345 enterprises, the average net profit was 8.84% in 1913, increased to 16.49% in 1915, and increased to 16.49% in 1916.
It increased to 17.58%. Economic chaos and military defeats have led to rising public dissatisfaction across the country.
Eder put down the report on economic statistics and picked up the report on the government by the Romanian ambassador in St. Petersburg.
On the government side, the regime crisis tends to become superficial. Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra were politically and militarily desperate, and spiritually they relied on superstition. G. Ye Rasputin, the "
The "Prophet" was introduced to the court. He used God to fill the spiritual emptiness of the Tsar and the Empress, gained their trust, became more and more powerful in the court, and finally controlled some of the power of the royal family. From 1914 to 1916, under the planning of Rasputin
, replaced 4 cabinet prime ministers, 6 interior ministers, 4 war ministers, 3 foreign ministers, 4 agriculture ministers, and 4 justice ministers.
In 1916, the ruling group split into the pro-German faction headed by Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet Prime Minister) Styurmel and the pro-British faction represented by Foreign Minister Sasonov. They criticized each other. The people and intellectuals quarreled with each other.
The Tsarist Russian government expressed dissatisfaction with the inability to win the war and domestic problems. Alexandra was even suspected of being a German spy because she was born in Germany and was a pro-German faction. Among the nobles, they were also saddened by the actions of the Tsar.
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After reading this, Edel was shocked by Russia's serious domestic problems. He really wanted to ask Nicholas II if he dared to continue fighting under such circumstances. I am afraid that even Napoleon and the Mustache Complex could not save Russia.
Edel has already sentenced the Russian government to death in his heart. Edel plans to talk to the Allies in Haosheng and strive to get a result that satisfies him.
