AUTHOR’S NOTE
206 Words
AUTHOR’S NOTEThe situation described in this book in 1874 merely anticipated what happened the next year when Serbia declared war on Turkey and thousands of Russian volunteers poured into St. Petersburg.
The Czar Alexander had no wish for a war, but he was pushed into it by the Czarina and her ladies who fluttered about referring endlessly to Russia’s Holy mission.
Finally the Czar began to believe it and in November 1876 the Grand Duke Nicholas started his march with a huge Army towards Constantinople.
The conflict lasted for nine months and took a terrible toll of life. In one battle alone the Russians lost twenty-five thousand men without gaining an inch of ground.
The Army was, however, within six miles of Constantinople when finally Queen Victoria, who was frantically agitated by this time, suddenly persuaded the Cabinet to send Admiral Hornby with six ironclad Battleships to move into the Dardanelles to remind Russia that Britain would not stand aside for ever.
Russia was obliged to retreat and a Treaty was hammered out at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.
What was more important than anything else was that Russia had been denied access to the Mediterranean, which she had hoped to reach through the Balkans back door.
- Writer
