In this life, Bruno had saved the Tsar and his family from certain death. In his past life, they were canonized as saints by the Orthodox Church following their tragic murder by the Red Army. But in this life, Nicholas II, his wife, and children were still very much alive and healthy.
Among them, of course, was the Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna Romanov, who was one of several monarchs’ daughters who in their formative years developed romantic inclinations towards Bruno.
She herself remained unmarried as she entered adulthood, and though she from time to time would read about Bruno’s exploits in the Balkans and find herself smiling, she had long since gotten over her misplaced feelings.
Even so, it had been years since Bruno visited Russia. He had a rather prominent estate within the boundaries of Saint Petersburg, where he was heralded by the population as its savior. And this villa was fully staffed at all times, staff of which were paid exceptionally well. Yet, despite this, it had indeed been years since Bruno and his family visited the lands of the Tsar. Why was this the case? Well, frankly speaking, Bruno was the kind of man who liked to stay in his home, even when he had an opportunity to do the very opposite of that.
Today, however, Olga had heard from her friend in the Archduchy of Austria, the young Archduchess Hedwig von Habsburg, that the girl was going to visit Bruno’s wife, Heidi von Zehntner in Berlin. She was desperately awaiting the telegram from the girl so that she could find out exactly what they were discussing, and all the juicy details revolving around their private discussion.
That is until she heard a loud noise come from across the hall. Instantly rushing out of her bedroom, the Grand Duchess chased the sound to find her father in a rather irritable state as he argued with his Admirals about their, shall we say, poorly thought through plan of action.
“It is foolish! Hastily attacking the Bosphorus straight with the Black Sea Fleet! We have yet to hear from our Army in the Balkans as well as our allies in the region as to whether or not they intend to march through Bulgaria, or transport their forces to Odessa!
We should wait until Prince Zehntner confirms the plan to attack Constantinople and liberate the city from the Ottomans! Sending the Fleet in now would invite disaster! You damned fools!”
If Tsar Nicholas II was the voice of reason in a discussion regarding military or political affairs, then you would be wise to reflect on yourself. Unfortunately, Russia was a nation that had never really been able to get its shit together collectively.
Whether it was the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation, every single unified Russian state that had ever existed had been plagued by the same three problems.
Rampant Alcoholism, Corruption, and Incompetency. even among their highest echelons of the government. This naturally included the Military. And this explained why in pretty much every war Russia had ever fought, they had significantly more casualties than their enemies. In the end, Russia waged war in the least efficient means possible, but still they usually emerged victorious. It was truly a marvel to study. But I suppose that’s what happens when you have wave after wave of men and machinery to throw at a problem. War by attrition, and nobody was better than the Russians at it.
Did it really matter how advanced the enemy was when you had stockpiles upon stockpiles of old weapons that could be used as cannon fodder, thoroughly diminishing all of that expensive and hard to produce advanced weaponry?
A matter of debate, to be sure. But either way, the point being Tsar Nicholas was surrounded by a bunch of drunk, incompetent fools. At least he himself had an excuse, and that was the fact that his father was one of such fools who never properly raised him to lead the nation and died almost immediately after he suddenly decided to do so.
But these were admirals, supposedly the best leaders the Russian Navy had to offer, and even then, they suggested something incredibly fucking stupid. More or less, the plan was to use the Black Seas Fleet to attack the Ottomans at the Bosphorus and try to break through so that they could blockade and barrage the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Theoretically, this could work… Theoretically, as in on paper. But in reality, the Russian Navy had always been the worst military branch of Russia. Partially because they had no warm water ports with access to the Ocean. Hell, they lost Port Arthur as quickly as they had gained it.
But also, because the Russian Navy was just… Laughable… There really was no way to put it. During the Russo-Japanese War of Bruno’s past life, the Russian Admiralty had the brilliant plan of sailing the Baltic Fleet across the southern tip of Africa and all the way to Japan, where they got involved in all sorts of shenanigans.
From firing upon fishing boats in the Baltic, which they somehow believed were Japanese warships, and missing every shot. To dying of black lung due to overloading their ship’s deck with extra coal for the journey. Hell, they even took on poisonous snakes as pets from their brief respite in Madagascar.
In an act of sheer brilliance, the Baltic Fleet had actually alerted the Japanese Navy that they were sneaking up on their fleet during the mid of night, because their medical ship which was legally required to have its lights on, somehow managed to mistake the first Japanese vessel they came into contact with to be one of their own, and relayed a message to them about their plot.
This was the level of absolute stupidity the Imperial Russian Navy was, and it never really got better during the eras of its successor states. So, when the Tsar was the voice of reason in the room, it was not the most absurd thing one might think of.
And naturally he had to put his foot down to these damned fools who were his highest- ranking Naval Officers and assert that they would only deploy their navy when Bruno said so. Unwittingly creating a grudge between the Russian Admirals and Bruno’s family.
Albeit, thankfully Olga was around to witness her father’s argument, and the expressions on the faces of the Russian Admirals after they had been thoroughly chastised. She also heard their words of contempt for Bruno, causing her to run back to her room and send a telegraph to Heidi, alerting the woman that her husband had more enemies than he realized…