Romanian Eagle

After Eder returned to Bucharest, he approached the prime minister specifically on this issue.

It may have withstood the German attack on the western front, and the negotiations between Romania and the Entente countries reached a deadlock on the eastern front because Russia, under the leadership of commander Brusilov, returned to Missilia.

Inside the palace, Eder is listening to Prime Minister Bretianu describe the outcome of the negotiations. The sight Austria-Hungary saw made him decide not to hide behind the scenes, so he summoned the prime minister to listen to the outcome of the negotiations in person, but unfortunately the gap between the two sides was still very large.

"Your Majesty, we demand that the Entente only promise to give us the Batna, Krishana and Maramures areas as an additional payment. So our negotiations with the Entente are deadlocked, and no one is willing to make concessions now. ."

Edel checked the map after hearing this. According to the conditions set by the Allied Powers, from the map, it seems that the area is similar to that of Romania's descendants.

"That's pretty much the biggest concession from the Allies right now."

Edel looked at the map and said to himself.

Prime Minister Bretianu also heard Edel's words beside him. "Your Majesty now sees that this is also the biggest concession of the Allied Powers, and wants them to continue to make concessions unless there is a major change in the situation."

The Prime Minister's words inspired Eder, because he knew that the situation in Russia was about to change dramatically. The famous Russian Revolution, he knew about it as a child. However, it seems that it was the February Revolution at the beginning, but Eder can't remember the specific situation because it took too long, but from the current situation in Russia, it is estimated that it is not much better.

Eder asked the chief of guards to bring the Russian investigation report and start to read it. He wanted to personally check the current situation in Russia. Speaking of this survey report is also interesting, this is Russia's own statistics. And Milok's subordinates spent 200 pounds to get these classified information about Russia from a small clerk in charge of sorting out. It seems that the ethics of Russian officials is 'too high'.

Before the First World War, Russia was a country that could not be self-sufficient. It is not about resources, but machinery and equipment. Data in 1913 show that although in that year the country's steel production reached 4.2 million tons. But machine manufacturing, chemical industry are weak, and there is no automobile manufacturing industry. Many machines and weapons depend on foreign countries. Before the war, Russia imported 37% of the machinery, and the self-sufficiency rate of important equipment and lathes was less than 1/3.

After the outbreak of the war, Russia pushed the Ottomans to the Allies because of greed, which greatly reduced his import channels. You must know that the Black Sea has always been Russia's main export shipping channel, but because of Russia's spy on Constantinople, he suffered the consequences.

on the other hand,

Since the beginning of the war, Russian production has shifted sharply towards military goods. In 1916, the production of agricultural machinery was only 1/5 of that before the war, and the production of locomotives and carriages decreased significantly, by 16% for locomotives and 14% for carriages. The serious shortage of machines and lathes has also affected the decline of ore, coal and oil extraction. Due to the lack of fuel and raw materials, the blast furnace ceased fire and many factories had to close. Before the war, the textile mills that were producing from imported cotton ceased production.

In 1916, 20% of the looms in Petrograd were out of service. On the front lines, weapons and ammunition are severely lacking. 60,000 rifles were required per month, and only 134,000 rifles were produced from August to December 1914. 800 machine guns were required per month, and a total of 860 machine guns were manufactured in the second half of 1914. Traffic and transportation are severely blocked. Railroads can't handle the rapidly growing transport tasks.

In the last five months of 1916, the railroads delivered only 61 percent of the grain needed for the army. Some wounded soldiers could not receive food and gauze for several days. Food was scarce in Petrograd, Moscow, and other industrial cities, but in Siberia, the Urals, the Caspian Sea, the Volga and the Don, a great deal of food, meat, and fish rotted. In 1916, 150,000 carriages of spoiled grain were stored.

The attempt by Britain and France to open up the Black Sea waterway was broken by the Ottomans, so the aid of Britain and France to Russia could only pass through Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Vladivostok. However, there is no railway between the mainland and Murmansk (it was not until Soviet times). The railway from Arkhangelsk to Vologda is narrow-gauge (changed to wide-gauge in 1916), which is inconvenient to transport. Vladivostok is too far from the Russian hinterland.

As a result, large quantities of goods were piled up in ports and could not be transported into the interior. In Arkhangelsk, coal was piled up like mountains, and boxes of lathes for the arsenal were piled along the wharf. In Murmansk, ships wait weeks and months to unload their cargo.

After the outbreak of the war, agricultural production was seriously affected. The number of able-bodied people conscripted into the army reached 14 million, mainly from rural areas. According to a survey in 1916, in the 50 provinces of Europe and Russia, the male rural labor force decreased by 42.4%, and the cultivated land area decreased by 9 million dessiatines. The number of farm animals decreased from 18 million in 1914 to 14 million by the end of 1916, and the grain harvest decreased by 1/5.

The difficulty of transportation has caused the actual interruption of urban-rural linkages. There is a growing shortage of grain, meat, sugar and other agricultural products in the market. In October 1916, Petrograd received only 24 percent of the planned food supply. Landlords, rich peasants and businessmen, however, possessed a large amount of daily necessities, hoarding them and speculating. Grain often disappears from stores and is sold at high prices on the black market. In the summer of 1916, the price of grain in Petrograd was 1.5 to 3 times higher than before the war, and meat and sugar were especially expensive. The broad masses of the people are on the line of starvation, complaining about it, and have to fight. In 1915 there were 684 peasant uprisings in Russia due to starvation. In the first five months of 1916, there were 510 peasant riots.

Among the belligerents, Russia has the longest front. The war was fought on 50,000 square kilometers of Russian territory. 3 million refugees are homeless and deprived of food and clothing. Many people were killed, maimed and killed by the plague during the war. By November 1916, Russia had lost 7.8 million people. Many soldiers had unsupported families and lived very miserable lives.

In order to maintain the war, the military expenditure of the Russian government increased day by day, reaching more than 28 billion rubles by November 1916. 1/3 of it is paid by borrowing foreign debts, and the rest is paid by borrowing domestic debts and over-issuing banknotes. In November 1916, the official price of the ruble 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 Russian government's finances are in a state of collapse. In order to meet the needs of the war, the Russian government established four special conferences on national defense, food, fuel and transportation in 1915 to regulate domestic economic life. But it did not save the economy from bankruptcy, but carried out an extremely cruel plunder on the people.

Most factories extend working hours to complete military orders, increase labor intensity, and exploit the labor of women and juveniles. According to the statistics of 345 enterprises, the average net profit was 8.84% in 1913, increased to 16.49% in 1915, and increased to 17.58% in 1916. Economic turmoil, coupled with military defeats, has fueled popular discontent across the country.

Eder put down the economic statistics report and picked up the Romanian ambassador to St. Petersburg's report on the government.

On the government side, regime crises tend to surface. Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra were desperate politically and militarily, and they relied on superstition spiritually. The "prophet" of G. Yeh Rasputin was brought into the court. He filled the emptiness in the hearts of the tsar and the queen with God, gained their trust, gained power in the court, and finally manipulated the power of the royal family. From 1914 to 1916, under the planning of Rasputin, 4 prime ministers, 6 interior ministers, 4 army ministers, 3 foreign ministers, 4 agriculture ministers, and 4 justice ministers were replaced.

In 1916, the ruling group was split into the pro-German faction headed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet Prime Minister) Stiurmer and the pro-British faction represented by the Foreign Minister Sassunov, who criticized each other. The people and intellectuals expressed resentment at the failure of the Russian government to win the war and domestic problems. Alexandra was even suspected of being a German spy, since she was born in Germany and reused pro-German. Among the nobility, they were also heartbroken by what the tsar had done.

After reading these, Eder was shocked by Russia's serious domestic problems. He really wanted to ask Nicholas II if he dared to continue fighting under such circumstances. This is afraid that neither Napoleon nor the mustache complex can save Russia. In Edel's heart, the Russian government has already been sentenced to death. Edel plans to talk to the Allies in Haosheng at that time, and try to get a satisfactory result. 8)