“Persia must, I (Lord Palmerston) fear, now be looked on as an advanced post for Russia whenever she chooses to make use of it. She will command it either by overpowering force or by bribing the state by prospect of acquisition in Afghanistan.”
However, ultimately the same policy was again resorted to by the Czar to worry England in Central Asia. Again the Russians advanced into Central Asia towards the Indian frontier and extended their borders both south and east with great celerity.
But a fresh complication arose extremely favourable for Russian plots. The Franco-German War (1870) seemed to be an introduction to the accomplishment of her wishes. France was miserably defeated, while the hands of Germany were fully tied up with Alsace and Lorraine. Two formidable opponents to Russian arms were therefore placed hors de combat. England and Austria were thus the only powers left for the defence of Constantinople. Austria had previously been weakened by a war with Prussia. It therefore seemed that England was the only strong supporter of the Ottoman Empire, and Russia determined to conquer Turkey in Central Asia, so she conquered and annexed Central Asia as far as possible until her boundaries reached Afghanistan and the Chinese Empire in 1874. Being naturally alarmed at these encroachments, England again was obliged to devote all her energies to the Indian and Afghan frontiers, and engaged in the Afghan War.
Russia now saw that she was in a better position with regard to Turkey than she had been before the Crimean War, for although Turkey was still assisted by Austria, yet the latter had not fully recovered from the Prusso-Austrian War. Again France was in a convulsed state, while England was harassed with Afghan affairs. A general alliance of the Mediterranean Powers seemed therefore impossible.
Russia, therefore, boldly declared war in 1878, and marched to the gates of Constantinople, and eventually concluded the San Stefano Treaty. This aroused both England and Austria, and, owing to their warlike attitude, the Berlin Congress was convened, and Russia again found her hands withheld from the Turkish metropolis, although she succeeded in definitely dividing the attention of England and Austria in the Balkans by turning English eyes towards Asia Minor. Her success was still greater in obtaining the outlet of the Danube and the arsenal of Batoum in the Black Sea.
Glancing, then, at the situation generally, one can perceive that Russia saw that the English opposition in Asia Minor would prove formidable, but she did not think that the Austrian defence of the Balkans would turn out so dangerous to her hopes. Her reasons for thinking this were plain. England at this crisis was a nation of the first magnitude, both in strength and wealth, and if only she (England) had fortified and occupied Cyprus as she ought to have done, she would have proved a valuable ally to Turkey, and would also have commanded the Ægean Sea. Russia saw that the most advantageous policy would be to distract England’s attention both from Cyprus and Asia Minor. To accomplish this she for the third time started to conquer Turkey through Central Asia.
In 1878 she concluded a secret agreement with Persia by which the territory down to Sarakhs from the Russian frontier was ceded, to her. Her influence in Khorasan was increasing day by day, and especially so in Meshed, owing to the skill and tact of M. Vlassoff, the Russian Consul-General in that district. India was again threatened by her, and Herat approached. Her boundaries were extended into the Chinese dominions, and great uneasiness was caused in England concerning the boundary question of the Oxus.
The most effective and important step, however, taken by Russia for the accomplishment of her schemes, was the construction of the Caspian-Samarcand Railway. It was started in 1881 with the primary object of facilitating the war operations of General Skobeloff for the reduction of the Tekkes. Lord Hartington called General Annenkoff, the promoter of the railway, “a foolish fellow.” However, Samarcand was reached in 1885, during the time that an Anglo-Russian war was threatening about the Murghab question. Thus a general military[[97]] communication of Russia with Asia was established. She had three ways of sending troops and materials in the direction of the eastern shores of the Caspian:—
(1) From St. Petersburg to Saratoff on the Volga, viâ Moscow, by railway, from there to Astrakhan by steamboat on the river, and from the latter place to Krasnovodsk or Uzan Ada.
(2) From St. Petersburg to Voladis Caucase per railway, from thence to Tiflis by post road (an eighteen hours’ journey), from Tiflis to Baku by railway, and from there to Uzan Ada.