Quelpart (October-December, 1866)

International]

The Austrians in their pride consider that they definitively defeated Italy, or at least in a certain sense, so on October 12, with the Treaty of Vienna, they ceded the area of Venice to France.

Thus France cedes it to Italy.

This closes the last front of the Austro-Prussian war, and it is clear that the Germanic world has changed considerably, with Prussia much more powerful.

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[Central Asia]

In October, Central Asia, the Russians under General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann captured Jizzakh and the fortress of Ura-Tyube from the hands of the Bukharans, then Kaufmann offered peace terms to the Emir of Bukhara.

However the Emir soon excused himself from the talks, giving the general procrastination.

The Emir was so brazen as to break peace protocols and attack the conquered territories, and the Russian camp (failing in the latter in particular).

At this, Tsar Alexander III sent a letter to von Kaufmann, instructing him to end discussions with the Emir of Bukhara and re-initiate campaigns in Central Asia.

In the campaign so far the Russians have lost around 500 men, while Bukhara has lost a total of 12,000 military.

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[Education]

The Russian Empire is a mostly illiterate country, with few exceptions in certain regions, mainly the peasant mass. Emperor Alexander III decided to keep the minister of education before the murder of his father, Alexander Vasilyevich Golovnin.

Count Ivan Davidovich Delyanov was placed as deputy minister, Delyanov is relatively good at working in administration but his problem is a somewhat soft personality.

Golovnin has a strong personality and the experience to continue being a minister. Working together Alexander III hopes that the ministry can carry out some future educational reforms.

According to the interest of the reform, Russian education is going to put aside the importance of Greek and Latin, some other humanistic areas could be reduced as well.

Russian education must focus in technical-scientific aspects of education (engineering, mathematics, chemistry).

Political activity in universities and gymnasiums would be prohibited, in addition to student strikes.

The Russian government would also endeavor to obtain technical equipment for laboratories and other educational materials necessary for the reform, laboratory equipment, agricultural equipment, medical equipment, mechanical equipment, etc.

At least these are the basic principles in which the Russian educational reform is proposed in the future.

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[Dynasty]

In November, after successful negotiations, Emperor Alexander III marries Princess Dagmar of Denmark, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark.

Dagmar takes the Orthodox name Maria Feodorovna.

The couple is on stable terms at first, but they would soon become much closer (and loving).

Within a couple of years the couple would have offspring.

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[Franco-Russian Expedition: To Korea]

The Franco-Russian expedition to the Joseon dynasty begins on October 14, led by Rear Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze on the French side. Roze's main supporters were French officials in Beijing.

The French with tacit official support (which allowed contact with the Russians in the first place) gave them in total about 1600 men (mainly naval riflemen).

On the other hand, the Russian flotilla was led by one of the Russian captains from Tsushima, accompanied by coastal ships and gunboats, with Russian-Japanese officers.

The Russians (and Tsushima Japanese) for their part numbered around 1400-1500 men, slightly below their Japanese counterparts.

Both forces had naval riflemen and cannons.

On October 16, the French would take the island of Ganghwa and various fortified positions for the domination of the Han River. Looting the fortifications (obtaining documents, cannons, silver ingots, etc).

On October 26, while the French attempted (and failed) to conquer Munsusansong Mount and Fortress, the Russians launched their part of the invasion into Pusan (or Busan).

The Russian attack began with a few artillery shots before the first amphibious assault on the settlement, surprising Korean officers in the area by the attack from the south.

Resistance in the south was less costly than resistance in the north to the French (closer to Seoul). There the Russian officials opened the city of Pusan to Russian trade with Tsushima and the Russian Far East, or so were the Russian demands before the taking of Pusan.

The Russians established their camp at Haeundae as they prepared to travel across the Nakdong River.

On November 7 the French launched a second attack with more riflemen, allowing the Munsusansong mount to be taken, two days later with the French centered on Ganghwa, the Jeongdeung-sa monastery was forced to surrender.

Then winter came, the French were fortified in North Korea while the Russians were successfully occupying Pusan.

Regent Heungseon Daewongun was getting obvious problems with this Western-European interference in Korean isolationism. The French under Roze called for the release of the two missionaries they believed were locked up.

The Russians on the other hand only asked for a port to trade in, apparently choosing Pusan.

Korean forces were mobilizing from Seoul to the French position in Ganghwa to try to retake it, an infinitely smaller force moved south.

On November 15, the Franco-Korean clash took place, where the French were narrowly victorious, one of the avenues of the city of Seoul itself was hit by accident by a French artillery shot.

Korean and Russian forces collided two days later, resulting in a draw that forced the Koreans to rally north of the Nakdong River. The Russians began fortifying Pusan around this time to resist future Korean advances.

Russians with the most difficult logistics founded some places to cook, fish and grow their own food, motivated by their Japanese companions from Tsushima (children of farmers and fishermen who know this trade).

The deal between Japanese (Tsushima natives), Russians and Koreans was ... neutral, the Russians and their Japanese allies were invaders yes, but the Japanese weren't that strange in Pusan. Furthermore, their treatment of the Koreans was not particularly harmful, at the time of the expedition of course.

Korean Sangmin were paid by the Russians to help with construction, agriculture and fishing, helping to sustain the Pusan population base now that it was separated from Joseon (during the punitive expedition).

The Korean government at this time was led by Regent Heungseon Daewongun, with a clear foreign policy: no treaties, no trade, no Catholics, no West, and no Japan.

So Korea had no allies to face the Franco-Russian force. Nor was there such a large industry, apart from the national manufacture of weapons and some other proto-industries.

At the end of November, the German-Jew Ernst Jakob Oppert, a former member of a family business in Hong Kong (which was about to go bankrupt), took an interest in Korea.

Oppert began to give financial support to the Russians and French in a clandestine way, by this time he already knew how to get in and out of Joseon numerous times.

Some weapons from China reached the French in Ganghwa and the Russians in Pusan thanks to Erns Oppert.

By the first days of December it was obvious that the situation was stagnant, the Koreans were resisting the French attacks in the north. Rear Admiral Roze was considering withdrawal if he could not get a deal with the Koreans for the following year.

The Russians on the other hand managed to hold the valley near Pusan from the south of the Koreans, with difficulties, but they succeeded.

On December 12, a detachment of 300 Russians moved from Pusan to other regions of Korea. 150 of the Russians went to Ganghwa to support the French.

The other 150 went to the Korean island of Quelpart (as it was called by Europeans, although it was also called Tamna and a diverse variety of names).

In the 15th century the island was subdued by the central Joseon government, and for the next 200 years there was a travel ban, and several uprisings crushed.

The Quelpart detachments offered little resistance to the Russians after 3 days of combat (which involved firing from cannons captured in Pusan).

Some Koreans from Quelpart did join the Russian regiment, taking mainly nominal control of the island. Although they mainly controlled the historical area of present-day Jeju City.

With Jeju captured and Seoul effectively under siege, on December 21, Regent Heungseon Daewongun accepted the need for diplomacy with the Franco-Russian expedition.

The demands of the consul Henri de Bellonet were too many, so Roze effectively directed French diplomacy regarding Korea.

On the other hand, the Russians sent their own representative.

The discussions lasted until the end of December.

Rear Admiral Roze was pleased to obtain reparations for the death of French Christians on Korean soil, on the other hand the problem was the arguments between Russians and Koreans.

The opening of the city of Pusan was denied or left to the Russians, but then an agreement was reached.

The island of Quelpart (more specifically the area of the city of Jeju) would become a Russian outpost, essentially turning the island into a Russian protectorate, just like Tsushima.

The treaty was only ratified in January of the following year however.