Grand Duke of Business (1864)

In January 1864 the Kingdom of Denmark, led by King Christian IX, rejected an Austro-Prussian ultimatum against the constitution of the kingdom.

On the first day of February the German armies advance towards the kingdom of Denmark, the war will last less than a year. Grand Duke Alexander and Tsesarevich Nicholas had no problem at first.

European powers did not help Denmark much, British deterrence attempts came to nothing, and Sweden-Norway did not lift a finger.

On May 21 there was news ... much more important to the Russians. Many celebrated, the Russo-Circassian War had finally ended, after 100 years on and off conflict between the "mountaineers" (a somewhat derogatory term for the Circassians) and the Russians.

Four years ago the Russians had seventy thousand soldiers in Circassian lands, men like the minister of war Dmitry Milyutin, who since 1857 proposed the expulsion of the Circassian people or demanded the destruction of at least half of the Circassian people.

The last battle took place in "Krasnaya Polyana", the red meadow, 20,000 Circassians perished in battle against the Russians. Circassia had fallen, the only exception was the people of the Hak'uch, "flying forest thugs" called by the Russians.

Then began the Circassian genocide (discussed and planned at least since 1860 when Tsar Alexander II accepted it), the elimination of the Circassians through murder or expulsion (mainly to Ottoman lands) of 75% of the Circassians (one and a half million).

The Russian general Grigory Zass described the Circassians as "subhuman filth".

Receiving news of this, Nicholas Alexandrovich was horrified.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich remained more stoic, he could sympathize with the views of his brother against such displays of violence by Russians and Cossacks, but the decision was made by the emperor (years before). There was nothing that the Tsesarevich could change.

Finally June came, and the group of Russians in San Francisco and New York had to go home once more. Before leaving, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich finally secured an expert in naval technology from the United States, paying for the travel of equipment and personnel to the Russian Empire.

On the trip the Tsesarevich was a little quiet "You know ... America was without a doubt an incredible vision, I want Russia to be like that" The Tsesarevich Nicholas sentences.

"Exactly, like what?"

"The freedom that is there, democracy, the congress, free trade. Culture is also a good point" The Tsesarevich Nicholas mentions "We all make mistakes, but ... what happened to the Circassians-"

"Let's close the issue of the Circassians" Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich sentences, surprising his older brother a bit "... Yes, America was interesting. But there are several problems that we cannot ignore, Russia does not have the same democratic traditions, either the same economic development or culture. The Zemstvo cannot be compared to the self-government of the United States. "

"So what do you think is best for Russia?" The Tsesarevich raises his voice for once.

"Wait, be patient. Solve the problems we already have at home, corruption. We have to fix the judicial system, education, the economy. Without that, no matter how good our intentions are for the future of the country, we are going to fail. "Grand Duke Alexander insists.

The Tsesarevich was silent, getting up then to get quite sentimental "... Let's work together for that brother." The Grand Duke returned a hug from his brother ...

Back in St. Petersburg, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich convinced his uncle, Admiral Konstantin Nicolayevich, to help fund naval experimentation (with the data and personnel obtained by the Grand Duke).

In a shipyard in the Pacific (the Russian Far East), the Russian Empire begins the construction of ships based on some American models.

The first models are mainly coastal ships, not gigantic battleships. This is due to budget limitations, and the fact that at the moment Russia does not need them as much (in the future if they would be more necessary).

The first results of boats designed to be fast and serve in surveillance tasks, are successful. Of course there are still details to improve, but it starts with something.

*******

From June we moved on to July, mostly Tsesarevich Nicholas' mild temperament remained, calming down on the Circassian theme (although it was still in the memory of the older brothers, it was no longer such a recurring theme).

In this month the Tsesarevich was suddenly in love after seeing his fiancee ... or rather a photograph of his fiancée, Princess Dagmar of Denmark.

The Tsesarevich was now madly in love, the Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich on the other hand returned to his estate in Crimea.

Even though the Grand Duke has secured agricultural equipment and experts, it is obvious that he alone cannot mechanize Russian agriculture, or force others to follow his orders (yet).

Consequently, the Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was determined to profit something from his purchases in America, with the expansions of the estate and some purchases of land in Malorossiya (eastern Ukraine), the Grand Duke founded some farms.

Not exactly a company, but it wasn't a state-controlled business either, it was the Grand Duke's private land, where he began hiring serfs for agriculture.

The Grand Duke began to teach his Russian workers (thanks to specialists) the use of mechanical equipment, they would take time to completely abandon the use of animal force, but it would happen sooner or later.

Crop rotation and other new agricultural techniques that emerged in England and the United States began to be used on the Grand Duke's farms.

Production was slow in the early days, but the Grand Duke still managed to sell some of the production (not gigantic but decent for the agricultural land obtained).

Saint Petersburg Technological Institute.

Professor Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was certainly surprised by the visit of Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov.

"I have a kind of request" The Grand Duke started the conversation after certain formalities. Mendeleev listened carefully "Do you know John Bennet Lawes?"

"Not in person" Professor Mendeleev responds.

"Good. Well, I am interested in research on organic or inorganic fertilizers for agriculture" The Grand Duke explains "I want you to work for me" Alexander Alexandrovich offers, and I go on to explain the payments and resources available to Mendeleev in case of that it will accept.

Finally Professor Mendeleev accepted and began to work in a laboratory in Saint Petersburg, with regular visits to Crimea and Malorossiya.

The development of fertilizers will take a while, but there are already some bases for the project.

Speaking of chemists, the Grand Duke soon "found out" that in Couillet, Belgium, a duo of brothers named Ernest and Alfred Solvay were seeking funding for a chemical plant for the industrial process for the production of sodium carbonate.

The brothers' company was founded in 1863, but they did not have the financing for the plant until this time.

The Grand Duke offered them more funding to continue. It soon turned out that Ernest's method, the Solvay method, was cheaper than the Leblanc method (and less polluting, which is a pretty good side effect).

*******

Helsinki, Finland.

Johan Mauritz Nordenstam was the Lantmarskalk, (Translated as Lord Marshal) of the Finnish Diet, in June 1860-1863 Tsar Alexander II had called the diet once again. Granting reforms to the autonomy of Finland, such as its own currency, its own postal system, equalize the Finnish language to Swedish and de-facto the diet met every 3 years with representatives of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the clergy and the commoners.

As the first Lantmarskalk of the nobility in 55 years, Nordenstam was quite influential, he could hold his post until 1872.

"It's a pleasure to have you here" Nordenstam greets Grand Duke Alexander, visiting Finland to observe the first railways under construction by the Finnish administration.

"A pleasure" The Grand Duke reciprocates.

After the courtesies and some normal chatter, the Grand Duke released his intentions "I am going to invest in Finland" Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich sentenced.

"That's good news. Why so suddenly?" Nordenstam asks curiously.

"Recently there is foreign investment, that's good, but the Empire also need money. Here the Finnish language and Swedish are fighting, but all humans understand a similar language, money" Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich sentenced.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich understood the struggle caused by his father in raising Finnish, there were the Fennomans who sought to raise the Finnish language nationally against the effects that the Swedish language had for generations, and there were the Svecoman who wanted the status quo of the Swedish in Finland in favor of the Germanic world (some Svecoman even say that the Swedes are racially superior to the Finns).

The Swedes could still be enemies of Russia, so it is obvious that the authorities, and Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was no exception, favored the Fennomans.

The Finnish Markka was linked to silver, and not to the ruble, but also the Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich used it for his business in Finland (mainly in railways and some other markets).

Profiting from this to get more funds for projects, the Grand Duke's position alone helps but even so Alexander Alexandrovich understood that he could not be completely dependent on the state coffers, or that it could be harmful in the long run.

Some Finnish statesmen and politicians from the Fennoman movement sought out Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich in the fight against the Svecoman.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich allied himself with some of the more moderates (not some with a radical past known as the energetic Senator Johan Vilhelm Snellman).

The Fennoman and Grand Duke businesses were opposed to those of the Svecoman, the Fennoman by ideology, the Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich by money.

As the Fennoman movement grew among bilingual families, so did some of Grand Duke Alexander's earnings.

The Russian Grand Dukes used to have high expenses or money expenditures, so Tsar Alexander II was not surprised to see his son spending money in Finland or Malorossiya.

The strange thing for the emperor was that his son will spend the money on business and not on luxuries or parties like his relatives.