Chapter 21

The Russian Empire had a relatively acceptable level of education for its time, even though its universities were not as old and steeped in history as other universities in Europe, however, it still had a higher level of education compared to the non-European world, and with the University of Turku in the Grand Duchy of Finland being the oldest.

Increasing investment in education was already a plan of my father's, and I simply helped refine the plan, the establishment of new universities in major cities would ensure better utilization of talent within the empire, additionally, through my slight reform of the ideas taught, particularly by professors in the humanities, replacing radical ideals with national ideals, we would also foster greater loyalty among the intellectual class in the empire.

The only major cities in the empire that still lacked a university were at the top of my father's priority list, cities such as Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Minsk, Kiev, and Tbilisi were chosen for investment in education by the Tsar, Tbilisi only made it onto this list thanks to my previous efforts in supporting the local Orthodox population for better control of the region.

Each university would have its own quota for private fundraising, maximizing results in education, In exchange for a temporary tiny reduction in taxes for generous donors, which appealed to regional capitalists, after all what regional capitalist wouldn't want their children to attend a university?

And the new cotton barons of the region were more than happy to support the Tsar in building a university for the future and prestige of their children.

The cotton barons had done an excellent job "controlling" the rebellious and infidel peoples of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, particularly the region of Dagestan in Transcaucasia, a religion formerly known within the empire for being predominantly Arab and Islamic and causing headaches for the military stationed on the border.

The city of Tbilisi was the largest in the region, hosting the great chiefs, nobles, and bourgeoisie,however the city with the greatest economy and my main focus of development was Vladikaspiy (currently known as Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan).

It was an important port where all the cotton production from the Caucasus was exported, ships would sail from the Caspian Sea and navigate the entire length of the Volga River up to Moscow, and It also served as the current base for the Caspian Flotilla and would be a key city in the future conquest of Central Asia.

The Russia had latent potential in the field of education, particularly in chemistry, great names in world chemistry would be born and thrive in Russian universities in the coming decades, with one of the most prominent figures being Dmitri Mendeleev, the creator of the periodic table.

His fame and importance would be carried through generations, with their children also making significant contributions, for example his son devised the first armored fighting car even before the British Mark 1 tank was built or even conceived.

Although Dmitri had not yet been born, his father Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev was a respected scientist from Siberia who even owned a glass factory in the region, It was easy for me to bring him under my wing and I purchased 40% of his factory and invested further in his person, together we planned an expansion strategy for his business, leveraging his academic knowledge.

The Mendeleev Industries became famous in Moscow, and with my assistance, Ivan became a highly esteemed bourgeois in the city, his primary production was the famous Russian distilled beverage Vodka, with a little help from me, Ivan had appropriated one of his son's most famous creations, but the invention would remain within the family.

Ivan also, at my request, taught at the Royal University of Moscow in his spare time, after all, he was one of the greatest chemists in the world at that time, and he was a talent that I couldn't afford to waste.

My first talent acquisition would be the Nobel family, the current patriarch of the family, Immanuel Nobel, was a Swedish engineer, It was relatively easy to recruit him and his wife, I offered him a position to teach at the University of Moscow, which he gladly accepted as it provided an opportunity to finance his personal projects while earning an income, with my assistance, he and his wife settled in Moscow.

In the year 1838, Immanuel Nobel approached the Tzar with his newly created invention, the naval mine, which proved to be a significant weapon against ships, with the Tzar's support, he established his company in Russia. His children also became successful magnates in the future, with a Russian oil extraction company, each of the Nobel children excelled in their respective fields and accumulated numerous patents throughout their lives.

I provided Immanuel with some ideas regarding his projects, and I believe that the development of the naval mine will be accelerated in a few years because of my input, I also contributed the idea of creating a land-based version, dispersing small high-velocity fragments on the enemy, thus planning to create the fragmentation landmine, these inventions would revolutionize the battlefields.

My next investment would be in a family of peasants living in the Austrian Empire, normally it would be nearly impossible to attract a German to live and serve in Russia, to my delight, they were of Moldavian descent, which caused significant prejudice where they were located in the Austrian Empire.

The most challenging part was infiltrating an agent to communicate with the family and facilitate their immigration to Russia, however the promise of a better life and strong support for their immigration made the Mendel family not hesitate much in accepting the proposal, they would soon be moving to Moscow.

Johann Mendel, or as he would be more commonly known in the future, Gregor Mendel, would be renowned as the father of genetics, and his projects on plant hybridization would be instrumental for me in the future to create more profitable crops, I also planned to collaborate with him on interesting projects for the future.