Building an empire (July-September, 1867).

International]

In mid-July, in eastern France, near the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, French and Prussian forces collide. Prussia, led by King Wilhelm I and Minister President Otto von Bismarck, and France, led by Emperor Napoleon III.

The battle between the French and Prussian forces is different from the Austro-Prussian war.

The railway network was less prepared, the French troops have not yet had their military reforms as a team, and the Prussians are still recovering.

The resulting combat on July 18 was essentially a draw, incredibly damaging to both sides.

France has had to retreat kilometers to the west of Luxembourg to regroup the survivors led by Emperor Napoleon III and other French generals, while the Prussians hold the fortified positions of Luxembourg.

Prussian personal initiative fell sharply, they need greater coordination and mobility to continue the long-term campaign.

*******

The Meiji Emperor of Japan marries.

The first volume of Das Kapital by socialist author Karl Marx is published.

Marx's influence through scientific socialism would be more apparent in later years than in his own time.

*******

[Central Asia: Objective, Samarkand]

In July, Emperor Alexander III created the Turkestan Province-Military District (which occupies the area of the Russian Kazakh steppe, Kyrgyzstan and some other conquered territories further south).

General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufmann was made the military Governor of this province, while his comrade General Mikhail Grigorievich Chernyayev was placed as Deputy Governor of Turkestan.

The actions of the Emirate of Bukhara against Russian diplomacy were urging von Kaufmann and the Tsar to take action.

General von Kaufmann intends to target Samarkand.

Through his alliances with some of the locals of conquered Turkestan, Chernyayev managed to secure some stronger supply lines in the eastern regions of Russian Turkestan for the new campaign.

With this help and larger budgets from the emperor, General von Kaufmann was able to afford new recruits and equipment. Operations were planned for April 1868, which allowed the Bukharans to be taken by surprise (they continued to outnumber the Russians, but surprise and technological superiority remained on the Russians' side).

Among the army of the Samarcand campaign was a 27-year-old young man from the Russian Empire, Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev. That he would become general and political.

*******

[Railways]

Railways Minister Pavel Petrovich Melnikov, Deputy Minister Alexei Pavlovich Bobrinsky, Finance Minister Nikolai von Bunge and Emperor Alexander III met. A map of the Russian Empire is on the table, connecting a point from Vladivostok to Moscow.

"I call it the Trans-Siberian Railway." Emperor Alexander III presents.

"I understand the need to improve communications within the Empire but this ... is titanic" Minister Melnikov exclaims in surprise.

"It will be very expensive, it would take years to do something like this" Minister Nikolai von Bunge points out.

"Yes, but I expected that. But we are going to divide it into sections" Tsar Alexander III began to explain the divisions of the Trans-Siberian railway.

"There are already some private companies that have proposed to build sections of railway" Minister Nikolai von Bunge argues.

"The main line has to be public, other sections can be private. Would that be feasible?" Emperor Alexander III argues.

"Viable, yes, but it will still be expensive and it will take us years to complete. Probably more than a decade" Bobrinsky responds.

"It works for me." Emperor Alexander III exclaims.

In various tram lines, the Russians began to innovate in the intelligent use of dynamite to clean space, eastern Russia is a difficult region, where formerly the population depended mainly on rivers to cross due to the lack of roads.

The mineral deposits found in mining operations (the most valuable falling into a state monopoly) were used for the creation of infrastructure for these roads and rail lines throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East.

Greater investments from the Russian government, however, would arrive later in the foundations of the Trans-Siberian railway, more specifically at the end of 1867 and the beginning of 1868.

The great first steps of the European routes would come later however, in 1870.

*******

[Agrarian question]

Nikolai von Bungen and Tsar Alexander III met to discuss early experimental reforms in Russian America.

"The peasant communes must disappear" Minister Nikolai von Bungen begins. "The government's communal punishments must also disappear, the main problem is poverty among the peasants, they cannot buy more land or expand."

"They also don't have the means to maintain agriculture in the long term, although to be honest, in Alyáska they are not going to use agriculture that much" Emperor Alexander III mentions.

"You said it yourself Emperor, Alyáska is an experiment. In essence we are discussing what we are going to do in Russia, on a larger scale." Minister Nikolai von Bungen points, and Tsar Alexander III nods.

"What do you propose?" The emperor asks.

"A peasant land bank, in essence, a credit union for peasants. Allow them to move up, even if it is relatively little" Nikolai von Bungen responds.

"The upper classes and conservatives are not going to like it." Emperor Alexander III reports.

"I know, I know. But if we start in Alyáska they won't notice, they don't have land there, it's Siberia's Siberia" Minister Nikolai von Bungen proposes.

"What if they compete for new land there?" Emperor Alexander III questions.

"I have an idea, a clause. They can only have land if they manage it themselves, successfully in at least one economic activity, for a period of 3 to 6 years" Minister Nikolai responds.

"... Tell Furuhjelm about it."

*******

[Russia in the arctic]

The Emperor Alexander III and the Minister of Railways Pavel Petrovich Melnikov launched in mid-September, the Romanov-on-Murman project, or also simply called Murmansk.

The project officially began in July-August, with the search for the site on the Arctic coast (an ice-free gulf to be more specific), which was found shortly after on the Murman coast.

The project was not associated with the Trans-Siberian railway, but the railway settlement was linked with a railway line from Petrozavodsk.

The small settlement (originally small compared to Murmansk) of Alexandrovsk (or Alexandrovsk-na-Murmane according to some sources of the time) was also formed.

To give an example, while Romanov-on-Murman obtained urban status shortly after its founding, it took Alexandrovsk three years to obtain the same status.

The Murman coast (an archaic Russian term for "Norwegian"), more specifically Murmansk, is a place without ice, or at least more available for the movement of supplies in the Russian Arctic.

The railway settlement soon received urban settlement status due to its rapid growth (overtaking the local cities of Kola and Alexandrovsk.

Soon Romanov-on-Murman grew up obtaining a port (the Semyonovsky port), a naval base and an adjacent settlement. It also had a factory, but the main economic activities of Murmansk in its beginnings were more associated with the navy, fishmongers (or hunting of aquatic mammals) and trade than production.

Murmansk began moving goods from the Russian Arctic to Sweden-Norway in Scandinavia, and eastern parts of Germany.

The area increased further in 1870 when it was connected to the new Petrozavodsk telegraph line to Saint Petersburg.

*******

[Mexico and the World (incluiding Russia)]

His Majesty the Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, through a special envoy to the Russian Empire, delivered to Empress Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, a Grand Cross of the Order of San Carlos (dedicated to women who have done a service to their community ).

Emperor Alexander III on the other hand received the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Our Lady of Guadalupe, other European monarchs who received this honor during this period were Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary and Wilhelm I of Prussia.

(Previous monarchs who already had the order are Napoleon III, Elizabeth II of Spain and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom).

What do Austria-Hungary, Prussia and Russia have in particular?

The three countries recognize the Second Mexican Empire, currently all of Europe does, but to be honest, these three countries added to France and the United Kingdom, are the most important countries. Now that Maximiliano does not have French support, it is obvious that he wants to strengthen ties with his former European neighbors or relatives.

In America only Guatemala and the Empire of Brazil (led by Don Pedro II) have recognized the Second Mexican Empire.

Now the Second Mexican Empire is a country devastated by war and very close to the United States (against the Second Mexican Empire).

Another country that recognizes the Second Mexican Empire is King Kamehameha V of Hawai'i, who now also hosts a Mexican consulate.

Due to this, the Second Mexican Empire finally forms consulates by the European countries, much better administered than previous diplomatic relations of the current Mexican government.

The Russian Empire is no exception, since the American Revolution began, the Russian Empire has been attentive to the movements of the other American territories (at that time, mainly Spain and Portugal).

Now most of the Americas (with exceptions like the Caribbean, the Guyanas, etc) are independent.

*******

In a sense, both Tsar Alexander III and Maximilian I of Habsburg were building an Empire, but the Second Mexican Empire and the Russian Empire were two quite different things.

Mexico was underdeveloped not only because of the infrastructure left behind before independence, but also because of years of civil wars and foreign interventions.

Russia was also underdeveloped, but in a better diplomatic and geographical position (in a sense) than Mexico.

The great tour of Mexican diplomats promised various advantages for European capital, in terms of rail concessions.

Mexico is building the railway line from Mexico City to Veracruz, the problem is that the Second Mexican Empire now does not have capital that will allow it to build this or more rail lines in the north.

These promises would not pay off much in the early years, but they attracted imperialists and early investors (in small numbers), who sought the economic supremacy of their nations over Latin American resources.