Reincarnated as Nikolai II

Romania has weak nationalism.

More precisely, as a relatively new country, the sense of national belonging is weak across the entire nation.

The king who established the dictatorship was from the French-German Hohenzollern bloodline.

The population consists of 80% Romanian with a mix of German, Hungarian, and Slavic minorities.

Their religion is Orthodox Christianity, same as ours.

As a Balkan nation, they naturally hate the Ottoman Empire but also have poor relations with the Slavic nation of Bulgaria.

So overall, they don’t have much affinity with Russia, have established equal relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and have some connections with Germany.

’They’re essentially the first neutral country in the Balkans.’

This shows how remarkable Carol I is.

He’s someone who steadfastly focuses on national development while doing his own thing even in these turbulent times.

His nation is a model of excellent monarchy.

And looking at this background alone.

"Romania has no reason to form an alliance with us."

"I think it would be difficult without any conditions."

Romania would be great to have on our side, but they’re a country that remained still even when the Great War broke out.

That country joins the war two years after it starts.

They join the Entente in panic when General Aleksei Brusilov advances to the Balkan Peninsula massacring Austro-Hungarian forces.

Until then, they maintain neutrality whether Serbia gets crushed or the Eastern Front extends hundreds of kilometers.

Their neutrality was so firm that when some Romanian Hungarians joined the Dual Monarchy’s army and were captured by the thousands by the Russian Imperial Army, Russia returned all prisoners on the condition of disbanding the Romanian volunteer army to avoid provoking Romania.

That’s how solid Romania’s neutrality was.

His only interest was development, not expansion, war, or security.

’No wonder both the Entente and Central Powers were going crazy. The southern situation would change depending on which side Romania joined.’

The eastern and western fronts had become fixed. And the southern Balkans remained a variable.

How many countries must have tried to sway Romania with all sorts of conditions?

If it ended there, I would have just considered Carol I and his successor Ferdinand I to be simply upright men.

But Romania joins the war in the summer of 1916.

Why join specifically two years after the war started?

Because Carol I’s nephew, Ferdinand I, was a madman who spent those two years preparing for war under the pretext of neutrality.

In 1915, British Secretary of State for War Herbert Kitchener sends Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Thomson to Romania to persuade them to join.

Christopher Thomson gives up on persuasion, judging that Romania is not at all ready for war.

But just one year later.

Ferdinand I appears on the Eastern Front. Leading 23 divisions no less.

It was a massive army of 650,000 men, absolutely impossible for peacetime numbers.

How could this small country, with less than one-tenth of the Dual Monarchy’s population, suddenly appear after completing independent armament and troop recruitment? This is absolutely impossible to prepare in just a day or two.

’Would Carol I, who moves strictly for his own country’s benefit, really form an alliance with us?’

Moreover, Romania was a principality of the Russian Empire until just before the Crimean War. Though it’s quite long ago, those feelings can’t have completely disappeared.

"Still, we must do it."

"Drawing in Romania to fight the Ottoman Empire through Bulgarian territory to secure passage through Istanbul... Perhaps it would be faster to request the British Navy for an amphibious operation... ah, maybe not."

For a moment, a certain naval minister’s operation plan crossed my mind, but fortunately, I had no intention of carrying out what would be one of history’s most notorious blunders.

That might add a title like ’Gallipoli II’ to my epithets.

"This dying empire keeps being troublesome until the end."

Well, the Ottoman Empire probably never imagined they would end up antagonizing both Russia and Britain simultaneously.

Of course, they would never have imagined blocking Istanbul to turn the Black Sea into a lake.

Still, I understand Kokovtsov’s continued concerns.

If the Black Sea gets blocked, the empire’s industry becomes like a cripple with one leg blown off.

"Prime Minister Kokovtsov. Nothing is confirmed yet. For now, let’s try to make the Ottoman Empire distance themselves from Germany as much as possible. Continue pursuing the alliance with Romania, and increase the Black Sea Fleet’s defenses as well."

"I will prioritize the Romanian alliance."

"Good."

I don’t expect the Ottoman Empire, which we’ve fought for hundreds of years, to take our side instead of Germany overnight, but we should at least try.

There are still countless variables regarding the Black Sea.

How actively will the Ottoman Empire engage in war?

Will Italy, the Mediterranean’s boss, move its navy to attack the Ottoman Empire?

How serious will Britain be about the Mediterranean for protecting Suez?

Even I can’t calculate the influence and connections of each factor.

So for now, we can only watch and wait.

==

Among the expressions of this era, there is a term "Warm Waters" (or "warm coastal ports") referring to parts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.

This was a term describing Russia’s expansionism seeking to break out of the frozen lands to reach warm waters, and was closely related to Pan-Slavic diplomacy.

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Originally, Russia was trapped in the Black Sea, having to pass through the Ottoman Empire as the first gate, then Greece and Britain as the second gate to barely reach the Mediterranean.

However, through Slavic nations like Serbia and Bulgaria, they could bypass these gates and indirectly connect to the Mediterranean.

In other words, considering Russia’s almost instinctive Slavic diplomacy seeking warm waters, Russia was likely to be Romania’s greatest threat.

Carol I, Romania’s king, didn’t leave even a sliver of room for taking sides after the Morocco Crisis intensified.

Vowing never to be swept up in their waves of imperialism, he closed his eyes and ears and focused solely on his kingdom’s peace and development.

While the Romanian people had pro-French tendencies and he himself had pro-German leanings, Carol I wasn’t foolish enough to let those inclinations influence diplomacy.

Just once, in ’83, he had sided with Germany and the Dual Monarchy.

At that time, Russia’s Tsar Alexander III, though uninterested in expansion, severely oppressed Poland and Finland and didn’t look kindly upon Romania, their former principality.

But that’s all in the past.