Ever since the Russian Bear's crushing defeat in the Crimean War in 1856, it had been dealt a heavy blow in the struggle for international dominance, forcing it to turn its expansionist focus toward the Far East and the Pacific Ocean.
Britain, the United States, Germany, and other countries also hoped to lure the Russian Bear to the pastures of the Far East, fanning the flames from the sidelines.
Before the First Sino-Japanese War broke out, the great powers had yet to see how weak our Big Apple was. They hoped Apple could use its geographical advantage to hold back the Russian Bear's expansion.
At the time, a chauvinist backlash had swept through Russia. Orientalists in intellectual and cultural circles argued, "Russian culture has closer ties to Eastern culture than to European culture, and absorbing the East into the Russian Empire is Russia's historic mission."
Egged on by his tutor, the Orientalist Ukhtomsky, Crown Prince Nicholas traveled to Eastern countries, including Greece, Egypt, India, China, and Japan, between 1890 and 1891.
In October 1891, Nicholas and his party accepted an invitation from the Japanese royal family to visit Japan. He was even wounded by a Japanese assassin's saber, sowing the seeds for the Russo-Japanese War years later.
Perhaps because relations between Russia and Bulgaria had already begun to thaw, or perhaps because Germany's continental policy had changed, Russia had become more isolated than ever in Europe and was in urgent need of allies. It planned to strengthen ties with Bulgaria, so Bulgaria was added to the list of countries Nicholas would visit.
Since the Russian Bear had extended an olive branch, Ferdinand coolly declared that he didn't give a damn.
Oh, that was all just a joke. Ferdinand immediately dropped what he was doing and hurried back to Sofia, afraid