The wheels of history rumbled onward. After Alexander II ascended the throne, the Tsarist Government once again raised the curtain on reform.
However, Alexander II did not possess the prestige of Nicholas the Great and could not suppress the domestic nobility, leaving the situation somewhat awkward.
This was the aftermath of Nicholas I's failed reforms. Everyone was highly wary of the tsar trying new tricks, and faced with the nobles closing ranks, Alexander II truly had no way to deal with them.
Of course, Russian history books would never say that Nicholas the Great's reforms had failed. They would only say that he had died too early and had been unable to complete them.
The capture of Constantinople had already placed Nicholas I upon a pedestal, making him the greatest tsar of the Russian Empire.
The successful were never blamed. Everyone would find reasons to defend him, and all the pressure of reform fell upon Alexander II's shoulders.
Infighting within the Tsarist Government intensified, leaving the Russians with no energy to continue making trouble for the British.
On March 26, 1860, Britain and Russia signed the India Memorandum. In exchange for a low-interest loan of fifteen million pounds, the British secured Russian recognition of their sovereignty in India.
In other words, the Indian rebels had been sold out by the Tsarist Government. Although it was hardly a good price, Alexander II could not afford to worry about that now.
Reforms required money as well. Unless one resorted to violent methods, compensation for groups whose interests were harmed was unavoidable.
Watching the miserable Alexander II battle the domestic aristocratic bloc until the sky darkened and the earth dimmed, Franz could not help but let out a sigh of relief.
A Russian Empire consumed by infighting needed a stable international environment, making