The Russian Bear, having entered a period of reform, was just as restless. With no opportunities for expansion on the European Continent, it ran off to stir up trouble in the Far East.
It first kicked the Qing Government while it was down during the Second Opium War, carving off vast swathes of territory from the Qing dynasty. Then it turned its gaze toward Japan.
In 1861, Russian warships barged into Tsushima Island, an island in Nagasaki Prefecture, intending to forcibly seize it as a bridgehead for invading Japan.
Japan, fractured into pieces, naturally lacked the ability to fend off a Russian invasion. The shogunate sought help from the great powers, hoping to use their strength to dispel Russia's ambitions toward Japan.
To restrain Russian expansion in the Far East, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and other nations all voiced their support for the Japanese government. The British even dispatched warships to face off against the Russians.
If history had not changed, the Russians should have backed down under British pressure.
Yet at this very moment, the Austrian Ocean-going Fleet entered East Asia. Unwilling to accept defeat, the Russians sought Austria's assistance.
The Austrian minister to Japan relayed the news to the Ocean-going Fleet. Commander Arest was left with a headache; political matters were truly difficult for him to handle.
Under the Russo-Austrian Alliance treaty, so long as their own interests were not involved, the two nations were obligated to offer each other whatever assistance they could reasonably provide.
The problem was that the boundaries of "what they could reasonably provide" were hard to define. In this great colonial age, everything depended on strength, and in the Far East, the Austrian Ocean-going Fleet was currently the strongest force.
Before the Ocean-going Fleet arrived, the Far East had possessed only