London. The moment news of the Ankara coup arrived, Prime Minister Gladstone knew things were about to go badly.
The Ottoman Empire's problem was never something that could be solved simply by replacing the government. No matter who came to power, the first problems they would face would be resolving the refugee crisis and suppressing the rebellions.
The Sultan Government had failed to accomplish those two tasks not merely because it was corrupt and incompetent, but because they truly could not be done. Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. It would have been the same for anyone else.
Prime Minister Gladstone asked, "How much capital would the Ottoman Empire need to invest at minimum to begin restoring agricultural production?"
Foreign Secretary Marquis McLean shook his head. "Prime Minister, I am afraid no one can answer that question. The Russians were too ruthless. Before withdrawing, they destroyed every piece of infrastructure they could destroy.
"According to intelligence from the embassy, in every area occupied by the Russian army, one could scarcely find a single intact building. They blew up every structure except churches.
"They did not even spare the countryside. Houses, farmland, bridges, and dams were all blown up. They even deliberately blocked river channels, turning the downstream farmland into a vast watery marsh.
"It is said that, merely for the sake of destruction, the Russians used more than ten thousand tons of explosives. Nearly all of the Russian-occupied territory had been reduced to bare ground.
"The Ottoman Government's plan to restore spring planting has been utterly ruined by Russian destruction. At the current rate, even by 1876, the Ottomans will be able to restore at most half of the local agricultural production.
"The Sultan Government does not possess the financial resources to hold out for that long. To