While the French were making little moves behind the scenes, the Russians also launched a great war in Central Asia.
Frankly speaking, March and April were not the best time to attack, but there was no helping it—the Tsarist Government had to race against time.
Austria had lost contact with the Afghan government, and the Tsarist Government was not much better off. Though it had operated there longer, Russian bureaucrats simply did not put their hearts into it!
Not long after the war broke out, both sides lost contact. In the eyes of the Tsarist leadership, if they could not be reached, there was certainly no good news to be had.
In order to seize the initiative in the war, the Russian military was forced to launch its offensive ahead of schedule.
Everything had two sides. At this time, the ice and snow were melting, placing immense logistical pressure on the Russian Army, but the Central Asian Khanates were not much better off.
Though fighting on home soil reduced their logistical burden, a war breaking out at this time affected the spring planting.
For agricultural nations, this was undoubtedly a fatal blow. Although the Central Asian countries did not rely entirely on farming, with animal husbandry also being an important industry, the impact they suffered was still enormous.
There was no choice. The Russian Army had come calling, and able-bodied young men were forced into service. The labor force engaged in farming and herding shrank drastically, making reduced agricultural and livestock output inevitable.
In the short term, it did not seem obvious, but it had in fact affected the war potential of the three Central Asian khanates. In a sense, the Russians had already secured victory in advance.
However, none of this was within General Okinets's considerations. From beginning to