Having both become scapegoats, the Russo-Austrian Alliance could just as well be renamed the Scapegoat Alliance. Still, not all scapegoats were created equal.
Austria had willingly stepped forward to take the blame.
French Foreign Ministry: Austria has spread rumors and smeared France's national image. We demand compensation for the economic losses.
Austrian Foreign Ministry: Nothing of the sort. We merely stated the facts and allowed the European public to understand the truth.
The Tsarist Government, however, was different. They had been sitting quietly at home when a pot came flying down from the sky.
The Vienna Government taking the blame had been a willing transaction, with each side getting what it wanted. The quarrel between France and Austria was more like a political game.
The blame the British had thrown over was another matter entirely. Sending troops to attack the British Army stationed in Afghanistan was no different from declaring war.
They were not afraid of fighting the British, but taking the blame for an enemy without gaining anything from it was naturally unacceptable to the Russians.
Saint Petersburg
Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez said, "Your Majesty, we have gotten to the bottom of it. After the British Army occupied Afghanistan, it encountered fierce resistance from the locals and suffered devastating losses.
"The British Government is falsely accusing us of sending troops to launch a surprise attack on the British Army in Afghanistan simply so it can avoid responsibility for the heavy losses at the front and give its people an explanation."
What would war between Britain and Russia mean?
One only needed to look at a map to know that it was not really such a big deal. Apart from the possibility of war breaking out in Central Asia, neither side could reach the other anywhere else.
In theory,