1889 was an exceptionally unusual year, and the peanut gallery had their fill of spectacle.
From the initial Central Asian War and Afghan War to the outbreak of the envoy incident, England and Russia then launched into a spectacular, no-holds-barred mudslinging war.
Yet that was only the beginning. It had supposedly been nothing more than England and Russia tearing into each other, but the rule-breaking English were the first to unleash the art of dragging others into the mire.
Beginning in the second half of the year, the dark histories of Europe's great colonial empires were exposed one after another.
Austria was no exception, leaving Franz, one of the onlookers, unable even to enjoy the spectacle in peace.
If he still failed to recognize this as an English conspiracy at such a time, then he would have been emperor for all these years in vain.
The so-called "Central Asian massacre" and the "dark histories of various countries" had all been concocted to divert international public opinion.
The Russian envoy had been murdered in broad daylight in London. After something so grave had happened, the British Government simply could not explain itself.
The international community did not accept the English explanation at all. Countries everywhere urged the British Government to solve the case swiftly and bring the envoy incident to a satisfactory conclusion.
In recent years, the British Government had made no shortage of enemies. The joint pressure from the various nations was not only meant to crack down on behavior that violated the rules of the game; it also carried an element of seizing the opportunity to make trouble.
The justification was ample, and Europe's nations had acted together. Even if the English wished to retaliate afterward, they would not be able to find an excuse to do so.
Naturally,