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nd the initial failure of talks between the allies and the turks for an armistice it still appeared that bulgaria might take the turkish capital sazonov was forced to speak at least to the french ambassador of the possibility not only of internationalizing constantinople but also of neutralizing the straits but he deferred a definitive statement until he could consult with the tsar and other authorities 69 while the internationalization of constantinople had been foreseen in the above writings the change at the straits had not given the importance of the matter to the russians however one must wonder if this suggestion was not a russian ploy to attract france s goodwill and support before claiming later that the tsar and others would not allow the full neutralization of the straits because of reasons similar to those sazonov developed above but with the collapse of the bulgarian offensive and the ebbing of the threat to constantinople st petersburg could devote its attention to other issues created by the near complete ottoman retreat from europe the straits and constantinople appeared in russian statements during these talks only in a negative sense which is to say that as long as constantinople remained turkish russia had no desire to raise the subject 70 indeed once 68 sazonov was a vigorous proponent of a stronger black sea fleet see shatsillo russkii imperializm and ronald bobroff roads to glory sergei d sazonov the turkish straits and russian foreign policy 1910 1916 ph d diss duke university 2000 69 louis dep 330 to poincaré 20 november 1912 ddf 3 4 no 506 zotiades also takes note of this intimation by sazonov but makes more of it than is warranted by the context of sazonov s writings in november the full text of the despatch and the military and naval preparations on the black sea russia and the question of constantinople 292 70 buchanan tel 446 to grey 22 november 1912 bd 9 2 no 254 sazonov letter 787 to izvolskii 29 november 1912 avpri f 151 op 482 d 131 ii 110 13 sazonov tel 2764 to izvolskii 30 november 1912 ibid i 56 90 the conference of the ambassadors got under way in london the fate of constantinople and the straits remained on the sidelines but in october and november these questions had received significant attention although russia had been pushed by the bulgarian successes to concede on most territorial points it remained steadfast in its opposition to permanent bulgarian access to the straits and possession of the ottoman capital its resolve was such that it was preparing to send an expedition of troops to constantinople to protect what it considered to be its vital interests not trusting any agreement on paper to uphold russia s desires sazonov had the agreement of his colleagues and tsar to take military steps to ensure that its voice would be heard b ulgarian advance redux the failure of the december armistice and the renewed fighting from 2 march 1913 sparked a renewed bulgarian attempt to capture adrianople and revived russian fears for the safety of constantinople this in turn inspired st petersburg to return to the policies of the fall insisting that bulgaria must not possess constantinople or have land access to the straits and preparing to dispatch ships and troops to constantinople to protect the christian population and russia s interests on 22 march with a renewed attack on adrianople seemingly imminent sazonov began to implement these policies in a discussion with the visiting bulgarian general radko dimitriev dimitriev indicated that bulgaria wished to receive a border with turkey that included coastline on the sea of marmora he simultaneously threatened sazonov that refusal could mean the replacement of the present russophile government by another more inclined to look toward austria hungary for support sazonov replied by reminding the general that russia had made a serious concession by allowing bulgaria to take adrianople which sazonov duplicitously described as crucial to the defense of the turkish capital even though as noted above on 4 november it had been decided that adrianople was not as important as first thought sazonov furthermore would not be intimidated by his interlocutor s warning of a change in government he informed the general that if the government in sofia did take a pro austrian line then that would show how little russia should value bulgaria negating any reason for making the concession sazonov also refused the general s suggestion that sofia could make constantinople a gift to st petersburg since the question of constantinople was too complicated to be resolved though a russo bulgarian bilateral agreement sazonov recognized that in the wake of the 1878 congress of berlin any change at the straits would have to be on a multilateral basis given this and the current state of reorganization of the russian army the present moment was not the best to resolve these issues 71 additionally the consequences of a bulgarian occupation of the city both for the christian population of the ottoman capital and empire and for russian interests there were too potentially disastrous to allow the bulgarians so much influence over the pace of events after adrianople s fall to the allied armies on 27 march a bulgarian seizure of constantinople loomed sazonov responded to this in the same way as he did in november 71 sazonov letter 262 to nekliudov 22 march 1913 avpri f 138 op 467 d 318 321 ii 4 5 91 1912 he planned to send the fleet and troops to the capital to maintain order and protect russian interests on 28 march after renewing giers s power to summon the russian fleet if the bulgarians threatened constantinople 72 sazonov informed the tsar that the justification for the dispatch of the ships was not only the necessity to take measures for the protection of the peaceful christian population of constantinople during a disorderly retreat of the turkish army but also the desirability in case of the entry of the bulgarian army into constantinople to place a powerful russian force in the waters of the bosphorus with its arrival able to render the requisite pressure for preventing such solutions to the questions of constantinople and the straits which would be incompatible with the interests of russia 73 but in a manner that suggested his real intentions were otherwise sazonov told the tsar that if the fleet was sent to the turkish capital the government could anticipate misunderstandings in the press by making it known that the russian ships would stay only until the final conditions of peace were settled while sazonov would subsequently tell the powers that bulgarian seizure of constantinople would result in the appearance of the russian fleet off its shore there is no indication in any of the documents that he told any other nation of russia s intention to send five thousand troops there as well although the troops were again prepared for dispatch in april 1913 there was now insufficient transport for such a number of men 74 until a ship or ships arrived that could carry the soldiers and was then unloaded and prepared for their conveyance a process already shown to take several days russia could not move the men and was thus powerless to protect either the inhabitants or its own interests at the capital with the bulgarians only one set of defensive works away from constantinople russia possessed fewer options to stop them than previously giers unaware of the transport situation wrote on 1 april that if russia was unable to send these troops it was extremely necessary to hasten the conclusion of peace before the fall of the chatalja position and then to apply all of our efforts to never again be surprised by events 75 thus stripped of one of his few physical means of influencing events sazonov redoubled his efforts in the diplomatic arena even before learning how limited his options were sazonov attempted to satisfy the bulgarians and head off a continuation of their military operations with one further territorial concession on 27 march he accepted sofia s request for a border with turkey not following the flow of the river ergene between enos and midia but instead a straight line between those two cities he pressed for speed in having the powers and turkey accept such a line fearing that any delay means a serious danger for constantinople but he insisted that this must be the very last concession 76 as 72 zakher konstantinopol i prolivy 62 73 sazonov report to nicholas ii 28 march 1913 avpri f 138 op 467 d 721 780 ii 58 59 this letter was approved by nicholas on 29 march and then sent to kokovtsov for his information in sazonov letter 288 to kokovtsov 30 march 1913 rgia f 1276 op 9 d 600 i 1 74 shatsillo russkii imperializm 102 75 giers tel 218 to sazonov 1 april 1913 rgia f 1276 op 9 d 600 i 5 76 sazonov tel 723 to giers 27 march 1913 in der diplomatische schriftwechsel iswolskis 1911 1914 aus dem geheimakten derrussischen staatsarchiv dsi ed friedrich stieve berlin 1926 3 no 789 92 mentioned above under no circumstances would bulgaria be allowed to obtain seashore on either the straits or the sea of marmora 77 this met little resistance from the great powers and so was incorporated into their terms for peace one bulgarian demand was thus met civil military conflict in bulgaria however gave this concession debatable value since the civilian leadership was recognized to have little influence over the policy followed by king ferdinand and his army chiefs 78 although the civilian leadership responded to the offer of the straight enos midia line in return for an assurance that bulgaria did not intend to attack constantinople ferdinand and his generals were expected to attack the turkish capital as soon as possible indeed even bulgarian prime minister i s gueshov feared that if an armistice did not come very soon an attack on the chatalja lines could not be avoided 79 sazonov thus sought to make the offer to the bulgarian leadership more attractive while at the same time trying to temper sofia s expectations sazonov sought to gain the powers acceptance of a turkish indemnity for bulgaria that the bulgarian envoys had requested in st petersburg in mid march along with the revised border 80 he hoped that once the powers promised such compensation to sofia bulgaria would accept an armistice and not attack constantinople in contrast to the proposal for the straight enos midia line the indemnity was met with hostility especially by france paris already afraid that these new changes would lead vienna to put forward demands serving its interests felt that such an addition to turkey s financial burden directly affected france s interests 81 france carried 45 percent of the ottoman debt and had huge capital investments there so was especially interested in turkey not going bankrupt under the added debt moreover other powers especially germany would surely resist and were an indemnity imposed on the turks the germans would make use of this pressure to show itself as a better friend of the porte 82 as much as sazonov insisted on meeting the bulgarians on this issue therefore the french would agree only to allow the commission in paris in charge of the ottoman debt to examine the issue after the war while he struggled with the french on this issue sazonov did make diplomatic use of what military cards he could rely on the dispatch of the black sea fleet to the straits and constantinople unlike the secrecy surrounding the preparation of the large detachment of troops for occupation of constantinople sazonov made very clear to britain and france russia s readiness to employ its fleet on 31 march the governments in paris and london learned that russia would send a squadron of warships to constantinople if the turkish army retreated from that city this would be done not only to protect the christian population from any disorders that might occur but also in case of the bulgarian entry into constantinople the presence of an imposing russian force is necessary in the waters of the bosphorus in order to exercise by its presence the needed pressure and to prevent solutions 77 sazonov tel 724 to benckendorff 27 march 1913 dsi 3 no 790 78 rossos russia and the balkans chaps 4 7 79 panafieu tels 95 and 96 to pichon 29 march 1913 ddf 3 6 no 109 80 sazonov tel 680 to benckendorff 22 march 1913 dsi 3 no 783 81 izvolskii tel 139 to sazonov 31 march 1913 in un livre noir diplomatie d avantguerre d apres les documents des archivesrusses novembre 1910 juillet 1914 ln ed rene marchand paris 1922 34 2 59 82 note de directeur des affaires politiques maurice paleologue 7 april 1913 ddf 3 6 no 222 93 on the subject of constantinople and the straits incompatible with the interests of russia 83 furthermore sazonov noted that he would inform the press that the warships would remain off the coast of constantinople only until conclusion of the peace here again though the wording of the communique together with his earlier statements on the subject suggests his actual intentions were otherwise the fleet would remain until constantinople s fate was resolved to russia s satisfaction this element of sazonov s policy was not lost on the british and especially the french who sought to limit the scope of russia s unilateral actions while the french held strong suspicions about russia s intentions the british were more inclined to support russian action grey suggested that all the powers could send ships to constantinople and disembark troops to keep order unaware of sazonov s plans to that effect and his assistants also made it clear that they did not oppose russia taking independent action 84 britain thus appeared to be unknowingly condoning the measures quietly being prepared in st petersburg the reaction in paris to russia s intentions was significantly different not only did the french anticipate an aggressive austrian reaction 85 but as noted above they also feared what russia might do once in de facto possession of the turkish capital and they opposed any unilateral action by russia that would place it in a commanding position there indeed the french may not have hidden their suspicions of russian intentions well since even back in november 1912 sazonov quietly complained to izvolskii of his suspicions that the french were trying to encourage the bulgarians to take the city 86 by 8 april however the likelihood of a bulgarian attack on constantinople began to diminish cholera had appeared in the bulgarian army in thrace months before but now the disease seemed to dampen the bulgarian enthusiasm for attack on 8 9 and 10 april london and paris reported increasing signals that ferdinand was leaning against an attack on the turkish capital 87 such news served to confirm information received in st petersburg that the bulgarians were ready to come to terms with the turks 88 sazonov however concealed his knowledge of bulgarian intentions from his entente partners in order to gain some diplomatic leverage by 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