Eder is doing everything possible to avoid war, and other countries are avoiding it. But sometimes it is completely unavoidable to be brought into this war of the century, and this country is Ottoman Turkey.

After the Balkan Wars, the declining state came under the rule of the Big Three (Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha and Jemar Pasha). Among them, Enver Pasha, who was the Minister of War, held most of the power in the Big Three. The Triumvirate was very dissatisfied with the performance of the Ottoman army in the Balkan war, and planned to spend huge sums of money to rebuild this large and inappropriate army.

With the help of the German advisors, Enver Pasha rebuilt the Ottoman army, which had been disorganized, and also purchased a large number of German munitions to strengthen its strength. Unlike the Army, which favored the German Army, the Navy was more optimistic about British ships, and they ordered two super dreadnoughts in Britain, one of which was the famous seven-turret battleship "Sultan Osman I", which was later "Agincourt". The other was also renamed HMS Ireland.

Contrary to what many had assumed, this was Russia's request for Britain to temporarily withhold it. Because now the Russian Black Sea Fleet does not yet have dreadnoughts in service, if the Ottomans take these two battleships, then the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be at a temporary disadvantage. At that time, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov sent a telegram to the British government, requesting a postponement of the delivery of Ottoman warships. Just when World War I broke out, in the face of Germany's high seas fleet, Churchill, the Minister of the Navy, felt that his dreadnoughts were not in an absolute advantageous position, so the two Ottoman warships were directly detained.

Faced with such a situation, the Ottoman Empire did not intend to fight against the Entente, and its triumvirate is still very sober and knows that it is not beneficial for the Ottomans to participate in this war. But at this time Germany sent them a "big gift", a big gift that they could not refuse, the battlecruiser Goeben.

The battlecruiser Goeben was the Moltke-class battlecruiser No. 2. On 1911.03.28, it was launched. 1912.08.28, completed. Displacement: standard 22,616 tons, full load 25,300 tons. Hull: 186.5 (full length), 29.5, 8.2. It is powered by 4 Parsons steam turbines and 24 Schulz-Sannik Croft coal-fired boilers. The power is 52,000 horsepower, carrying 3,050 tons of coal, the speed is 25.5 knots, and the cruising range is 4,120 nautical miles / 14 knots.

Protection: main armor belt 102~270 mm, armored compartment 102~203 mm, horizontal protection 50 mm, main turret 152~203 mm, main gun mount 30~229 mm, command tower 350 mm;

Armament: 5 twin 11.1-inch (283 mm) SK L/50 main guns, 12 x 150 mm SK L/45 secondary guns, 12 x 88 mm SK L/45 rapid-fire guns, 4 x 500 mm underwater torpedo launchers. Establishment: 1,053 people.

In the face of the great gift given by Germany to the Ottomans, his government was also overjoyed and immediately agreed. So Goeburn was renamed the Yavos, and the other cruiser, the Breslau, was renamed Mitya. The officers and men who served in it changed into Ottoman naval uniforms and continued to serve on their own ships, while Admiral Sorochin, who led the small fleet, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Ottoman navy and still commanded the fleet.

In reality, Sorochin's fleet did not come to Turkey to flee for his life, but also had the difficult political mission of assisting the local German diplomats to get Turkey to go to war on the side of Germany.

Now in the face of such a situation, the attitude of the Ottoman Empire has also begun to tilt towards Germany. However, the final decision given to Osman was indeed brought about by the Goeben. After seeing that the attitude of the Ottoman Empire was about to fall to himself, in order to avoid long nights and dreams. After replenishing and organizing his ships in Istanbul, General Sorochin left the port under the pretext of training at sea.

This was when German diplomats began to lobby the Ottoman Empire with all their might, knowing that the time had come for the Ottoman Empire to enter the war. General Sorochin, who was out at sea, read the Admiralty's order to shell Sevastopol, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and Odessa, its largest Black Sea port city. In the face of this Ottoman navy, which was operated entirely by German naval officers and sailors, of course, it would not object.

So on October 30, General Sorochin led the Goburn in a raid on two ports. Faced with the powerful Goeben with the Star-Moon Flag, the Russian Navy was caught off guard. The minelayer "Prut" was sunk, the cruiser "Captain Pushkin" with a displacement of 4500 tons was seriously damaged, and a large number of ammunition piled up in the port of Savastopol exploded after being hit, causing considerable losses to the Russian Navy.

In fact, after this attack, the Ottoman government knew that this time they had to get on the ships of the Central Powers, and they had been cornered.

Faced with an attack by the Ottoman Navy, which was actually the German Navy, the Russian government was overjoyed. They were angry that Istanbul had not been taken in the 10th Turkish-Russian War, and now this attack gave them an excuse. Moreover, Britain and France, which were able to prevent Russia from gaining Istanbul into the Mediterranean Sea this time, were also on their side, so they also believed that the Ottoman navy had attacked them.

It also turned a blind eye to the fact that the Ottomans would block the Black Sea passage and affect Russia's access to aid. In Russia's view, the Ottoman army would collapse with only a single blow from its own army, and it also had British and French allies, so it did not pay attention to this issue.

Eventually, Russia declared war on the Ottomans on 4 November, and Britain on 5 November.

Eder sat in his office and could only watch the Black Sea straits close, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He looked at the prime minister who brought him the news and spoke unwillingly. "Can't we use the right of passage in the straits now?"

In the face of the king's inquiry, Prime Minister Bretianu also spoke helplessly. "Now the Ottomans don't let any ships pass through the straits at all, and neither can ours."

"Is this our loss great?"

Now Eder was still concerned about the domestic economy, and at the moment when he was elated to make war money, the Ottoman hand made him very impatient. Even if he knew that the Ottomans would go to war, it was just that people wanted to be on their behalf.

"The loss is not large, mainly for orders for vehicles and spare parts, and orders from Britain and France can only be loaded in Thessaloniki through Bulgaria. It's just that Bulgaria has a higher asking price, and we haven't negotiated yet. ”

Hearing the Prime Minister's words, Eder's heart moved and he asked. "How much do they want to pay for the crossing?"

"20% of the transit fee, the railway transportation fee is calculated separately, such a price is not as profitable as before the war."

Hearing the Prime Minister's words, Eder knew that this was Bulgaria's revenge for the war a year earlier. He thought for a moment and said, "Then you go and talk to the British and French ambassadors, tell them that the fee is too high, and let them increase the price." If not, ask them if they can transfer the order to Russia. ”

The prime minister thought that he had no other better way, so he sighed and said. "That's all it can be."