Chapter 781: Serious Nonsense |
Vienna Palace
With a heavy heart, Foreign Minister Wessenberg spoke anxiously, “Your Majesty, this is a diplomatic note from the Russian government.
The epidemic in Anatolia has been confirmed as a plague deliberately caused by the former Ottoman government. The situation is now out of control.”
Once the plague was traced back to the former Ottoman authorities, the Russians immediately interrogated the surrendered high-ranking Ottoman officials.
Under brutal torture, they confessed to everything, whether true or not.
An enraged Alexander III immediately issued a kill order for Abdul Hamid II. This diplomatic note was sent to inform Austria, as an ally, of the developments.
After carefully reading the note, Franz spoke slowly, “Issue a nationwide call for rat extermination. Order all domestic enterprises involved to ramp up the production of rodenticides.
Gather a batch of these rodenticides and send them to the troops stationed in Anatolia. Instruct the army to minimize contact with the outside world.”
Fortunately, it was winter. The bitter cold hindered the virus from spreading, and there were no mosquitoes or flies to transmit the disease.
There was no rush to hunt down the remnants of the Ottoman leadership. Those fugitives had already gone into hiding and would not be easily found. The priority now was epidemic prevention.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
…
Chancellor Felix asked, “Your Majesty, should we suppress the news of the plague?”
Franz shook his head. “There’s no need. An event of this magnitude can’t be concealed, and it will be known within days anyway. We might as well disclose it directly to the public.
The information from the Russians may not be entirely accurate. Bureaucrats, trying to minimize losses, likely underreported the situation in the early stages.
While strengthening epidemic prevention, we must also prepare for the worst. Seal off the coastline of Anatolia and the borders of the Middle East.”
After a brief pause, Franz added, “Control the narrative. Emphasize that the Ottoman Empire deliberately created this plague. We can even draw comparisons to the Black Death.
In the European press, highlight our efforts to prevent the virus from spreading. At the same time, take the opportunity to tarnish the British.”
...
With Franz’s orders, the Austrian government not only reinforced epidemic prevention but also launched a propaganda campaign.
Shocking headlines appeared on the front pages of newspapers across Europe. Some were factual and relatively accurate, such as ‘The Plague Makers – The Ottoman Empire’ and ‘The Tumor of Humanity.’
There was visual evidence to support these claims. While some artistic embellishments were added, the fact remained that the Ottomans had indeed engineered the plague.
As for the more exaggerated stories, they were even more sensational. The Austrian propaganda department only provided a starting point and the rest was left to the creativity of journalists.
‘The Origin of the Black Death,’ ‘The Greatest Conspirators in History,’ and ‘The True Culprit Behind the Black Death’s Rampage’—such headlines quickly spread across Europe.
The Black Death had first occurred centuries ago, and no one truly knew its exact origins. But that didn’t stop people from placing the blame squarely on the Ottoman Empire.
By tying historical events together, propagandists cleverly linked the rise of the Ottoman Empire to the Black Death.
For example, the article “The Black Death Saved the Ottoman Empire” cited the case of Timur’s invasion of the Ottoman Empire in 1399. Timur had already besieged the Ottoman capital but was forced to retreat due to the rampant spread of the plague.
Another article, “The Bloody Rise of the Ottoman Empire,” directly attributed the empire’s emergence to the devastation caused by the Black Death. The pandemic had severely weakened European nations, stripping them of their ability to suppress the Ottomans.
Although the Ottoman Empire had also suffered from the plague, propagandists simply twisted the narrative, conveniently ignoring the vast population differences between the two sides.
The Rhenish Newspaper published a set of dubious statistics from an unknown source: Deaths from the Black Death—Europe: 25 million vs. Ottoman Empire: 210,000.
The staggering 119:1 ratio fueled the argument that without the Black Death, the Ottoman Empire would never have risen.
The final conclusion? The Black Death was an Ottoman conspiracy.
Even Franz, who had orchestrated this propaganda campaign, found himself almost believing the theory.
Was it true? After several centuries, there was no way to verify it.
From a historical perspective, the Ottoman Empire had indeed risen after the Black Death, making it a beneficiary of the plague. From a conspiracy standpoint, they had the motive to spread it.
With the recent deliberate outbreak of the plague as a real-life example and given the Ottoman Empire’s already negative reputation from years of European propaganda, it was easy to cement their guilt.
In a short time, European society reached a unanimous verdict, not just because Austria steered public opinion, but because no one was willing to defend the Ottoman Empire.
It was impossible to uncover the full truth of an event that happened centuries ago, but the current plague was an undeniable reality.
Anyone who stepped forward to defend the Ottomans risked being branded an Ottoman spy, a charge that could be fatal.
Even the most reckless scholars, who usually relished controversy, dared not challenge public opinion at this moment.
…
London
An enraged Prime Minister Gladstone tore up yet another newspaper. It was just one of many he had destroyed in recent days.
Smearing the Ottoman Empire was one thing, but with the revelation of the man-made plague, the already-defunct empire had no chance of redeeming its reputation.
Since the Ottomans were long gone, accusing them of orchestrating the Black Death conspiracy seemed harmless enough.
However, as time passed, public discourse started to veer off course. It began with an article in the Austrian Daily titled “Britain’s Shameful Role in the Near East War”, which detailed how Britain had funded and supported the Ottoman Empire during the conflict and accused the British government of harboring Ottoman “remnants” after the war.
Under normal circumstances, such accusations would have been easily dismissed with the standard justification of “political asylum.” But the timing couldn’t have been worse. The revelation of the man-made plague had changed everything.
It wasn’t that the British public had suddenly developed a strong sense of international justice, rather, they were terrified. The plague was highly lethal and highly contagious. If it spread, anyone could become a victim.
Naturally, those responsible for unleashing this “plague of death” were hated with a passion. When news broke that the British government was sheltering these individuals, public outrage erupted.
The situation was a nightmare. If the government handed them over, it would be a humiliating admission of guilt.
But doing nothing was even worse. The opposition party would seize the opportunity to attack, and Gladstone had no intention of being forced into a disgraceful resignation.
Forced by circumstances, Gladstone had no choice but to order the arrest of several high-ranking Ottoman officials who had surfaced, handing them over to the judicial system to appease public outrage.
However, this was only the beginning. Britain’s long history of political maneuvering had deeply shaped its international reputation, and European media had a habit of linking the British government to various conspiracy theories. This time was no different.
Just as the controversy over harboring Ottoman remnants was starting to settle, a new wave of accusations emerged. The newspapers labeled it as Britain’s conspiracy, and it was not just a single claim but a flood of sensationalist reports.
More than half of Europe’s major publications began drawing connections between the British government and the alleged man-made plague.
The most aggressive among them, a piece titled “Britain’s Conspiracy”, portrayed the worst possible interpretation of events. It speculated that the British government had secretly collaborated with the Ottomans to unleash the plague for its own gain.
The arguments were built on the idea that the British Isles, being separated from the European mainland by the sea, were naturally shielded from the disease’s spread.
If the plague were to devastate continental Europe as the Black Death had centuries before, Britain could establish dominance without engaging in direct conflict.
As part of the supposed arrangement, the British government would aid the Ottomans in restoring their lost empire, an opportunity the exiled Ottoman government would never pass up. These accusations, though entirely speculative and lacking in hard evidence, gained rapid traction.
Under normal circumstances, such claims might not have been enough to anger Gladstone. The press in Britain, France, and Austria frequently engaged in mutual smear campaigns, and sensationalist reporting was nothing new.
The real problem, however, was that similar narratives were now surfacing within Britain itself.
Extremist newspapers began openly criticizing the government, denouncing its incompetence for failing to handle what they described as a simple matter.
While the specific claims varied, the underlying issue was clear. By condemning the government’s failure, these publications were, whether intentionally or not, lending credibility to the accusation that Britain had indeed conspired with the Ottomans. Worse still, they seemed to have no regard for the consequences of such statements.
The number of such publications continued to grow, driven by the simple fact that sensationalism sold newspapers.
At this point, Gladstone no longer had the time or energy to determine whether this was the work of anti-British forces abroad or a scheme orchestrated by the opposition in the country.
The fact remained that even British citizens were starting to believe these allegations, which meant the international response was inevitable.
The heart of the problem lay in the fact that the British government had indeed collaborated with the Ottomans in various political dealings. However, this cooperation did not extend to the creation of the plague.
But once the idea of a conspiracy had taken hold, any attempt to explain the situation became futile. With half of the claim rooted in reality, the rest became impossible to dismiss entirely.
If the plague could be contained, there might still be a chance to salvage the situation. But if it spiraled out of control and turned into another Black Death, the Gladstone administration would be finished.
In the current political climate, no country in Europe could afford to enrage the entire continent, and Britain was no exception.
***
https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)