Time swiftly passed, and before he knew it, March had slipped away. Had it been at another time, Franz could have taken it as a joke that a declaration of war had been made a month before with no combat ensuing.
There was no helping it, as war serves politics. Such absurd matters truly happened in reality.
In order to buy the Ottoman Empire time, the European countries evacuated their nationals at a snail's pace, under the guise of dealing with their properties. In truth, it was to buy time for the Ottomans to transport materials.
Once war was ignited, one could no longer count on free trade. The Vienna Government had issued an early notice, stating that any vessel entering the combat zone would do so at its own risk.
This was a tacit agreement everyone reached. If the Ottoman Empire fell, the debts owed to England and France and others would go to waste, so how could they not soothe the wounded spirits of these nations?
