Chapter 132 The End of the War

"Now in Europe, all countries are enjoying prosperity," Salisbury said with a serious face.

"All the major powers do not want to break this harmonious situation."

"Once the Russians' attention is drawn back to Europe, Greece's interests will also be damaged."

What Salisbury called the Russians' attention was meaningful.

After the Berlin Conference in 1881, European countries reached a consensus in Berlin to maintain the current situation in Europe.

To put it bluntly, it means that you should not try to make trouble in Europe and be more obedient.

The intention against the Russians is very obvious.

The most intuitive impression of Russia as a country is its endless greed for land-all of Russia's neighboring countries, one by one, have fought with Russia and suffered from Russia's invasion.

Expansion is the life of Russia as a country.

This is not because the Russians are cruel and greedy by nature, but because of the national conditions of this country.

Russia as a country has serious shortcomings-it is located inland, has a high latitude and a cold climate.

The history of Russia's rise is a history of searching for a warm port.

From Sweden, Russia got St. Petersburg.

From the Ottoman Turks, Russia got Crimea and Ukraine.

However, God seemed to have played a joke on the Russians - they could not find a good warm-water port with convenient shipping.

Whether it was St. Petersburg or Crimea, although they were indeed good ports, these ports had serious drawbacks - the throat of the port was controlled by others and was easily cut off.

Peter the Great defeated the Swedes and got St. Petersburg, which was located in the Baltic Sea, the gateway of the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Danish-Norwegian Strait, which was easily blocked.

Catherine the Great got Crimea on the Black Sea coast, but the only way for the Black Sea to enter the Mediterranean was the Bosphorus Strait.

Both the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea are semi-enclosed seas.

After the Treaty of Berlin in 1881, Russia saw that there was no chance for Europe to expand - the Berlin Treaty had sealed this possibility.

Russia continued to expand eastward, began to pursue ports in the Pacific Ocean, and expanded in Asia.

For this strategy, the idea of ​​"Yellow Russia" was specially proposed.

Salisbury's implicit meaning is that Greece's war actions may attract Russia's attention back to Europe.

This is a situation that all European countries, whether Germany or Austria-Hungary, as well as Britain, do not want to see.

Once the Ottoman Empire is ravaged by war and falls apart, Russia will naturally prefer the European port-Constantinople.

Rather than Vladivostok, which is thousands of miles away.

Therefore, Salisbury's words are an implicit threat-Greece should not do things that everyone dislikes.

Constantine could not help but admire the professionalism of Salisbury, the British Foreign Secretary.

To make threatening and offensive words secretive and implicit, it requires exquisite language art.

Especially when facing a military general like Constantine who has just won a brilliant victory.

From Salisbury's words, Constantine knew that the British were deliberately mediating the Greek-Ottoman War.

Constantine did not expect to destroy the Ottoman Empire in just one battle.

Negotiations must be negotiated.

However, the Greek army still had to continue military operations.

The Thessaly Corps only defeated the Ottoman army at the border. Except for Thessaloniki, Greece had no control over other Ottoman territories.

So far, the fierce battle in the Thessaloniki area is still ongoing.

What is there to talk about at the negotiation table at this time?

There is no need to mention the territory that was not taken on the battlefield at the negotiation table, and no one can agree to it.

If Hamid II grits his teeth and recruits soldiers from the country to continue fighting, it will add more twists and turns.

The number of Ottoman troops is about 200,000. In addition to the garrison in Ioannina that confronts the Greek Epirus Corps and the two divisions attacking Thessaloniki, the Ottoman Empire still has about 100,000 troops on the borders of Bulgaria and Serbia, the Caucasus region, and the Constantinople region.

Despite the loss of a legion and 80,000 people, the Ottoman Empire is still not a toothless tiger.

However, the face of the British Empire cannot be rejected casually.

Constantine responded to Salisbury: "Your Excellency, you have a point, but the Greeks just want to be with their compatriots."

"This is not an excessive request."

Salisbury looked at Constantine with a kind face, as if he agreed with his opinion and wanted to end the war immediately, but the meaning of his words was equally rich.

The Greeks just want to be with their compatriots. This seems to refer to the people of Crete who caused the war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

But this Greek may also refer to the Greeks living in Northern Epirus, Thessaloniki, Thrace, Constantinople, and the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.

"Then your highness agrees to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire now?" Salisbury continued.

"The prime ministers (Grand Viziers) of the two countries can negotiate in London. I am happy to see this," Constantine could only respond.

At this time, Greece really couldn't refuse the British Empire.

"An act of mercy, your highness," said Salisbury, his beard twitching with delight.

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After Salisbury left, Constantine immediately informed Athens that he agreed to the negotiations between the two countries.

On the same day, Salisbury and Prime Minister Trikoupis sailed to Britain to negotiate with the Ottomans on the war.

After two days of rest, the soldiers of the Thessaly Legion set out again. The Second Division went to support Thessaloniki and ended the threat of the Ottoman army to Thessaloniki.

As for the other troops, they moved to northern Epirus and cooperated with the Greek Epirus Legion to capture the city of Ioannina.

With the power of victory, with the assistance of the Epirus Legion, the Thessaly Legion captured Ioannina, the capital of the Epirus region.

It took only ten days for the Greek army to sweep through Albania, which had no defense.

Before the war, since there was no threat from the Albanian direction, Edmund transferred all the Albanian defenders to his Macedonian Legion.

The Greek army's military operations in Albania hardly attracted any decent resistance.

When the Second Division was about to arrive at Thessaloniki, the commander of the Ottoman army who received the news realized that the situation was over. In order to quickly capture Thessaloniki, the two divisions, under the urging of Edmund, attacked the positions of the First Division defended by machine guns several times, suffering heavy casualties and almost half of the personnel were lost.

Even without the assistance of the Second Division, their offensive would have been difficult to sustain.

In order to avoid unnecessary losses, the Ottoman army gathered outside Thessaloniki took the initiative to retreat and broke away from contact with the Greek army.

As a result, the Ottoman territories occupied by the Greek army included northern Epirus, the entire Albania, and the Aegean coast of Macedonia.

In order not to further provoke Serbia and Bulgaria, Constantine specifically ordered the army not to enter the northern part of Macedonia because these areas were close to the two countries.

Direct military operations on the battlefields of the two countries came to an end.