Chapter 134 Negotiation Twists and Turns

"Your Majesty, the fact that the army has failed is irreversible." The Minister of the Army saw Hamid II's anger and comforted him.

"Now the negotiations between the two countries in London are already underway. Although the Ottomans lost on the battlefield, Your Majesty, we may not be able to get back the lost territory at the negotiation table."

"In diplomacy, we must be more proactive, and maybe there will be gains."

Hamid II took a few deep breaths to calm down. After calming down, he thought about the suggestion of the Minister of the Army's diplomatic efforts, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

Among the territories currently occupied by Greece that originally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, Epirus is out of the question. Most of the people there were Greeks, and now it is occupied by the Greek army, so it is basically impossible to get it back.

Epirus is not an important place. It is almost all mountainous, and there are no special minerals. Even the population is not large, so the loss is not great.

Crete is strategically important, and Greeks are the majority, so it is basically impossible to get it back.

However, Greece may not be able to get this place. The international fleet cruising on Crete is still there, and all countries have ideas about this island.

Albania and Macedonia are different.

Apart from anything else, Italy will definitely strongly oppose the Greeks' annexation of Albania.

Serbia, a country next to Albania, will definitely oppose it.

As for Macedonia, both Bulgaria and Serbia are salivating. If it weren't for the big brothers of the two countries, Russia and Austria-Hungary sternly rejected the military plans of the two countries, I'm afraid they would have taken advantage of the Ottoman Empire's misfortune to add insult to injury.

Although the attitudes of Serbia and Bulgaria will not be too concerned by the powers, from the perspective of maintaining peace in the Balkan Peninsula, dividing Macedonia, which is occupied by Greece on the Aegean coast, to Greece will undoubtedly stimulate the two countries.

The more Hamid thought about it, the more it made sense.

"Where do you think we should look for diplomatic help?" Hamid said after calming down.

"Your Majesty, there is an opportunity right now. Didn't the Germans ask to build the Berlin-Baghdad railway?"

"Use this as an excuse to ask the Germans to support the Ottoman Empire diplomatically"

Hamid thought for a moment, waved his hand to call the palace attendants, and ordered: "Summon the German embassy to the Topkapi Palace for discussion"

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Although Greece has achieved fruitful results on the battlefield, it is not counted until the great powers recognize it.

Ever since Greek Prime Minister Trikoupis led a team to hold talks in London at the request of Britain to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire on the issue of war, Constantine has been hanging his heart.

This negotiation between Greece and the Ottoman Empire became very complicated after the talks began.

According to the principle of unanimity among the great powers, Britain invited other major powers to come to London to discuss the territorial dispute between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

Germany, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia all sent special envoys to London to participate in the talks.

On February 12, Constantine was invited by King George to the Palace of Constitution Square. It is said that Prime Minister Trikoupis sent back the situation of the talks by telegram.

Constantine hurried to the meeting room of the palace and saw that the king and Chief of Staff Emmanuil were already there.

Also present was the leader of the opposition party in the Greek Parliament, Delianis.

After sitting down, Prime Minister Trikoupis' assistant, Augustantiano, explained the specific content of the talks to everyone.

"The talks were very difficult. In the early stage, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire stubbornly demanded that the Greek army unconditionally withdraw from the territory of the Ottoman Empire," Augustantiano said with a strange look on his face.

"It was not until all countries expressed their opposition to the absurd argument of the Ottoman Empire that they softened their attitude."

"However, the Grand Vizier still stated that he would not cede an inch of the Ottoman Empire's territory, but he could hand over the entire Epirus region and the part of Macedonia close to Greece, excluding Thessaloniki, to Greece for management," Augustantiano said.

This is a huge difference from the fact that all the occupied territories were ceded to Greece.

"What is the attitude of the powers?" George I asked with a grim expression.

This feeling of handing over one's fate to others is really not wonderful.

It is obviously the territory that the Greek army has recovered through war. If the powers do not agree to cede it, Greece will have no choice.

"The attitudes of Britain, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary are relatively clear. They urge us and the Ottoman Empire to reach a unified opinion as soon as possible to maintain peace and stability in the Balkans."

"These four countries are not very interested in the specific division of territory."

"It is mainly Germany and Italy. The attitude is very clear. They oppose handing over the entire Albania and Macedonia on the Aegean coast to Greece."

As a Balkan country, Austria-Hungary has a complicated attitude towards Greece's request for territory.

On the one hand, Austria-Hungary regards the Balkans as the direction of its own expansion, and naturally does not want Greece to divide the Ottoman territory and snatch meat from its mouth.

On the other hand, Austria-Hungary is happy to see the development and growth of Greece, a non-Slavic country in the Balkan Peninsula.

At the end of the 19th century, Russia expanded under the banner of Pan-Slavism, which made Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic country with a large number of Slavs, very disgusted and passive.

Ukrainians, Poles, Croatians, Slovenes, and even Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was entrusted in 1881, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were all Slavs.

In the late 19th century, nationalism was in full swing and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The Pan-Slavism instigated by the Russians naturally made the Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire panic.

Moreover, what made the Austro-Hungarian Empire more vigilant was that the other two countries in the Balkans, Serbia and Bulgaria, were also two Slavic countries.

If it were not for the painful lesson of the disastrous defeat in the Crimean War, the Russians would really dare to swallow Serbia and Bulgaria and establish a great Slavic empire.

Once such a huge empire was built, it would really be Rome in the world. At that time, European countries would probably tremble in front of the Russians.

It was precisely because of its inferior strength to the Russians that Austria-Hungary actively allied with Germany in order to counter the powerful forces of Russia in the Balkan Peninsula.

From the perspective of curbing Slavic forces, the development and growth of Greece, a non-Slavic country, was in the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Therefore, the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Empire towards Greece's territorial demands became a bystander-neither support nor opposition.

"But why do the Germans have such a clear attitude and actively support the Ottomans?" King George said bitterly.

Although Germany and the Ottomans have had close relations in recent years, the relationship between Greece and Germany is not bad either?

The Crown Princess of Greece, Sophie, is the sister of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, and the economic exchanges between the two countries are also very frequent.

In King George's view, it is expected that Italy will oppose Greece's expansion of territory, but Germany has no reason?