Chapter 179 Changes in the European Situation Part 2

Alexandros had his reasons for being so resistant to what Venizelos called Greece's policy change.

Since the war in 1896, the nearly ten years to 1907 have been the fastest period of economic development in Greece. Although the GDP has not yet appeared, the growth rate of the Greek government's fiscal revenue is at least 9%, which can be roughly assessed from the side. The speed of Greece's economic growth will not be lower than this figure.

Greece defeated the Ottoman Empire. Since Greece's independence, the threat from the north has been unprecedentedly weak; due to the failure of the Italo-Egyptian War in 1897, Italy was also politically and economically chaotic during this period, and its desire for expansion was curbed.

Under such circumstances, the two neighboring countries around Greece were in a predicament of being unable to take care of themselves. Taking advantage of this rare gap, Greece took the time to digest the results of expansion.

It is precisely because of the greatly reduced threat from neighboring countries that the Greek military, including the navy and the army, have applied to Constantine and King George for increased military spending several times, but they were all suppressed by Constantine and Alexandros on the grounds that the pressure on national defense has been greatly reduced and there is no need to invest too much money in the army in a short period of time.

This has also led to the almost slow growth of Greece's military in recent years. The army's standing army has been maintained at 60,000 for a long time. In addition to building several 100-ton torpedo boats, the navy has no new warships in service.

Chief of the General Staff Emmainul personally went to the palace to lobby the royal family. Whether it was indirect or harsh, Constantine blocked it on the grounds that the development of the domestic economy was the priority and the military should be temporarily suspended.

Under such favorable conditions, the Alexandros government relied on the support of the royal family, and most of the government's fiscal revenue, except for normal expenditures, was invested in the economic field.

Moreover, as the Greek economy entered the fast lane and the government's finances were abundant, the Greek government's huge foreign debt also began to repay the principal, instead of only repaying the interest as before.

The foreign debt of about 600 million drachmas owed to Britain and France has been repaid by nearly half through the efforts of the Alexandros cabinet.

The second industrial revolution represented by electricity and internal combustion engines is in full swing, and the economies of European countries are generally developing rapidly. In Alexandros's view, this is a rare opportunity for Greece to develop rapidly.

How can we interrupt Greece's good development momentum because of the Ottoman Revolution?

And what Venizelos called changing Greece's current policy means increasing investment in the military field and reducing funds in the economic field to deal with the upcoming military threats in Europe.

Prime Minister Alexandros had made many enemies in Greek politics and offended many people during the reform in 1897. According to the situation at the time, he might soon be driven out of office by the parliament.

Due to the rapid economic development of Greece in recent years, Alexandros has relied on his excellent political achievements, supplemented by the support of the royal family, and relying on his outstanding domestic affairs level to firmly sit on the position of prime minister.

Once the government starts to tilt funds towards the military, the current good situation of the Greek economy will inevitably be affected. Alexandros naturally does not want to see this happen.

Constantine knows the trend of history and naturally knows the two major groups of the Allies and the Entente in Europe. He is a prophet.

However, Venizelos discovered this with his keen diplomatic sense, which shows that his ability in the field of diplomacy is outstanding.

The situation in Europe is about to change, and Alexandros is good at domestic affairs and is relatively ignorant of the complex international situation.

And Venizelos's keen diplomatic insight is what Greece needs next.

Therefore, under Constantine's lobbying, King George appointed Venizelos as Greece's foreign minister.

Although the positions of foreign minister, interior minister, and justice minister are nominally at the same level, the position of foreign minister is more special, like German Prime Minister Bismarck, who served as German foreign minister for a long time.

And Venizelos' appointment as foreign minister means that he is tacitly regarded as the successor to the prime minister.

"Since France lost the throne of the European hegemony to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, it has been brooding over it and intending to take revenge, so it has always wanted to form an alliance with Russia to attack Germany from both the east and west fronts to wash away the shame of Franco-Prussia," Venizelos analyzed to everyone.

"Russia's gold standard reform and the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, most of the funds were loans from France. Even if the French felt pain, they had to do it in order to win over Russia as an ally."

"The Germans naturally also realized France's strong revengeful sentiment, so there has always been a voice in the German General Staff-since the war between Germany and France is inevitable, simply launch a preventive war to completely eliminate this threat before France is fully developed."

"Of course, Germany's actions were opposed by Britain and Russia, which was clearly demonstrated in the Moroccan Crisis of 1905."

The Moroccan Crisis of 1905-1906 refers to the crisis caused by the struggle between France and Germany for control of Morocco.

This crisis led to tensions between Germany and France. Millions of troops from the two countries were deployed on the Franco-German border, facing each other, and war was imminent.

During the crisis, the German army once clamored to take advantage of Russia's weakness (Russo-Japanese War) to launch a preventive war against France, emulating the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 to completely eliminate the threat of France to Germany.

(If Russia had not been severely damaged in the Russo-Japanese War, perhaps the world war would have broken out several years earlier.)

Germany had tried to test Britain's opinion on this move, but was strongly opposed by Britain and had to give up.

Later, in order to resolve the crisis, an international conference was held to discuss the Moroccan issue. France received support from most countries, especially Britain, and the conference consultations achieved results favorable to France, while Germany could not applaud at the conference, and the only supporter was the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Since the Franco-Prussian War, Germany has completed its unification and national confidence has been unprecedentedly high. This crisis has severely humiliated Germany and made the Germans feel deeply ashamed.

At present, the two major military groups in Europe, France and Russia on one side and Germany, Austria and Italy on the other, are already clearly divided. Although Britain has not yet clearly expressed its position, its tendency between the Allies and the Entente is self-evident from the increasingly intensified contradictions between Germany and Britain.

"But the two sides are only an alliance at present, and the economic development of each country is good. It may not necessarily break out, right?" Prime Minister Alexandros retorted.

"At present, the development differences among countries in the world are very large. The industrial development of Germany and the United States is advancing by leaps and bounds. The total economic volume of the United States has surpassed that of the United Kingdom. At the current development speed, the total economic volume of Germany will soon surpass that of the United Kingdom. Unless the United Kingdom is really willing to give up the throne of world hegemony, the British must do something to save their centuries of efforts to obtain the hegemony." Venizelos analyzed to everyone.

"In fact, in order to contain the two emerging countries of Germany and the United States, the United Kingdom has already made a move."

"In Europe, the United Kingdom will inevitably join the French and Russian sides to combat and contain Germany. For example, the recent trade war and naval competition between the two countries have made this attitude clear."

Hearing this, Constantine asked curiously: "You just said that the United Kingdom contained Germany and the United States in order to maintain its hegemony. So how did the United Kingdom contain the United States?"