Chapter 200 Unexpected Results

Seeing a group of senior Greek army and navy officers in the conference room, holding the information in their hands and discussing the war in North Africa with each other, Constantine, Venizelos, and Emma Inur came to the conference room. In a quiet room on one side.

The three of them sat on the sofa around the table. Constantine said directly: "Prime Minister Venizelos, please tell me about your visit to Serbia and Bulgaria. What do the two countries think about the alliance?"

After the Russo-Turkish War in 1878, the Treaty of Berlin was signed in 1881 by the five major European powers, Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. Countries were not allowed to unilaterally change the territorial status quo in Europe before all major powers reached unanimous consent.

Combined with the situation at the time, the Ottomans were newly defeated at the hands of Russia and its allies. This treaty was obviously to protect the Ottoman Empire and prevent the poor and weak Ottoman Empire from being eaten alive by the Russians who had endless territorial ambitions to expand.

This year (1911), after Italy and the Ottoman Empire went to war in North Africa, the Balkans were filled with restlessness and unrest. Britain and France, which had previously tended to support the Ottoman Empire, actually allowed Italy to attack the Ottoman Empire's territories in North Africa this time. This was obviously This sent a signal: Britain and France were no longer willing to stand up for the Ottoman Empire and safeguard the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, this information made the Balkan countries think a lot - Italy can take action on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, why can't the Balkan countries?

You must know that the European territories that the Ottoman Empire still retains - Macedonia and Thrace - have historically been inextricably linked to Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia.

Therefore, after the Ottoman Empire mobilized troops to support the Ottoman army in Libya, the political atmosphere in the Balkans became turbulent. The Serbian and Bulgarian armies took frequent actions and mobilized many times.

Everyone, including Greece, had ideas about the territory of the Ottoman Empire, especially when the Ottoman Empire was caught in a war stalemate with Italy in North Africa and had no time to take care of itself.

The three countries all claim to be the legal heirs of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the newly appointed Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greece took a destroyer to the two countries and visited the high-level governments of Bulgaria and Serbia to test their tone and inquire about their opinions on the formation of the Ottoman Empire. The three Balkan countries formed an alliance to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

Venizelos, who looked exhausted, had just returned from the Bulgarian Black Sea port city of Varna this morning. After receiving Constantine's invitation, he hurried to the National Defense Building without taking a rest.

To Constantine's expectation, Venizelos shook his head.

"The high-level government opinions of the two countries are surprisingly consistent, and both have stated that they currently have no intention of forming an alliance with Greece," Venizelos said with a strange expression.

"But I heard that Belgrade and Sofia have had frequent exchanges recently, and the ambassadors of the two countries have been frequently summoned by the host countries. It is impossible for them to form an alliance unintentionally," Emma Inur said in confusion.

The three countries knew each other's thoughts about the Ottoman European territories, and it would be a lie to say that they didn't mean it.

Venizelos frowned and thought for a moment, "Although there is no definite evidence, I can infer that Bulgaria and Serbia have reached agreement on certain opinions."

Constantine said in surprise: "Is it possible that these two countries intend to exclude Greece? Have they reached an agreement in private?"

Although Bulgaria and Serbia became independent and got rid of the decadent and rigid rule of the Ottoman Empire, their economies have developed rapidly in these years.

However, the Ottoman Empire has also changed in the past ten years, especially getting closer to the Germans. After the revolution of the Turkish Shabaab Party, it fought fiercely with the Germans and purchased a large number of German-made arms.

Especially after the defeat to Greece in 1897, the entire Ottoman government learned from the painful experience and devoted themselves to learning from the military advisors sent by Germany. This lasted for more than ten years and yielded fruitful results.

According to estimates by the Greek military, the entire Ottoman Empire, at its limit, can mobilize nearly 700,000 troops. Its strength should not be underestimated. After all, it is an old empire, and a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

Facing this number of troops, no one of the three Balkan countries is an opponent.

Therefore, for the three Balkan countries, alliance is the best choice.

But I didn't expect that Bulgaria and Serbia were not enthusiastic about forming an alliance with Greece.

"I'm afraid that's the case," Venizelos said with a wry smile.

Emma Inur is still confused: "Why is it unwilling to form an alliance with Greece? As Greece has the strongest comprehensive strength among the three countries, if the three countries form an alliance to jointly fight against the Ottoman Empire, the possibility of victory is very high."

Constantine stood up and paced back and forth, feeling a little irritated in his heart: "It is precisely because Greece is the strongest that it is unwilling to form an alliance with us."

In 1911, among the three Balkan countries, Greece was the strongest, followed by Bulgaria, and Serbia was the weakest.

After more than ten years of development, Greece is now considered a semi-industrialized country. Cotton textile products are the industrial products with the highest export value in Greece, as well as medicines and food.

The total output value of industrial products exported by Greece every year reaches 500 million drachma.

Relying on the Congolese colony, the Eastern Mediterranean region is also the sales place for Greek cash crops, such as sugar, coffee, cocoa, wood, rice, etc.

However, due to the lack of resources, the small domestic market and sparse population, the machines required for industrial production still need to be imported from abroad.

Currently, the population of Greece has reached 4.35 million, the highest among the three countries.

Compared with Greece, Bulgaria, which is slightly weaker, has developed rapidly after its unification in 1885, but is still an agricultural country overall.

Moreover, Bulgaria's seaport is on the Black Sea coast, which has led to the restriction of the Dardanelles Strait on Bulgaria's trade exchanges with the world, and its value has been greatly reduced.

As for the population, the current total population of Bulgaria is 3.8 million.

Serbia, the weakest of the three countries, is currently a pure agricultural country, and it is also a landlocked country.

The territory is also the smallest among the three countries, with only about 50,000 square kilometers and a population of 2.8 million.

To the east of Serbia is Bulgaria, to the south is Ottoman Macedonia, and to the north is the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia is surrounded by the three countries. Since there is no seaport, there is basically no foreign trade, and economic development has been slow after independence.

Originally, Constantine thought that after the two countries learned of the Greek Prime Minister's visit, they would definitely hit it off and form an alliance with Greece, taking advantage of the Ottoman Empire's lack of time to take care of the north.

As a result, the two countries did not even play with Greece!

After thinking carefully for a moment, Constantine could roughly understand why the leaders of the two countries had such a reaction: it was precisely because Greece was the strongest among the three countries that the three countries formed an alliance. There was no doubt that Greece would be the backbone of the alliance, while Serbia and Bulgaria were at risk of marginalization.

Once the alliance really took a large piece of territory from the Ottoman Empire, Greece would definitely occupy the fattest piece.

After telling these analyses to the two, Emmainur and Venizelos looked at each other.