Chapter 235: The Mentality of a Great Power

First of all, it is a religious reason.

Most Europeans are Christians, while Jews believe in Judaism.

Historically, Judaism and Christianity are two religions that are incompatible with each other. For example, the savior Jesus was betrayed to the Romans by Judas and was crucified.

Judas was a Jew. (In fact, Jesus was also a Jew)

In the beginning, Christianity was just a branch of Judaism.

Later, it was the rising star Christianity that grew stronger, while Judaism declined.

How could Christianity have a good impression of Judaism?

Naturally, it had to suppress Judaism desperately.

Secondly, it was a racial reason.

The Jewish people are very closed and exclusive, and they don't like to intermarry with foreigners.

This led to the fact that Europeans could not assimilate them at all.

Moreover, the Jews also firmly believed that they were the only chosen people of God, which means that God only blesses them.

In fact, the Jews look down on other nations.

They have already lost their country and family, and they are displaced and wandering around, but they still want to have a sense of national superiority. You can imagine what Europeans think of them.

There are also economic reasons.

Too much money.

Think about it, if an outsider (Jew) opened a bank in the local area and made a fortune, and made achievements in all walks of life, what would others think?

In other words, their social status does not match the wealth they have obtained.

Yakov himself is a refugee from Poland to Greece. Now seeing his Jewish compatriots living in Thessaloniki, he naturally sympathizes with them and helps Jacob to plead with Constantine.

Today, the Yakov family has once again made a fortune in Greece after climbing up the big tree of Constantine.

Yakov himself helped Constantine manage the Purple Robe Foundation, and all the shareholders of the Purple Robe Foundation were Greek nobles.

Through this relationship, Yakov's family got to know many people with huge political and military power.

Yakov's younger brother Gad also worked as a technical director at an oil company.

Coupled with the new Jews from Thessaloniki who have joined Greece, unknowingly, Jews have quietly occupied a place in the Kingdom of Greece.

Moreover, Constantine was somewhat envious of the Jewish scientists and technical talents, as well as their abundant funds.

Thinking of this, Constantine said gently: "Mr. Jacob, for the Jews living in Thessaloniki, we will protect their property and life safety, you can rest assured"

Constantine made a promise.

Afterwards, Constantine politely bid farewell to Mr. Jacob, the manager of Thessaloniki City Bank.

After handing over the work, Constantine, who had been away from Athens for several months, took the Trikupis battle cruiser and returned to Athens after a long absence.

On the way back to Tatoi Palace, after learning that Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, who went to London to discuss the post-war consultation meeting, had returned to Athens yesterday, Constantine directly ordered the coachman to go to the Prime Minister's residence.

Afterwards, he informed Venizelos about the Jews in Thessaloniki.

"Prime Minister, what do you think of the Jewish affairs?" Constantine looked at Constantine who came to greet him and asked directly.

Constantine had no choice but to be careful on religious and ethnic issues.

Even royal marriages had to take into account the emotions of the people. For example, after Constantine married Crown Princess Sophie, the Crown Princess had converted to Orthodoxy.

There is also a close connection between religion and royal power. According to traditional European practices, the coronation ceremony of kings of various countries is generally presided over and implemented by the archbishops of various countries.

Greece today is actually a single-ethnic country, and religion is closely related to ethnicity - having similar religions is more conducive to communication.

In the emotional cognition of ordinary Greek people, the symbol of Greek national identity is Orthodoxy.

Hundreds of years after the Ottoman Empire was destroyed, the Greeks today are a nation reshaped by faith. For example, when the Kingdom of Greece became independent, Orthodox priests played an important role.

Believing in Orthodoxy means being Greek, which is the general consensus of the Greek people.

As for the MSL living in Greece, it is actually a sensitive issue in Greece. Although there are hundreds of thousands of MSL living in Greece, it seems that these people do not exist at all in Greek society.

The Greek people tacitly chose to ignore them as a whole.

In sharp contrast, there are a large number of Slavic Christians in Macedonia, and the Greeks have a strong sense of identity with them, and these Slavs are not emotionally opposed to the rule of the Greek Kingdom.

It must be said that religion, a special relationship, is really wonderful.

After a little thought, Vezenilos asked back: "What policy Greece should adopt to treat Jews depends on the future path Greece will take. How does Your Highness think Greece should develop?"

Europe in the early twentieth century was an extremely turbulent period in European history, and it coincided with the perfect time for the Ottoman Empire to fall into trouble and gradually disintegrate.

After the decline of the Ottoman Empire, who should fill the political and military vacuum left behind?

There is no doubt that if Greece wants to grow and become a powerful country, it will inevitably adopt an expansionist policy and continue to expand its territory.

As Greece expands, the number of people like the Jews in Thessalonica, who are completely different from the Greeks and have different beliefs, will increase.

If Greece wants to expand smoothly and reduce the cost of expansion, the Greeks must accept a less pure Greece with only the single style of Orthodox Christianity.

The Greek people need to have a broader tolerance to accommodate those different people.

It is hard to imagine what kind of bloody storm a country with a single nation will set off if it wants to expand successfully. It can't learn from the costly policy of cleaning up the Jews and directly engage in genocide.

Such an extreme policy will make Greece pay a huge price and reduce the possibility of Greece's success.

The experience of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of its founding is very instructive for Greece's expansion.

The early Ottoman Empire was more Roman than Rome. Different nationalities were not a problem, and different religions did not matter.

It was such a tolerant and open-minded policy adopted by the Ottoman Empire in the early and middle periods that won the recognition of the Greeks, and made the Greeks, who were desperate for the corrupt rule of the late Eastern Roman Empire, turn to the arms of the Ottoman Empire established by a foreign race.

(Just like the last reigns of various dynasties, the Eastern Roman Empire had completely lost its normal social order in the late period, and even the Greeks themselves gave up the Eastern Roman Empire)

The Ottoman Empire was able to quickly digest the legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire and quickly grow and become a great empire spanning the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. The enlightened ethnic and religious policies were absolutely indispensable.

Of course, it was also a lesson learned from the Ottoman Empire. The enlightened policies should be based on the fact that the Greek population was the majority.

Venezelos was undoubtedly an imperialist who advocated restoring the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire. The idea of ​​relying on narrow nationalism to establish a new Roman Empire was completely impossible.

He had obviously already considered this issue.