Chapter 535: Greco-Turkish War and Lithuanian Independence

Except for the small episode of the Russian loan of 60 million Australian dollars, the world situation is stable in the short term.

Of course, no one can predict and prevent some events from undermining the stability of the world situation, such as a war that suddenly broke out in Europe.

Although it was said to be a sudden outbreak, the outbreak of this war was actually expected, and even the promotion of the World Alliance led by Britain and France was indispensable behind it.

Speaking of this war, we have to mention the peace agreement signed after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.

Originally, this peace agreement had been implemented for several years, but in recent years, there have been some problems with the order of the Ottoman Empire, which has also led to a new round of conflicts between the Balkan countries and the Ottoman Empire.

Yes, this sudden war is about the Ottoman Empire, to be precise, it is a war about territory between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

The peace treaty signed by the Ottoman government caused the Ottoman Empire to lose all European territories except Istanbul, and also lost important Middle Eastern lands such as Iraq.

At present, the Ottoman Empire controls only a small part of the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia and Syria in addition to Anatolia.

Without Iraq, an important grain-producing area, the Ottoman Empire's grain production was halved, and a long-term food crisis broke out in the country, making the Ottoman Empire's rule shaky.

Distress creates great men, and the Ottoman Empire is no exception. When the imperial government was crumbling, the famous Kemal led the Turks to rise up in resistance and established the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Anatolia.

Although it is called a parliament, the Turkish Grand National Assembly also has the functions of a government. To be precise, it is an institution that integrates legislative, administrative and judicial powers, which is equivalent to the government, parliament and court of other countries.

Speaking of this, we have to mention Kemal's high reputation in the Ottoman Empire.

Kemal's full name is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. After crushing the British and French offensive in the Gallipoli Campaign, he was revered as an idol by the Ottoman Empire's soldiers and enjoyed a good reputation in the military.

Then, Kemal was honored as the "Savior of Istanbul" for his contribution in protecting Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and was given the title of "Pasha".

Pasha is the title of a high-ranking official in an Islamic country, usually referring to governors, generals and high-ranking officials.

Pasha does not represent a specific position. It is a respectful title for people of higher status, equivalent to the more famous lords in the British Empire.

It is precisely because of these titles and deeds that Kemal began to become famous in the Ottoman Empire and Europe, which also laid the foundation for Kemal to control government power now.

After the establishment of such a powerful organization as the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Kemal has actually become the biggest obstacle for the Ottoman Empire to fulfill its contract.

Because Kemal is a more practical revolutionary and reformer, he does not quite agree with the peace treaty signed by the Ottoman Empire. His consistent opinion is to reform the Ottoman Empire and even carry out a revolution.

Under such a conflict, Britain and France will naturally not sit idly by and watch Kemal become powerful, and have formulated two related policies to threaten the Ottoman Empire.

The first policy was to support the rebellion in the Anatolian Peninsula. The Ottoman Empire was not a unified single-ethnic country, but a chaotic country composed of multiple ethnic groups.

This actually means that there will always be people who are dissatisfied with the rule of the Turks. In addition, the Ottoman Empire is gradually weakening, and there are actually many rebellions in the country.

In addition to these, Britain and France are also looking for countries that can threaten the Ottoman Empire with force, and even use force to extinguish the ongoing national liberation fire in the Anatolian Peninsula.

Under such circumstances, Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and Britain and France hit it off and volunteered to act as the vanguard of the military oppression of the Ottoman Empire, which was the real reason for the war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

Greece may worry about the vast territory and manpower of the Ottoman Empire in normal times, but with the support of Britain and France, King Constantine I of Greece was very relieved and even signed a declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire in person.

At the end of June 1920, the war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire broke out and successfully attracted a lot of attention in Europe.

The reason why it attracts attention is that the Ottoman Empire was the defeated country in World War I, while Greece was the victor of World War I.

The war between these two countries is a bit like the continuation of World War I, because the most fundamental reason for the war is that the changes in the Ottoman Empire caused a crisis in the peace treaty.

This war naturally reached Arthur's ears. To be honest, if Britain and France did not have real military assistance, Arthur was not optimistic that Greece could win this war.

Although the Ottoman Empire annexed a large amount of territory after World War I, the Anatolian Peninsula alone is several times the size of Greece at present, including the population.

Moreover, Kemal is not the previous Ottoman government. Kemal has a lot of reputation among the people and the army, and is also the famous founder of the Republic of Turkey in history.

Under his leadership, the combat effectiveness of the Ottoman army is definitely one level higher than that in World War I, while the Greek army has basically no progress.

It is difficult to defeat the larger Ottoman Empire relying solely on the material assistance of Britain and France.

In reality, the Ottoman Empire is already in name only. Kemal is now the most powerful figure in the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Grand National Assembly he founded has firmly controlled the executive power. It can be said that Kemal has the final say in the current Ottoman Empire.

However, if Arthur remembers correctly, after the victory of this war in history, Kemal directly abolished the feudal rule of the Ottoman Empire and established the Republic of Turkey, which directly led to the demise of the Ottoman Empire that had ruled this area for hundreds of years.

In any case, the arms trade in this war is destined to have nothing to do with Australasia.

Greece has the support of Britain and France behind it, and is also a loyal younger brother of the British Empire. The arms trade must be conducted with Britain.

As for the other side, the Ottoman Empire, Arthur did not intend to stand on the opposite side of Britain and France. Although the Ottoman Empire has a greater chance of winning, the Ottoman Empire is suspected of breaching the contract after all.

Fortunately, the scale of this war is not large, and the number of troops on both sides will not exceed one million. It is destined to be just a small business, and Arthur does not care at all.

Australasia's current main focus is still on domestic development, rather than focusing on all regions of the world like Britain and France when domestic development is in a mess.

Looking closely at the actions of Britain and France in the past few years, the first is to quell the national liberation movement in the colonies, including various protests and non-cooperation.

Then, they intervened in the Russian Civil War, the Greco-Turkish War, etc., and basically they were not idle at all, either in the war or on the way to the war.

Perhaps it was the influence of this war that the situation in Europe was not so stable afterwards, but it was mainly concentrated in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

First, half a month later, Poland successfully conquered the entire Lithuanian region, and with the tacit consent of Britain and France, it supported the Lithuanian government close to itself and established a completely independent Republic of Lithuania.

The relationship between Lithuania and Poland cannot be described clearly with just one sentence. However, relying on the historical Polish-Lithuanian Federation, the Poles still want to control the land of Lithuania and establish a similar federal country.

The fate of these two countries is very similar. They were annexed by the Tsarist Russian Empire in modern times, and both became independent in recent years.

However, Lithuania's fate was even more turbulent. After being occupied by Germany in World War I, it also established the Kingdom of Lithuania, which was close to Germany, but it was abolished after World War I.

After World War I, Russia took over Lithuania again. Because Russia soon ushered in a civil war, the government framework of Lithuania still existed.

This time, Lithuania seemed to be independent in name, but in fact it was under the rule of Poland. It was a puppet state established with support, similar to the previous Kingdom of Lithuania.

Lithuania's independence ignited the situation in Eastern Europe, and the front line that had been silent for several months was ignited again.

Although this was a few days later than the summer offensive planned by Nicholas II, with the Polish containment, the pressure on the Soviet army faced by Tsarist Russia was even smaller.

In this way, a war involving multiple countries broke out again. The sound of fighting and artillery fire could be heard every day on the Eastern European continent, which was in sharp contrast to the quiet and peaceful Western European continent.

The long-term war caused huge losses to Eastern Europe, and also caused a large number of people to lose in Eastern Europe.

It's not just the population in Russia that is losing. The population of the participating countries, including Poland and Ukraine, is also losing and increasing at a faster rate.

This Russian civil war is more intense, chaotic and unpredictable than in history.

Arthur asked the Military Intelligence Agency to keep an eye on the development of the situation in Eastern Europe and notify them immediately when there is news, so that he can rest assured.

Historically, Poland's request for peace did not happen. Even under the independence of Lithuania, the Poles became more ambitious and were already plotting more Russian land.

Although Nicholas II was unwilling to do so, Poland was his ally after all, and he also had the support of Britain and France. Nicholas II could only temporarily hope to settle accounts later and focus on the current summer offensive.

With the loan from Australasia, Nicholas II was still quite confident. At least at present, the Tsarist Russian army still has an advantage over the Soviet Russian army in terms of weapons and equipment, which is also the confidence of Nicholas II to win the war.

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