Chapter 39: Strategy on the Edge of War (3)
The Yavos is the famous Goeben, which was given to Turkey by Germany in order to win over the latter during World War I. However, due to the weak strength of the Turkish navy, the control was still in the hands of the Germans. After World War I, the ship was severely damaged. Before leaving, the Germans took away the fire control and mechanical parameter data. Turkey's poor level would definitely not be able to repair it, but it would not be a problem if it was in the hands of Italy, and it could even be transformed better.
Although the Queen Elena class is a battleship, the age of the ship is about 15-20 years, but it is at the level of the pre-dreadnought era, with a tonnage of only 12,600 tons and a combat effectiveness worse than the Goeben, so Italy has no psychological pressure to sell it. At present, the Queen Elena and Vittorio Emanuele have just been retired and are still sealed in the port ready to be dismantled. The other two ships of the same class, the Roma and the Naples, are also waiting to be retired so that they can be replaced with new battleships in 1927 according to the provisions of the Washington Naval Treaty. Selling them in advance means finalizing what will happen sooner or later 2-3 years in advance. Maybe the official delivery will also be in 1926-1927-after all, Turkey has money and has to find a way to train sailors, right?
Selling these waste materials to Turkey can not only strengthen bilateral relations, but also ease Italy’s economic pressure and form a double squeeze on Greece. It can be said to kill three birds with one stone. Why not do it?
No one doubted the authenticity of this news. The Turks were famous for their desire for warships: before the war, they spent a huge amount of money to order two first-class battleships from Great Britain: one was the famous seven-turret monster Agincourt, and the other was Ireland. The seven-turret monster alone cost the Turks 3 million pounds (about 12 million US dollars, and it was 1914 dollars, which was more valuable than 1923 dollars). Unexpectedly, Churchill expropriated it on the pretext of national interests as soon as the war broke out, which made Turkey vomit blood. Fat Churchill also paid the price for his short-sightedness: the extremely angry Ottoman Turkey turned to join the German-Austrian alliance, and then smashed Churchill's painstaking offensive in the Battle of the Dardanelles - the price Britain paid for this battle alone exceeded the cost of the two warships!
Although the warships obtained from Italy are not as good as the two ships taken away by Britain, they are the best choice for Turkey, because they are in financial difficulties now. It is impossible to spend a lot of money to build first-class battleships. On the contrary, the Queen Elena class can still play a role and can be used to restrain Greece.
As soon as these true and false news were released, international public opinion was in an uproar: Who said that Italy has no allies? Isn’t Turkey an important ally?
As if such stimulation was not enough, on December 2, the Times reported that the Italian ambassador had met with Bulgarian Tsar Boris III. It is said that the young king is very interested in joining forces with Italy to deal with Greece and recover lost territory.
After the end of World War I, Alexander Stamboliyski, the leader of the "Peasant Union", signed the Treaty of Neuilly on behalf of Bulgaria. Bulgaria lost about one-tenth of its territory and had to pay 90 million pounds in compensation. The old Tsar Ferdinand I was forced to abdicate and pass the throne to his son Boris III.
Stamboliski recognized the new borders, surrendered livestock, disbanded the army, destroyed aircraft and artillery, and became a supporter of the League of Nations, but this domestic and foreign policy also offended many people: Bulgarian nationalists, the officer corps, Macedonian terrorists, the middle class suffering from high taxes and inflation, and the Tsar himself. In June 1923, a military coup took place in Bulgaria. The Peasant Party Cabinet was overthrown by the Bulgarian officer corps, right-wing parties and the "Internal Revolutionary Organization". When Stamboliski was killed, the first hand that was cut off was the hand that signed the Treaty of Neuilly.
The Bulgarian Communist Party sat on the mountain and watched the two opponents kill each other, but they themselves launched an uprising in September according to the resolution of the Communist International and were also suppressed. After the two struggles, Professor Alexander Tsankov, the leader of the extreme right-wing "People's Consultative Union", became prime minister, and Colonel Volkov, a representative of the Bulgarian officer corps and Minister of Defense, firmly grasped the power-for Bulgaria, this is also a new revolutionary regime.
Now Bulgaria has a good opportunity: by joining hands with Italy, they can jointly deal with Greece and Yugoslavia, both of which are also enemies of Italy.
For a time, the anti-Greek alliance with Italy as the core and Turkey and Bulgaria as the wings has begun to take shape. Although the quality is much inferior to the "Little Entente" system of France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland, which is centered on anti-Germany and put together by France, the problem is that France has to deal with Germany, while Italy only needs to deal with Greece. This is simply a portrayal of a lion fighting a rabbit with all its strength, and it also shows that the war is imminent.
Mussolini's dazzling diplomatic adjustments were naturally applauded by the country. In contrast, the leader seemed smart, flexible and skillful, while the socialists who only advocated "caution", "peace" and "international mediation" were a bunch of rubbish.
A more obvious indicator of public opinion also appeared in the parliamentary by-election. Contini, who was only 20 years old and a junior at the University of Rome, participated in the election in his hometown of Livorno. Not only did the voter turnout in the constituency exceed 71%, but the approval rate was as high as 84%. The Socialist candidate who competed with him only received 9% of the votes and lost miserably. This move immediately set two records: the youngest parliamentarian in Italian history, and the highest voter turnout and approval rate in a single-member constituency. Now Contini no longer needs to rely on the green light of the citizen representative status to enter the House of Representatives, and can directly enter with a swagger.
The results of the by-elections in the other 17 constituencies were almost the same. The Socialist candidates all suffered a crushing defeat. The only Socialist MP who was successfully elected publicly declared that he did not agree with the strategy of "the Socialist Party Central Committee's groveling and surrendering to the country" and expressed his intention to launch a "reorganization of the Central Committee". Since he was so sensible and there was no fascist candidate in the constituency, and the public opinion polls before the vote were close, Mussolini did not mind "helping" him, so he asked the local fascist organization to vote for this candidate, so that he could squeeze out the Catholic Party candidate with a slight advantage and successfully be elected.
On the third day after the by-election results were all announced, that is, December 12, 1923, an even more shocking situation occurred: the German National Socialist Workers' Party launched a revolution in a beer hall in Munich. Adolf Hitler and Enrique Ludendorff jointly announced the establishment of a new revolutionary regime. The Munich police system tried to suppress it by force, but the National Socialist Party was more powerful. Goering commanded the assault team to use assault trucks to clear the way and forcefully attack the police's improvised defense line. More than 100 policemen, gendarmes and citizens who had no time to dodge were killed in the rampage of assault trucks and the wanton shooting of Hotchkiss, and the scene was a river of blood.
More than a month later than history, the Beer Hall Putsch had undergone earth-shaking changes: the National Socialist Party not only successfully took the first step but also achieved seemingly optimistic results - the streets and alleys of Munich were full of black and red swastika flags...