Chapter 347: The Ose Peace Talks

Although the Russian ambassador's contact with Germany was relatively discreet, such news still quickly reached the ears of various European nations.

Once the most powerful countries on both sides of this great war begin to contact one another for peace talks, it actually signifies that this war is nearing its end—and that it will end through negotiation rather than one side being thoroughly defeated by the other.

However, compared to the peace talks currently underway between Germany and Russia, European nations are clearly more concerned about the direction of the situation following this war.

At present, the military bloc led by Germany and Austria is quite clear, and another great power, Italy, also has an inseparable relationship with this military bloc.

Opposing this powerful military bloc is, naturally, the other protagonist of the war: Russia. If France and Russia can conclude an alliance treaty, Europe will completely form a situation of confrontation between two major military blocs.

Under the situation of confrontation between two major military blocs, the existence of other non-aligned countries will be significantly diminished. Even Great Britain does not have much of a presence in front of these two powerful military blocs.

This actually represents one thing, which is that European nations must declare their positions after this war ends.

There are at most three positions: either lean toward one of the two major military blocs, or strictly maintain neutrality.

Maintaining neutrality also requires considering the integrity of the two major military blocs; after all, so-called neutrality cannot be established just by saying it—it must be recognized by other countries to ensure one will not be invaded.

Currently, the only recognized neutral country is Switzerland. Besides the fact that Switzerland declared permanent neutrality quite early and was recognized as a permanently neutral state by other European countries through the 1815 Declaration of the Congress of Vienna, another major reason is that Switzerland's geography is mountainous and its location is not very important; naturally, there is no need for other countries to risk offending others to attack this neutral state.

Apart from Switzerland, the permanent neutral state, other European countries need to consider what diplomatic stance they should take under the new European situation.

Whether to support one of the military blocs or remain neutral is not important; what is important is the need to fully implement one's diplomatic stance and avoid jumping back and forth on the wall.

The peace negotiations between Germany and Russia lasted for a long time. Both sides did not have much dispute over the Poland region, and Germany also knew that it was impossible to take it at this time.

The only point of contention was the Balkan region; Russia was unwilling to lose its loyal little brother, Serbia, so quickly.

But it was clear that the situation in Serbia at this time was no longer up to Russia to decide.

After the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, announced the dismissal of the pro-Russian cabinet government, he immediately appointed nobles loyal to him to form a provisional military government.

The first thing the provisional government did after taking office was to vigorously purge the previous pro-Russian cabinet and use the power of public opinion to shift all responsibility for the war onto the previous cabinet.

In addition to using the power of the pro-Russian faction, the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, also made good use of the public demonstrations in Belgrade.

Angry citizens rushed to the homes of the previous cabinet officials and carried out righteous beatings of these cabinet officials who had single-handedly provoked the war.

Although most officials were quickly protected by the police who arrived, some still lost their lives under the righteous beatings of the masses.

One can understand the anger of the Serbian people at this time, because this war caused heavy losses to Serbia and all Serbians.

After independence, the total population of Serbia was only 2. million, and the casualties caused by this war already reached as high as over 100, 00.

The number of soldiers who died or were severely wounded and dying alone totaled nearly 30, 00. This represents 30, 00 families, with over 100, 00 Serbians losing their family members.

In addition to the loss of population, because the war broke out exactly during the important time for agricultural planting, this also caused Serbia's agriculture to have almost no harvest.

It can be expected that Serbia's agricultural harvest this year will hit its lowest point in a decade, and a large number of Serbians will not have enough food to survive.

Before the outbreak of this war, because of the struggle between Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire for control over the Serbian government, this small country that had just gained independence received a large amount of support.

At that time, the Serbian people lived relatively well; because this war completely overturned their lives, this is also the reason for the Serbian people's anger toward the government.

After successfully shifting the public's anger onto the previous cabinet government, the King of Serbia quickly launched a purge of the previous cabinet government.

He and the previous cabinet government were originally one pro-Austrian faction and one pro-Russian faction; everyone was an enemy, so naturally, there was no need to show mercy.

Those cabinet members who were not beaten to death in the angry mob violence of the Serbian people had no time to rejoice before they were met with the King's righteous judgment.

Because this cabinet government caused Serbia to be in ruins, the judgment against them was not only quite swift but also very severe.

The former Prime Minister, Nikola Hristić, was sentenced to death and executed the very next day.

The remaining cabinet ministers were also sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment; among them, the confidant of the former Prime Minister, Nikola Hristić, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was sentenced to life imprisonment and could not be granted a sentence reduction or early release under any pretext or reason.

Compared to these purged confidants of the former Prime Minister, the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović's own confidants and some non-partisan figures in the military received large-scale promotions.

The most representative of these was the Serbian Chief of General Staff, Kosta Protić. To gain the support of the military, the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, directly appointed Chief of General Staff Kosta Protić to take charge of the provisional military government and promised him that he would be allowed to serve as the next Prime Minister of the Serbian cabinet government in the future.

This counted as a political interest exchange. After Chief of General Staff Kosta Protić was promoted to the highest leader of the government, the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, also successfully planted several of his own confidants in the military.

It was precisely because the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, gained the support of the military that his purge of the previous cabinet government went very smoothly.

Even though the previous cabinet government had the support of Russia, it still could not withstand the purge by the military and the King acting in concert.

In addition to the several ministers of the cabinet government who suffered, many members of the Prime Minister's party were also purged.

The more serious cases were directly expelled from Serbia, and the less serious ones were all sentenced to varying years of imprisonment.

It must be admitted that the political methods of the King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, were quite clever. He not only shifted all the responsibility for Serbia's defeat in this war onto the cabinet government but also gained a certain degree of discourse power in disguise through cooperation with the military.

Although he could not yet fully control the government, through cooperation with the military, sitting firmly on his throne was no problem.

One must know that in the original history, this King, because of his overly pro-Austrian tendencies, was eventually forced to abdicate in 1889—that is, this year—to his son, Alexander.

Looking at it now, because of the influence of this war, Milan Obrenović's throne can still be sat firmly for a few more years.

Of course, the fact that Milan Obrenović could stabilize his throne again through a series of means is inseparable from the support given to him by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

When the pro-Russian cabinet government was in power, the Austrian army's offensive was quite fierce. The Austrian media was also constantly spreading bad news about the war to Serbia, inciting the dissatisfaction of the Serbians toward the cabinet government.

And after Milan Obrenović controlled the government through a series of means, the Austrian army not only began to withdraw from Serbia in an orderly manner but also left behind a batch of supplies to help Serbia restore order.

Of course, nominally, these supplies were not voluntarily left behind by the Austrians, but were abandoned by the Austrians only after the great King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, argued strongly for them. In short, regardless of the excuse, some of the affected Serbians did indeed receive these supplies.

Although these supplies were not much, they were enough to ensure that those Serbians whose families were broken and whose homes were lost would not go hungry for the time being.

In comparison with the previous cabinet government that caused their families to be broken and their homes lost, the Serbian people could see that the current King still had a little bit of ability.

After temporarily restoring order in the country, the Serbian provisional government immediately contacted the Austro-Hungarian Empire and began peace negotiations between the two sides.

Actually, according to normal logic, this war broke out because of the border conflict between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which meant that peace negotiations would certainly have to be conducted together, incidentally resolving the border conflict between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But currently, the peace talks between Germany and Russia have fallen into a stalemate, the most important part of which is the dispute over the Serbian issue.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled the situation through the pro-Austrian King of Serbia and naturally would not foolishly wait for Russia to come and negotiate.

Regarding this pro-Austrian King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, there is still a lot that can be said.

After Serbia's independence, there were extremely fierce quarrels and contradictions within Serbia regarding the two directions of being pro-Austrian and pro-Russian.

As a pro-Austrian King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović, in order to gain the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, signed a trade treaty and a secret agreement with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This trade treaty abandoned Serbia's economic sovereignty, allowing the industrial products of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to instantly flood the Serbian market.

And this secret agreement, in disguise, abandoned Serbia's sovereignty. During that time, Serbia had to obey the leadership of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and maintain the same alignment as the Austro-Hungarian Empire in diplomacy.

It was precisely Serbia's high degree of pro-Austrian sentiment that made Tsarist Russia, which claimed to be the leader and protector of the Slavs, instantly dumbfounded.

The geographical location of Serbia is very important; to a certain extent, it is even more important than Bulgaria.

This is not only the front line for Russia to oppose Serbia, but also the bridgehead for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to expand southward.

Whoever can obtain the support of Serbia can gain the initiative in the struggle for the Balkan Peninsula.

In order to make Serbia a pro-Russian faction again, Tsarist Russia made various efforts and eventually cultivated a pro-Russian government that sidelined the King.

Of course, the reason why they were able to sideline the King was actually also caused by Milan Obrenović's own reckless actions.

If it were just being close to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this would not be an unforgivable thing. But while being close to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Milan Obrenović maintained a highly dictatorial and autocratic rule, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the Serbians.

The newly independent Serbians had not yet been brainwashed by Greater Serbianism, and they did not have much of a demand for the Bosnia and Herzegovina region.

What the Serbians cared more about was whether their political rights could be protected; at this time, the dictatorial rule appeared quite conspicuous.

Regarding the King's dictatorial rule, multiple demonstrations broke out within Serbia, and the parliament also had multiple related quarrels.

It was precisely these demonstrations and quarrels that allowed the Russians to take advantage of the loophole, wantonly promoting Greater Serbianism and letting the Serbians see what seemed to be a brighter direction.

However, this war also proved that Greater Serbianism did not seem to be that reliable; a small country having too much ambition is often not a good thing.

At this time, how could the Serbians still think about Greater Serbianism? Being able to protect their own territory and maintain that hard-won peaceful life was already quite good.

While the peace talks between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia were ongoing, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not forget to give the Serbians some sweetness to taste.

On the day the peace talks were held, the Austrian army completely withdrew from the hinterland cities of Serbia and retreated to the border city of Loznica.

While retreating, the Austrian army also left behind a large amount of food supplies and a portion of leaflets.

The leaflets were printed with the reasons for the outbreak of this war, and also stated that Austria originally had no intention of starting a war with Serbia; it was the previous Serbian cabinet government, under the misleading of Russia, that harbored serious criminals in the Bosnia region, which then triggered the war.

And this batch of supplies left by Austria was naturally compensation to the Serbian people.

Although this was of no help to those Serbians who had already lost their loved ones, it at least pointed out a direction for them, telling them who exactly caused this war to break out.

With the previous cabinet government already purged, the hatred of the Serbians naturally shifted to the Russian side.

Of course, this little move by the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not make Serbia completely lean toward its side.

After all, this war was fought by the Austrian army and the Serbian army; wanting to make the Serbians forgive Austria with just this little compensation and leaflets was clearly impossible.

While the peace negotiations between Germany and Russia were still in a stalemate, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already quickly signed a peace agreement with Serbia and formally announced the end of this war.

Most of the contents of this peace treaty were made public, and the terms within it surprised the Serbians.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not require Serbia to cede land; as the defeated side, Serbia only needed to pay a symbolic indemnity.

Although the amount of the indemnity was not small, for the defeated side, this was already very cost-effective.

One must know that in the Franco-Prussian War, France, as the defeated side, in addition to a huge indemnity of 5 billion francs, also ceded Alsace and Lorraine to the then-Prussia.

Alsace and Lorraine were not ordinary regions; they were not only important border strongholds for France but also contained extremely rich coal and iron ore resources.

The reason why the industrialization of the German Empire was so smooth was that the coal and iron ore from Alsace and Lorraine also played a significant role in helping.

Compared to France, which was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War, the situation of Serbia, which was also a defeated side, was clearly much better.

The total indemnity that Serbia needed to pay to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was only 10 million florins, which is just over 20 million pesetas.

This money might not even be enough for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military expenditures to launch this war; from this aspect, one can also see the Austro-Hungarian Empire's attitude toward Serbia, which is to win over as the primary goal and suppress as a secondary one.

(End of chapter)