Chapter 458

This was good; as the Balkan countries quickly crushed the Ottoman Empire's garrison in the Balkan region, European countries also had to jump out to pretend to maintain the order of the Balkan Peninsula.

Rather than maintaining the order of the Balkan Peninsula, it was better to say that European countries saw that things were not good and stood out to save the Ottoman Empire, which was on the verge of collapse.

Britain did not hope for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, because doing so would let Russia dominate in the Black Sea, and if the Constantinople Strait wanted to block Russia's Black Sea Fleet again, it would not be that easy.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also did not hope for the Ottoman Empire to collapse so quickly, because if the Ottoman Empire collapsed at this time, the ones who would be full would be the Balkan countries, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was sharpening its sword toward the Balkans but had not taken action before the war ended.

Especially the Austro-Hungarian Empire; if it sat by and watched the Balkan countries grow bigger, then the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Balkan expansion plan would directly fail.

The Serbia, whose territorial domain was not vast now, was enough to give the Austro-Hungarian Empire a headache; if the Serbia and other Balkan countries were allowed to obtain a large piece of territory and population, these countries would definitely become obstacles to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's expansion southward in the future, which was something the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not want to see.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire government originally wanted to sit by and watch the infighting between the Balkan nations and the Ottoman Empire, and wait until both sides fought almost enough, and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire would go down to harvest the final fruits of victory.

But it did not expect the Ottoman Empire to be so useless; even though it had invested in the new-style army trained by Germany, it could still only guard the surrounding areas of Constantinople, sitting by and watching the large piece of European territory in the west being partitioned by the Balkan countries led by Serbia and Bulgaria.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire government looked at the large piece of European territory of the Ottoman Empire on the map, and its eyes were so red that they were about to bleed.

These territories easily abandoned by the Ottoman Empire's army were land that the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to obtain but could not, and had been eyeing greedily for decades.

Even the Russian government, which had frequent domestic unrest, publicly expressed its attention to the Balkan War. That the armies of Bulgaria and Greece could fight to the surrounding areas of Constantinople so quickly was something the Russian government had not expected at all.

Although the Russian government had always labeled itself as the eldest brother of the Slavic nations, this did not mean that the Russian government was willing to see Bulgaria and Serbia and other Slavic nations eat until their mouths were full of oil in this war.

When Serbia and Bulgaria were just small countries, it was easy for Russia to control them. But if their size became larger and larger, it would not be that easy for Russia to control them again.

Serbia was still okay; because there was the greatest threat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia must lean toward Russia, or at least maintain a good relationship with Russia to ensure its own safety.

Bulgaria did not have so many worries. Bulgaria had only three neighbors before this; Romania and Serbia were both Balkan countries, and the neighbor to the south was the Ottoman Empire.

For Bulgaria, the threats of these neighbors were not that great, and Bulgaria could have more choices at the diplomatic level.

It was worth mentioning that Bulgaria's current prince, Ferdinand I, came from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty.

Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I was his uncle, German Emperor Wilhelm II was his cousin, British King Edward VII was his cousin, and Carlo could also be considered his cousin-in-law according to the relationship.

Precisely because Ferdinand I possessed such a prominent background, it gave birth to his ambition that exceeded that of ordinary people.

Before launching this war, Ferdinand I called this war "a brand new crusade" in the internal meeting of the Bulgarian government, and declared that he wanted to establish a new "Byzantine."

His ambition was obvious; after becoming the Prince of Bulgaria, he was not satisfied with his title, and finally called himself the Tsar of Bulgaria in 1908 in history, raising his title to the same level as Nicholas II.

The word "Tsar" was a monarch title used exclusively by Slavic nations, coming from "Caesar" in Latin, equivalent to the emperor title of the Empire.

From Ferdinand I calling himself Tsar, it could also be seen that his ambition was great; at least he was not willing to submit to Russia's rule.

Even, it could be said without any politeness that the moment Ferdinand I called himself the Tsar of Bulgaria, he and Russian Tsar Nicholas II had irreconcilable disputes.

Russia had always labeled itself as the leading brother of the Slavic nations, and hoped to obtain the recognition of the Balkan nations through the origin of belonging to the same Eastern Orthodox Church and Slavic nations, becoming the actual ruler of this piece of land.

After Ferdinand I called himself the Tsar of Bulgaria, he also had the legal basis to rule the South Slavic nations, which conflicted with Russia's strategic goal on the Balkan Peninsula, and it was an irreconcilable conflict.

As time came to the 7th day after the Bulgarian and Greek coalition forces captured Adrianople, which was August 26, 1906, the Russian government officially issued a statement to the outside world, requiring the warring countries of the Balkan War to guarantee the smoothness of the Constantinople Strait and not to carry out any obstruction to Russian ships.

Otherwise, Russia would use military means to ensure the smoothness of the Constantinople Strait, and even in necessary moments, would directly occupy Constantinople to avoid this war causing an impact on Russia.

After Russia issued this statement, before Bulgaria could react, the British government could not sit still first.

If Russia were really allowed to occupy Constantinople, that would be a big deal; it would not only let Russian forces successfully move south but also stir up the situation in the Mediterranean again.

After the Russian Black Sea Fleet could freely enter and exit the Constantinople Strait, they could easily enter the Mediterranean to the south.

Once the Russian fleet was allowed to enter the Mediterranean, the situation in the Mediterranean would become uncontrollable. Although Russia had many internal problems, for Britain, Russia's threat still existed, and it was not small.

After the Russian government issued the statement, the British government also followed closely and issued a statement, hoping that the warring countries of the Balkan War would maintain restraint, and it would be best to resolve the current war disputes through peace negotiations.

Germany and Austria saw that Britain and Russia had already issued statements, and naturally knew that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already lost the opportunity to attack Serbia.

If they still insisted on attacking Serbia at this time, let alone anything else, the Russians would definitely intervene.

If Russia were allowed to forcibly interfere in the war on the Balkan Peninsula, then the situation on the Balkan Peninsula would be hard to say.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were not yet prepared to fight a comprehensive war now, so they could only give up.

After Russia and Britain issued statements, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also expressed their respective positions, hoping that the warring countries would conduct peace negotiations to avoid the war causing greater harm to the citizens of various countries.

With so many great powers simultaneously requiring the Balkan region to stop fighting and negotiate, even if the Balkan countries had already occupied the actual advantage, they had to listen and do as told.

The reason why great powers were respected by various countries was not because of their developed industry and economy, but because of the powerful army and navy possessed by the great powers.

Offending one great power might just make people feel a headache, but if one offended several great powers at the same time, perhaps one could experience an extraordinary feeling.

Whether it was Bulgaria or Serbia, neither had the guts to offend so many great powers. Greece naturally did not need to be mentioned much; it could be considered the role of Britain's little brother, and naturally would listen to the British government's requirements.

Upon learning that Bulgaria and Serbia each issued statements, expressing their willingness to conduct peace negotiations, the Ottoman Empire finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If the European great powers did not interfere in the war again, the fall of Constantinople would be a matter of time. Don't look at the Ottoman army still being able to rely on the terrain surrounding Constantinople to defend; as the war progressed, the army on the front line would sooner or later face the problem of insufficient supplies.

Whether it was weapons, ammunition, or grain and supplies, the front-line army was very scarce. As for why the Ottoman Empire did not mobilize supplies from the Asian part and transport them to Europe, the reason was also very simple: the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire, the Anatolian Peninsula, was experiencing a famine.

Although this famine was not serious, it basically cut off the Ottoman Empire's hope of wanting to mobilize grain from the Anatolian Peninsula and transport it to Europe.