Chapter 458: The Constantinople Peace Talks

Now that things have reached this point, as the Balkan nations rapidly crushed the Ottoman Empire's garrisons in the Balkans, the various European powers were forced to step out and feign an interest in maintaining order on the Balkan Peninsula.

Rather than calling it maintaining order on the Balkan Peninsula, it would be more accurate to say that the European powers saw that things were taking a turn for the worse and rushed to save the teetering Ottoman Empire.

Britain did not wish for the Ottoman Empire to collapse, because doing so would allow Russia to become the sole power in the Black Sea, and it would no longer be so easy to keep the Russian Black Sea Fleet bottled up at the Constantinople Straits.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also did not wish for the Ottoman Empire to collapse so quickly, because if the Ottoman Empire fell at this moment, the ones to get full would be the nations of the Balkan Peninsula, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had been sharpening its knives for the Balkans but had seen the war end before it could even take action.

Especially for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if it sat by and watched the Balkan nations grow strong, then the Austro-Hungarian Empire's expansion plan for the Balkans would be a direct failure.

Serbia, whose territory was currently not vast, was already enough to give the Austro-Hungarian Empire a headache; if Serbia and other Balkan countries were allowed to gain large swaths of territory and population, these countries would inevitably become obstacles to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's southward expansion in the future, which was something the Austro-Hungarian Empire was unwilling to see.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had originally intended to sit back and watch the infighting between the Balkan peoples and the Ottoman Empire, waiting until both sides had fought themselves to exhaustion before stepping in to reap the fruits of victory.

But it never expected the Ottoman Empire to be so pathetic; even after deploying new-style troops trained with German help, it could still only defend the areas around Constantinople, watching as vast swathes of European territory to the west were carved up by the Balkan nations led by Serbia and Bulgaria.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire government looked at the vast Ottoman European territories on the map, their eyes so red with envy they were practically bleeding.

These territories, so easily abandoned by the Ottoman army, were lands the Austro-Hungarian Empire had coveted for decades, lands it wanted but could not obtain.

Even the Russian government, which faced frequent domestic turmoil, publicly expressed its concern regarding the Balkan War. That the Bulgarian and Greek armies could reach the outskirts of Constantinople so quickly was something the Russian government had never expected.

Although the Russian government had always touted itself as the big brother of the Slavic peoples, this did not mean the Russian government was willing to see Slavic nations like Bulgaria and Serbia get their fill in this war.

When Serbia and Bulgaria were merely small countries, it was easy for Russia to control them. But if their scale grew larger and larger, it would not be so easy for Russia to control them anymore.

Serbia was fine, because with the Austro-Hungarian Empire as its greatest threat, Serbia had to lean toward Russia, or at least maintain good relations with Russia to ensure its own security.

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

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

It is worth mentioning that Bulgaria's current Prince, Ferdinand I, came from the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I was his uncle, the German Emperor Wilhelm II was his cousin, the British King Edward VII was his cousin, and by relation, Luo Lun could also be considered his cousin-in-law.

It was precisely because Ferdinand I possessed such a prominent background that he developed ambitions beyond those of an ordinary person.

Before launching this war, Ferdinand I had referred to it as "a brand new Crusade" at an internal meeting of the Bulgarian government, and declared his intention to establish a new "Byzantine Empire."

His ambition was obvious; after becoming the Prince of Bulgaria, he was not satisfied with his title, and eventually, in the historical year of 1908, he proclaimed himself Tsar of Bulgaria, raising his title to the same level as that of Nicholas II.

The term "Tsar" is a monarchical title exclusive to Slavic peoples, derived from the Latin "Caesar," and is equivalent to the imperial title of an empire.

From Ferdinand I's self-proclamation as Tsar, one could see that his ambition was great; at the very least, he was unwilling to submit to Russian rule.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the moment Ferdinand I proclaimed himself Tsar, he and the Russian Tsar Nicholas II had an irreconcilable dispute.

Russia had always touted itself as the leader of the Slavic peoples and hoped to gain the recognition of the Balkan peoples through the shared origins of the Orthodox Church and the Slavic ethnicity, thereby becoming the de facto ruler of this land.

After Ferdinand I proclaimed himself Tsar of Bulgaria, he also possessed the legal justification to rule the South Slavic peoples, which conflicted with Russia's strategic goals on the Balkan Peninsula—an irreconcilable conflict.

As time reached 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, demanding that all countries participating in the Balkan War ensure the passage of the Constantinople Straits and not obstruct Russian ships in any way.

Otherwise, Russia would use military force to ensure the passage of the Constantinople Straits, and if necessary, would directly occupy Constantinople to prevent this war from affecting Russia.

After Russia issued this statement, before Bulgaria could even react, the British government was the first to lose its composure.

If the Russian government were truly allowed to occupy Constantinople, that would be a disaster; not only would it allow Russian power to move south smoothly, but it would also once again disrupt the situation in the Mediterranean.

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

Once the Russian fleet entered the Mediterranean, the situation there would become uncontrollable. Although Russia had many internal problems, for Britain, the Russian threat still existed, and it was not small.

After the Russian government issued its statement, the British government followed closely with its own, hoping that all countries participating in the Balkan War would exercise restraint and preferably resolve the current war dispute through peace negotiations.

Seeing that Britain and Russia had both issued statements, Germany and Austria 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, to say nothing else, the Russians would certainly intervene.

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

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were not yet prepared to fight a full-scale war, so they had no choice but to give up.

After Russia and Britain issued their statements, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also expressed their respective positions, hoping that the warring nations would conduct peace negotiations to avoid greater harm to their peoples.

With so many great powers simultaneously demanding a ceasefire and negotiations in the Balkan region, even though the Balkan nations held the actual advantage, they had no choice but to obey.

The reason great powers are respected by other countries is not because of their developed industry and economy, but because of the powerful armies and navies they possess.

Offending one great power might just be a headache, but if one were to offend several great powers at once, one might experience a rather unusual feeling.

Neither Bulgaria nor Serbia had the guts to offend so many great powers. As for Greece, it goes without saying; it was practically a lackey of Britain and would naturally follow the British government's demands to the letter.

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

If the European powers had not intervened in the war, the fall of Constantinople would have been a matter of time. Do not be fooled by the fact that the Ottoman army could still rely on the terrain around Constantinople for defense; as the war progressed, the troops around Constantinople would sooner or later face the problem of insufficient supplies.

Whether it was weapons, ammunition, or food and supplies, the frontline troops were extremely scarce. As for why the Ottoman Empire did not mobilize supplies from its Asian territories to transport to Europe, the reason was simple: the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire, the Anatolian Peninsula, was experiencing a famine.

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