Chapter 474: The Battle for Allies

As more than half of 1909 passed, the situation on the European continent became increasingly tense. On the surface, the conflict between the core nations of the two major military blocs, Germany and France, grew more intense.

Although this world lacked a Moroccan Crisis to incite hatred between the two countries, the enmity between Germany and France had already been passed down for decades, and it seemed no other unexpected incident was needed to stir it up.

On the other hand, although the two Balkan Wars had ended, the situation on the Balkan Peninsula had not become peaceful in the slightest.

Bulgaria had been backstabbed by many Balkan nations during the Second Balkan War; although it eventually gained some territory, the final harvest was clearly contrary to Bulgaria's initial expectations.

Bulgaria was naturally quite hateful toward Serbia and Greece for backstabbing it. If not for the sudden betrayal by Serbia and Greece, Bulgaria should have become the most powerful nation on the Balkan Peninsula by now, and Ferdinand I's title of Tsar would have become far more legitimate.

Yes, after the Balkan Wars ended, Prince Ferdinand I of Bulgaria still announced his change in title to Tsar after the war, which was also to tell all Bulgarians that even if the war was lost, Bulgaria would absolutely not abandon its goal of becoming the leader of the South Slavic people.

Doing this was also a reminder to Serbia and Greece that Bulgaria would still make a comeback. Sooner or later, Bulgaria would reclaim these territories through war, and Serbia and Greece would become Bulgaria's greatest enemies.

Whether it was styling himself as Tsar or continuing to insist on Bulgaria's grand expansion plan, Ferdinand I was backed by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It was precisely because of the support of these two great powers that the defeated Bulgaria became the one with the most confidence.

Do not look at Serbia as having the greatest gains in the war; because it had offended Bulgaria so deeply, Serbia's situation had actually become the worst among the Balkan nations, essentially facing enemies on all sides.

It was already difficult enough to deal with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and having attracted the hatred of Bulgaria, Serbia's situation on the Balkan Peninsula could be described as precarious.

More importantly, after Bulgaria's defeat, the anti-Bulgarian alliance originally intended to target Bulgaria had effectively lost its purpose.

The anti-Bulgarian alliance had already achieved its respective goals; of the three main countries—Serbia, Greece, and Romania—only Serbia actually hoped for the anti-Bulgarian alliance to continue existing.

Romania, the most powerful nation on the Balkan Peninsula on the surface, was unwilling to offend Bulgaria to the death. After all, Romania still had to deal with the threat from Russia; if Russia wanted to expand in the Balkan region, it would first have to bring Romania into its sphere of rule.

Under conditions of high vigilance against Russia, if Romania were to offend Bulgaria to the death as well, its situation would definitely be no better than Serbia's.

It was precisely because of this that Romania had no subsequent plans to continue targeting Bulgaria, and it had no intention of letting the anti-Bulgarian alliance continue to exist.

Greece goes without saying. Behind Greece stood the British Empire, which actually had a conflict of interest with the Russia that stood behind Serbia.

Britain was eager to see continued conflict between Serbia and Bulgaria to create greater trouble for the Russia that backed Serbia.

As for Greece, it had already harvested vast amounts of territory and population, so naturally, there was no need to continue targeting Bulgaria. After all, Bulgaria's army combat effectiveness was still quite formidable; if Bulgaria were pushed too far, Greece might not necessarily be Bulgaria's match, even though Greece at this time had already surpassed Bulgaria in terms of area and population.

If the dissolution of the anti-Bulgarian alliance was only bad news for Serbia, then the news of Bulgaria joining the Central Powers was like a bolt from the blue for Serbia.

Although Bulgaria would receive support from their good brother Germany whether or not it joined the Central Powers, in terms of military affairs, being a member of the Central Powers was still quite important.

With Bulgaria joining the Central Powers, once a war broke out with Serbia, it would be highly likely to draw in the interference of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, forcibly intervening in this war in the name of allies.

Serbia could barely handle even one Austro-Hungarian Empire, let alone the more powerful Germany. As long as Germany dispatched a small number of troops, combined with the siege by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria, Serbia would be directly conquered in a short time, unless Russia or France were also willing to join this war.

After Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Serbia also contacted the Russia behind it, hoping to join the Triple Entente formed by the Franco-Russian Alliance so that its situation would no longer be so awkward.

Regarding Serbia's idea of applying to join the Triple Entente, Russia was supportive. After all, Serbia could be considered one of the few countries on the Balkan Peninsula that stood on Russia's side; if Russia allowed Serbia to be partitioned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria, then Russia would have no say on the Balkan Peninsula at all.

As for the problem of offending Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a result, the two major military blocs were already facing such intense conflict and even war, so was there any need to consider the disadvantages of offending them?

Facing the continuous expansion of the Central Powers, the Triple Entente also needed to find more allies within Europe.

France and Russia agreed to Serbia's request to join the Triple Entente with almost no hesitation.

It was precisely because of the actions of Bulgaria and Serbia successively joining the Central Powers and the Triple Entente that the two major military blocs began a large-scale campaign to compete for allies across Europe.

The first to be courted by the Central Powers was the Ottoman Empire. As an important link in the logistics supply line established by Germany, the Ottoman Empire had always maintained a relatively good relationship with Germany.

The reason was also very simple: the Ottoman Empire's relationship with Russia in modern history was extremely poor, and they had even fought multiple Russo-Turkish Wars.

It was impossible for the Ottoman Empire to lean toward the Franco-Russian side, and furthermore, the Ottoman Empire's recent reforms had received massive support from Germany, which further deepened the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Germany.

The Ottoman Empire's open act of joining the Central Powers did not attract too much attention in Europe; after all, the Ottoman Empire was no longer the super-empire spanning the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, but a decaying, backward country that had almost only retained its territory on the Asia Minor Peninsula.

The Ottoman Empire even held the title of "Sick Man of Europe," and for France and Russia, the threat posed by the Ottoman Empire joining the Central Powers was truly limited, at best not much different in significance from Bulgaria joining the Central Powers.

However, the Ottoman Empire was, after all, the country that controlled the Straits of Constantinople, and such a blatant act of joining the Central Powers also meant that they were determined to stand against Russia.