Chapter 474: Ally War

As 1909 passed more than half, the situation on the European continent also became increasingly scorched. On the surface, the conflicts between the two core countries of the two major military groups, Germany and France, became increasingly intense.

Although this world did not have the Morocco crisis to provoke the hatred between the two countries, the hatred between Germany and France had already been inherited for decades, and it seemed that there was no need for other unexpected events to provoke it.

On the other hand, although the two Balkan Wars had ended, the situation on the Balkan Peninsula had not become calm at all.

Bulgaria was backstabbed by many Balkan countries in the Second Balkan War; although it finally harvested a part of the land, the final harvest was clearly contrary to Bulgaria's initial vision.

Bulgaria was naturally quite hateful towards Serbia and Greece, which backstabbed it; if it were not for the sudden betrayal of Serbia and Greece, Bulgaria should have become the most powerful country on the Balkan Peninsula at this time, and Ferdinand I's Tsar title would also have become more justified.

Yes, after the end of the Balkan Wars, Bulgaria's Prince Ferdinand I still announced that he would change his title to Tsar after the war, which was also telling all Bulgarians that even if the war failed, Bulgaria would absolutely not give up the goal of becoming the leader of the South Slavic nation.

Doing so was also reminding Serbia and Greece that Bulgaria would still make a comeback. Sooner or later, Bulgaria would still recapture these territories through war, and Serbia and Greece would also become Bulgaria's biggest enemies.

Regardless of whether it was calling itself Tsar or continuing to persist in Bulgaria's big expansion plan, Ferdinand I was supported by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire behind him.

It was precisely because of the support of the two Great Powers that Bulgaria, which had lost the war, became the one with the most confidence.

Do not look at the fact that Serbia's gains in the war were the largest, but because it had offended Bulgaria to death, Serbia's situation had actually become the worst among the Balkan countries, and it could basically be counted as being attacked from both sides.

It was already quite difficult to deal with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plus attracting Bulgaria's hatred, which made Serbia's situation on the Balkan Peninsula quite precarious.

More importantly, after Bulgaria's defeat, the Anti-Bulgarian Alliance, which was originally used to target Bulgaria, had actually lost its effect.

The Anti-Bulgarian Alliance had achieved its respective goals; among the three main countries, Serbia, Greece, and Romania, in reality, only Serbia still hoped for the Anti-Bulgarian Alliance to continue to exist.

Romania, the strongest country on the Balkan Peninsula on the surface, was unwilling to offend Bulgaria to death. After all, Romania still had to deal with the threat from Russia; if Russia wanted to expand in the Balkan region, it first had to incorporate Romania into its rule.

In the situation of highly guarding against Russia, if Romania offended Bulgaria to death again, the situation compared to Serbia would absolutely not be much better.

It was precisely because of this that Romania had no subsequent plans to target Bulgaria, and did not intend to let the Anti-Bulgarian Alliance continue to exist.

Greece naturally did not need to be mentioned. Greece stood behind the British Empire, and it actually had a conflict of interest with Russia, which stood behind Serbia.

Britain wished to see conflicts continue between Serbia and Bulgaria, creating bigger trouble for Russia behind Serbia.

As for Greece, Greece had already harvested large pieces of territory and population, so naturally there was no need to target Bulgaria again; after all, Bulgaria's army combat effectiveness was still quite fierce, and if Bulgaria was provoked, Greece might not necessarily be Bulgaria's match, even if Greece's area and population had already surpassed Bulgaria's at this time.

If the dissolution of the Anti-Bulgarian Alliance was only bad news for Serbia, then the news of Bulgaria joining the Allied Powers was like a bolt from the blue for Serbia.

Although Bulgaria would receive support from its good brother Germany whether it joined the Allied Powers or not, in terms of military, whether it was a member of the Allied Powers was relatively important.

Bulgaria joined the Allied Powers; once a war broke out with Serbia, it would be extremely likely to attract the intervention of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, forcibly intervening in this war in the name of an ally.

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

After Bulgaria joined the Allied Powers, Serbia also contacted Russia behind it, hoping to join the Entente Powers formed by the Franco-Russian Alliance, so that its situation would not be so awkward.

For Serbia's idea of joining the Entente Powers, Russia still supported it. After all, Serbia was considered one of the few countries on the Balkan Peninsula that stood on Russia's side; if Russia let Serbia be carved up by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria, then Russia would have no say on the Balkan Peninsula.

As for the problem of offending Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused by this, the two major military groups were already facing such intense conflicts or even war, so did one still need to consider the disadvantages of offending them?

Facing the constant expansion of the Allied Powers, the Entente Powers also needed to find more allies within Europe.

France and Russia agreed to Serbia's request to join the Entente Powers without much thought.

It was precisely because of the behavior of Bulgaria and Serbia joining the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers respectively that the two major military groups started a large-scale action of competing for allies within Europe.

The Allied Powers first won over the Ottoman Empire. As an important part of the logistics supply line formulated by Germany, the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Germany had always been relatively good.

The reason was also simple: the Ottoman Empire had a very poor relationship with Russia in modern history, and even erupted in multiple Russo-Turkish Wars.

The Ottoman Empire could not possibly lean towards France and Russia, plus the reform of the Ottoman Empire in recent times had received a large amount of support from Germany, which further deepened the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Germany.

The behavior of the Ottoman Empire openly joining the Allied Powers did not attract too much attention in Europe; after all, the Ottoman Empire at this time was no longer that super empire spanning Asia, Europe, and Africa, but a backward country that almost only retained the territory of the Anatolian Peninsula.

The Ottoman Empire even had the title of "Sick Man of Western Asia" in Europe; for France and Russia, the threat brought by the Ottoman Empire joining the Allied Powers was limited, at most not much different from the significance brought by Bulgaria joining the Allied Powers.

However, the Ottoman Empire was after all a country that controlled the Constantinople Strait, and such an open behavior of joining the Allied Powers also represented that they were going to firmly oppose Russia. ===== CHAPTER 475 =====