In the Balkans, Bulgaria, as the most anti-Turkey activist, has been actively working to expand the Balkan Alliance.
On May 29, 1912, the Bulgarian-Greek Defense Alliance Treaty was signed with Greece, stipulating that when fighting Turkey, Bulgaria should provide 300,000 troops, while Greece should provide at least 100,000 troops.
After taking care of Serbia and Greece, Bulgaria was still not satisfied. They set their sights on Romania. At this time, among the small Balkan countries, Romania was the most powerful.
Bulgarian Laronja entered the Balkan League, on the one hand, to expand its strength, and on the other hand, of course, to avoid Romania stabbing him at an inappropriate time.
After a month of negotiations, Bulgaria succeeded in joining the Balkan League at the expense of South Dobniga.
On the third day after the Bulgarian delegation signed the secret treaty, Bulgarian Prime Minister Gayshov returned with the delegation to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
In fact, the Prime Minister was very satisfied with this talk, because even though 4,000 square kilometers of territory and coastal grain production were ceded, Romania was dragged onto the chariot of the Balkan Alliance, protecting itself from attacks from behind and at the same time expanding its power. .
After the Balkan Alliance goes to war with Turkey, Bulgaria will definitely get a lot of land. The loss of Nandobuga is not worth mentioning, and Bulgaria has the right to help itself whether or how it will be given.
After getting off the train, Prime Minister Gaishov and Foreign Minister Tisloch went to report the results of the negotiations to King Ferdinand I.
"For your hard work, Bulgaria will remember you."
After the briefing meeting between Prime Minister Gaishov and Foreign Minister Diras Lodge, King Ferdinand I praised him unstintingly.
"Your Majesty! In order to realize a greater Bulgaria, these are what we should do."
"Everything is for Greater Bulgaria, long live Greater Bulgaria!"
After hearing the words of Ferdinand I, Prime Minister Gaishov and Foreign Minister Dirasloch expressed their humility, all for the sake of Great Paulia)
After taking care of Mania, when the leaders were discussing how to coordinate the operation of the alliance, Ferdinand I brought up Montenegro.
Montenegro is a mountainous country located in the southwest of the Balkan Peninsula and on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Anti-Ottoman sentiment is also the strongest in the Balkans. This small country with less than 300,000 people currently has a standing army of 18,000 people, and it is using all its strength. Prepare the army for war.
Not in May before, Bulgaria had consulted Russia about whether Montenegro could be absorbed into the alliance. Russia expressed opposition to Bulgaria's proposal.
Because Montenegro behaved too radically in international affairs, the alliance had a very bad influence. It sounds nice, but it is actually because Russia helped to form this alliance with the goal of Austria-Hungary. Montenegro is in conflict with Austria, and his label is anti-Ottoman. If he is allowed to join, it will be completely inconsistent with Russia's original intention.
"What do you think, we bring Montenegro into the alliance? Ferdi I said that he had been thinking about the plan for a long time.
Now Ferdinand I has brought Montenegro up for discussion again. It is obvious that he intends to bypass Russia's influence and draw Montenegro into the alliance to expand his momentum.
After all, the performance of the Ottoman Empire in the war with Italy has revealed its military weakness. How can the Balkan countries not be tempted. Moreover, the increase in territory and people also made this temptation stronger. Now King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria obviously cannot stand this temptation.
After hearing King Ferdinand's plan, Prime Minister Gaschov frowned and thought for a moment before saying: "Your Majesty, I want Montenegro to join, but Russia, they don't want us to do this. If we do this, Russia will misunderstand .”
When Ferdinand I heard this, he didn't care at all.
"Misunderstanding, don't you think there are too many misunderstandings in Russia? Now Russia is so biased towards Serbia, haven't you seen it?
Russia has always wanted to turn us into a puppet state. We rose up to resist and slowly got rid of them. There is no need for us to listen to them in everything.
This time the Balkan Alliance is mainly for the benefit of our Gallia, and is aimed at Ottoman Turkey. Against Austria-Hungary? We in Bulgaria don’t even have a border with him, so there’s nothing against him. "
(This chapter is not finished yet!)
Chapter 261
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"Your Majesty is right. Montenegro should also contribute in this war. They have a strong will to fight and are a good helper." The Prime Minister is actually very disgusted with Russia's long-arm jurisdiction. After making it clear what His Majesty the King meant, then Of course he wouldn't object.
Although Bulgaria is supported by Russia, this father is so filial and always wants to be independent.
Even the King of Bulgaria claimed to be Tsar. This title made Tsarist Russia very dissatisfied.
After getting the king's clear intention, Vaidiras Lodge sent a telegram to the Kingdom of Montenegro inviting them to join the alliance.
The Montenegrin government, which had long been interested in a Balkan alliance, after receiving the telegram and deliberation, sent a reply to Bulgaria, telling them that soon, Prime Minister Lazar Tomanovic would personally lead a team to Sofia to discuss the alliance. condition.
On July 12, the Montenegrin Prime Minister took a visiting delegation to Sofia to discuss alliance matters with Bulgarian Prime Minister Geshov.
After five days of discussions, Bulgaria and Montenegro reached a consensus on the conditions for seizing territory and sending troops. Montenegro has officially joined the Balkan League. In terms of territorial division, due to Montenegro's weak strength, it only received a 4,500 square kilometer territorial promise in the Sovo area called Beira. This is a delicious cake for Montenegro, which is only 10,000 square kilometers.
However, for this piece of land, Montenegro needs to prepare at least 30,000 troops to attack the Ottoman Empire together.
Later, Montenegro also signed an alliance treaty with Greece. When negotiating with Serbia, Montenegro did not sign an alliance treaty with Russia due to Russia's obstruction. It only reached a verbal agreement to attack the Ottoman Empire with its troops.
Joining Montenegro in the Balkans means that the Balkan countries are ready to carve up Ottoman European territory. This will be the beginning of a tragedy for this old empire that is still at war with the Great War.
It is also not good news for Russia, which worked hard to promote the Balkans in the early stage, because Russia hopes for an alliance that can deal with Austria-Hungary.
Now this alliance first opposes the Ottoman Empire, which violates Russia's original intention) In addition, Russia's most powerful ally, France, also has objections to the Balkan Alliance.
The then prime minister, Puccalay, believed that this alliance was a conspiracy group planning to go to war. They would destroy the regional balance, and France had always hoped that the Balkans would maintain the status quo.
But at this time, Russia was unable to change the nature of this alliance, let alone prevent it from heading towards war.
As for Italy, the financial backer of the Balkan Alliance, when it was unable to end its irritability for a long time because of the ongoing war, it was relieved to finally hear that the Balkan Alliance was going to face Turkey.
On October 4, 1912, the five countries of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro jointly sent a note to the Ottoman Empire, asking the Ottomans to grant administrative rights to Macedonia and Saxony.
Although it was still in the Italian War, the national atmosphere and strength of the Ottoman Empire made him categorically reject the demands of the Balkan League.
After rejecting the ultimatum of the five countries, Ottoman quickly opened peace talks with Italy while gathering troops to prepare to meet the troops of the Balkan Alliance.
Rejecting the Ottomans, Montenegro, the country that valued the Ottomans the most, took the lead in kicking off the war.
On October 8, Russia declared war on Osman. On October 17, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece jointly declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Romania also declared war on October 21. At this point, the war between the Balkan countries and the Ottoman Empire officially began.
Chapter 261
