African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1171 New Dalmatian Kingdom
On the Serbian battlefield, the Neretva Corps began to show its power. Naturally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not ignore the Neretva region with a population of more than 600,000.

This place became a key area for recruiting soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire's border regions. A large number of Chinese and mixed-race people were incorporated into the army, and the latest Neretva Corps was formed based on the original Neretva local army. It was distinguished from other Bosnian armies and was separated out separately to participate in the Serbian battlefield.

This change also illustrates the improvement of the status of the Neretva region. After all, the original Neretva region belonged to the lower-level region of the Bosnian State, mixed with part of the territory of southern Croatia.

Now, because of the defeat on the front line, the Austro-Hungarian Empire made a major decision in order to win over the local government and civilians. That is, after the war, the area will be incorporated into the New Kingdom of Dalmatia.

Mostar.

As the capital of the Neretva region, it has been upgraded to the temporary capital of the New Kingdom of Dalmatia. Now, the government of the new kingdom is actively cooperating with the actions of the Austro-Hungarian government and carrying out conscription activities locally.

Hipper: "The Empire has invested a lot this time. If we can perform well on the battlefield, we will all be heroes of the Kingdom of Dalmatia in the future. After the war, we will at least become an autonomous region like Croatia."

The Kingdom of Dalmatia was the Illyrian Province of the French Empire before 1815, but later it fell into the hands of Austria and became its subordinate kingdom.

In order to win over the local people, the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepared to integrate the Neretva region into Dalmatia, separating it from the original Bosnia State to form a new Dalmatian Kingdom.

Of course, this also means weakening Croatia. After all, Dalmatia was originally populated by Croatians, but since the influx of immigrants from the Far East, the local population has undergone major changes.

Although Croatia is a member of the empire, there are also people who support Serbia. Therefore, assigning the Kingdom of Dalmatia to the mixed-race Germans can at least reduce the infiltration of "Pan-Slavism" into the southern part of the empire.

Of course, all this is based on the premise that the Austro-Hungarian Empire still exists after the war, but the pie of the empire was still eaten by the Neretva regional government.

After all, mixed-race Germans have always lacked legitimacy in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This can be seen from the settlements of mixed-race Germans alone, which span the two imperial administrative regions of the State of Bosnia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia.

And now, with the Austro-Hungarian government’s endorsement, the new Dalmatia, with Mostar at its center, would become the land of mixed-race Germans “since time immemorial.”

After all, these lands have always been Habsburg territories, and as long as new "claims" can be obtained from the Habsburgs, a fait accompli can be created.

The former Speaker of the Mostar Parliament, Hipper, has now been successfully promoted to Speaker of the Kingdom Parliament, and his superior has been directly changed from the State of Bosnia to Vienna.

Hipper: "Since November last year, in just a few months, the Empire has carried out extensive conscription activities in the Neretva region. Now, the number of people joining the army in the Neretva region alone has reached more than 30,000, which has greatly strengthened the Empire's military personnel replenishment."

Mostar Mayor Rab said: "According to the Empire's requirements, we need to recruit at least 20,000 more soldiers. However, the entire kingdom's total population is only about 900,000, which is a great pressure for us."

If we do not count the Neretva region, the total population of the original Dalmatian Kingdom was only more than 200,000. Moreover, East Africa's infiltration of the local population would naturally not let Dalmatia go. There were also more than 100,000 mixed-race Germans in non-Neretva areas.

That is to say, out of the total population of 900,000 in the New Kingdom of Dalmatia, more than half are mixed-blood Germans, while there are less than 200,000 Croats, who have become a minority. This is also the data support for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's integration of the New Kingdom of Dalmatia. Mixed-blood Germans account for more than 70% of the local population and have formed a new ethnic group.

Of course, mixed-race Germans are also Germans, so there is naturally no need to engage in separatist activities under the banner of a new nation.

Since the Austro-Hungarian Empire had given such huge benefits to the local mixed-race Germans, it naturally hoped that the locals would contribute more to the war. According to the requirements of the Austro-Hungarian government, the New Dalmatian Kingdom had to recruit 50,000 soldiers to participate in the war against Serbia.

Hipper said: "The remaining 20,000 people must be recruited from the north. After all, we cannot rely entirely on Germany. The Croatians must also contribute a part and incorporate them into the army, which will be beneficial to the subsequent rule of the kingdom."

Rab said: "There are about 200,000 Croatians in the kingdom. According to our ratio, we should recruit at least 10,000 Croatians. In this way, the Germans will account for four-fifths of the local army of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, which can effectively ensure our influence on the army."

Hipper asked: "Will this lead to a rebellion among the Croatians? After all, the establishment of the New Kingdom of Dalmatia has already offended many people. I am afraid that if we act a little more aggressively, it will easily ignite the emotions of the Croatians."

It can be said that the former Dalmatian Kingdom government was dominated by Croatians, but the current New Dalmatian Kingdom is naturally dominated by Germans. After all, Germans are the majority in the kingdom.

The mixed-race Germans in Dalmatia previously had the support of the former Neretva government and their status quickly rose, which led to a relative decline in the status of the Croats. Therefore, many Croatians were hostile to the new Dalmatian Kingdom government.

Apart from other things, the capital of Dalmatia used to be Zadar, but in the new kingdom, not to mention competing with Mostar, even the port of Ploče could not compare. Whether in terms of economy or population, the German-inhabited areas had an absolute advantage.

Of course, the Austro-Hungarian government, as the highest level, finally chose to support the strong mixed-race Germans. For the Austrian government, mixed-race Germans are still Germans and are always stronger than Croatia and other ethnic groups. The Hungarian government wanted to take the opportunity to weaken other ethnic groups to avoid threatening Hungary's status.

After all, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austrians and Hungarians were the ruling nations, while Croatians, Czechs, Italians, and Serbs were the ruled nations.

Now Hungary does not want other nations to replicate Hungary's success. For example, Archduke Ferdinand in the previous life advocated a tripartite empire that was not well received and strongly opposed by Hungarians. In this time and space, Archduke Ferdinand naturally also holds this view, but he is not the crown prince, so what he said has no influence.

Rab said: "Originally, many Croatians in Dalmatia were very dissatisfied with the establishment of the new Kingdom of Dalmatia. We just took advantage of the conscription issue to let all opponents come out. We will kill them all directly to prevent future troubles."

As a German, Rab would naturally not take care of the Croatians, especially those Croatians who were unwilling to integrate into the new kingdom. If they were honest and aware of the times like the Croatians in the Neretva region did and took the initiative to join the German family, then everything would be easy to deal with. After all, the Croatians in the Neretva region have basically integrated into mixed-race German families.

But if you don't know the current situation, don't blame the new government for being rude. Although it was a war at that time, many of the armed forces of the New Dalmatian Kingdom were still controlled by the Germans.

After all, East Africa had provided a lot of weapons to the Neretva region and carried out a lot of military training. Although the Neretva region has been separated from East Africa and a new interest group has been formed, it is still supported by the East African government. Therefore, before the establishment of the New Dalmatian Kingdom, the local German forces had the military force to deal with the unarmed Croatian opposition in the north.

(End of this chapter)