I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 557 A little bit floating

If the Kingdom of Bulgaria was dependent on the Russian Empire in every way, Napoli would never grow.

No matter how much George loves Polis, as long as the Russian Empire exists, George will focus on the Russian Empire.

In fact, during this period, the assistance the Kingdom of Bulgaria received from the Russian Empire had caused dissatisfaction among other Balkan countries.

Polis only saw that the Bulgarian Kingdom was having a hard time, but the other Balkan countries were not much better.

The Balkan countries were all established on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, and their economic conditions were not very good. Although the Russian Empire provided a certain degree of economic assistance to the Balkan countries after their establishment, economic assistance is something that is never too much.

Since they are all my younger brothers, why do you favor one over the other?
Each Balkan country has its own difficulties.

The Kingdom of Romania gained southern Dobruja, which certainly strengthened the interests of Romanians in the region, but also aroused dissatisfaction among Bulgarians, and a new round of social crisis was brewing.

Although Serbia's territory has further expanded, it has not gained access to the sea, and "Greater Serbia" remains a dream.

Although the Kingdom of Greece obtained Crete and southern Macedonia, it was not strong enough. It failed to completely control Crete, nor was it able to appease the people of Macedonia, and domestic conflicts became increasingly acute.

Relatively speaking, the situation in the Bulgarian Kingdom was already good. At least in Western Thrace, Polis had replaced the Ottoman Sultan and became the king truly supported by the locals.

During the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Empire's power in Western Thrace was wiped out, leaving a large amount of unowned land. These lands were sold by Polis to local civilians at low prices. For this reason alone, Polis quickly won the support of the Western Thracians.

This is what wealth distribution is about.

If the Thracians who obtained land wanted to keep their property, they had to support the rule of Polis, otherwise their land would still be taken away by the powerful and wealthy.

Relatively speaking, the Macedonians had more complaints about the Kingdom of Greece because the unowned land of Macedonia was divided up by the nobles of the Kingdom of Greece, leaving the common people with nothing.

The land issue was secondary. The biggest problem of the Kingdom of Greece was that King Constantine I had an ambiguous position and did not receive the support of the domestic powerful.

In 1909, a military alliance in Greece launched a coup and Crown Prince Constantine was removed from all military posts.

During the Balkan Wars, Constantine was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Greece. He led the Greek army to victory in the battles of Salantapoulos and Giannitsa, and captured Thessaloniki before the Bulgarian army, performing quite well.

After the assassination of George I, Constantine became the King of Greece. The first thing he did after ascending the throne was to invite the German Army Chief of Staff Moltke the Younger to visit Greece, which cast a shadow on the future of the Balkan League.

The military coalition coup in Greece was related to Constantine's pro-German stance.

George didn't know what kind of love potion William II had given Constantine to make him so devoted that he was so eager to express his position as soon as he ascended the throne, risking domestic opposition.

This also poses a certain threat to the security of the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

Although the Second Balkan War, triggered by the assassination of George I, ended with the defeat of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, voices calling for the punishment of the Kingdom of Bulgaria continued to be heard in Greece.

In order to ease the conflict between the two countries, the Kingdom of Greece took the initiative to cede Western Thrace to the Kingdom of Bulgaria, which further aroused the anger of the Greeks.

If Constantine I insists on his own way, the Kingdom of Greece will become the biggest threat to the Balkan Alliance.

"Don't worry. If you want to get Macedonia back, you'd better pray that Athens joins the German-Austrian alliance."

George was not afraid of Greece's rebellion, on the contrary he was quite looking forward to it. The total population of the Kingdom of Greece was only 300 million. Although the Greek army performed well in the Balkan War, it was because the main force of the Ottoman Empire was held back by the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbia, which gave Constantine the opportunity to perform.

Otherwise, with the Greek army's level of training and equipment, it would be impossible to fight against the Ottoman army.

Greece is mountainous, and its agricultural and industrial levels are relatively backward. It needs to import a large amount of grain from the Russian Empire every year to meet its own consumption.

George had nothing to say. If Greece dared to rebel, George would only need to cut off the exports to Greece and starve the Greeks to death.

"Will war inevitably break out between us and Berlin?"

Anne did not want to see the Russian Empire and Germany go to war.

George was silent for a long time. He didn't want to, but he had no choice.

The main contradiction between the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in the Balkans. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had never concealed its ambitions in the Balkans. The reason why Constantine had a close relationship with Germany had a lot to do with the Austro-Hungarian Empire's assistance to the Kingdom of Greece.

Greece cannot produce weapons and ammunition domestically and relies mainly on external procurement.

After Constantine and Princess Sophie got married, the Austro-Hungarian Empire increased its aid to the Kingdom of Greece, and a considerable portion of the weapons and equipment within the Greek army came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

During the Second Balkan War, in order to express its support for the Kingdom of Greece, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sent the newly built and commissioned battleship "United Force" to visit Athens, but was surrounded by Russian and British warships.

In order to safeguard Britain's interests in the Mediterranean, Britain also formed a Mediterranean Fleet, with its home port being Alexandria, Egypt.

The strength of the British Mediterranean Fleet is second only to the British Home Fleet.

The strength of the Russian Mediterranean Fleet is second only to that of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The Ottoman Empire was going to build a total of four "United Force" class all-heavy artillery battleships, but only one has been completed so far. It has not yet formed combat effectiveness and is simply unable to compete with the two Mediterranean fleets.

The "United Force" did not even reach Athens and was forced to return to its home port on the Adriatic Sea. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was nicknamed the "Sick Man of Europe".

Previously this title belonged to the Ottoman Empire.

Because the Ottoman Empire lost all its European territories in the Balkan Wars, it was collectively expelled from Europe by European countries and became an Asian country.

George was unable to go on vacation to the Aegean Sea as planned. On January 1, Alfred von Schlieffen, a talented strategist who served as Chief of the German General Staff, died. Nicholas urgently summoned George back to St. Petersburg.

As the developer of the "Schlieffen Plan", Schlieffen had an important influence on the German army's combat thinking.

Nicholas wants George to develop an offensive plan against the German-Austrian alliance.

how to say.

George felt that Nicholas was a little bit arrogant after taking over the Black Sea outlet.

(End of this chapter)