Greece’s Roman Road - Chapter 271

While the war in Macedonia was in full swing, Belgrade on the Danube was still peaceful.

King Peter I of Serbia is discussing the current situation in the Balkans with his minister of war, Putnik.

When the news came that Bulgaria was besieged by Greece, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire, and that the main Bulgarian army was also defeated by the Greek Macedonian Army, the Serbian high-level officials were caught in a dilemma.

Bulgaria?

Or Greece?

“Your Majesty, according to the current situation in this war, unless a miracle occurs, the defeat of the Bulgarian army has been determined. Now that both the Ottoman Empire and Romania have joined the war, what is our Serbia’s choice?” Putnick asked.

Seeing King Peter staring blankly at the map of the Balkans without saying a word, Putnick naturally understood the king’s thoughts.

Once Greece wins and acquires the entire Macedonia region, its strength will soar. As the spoils of war are digested, Greece will usher in a period of rapid development. Greece, which originally ranked first in comprehensive strength among the three countries, has truly become a Balkan country from now on. first power.

As a neighbor of Greece, Serbia will naturally face the pressure of Greece’s soaring strength.

At that time, Serbia will be sandwiched between the two powerful countries of Greece and Austria-Hungary, and will become an embarrassing role like a buffer country, and the space for expansion will be completely compressed.

In this war between Greece and Bulgaria for the ownership of the Macedonia region, the Serbian executives are more expected to see the Greek side defeated, which is more beneficial to Serbia.

If the situation develops like this, then Serbia’s advantage of bordering Macedonia can be used.

In that case, Bulgaria will get the Aegean Macedonia (around Thessaloniki) in the hands of Greece, and Serbia will not only have the opportunity to get North Macedonia, but in the best case, even northern Albania, get access to the Adriatic Sea. , is also possible.

Since then, on the Balkans, Serbia and Bulgaria, which have divided Macedonia, have become two major powers.

Macedonia is the center of the Balkan Peninsula, and its geographical location is very important. If you want to dominate the Balkan Peninsula, it is a must.

Serbia, whose strength has been greatly enhanced, has more confidence in the face of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which enslaved many Serbs.

The current situation is that Greece has gained a favorable position on the battlefield. If Serbia chooses Greece as an enemy to attack the Greek Albanian Legion stationed in Skopje (the capital of North Macedonia), then the trend of this war will also become confusing. .

It’s just that this is not a good choice for Serbia. It takes a lot of trouble, and the outcome of the war is full of unknowns.

After all, the Greek side has already joined two new forces, the Ottoman Empire and Romania, and the strength of the Greek side has soared.

Secondly, the Greek army and the Bulgarian army, stationed in Skopje during the fierce fighting in Macedonia, with a number of 150,000 Greek and Albanian troops, have been carefully building the defense line, always ready to deal with the attack of the Serbian army, so that the Serbian army has no The gap can be taken advantage of, which is also an important reason why Serbia has not made a move to Greece.

“We don’t seem to have many choices. After all, only by joining the victorious side can we be eligible for the spoils,” Peter I said regretfully.

Now Bulgaria can be said to be defeated. Serbia has also joined the Greek side. It is also a good choice to cut a piece of meat from Bulgaria.

The Serbian army didn’t have to spend a lot of trouble, and easily obtained some territory from Bulgaria, which was defeated by Greece. In this way, it paid a very small price, but the gain was considerable. It was undoubtedly a good deal.

As for the sea port that the Kingdom of Serbia dreams of, it is not that there is no substitute for Northern Albania. Montenegro, a small Balkan country with close ties to Serbia, has always played the role of Serbia’s sea port.

Even if it weren’t for the strong opposition of the two major powers, Austria-Hungary and Italy, Serbia would have chosen to merge with Montenegro after the last Balkan War.

Italy and Austria-Hungary feared that Serbia would develop into a new power on the Adriatic coast after gaining the port of Montenegro, so the two countries tacitly adopted this method to curb Serbia’s development.

The history of Serbia and Montenegro begins with their common ancestor – the Slavs.

The Slavs originated in the Vistula Valley region of present-day Poland.

In the 4th century AD, due to the influence of national invasions caused by climate change, some Slavs came to the Balkans, they were called Yugoslavs, including Serbs and Montenegrins.

They also belong to the Yugoslav nation and believe in the Orthodox Church, which makes the gap between Montenegro and Serbia very small.

The inhabitants of Montenegro are also called by Serbs as Serbs in the mountains.

On June 28, 1389, the Ottomans defeated Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo, and Serbia lost its autonomy, while Montenegro has maintained its independent status by virtue of the advantage of being easy to defend and difficult to attack in the mountains.

The Ottoman Empire’s offensive was broken, and most of the Balkans was historically under its rule, but Montenegro was an exception.

Because of the vertical and horizontal valleys, it is not suitable for military operations, but suitable for guerrilla warfare.

The Montenegrins took advantage of this feature and established a state with Cetinje as the capital to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

They repeatedly thwarted Ottoman invasions and became the only country in the Balkans that was not conquered by the Ottomans.

After the outbreak of the first Balkan War, Serbia gained territories such as Kosovo, and Montenegro’s territory extended north and east, bordering Serbia.

But the joy of reuniting the two brothers after a long absence did not last long, when Austria-Hungary and Italy poured cold water on the two countries – prohibiting any possible merger between the two countries.

“Mr. Minister of War, you can prepare to mobilize the army now. With this opportunity, the Kingdom of Serbia can also report the shame of its defeat in 1885,” Peter I said.

Just as the two were smug, planning to share a piece of cake from Bulgaria, which was about to be defeated, the sound of “rumbling” came, and the violent sound suddenly alerted the entire Belgrade people.

King Peter reacted, the anger in his eyes was like a volcano, anger filled his entire chest, and with a “touch”, King Peter slammed on the table with one hand and said fiercely: “Damn Austria-Hungary”.

It turned out that after the war in Macedonia spread, the ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Belgrade met Peter immediately, and clearly expressed the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, saying that in order to protect the peace of Europe and prevent the war in the Balkans from further expanding, Serbia Better not get involved in this war.

The intention of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also very clear, and it does not want Serbia to continue to expand.

Serbia, supported by Russia, is like a thorn inserted into the flesh, making the Austro-Hungarian Empire sleepless.

In particular, what made Austria-Hungary unbearable was that the people in Serbia had ambitions for Austria-Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and even Bosnia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Bosnia are all included in the Greater Serbia that Serbian nationalists demand.

When Peter I went to Serbia to be crowned king, he passed through Croatia, and some people even called Peter “King of the Croats” at the Croatian railway station

In this case, Austria-Hungary naturally tried every means to contain Serbia’s expansion.

The sound just now was the sound of the cannons of the Austro-Hungarian military exercises stationed on the north bank of the Danube River.

After Serbia became independent, the territorial division of Serbia and Hungary was also based on the Danube River.

Belgrade is on the south bank of the Danube River, which means that the capital of Serbia is always facing the threat of the Austro-Hungarian Second Army stationed on the north bank of the Danube River.

Obviously, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was deterring Serbia, endorsed the words of the ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and warned the Serbian army not to get involved in the war in Macedonia.

“Immediately use a telegram to contact Moscow and ask Russia’s opinion whether Russia is willing to support Serbia in an impending conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia,” Peter I ordered irritably.

Serbia was incapable of resisting Austria-Hungary without the explicit support of the Russians.

Serbia is Russia’s nail in the Balkans, and for Russia, it has important strategic significance.

Now that the younger brother is in trouble, it is natural to ask the elder brother for help.

Conrad, the chief of the general staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, deployed the Second Army on the north bank of the Danube, which made Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, always nervous.

Moscow, Russia

After receiving help from Peter I, Nicholas II immediately convened a meeting of ministers to discuss how to respond to Serbia’s request for help.

“The current situation is very obvious. Greece and Bulgaria are at war, and now Romania and Austria-Hungary have been attracted to join the war, which has caused agitation throughout Europe,” Nicholas II said first.

“Once this war continues to expand, I am afraid that the position will lead to a war that sweeps across Europe, so how should we restore Russia’s little brother Serbia?”

Nicholas II inspected his ministers with scrutiny.

With the whole of Europe divided into two groups, any spark could become the fuse for igniting explosives.

If Austria-Hungary is involved, then Germany, an ally, is inseparable from the relationship. The situation in Europe is such an interrelated whole.

“After the last Balkan war, the Germans openly stationed officers to help the Ottoman Empire reorganize its army. This is obviously the infiltration of the Germans into the Ottoman army, especially after the revolution in Constantinople. Now the Ottomans are almost all in power. It seems that the German embassy is the highest will of Constantine, and it is a blatant affront to the Russian Empire,” said Foreign Minister Samzonov.

“If this situation continues to drag on, allowing German power to expand and infiltrate the Ottomans politically and militarily, it won’t be long before the Ottomans become a puppet of the Germans, and the longer it drags on, the worse it will be for the Russian Empire.”

“I think the Serbs should be supported, even at war”

Agriculture Minister Krivoshein and War Minister also sided with him, echoing his views.

The main war faction in the Council of Ministers is in the majority.

But in the end the chairman of the Council of Ministers, Kokovtsov, asked a question: “Whether Britain and France will side with Russia if war breaks out.”

“Secondly, is the Russian army ready for war?”

There was silence in the conference room for a moment. Samsonov, the foreign minister who was most familiar with the situation in the country, analyzed to everyone: “Under what circumstances can the Russians start a war? First of all, the premise of Russia’s declaration of war on Austria-Hungary. , Germany is not on the side of Austria-Hungary. If Germany is definitely on the side of Austria-Hungary, then Russia must ensure that France and Britain must be on the side of Russia.”

“Only in this way can the victory of this war be ensured”

“If this premise is confirmed, then it will be clear to see under what circumstances France and Britain will support Russia.”

“The treaty signed between France and Russia is a mutual defense treaty. Only if France or Russia is invaded by Germany can the two countries attack Germany. And the real meaning of this treaty is to prevent France from being invaded by Germany again. For most of the time after the conclusion of the Franco-Russian Treaty, the French attitude did not actually encourage Russia to take risks in Europe. That is to say, France hoped that Russia would protect France from German invasion, but was unwilling to take the initiative to launch a campaign against Germany for Russia’s sake. attack.

“If the Russians take the initiative to launch a war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany will undoubtedly be involved in the war of the German nation. But France and Britain want to take the initiative to attack in Russia. Under these circumstances, how difficult it is to stand on the side of Russia.” Nicholas I said indifferently.

Foreign Minister Samzonov replied: “So, France will definitely be on the side of Russia, but Britain, not so sure.”

“As for Britain, Edward Gray (British foreign secretary) has repeatedly reiterated that he has no treaty obligations to France and Russia, and he has no treaty obligations to Russia.”

Britain has never publicly declared itself to be a member of the Entente on any diplomatic occasion. In other words, once France and Russia go to war with Germany and Austria, the United Kingdom has no obligation to join France and Russia on its own initiative.

Britain will only join if it judges that it is more in its own interest to join France and Russia.

“At the same time, the Russian army is not ready enough to support the severe war that will involve the whole of Europe. We still need time, so now it is time to appease our little Serbian brothers and let them endure for a while,” Nicholas II said. .

No one knew that the war that swept across Europe almost broke out early because of the war in Macedonia.