Greece’s Roman Road - Chapter 308

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Venizelos expressed impassioned ambition, and Constantine listened quietly.

Constantine could understand Venizelos’ eagerness.

Venizelos has always been an imperialist, but also has no lack of diplomatic skills and a keen eye for international situations.

Although the people in Greece have always had the will to recover the territories of Asia Minor and reshape the glory of the empire, the high-level military and political leaders in Greece are not blindly optimistic and have always been sober.

The national strength of Greece alone is far from enough to accomplish this grand goal.

Although facing Austria-Hungary, Greece won two wars in the Balkans in 1897 and 1912.

But frankly speaking, this record cannot be used as a reference standard for evaluating the true strength of the Ottoman Empire, so it is simply concluded that the military strength of Greece exceeds that of the Ottoman Empire.

In both wars, the Greek army won by trickery.

Before the war of 1897, the Ottoman Empire suffered mainly because it underestimated the enemy and did not face up to the military strength of Greece.

The Greek territory at that time was only the territory around the Peloponnese, which was very different from the Ottoman Empire.

Moreover, the most direct reason for the victory of the Greek army in this war was that the unexpected attack of the Greek army achieved miraculous results.

As for the war of 1912, the Italian army’s attack on Libya firmly attracted the attention of the Ottoman Empire, and had no time to consider the Balkans.

After the war, Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria besieged the Ottoman Empire, and the Bulgarian army was the main combat force.

Strictly speaking, the Greek Army was only responsible for the flank battlefield.

Greece did not really defeat the Ottoman Empire head-on with its own national strength.

Venizelos was already in the government’s position as foreign minister at the time and had access to various classified documents, including information obtained by the Army Intelligence Service through spies, and was naturally aware of this situation.

Defeating a declining empire is not difficult, but Greece’s goal is to destroy it, it is not so easy.

The beasts are still fighting and want to destroy the Ottoman Empire. Under the crisis of life and death, the Ottoman Empire will inevitably put aside disputes and share the enemy.

In addition, Greece needs the support of a favorable international environment to make progress in Asia Minor.

No matter what the decline of the Ottoman Empire looks like, as a traditional power in Europe, out of the need to maintain the political and military structure of the balance of power in Europe, no one will agree to any country annexing the Ottoman Empire.

The aging Ottoman Empire had joined the Allied countries without knowing how to live or die. After learning the news, Venizelos was both surprised and delighted.

This means that as long as the Entente wins, no matter what, the region of Asia Minor will usher in drastic changes.

Although Russia in the Allied Powers knew almost all of Europe’s ambitions for the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France would inevitably surrender their interests to Russia on the issue of the Ottoman Empire in order to win over Russia against Germany.

Venizelos speculates that before the war, Britain, France and Russia should have reached an agreement on the division of the Ottoman Empire.

However, Venizelos’ years of experience as a diplomat and his intuition told him that Britain and France would not happily watch Russia acquire the strategically important Bosphorus-Darddanelles and let Russian forces rush into the Mediterranean.

And Greece is now the country closest to the Dardanelles. From a geographical point of view, or from a practical point of view, besides Greece, who else is suitable to be the heir to the Ottoman Empire?

Constantine’s head ran fast: “Prime Minister, I admit that your analysis is reasonable. Maybe things will really develop as you predicted.”

“It’s just too early to discuss options for Greece to join the war”

Constantine took a map of the Balkans, spread it out on the table in front of the two, pointed to the banks of the Danube and said: “Now Serbia and Austria-Hungary are fighting south of the Danube, and frankly, the Serbian army fought valiantly. , even if the opponent is a power like Austria-Hungary, the Serbian army has won a great victory.”

“Since the start of the war, Britain and France have given Serbia a large amount of arms to support them through Montenegro.”

“But the power disparity between the two is too great. Once Germany supports his allies, Serbia is likely to fall back.”

As the fuse of the war, the war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was a surprise.

When the Sarajevo incident occurred, the veteran Serbian general Radomir Putnik was training in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As a result, after the war between the two countries, the general became the first prisoner of the war.

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor Francis Joseph himself ordered Putnik to be released.

After returning to Serbia, the veteran was appointed Chief of General Staff by the King of Serbia, effectively commanding the Serbian army fighting against Austria-Hungary.

The governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Portio Cole, led two armies of 190,000 men to attack Serbia from the west.

Internationally, it was speculated that Serbia would soon be occupied by Austria-Hungary. After all, although the total number of troops on both sides was not much different, after the general mobilization of the Serbian army, the total number was 200,000.

However, the two armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in charge of attacking Serbia on the western front were the main armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The result of the battle was surprising. August 12 was the birthday of Emperor Joseph Francis, and news of the defeat came from the southern front.

At the Battle of Gale, the Sixth Army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was defeated, causing the Fifth Army to return to the border in a hurry.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was humiliated.

“To the southeast of Greece, the current attitude of Bulgaria is unclear. Both the Allies and the Entente are trying their best to win Bulgaria and want to pull it into their own camp.”

“According to rumors, Bulgaria originally favored the Allies, but the defeat of Austria-Hungary made them hesitant.”

Constantine then pointed to Constantinople and said to Venizelos: “As for the Ottoman Empire, it is said that they are planning an expedition to the Caucasus in order to contain the Russian army in the south and ease the pressure on Germany.”

After all, Constantine drew a large arrow on the map, pointing from the interior of Asia Minor to the Caucasus, indicating the movement of the Ottoman army.

“After the mobilization of the Ottoman army, there are about 600,000 to 700,000 people. Near Thrace near Constantinople, there are two armies stationed, about 200,000 people.”

After explaining all this, Constantine dropped the map, looked at Venizelos and said, “What would happen if Greece entered the war at this time?”

Pointing to Serbia: “Once Serbia is defeated, Greece is an ally and a neighbor of Serbia. It is reasonable, we all need to support them.”

“Otherwise, once Austria-Hungary takes Serbia, the situation in Greece will be even more severe”

Swipe your finger in the direction of Bulgaria: “Bulgarian’s attitude is unknown. Greece needs an army at all times on the Bulgarian border to guard against possible attacks by the Bulgarian army”

Then he pointed to Constantinople: “Russia is busy guarding against the German attack on the eastern front. The attention of Britain and France is now focused on the western front, and there is no time to estimate the Ottomans.”

“Greece is now joining the war, and it is the closest to the strait. The Allies must demand that Greece immediately attack the Dardanelles from the direction of Thrace and open up the communication link with Russia.”

After taking a breath, Constantine paused for a moment, looked at Venizelos and said: “Join the war now, these pressures will hit Greece immediately, almost each of the three directions is not easy to deal with, do you think the Greek army can complete these tasks?”

“The ownership of the strait determines the survival of the Ottoman Empire. As long as we launch an attack, the Ottoman army will not even care about the Caucasus occupied by Russia, and will immediately mobilize the national army to defend the strait. After all, Constantinople is on the coast of the strait”

“This time Greece has no Allied help, we need to face the Ottoman army alone”

The strength of the Ottoman army should not be underestimated: there are many Germans serving as middle and senior officers in the army, and the military equipment is also extremely advanced. Mauser rifles and Krupp cannons are all standard equipment of the German army.

Moreover, in the original historical time and space, the Battle of Gallipoli fought by the Allies to get through the Black Sea Strait was a rare victory for the Ottoman army in World War I.

Isn’t it stupid for Greece to do this job instead of Britain and France?

“Bulgaria is now suffocating Greece, and is still worried about the loss of Macedonia. Once the Greek army and the Ottoman army are in a hard battle in Thrace, it is inevitable that the Bulgarian army will not take action.”

“According to the current situation, it is not wise to join the war immediately”

While diplomatically and politically, Venizelos was brilliant, he was really not proficient in military affairs.

In addition to military concerns, there were more practical reasons for Constantine’s opposition to joining the Entente now.

Historically, in 1915, the Ottoman Empire raised the butcher’s knife against the Armenians in the country, creating a shocking case of Armenian genocide. It is said that about 1-1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered.

Christians who were also under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the fate of Greek Christians during the First World War was not much better.

According to the Greek embassy, ​​after the Ottoman government announced that it would join the Allied countries to fight, in order to completely solve the minority problem in the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman government has begun to implement a variety of means including forced immigration and racial persecution. Greek.

The Ottoman government recruited large numbers of Greek men of school age from the Thrace and Anatolia regions into labor camps, who were forced to perform grueling physical tasks such as building roads and digging tunnels.

Under the abuse, many Greeks died tragically.

Yesterday’s headlines in Greek newspapers were about Constantine’s entry into the Allied Powers, but today’s headlines changed to a message: “Greek town near Smyrna destroyed by Turkish irregulars, about 50-100 men Greek civilians died, the remaining residents fled to Greece with the help of the Greek embassy in Smyrna”

According to rumors, this was a warning from the Ottoman Empire to the Greek army, especially the Crown Prince Constantine.

The news caused a sensation in Greece, and demonstrations against the Ottoman Empire broke out in major cities in Greece.

If Greece joins the war now, in case the war is unfavorable, then the Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire will be out of luck.

Will the Ottoman Empire kill the Greeks while slaughtering the Armenians for the purpose of venting their anger?

The Greeks in the Ottoman Empire are conservatively estimated to be no less than 2 million.

This huge number also caused Constantine to be very concerned.

Once Greece joined the Allied camp, the Greeks in Asia Minor faced the cruel fate of being massacred.

These populations are now hostages in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, and they may tear up votes at any time.

The population exchange agreement reached between the two governments, the MSL in Greece is exchanged with the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, in order to reduce the proportion of ethnic minorities in each other’s countries.

Before the Ottoman Empire entered the war, under this policy, tens of thousands of Greeks came to Greece every year from across the Aegean Sea.

This will undoubtedly reduce the influence of the Greeks in Asia Minor. As the traditional settlement of the Greeks, the Greeks have been in Asia Minor for thousands of years. Why did Constantine agree?

Because Constantine was worried that rejecting this policy would firstly make the Ottoman authorities think that Greece had ideas about Ottoman territory, and secondly, that these Greeks were really in danger.

Constantine dared not disagree.

“Judging from all aspects of intelligence, the best option for Greece now is to remain neutral,” Constantine advised Venizelos.

Venizelos also sighed and said with a face full of frustration: “For those Greeks living in Asia Minor, every day they prolong, their danger deepens.”

“Now European countries are busy with wars, and they have no time to worry about Ottoman Turkey”

“Over the years ~www.mtlnovel.com~ the Ottomans’ persecution of Christians has never stopped. In the past, the Ottoman Empire was worried that the persecution would lead to the intervention of European powers, and used this as an excuse to attack the Ottoman Empire. always in private and covert”

“Now they have no scruples at all, and European countries are too busy to take care of themselves”

“The frenzied Ottoman authorities see this as a good time to deal with Christians in the country”

Venizelos almost gritted his teeth.

After a moment of silence, Constantine patted Venizelos on the shoulder in comfort.

“Well, with regard to the persecution of Christians by the Ottoman authorities, we will act separately,” Constantine said.

“You protested to Germany and the Ottoman authorities through the diplomatic service”

“Princess Sophie and I put pressure on Kaiser Wilhelm to restrain his allies”

In desperation, Constantine also thought of using a personal relationship. Sophie was William’s sister and Constantine’s eldest brother, and they were still very close in private.

German officers had a huge influence in the Ottoman army, and the Ottomans did not dare to neglect the pressure from the German side.

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