My Italy - Chapter 662 Bulgaria’s preparations for joining the Union

Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria. As a major player in several Balkan wars, the Bulgarians have fully defended the title of Balkan Prussia.

Of course, this also allowed Bulgaria to gain a large land population, and also made it stand out among the Balkan countries and become a powerful country in the region.

However, Bulgaria’s development and growth is not a good thing for its neighboring countries, because the mixed ethnic groups in the Balkans can easily lead to territorial disputes.

Therefore, after the Second Balkan War, Greece united with Serbia and Romania and launched a war against Bulgaria (known in history as the Third Balkan War). As a result of the war, Bulgaria suffered a huge loss. Not only did it lose the territory gained in the Second Balkan War, it also lost most of the territory gained in the First Balkan War (Italian-Turkish War).

After the Third Balkan War, the voice of revenge in Bulgaria has never subsided. However, given Bulgaria’s severely damaged strength, there is no way to regain the lost territory from the three countries. Therefore, domestic nationalism in Bulgaria turned its guns and blamed the government.

Therefore, the domestic political situation in Bulgaria has been very turbulent in recent years, and the anger from nationalists has made the Bulgarian authorities feel like they are being roasted on fire. In the past few years, Bulgaria has had four prime ministers. One of the Prime Ministers, Ignevsky, was assassinated for calling on the people to remain calm and to re-accumulate strength.

This shows that Bulgarian nationalists have reached all kinds of crazy levels, which shows the negative side of nationalism. The cry for revenge in Bulgaria has made the other three countries always remain highly vigilant against it, and are ready to join forces again to beat Bulgaria again.

It can be said that if the war had not broken out, Bulgaria would have been beaten again by the three countries if it had not been self-destructed, which is extremely dangerous.

As for why the Bulgarian people are so violent?

The reason is simple. In the original history, Bulgaria did not occupy much of Macedonia, and it was more reflected in the agreement. Although you miss the things you haven’t gotten, you won’t be overly concerned about them.

Now Bulgaria, which has occupied most of Macedonia for nearly two decades, is suddenly divided between Serbia and Greece. In the eyes of the Bulgarian people, this is already a cessation of land as compensation, and it also cedes a large piece of land in Bulgaria, taking away three-tenths of the Bulgarian people. It would be abnormal not to have an overreaction.

This is also the main reason for the political turmoil in Bulgaria in recent years.

After the war broke out, both the Bulgarian government and the people were already eager to try. They have not forgotten that Serbia has taken away the most territory from Bulgaria. If it were not currently unable to defeat them, they would have wanted to teach this shameless person a lesson.

However, it has been delayed until now and has not participated in the war. The main reason is that the conditions have not been negotiated, because Austria-Hungary has not agreed to Bulgaria’s request.

Again, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which led the war in Serbia, was unwilling to offer too many benefits to win over Bulgaria. This is actually a typical example of high-mindedness and low-handedness.

As for who has the deepest experience of two-front warfare at present, it is not Germany that everyone thinks of but Austria-Hungary.

The two Serbian campaigns launched by Vienna featured heroic resistance by the Serbs on the one hand and Russian help on the other. In fact, it was mainly Russian help.

In the First Serbian Battle, the main reason for Austria-Hungary’s defeat was the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Galicia, which forced Vienna to withdraw its troops from attacking Serbia and devote them to the defense of Russia.

As for the Second Serbian Battle, the same was true. After the Austro-Hungarian army entered Serbia, Russia launched a campaign to siege Przemyšl. Przemysl Fortress is the Austro-Hungarian fortress in the Carpathian Mountains. If it is lost, the Russians will invade the hinterland of Austria-Hungary, so the fortress cannot be lost under any circumstances. So Austria-Hungary immediately withdrew from Serbia and gathered troops to try to relieve it.

Unfortunately, the Austro-Hungarian army was defeated by the Russians again, and the fortress was still under siege.

Forget about the third time, it ended in vain in the Russian attack.

The successive defeats made the top leaders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire sober up. Coupled with Italy’s dissuasion, the Austro-Hungarian Empire finally recognized the fact that it was very difficult to seize Serbia by itself and Italy, which did not contribute much.

Therefore, after receiving instructions from Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Bateman and the Italian Ambassador went to visit Prime Minister Radoslavov.

After a brief greeting, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Bateman was ready to present Austro-Hungarian conditions.

“Your Excellency Prime Minister, Bulgaria can only get everything it wants by joining our camp. Taking into account the situation of your country, our country is willing to return to you the land it originally seized from your country after liberating the Kingdom of Serbia. In addition, our country is also willing to provide you with Your country provides 50 million kronor in economic assistance and 30 million kroner in weapons and equipment.”

After the Austro-Hungarian ambassador finished speaking, Toledo, the Italian ambassador, then spoke. “Prime Minister Radoslavov, the friendship between our two countries has lasted for a long time. Now our country is very willing to see your country join our camp. If your country joins, our country is also willing to provide 60 million lire in economic assistance and 40 million lire in financial aid. Arms Assistance.”

Prime Minister Radoslavov was very happy after hearing the conditions given by the two ambassadors. With these funds and arms, the government could at least breathe a sigh of relief and form two more divisions. However, although he was happy, the Bulgarian Prime Minister’s expression showed a very embarrassed look.

“I’m very sorry. From the bottom of my heart, I am very willing to join your camp. But you two also know that such an important decision requires His Majesty the King to convene all cabinet ministers to discuss it together, so I would like to ask you two How about waiting for some time?”

Prime Minister Radoslavov’s words, how could the two ambassadors not know that the other’s words were prevarication. If your king hadn’t planned to come over, there would have been no time for you, a pro-German, Italian-Austrian prime minister, to come to power.

At this time, Ambassador Bateman asked, “There must be a time limit. Can the Prime Minister please tell us how long we need to wait?”

Obviously, these words are telling Bulgaria that Italy and Austria need Bulgaria to be generous directly, and there is no possibility of continuing to delay to get more benefits.

“Well, considering that we have to summon all the ministers to attend the meeting and discuss and resolve differences and other issues, how about a month?”

How can a meeting be held to discuss issues for a month? It seems that the Bulgarian Prime Minister has fallen into an old habit.

At this time Ambassador Bateman spoke. “Our country believes that ten days is enough to negotiate a result.”

“Our country thinks so too.” At this time, Ambassador Toledo also expressed his attitude of advancing and retreating together with the Austrian and Hungarian ambassadors.

Seeing the serious attitude of the Italian and Austrian ambassadors, Prime Minister Radoslavov felt the pressure. It seems that trying to use time to get more benefits is no longer possible.

“Don’t worry, two ambassadors, I will definitely give you a reply in ten days.”

After sending these two away, the prime minister called his secretary. “Prepare the car, I’m going to meet the king.”

Soon, the prime minister came to the palace.

“Your Majesty, the ambassadors of Italy and Austria just came to visit me…”

Radoslavov reported the conditions given by the two ambassadors and the alliance’s unwillingness to wait to King Ferdinand I.

The king listened attentively to the Prime Minister’s report, and asked a question or two from time to time.

After the Prime Minister finished his report, King Ferdinand spoke. “It is not difficult to understand. Britain and France are attacking Paris, while Russia has also launched an attack on the Eastern Front. The alliance camp is under pressure and needs an additional ally to share some of the pressure.”

“So you found us?”

Ferdinand I nodded in response to the Prime Minister’s praise. “That should be the case, then we are valuable allies. If that’s the case, then talk to them. You can try to ask whether the Nis area can be handed over to us. In addition, you can also talk about more assistance, whether it is funds or arms, we will need.”

“I’m afraid Italy and Austria won’t agree to this condition, right?”

After hearing the conditions proposed by the king, Prime Minister Radoslavov felt that these conditions were difficult to negotiate.

Facing the Prime Minister’s words, King Ferdinand did not think that the negotiation was impossible. “Then tell them that we in Bulgaria are willing to send an army to help them fight. As long as we are not sent to the Eastern Front, we can send up to 150,000 people.”

It is obvious that the Bulgarian king intends to use the army as a bargaining chip so that Bulgaria can obtain more benefits. The performance of Germany, Italy and Austria on the battlefield made the king believe that this war would definitely end with the victory of the Allied camp. Looking at the performance of Britain and France in Paris, they lost more than 80,000 people in one day. This performance makes it difficult for people to believe that the Entente camp can win.

After Radoslavov heard the king tell him how to increase his chips, his eyes lit up. “Your Majesty, this idea is really brilliant. I believe that even if we are unwilling to confront Russia, we will definitely need troops on the Western Front and North Africa.”

At this time, the Bulgarian Prime Minister was full of confidence and vowed to fight for more interests for Bulgaria.