Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 461 The Second Balkan War
"Your Majesty, these Balkan countries have put on a great show for the world." Inside the Royal Palace of Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Olcajo, who had rushed over, said to Carlo with a smile.

"The peace talks haven't even ended yet, and the countries that were originally part of the Balkan alliance have already turned against each other. Serbia and Greece have colluded with Romania, hoping that Bulgaria will give up its territorial claims to the Macedonia region, so that Serbia and Greece can jointly divide the Macedonia region."

Even Romania, which had not participated in the war, demanded that Bulgaria cede Southern Dobroga. It seemed that, apart from Bulgaria itself, the original Balkan allies had all transformed into an anti-Bulgarian alliance in a short period of time. "Orkajo, with a completely spectator's mentality, explained the current situation and details of the Balkan Peninsula to Carlo with a smile."

Carlo nodded calmly, not at all surprised by the infighting among the Balkan allies. The partitioning of territory could never be perfect, especially since Bulgaria had contributed the most.

Furthermore, given the influence of the European powers behind the Balkan states, an anti-Bulgarian alliance was inevitable, and even a second Balkan war could break out in a short time.

The culprit that led to the chaos in the Balkans should theoretically be attributed to the European powers that were focused on the region.

On the other hand, if it weren't for Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece's own great ambitions, this land probably wouldn't have seen so many wars break out in such a short period of time.

Regardless of who was right or wrong in this war, and regardless of how the situation in the Balkans develops, it doesn't really matter much to Spain.

However, one thing can be certain from the Balkan Wars: the spark that ignited World War I may well be, as it has been in history, triggered by an assassination that shocked Europe.

The reason is simple: Austria-Hungary's firm opposition to Serbia's acquisition of Albania in these peace negotiations suddenly intensified the hatred between Serbs and Austrians.

Given such immense ethnic hatred, it is quite normal for some radicals to plan assassinations.

Carlo did not intend to persuade Crown Prince Ferdinand in the future, after all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not take the weak Serbia seriously.

The only country that the Austro-Hungarian Empire truly valued was Russia, which was behind Serbia. Without Russia's support, Serbia was nothing.

Moreover, even if Crown Prince Ferdinand's fate were saved, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not be saved. The reason for the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I was that they chose the wrong side, not any other reason.

As long as the war is won, the dual imperial system can continue to be maintained; if the war is lost, Austria and Hungary will inevitably separate.

"Judging from the speed at which the anti-Bulgarian alliance is being formed, the Balkan countries, led by Serbia and Greece, may already be ready to fight Bulgaria to decide the final territorial distribution."

Austria-Hungary certainly did not want Serbia to dominate the Balkans, and they would definitely try every means to support Bulgaria, or even incite Bulgaria to launch a war.

"In that case, the Balkan Wars will inevitably break out again. Although this war will not have any impact on us, the weapons produced in the previous war with Britain may be sold through this war." Carlo said to Prime Minister Orcajo after a moment's thought.

“Yes, I understand, Your Majesty.” Prime Minister Orcajo nodded, clearly agreeing with Carlo’s suggestion.

During its war with Britain, Spain produced a large quantity of weapons, equipment, and ammunition. However, due to the limited scale of the war, most of these weapons and ammunition were stockpiled.

Although the Spanish army's weekly live-fire exercises consume some weapons and ammunition, at this rate of consumption, the weapons and equipment currently stockpiled by Spain are enough to keep the active-duty troops going for several years.

It's impossible to completely shut down the military factories over these years. The best solution is to sell as many of these weapons and ammunition as possible. The proceeds would then be enough to allow the factories to produce more and newer weapons and equipment for the Spanish army. This would be a win-win situation.

On September 27, 1906, after a month of negotiations, the Balkan League and the Ottoman Empire made some progress on a peace treaty.

The peace negotiations were repeatedly delayed because Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria had significant disagreements over the dispute over Macedonian territory during the negotiations.

The Ottoman Empire determined its remaining territorial boundaries in less than half a month, and its diplomatic representatives largely agreed to the peace proposal.

Although the Ottoman Empire would lose a large portion of its European territory after the treaty was signed, only the area around Constantinople and a narrow peninsula remained under its control.

However, it was already quite good news that the Ottoman Empire, which faced a devastating defeat in the war, was able to retain its capital.

Moreover, according to the agreement between the two sides in the peace negotiations, the Ottoman Empire only needed to pay the Balkan League a total of less than £200 million in war reparations. This amount was not unreasonable, and the Ottoman Empire, with the help of Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to grit its teeth and pay it.

According to this treaty, the Ottoman Empire would lose most of its European territory. The remaining European territory would be divided by four cities: south of Midiye, east of Adrianople and Enez, and west of Constantinople, which would still belong to the Ottoman Empire. The vast majority of the remaining European territory, including most of Thrace and Macedonia, would be divided among Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro.

Albania will also gain independence from the Ottoman Empire, adding another country to the Balkan Peninsula.

In addition to the loss of land in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire also lost countless sea areas and islands in the Aegean Sea.

More than 90% of the islands and archipelagos in the Aegean Sea would belong to Greece, and even the Dodecanese Islands, also known as the Twelve Islands, which were right on the doorstep of the Ottoman Empire's Asian part, would be directly incorporated into Greek rule.

This is completely different from the original history. In the original history, a war broke out between Italy and the Ottoman Empire before the Balkan Wars.

This war granted Italy sovereignty over the Dodecanese Islands, which was not transferred to Greece until after World War II.

At this time, because there was no war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, the Greek government, with strong support from Britain, acquired the Dodecanese Islands, officially turning the Aegean Sea into an inland sea of ​​Greece, which left the Ottoman Empire feeling utterly helpless.

The Ottoman Empire, which once defeated the Eastern Roman Empire, now occupies almost only parts of Asia. Having been bullied by other powers in the past, it's now that even the small countries of the Balkans can easily defeat the Ottoman Empire.

This also represents a very frightening thing: weakness invites aggression. No matter how glorious a country's history may be, if it continues to weaken in recent times, it may face bullying from various countries.

The only way to avoid this situation is to push the country forward and become a world leader in science and technology and industry.

The Ottoman Empire's diplomatic representatives were the first to sign the peace treaty. After signing the treaty, the Ottoman Empire's diplomatic representatives quickly left the negotiation site without even saying goodbye to the diplomatic representatives of the other powers.

These Ottoman diplomats didn't even dare to imagine the uproar that would ensue when the specific contents of the treaty reached home, especially when it reached members of more radical political parties.

It can be concluded that the Ottoman Empire would undergo a dramatic change because of this peace treaty.

After the Ottoman Empire's role in the peace treaty concluded, the most exciting part, namely the drama of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece dividing up the Ottoman Empire's European territories, officially began.

After successfully winning over Romania, Serbia and Greece have completely dropped their pretense.

They made no concessions in the peace negotiations and even used public opinion to incite public discontent, stirring up a wave of opposition to Bulgarian hegemony in Serbia and Greece.

At the peace talks, diplomatic representatives from the three countries engaged in heated arguments over the disputed division of their respective territories.

Meanwhile, within their respective countries, the governments and people of the three nations were engaged in fierce arguments, which even escalated into a war of words between the governments.

The Greek Prime Minister angrily denounced the Bulgarians for showing no respect for Greece's contributions in the war, asserting Greece's right to southern Macedonia and Thessaloniki, and even half of Thrace. The Bulgarian government simply dismissed this as their own rhetoric. How can it be that Bulgaria, which contributed the most to the war, is disrespecting Greece's contributions?
Moreover, in previous peace negotiations, Greece had already acquired many islands in the Aegean Sea, effectively turning the Aegean Sea into its own inland sea.

As for Serbia and Bulgaria, the former remains a purely landlocked country, while the latter, although it has a coastline, is only a small part of the Black Sea.

The Bulgarian government is furious with Greece, a country that has already benefited greatly but shamelessly wants more.

Even more critically, Serbia and Greece appear to have joined forces. Greece's territorial claim is of southern Macedonia, while Serbia's claim extends south of the border into northern Macedonia.

The territorial claims of these two countries are independent of each other, and both are targeting Bulgaria.

If we really calculate based on their territorial divisions, what could Bulgaria possibly gain from this war?

The Bulgarian government was clearly unwilling to accept the gains from parts of Eastern Macedonia and Eastern Thrace, the combined harvest of which amounted to a fraction of what Serbia and Greece had gained.

Given the increasingly chaotic situation in the Balkans, the ambitious Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally did not want a powerful force led by Serbia to emerge in the Balkans.

When the Bulgarian government faced such unfair treatment, the Austro-Hungarian Empire immediately contacted the Bulgarian government and made various promises and conditions.

First, the Austro-Hungarian government pledged to provide the Bulgarian government with a war loan of no less than £500 million and to supply Bulgaria with weapons and equipment during the war.

Secondly, regardless of the outcome of the war, Austria-Hungary guaranteed that Bulgaria would not suffer any territorial losses after the war.

Third, Austria-Hungary promised that if Bulgaria could defeat Greece and Serbia, Austria-Hungary would strongly support Bulgaria in acquiring Macedonia and Thrace, and would again provide the Bulgarian government with a loan of no more than £1000 million to help the Bulgarian government recover its industry and economy more quickly after the war.

These three conditions greatly boosted the Bulgarian government's confidence. With funding and weaponry from Austria-Hungary, they weren't worried about territorial division even in defeat. What was there to hesitate about?

The Bulgarian army performed exceptionally well in the First Balkan War, which is why Bulgaria made the greatest contribution to the war.

The Bulgarian government and Prince Ferdinand I believed that even if faced with a joint attack from Serbia and Greece, Bulgaria could quickly defeat both countries and establish its position in the Balkans.

With strong support from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria became very assertive. The Bulgarian government issued a public statement demanding that the Greek government withdraw from all land east of Thessaloniki and transfer it to the Bulgarian government as compensation for the Bulgarian government's enormous contribution to the war.

If the Greek government is unwilling to do so, the Bulgarian government would not hesitate to use force to reclaim the land that rightfully belongs to Bulgaria.

To achieve a greater deterrent effect, under the orders of Prince Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Bulgaria restarted its national mobilization and deployed tens of thousands of troops to the border with Greek-controlled territories.

Faced with such a tough stance from the Bulgarian government, the Greek government, backed by the anti-Bulgarian alliance, naturally had no intention of backing down.

The Greek government, not to be outdone, immediately launched a nationwide mobilization, with the King of Greece personally proclaiming the slogan "Defend Thessaloniki, Defend Greece."

Although European countries did not expect Bulgaria and Greece to go to war, they were naturally unwilling to miss this big show.

Following the military standoff between Bulgaria and Greece, the British government immediately decided to ship tens of thousands of rifles, along with other weapons, equipment, and ammunition, to Greece.

On the Austro-Hungarian side, they faithfully transported a shipment of supplies worth £50 to Serbia and promised that more weapons, equipment and supplies would be sent to Bulgaria should war break out.

Although Serbia is not among the two sides in the standoff, the Russian government, as Serbia's biggest backer, is naturally aware of the subtle actions taken by Serbia and Greece during this period.

After all, the precondition for the formation of the anti-Bulgarian alliance was that Russia would not interfere in Romania, so Serbia would definitely have to ask the Russian government for its attitude.

The Russian government also shipped thousands of rifles and hundreds of thousands of bullets to Serbia, but the quantity of heavy weapons, including machine guns and artillery, was relatively small.

It's not that the Russian government is stingy; it's just that the Russian government's finances cannot support a large scale of resources.

The wealth of the British government goes without saying; even though they had recently suffered a defeat and paid reparations, they still had a large amount of spare money to spend.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire's finances were not particularly good, it had the help of Germany, and the millions of pounds in aid were not a big deal for Germany.

On the other hand, Russia, despite having a similarly wealthy ally France, has seen most of France's money used to help its ally Russia because Russia itself is a bottomless pit.

After several days of military standoff between Bulgaria and Greece, the Serbian government issued a public statement supporting Greece's territorial claims, arguing that Bulgaria was violating the agreements made when the Balkan League was signed and was annexing the fruits of victory established by the League.

Because the military standoff between Bulgaria and Greece has already resulted in casualties, Serbia has also demanded that Bulgaria immediately suspend its general mobilization and redefine its territory in accordance with the original Balkan alliance agreement.

Otherwise, Serbia will have the right to protect other innocent allies of the Balkan Union in accordance with the agreements of the Balkan Union.

The Serbian government's statement was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, immediately making the already chaotic situation in the Balkans even more tense.

The Bulgarian government has come to understand the wolfish ambitions of Serbia and Greece, but fortunately, with the personal statements from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the German government, the Bulgarian government is not too afraid.

On October 6, 1906, the day after the Serbian government issued its statement, the Bulgarian diplomatic representative to Greece formally delivered a declaration of war to the Greek government, and the Balkan Peninsula, which had been peaceful for several months, was once again shrouded in the smoke of war.

Upon receiving the declaration of war from Bulgaria, the Greek government showed no fear whatsoever; on the contrary, it felt a sense of smug satisfaction.

Because the Bulgarian government initiated the war, Greece had the advantage of favorable timing, location, and popular support.

The Greek people, upon learning of Bulgaria's declaration of war against their country, were enraged. They demanded that the government undertake a larger-scale military mobilization to teach Bulgaria, which had violated Greek sovereignty, that the Greeks were not to be trifled with.

At the same time, at the request of the Greek government, the Balkan countries, which had already joined the anti-Bulgarian alliance, also declared war on Bulgaria one after another.

On October 7, 1906, the Serbian government, citing Bulgaria's alleged aggression against its ally, declared war on Bulgaria.

On October 8, Montenegro, as a member of the Balkan Union, also declared war on Bulgaria under the same pretext.

On October 11, Romania publicly stated that Bulgaria's invasion of Greece was jeopardizing peace and stability in the Balkans. If Bulgaria failed to cease its invasion within 24 hours, Romania would join the conflict as a guardian of peace in the Balkans.

　First update of 5000 words, please vote and support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)