Greece to roman road

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Seeing the visiting Prime Minister Venizelos, who could not hide his anxiety on his face, Constantine did not dare to neglect and immediately handed the reins to Sophie.

"What happened?" Constantine and Venizelos asked as they walked along the tree-lined path in the manor and saw Venizelos looking worried.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received news that the Prime Minister of Bulgaria secretly revealed to Ambassador Brugge in Sofia that Bulgaria and Serbia have secretly formed an alliance," Venizelos said with a serious face.

Constantine was startled, and for a moment he couldn't figure out what the Bulgarians meant by this move. He asked anxiously: "So, what is the content of the treaty signed by the two parties?"

The time has come to March 1912, and the battle for Libya between the Ottomans and the Italians is still continuing.

Although the three Balkan countries all have the intention to form an alliance, Greece and Bulgaria have been in a stalemate in order to compete for nominal dominance, hoping that the other party will succumb to their will.

Affected by this, the diplomatic contacts between the two sides have been stuck here and cannot move forward.

"After many negotiations, the two parties have now signed a covenant: both parties guarantee each other's independence and territorial integrity of their respective countries. If one party is invaded by other countries, the other party should fully support it."

"The two parties agreed that when the time is favorable, they will attack Turkey; when they attack Turkey to the south, they will defend Austria in the north."

"The two sides also reached an agreement on the dismemberment of Macedonia, marked the disputed areas, and agreed to select Russian Tsar Nicholas II as the arbitrator when carving up the disputed areas."

Constantine looked gloomy and was very dissatisfied with the treaty signed privately between the two countries. The alliance between the two countries did not take into account Greece's territorial claims at all.

"What is the purpose of Bulgaria leaking the treaty between the two countries to Ambassador Brugge?" Constantine was confused.

"The purpose of this move is obvious, to put pressure on us. The Bulgarians know very well that without Greece joining, their small group may not be the opponent of the Ottoman Empire. Even now the energy of the Ottoman Empire is attracted to Italy." Winnie Zelos said angrily.

Obviously, this little trick cannot be hidden from the sharp eyes of the prime minister who is proficient in diplomacy.

Noticing that Venizelos was hesitant to speak, Constantine said: "Besides the secret alliance between the two countries, is there anything else?"

“The Italians were eager to end the war, but the military operation in Libya was not going well. In order to force the Ottoman authorities to give up resistance as soon as possible, the Italian Navy occupied the Dodecanese Islands and also sent warships to bombard Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea coast. City," Venizelos said wistfully.

The Dodecanese Islands, which means the Twelve Islands in Greek, are mainly populated by Greeks and are currently under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

The Dodecanese Islands are located in the southwest of Asia Minor, close to the Asia Minor Peninsula, and their geographical location is very important.

After the Italians took control of the Dodecanese Islands, Italy's influence in the Aegean Sea increased.

When Constantine heard the news, although he was full of displeasure, he had no good solution.

Although the Dodecanese Islands are basically Greeks, they belong to the Ottoman Empire. Now that Italy has seized control of the islands from the Ottoman Empire, Greece, although dissatisfied, has nothing to do.

Greece's naval strength is too weak and is no match for the Italian Navy.

Moreover, the situation in the Balkans is on the verge of breaking out, and Greece is no longer allowed to focus on the Aegean coast.

Both emotionally and logically, the Balkans are a higher priority choice.

"Regarding the alliance, don't delay any longer. We should immediately launch diplomatic contacts with Bulgaria and Serbia to discuss alliance matters," Constantine said.

After all, the Greek diaspora in the Balkans, according to rough estimates by the Greek government, has a population of no less than 4 million.

This number is almost the same as the current population of Greece!

There's no reason why Constantine didn't pay attention.

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In May 1912, after several months of delay, the three countries finally decided to hold a joint meeting of the prime ministers of the three countries in Ligocha, the capital of Montenegro, to discuss the appropriateness of the alliance between the three countries.

Serbian Prime Minister Pasic, Bulgarian Prime Minister Geissouf, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Venizelos, the prime ministers of the three countries will gather in the capital of Montenegro to win Ligocha.

Bodli Gorcha, Levi Hida Hotel

In the conference hall, the prime ministers of the three countries had their first contact.

The prime ministers of the three countries are sitting around a round table and are negotiating on alliance matters.

"Serbia needs the Kosovo region and northern Macedonia. In addition, we hope that Serbia can get northern Albania so that Serbia can get an outlet to the Adriatic Sea," Serbian Prime Minister Pasic first said.

As a landlocked country, Serbia is really fed up with the lack of coastal commercial ports.

Since independence, due to inconvenient transportation, both imports and exports have been restricted by neighboring countries. This has led to the slow development of Serbia's business and trade and seriously affected Serbia's economic development.

Serbia must obtain an outlet to the sea that can carry out shipping and trade in this war. This is the unanimous opinion in Serbia.

Venizelos had a gloomy face and sneered "haha": "A territorial claim against Greece? Prime Minister Pasic, are you sure you are not here to declare war on Greece?"

Pasic probably thought that Greece was alone and wanted to cut some flesh on Greece.

After that, Venizelos ignored the whimsical Pasic and turned to Prime Minister Geissouf and asked patiently: "So, what are Bulgaria's territorial claims?"

"Bulgaria must get the Macedonian region including Salonika," Prime Minister Geissouf was also unceremonious, reaching out and pointing on the Balkan map hanging on the wall.

Although Bulgaria is not a landlocked country and is not as miserable as Serbia, it is not much better.

All Bulgaria's sea outlets are located on the Black Sea coast, which results in Bulgaria's import and export ships, except for trade in the Black Sea region, all passing through the Dardanelles Strait and the Bosporus Strait.

This situation made Bulgaria's overseas trade extremely vulnerable to the influence of the Ottoman Empire.

Take the current situation as an example. Since the Italian-Turkish War began, Bulgaria has made frequent military movements on the Bulgarian-Austrian border, making no secret of its coveting of the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

Out of retaliation, the Ottoman Empire had banned Bulgarian ships from passing through the strait.

Bulgaria is naturally coveting Salonika, an important seaport and transportation hub on the Aegean Sea, and is determined to win it.

After hearing the demands of the two countries, Venizelos was furious. According to the territorial division proposals of the two countries, the Ottoman Empire's territory in the Balkans had almost been divided up, and Greece had nothing to do with it.

According to this carving up method, Greece's expansion to the Balkan Peninsula was completely blocked.

Venizelos looked livid and said sternly: "I need to remind the two prime ministers that your demands should be more reasonable."

"In addition, among the three countries, Greece has the strongest comprehensive strength, and Greece's territorial claims should be respected."

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