Greece’s Roman Road

In April 1907, in the Palace of the Constitution Square, we welcomed two dignified and worried visitors, Prime Minister Alexandros and Foreign Minister Venizelos.

Venizelos successfully led the Crerit people's uprising in 1896. After the war, he officially entered the political arena and was appointed by King George as Greece's foreign minister.

Since King George was away on a state visit to Russia, Constantine received the two in the conference room.

"His Royal Highness, according to the news from our consulate in Thessaloniki and the ambassador in Constantinople, there is a revolution in the Ottomans," Venizelos said with a serious face.

As a neighboring country, the Ottomans have undergone great domestic changes, and Greece will be affected both economically and politically.

"What is the specific situation?" Constantine said with a serious face.

"According to the consular response of Thessaloniki Kanika, it is probably due to the continuous chaos caused by the three Balkan countries, Serbia, Bulgaria and the armed forces supported by us in Greece, fighting for Macedonia in recent years. msl supports this revolution," said Prime Minister Alexandros.

Since the armed forces supported by Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria have entered Macedonia unscrupulously, although the goals of the three countries are different, the basic purpose of each country is to expand its influence among Orthodox Christians and to find a legal basis for Macedonia.

However, although the Ottoman Empire is still in decline, Macedonia is after all the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire has maintained its rule here for nearly 500 years.

During the reign of the Ottoman Empire, Christians were discriminated against in all aspects as conquered people. In terms of taxation alone, the tax that Christians had to pay was generally 1.5-2 times of msl.

The laws and religious precepts of the Ottoman Empire stipulated that Christians were allowed to convert to ysl, but msl was not allowed to convert to other religions.

During this long 500 years, many original orthodox believers naturally converted to become MSLs in order to reduce taxes.

In addition to conversion, some msl in Macedonia migrated from Asia Minor and settled in Macedonia.

As the Ottoman Empire's national strength continued to decline, its ability to control Macedonia was declining day by day. The chaos caused by the competition between the three countries in Macedonia naturally made the local msl quite dissatisfied.

The armed forces of the three countries ignored the local MSL, while the Ottoman Sultan government was weak and powerless, and the social order was out of control, all of which made the Macedonian MSL clearly realize that the Ottomans were terminally ill and must rely on reforms to change the gloomy social status quo.

Some young progressive Ottoman officers who received European-style education, open-mindedness and broad knowledge finally took action.

"Currently, a group of Ottoman revolutionary troops have entered Thessaloniki, and they are marching towards Constantinople under the slogan of "Freedom, Equality, Fraternity"," Venizelos said.

The current sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Hamid II, is not a foolish monarch, but his political skills are seasoned and ruthless, but his luck is too bad, and he takes over an empire whose life is about to end.

Shortly after becoming a sultan, the Ottoman army was defeated by the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish war in 1878.

Even after the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Greece again in 1897, with the support of the army, Hamid II was still able to control the political situation of the Ottoman Empire and generally maintain the Ottoman situation.

"It was reported from Vienna that the Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed to intend to take the opportunity of the Ottoman Empire to fall into civil strife and plan to formally annex the entrusted Bosnia and Herzegovina," Venizelos continued.

"However, there seems to be controversy in Austria-Hungary about this. Hungary opposes the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because Bosnia and Herzegovina is a settlement for the Slavs. After the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of Slavs will increase sharply, threatening the status of the Magyars."

"Also, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria has announced in Sofia that Bulgaria is officially independent, called the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and has given himself the title of Tsar"

Bulgaria was previously an Ottoman vassal state, and the Ottoman Empire still held nominal suzerainty over Bulgaria, despite Bulgaria's de facto independence.

And now, Bulgaria and the Ottomans have officially become a state relationship, and there is no more connection.

Constantine sneered when he heard that Ferdinand claimed to be the Tsar, feeling that Bulgaria was overkill.

At the end of the 19th century, the title of the monarch seemed to be less sophisticated, as if any cat or dog could be called the emperor.

Strictly speaking, in Europe, only the successor of the Roman Empire can be called an emperor.

Whether in the East or the West, the emperor is supreme.

Because of this, Russia claims to be the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the monarch of Russia is the Tsar.

Now a small Bulgarian monarch dares to call himself Tsar.

"His Royal Highness, now that the Ottoman Empire is in civil strife, are we Greece following the example of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and continuing to expand the northern border?" Prime Minister Alexandros said, looking at Constantine who was in deep thought.

In the last war, the Greek army was willing to take a risk and conquered Thessaloniki, but gave up in the negotiation and returned it to the Ottomans. Naturally, the Greek people were not reconciled.

And now the Ottomans are overwhelmed by themselves, and the army with a disorganized military heart cannot stop the Greek army from advancing in Macedonia. It is a good opportunity to win Thessaloniki again.

Hearing Alexandros' suggestion, Venizelos, who is familiar with diplomatic work, hurriedly said: "His Royal Highness, Prime Minister, don't act rashly. Once Greece does this, it will become a target for all countries to attack."

"Whether it is the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the independence of Bulgaria~www.wuxiaspot.com~ In fact, their goals have already been achieved, and now it is nothing more than a nominal pass."

"The powers are still inclined to maintain the current situation in Europe, and this attitude will not change because of the Ottoman revolution."

"And, taking a step back, even if the major powers do not interfere, the three Balkan countries are currently coveting Macedonia. Once Greece takes military action, Serbia and Bulgaria will definitely not sit by and watch Greece expand, and the Balkans will immediately fall into chaos because of the seizure of Macedonia. "

Alexandros is skilled in internal affairs, has extensive diplomatic skills, and is not sensitive to the international situation.

On the other hand, Venizelos is the exact opposite of him, with outstanding diplomatic ability and poor in internal affairs.

Constantine thought to himself after analyzing the views of the two.

After Russia went through the Russo-Japanese War, the famous European road rollers were inseparable from the Asian dwarfs, and they were still in a weak position.

During this war, social contradictions in Russia intensified, and domestic revolutions erupted. In the end, they had to pinch their noses and sign a contract with the Japanese.

It is precisely because the Russo-Japanese War exposed many problems in Russia that the current Russian Prime Minister Stolypin, with the support of the Tsar, is undergoing reforms and flawless expansion.

Otherwise, when the Ottomans fall into civil strife, the Russians will not stop anyway.

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