Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The trip to London was much smoother than Ferdinand expected, not only developed a gold mine, but also deepened the relationship with the British royal family, which was of great help in the future.

Edward, who was in financial crisis, was much more interested in gold mining than Ferdinand, and the two formed a mining company at the fastest speed.

The excited Edward also planned to go to Australia in person, which scared Ferdinand to stop him. In the 19th century, Australia was not a good place to go. It was a remote country and could be said to be a wild place. Ferdinand cherished his life very much.

It was not until June of the following year, when the first shipment of gold from Australia arrived in London, that Ferdinand let go of his worries.

The amount of the first batch of gold was small, only 800 kilograms, and the value was not more than 100,000 pounds, but Ferdinand and Edward were very excited.

A pile of gold is more powerful than a check. Even Victoria attended the celebration feast for the two of them. In the 19th century on the gold standard, the importance of gold was much greater than that of later generations.

The mining company was on the right track, and Ferdinand set off for Vienna, which, no surprise, could generate hundreds of thousands of pounds a year for him.

It was different from when he first arrived. After returning to France, Ferdinand took the land route.

In France: The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Pantheon, all left his footprints.

In Germany: Berlin Brandenburg Gate, White Swan Castle, Lake Constance, Cologne Cathedral, the source of the Danube, Ferdinand has appeared.

It was not until the end of 1885 that Ferdinand returned to Vienna. Along the way, Ferdinand benefited a lot. He saw Britain, France, and Germany, the three most powerful countries in the contemporary era, and gained a clear understanding of human geography and industrial development.

Although the three countries are now booming, Ferdinand clearly feels that France is falling behind, a large amount of capital has gathered in the financial market, and the investment in industry has been greatly reduced.

In Germany, on the contrary, it may be due to the traditional influence of the German region, capitalists have little interest in virtual finance, and focus on industry, and the investment in industry is much larger.

After visiting the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ferdinand found that this decaying empire was still running very healthy, and there was no sign of collapse at all.

Rapid economic development, although not comparable to Britain, France, Germany, but the development potential is not much worse. Domestic conflicts have now been suppressed to the lowest point, and Hungary, which is the most noisy, is now only fighting for power, and has no tendency to become independent.

Looking at the current British Empire, no one would have imagined that it would decay into a second-rate country in just a few decades.

Of course this has nothing to do with Ferdinand, now he is concerned about the coup in Bulgaria. The Russian government is already increasingly dissatisfied: Alexander Battenberg's anti-Russian leanings, a coup is brewing.

Battenberg has always been a person who was extremely reactionary and hated Russia. In the early days, in order not to arouse Russia's dissatisfaction, he skillfully concealed his hatred of Russia.

However, he never concealed his reactionary thoughts. From the very beginning, he publicly stood on the side of the Conservative Party. Knowing that the Liberal Party had a dominant position in Congress, he organized a Conservative government.

When the Conservative Party came to power, it blatantly trampled on the Constitution from the very beginning. The Liberals organized demonstrations through public opinion, and the struggle between the two parties was very fierce.

Then for the next few years, it was all the rivalry between the Grand Duke Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, plus the participation of the Russians, and the country was a mess.

The political crisis intensified in 1886, and the Russians planned to oust Battenberg and replace them with pro-Russian figures. However, Western powers such as Britain and Austria-Hungary chose to support Battenberg in order to weaken Russia's influence in the Balkans.

The nascent Bulgarian bourgeoisie was also divided into pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions, and the two sides were at odds.

Pro-Russians turn to Russia for help,

On August 21, 1886, a group of Bulgarian officers supported by Russia deposed Grand Duke Alexander.

This move aroused national dissatisfaction in Bulgaria, and some military and politicians launched a counter-coup, urging the restoration of the Grand Duke Alexander.

The tsarist government objected and threatened to occupy Bulgaria. On September 7, Archduke Alexander was forced to abdicate and leave.

A sharp political crisis broke out, and the great powers fought for the Bulgarian candidate for Grand Duke.

Russia's position is that as long as power is in the hands of the pro-Russian faction, a National Assembly will be convened to elect the Grand Duke of Bulgaria. However, because the methods of the Russians were too rude, the Bulgarians were dissatisfied.

Despite the opposition of the Russians, Stambolov forcibly convened the National Assembly and elected Prince Vademar of Denmark as the Grand Duke of Bulgaria, but due to the pressure of the tsar, Prince Vademar refused to take the throne.

The conflict continued to intensify, and Russia cut off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria for a time. Unable to reach a compromise between the two domestic factions, the pro-Russian faction launched an uprising in February 1887, but it was quickly suppressed and the leader was sentenced to death.

In order to end this crisis, the Bulgarian government, with the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, convened a National Assembly to elect the Grand Duke of Bulgaria without the consent of Russia.

In order to gain more support, Austria-Hungary nominated Ferdinand, and on June 25, 1887, the Bulgarian National Assembly elected Ferdinand as his successor.

The Russian government protested against this and asked the Turkish government to reject Ferdinand from taking office in accordance with the Treaty of Berlin. However, under the pressure of Western powers, Turkey rejected Russia's request and supported Ferdinand's succession.

At present, the coup in Bulgaria is still in the process of pregnancy, Ferdinand did not interfere, he was afraid of causing a butterfly effect.

After all, Bulgaria has traveled all over Europe in order to find the Grand Duke in history, and there are a lot of candidates.

Although I chose myself in the end, it was nothing more than to gain the support of the Western powers, which did not mean that no one else could replace it.

While waiting anxiously, Ferdinand strengthened the construction of intelligence work. Historically, my life in Bulgaria was not very good when I first arrived in Bulgaria, and the rights were in the hands of the Liberals.

Time passed, and in the summer of 1886, the coup d'état began as planned, and Battenberg was forced to abdicate and then expelled from the country.

The ensuing battle over Bulgaria stunned Ferdinand. Russia, which had an advantage, gradually lost its advantage in a series of wrong actions.

In 1887, the Bulgarian crisis intensified. After obtaining Ferdinand's consent, in February, Stambolov forcibly convened the National Assembly and formally elected Ferdinand as Prince of Bulgaria.