War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

May 1839.

The sudden appearance of Austrian troops in Novi Sad caused panic to the Governor of Bosnia, and Serbia sent a distress signal to the Ottoman Empire.

Because as long as the Austrians cross the Danube, they can attack them.

The Austrian side has at least 50,000 regular troops, and at this time, neither Bosnia nor Serbia can produce a force that can counter it.

After Serbia overthrew the rule of Miloš Obrenovic, the entire country fell into turmoil. The members of the Seventeen-member Parliament bribed the Ottoman Pasha who was stationed here. For the so-called supreme rights, they continued to attack each other.

This is a good thing for the Ottoman Empire, and Essol Pasha is also happy to see this kind of scene. He wants to take advantage of the weakness of the Serbian disunity to weaken their power, and ultimately achieve the purpose of regaining control of Serbia.

However, the sudden visit of the Austrian Imperial Army made the situation suddenly tense. Vucic, who seemed to have the advantage, lost troops and generals in the civil war, and even offended the Serbian princes.

Behind Vucic are the Russians, and behind Miloš Obrenovic, who was suppressed by him, are the Austrians.

In fact, Miloš Obrenović has never been truly loyal to any party. He can follow Karajčol (the former leader of the Serbian independence faction) to pursue independence. He can also behead Karaj Chol for the sake of glory and wealth, and give his head to the Sultan as a ladder for his promotion.

He could declare allegiance to Russia for independence, or he could flirt with Austria to get rid of Russian influence.

Milos always had only one purpose, to establish Greater Serbia. In his mind, Greater Serbia was a super empire that included Slovenia, Croatia, and the entire Balkan Peninsula.

Milos' duplicity had already offended Austria, Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

But Vucic and the Seventeen-member Parliament did not know this, and they only thought that the Austrians were sending troops to help Milos suppress the rebellion.

Vucic's envoy soon arrived in Russia, but was told that the Tsar could only guarantee that Serbia would not be annexed by Austria. The reinforcements were only a Russian military adviser, and even the ubiquitous Russian spies had disappeared without realizing it. .

At this time, Vucic and the Seventeen-member Council could only temporarily abandon their personal prejudices, stop attacking each other, and seek help from the Ottoman Empire together.

On the other hand, the Bosnian Pasha was also panicked. Serbia had an army of 15,000 people and Essol Pasha’s 5,000 Ottoman soldiers. However, there were only 5,000 soldiers in the whole of Bosnia, and they were still distributed in Among nearly a hundred fortresses, large and small.

Bosnia is a negative-profit province of the Ottoman Empire. The taxes collected are not enough to cover the cost of maintaining its stability. There are 150,000 Croatians and nearly 300,000 Serbs living in Bosnia. The local Bosnia There are only 240,000 Nigerians.

The above three ethnic groups are all regarded as disloyal ethnic groups by the orthodox Ottomans.

I am afraid that the Austrian Empire is going to attack Bosnia, and he can only take his troops to guerrilla.

News reached Istanbul.

Mahmud II was furious.

"Damn it! The guy who doesn't believe what he says! The treacherous villain! The barbaric Russians, the despicable Austrians, the shameless British!"

Mahmud II scolded the great powers, but he could only ask the Grand Vizier Ferchak to urgently recall the troops in the Balkans, and let the troops return to Tulcea to continue the confrontation with Russia across the Danube River, and at the same time divide the troops. Reinforce Serbia.

Bosnia was of low importance to the Ottoman Empire, its benefits were negligible and the costs of maintaining stability were high.

Facing this rotten land, the Ottoman Empire also ruled in a rotten state. The Ottomans only had strongholds in towns, and they could collect as much tax as they could. The rebels turned a blind eye as long as they did not cry for independence or attack the city.

More than 90% of this area is rugged mountainous terrain, and crop yields are less than one-fifth of those in the neighboring province of Vojvodina.

Industrial and commercial trade was almost non-existent, and by the 19th century survival was still dependent on farming, animal husbandry, fishing, and hunting.

Moreover, the mountain people here are wild, untamable, tough and warlike, and they will rebel and cause trouble at every turn. The Ottoman Empire sent large armies to encircle and suppress the city many times, but all failed.

Although this piece of rotten land was the "ancestral inheritance" of the Ottomans, Mahmoud II did not feel sorry for losing it at all. On the contrary, Serbia, which is now basically independent, cannot afford to lose anything to the Ottoman Empire.

Because once Serbia falls, Austria's path into the Ottoman Empire will be clear. There is also a century-old grudge between the two countries. Once the Austrians taste blood, Baobuqi will become the next Russia and start a "Turkish-Austrian War" at every turn.

Therefore, at this time, Mahmud II had to leave 150,000 troops to confront Russia and Austria. There were only 200,000 troops on the southern front, which was weaker than Muhammad Ali's troops. He could only hope that the civil strife in Egypt was real and that his vanguard could directly take over Syria.

Syrian battlefield.

The vanguard of the Ottomans, led by Hafuz Pasha, quickly entered Syria and met no resistance at first. He wanted to take advantage of the Egyptians' lack of troops to capture Damascus in one fell swoop.

However, what Hafuz Pasha did not know was that from the moment he entered Syria, he had fallen into Ibrahim's trap.

When the Ottoman army advanced all the way to Aleppo, Hafuz Pasha decided to repair and replenish supplies in the small town of Nizip.

As a result, they were ambushed by the Egyptian troops in Nizip and Ibrahim's main force that followed. They suffered heavy losses from front and rear attacks. Hafuz Pasha himself was also captured.

Ibrahim personally beheaded Hafuz Pasha and cut off the beards of all the prisoners of war and gave them to Mahmud II as gifts.

In the Grand Salaquilio Palace, the fifty-four-year-old Mahmoud II cursed Muhammad Ali and everything in the world. He himself worked day and night all his life to reform, but he suffered repeated setbacks. At this time, he was almost crazy.

The news of the tragic defeat was torn to pieces by him, and Havertz Pasha's head was kicked away by him.

"I still have a new army! I still have a fleet! Send the Mahmoudiya! Tell Ahmed that if you can't win, come and see him!"

"Go and call that Palmerston over. Where is the British support? If I don't see the British fleet, I will chop off his head!"

Fer Chak wrote the order worriedly. He didn't know where the war would go, but he was more worried about the Sultan's health than the war.

Fifty-four years old is considered a long life in this era. (average age 30 years old)

After receiving the order, the frontline commander Ahmed immediately ordered the army to march along the coastline. The land and water armies moved hand in hand so that they could support each other when encountering the Egyptian army.

But what Ahmed Pasha didn't know was that the Ottoman Empire's navy had long been bribed by Muhammad Ali.