Despretis rushed to the palace excitedly and reported Bulgaria's generous conditions to Carlo, but was given a slap in the face.
He never expected that the king would refuse the Bulgarians' conditions as soon as he opened his mouth.
For this reason, Depretis felt it was necessary to explain. "Your Majesty, the conditions for the Bulgarians are already very generous. The expansion of the port in Thessaloniki and the financing of the railway to Sofia will not only affect Bulgaria economically.
, and there are also many political benefits..."
Listening to the Prime Minister telling him about the benefits of Bulgaria's generous conditions, Carlo felt a little irritated in his heart. He couldn't help interrupting the other party's speech. "Prime Minister, the conditions for the Bulgarians have preconditions. This is to help them keep their
Thessaloniki, have you ever considered that other countries may have different views?"
Faced with Carlo's words, Depretis immediately explained. "Your Majesty, we have considered this before, but we think it is not a big problem. The attitudes of the two countries will be discussed by the Bulgarians, and we mainly focus on
What we are facing is the pressure from big countries such as Britain, France, Austria and Russia. In this regard, after comprehensive consideration, our government believes that the attitudes of Germany and France do not need to be considered too much, because they are
The interests in the Balkans are not great. Although Britain is tilted towards the Balkans issue due to its relationship with Greece, its influence on the Balkans is basically based on Greece and is not very interested in other regions and countries. Austria-Hungary is ours
As allies, as long as we give some benefits from Bulgaria, I believe we can gain the understanding of the other party, so the only attitude that needs to be considered is Russia's attitude.
However, although Russia has the ability to exert influence on the Balkans, it is separated by Romania after all, so it is quite inconvenient in terms of actual influence and measures. In addition, our country does not have intensive exchanges with Russia, even if they want to
The measures we take are just economic diplomacy, and we can afford this."
After Depretis' analysis, it seems that Italy only needs to put in a certain amount of pressure to reap sufficient rewards.
This seemed very unbelievable to Carlo. When did the government become so confident that it completely regarded the pressure from Austria-Hungary and Russia as nothing.
In fact, this is a deviation in Carlo's and the government's understanding of Italy. In Carlo's mind, Italy is still a big country with poor national strength. Although it has the power to crush other small countries, it fails to fight against big countries.
It is a natural disadvantage.
On the government side, perhaps it is the result of Carlo's hard work. In the eyes of other Italian officials, Italy has continuously expanded its territory and has the upper hand everywhere. Therefore, Italy is no longer the country that relied on weakness during the Tunisian crisis.
It looks unbearable. Whether it is economically, militarily or politically, Italy has the confidence to make its voice heard in Europe, and other major countries must also give Italy the necessary respect.
It is precisely these two cognitive deviations that lead to differences in opinions between Carlo and the government regarding Bulgaria.
The government believes that this condition is enough to stand up for the Bulgarians, while Carlo believes that Italy's strength is not currently suitable to fight Austria-Hungary and Russia in the Balkans.
Therefore, in the face of Prime Minister Depretis' explanation, Carlo, after some consideration, still believed that Italy's center of gravity could not shift to the Balkans, even though this time Italy had already captured a large area of territory in the region.
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we cannot accept Bulgaria's request this time. Our country's current focus still needs to be on the country. Improving our national strength is the top priority at the moment. Investing too much energy in the Balkans will only drag down our country's development."
economy."
Faced with Carlo's explanation, Prime Minister Depretis somewhat disagreed. "But we need a market, and the conditions in Bulgaria this time are very conducive to our country's opening up the market in the Balkans, which can also promote economic development."
Depretis had already sent someone to calculate it before. According to Bulgaria's conditions, it will bring nearly 20 million lira benefits to Italy every year. This benefit is already very good, enough for Italy to make the choice to fully support Bulgaria.
Even if you pay a certain price for it, it is worth it.
However, although Depretis said how tempting the benefits of Bulgaria are, Carlo still did not change his words. He continued to ask Prime Minister Depretis. "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you said that the core of our country's current diplomacy is
What?"
Faced with Carlo's question, Depretis replied without hesitation, "It is an alliance treaty with Germany and Austria."
Yes, even Prime Minister Despretis knows that the current core of Italian diplomacy is the Alliance of the Three Emperors. Italy relies on this alliance to thrive in the past ten years.
After hearing Depretis's answer, Carlo continued to ask, "So is it worth it for us to be at odds with Austria-Hungary for the Balkans?"
In fact, Carlo was not asking about Austria-Hungary, but Germany behind it. In the Alliance of Three Emperors, Italy was far less closely related than the other two countries. This was not only known to Carlo, but also to everyone in the Italian political arena.
In view of the huge benefits that Italy has gained in the Three Emperors Alliance, Italy cannot do without this relationship now. Not to mention the large area of territory that Italy is about to acquire, which will also take time to digest.
Not to mention that in order to get Germany to agree to support this war, they had already hurt the other side. If Austria and Hungary were offended again, what would happen next?
You must know that in this era, there are no clear boundaries and the diplomatic relations between countries are not fixed, so Italy must take into account the attitudes of its allies.
Despretis, who also knew this well, fell silent after hearing Carlo. Before, he was carried away by the interests and thought the problem was too simple. Only after Carlo raised it did he realize that if he went all out
Support will inevitably harm the relationship with Austria-Hungary. Compared with that little benefit, the Three Emperors Alliance will be more important.
"It seems that the conditions for the Bulgarians are not easy to get, which is a pity."
With these words of Depretis, it was also announced that the Bulgarian attempt had completely failed.
The subsequent negotiations were also difficult to carry out in Bulgaria, which lacked Italian support.
Facing other countries with malicious intentions, the Bulgarian delegation was in a dilemma in the venue.
A few days later, the Bulgarian delegation, looking ashen-faced, even left the meeting angrily.
"These damn guys, they don't want to see our country completely regain its territory."
A member of the delegation couldn't help but cursed after leaving the venue.
As the head of the delegation, Prime Minister Stambolov was indifferent to the scolding behind him because he was mentally prepared after Italy rejected their proposal.
However, when he thought about Salonica being handed back to the Ottomans, he felt as if a knife had been stabbed in his heart. Especially when Adrianople was also handed back to the Ottomans, it was even more heartbreaking.
However, although he left the venue angrily this time, Stambolov knew that this time it was just to let other countries see Bulgaria's dissatisfaction. In the end, they still need to return to the venue. After all, after so many sacrifices, most of Macedonia must
You have to take it, otherwise you will be letting down the people in the country who are looking forward to it.
So after a month of wrangling, the very dissatisfied Bulgarians could only sign the treaty.
After more than a month of negotiations, all countries finally signed this contract. According to this contract, the Ottomans lost most of their European and African territories in this war. Only South Macedonia (today's Greek Macedonia) and
Eastern Thrace.
Among these lost territories, Italy took the most in Europe; they took Albania and Kosovo, as well as the Twelve Austral Islands headed by Rhodes Island, which were also included in their pockets. (Taking into account other
The feeling of the country is that Italy will withdraw half of the twelve islands, the least important)
Moreover, they also ensured the independence of Crete, which can also be counted as its vassal. In addition, they obtained the Libyan area, which can be regarded as very profitable.
Apart from Italy, the seemingly aggrieved Bulgarians gained the second largest territory, with most of Macedonia in their possession. Although they did not get the most coveted Saloniga, at least their gains outweighed their efforts.
That's a lot of money.
As for Greece and Serbia, although they each won a piece of territory due to other factors, they are not comparable to Bulgaria. Therefore, when facing the increasingly powerful Bulgarians, the two countries quickly declared an alliance, which made the future of the Balkans
The situation is also becoming increasingly turbulent.
As for the weakest Grand Duchy of Montenegro, a little benefit can keep them fed.
As all countries signed the contract, the war came to an end. But as long as anyone with a discerning eye can see, the turmoil in the Balkans has just begun. As for the future, this requires the wisdom of all countries.
