Although the negotiations in London are progressing slowly, they will eventually be completed.
After three months of long negotiations, the three Balkan countries finally reached a consensus.
The Ottomans retained the narrow Black Sea Strait area in East Thrace, which mainly included the Bosporus Strait where the capital Istanbul is located, the Gallipoli Peninsula guarding the Dardanelles Strait, and the narrow area near the Sea of Marmara. It can be said that
The Ottoman territory in Europe was compressed to the extreme, and the European territory it occupied would only be more than 5,000 square kilometers.
In addition to losing South Macedonia and most of East Thrace, many Ottoman islands in the Aegean Sea were also divided. For example, Lesvos, which is only a few nautical miles away from the Ottoman Asian territory, and Greece, which is more than ten nautical miles away.
Islands that actually belong to Asia, such as Si Island, have been cut out.
It can be said that as soon as Ottoman fishermen go to sea in the future, it will be very easy for them to go to other countries.
In addition to territorial losses, the Ottomans also need to pay 1.5 million pounds in war reparations between Bulgaria and Greece. In view of the explanation to the Ottoman people, this war reparation has a different name and is called payment of food expenses for captured Ottoman soldiers.
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No matter what the name is, the Ottoman cession of territory and compensation cannot go away. This result is something that every Ottoman does not want to see. But what can be done about it? What cannot be saved on the battlefield cannot be saved at the negotiation table.
For the Ottoman negotiators, everyone knew what it meant to negotiate like this. This was the end of political life.
After the results of the London peace talks were sent back to Istanbul, the Ottomans fell silent, and even Al-Shabaab, the toughest and most nationalist party, did not express its opinion.
The reason is simple. It is useless to oppose if you are not as strong as others. It has been tried once before in the Italian-Turkish War, and it has no other effect except creating more severe conditions.
The Ottomans surrendered and signed the peace treaty, declaring the end of the war.
For the two countries, Bulgaria and Greece, which have paid a huge price, the harvest season has arrived. The two countries mobilized 500,000 troops for this war and paid more than 80,000 people who were killed, injured, captured, and missing. Such a huge price was spent.
, Of course, the sweet fruit of victory is needed, and the new territory obtained in the London negotiations is enough to make this fruit of victory sweet enough.
Cutting off such a large piece of fat from the Ottomans naturally made Bulgaria and Greece very happy, but then, when the two countries divided this piece of fat, trouble arose. Greece believed that it had paid a heavy price in this war
The huge price requires a little more, and their request is to receive Thessaloniki and the Chalkidiki Peninsula as compensation.
This sudden request from the Greeks made Bulgaria very dissatisfied, because if the territory to be divided to Greece in the previous agreement was added, it would almost be equal to Greece occupying Austrian Macedonia alone.
Not to mention that Thessaloniki is the largest port in Macedonia and is extremely important to Bulgaria. If this is given to Greece, Bulgaria will not be able to fight hard and must be resolutely stopped.
Faced with Greece's unreasonable demands, Ivanchev, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, publicly said, "Greeks have an appetite that is far bigger than their bellies."
Its Prime Minister Petkov even said: "Have all the Greeks converted to paganism? It is completely unreasonable that they would make such unreasonable demands."
Faced with the dissatisfaction of the Bulgarians, the Greeks are even more stubborn and determined to get the above-mentioned areas. For this reason, Greek Prime Minister Teotokis even said that Greece deserves to get the above-mentioned areas because it was obtained with huge sacrifices.
, and should not be ignored.
Faced with the sudden outbreak of the dispute between Bulgaria and Greece over the spoils of war, all countries not only showed expressions of surprise for three seconds, but also got involved.
The dispute between Bulgaria and Greece immediately detonated the world.
Faced with the attention of various countries, both Bulgaria and Greece refused to give in, and several negotiations ended in vain. The people of the two countries broke out several demonstrations to protest against the other party's greed.
For this reason, the two countries that were allies a second ago are in danger of falling out at this moment.
At this moment, Serbian Prime Minister Pasic suddenly made a statement, claiming that the Greeks' demands were understandable. The sudden appearance of the Serbs made the Bulgarian government feel that something was wrong. What exactly were these remarks made by the Serbs at this time?
You mean, do you want to get involved in the dispute between yourself and the Greeks and benefit?
Although Bulgaria has increased its vigilance at this time, it does not believe that Serbia and Greece dare to fight with it. The reason is very simple. Neither Serbia and Greece combined are its opponents.
Yes, this is the view of the Bulgarian military. First of all, the Greek army, although the performance of the Greek army in this battle with the Ottomans was okay, it was not as brave as the Bulgarian army. According to the estimates of the Bulgarian staff, in the battle with the same equipment, the Greek army performed well.
In this case, 80,000 Bulgarian troops were enough to defeat 100,000 Greek troops.
As for the Serbians, the two countries fought once more than 20 years ago, and it only took four days for Serbia to declare defeat.
Besides, Bulgaria has a larger population than Serbia and Greece. If a war breaks out with these two countries, Bulgaria is not afraid of them at all. Therefore, Bulgaria has a very tough attitude and requires the Greeks to withdraw from Salonika and the Kitiki Peninsula.
Otherwise Bulgaria will take it upon itself.
Faced with Bulgaria's tough attitude, Greece was not to be outdone and immediately began to recruit soldiers on a large scale to prepare for the defense of Salonika. Faced with the tense situation between Bulgaria and Greece, various countries have claimed to mediate the conflicts between the two countries. As for how to mediate, then
It is the benevolence that sees benevolence and the wise that sees wisdom.
Britain and France sent tens of thousands of guns to Greece for this mediation. Russia sent 8,000 rifles and 40 artillery pieces to Serbia for this mediation.
For this mediation, Germany and Austria sent 10 million marks worth of weapons and ammunition to Romania. To this end, Germany and Austria also promised to ensure the security of its border with Russia.
As for Italy, although it has not sent weapons to several Balkan countries, it has also given hints that Italy will guarantee absolute neutrality. The implication is that Bulgaria will never receive help from Italy.
Although Bulgaria had close relations with Italy before, its growth has affected Italy's interests in the Balkans. Italy and other major powers are absolutely unwilling to see the emergence of a regional power in the Balkans that far exceeds other countries. (The Balkans before World War I
, it is absolutely impossible for a regional power to emerge, because it cannot grow stronger at all. Whoever takes the lead will be dealt with, and Austria and Russia will end up personally if necessary.)
As for why all countries suddenly acted in tacit agreement, the reason is simple. Bulgaria's expansion threatens the interests of all countries in the Balkans, and they want to defeat the ambitions of the Bulgarians.
As a result, with the efforts of various countries to mediate, things became worse and worse. Not only Bulgaria and Greece, but also Serbia and Romania expressed their dissatisfaction.
Facing three malicious neighboring countries, the Bulgarian government felt something was wrong. It was impossible to give up at this time, and it had to find a way to break the situation.
Not to mention, Bulgaria actually thought of a way to break the situation, which was to strike preemptively. Before the three countries were ready, they had to repel one country first.
The target chosen by Bulgaria is Greece, which has disputes with it.
So on November 19, 1908, Bulgaria submitted a declaration of war to Greece on the grounds that Greece was occupying Thessaloniki and the Chalkidiki Peninsula that should belong to it.
After receiving the news that Bulgaria had declared war on Greece, Serbia and Romania immediately demanded that it immediately stop its aggression against Greece. At the same time, the two countries also announced an alliance with Greece to jointly respond to Bulgaria's military operations.
