The early morning sunlight shone into the room. Edel slowly woke up, took off the jade arm carrying his new wife Sophie Marie, and got out of bed. Princess Sophie Marie, who was awakened by her new husband's movements, opened her beautiful eyes and stared at
Looking at Edel who has already gotten up.
"You should take a rest."
Edel saw his wife woke up and said caringly. He knew that his wife was exhausted these few nights after the wedding. Who made her so beautiful and beautiful? The crown prince could not bear the temptation in his heart and could only wrong her.
"OK."
His wife Sophie Marie answered sweetly, and gave Edel a sweet smile after speaking. It seemed that she was quite satisfied with her newlywed life.
Edel walked out of the room and happened to meet the captain of the guard, Calust, walking over and saying to him.
"Your Highness, we have just received news that Italy has issued an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire. It requires Ottoman Turkey to hand over its North African territories to Italy for custody. The reason is that Italians have received unfair treatment there."
"Bring it over and show it to me."
Captain Calust handed the telegram he had just received to the crown prince, and Edel took the telegram and looked at it carefully.
Across the Italian Sea, the Ottoman Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were a desert in North Africa with limited economic value but an important strategic position. It faced Sicily and could control the narrower sea in the central Mediterranean.
In the process of carving up the territories in North Africa occupied by the Turkish Porte government in 1881, Algeria (France began to invade in 1830 and gradually turned it into a colony) and Tunisia (in 1881) successively became French protectorates. Therefore, Turkey’s influence in North Africa
The nominal territory is also owned by the Western colonists, and France is preparing to annex the Turkish provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica on this basis. (Libya)
This attempt was opposed by European countries, especially Italy, which had long wanted to establish colonies in North Africa. To this end, Italy actively carried out political and diplomatic activities and reached agreements and tacit understandings with various powers (forming the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria).
Italian interests in North Africa were recognized.
In order to prepare for the annexation of the two provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, Italy continued to immigrate and send businessmen to the two places from 1880 to 1911, purchase land, and actively expand its power; it also sent naval officers to replace fishermen's jobs.
He carried out coastal surveys in the name of fishing for sponges off the coast of Tripolitania; he also ordered Italian Catholic priests to go deep into the interior to collect intelligence in the name of missionary work. Italy learned from the lessons of its failure in Ethiopia in 1896 and continued to spy on the opportunity to choose.
When the second Moroccan crisis occurred, Italy believed that if it did not take action, it might lose the opportunity, so it used the unfair treatment of Italians in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica as an excuse to take a preemptive strike before Turkey sent troops to North Africa.
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An ultimatum was issued to it on September 28, 1911, threatening to invade the above-mentioned areas. Turkey called on all countries to stop Italy's invasion attempt, but all major countries persuaded Turkey to accept Italy's demands. In this case, the Italian-Turkish War broke out.
After reading the telegram, Edel began to think about the impact of the Italian-Turkish war on Romania.
On the surface, this war in Libya is too far for Romania. However, the Ottoman Empire now has large areas of territory in the Balkans (Thrace and Macedonia are now Ottoman territories). However, the local form is very complicated, and various ethnic groups
They are all mixed together. There are Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Albanians, etc., including Romanians, with a local population of more than 100,000.
Now all the countries in the Balkans are eyeing the Ottoman territory. And the situation in the Balkans is quite complicated now. Bulgaria and Serbia are backed by the polar bear Russia, and the Greeks are also supported by the United Kingdom. Germany has huge interests in the Ottomans and chooses to support him, and Austria-Hungary also
The same national issue supports the Ottomans. Due to Germany's huge investment in Romania and its recent marriage to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, countries now generally believe that Romania is backed by Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Now Italy is taking the lead in provoking this battle to carve up Ottoman territory in North Africa, and I believe other countries will not fall behind.
"Pay close attention to the situation of the Italian-Turkish war."
Edel said to the captain of the guard, Kallust.
"Okay, Your Highness."
The captain of the guard replied.
In the following time, Eder paid close attention to the trend of the Italian-Turkish war. Although the Italian army was ready to invade at this time, when the war broke out, a large number of Italian troops were not ready.
These Italian troops were present in Tripoli on the night of September 28, 1911. But they did not begin bombarding the port until October 3, 1911. The city was subsequently occupied by 1,500 Italian troops, and when news of this was sent back to Rome, the army advocated an invasion.
The people are enthusiastic. Other diplomatic plans in Italy have been abandoned, and now the Italians intend to seize this territory by force.
After the Turkish army was captured by the Italian army in Tripoli, it was determined to defend its provinces. However, the Turkish army did not concentrate all its troops for a decisive battle, but dispersed in all directions to harass the Italian army. In terms of diplomacy, Turkish government officials traveled throughout Europe to express themselves
Will. They organized the local Arabs and Bedouins to defend themselves against the Italian invasion.
It was not until October 10 that the Italian landing force appeared on a large scale (the Revolution of 1911 officially broke out the day before). At that time, all countries believed that the Italian contingent of 20,000 people was considered sufficient to complete the conquest. Because the local Ottomans only had one division of more than 7,000 people.
The Rendu Army not only lacks weapons and ammunition, but is also mainly scattered in various cities and ports. Moreover, most of the people in this division are from the interior and are unwilling to fight in North Africa far away from the mainland. Therefore, the will to fight is generally low. Facing the situation from Italy
The selected modern army will be defeated in one blow.
In Tobruk, Beda, Sirte and other cities, the Italian army showed normal performance. On October 19, the Italian fleet covered an infantry division landing in Benghazi. After two days of fierce fighting, the city was captured.
.Facing the situation where all the major cities along the coast were occupied, the Italian army began to make mistakes.
On October 23, 1911, a force (about 1,500 men) deployed outside Benghazi was almost completely surrounded by mobile Arab cavalry. The local armed forces supported by these, led by regular Ottoman troops, severely damaged the army.
This attack was described by the Italian media as a simple resistance, but it almost wiped out most of the Italian army. Therefore, the Italian army expanded to 100,000 people. The other side of the war, the Ottoman Empire, had only 20,000 Arab tribes and armed forces.
8,000 Turkish troops.
This war saw the debut of many new weapons, the most concerning of which was the role of aircraft in this war. Among the armies of both sides, Turkey has no aircraft, while Italy has about 20 military aircraft and 32 pilots, affiliated with the Italian Army.
, organized into the First Aircraft Company. The Italian Army mobilized 9 aircraft and 11 pilots to participate in the war. These aircraft were packed and shipped to the Gulf of Tripoli on October 15.
From 6:19 to 7:20 on the 23rd, the captain, Captain Piazza, flew a Blériot XI aircraft to conduct reconnaissance over the Turkish army positions between Tripoli and Aziziya for more than an hour.
This marked the beginning of the aircraft's participation in the war. On the 25th, when deputy captain Moizo was flying a "Newport" aircraft for reconnaissance, the wing was wounded by three rifle bullets. This was the first time that the aircraft was damaged by enemy ground fire. November 1
On the same day, Lieutenant Gavoti flew a "Dove" aircraft and dropped four 2-kilogram "Sipelli" grenades on Turkish army positions in the Tajila Oasis and Ain Zara areas of North Africa, becoming the first bombing in history.
As a result, Turkey accused Italy of committing the crime of bombing the hospital.
Although these aircraft did not perform very well in the war, all countries can see their huge role in the future. Countries without manufacturing capabilities choose to purchase them, and those with the ability to step up the development of practical aircraft.
