Bulgarian Empire

The war between the Ottoman Empire and Greece is now unstoppable. Conflicts of interest, ethnic conflicts, and orientation of public opinion, these series of factors have pushed the two countries into the abyss of war!

Ferdinand can swear in the name of God that this war is definitely not his fault! At this time in history, isn't the Ottoman Empire and Greece still fighting?

The establishment of the Balkan Alliance undoubtedly added another point of confidence to the Greeks.

In history, Prince George personally led an army of 1,500 people to support the Crete uprising!

Faced with the collective opposition of the great powers, the poorly prepared Greek government insisted on launching a war against the Ottoman Empire. You will know the strength of the main fighting faction in Greece!

Compared with the international environment at that time, for the Greeks, the current situation is much better! Although the attitudes of the great powers are different, they still have the support of the Russians, the British, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in diplomacy; at the same time, there are two allies in the Balkans, Bulgaria and Montenegro. Much bigger!

In history, because neither side was ready for war, a worse war was fought, but the Greeks were still worse, making this war a laughing stock of Greece in the history of modern warfare.

The Greeks took the initiative to provoke the war, but as a result, the army was too wasteful, and they were defeated in a mess. From the declaration of war to the signing of the peace treaty, it took only 30 days to get it done!

What's even more funny is that during these thirty days, less time was actually spent on fighting, and more than half of the time was spent on negotiating and wrangling!

This is the funny "30 Days of War"! The Greeks used practical actions to tell the world what it means to be overwhelmed!

This time and space is no exception. On April 15, the Greek government issued an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire, demanding that the Ottoman Empire recognize Greece’s annexation of Crete, apologize to the Greek people for the former colonial rule, and compensate the economic loss of 30 million pounds. !

At this moment, everyone knows that war is coming! The Greeks have no sincerity to negotiate at all, and their previous actions are nothing more than delaying time!

In the early morning of April 17, the Greek government officially submitted the letter of war to the Ottoman Empire; the Sudanese government was very efficient once, and at noon, it also submitted the letter of war to the Greek government!

The Greek-Turkish War officially broke out!

A slight difference from history is that the Greeks on this plane are better prepared. Before the outbreak of the war, the Greek government had completed the national mobilization, mobilizing more than 240,000 troops!

On the same day, the Greek army began to attack the Macedonian region, which opened the curtain of the Balkan War!

After receiving this news, Ferdinand finally felt completely relieved. History has turned a turning point at this moment, where the future will go, everything has become confusing!

Ferdinand, who had nothing to do, was busy making villains in the palace. He had been married for more than three years and had no children yet. He couldn't help worrying about this.

You must know that Princess Xenia in history, but the mother of seven children, has no problem at all in this regard! Ferdinand in history also had several children, and he never tried contraception. It doesn’t make sense to have no children for more than three years?

While Ferdinand was thinking wildly, George I of Greece on the other side was not feeling well. At the beginning of the war, the performance of the Greek army could not be said to be outstanding, but it could be regarded as quite satisfactory!

In the strategy of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, the key defense targets were Bulgaria and Serbia.

From a geographical point of view, the Serbs threatened Kosovo and Albania, and the Bulgarians threatened Macedonia and Istanbul!

Everything has changed now, and Bulgaria's military strength is still the strongest among the Balkan countries. But after the end of the Baoser War, the threat of Serbia no longer exists!

Therefore, the main enemy of the Ottoman Empire is Bulgaria.

The main force is also concentrated in this land-protecting border!

Due to its small size, Monte Negro did not enter the eyes of the Ottoman Empire at all; while Greece invested a lot of resources in the navy, the Ottoman Empire ignored the threat of the Greek Army.

At the beginning of the war, the Ottoman Empire was not ready for war, and there were not many troops deployed on the Greek front. On the border line of seven to eight hundred kilometers, the Ottomans only had an army of more than 30,000 people stationed!

There is no doubt that if the 30,000 defenders are concentrated, they still have some fighting power, but if they are distributed on the border line of seven or eight hundred kilometers, there will be loopholes everywhere!

In fact, with the degree of corruption of the Ottoman Empire, it is conceivable that half of the nominal 30,000 defenders can be guaranteed in full!

The result is self-evident, the army deployed by Ottoman on the Greek front line has fallen, and the defense line in Thessaly area was broken in one barrel. Originally, the Greek army should be "advancing triumphantly"!

However, the poor logistics system of the Greek army was fully exposed. Due to the drag on logistics, the Greek army did not seize the city of Trikala in the first place! Of course, the waste of time is not too long, at most it is only a day!

It's a pity that on the battlefield, there is often a race against time, and one day is enough to change the entire situation of the battle! From the outbreak of the war to the present, the Sudanese government has responded, and reinforcements from the Macedonian region are arriving!

In the city of Trikala, the Ottoman Empire originally deployed two regiments of troops here, plus the rout of troops retreating from the front line, theoretically there is already a division of troops, of course, the actual strength must be at least half.

The city of Trikala is located on the east side of the Pindus Mountains, passing through the Metsofeng Pass to the west and reaching Alta on the west side of the mountain. Due to the unique geographical location, the Ottoman Empire could not continue to retreat, so it decided to stick to it. This decision changed the direction of the Greek-Turkish war!

The Greek Army with high morale hit its first nail here! On the evening of April 18, 1897, the 88,000 Greek Army led by Prince Constantine arrived at the city of Trikala.

With the victories along the way, the Greek army has been dazzled by the victory, and immediately launched a full-scale attack after reaching the city of Trikala! Of course, from a strategic point of view, it is correct to attack immediately!

However, due to the tenacious pit of the Ottoman defenders, the Greek army in charge of the attack suffered more than 1,500 casualties in just over five hours. Prince Constantine suspended the attack in order to reduce losses!

After the artillery arrived on the battlefield on April 20, the Greek army launched an offensive again, but this time, it was too late!

One day is enough to change a lot of things! The Ottoman army in the city, under the leadership of Commander Oric Pasha, has completed internal integration, and the gathered routs have been reorganized.

If the enemy to be faced on April 19 is only the original defenders, with only 2,000 people, then the reorganized Ottoman defenders have already exceeded 5,000 people!

It is almost impossible for more than two thousand people to defend the city of Trikala, even if it is delayed for a day or two! In a full-scale attack by the Greeks alone, the defenders suffered more than 380 casualties.

It doesn't take much, just two or three more attacks like that, and the city of Trikala will be breached due to insufficient troops!

It's a pity that there is no if, Prince Constantine is not aware of the situation in the city, and ordered to stop the attack in order to reduce losses!

Of course, it is not ruled out that there is arrogance and arrogance, and the reasons for not taking the Ottoman army seriously, created opportunities for the defenders in the city!

On April 20, the Greek army launched an offensive again, and the tragic siege began again. Due to the use of artillery, the casualties of the Greek army dropped!

In one day, the Greek army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, and the defenders also suffered more than 1,700 casualties. The battle loss exchange ratio has changed from the initial four to one to the current 1.8 to one!

The defense line of the Ottoman Empire in the city of Trikala is already crumbling, losing one-third of its troops in one day, enough to collapse an army!

If it weren't for the strict order issued by the Sudanese government, it must be defended to the death, and the reinforcements from the Macedonian region have already arrived on the road, and most of the defenders in the city have collapsed now!

(Remarks: Casualties are not equal to death. For example, the number of casualties counted by some countries in the World War exceeds the number of soldiers who participated in the war! The main reason is that the lightly wounded can go to war again after recovering!)

On April 21, the brutal offensive and defensive battle continued. By the evening, the Ottoman defenders had lost almost all of their outer defense lines. More bloody street fighting!

On the third day after the war broke out, reinforcements from the Macedonian region also entered the Thessaly region. On the evening of April 21, the 100,000 Ottoman reinforcements led by Edhe Pasha were less than fifteen miles away from the city of Trikala. Kilometers away!

The Greeks, who didn't know that the reinforcements from the other side had arrived, launched a siege battle again on April 22, no, it was street fighting!

Seeing that the Ottoman defenders were about to die, the scouts brought bad news to Prince Constantine—the reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire were about to arrive on the battlefield!

When Prince Constantine received the news, the reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire were less than five kilometers away from him!

After receiving this news, Prince Constantine suppressed the anger in his heart, ordered to abandon the attack, and actively deployed to defend against the possible attack of the Ottoman reinforcements!

At this time, the balance of forces between the two sides has undergone fundamental changes. The Greek fighters have disappeared, and the failure to capture the city of Trikala means that in future wars, Greece will be at a strategic disadvantage!

After three consecutive days of siege battles, the Greek army also suffered heavy casualties, and their morale has been greatly reduced now. The passionate patriotism was defeated by the cruelty on the battlefield!

Edhe Pasha came faster than the Greeks expected. After arriving at the front line, the Ottoman army did not make any adjustments, and directly launched a full-scale attack on the positions of the Greek army!

All of a sudden, the Greeks were stunned. You must know that after a long march, the physical strength of the army has declined very badly. If there is not enough time to repair, it is not bad to be able to exert five or six points of ten strength!

Prince Constantine planned to take advantage of the opportunity of the Ottoman army's new arrival and unstable foothold to launch a surprise attack and defeat the Ottoman reinforcements in one fell swoop!

Then two armies preparing for a surprise attack met unexpectedly on the way, and launched a desperate struggle! Relying on the superiority in military strength, the Turkish army defeated the enemy army in front of them in one fell swoop, and the Greek offensive was interrupted!

And because of the strategic mistakes of the Greeks, in order to keep the enemy out of the country, they did not concentrate their superior forces to attack in one direction!

At the same time, they attacked in two directions: Thessaly and Epirus. After the Greek Army in Thessaly was blocked from attacking the city of Trikala, it was forced to turn to defense on the spot and wait for reinforcements!

It's a pity that Prince Constantine's decision did not take into account the actual situation of the Greek army. If this army is all standing army, his decision is completely correct! With the corruption of the Ottoman Empire, the one hundred thousand army is absolutely indispensable, and the Greek army is completely capable of fighting!

Since the national mobilization of the Greek government, the Greek army has begun to expand violently, and the army led by Prince Constantine is no exception.

Due to the blind military expansion of the Greek government, a large number of poorly trained soldiers have been added to the army, and the combat effectiveness of the Greek Army has not increased but decreased!

It's fine if you fight with the wind, after a few more fights, the recruits will become veterans, and the combat effectiveness of the army will naturally increase!

But before becoming a veteran, if there are twists and turns in the war, something will happen! This time was no exception, and Prince Constantine was miserably cheated.

The Ottoman army did not work hard before, and the attack was smooth sailing, but a tragic offensive and defensive battle broke out in the city of Trikala, and the Greek soldiers couldn't bear it!

As soon as the reinforcements from the Ottoman army arrived, the morale of the Greek army dropped to the bottom! As soon as Edhe Pasha attacked, the Greek army could no longer bear the pressure and collapsed!

Since the Ottoman army also arrived in a hurry, it was too late to repair and went into the war, and its physical strength was not very sufficient. After defeating the Greeks, it was unable to pursue them.

This caused a misjudgment to Prince Constantine, and the Ottoman army was no more than that, and its combat effectiveness was not much higher than them!

His judgment is well-founded. The combat effectiveness of the Greek army and the Ottoman army is indeed the same! But this is the Greek Army before the expansion, and the combat effectiveness of the Greek Army after the expansion is far worse!

Prince Constantine's decision to defend on the spot cannot be considered a strategic mistake! Since the Greek army had just lost the battle, the loss was not large.

Now he still has 70,000 troops in his hands, and the actual number of Ottoman troops on the opposite side is only more than 100,000 troops. The difference in strength between the two sides is not too great. As the defensive side, it will not suffer too much!

After all, at the end of the 19th century, the power of steel mesh and trenches was still leveraged! Even if the Greek army lacks wire mesh, there is still no shortage of trenches!

This also starts with the strategy of Greece. Another Greek army led by Duke Carlo Robert has now reached Ioannina.

If the Trikala city area is abandoned and the Greek army continues to retreat to the rear, then the Greek army attacking the Epirus area is likely to be cut off by the Ottoman army. This consequence is something that the Greeks cannot bear anyway!