Greece to roman road

"Your Majesty, the matter has come to this, and the fact that the army has failed is irreversible." The Minister of War comforted Hamid II after seeing his angry look.

"Negotiations between the two countries are already underway in London. Although the Ottomans lost on the battlefield, Your Majesty, we may not be able to get the lost territory back on the negotiating table."

"We must be more proactive in diplomacy, and maybe we will gain something."

Hamid II took a few deep breaths to calm down. After calming down, he considered the Secretary of War's suggestion of diplomatic efforts. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it became.

Among the territories that Greece currently occupies that originally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, there is no need to think about Epirus. Most of that place was originally occupied by Greeks, and now it is occupied by the Greek army. It is basically impossible to take it back.

Epirus is not an important place. It is almost entirely mountainous. There are no special minerals. It even has a small population and the losses are not huge.

Crete has an important strategic location and Greeks make up the majority, so it is basically impossible to get it back.

However, Greece may not be able to get this place. The international fleet currently cruising in Crete is still there, and various countries have ideas about this island.

Albania and Macedonia are different.

If nothing else, Italy would certainly strongly oppose the Greek annexation of Albania.

Serbia, a country close to Albania, will definitely also oppose it.

As for Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia are all coveting it. If it weren't for their eldest brothers, Russia and Austria-Hungary, who sternly rejected their military plans, they would have taken advantage of the Ottoman Empire's misfortune to add insult to injury.

Although the great powers will not care too much about the attitudes of Serbia and Bulgaria, from the perspective of maintaining peace in the Balkan Peninsula, dividing Macedonia on the Aegean coast occupied by Greece to Greece will undoubtedly stimulate the two countries.

The more Hamid thought about it, the more it made sense.

"Where do you think we should look for diplomatic help?" said Hamid, who calmed down.

"Your Majesty, there is an opportunity now. Aren't the Germans asking for the construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway?"

"Using this as an excuse to ask the Germans to support the Ottomans diplomatically"

After hearing this, Hamid thought for a moment, waved his hand to the palace attendants, and ordered: "Summon the German Embassy to come to Topkapi Palace to discuss matters."

············

Although Greece has achieved a lot on the battlefield, it cannot be counted until the great powers recognize it.

Ever since Greek Prime Minister Trikoupis led a team to hold talks in London at the request of Britain to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire on war issues, Constantine was worried.

The negotiations between Greece and the Ottomans became very complicated after the talks started.

In accordance with the principle of unity of powers, Britain invited other major powers to come to London to discuss the territorial disputes between Greece and the Ottomans.

Germany, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia all sent special envoys to London to participate in the talks.

On February 12, Constantine was invited by King George to the Royal Palace in Syntagma Square. It was said that Prime Minister Trikupis reported back the status of the talks via telegram.

Constantine, who hurried to the palace conference room, saw that the king and Chief of General Staff Emmanuel were already there.

Also present was Delianis, the leader of the opposition party in the Greek Parliament.

After sitting down, Prime Minister Trikupis' assistant, Augustatiano, explained the specific content of the meeting to everyone.

"The talks were very difficult. In the early stage, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire stubbornly demanded that the Greek army withdraw from the territory of the Ottoman Empire unconditionally," Augustatiano said with a strange expression.

“It wasn’t until all countries expressed their disapproval of Ottoman’s absurd argument that they softened their stance.”

"However, the Grand Vizier still stated that he would not cede an inch of territory of the Ottoman Empire, but he could hand over the entire Epirus region and the part of Macedonia close to Greece, excluding Salonika, to Greek management." Augustus Tatiano said.

This was allocated to all the occupied territories required by Greece, but the gap was huge.

"What is the attitude of the great powers?" George I asked with an ugly face.

This feeling of leaving your destiny to others is really not a wonderful feeling.

It was obviously territory that the Greek army had recovered through war, but if the great powers did not agree to give it to them, Greece would have no choice.

"The attitudes of Britain, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary are relatively clear. They urge us and the Ottomans to reach a unified opinion as soon as possible and maintain peace and stability in the Balkans."

"These four countries are not very interested in the specific division of territory."

"Mainly Germany and Italy have a very clear attitude and are opposed to handing over all of Albania and Macedonia on the Aegean Sea to Greece."

As a Balkan country, Austria-Hungary has a complicated attitude towards Greece's territorial claim.

On the one hand, Austria-Hungary regards the Balkans as the direction of its own expansion, and naturally does not want Greece to divide the Ottoman territory and take meat from its own mouth.

On the other hand, Austria-Hungary is happy to see the development and growth of Greece, a non-Slavic country in the Balkan Peninsula.

At the end of the 19th century, Russia expanded under the banner of Pan-Slavism, which made Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic country with a large number of Slavs in the country, very disgusted and passive.

The Ukrainians, Poles, Croatians, Slovenes in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and even Bosnia and Herzegovina under the mandate in 1881 were all Slavs.

In the late 19th century, nationalism was in full swing and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The Pan-Slavism instigated by the Russians naturally frightened the Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Moreover, what makes Austria-Hungary even more wary is that the other two countries in the Balkans, Serbia and Bulgaria, are also two Slavic countries.

If it were not for the painful lesson of the tragic defeat in the Crimean War, the Russians would have dared to swallow up Serbia and Bulgaria and establish a Great Slavic Empire.

Once such a huge empire is built, it will really be Rome alive, and European countries will probably tremble in front of the Russians.

It was precisely because they were inferior to the Russians that Austria-Hungary actively formed an alliance with Germany in order to compete with Russia's powerful power in the Balkans.

From the perspective of containing Slavic forces, the development and growth of a non-Slavic country like Greece was in the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's attitude towards Greece's territorial claims became that of a bystander - neither supporting nor opposing.

"But why do the Germans have such a clear attitude and actively support the Ottomans?" King George said bitterly.

Although the relationship between Germany and the Ottomans has been close in recent years, the relationship between Greece and Germany is not bad either?

The Crown Princess of Greece, Sophie, is the sister of German Emperor Wilhelm II, and the economic exchanges between the two countries are also very frequent.

From King George's point of view, Italy's opposition to Greece's territorial expansion is expected, but Germany has no reason?