Greece to roman road

Chapter 165 Battle for Macedonia

In addition to the policy of supporting the tractor industry, the Greek government also made a decision to purchase 600 motorcycles for the government postal department and 800 motorcycles for the army.

This move is mainly to promote the use of motorcycles.

Although these motorcycles, at first glance, look just like bicycles, they are actually modified bicycles.

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Together with the Prime Minister, Constantine was on the carriage returning to Athens from the suburban farm. After entering the city, and passing the registration site of the agricultural cooperative, Constantine saw a special group of Greeks: shabby clothes and disheveled faces.

Whenever the staff in charge of the registration list gave a signal, these people began to rush forward and rush to sign up.

Seeing this scene, Constantine knocked on the carriage compartment and signaled the coachman to stop.

"Prime Minister, why are there so many refugees? We have been recruiting people to reclaim land in Albania for some time. Why are there so many refugees? There shouldn't be" Constantine pulled the curtains and pointed at the crowd and asked in confusion.

There are not many refugees in Greece, not to mention tens of thousands of them have already gone to Albania.

"Those are refugees from outside Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, etc." Alexandros said with a frown.

"Especially recently, after the introduction of Greek land laws and policies to encourage population, more refugees have come to Greece."

"What's going on? These places are not in war now? Where do so many refugees come from?" Constantine asked in confusion.

“Since the merger of East Rumelia and Bulgaria, Bulgarians have begun to exclude other people, not only Greeks, but also MSLs living in Bulgaria.”

"In addition, there is Romania. Romania is not only against the Ottoman Turks, but also against the Greeks," Prime Minister Alexandros said helplessly.

During the Ottoman Empire, in order to rule this multi-religious and multi-ethnic country, the Ottoman Empire invented a special system-the millet system.

The essence of this system is that according to the people's beliefs, Christians manage Christians and MSL manages MSL, with neither party interfering.

Since Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania were all populated by Christians, during the Ottoman Empire's rule, the officials here were mainly Greeks, who served as tax collectors and paid taxes for the Sudan.

This is also the reason why Greek has a high status among the upper classes of these three countries.

Now, these three countries have gained independence. Naturally, the Greeks, who were originally the rulers, were ostracized by the locals.

Thinking of this, Constantine still had some questions and said, "What about the refugees from Macedonia?"

Macedonia is still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, so they have no reason to be refugees.

"Since the 1896 war, Bulgaria has begun to infiltrate the Macedonian region. Some Bulgarian soldiers did not even take off their military uniforms and entered the Macedonian region directly. They recruited some local Bulgarians as volunteers and asked the local people to surrender to Bulgaria." Constantine was silent for a moment, not expecting that the situation in the Balkans would suddenly change.

Thinking of this, Constantine, who realized the importance of the Macedonian issue, said to Kafka who was driving: "Let's go directly to the Ministry of Defense building."

The carriage stopped in front of the Ministry of Defense building, and Constantine and Prime Minister Alexandros hurried into the building.

The two went straight to the conference room and summoned the director of the Intelligence Department and the chief of general staff to attend an emergency meeting.

After everyone arrived, Constantine asked eagerly: "What is the situation in Macedonia now? Why are the Bulgarians so unscrupulous? How come there are a large number of Bulgarian armed personnel in Macedonia?"

"Your Highness, this is mainly due to the deteriorating situation of the Ottoman Empire, especially after the failure of the 1896 war. Most areas of Macedonia are in chaos, almost anarchic," said Intelligence Director Tsaveras.

"The Ottoman Empire was unable to control the situation there, which caused the residents of Macedonia to be very confused. Some people advocated independence from the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of a Macedonian state with its capital in Salonika."

Speaking of this, Tsaveras paused and said: "But recently some Bulgarians have begun to appear in Macedonia, and they promote the idea of ​​a Greater Bulgaria."

The so-called Greater Bulgaria refers to Bulgaria including all of Macedonia and East and West Thrace.

In 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War, Russian troops came to Constantinople and forced the Ottomans to sign a treaty recognizing Greater Bulgaria. However, Russia's unscrupulous expansion aroused the fear of European countries. Later, under the pressure of the international community, in 1881 In the Treaty of Berlin in 1998, the previous treaty signed between Russia and the Ottomans was abolished.

In view of the close relationship between Bulgaria and Russia, Bulgaria was considered a vassal of Russia by European countries. In order to curb Russia's sphere of influence in the Balkans, in the Treaty of Berlin in 1881, Bulgaria's territory was greatly reduced, including only the part south of the Balkan Mountains. , Macedonia and Thrace, Eastern Rumelia, were all returned to the Ottomans.

It was not until 1885 that Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia merged again.

Greater Bulgaria only existed on paper for three years.

Naturally, Bulgaria is unwilling to do so.

"However, why is Bulgaria so unscrupulous that troops have entered Macedonia? Although the Ottomans have no time to take care of it, the international community has not responded?" Constantine asked puzzled.

"Your Highness, have you forgotten that the international community's attention is now on the Boer War?" Prime Minister Alexandros reminded.

Constantine suddenly understood and patted his head.

In 1884, prospecting experts discovered the world's largest Rand gold mine on a remote pasture between Pretoria and the Vaal River in the Transvaal Republic.

Johannesburg was subsequently founded on this gold mine.

Profits and taxes from the gold mines enabled the Transvaal Republic's rapid economic development, while also intensifying friction with Britain.

Obviously, the British are interested in this world's largest gold mine.

However, the Boer Republic was a country built by Dutch descendants (Boer means farmer in Dutch, and South Africa was originally a Dutch colony). In Europe, many countries sympathized with the Boers.

Among these countries that sympathized with the Boers, Germany was the strongest. The Boers took gold and purchased a large amount of arms in Germany, such as Mauser 98 rifles.

The Boers were able to be so stubborn and did not surrender in the face of the British, mainly because they had the support of Germany.

The dirty work of the British and the Transvaal, and Germany's efforts to hold Britain back, attracted the attention of all European countries for a while. Naturally, no one cared about Bulgaria's little move in Macedonia.

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