My Italy

Chapter 588 Tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

While Italy was aggressively purchasing supplies from all over the world, the Austro-Hungarian Bosnia and Herzegovina region fell into restlessness.

Speaking of which, Bosnia and Herzegovina is actually not a good place. There are many mountains in this area, and only the northern area has some small plains because the Sava River flows through it.

However, due to its geographical location and Austro-Hungarian ambitions for southern expansion, this new territory that was incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire received its attention.

Education, medical and other public facilities were established with the help of the Austro-Hungarian government. However, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire expressed its goodwill, the Serbs, who accounted for nearly half of the population in the region, did not appreciate it. For them, instead of staying in Austria-Hungary and becoming second-class citizens, it would be better to live with their own people. The Kingdom of Serbia was united.

Therefore, although it has been more than 20 years since the merger of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still not optimistic due to the resistance of the Serbs. Especially after the Kingdom of Serbia gained nearly half of Macedonia from the Balkan War and its power increased, the Serbs became even more became restless.

Of course, Vienna is also quite clear about why the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina are restless. Previously, because they were wary of Russia's attitude and their own needs, they mainly focused on appeasing the Bosnian Serbs.

However, when appeasement fails and the situation becomes more and more violent with the support of the Kingdom of Serbia, then some other means must be arranged.

Yes, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been silently preparing for the war in Serbia.

However, they were afraid of Russia behind the Serbs, so Austria-Hungary had been holding back.

Perhaps relying on the support of the Russians behind him, Serbia became increasingly restless. Anti-Austrian propaganda has emerged in Serbia, as well as patriotic groups established in response. For example, the "Black Hand" was founded in 1910. (I thought it was a gangster if I didn’t pay attention)

The founder of this organization is very famous, that is, Colonel Ragutin, the head of Serbian intelligence services. Before the Black Hand was founded, the colonel (who was still a captain at the time) led his men to shoot the king of his country, Alexander I and his wife.

Yes, it was this colonel who led the men who shot the king at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Because the Serbian king was unpopular at the time, many people in the kingdom were very disappointed. However, many military officers hoped to force Serbian King Alexander I to abdicate. However, Lagutin believed that if the king abdicated, it would probably trigger a civil war, so he killed him. The king and his wife were not the only ones who died. The prime minister, military minister, etc. were all killed in this coup.

After the king was shot, Lagutin was packaged as the savior of the Kingdom of Serbia by his henchmen. This coup also made Lagutin believe that the enemy can be easily defeated through violence, assassination and covert destruction, which became his creed.

After he became the head of the intelligence service, he began to study how to conduct the war against Austria-Hungary in this way.

At this time, in the hearts of most Serbs, it has become their ideal to unify the Serbian residential areas into the Kingdom of Serbia. Yes, this is Serbia’s Greater Serbia Plan. In the Balkans, in addition to Serbia, Romania also has its own plan for Greater Romania, the Bulgarians have their own plan for Greater Bulgaria, and so does Greece.

Anyway, in countries like the Balkans, there are various plans inspired by nationalism to bring fellow ethnic groups together.

However, many areas in the Balkans are a mixture of various ethnic groups, which also leads to the overlap of the plans promoted by these nationalists. This also led to the previous war in the Balkans.

As for Serbia, it definitely supports the Greater Serbia Plan. It was precisely because of the promotion of this plan that the Kingdom of Serbia captured nearly half of Macedonia.

Of course, nationalism is also a double-edged sword. After seizing a large number of Serb gathering places in the south, what lies before them is the Bosnia-Herzegovina region occupied by Austria-Hungary.

Although the Kingdom of Serbia is more fanatical now, it does not think that it can seize the Bosnia and Herzegovina region from the Austrians by means of war.

In this case, some unconventional means are within the scope of consideration. Of course, if the government does these things, it will leave a bad impression on European countries. At this time, it will be much more convenient to promote organizations established by individuals.

It was also with the government's acquiescence that the Black Hand established by Colonel Lagutin grew day by day. In less than three years, the organization had five hundred core members and thousands of peripheral members.

In addition, the association is also filled with a large number of lower-level officers of the Serbian army. These officers who have undergone rigorous military training can help the association train members who are skilled in guerrilla warfare and sabotage operations. Of course, it is also because of these officers that the Black Hand can easily obtain various weapons and ammunition.

These trained members will go to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Black Hand to carry out sabotage activities and disrupt Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

From this entire line, we can see that the Black Hand will be composed of a large number of fanatical nationalists. With fanatical nationalist sentiments, it will lead to an irreversible situation in the region.

The emergence of the radical mafia has also led to a large number of assassinations and sabotage activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the first half of this year alone, Austria-Hungary encountered more than a dozen assassinations and sabotage activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The most serious one was that Gustavo, the mayor of Tuzla, was shot by conspirators in front of the city hall. The mayor, who was dedicated to his job and dedicated to his job, was hit by three bullets and died on the spot. The murderer was caught by guards at the scene.

According to subsequent police interrogations, the murderer was a radical from Serbia, and it was the Black Hand who sent him.

In response, Austria-Hungary issued a serious warning to Serbia, asking it to stop its reactionary remarks against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, otherwise Austria-Hungary will inflict a heavy price on Serbia.

Regarding Austria-Hungary's warning, Serbia naturally did not dare to take it seriously, and immediately warned the black hands to wait for others to temporarily stop the sabotage operations against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, these fanatics will not take the government warning seriously and still carry out their own actions to cause destruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Seeing that the warning did not work, Austria-Hungary decided to conduct a military exercise in Bosnia and Herzegovina to give a warning.

Moreover, the location chosen by Austria-Hungary for the exercise is very subtle, it is close to the Serbian border. This time Austria-Hungary will mobilize more than 40,000 troops to conduct a large-scale exercise to let the Kingdom of Serbia know the consequences.

In order to show the importance he attaches to this exercise, Crown Prince Archduke Ferdinand will also come to watch the exercise in person.

Chapter 2: Steamed Bun works so hard, where are the votes?

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