Greece’s Roman Road

Chapter 134: Negotiation twists and turns

"Your Majesty, this is the end of the matter. The fact that the army has failed is irreversible." The Minister of War, seeing Hamid II's angry look, comforted him.

"Now the negotiations between the two countries in London are already underway. Although Ottoman lost on the battlefield, but, Your Majesty, we may not be able to recover the lost territory at the negotiating table."

"In diplomacy, we must be proactive, and maybe there will be gains"

Hamid II took a few deep breaths to ease his emotions. After calming down, he considered the Minister of War's proposal for diplomatic efforts. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it became.

Among the territories currently occupied by Greece that belonged to the Ottoman Empire, Epirus needn't be considered. Most of that place was originally occupied by Greeks, but now it is occupied by the Greek army, and it is basically impossible to get it back.

Epirus is not an important place. It is almost entirely mountainous, and there are no special minerals. Even the population is not large, so the loss is not large.

The strategic location of Crete is important, and the Greeks are also in the majority, so it is basically impossible to get it back.

However, Greece may not be able to get hold of this place. Currently, the international fleet cruising on Crete is still there, and all countries have ideas about this island.

Albania and Macedonia are different.

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

Serbia, a country next to Albania, will certainly object.

As for Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia are both coveted. If it weren't for the big brothers of the two countries, Russia and Austria-Hungary sternly rejected the military plans of the two countries, I am afraid that they would have fallen to the ground while the Ottoman Empire was unlucky.

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

The more Hamed thought about it, the more reasonable it became.

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

"Your Majesty, there is a chance now. Didn't the Germans demand the construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway?"

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

Hearing the words, Hamid thought for a moment, then waved his hand to the servants in the palace, and ordered, "Summon the German embassy to come to Topkapi Palace to discuss matters."

………………

Although Greece has achieved a lot on the battlefield, it is innumerable until the powers recognize it.

Ever since the Greek Prime Minister Trikupis led a team and held talks in London at the request of the United Kingdom to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire on the issue of war, Constantine has been concerned.

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

According to the principle of unanimous powers, the United Kingdom invited other major powers to come to London to discuss the territorial dispute between Greece and the Ottomans.

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

On February 12, Constantine was invited by King George to go to the Palace of the Constitution Square. It is said that Prime Minister Trikupis sent back the situation of the talks by telegram.

Constantine, who hurried to the meeting room of the palace, saw that the king and the chief of staff Emanuel were already present.

Also present was the leader of the opposition party in the Greek parliament - Delia Niss.

After sitting down, Prime Minister Trikupis's 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 unconditionally withdraw from the territory of the Ottoman Empire." Augustatiano said strangely.

"It wasn't until all countries expressed their disapproval of Ottoman's absurd arguments that they softened their attitudes."

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

This and all the occupied territories requested by Greece have been allocated, but the gap is huge.

"What's the attitude of the foreign powers?" George I asked with an ugly face.

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

Obviously, the territory was recovered by the Greek army through war. If the foreign powers did not agree to give it to it, Greece would have no choice.

"Britain, France, Russia, and Austria-Hungary have a relatively clear attitude, urging us and the Ottomans to reach a unified opinion as soon as possible to maintain peace and stability in the Balkans."

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

"Mainly Germany and Italy, with a very clear attitude, opposed to handing over the whole of Albania and Macedonia on the Aegean coast to Greece"

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

On the one hand, Austria-Hungary regards the Balkans as the direction of its own expansion. Naturally, it does not want Greece to divide the Ottoman territory and grab 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 Balkans.

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, very disgusted and passive.

The Ukrainians, Poles, Croats, Slovenes, and even Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was hosted by Austria-Hungary 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 caused panic among the Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Moreover, what made the Austro-Hungarian Empire even more vigilant was that UU reading www. uukanshu. The other two countries in the Balkans, Serbia and Bulgaria, are also two Slavic countries.

If it weren't for the bitter lesson of the fiasco in the Crimean War, the Russians would have dared to swallow Serbia and Bulgaria and build a Great Slavic Empire.

Once such a huge empire was built, it would be true that Rome would be alive, and European countries would probably tremble in front of the Russians by then.

It is precisely because its strength is not as good as that of the Russians that Austria-Hungary actively formed an alliance with Germany in order to counteract Russia's mighty power in the Balkans.

From the aspect of containing the Slavic forces, the development and growth of a non-Slavic country like Greece is in the interest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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

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

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

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

From King George's point of view, it is expected that Greece would expand its territory and Italy would oppose it, but Germany has no reason?

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