Chapter 109： The first appearance of the Balkan League

Now the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire is still going on, and the countries of the Balkans are also ready to move. Among them, Bulgaria and Serbia are among the first to reach an agreement. Among them, Serbia faces pressure from Austria-Hungary. At the time Serbia was very interested in the alliance with Bulgaria.

The sudden annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908 shocked the Balkan countries and accelerated the process of closeness and alliance between them. Facing the huge pressure from Austria-Hungary, Serbia very much hopes to get Bulgaria's support. Although the King Ferdinand of Bulgaria is the son of the German royal family Prince Saxony Coburg Koda and has a hatred of Russia and Austria, he also realizes that it is necessary to form an alliance with Serbia because the two countries are opposing foreign threats. They have common interests.

However, the alliance between Bulgaria and Serbia is a lot of trouble, not smooth sailing, because the goals of the alliance between the two countries are not the same, it can be said that each has its own plans. Bulgaria regards the Ottoman Empire as its number one enemy and wants to use Serbia's help to obtain Macedonia and Thrace. Serbia sees the Austro-Hungarian Empire as the greatest threat, and also wants to get involved in Macedonia, so the two sides failed to get together.

In November 1909, King Ferdinand made a special visit to Serbia, but no positive results were achieved. After hearing the news, the Austro-Hungarian Empire took the opportunity to intervene and tried to destroy it. It also warned the Bulgarian king not to expect assistance from Serbia in future wars. And Austria-Hungary can help Bulgaria, and promised that once Ottoman attacked Bulgaria, then Vienna would never sit idly by, and would help Bulgaria and Serbia divide Macedonia together. Kaiser Wilhelm II also opposed the alliance of the Balkan countries, which caused a lot of trouble for the closeness of Bulgaria and Serbia.

At that time, Serbia was very interested in the alliance with Bulgaria, which had a great impact on the domestic situation. At that time, many militant organizations demanded that the government form an alliance with other Slavic countries as soon as possible to jointly deal with Austria-Hungary and Eisman. empire. In addition, out of the needs of foreign policy, Serbia is trying to consolidate the position of the Balkans, and for this reason, it is trying to expand its sphere of influence. According to Serbian Foreign Minister Milanovic, if you don’t unite with Bulgaria, you will no longer be able to exert influence on Croatia and Slovenia.

Due to changes in the Bulgarian government, the People’s Party led by Geschov and the pro-Russian Progressive Party came to power last year to form a coalition government. They changed their past negative attitudes and began serious alliances with Serbia. negotiation.

In April last year, Serbian Radical Party leader Pasic spoke with the Bulgarian ambassador to Serbia Tosev. Once the two countries form an alliance, the purpose is on the one hand to oppose the common enemy, but also to expand the territory of the two countries by dividing the Ottoman Empire in European territory, setting the tone of the alliance between Serbia and Bulgaria at one time.

The Ottoman territory that Pasic mentioned here is obviously Macedonia. Since its territory is mixed with Serbs, Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Romanians, etc., Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece are all right. This territory has its own requirements. I hope that if we can't fully control it, we must at least get a part of it. The Bulgarian Pasic agreed with the opinions, and the negotiations between the two sides have since accelerated triumphantly.

The attitude of the European powers, especially Russia, is close to Bulgaria and Serbia and plays a decisive role. Russia approves of the alliance between Bulgaria and Serbia and has had extensive contacts with Bulgaria since 1910. As Bulgaria is eager to regain its ambitions of "Greater Bulgaria" and hopes to get support from Russia, it is also actively moving closer to Russia. However, during the negotiation process, the two sides discovered that there was a big difference in strategic goals.

First of all, Bulgaria’s expectations are too high, hoping to take the help of Russia to obtain Salonika and Adriatic Fort (this is intended to capture the essence of Macedonia). Russia, on the other hand, is worried that it will assume too many obligations to Bulgaria and involve itself in conflicts with other European powers. This is the result Russia is least willing to see. Secondly, Russia insisted that the goal of the alliance between Bulgaria and Serviculture should be aimed at the Austro-Hungarian Empire and should not be an enemy of Turkey, which of course was rejected by Bulgaria. As a result, the negotiations with Bulgaria have also reached a deadlock.

But beginning last year, Russia's attitude towards Bulgaria has become enthusiastic again. Efforts to promote Serbia and his approach, and emphasized that only under the conditions of the alliance between the two countries, Russia can consider the issue of the alliance with Bulgaria, so as to inject a booster into the negotiations between Serbia and Bulgaria.

Not only that, the Russian ambassador to Serbia Hartwig and the ambassador to Bulgaria Neriudorf also began to actively participate in the diplomatic negotiations between the two sides, and proposed a mutually acceptable solution for the most thorny issue of Mariton, the southeastern corner of northern Macedonia. It belongs to Bulgaria, and the northwest corner belongs to Serbia. The ownership of a piece of land between the two (including Skopje) will be determined by the Russian Tsar in the future. The Russian military attache in Bulgaria Romanovsky has further suggested many details. Clarify. (The southern part of Macedonia is left to Greece because it needs the Greek navy to block reinforcements from the Ottoman Asian territories and rob its most aspect of sea transportation.)

The settlement of the Macedonian issue removed one of the biggest obstacles to the alliance between the two countries.

With the acceleration of the progress, the two countries finally signed a treaty of friendship and alliance between Bulgaria and Serbia on March 12, 1912. The content of the agreement was that one of the two countries should bear each other's military obligations when attacked. It also stipulates that the Ottoman Turkish rule in Kosovo and Macedonia should be ended, and a secret agreement should be reached on the partition of Macedonia.

The military regulations attached to the treaty are as follows ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Once a war breaks out, Bulgaria should provide 200,000 troops, and Serbia should provide 150,000 troops to fight together, of which 100,000 should be sent to Macedonia to help Bulgaria. The Russian government was very satisfied with this treaty, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sassonov couldn't help talking about it after hearing the news. "Okay! No matter how good it is! Now there are 500,000 bayonets to defend the Balkans-it will always block the German penetration and the Austro-Hungarian invasion!"

In addition to actively seeking to sign a treaty with Serbia, Bulgaria is also trying to form an alliance with Greece. In 1910, after taking office as Prime Minister of Greece, Viniziros showed a keen interest in Bulgaria. A committee composed of 10 famous politicians was established in the city to study how to improve relations between the two countries, and at the beginning many specific plans were made.

In 1911, Bulgaria and Greece negotiated and touched on the Macedonian issue. Although they failed to reach an agreement, they increased their understanding of each other. The signing of the Serbia-Bulgaria treaty and Italy’s threat to bombard the Dardanelles prompted Greece to take a more positive attitude.

In April 1912, Viniziros proposed the alliance between Greece and Bulgaria. Then, at the request of Bulgaria, he responded positively to the Macedonian issue. The Greek Prime Minister Viniciros single-handedly handled it without the Greek government’s knowledge. , Bulgaria and Greece are negotiating under top secret status.

Finally, on May 29, 1912, the Treaty of the Pasche Defense Alliance was signed, stipulating that when fighting against Turkey, Bulgaria should provide 300,000 troops, while Greece should provide 120,000 troops.

After allied with Serbia and Greece, Bulgaria finally turned its sights on Romania behind him, and Edel had been waiting for them to come.