Chapter 670： Greek crisis

Latest website: When the ink on the terms of the alliance signed with Germany was not dry, public opinion from Romania broke out.

They have published stories about Bulgarians in Greece being oppressed by the government. Many newspapers also published pictures of local Bulgarians being beaten up by the Greeks. One of the most quoted is a Bulgarian woman with a blue nose and a swollen face sitting on the ground, holding a crying little girl in her arms, and standing next to them are several greek teenagers with fierce faces.

This photo completely detonated the anger of the Romanian people, and they all expressed their views and demanded that the government provide protection for these poor people. On the former Bulgarian land, the people became even more angry. They took to the streets and demanded that the government take decisive measures against Greece to protect these Bulgarians abroad.

At the same time, outside the Greek embassy, ​​demonstrators crowded here, asking them to burn the Greek flag, splash paint, throw rotten eggs, stones and everything else that can be thrown at the embassy. This made the Greek Embassy a mess, and the unpleasant smell stayed here for a long time, leaving the staff in the embassy in a mood for work. For this reason, the Greek ambassador, Aristine, protested to the Romanian government, but only in exchange, asking him to remain calm.

When the anger of the people reached its peak, Romania summoned the ambassador.

Costel, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, looked at the Greek ambassador with cold eyes. "Ambassador Aristin, this is our diplomatic letter. Regarding the above request, please reply within three days."

Costel handed the letter to the Greek ambassador in front of him, and left without looking back, leaving only Ambassador Aristotle alone here, which is a bit unpleasant.

This is Romania’s letter to the oppression of Bulgarians in Greece, which also represents Romania’s attitude. But Costel’s attitude just now made Ambassador Aristine feel terrified. After he opened the note to see its content, it made him speechless.

In fact, there are not many of the above. It is nothing more than an apology and compensation for these Bulgarians. However, there is one most critical condition that makes Ambassador Aristin feel almost breathless.

This clause is based on the racial oppression committed by Greece against the Bulgarians in the region. Now as the successor of the former Kingdom of Bulgaria, Romania and the United Kingdom of Bulgaria require Greece to return to the territory demarcated by the Nai Peace Treaty, so as to prevent the people in the area from continuing to suffer the Greek government Of oppression.

In a nutshell, Romania is now disappointed with Greece's oppression of Bulgarians in the region and demands that Greece return these territories.

Moreover, this diplomatic note has a time limit, requiring Greece to respond within 72 hours. Looking at this photo like a polar declaration of war, the Greek ambassador Aristotle has no other ideas at all. He just wants to send the news back to China as soon as possible.

When the urgent call from Romania was sent to Athens, Metaxas, who was also the dictator of Greece, immediately realized that the situation was not good. On the one hand, he issued a mobilization order and asked Britain and France for help, asking the two countries to intervene with Romania. Dispute.

At this time, British Prime Minister Chamberlain and French Daraday were so busy because of the Czech crisis. At this time, Chamberlain had not yet met Hitler by plane, but he had already exchanged views with the French Prime Minister and Daraday, that is, to avoid Britain and France from falling into a new war.

Therefore, facing the sudden outbreak of the Greek crisis, the two countries have suffered even more headaches. Because Romania is a newly emerging power, it needs to be cautious in its attitude. If Britain and France strongly support Greece, a war may break out. Although this can be helped by Greece, Romania's strength is very impressive.

The two countries have estimated that Romania has a population of 48 million (the latest statistics in 1938), enough to burst an army of three to four million, and Romania’s military industry is good and can meet its own needs. It is very difficult for the British and French governments to have the military fight against them.

The difficulty mainly came from the people's dislike of the war, mainly because the First World War was too tragic. Among them, the British suffered 2.4 million casualties. Although the colonial army was used as cannon fodder, the main battle must be undertaken by British soldiers. (This is also the reason why the British used more colonial troops in World War II. The local casualties in World War I were too heavy, so cannon fodder is better.)

France was even more miserable. As the main target, the total number of casualties of French soldiers reached more than 5 million. It took almost a generation to defeat Germany. Moreover, after the victory, the two countries have high debts, and their economies have been sluggish due to the aftermath of the war.

Even in 1936, the British pacifist organization conducted a public opinion poll, and 90% of the people refused to participate in the war, and the anti-war and peace ideas penetrated almost everyone.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the current economic downturn in Britain and France, and many social problems caused by the unemployed population.

In addition, the attitude of the British and French governments' interest in the economy above all else fully demonstrates that the two governments are not prepared for war.

These many reasons add to everything, making Britain and France fear war.

Therefore, after receiving the request from Greece, Britain and France immediately issued a diplomatic note to Romania, requesting Romania to cancel the time limit for the letter, and that no military action was allowed until the negotiations were inconclusive.

Although the British and French attitudes seem a bit tough, Edel has already seen through its weakness.

The attitude that Romania was about to fight a battle against Greece was equivalent to burning the house, which caused others to quickly dissuade others. At this time, you said that you don’t want to burn the house, but I want to open a window. .

Although this is just a question of attitude, there should also be a strong attitude. First, Romania mobilized nearly 400,000 troops from 24 divisions to the border area. At the same time, the navy consisted of four battleships (including the Vlad under sea trials), two aircraft carriers, four heavy cruisers, and a large number of light cruisers. The large fleet of destroyers, crossing the Black Sea Strait mightily, is heading towards the Sea of ​​Love.

In addition, Romania issued a conscription order announcing the national recruitment of 500,000 recruits. It is worth mentioning that in this call-up order, the most soldiers from the Bulgarian nationality, this time the Greek crisis, the former Bulgarian territory, completed 230,000 of the 500,000 call-up orders in one fell swoop (Romanian 21, Ukrainian 40,000, Hungarian) 10,000, and about 10,000 for the remaining races), it deserves to be the country with the highest mobilization rate in the First World War.

It is precisely because of Romania's move. Let Britain and France think that Romania wanted to take action against Greece, so they had to stop the Greek crisis first.

As for how to solve the outbreak of the Greek crisis, this is a simple matter to sit down and talk slowly.