Greece’s Roman Road

Constantine nodded thoughtfully, knowing that it was Venizelos making a vague suggestion.

"Oh, by the way, what happened to the London Conference?" Constantine asked.

After the armistice of the Balkan War, both sides were unable to fight again. The major European powers and the belligerents held a meeting in London in order to resolve the follow-up effects of the war.

Hearing this, Venizelos sighed and said, "There is a lot of debate among countries, especially the issue of Ottoman territorial division."

"Not only are there contradictions between the participating countries in the war, but the contradictions between the major countries participating in the conference are also very sharp."

"Germany and Austria-Hungary supported the Ottoman Empire at the meeting, so the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire resolutely disagreed with our Greek demands for the Aegean Islands and Crete."

"The meeting has been going on until now. In the tenth London negotiation held a few days ago, the Ottoman representatives firmly disagreed with the ceding of Adriatic Fort and the islands in the Aegean Sea, which led to the interruption of the negotiation."

Constantine didn't care about Osman's attitude at all, he sneered, and said disdainfully, "What if they object?"

Originally, most of the inhabitants of Crete and the Aegean Islands were Greeks, and they are now under the actual control of Greece. It doesn’t make much sense for the Ottomans to agree or disagree.

Territory lost on the battlefield, still want to get it back at the negotiating table?

Venizelos didn't care about the attitude of the Ottoman Empire when he saw Constantine, and continued: "Leonard, the ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the United Kingdom, has proposed a plan, advocating that Thessaloniki should become an independent city, neither belonging to Greece, Nor does it belong to Bulgaria"

"This plan was approved by most of the participating countries. Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, including the Ottoman Empire, all of their participants clearly agreed with this proposal."

"And..." Speaking of which, it seemed to be something embarrassing, he hesitated, but didn't say it.

None of these countries supported Greece's acquisition of Thessaloniki. Constantine frowned and heard Venizelos hesitantly ask subconsciously, "And what?"

"And also asked the six countries of Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria and Italy to supervise the independent city of Thessaloniki, to ensure that the independent status of Thessaloniki can be guaranteed, and what guarantees the Balkans can achieve long-term peace."

Speaking of this, Venizelos lit a cigarette and took a deep breath, obviously not at peace: "Also, after this news spread, a Jew named Theodore Herzl, who seemed to be something The leader of the Zionist organization, who also met me privately in London, said that if Greece agreed to this plan, the Jews could pay a considerable sum of money to buy the city.”

After Constantine heard this, he just thought Herzl was naive and cute.

Can the value of territory be measured in money?

In order to take this city, Greece sacrificed the lives of thousands of Greek soldiers, and the funds spent are also calculated in units of 100 million. How much are these things worth?

Around Thessaloniki is a plain with an area of ​​more than 10,000 square kilometers. Perhaps this area is not ranked among the major plains in the world. However, in Greece, this is the largest plain in Greece.

In Constantine's mind, this plain will be the most important land for food production in Greece in the future, and it is crucial to maintaining Greece's food security.

There are many hills in Greece, and there are few plains for farming, not to mention the Thessaloniki Plain is so large.

Moreover, the city of Thessaloniki was originally dominated by Jews. If an independent city is really established here and the major powers guarantee her independence, then Thessaloniki may really become a Jewish city in the future.

What's more, Thessaloniki's strategic position is very important. She has become an independent city and will be like a nail, firmly blocking the road of Greece's expansion to the Balkans.

"The Bulgarian ambassador and the Serbian ambassador also solemnly reminded me that agreeing to this proposal can ensure that the Balkans will not fall into war again," Venizelos said in a cold tone, and then silently observed Constantine's reaction.

Constantine raised his brows, this was obviously a threat of war.

Bulgaria had an idea for Thessaloniki, after all, Ferdinand's idea was to restore the territory of the Bulgarian Empire at its peak - a territory spanning the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Moreover, Bulgaria has always claimed to be the main force against the Ottoman Empire, and the receipts have been inconsistent with its contributions.

Venizelos said with a worried face: "I am worried that Bulgaria and Serbia will reach an agreement in private to deal with Greece together. After all, Greece has occupied almost all of Macedonia. Your Royal Highness, you know the army well, if Serbia and Bulgaria really Forming an alliance, can Greece resist?"

Constantine did not directly answer Venizelos' question, but instead asked: "You know, Prime Minister, just a few days ago, there was a news in the media that Germany's economic aggregate surpassed that of Britain, you know what does that mean?"

In 1913, Germany's total economy reached 12 billion US dollars, while the United Kingdom's 11 billion US dollars (excluding colonies, which mainly refers to India at this time), Germany's industrial share accounted for 14.8% of the world's share, while the United Kingdom's 13.6 .

It is conceivable how furious the British would react to this news.

As a world hegemon, Britain, after being overtaken by the upstart Britain in North America at the end of the 19th century, cannot even maintain its runner-up position.

At present, Britain and Germany have irreconcilable contradictions in almost every field.

In the economic field, the two sides are in the midst of a fierce trade war. Newspapers in the UK spare no effort to smear German goods in an attempt to provoke the British against German goods.

On the other hand, Germany, with its rapidly developing industrial strength, is attacking cities in the markets of various European countries, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, etc., while the British goods there are losing ground.

Militarily, the naval arms race between the two sides reached a fever pitch by 1913.

The navy budget in 1912-1913 was £44.08 million for Britain and £22.01 million for Germany!

The British navy construction in 1889 implemented the two-strong standard~www.wuxiahere.com~ which means that the British navy must surpass the sum of the navies of the other two strongest countries.

And now, due to Germany's strong shipbuilding capabilities, Britain has given up the two-power standard.

The expensive arms race has swallowed up a lot of money, making the finances of the two countries miserable, and they are unwilling to show weakness to each other.

Once this arms race between world powers begins, it can only end in war, and there is no second option.

When a party's finances are about to collapse due to the high output of armaments, it is their best choice to start a war.

Why?

Once the finances collapse, one side's armament will be stagnant due to chaos, while the other side will undoubtedly pursue the victory until the victory is completely established, and the gap between the two sides will become wider and wider.

The longer the delay, the bigger the gap.

The winner of the arms race will take the initiative, with the other side either accepting humiliatingly negotiated terms or losing, with no other choice.

Not only between Britain and Germany, but after the two Moroccan crises, the two military blocs in Europe, the Allies and the Allies, are all ready for war.

Russia, the ally that France has worked so hard to win over, has also recovered from the blow of the Russo-Japanese War, and it is enough.

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