42) Spark

The historical outbreak of the uprising in Crete occurred in the context of the Armenian issue that had subsided. The fragile balance formed again between the Great Powers in the Near East, who wanted the region to remain stable. The move of the Greek government, which did not have the support of the Great Powers.

But everything is different in this time and space, the Armenian issue is still raging, and the great uprising in Constantinople is not so easy to suppress!

Many newspapers, to attract attention, have handily pot for the Sultan's government. The tragedy in Constantinople is turned into the Ottoman army after the quelling of the rebellion revenge!

Of course, it's not completely shady. The Sultan government does have to take the brunt of the blame!

The Ottoman Empire was disadvantaged in public opinion, and they also used the Sultan's government to being groped by the Western media. They do not even bother to defend. After all, both sides have been hostile for hundreds of years, and no one believes in the explanation too!

And politically, the Russian move created a strategic misunderstanding for the Sultan's government that the Russians were manipulating the Balkan countries against them and released no goodwill to the Russian Empire. Relations between the two countries remained at a freezing point!

Naturally, the Russian Empire did not mind giving its enemies a hard time, and its attitude clearly favored the Greeks.

How could Austria-Hungary, which intended to take advantage of the fire and annex the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not support the Greeks now and side with the Ottoman Empire instead?

Of course, the central issue was that Austria-Hungary had reached a compromise with the Russian government! Both sides tacitly agreed to each other's next move, namely the annexation of the Bosnia-Herzegovina region by Austria-Hungary and the integration of the Turkish Straits, including the Bosphorus, by the Russians into their sphere of influence!

The Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have the same attitude, which basically represents the attitude of the Great Powers in the Balkans. The other Great Powers have limited power in this region, and their attitude is not that important!

The British, who originally had a history of wanting to maintain the status quo, have now changed their attitude, and the Ottoman Empire wants their support. It must recognize the status quo in Egypt!

When it comes to Crete, a country that was the last to have a say, Italy was ignored this time. It can't be helped who told him that he didn't even win Ethiopia, and now everyone doesn't recognize it as one of the Great Powers!

As for the strength, sorry, Italy is really not enough, compared with other Great Powers, the gap is still huge!

Historically, without the support of the Great Powers, the Greek government alone dared to fight the Ottoman Empire, and now with the support of the Great Powers, it is self-evident how they will do!

Can the Ottoman Empire compromise? Obviously - no! If the Sultan's government had to give in to a mere Greek, wouldn't the other Great Powers have swarmed over it and divided it up?

Since neither side is going to compromise, war is not far away!

After knowing the other side's choice, both sides started a new round of diplomatic maneuvers to gain victory.

Obviously, the Ottomans lost in this round of diplomatic efforts, the Greeks had the Balkan League to back them up, but the Ottomans could not find any allies!

...

After the outbreak of the great uprising in Crete, Ferdinand knew that war had come, and as of now, the Bulgarian staff had planned a stockpile of supplies that was overwhelmingly complete.

But the most critical weapons and ammunition reserves have not been completed. Bulgaria, after all, only completed the initial industrialization with limited industrial capacity!

Weapons production is okay; it took two years, but the arsenal has only completed the production of 500,000 rifles. The machine gun production task is expected to be completed next month, and artillery production can also complete the task at the end of this month.

However, the production of ammunition is in trouble. Bulgaria still only has a reserve of 700 million rounds of ammunition and more than 2.4 million rounds of various artillery shells, including the previous reserves!

Even so, the arsenal has been operating at its capacity limit since 1896. They run three shifts, except for essential mechanical maintenance, and run at high speed at other times!

During this period, the arsenal also increased the production line several times, and even so, it still could not complete the set goal!

Military production is, after all, technical work, and due to the lack of sufficient engineers, and skilled workers, production capacity still can not rise!

Of course, this was expected by Ferdinand. In fact, the Bulgarian arsenal's capacity has been incredible in terms of capacity alone. In the same period, it exceeded any arsenal in the world!

Of course, this is based on the premise that the arsenal of the Great Powers did not have a full power expansion! Even so, the Bulgarian arsenal was one of the largest in the world at the end of the 19th century!

In terms of army military strength alone, Bulgaria is already among the top ten in the world, with production capacity also surpassing Italy and squeezing into the ranks of the Great Powers. The price is tens of millions of pounds to be consumed by this gold-devouring beast!

In terms of ammunition, there was still enough for the Ottoman War and more than enough for the historical consumption of the Russo-Japanese War.

It is just that Ferdinand has always shadowed the history of the Second Balkan War, where Bulgaria was besieged by the Balkan countries and lost many of the gains of the First Balkan War due to the lack of sufficient weapons and ammunition. It is why he purposely signaled the staff to spend a large amount of ammunition!

But having come this far, Ferdinand knew that the Second Balkan War, even if it was going to happen, was not the same as in history!

Serbia, the main force, has been eliminated from the game; the Ottoman Empire is much weaker than during the Balkan Wars, from the financial point of view alone, they can not afford; the Greeks are not much better after this war. They do not exist in the land army remain to be said? As for the navy, the existence of the Bulgarian fleet can still scare people!

History has changed so much that if Bulgaria is still the same as in history, Ferdinand also does not need to play. He simply dies with a block of tofu to avoid humiliation!

After counting aside, Ferdinand was surprised to find that in this Balkan war, Bulgaria was fine even if it had eaten alone!

Neither Greece nor Montenegro has the strength to retaliate, Romania seems to be singled out, and there is no pressure!

Ferdinand, who had figured it out, became relaxed.

Compared to Ferdinand's relaxed ease, King Geórgios I of Greece was anxious. After the outbreak of events in Crete, although Bulgaria and Montenegro are in solidarity with Greece, but the actual action is to do nothing!

Now the Greek government has been forced into a corner, and by its own people, the nationalists in the country, one by one, are eager to declare war on the Ottoman Empire, as if the Ottoman Empire is a paper one, once stabbed it breaks!

But Geórgios I did not dare to underestimate the Ottoman Empire, and both of its allies were still watching the show? If Greece fought and died in front, the two allies behind finally jumped out to pick the best. It would not be wonderful!

Obviously, both Ferdinand and Nikola I of Montenegro intended to do so. There is a bargain not to take advantage of the son of a bitch!

In front of the national interest, we all know what to choose!