Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 148: 08) Undercurrents

As it turns out, Ferdinand's choice was not wrong!

After defining Bulgaria's next strategy, the cabinet's capacity was aroused, exploding into a new round of preparations for war with a twelve-point capacity for battle!

Even so, the Second Five-Year Plan, which was disrupted by the war, proceeded in an orderly manner.

At leisure, Ferdinand turned his attention to his old neighbors, the Ottoman Empire!

The end of the Bulgarian-Serbian War and the increased calls within Bulgaria to get rid of the Ottoman Empire as a suzerain state, even though Bulgaria had long stopped giving a damn about the Sultan's government!

The Bulgarians, bursting with nationalism, are becoming unhappy with this nominal suzerainty. (Oh, never satisfied!)

Freedom from the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of a fully independent Bulgarian Kingdom was the demand of the Bulgarian population at large.

However, Ferdinand used his strong prestige to silence them! Now is not the time to turn against the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria is not yet ready for war, but it does not prevent Ferdinand from making some small moves!

The year 1895 was stormy, as the Near East crisis began to intensify again after the end of the Bulgarian-Serbian War.

After the opening of the Sino-Japanese War, the Armenians, who could not bear the burden, rose up. This time, unlike in history, Ferdinand intervened, with the Greeks, Arabs, and Kurds involved!

Armenians lived in the mountainous and highland regions of northeastern Asia Minor. In the 19th century, they were subject to Russia, Ottoman, and Persia separately, and by 1894, about a million Armenians were still living in the territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Armenians are Christian and do not fit in with the Turkish population. Most of them live in the 'Six Armenian Provinces', mixed with Kurds, and are mainly engaged in agriculture and herding. Some of them live in cities, such as Constantinople, which is home to 150,000 Armenians.

In the late 19th century, the Turkish government exploited and oppressed Armenians because of their minority status and religious incompatibility with the Turks.

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After the escalation of ethnic conflicts, Armenians also launched a campaign against the Sultan's rule, demanding national independence and autonomy. After the national independence of the Balkans, the resistance activities became more intense.

The Armenian resistance also angered the Ottoman rulers with brutal repressions.

After the economic crisis broke out, the Ottoman Empire was also affected. In order to ease the crisis and divert attention, the Ottoman government targeted the minorities in the country and attempted to plunder the wealth of the minorities to survive the crisis!

So they incited the conflict between the Kurds and the Armenians and took the opportunity to massacre the Armenians!

In August 1894, the Turkish army and Kurds massacred thousands of Armenians in Sasun, followed by successive massacres in Yozgat, Urfa, and other areas.

When the news spread, they met it with international attention. Because of the intervention of the Great Powers gave the Armenians the illusion that the international community was supporting their independence!

The rebel groups thought the opportunity for independence had come, and the uprising broke out! But due to the different interests of the Great Powers in the Ottoman Empire, it was difficult to agree with each other, and the Near East crisis broke out!

Ferdinand played a disgraceful role in this incident in the principle of giving the enemy a hard time.

The Ottoman Empire has always had serious ethnic tensions, and the core problem is religion!

The first major ethnic group was the Islamist Turks.

The second-largest ethnic group is the Orthodox Greeks.

The third-largest ethnic group is the Arabs, who practice the Islam religion.

The fourth-largest ethnic group is the Kurds, who practice the Islam religion.

The fifth-largest ethnic group is the Bulgarians, who are practicing Orthodox Christians.

...

On the surface, it seems that Turks, Arabs, and Kurds all practice Islam, but in reality, they are different, and there are many messy sects.

As we all know, internal heresy is often more odious than the external enemy. That's why this is the end of the story. If you write more, you might trigger the bombs!

... (makeup 100,000 words in your head)

Anyway, these conflicts, by Ferdinand to the eye, for which the intelligence officers secretly launched the code name "Hunting Horse" operation!

From 1895 onwards, the Ottoman Turkish Empire began to be restless, with frequent religious conflicts. Today the Kurds and the Armenians were fighting; tomorrow, the Arabs and the Greeks; the day after tomorrow, the Turks and the Bulgarians were in conflict; and when they turned around, the Shiites and the Sunnis were in conflict again, and the Kharijites and the Murji'ites were fighting again...

The Ottoman government started to get tired. It was just a conflict between the lower-class believers at the beginning. Still, once the intelligence agents hyped it through the street newspaper, then it ignited the public opinion!

The Ottoman Empire could suppress the local press, but it was powerless for the press in the hands of the Great Powers. Otherwise, there would be no Near East crisis!

Public opinion attracts the view of civil society, and everyone waits to see what the Ottoman Sultan's government will do with it! There is never a right or wrong in religious conflicts, mixed with ethnic conflicts. No matter what to do with it, there will be people who are not satisfied.

Not to mention the corrupt Sublime Porte? The response is slow, not timely, and when the government intervenes, several fights have been done below, and people's minds are beaten out of the dog's minds.

There is no doubt that the disposition of the Sultan's government favored its own people, angered the Greeks and Bulgarians in the country, and with the encouragement of the Bulgarian and Greek governments, began to support the Armenian revolution.

Ferdinand was not the only one who had ambitions for the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks were the most ambitious! When he saw the expansion of Bulgaria, Gergios I of Greece was envious. There was no way the Ottoman Empire shared a border with Greece.

Of course, the Mediterranean also counts, but the Greeks still do not dare compete with Britain and France to dominate the Mediterranean. Not even Italy is a spectator?

As early as a few years ago, when the Bulgarian expansion began, Gergios I followed up with this as an excuse. Still, it is a pity that he guessed only half right, not expecting that the enemy chosen by Bulgaria was not the Ottoman Empire but the Serbs!

Gergios I intended to follow the idea of picking up a bargain, but it fell through! There was turbulence in the Ottoman Empire, and the Greeks had become impatient and began to move!

The Minister of Foreign Affairs hurriedly entered the Sofia Palace and reported to Ferdinand: "Your Highness, the special envoy of King Gergios I of Greece has secretly arrived in Sofia!"

Ferdinand nodded and said, "It seems that the Greeks are already impatient, we should proceed as planned, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can first approach them, explore the bottom line of the Greeks, and then decide whether we need to cooperate with them!"