25) The Doomed Turks

In order to ensure the security of the Turkish Straits and to build the 'Great Slavic Empire', the Russians finally decided: to support Bulgaria in challenging the Ottoman Empire!

But the biggest problem now is not the Russian government, but the attitude of the French government! Who said that the Russian Empire is not very good at finance? One billion Leva is not a small amount. Which translates into nearly 40 million pounds and hundreds of tons of gold!

It's not that the Russian Empire doesn't have this money, but there's absolutely no way they have so much free money to take out as a loan! Are they even still borrowing money from the French themselves?

Of course, Ferdinand's one billion Leva was nothing compared to the Russian loans! In the Russo-Japanese War, the Russians borrowed 800 million francs at once, and this was only a small amount of it!

Of course, the French were willing to lend money to the Russians because, in addition to their economic interests, they needed the Russian Empire as an ally to suppress the 'Triple Alliance' on the European continent.

Bulgaria clearly does not have the strength to do so, and the risk of lending to small countries is still very high. For example, the previous French loan to Serbia has now been basically declared a bust.

Ferdinand has beaten Serbia, the government has long been bankrupt, and now the country is in chaos. The situation depends on Austria-Hungary to maintain that 'repay the debt' did not exist! With the relationship between Germany and France, Austria-Hungary will not likely let Serbia pay!

And the Serbian government itself? Long ago has been racked, and Austria-Hungary is not a charity. By helping stabilize the situation, it will reduce spending as much as possible, such as the Serbian Army was disbanded!

It is not right to say that it was disbanded, the major part of the Serbian army went up in smoke after the end of the Bulgarian-Serbian War, and Austria-Hungary simply discharged their mobilized militia back home.

And then, the last armed force within Serbia was left with the 3,000 men of Alexander I's Royal Guard. There were also groups of policemen, the Austro-Hungarian army took on the task of defense of Serbia, and it looked like it was only a matter of time before it was annexed!

The loan amount is not large, and the French are rich and powerful. It does not matter. The capitalists, whose interests have been lost, are not satisfied.

Now that Bulgaria has applied for a loan, they have long been sharpening their fists and preparing to make up for the losses from it, but the attitude of the international loan authorities is critical!

Ferdinand does not need to do anything. The capitalists, driven by their interests, have already started their public relations. They want to use the influence of the French government to seize the maximum benefit for them!

President Félix François Flevol is in the middle of a meeting with his men. That's right, the famous 'Death under the peony, even a ghost can be a beauty'1) is the sixth president of the Third Republic of France! (Note: He died of a heart attack during sex with his mistress.)

Please don't get this wrong. Although they are discussing something to do with Bulgaria, the core is not Bulgaria's loans but relations with Russia!

The Minister of Foreign Affairs analyzed: "Mr. President, from our point of view, the Russian Empire's strategic focus to the east will certainly be a strategic retreat in Europe. The pressure on France on the Western Front will be greatly increased in the future!

Our best bet: is to pull the Russians' attention back to Europe again, but that's hard to do! Unless their Far East strategy is thwarted, which sadly, the Tartars in the East, now fallen, are powerless to stop their expansion!

The greedy Russians, however, still have no plans to abandon the Balkans and turn to the idea of supporting puppets!

So far, it's still a success! The Bulgarians are doing pretty well so far, but the future is hard to say. The young Knyaz Ferdinand is not so easy to control.

Nikolai II now wants to control Bulgaria further economically again, but the Russians themselves are short of money, and that's why the Russians are asking us to form a joint bank."

President Félix François Faure thought about it and said, "I understand what you mean, the Russians are still not finished with the Balkans or are still interested in the Bosphorus, right?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs replied: "Yes, Your Excellency! The greed of the Russians knows no bounds, and their appetite is much greater than we can imagine.

However, it seems that Nikolai II learned the lesson of his great grandfather, knowing that no one in all of Europe wanted them to enter the Mediterranean, so he adopted a detour strategy, using Bulgaria as a pawn first to test the attitude of the Great Powers!

Of course, we can't argue that it's an effort to build the legendary 'Great Slavic Empire', or even both!

If we agree to this loan, perhaps a new round of Balkan wars will break out again soon!

The Bulgarians could not resist the bait the Russians threw! Both Istanbul and the Macedonian region are Bulgarian targets!

Once war breaks out in the Balkans, whether the Russians want it or not, they will have to withdraw some of their energy back to Europe!

And as far as I can judge, if the Russians are not taking action themselves, there is a high chance of achieving this by simply supporting Bulgaria's expansion in the Balkans again. The price is that the Russians do not enter the Mediterranean!

In South Africa, there are still disputes between the British and the Germans over the Boers. In North Africa, we are also at odds with the British, who do not have the energy to interfere with the Russians in the short term!

In order to get the Turks to admit the fact that the British occupied Egypt, I guess the British are now eager to break out of the Balkan War immediately?"

In a surprise, Félix François Faure asked, "So, the situation in the Balkans is now, in turn, in our hands?"

"That's right!" The Minister of Foreign Affairs replied in the positive!

Félix François Faure loosened his shoulders, then said: "We seem to have no reason to refuse? The Russians in the Balkans, sooner or later, will have to clash with Austria-Hungary. In that case, might as well make them whole!

It's best to be able to pull Russia's strategic focus back from the Far East. Even if it fails, it doesn't matter. Our capitalists can still make a big profit anyway!"

The Minister of Finance interrupted: "Only if the Bulgarians can win the war! If they lose the war, they will be no better than Serbia. And when that happens, who will we collect the loans from?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs laughed and said, "Oh, I can answer that question! Does success or failure depend on the input of the Russians?

As the Ottoman Empire has fallen, it now just sustains an empty shelf that will break at the first poke! Except for the Germans, Russians, and us, the British, the Italians, and Austria-Hungary wanted them to lose the war.

So whether the Bulgarians will win, we don't know yet, but the Great Powers are on the same page, the Germans are at best neutral, and the Turks are already destined to be the losers anyway!"

Translator:

1) It means that in the old days, one thought that when you died doing sexually-oriented things, it was also beautiful.