26) The French Approach

The faces of the crowd changed slightly. If there is any Great Power other than Germany that has the best relations with the Ottomans, it is France.

There is no other, just interest!

In 1895, French investments in the Ottoman Empire were second only to Russia's, totaling more than 2.5 billion francs, or about ten percent of France's total foreign investments.

In addition, France also held 60% of the Ottoman Empire's government bonds, which together, in essence, brought the total amount of money invested by France in the Ottoman Empire to over 3 billion francs!

For reasons of interest, the French government is most interested in maintaining the status quo in the Ottoman Empire! After all, once the war broke out, French interests in the Ottoman would definitely be affected.

It is a pity that, except for France, Germany may secretly support the Turks by pulling their strings, but all the other Great Powers are enemies of the Sultan's government!

Is it possible for France to unite with the Germans for the Turks? Of course, it is impossible! The French government would not choose to side with the Germans unless it were insane.

And it was unlikely that the Germans would be able to provide much substantial help to the Turks.

The Austro-Hungarians in the "Triple Alliance" were fighting against the Turks in the Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina was the focus of conflict between the two countries; the Italians were eyeing the Turks' Libya and Morocco; the Germans could not abandon Austria-Hungary and Italy just to bring in the Ottoman Empire!

Simply put, the British proposed plan to divide the Ottomans is a clear stance. Especially during the Anglo-Boer War, the British have to worry about the Sultan's government taking the opportunity to recover the Egyptian region!

It goes without saying that the Russian attitude, over the history of the Russo-Turkish War, we will find that the small battle kept on, with the big battle on average less than once in 19 years, according to the time, a new round of the Russo-Turkish War should come again!

Both sides have been fighting for more than two hundred years. The feud is as deep as the sea. If you want to ease their relations, dream on!

The Russians rejected the British partition plan mainly because they feared uneasy intentions, such as undermining Russia's Far East strategy or taking advantage of the opportunity to enter the Aegean Sea.

No way is the Black Sea so closed? With a random blockage of a key route, you can lock up the sea lines of traffic to the Mediterranean!

And even if Britain kept her promise, it would be of little use to the Russian Empire. The Great Powers would not let the Russian Navy gain a foothold in the Mediterranean, and then there would be more enemies. With the current strength of the Russian Navy, there is no chance of challenging the British hegemony at sea!

Too much risk and not enough reward anyway!

However, on the issue of weakening the Ottoman Empire, the British, Russian, Italian, and Austrian fiercely were on the same page! The Russians were worried that the Ottoman Empire would rise again and threaten itself again!

For the Ottoman Empire, one can say that the international situation now is worse than during the First Balkan War!

If Bulgaria wants to challenge the Ottomans now, the Great Powers don't mind supporting it!

It was not like the 'Greek-Turkish' war of 1897 when the Great Powers had reached a basic compromise, the Armenian issue had faded away, and they had temporarily eased the conflicts between the Turks and the countries.

At that moment, the attitude of the Great Powers changed and wanted to maintain stability in the Balkans and did not support the Greeks in their fight. Even so, at the time of talks, the attitude of the Great Powers favored the Greeks.

But now it's all different! Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, Bulgaria, which was already standing along all sides, is now hugging the Russians; Serbia is ruined and could be annexed by Austria-Hungary at any time.

The situation in the Balkans had changed, and the historical conflict between Russia and Austria-Hungary was no longer intense.

Historically, Austria-Hungary dominated the Balkans, and the Russians feared that Austria-Hungary's expansion in the Balkans would threaten the Turkish Straits's security. All objected to Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Moreover, Serbia and Montenegro came out with Russian support and opposed Austria-Hungary's annexation of the Bosnian region, and the attitude of the Bulgarian government was again indecisive.

And at this time, the Germans were busy fighting with the British for South Africa and did not want to get involved in the strife in the Balkans. Without German support, Austria-Hungary was forced to give in.

The Russians also did not intend to expand in the Balkans in order to implement their Far Eastern strategy. In 1897, the two countries reached a compromise on the Balkans!

All things were different now, although the Germans and the British had sharpened their conflicts due to the Anglo-Boer War and did not have the energy to get involved in the Balkan strife.

But due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the Russian Empire had not yet succeeded in Serbia's actions, the second Bulgarian-Serbian war broke out, Austria-Hungary has completely controlled Serbia, there was no ability to come out and sing against the boss; and Bulgaria held the thigh of the Russians, with Bulgaria's blockage, Austria-Hungary's threat to the Turkish Straits has not yet come to fruition!

The conflict between the Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary is far less acute than it was at the same time in history. Although the two sides have not yet agreed on the division of the Balkans, they do not have core conflicting interests now either.

The Russians' strategic focus was on the Far East, and expansion in the Balkans mainly focused on supporting Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary's Balkan partition plan, and Ferdinand's Balkan strategy, were mostly aligned in the short term!

This point, naturally, can not be hidden from astute politicians. The Second Bulgarian-Serbian War, when Austria-Hungary did not care about the war, it ate the biggest cake, is no doubt the best example!

In the eyes of those who are interested, Bulgaria has likely reached an agreement with Austria-Hungary on the Balkans!

President Félix François Faure recognized this and could also be sure that the Russians would support the Bulgarian move!

Putting Constantinople in the hands of the Turks is no better than keeping it in your own hands!

As for Bulgaria, forget it! In his eyes, the Bulgarian army is just fine, but the navy? What kind of creature is that?

In any case, without a navy, Bulgaria had to turn to the Russians to master the Turkish Straits, and Constantinople was still in control of the Russians!

"Looks like the Turks, again, are out of luck! But it does not matter much to us, as long as we can keep our interests!" said Félix François Faure after thinking about it.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs said with a smile, "If we are not going to intervene, then we will leave the Bulgarian loans to the capitalists themselves, and I believe they will have a good harvest this time!"

The people looked at each other and smiled. Not only will the capitalists have a good harvest, but the people sitting in the crowd will also have a good harvest. After all, international loans are subject to the government. Otherwise, the capitalists can not afford to go to a country to collect debts!