Bulgarian Empire

Wars are inherently destructive, and more than three months after the end of the Balkan Wars, Ferdinand finally received specific reports of losses.

Of course, this report only includes the territory of Bulgaria. The area controlled by the Kingdom of Montenegro is only a rough guess. As for Greece, there is no result yet.

Even so, the losses caused by the war are still shocking. In just three months, nearly 200,000 civilian casualties were caused in the Balkans, and millions of people were displaced and homeless.

The direct economic loss caused was as high as 1 billion levs. Especially the Istanbul area, where the Ottoman resistance was the most intense, suffered heavy losses.

No matter who is responsible, Ferdinand needs to swallow this bitter fruit now. The economic level of various places has regressed for at least 30 years.

This judgment is very objective. After all, during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the economy of the Balkans has not been very good.

The data based on them are not informative. According to the cabinet’s estimates, the Ottoman army’s resistance to the relatively weak Kosovo region has not suffered much economic damage, and it can recover within a year or two.

In the Istanbul area, due to the fierce resistance of the Ottomans, the economic damage caused was great, and it would take at least five years to recover.

As for Constantinople, it has been reduced to ruins, and it will not be restored in twenty or thirty years.

On the whole, most of the energy of the Bulgarian government in the next five years will be spent on post-war reconstruction, and most of the government's financial investment will be spent on these new territories.

As for the displacement of nearly a million people, this issue does not require Ferdinand to have a headache. Anyway, they have already left Bulgaria, and it happens to make room for immigrants.

After reading the report, Ferdinand thought for a while and said, These situations are more serious than we estimated before. What specific plans does the cabinet have to restore the economies of various regions as soon as possible and stabilize people's livelihood?

Constantine said with some embarrassment: After comprehensive consideration, in the next few years, we will resettle millions of immigrants, so we must create a large number of jobs.

The cabinet plans to continue to increase financial input in the new round of the Three Five-Year Plan, focusing on our new territories. Mainly concentrated in the railway, mining industry, municipal infrastructure, and vigorously build water conservancy projects in agriculture.

However, this will put a lot of pressure on finances. In 1898, the government’s fiscal revenue is expected to reach about 510 million levs, of which the original Bulgarian region can contribute 307 million levs, and another 145 million levs are from the sale of land and confiscation. Lev's noble real estate income, the newly added territory only contributed less than 58 million Lev.

However, in terms of fiscal expenditure, it has risen sharply, reaching an astonishing 680 million levs, and the fiscal deficit is as high as 170 million levs, which has exceeded the safety line.

Increased spending, mainly administrative expenditures tripled to 120 million levs; education expenditures doubled to 8000 million levs; health care expenditures increased by 50 percent to 21 million levs f.

The other part is mainly government investment, including: investment in railway construction, which is estimated to be around 8000 million levs; municipal renovation and post-war reconstruction, this part of the investment is expected to be around 75 million levs; and the construction of water conservancy projects and the promotion of new agricultural technologies , this part of the investment is around 6000 million leva...

After listening to Constantine's introduction, Ferdinand thought for a while and found that there was no problem. These cost ratios are determined according to the actual situation, and there is no blind pursuit of results.

Just like the administrative expenses with the fastest growing expenditure, this is a top priority. The ruling order of the newly added territories must be established, right? This cost can't be saved at all!

The second is education. This is obviously for brainwashing. It is always a long-term project. It cannot be completed in a short period of time, so the urgency is slightly lower.

As for the subsequent construction investment, this figure is really not big. In Bulgaria's Second Five-Year Plan, the investment has exceeded this figure.

But now financial difficulties, we can only take it slowly.

I remember that there are still a lot of real estate this time, including land. If the government manages them, it will also bring a lot of income. Will this be able to cover most of the deficit? Ferdinand asked suspiciously

Constantine said painfully: Considering the complexity of the situation in the Balkans, our military expenditure in the future can only increase, not decrease.

In order to ensure a stable supply of military expenses, the government has decided to allocate all the proceeds from the confiscated land to the army, except for the land that has been rewarded and sold to meritorious officers and soldiers!

The Ministry of Finance has done detailed calculations in this regard. In 1897, due to the Balkan War, our military expenditure actually exceeded 700 million Leva.

In 1895, the military expenditure of our Army totaled 147 million Lev; in 1896, this figure expanded to 280 million Lev. Of course, this is mainly due to combat readiness!

In the coming year, the army still needs to carry out a large-scale suppression of bandits and suppress local stubborn forces. In addition, our national boundaries have also greatly increased, and the pressure on national defense has increased.

Therefore, military expenditure will also be high, and it is estimated that it may increase to 360 million levs, of which the army accounts for 94% and the navy accounts for 6%.

In addition to the 120 million levs allocated by the government, most of this part of the expenditure is borne by land income and the profits turned over by supporting state-owned enterprises.

As for the other confiscated real estate, the income from this part of the property has to cover the expenses of the immigrants, otherwise the 40 million levs allocated by the government alone will not be enough!

Ferdinand nodded in satisfaction, and the Bulgarian government followed his usual style, listing the most important parts first, giving priority to satisfaction, and then doing other things.

There is no doubt that the most important thing for Bulgaria at the moment is to maintain a strong army, which is the foundation of everything!

The second is to stabilize the place, digest the fruits of victory, and exchange the main ethnic group with the Ottoman Empire.

Only after finishing these, can we have the energy to consider the issues of construction and development!

So, instead of narrowing our fiscal deficit in the next few years, it will increase further? Ferdinand asked with concern.

Constantine said in embarrassment: Yes! It is impossible for us to sell real estate to the outside world every year. In 1899, our financial revenue will return to normal. Compared with 1898, our financial revenue may be slightly lower!

The government's various investments will continue to increase. The only thing that is likely to decrease in the next few years is the military expenditure. After the local area is stabilized, the military expenditure can be reduced by about 30 to 50 million levs.

However, after no real estate is sold, the immigration expenses will be borne by the government, and our financial pressure will not be reduced, but will be more serious!

Ferdinand said with emotion: It seems that we will have a few more years of hard life! However, from another perspective, our economic aggregate has increased by 80% compared to before the war!

If we can develop this newly added territory, we will achieve leapfrog development. In the next five years, the total industrial volume is expected to catch up with Belgium, and within ten years is expected to catch up with Spain!

Well, one of Ferdinand's sentiments undoubtedly became the development goal of the Bulgarian government in the next ten years, five years to catch up with Belgium, ten years to catch up with Spain!

It is not difficult to catch up with Belgium in five years! After all, the total industrial volume of Belgium is not much higher than that of Bulgaria, and the gap between the two sides is less than one-fifth.

However, Spain is different. Where is the size, it is still a second-class power. Its comprehensive national strength is comparable to that of Italy. It ranks first in Europe after Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia!

As soon as the Bulgarian government shouted the slogan, it provoked a burst of ridicule. Of course, once the Spanish-American War broke out, the result was different. The Kingdom of Spain, which was the last among the great powers, was knocked into the dust and became a stepping stone!

In any case, the Bulgarians of this era are still confident, especially under the leadership of Ferdinand, they have achieved a series of victories.

The Bulgarian government has more confidence in whether it can achieve this goal than Ferdinand, so they just blew the cowhide out!

They have reasons for self-confidence. Bulgaria's biggest shortcoming is its imperfect industrial system, but it has still reached the forefront of the world in some fields.

For example, the output of steel exceeds the sum of Italy + Japan. There is no way, the steel output of the Italians has always been the lower limit of the great powers, and the Japanese steel industry has just started now.

It also has the largest military arsenal in the world. For the Balkan War, the Bulgarian arsenal has grown like a snowball, and it can indeed stand out from the crowd in terms of production capacity!

Even if it is the strongest, it would be shameful. At most, it can be called the strongest copycat factory. Only Ferdinand can do the arsenal developed with copycat as the core idea!

When Ferdinand ambitiously shouted Dare to Belgium in five years, and catch up with Spain in ten years, the tug-of-war between the Greeks and the Ottoman Empire also ended.

The Greek government lost most of its territory, and as time went by, the government came under increasing pressure; and the Ottoman Empire was also having a hard time. Affected by the Balkan War, domestic revolutionism prevailed, and troops continued to be suppressed.

Since both sides are having a hard time, the Greek government and the Ottoman Empire naturally compromised and each made a step forward.

The Ottoman Empire gave up the demand for land cession and indemnity, and directly withdrew its troops from the Greek peninsula. The Greek government paid the Ottoman Empire the cost of purchasing Crete, totaling 10 million pounds.

Everyone knows that the Greeks have no money now, not to mention ten million pounds, even one million pounds, they can't afford it!

And even if they wanted to borrow money, they couldn't provide enough collateral, so the two parties made a compromise and asked the Greek government to pay in installments.

At the urging of George I, the Greeks paid the Ottomans £10,000 in the first year, and then gone!

No way, everyone knows the financial situation of Greece. Their currency, the drachma, is now almost like waste paper. They really have no money, and the Sudanese government can only accept the disaster.

We can only take another step back. The two parties agreed to repay 500,000 pounds per year, including principal and interest for 30 years, and forget the first year.

After reaching an agreement. Before George I had time to be happy for a long time, he realized what kind of mess he had taken over again!

This time it's really bad! In the Greek-Turkish War, the 200,000 troops of the Greek army were almost wiped out, and the direct death toll exceeded 60,000.

At the same time, the hundreds of thousands of captives who fell into the hands of the Ottomans naturally would not have any good results. Especially the wounded. After a few months, nearly 20,000 people were lost, and those who survived were skinny. Without a year or so of recuperation, don't even think about recovering!

In addition, the Ottoman army levied violently on the Greek peninsula, and now the Greek peninsula is full of hunger and wailing.

The loss of civilians alone is no less than 200,000, and the number of Greeks has dropped to less than 2 million again, but the population of Greece has increased by 600,000!

George I said that Greece is short of people, but he definitely has no shortage of troublemakers. From the defeat to the present, he has been assassinated twice and suppressed five rebellions!

Therefore, when the locals and outsiders had conflicts, George I keenly saw the opportunity to get rid of the political crisis, and decisively stood on the side of the locals.

Using ethnic conflicts, George I once again won the approval of the Greek people and successfully kept the throne. At the same time, it further caused chaos on the Greek peninsula!

The foreign population entering Greece lost its restraint after the withdrawal of the Ottoman army. And Edhe Pasha, who hated Greece, did not forget to bury the nails for the Greeks before evacuating.

A large number of weapons and equipment were deliberately left behind in refugee camps. When refugees took up arms, they often turned into mobs instead of revolutions!

In order to survive, they set their sights on the locals. At first they tried to rob each other of their food, and then some people began to rob them of property. When they encountered resistance, they raised their butcher knives.

In order to keep his throne, after the incident, George I not only failed to prevent the situation from deteriorating immediately, but instead guided public opinion and magnified the incident.

Then, when the Greeks were worried about their lives, George I stepped forward, organized an army to counter the rebellion, and aimed their guns at all foreign nations.

This can't be blamed on George I's ruthlessness. It's the actual situation that forced him to do so. With the current poor finances of the Greek government, there is no way to accommodate these unexpected guests!

Not to mention now, even before the Greek-Turkish war, there was no way for Greece to provide hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Since there is no way to digest it, of course it can only be eliminated. This time, George I decided to learn from the successful experience of Nicholas I, throwing all the foreign nationalities he caught into the prisoner-of-war camps to contribute to the construction of the Greek government.

However, when George I took action, these refugees had already been scattered on the Greek peninsula. Since they couldn't catch them all, the other party would naturally resist.

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