Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The war between the Ottoman Empire and Greece is now unstoppable. Conflicts of interest, ethnic conflicts, and public opinion orientation, these series of factors have pushed the two countries to the abyss of war!

Ferdinand can swear in the name of God that this war is definitely not his fault! At this time in history, didn't the Ottoman Empire and Greece still fight?

The establishment of the Balkan Alliance undoubtedly gave the Greeks another boost of confidence.

In history, Prince George personally brought an army of 1,500 people to support the Cretan uprising!

In the face of the collective opposition of the foreign powers, the Greek government, which was not fully prepared, still launched a war against the Ottoman Empire.

Compared with the international environment at that time, for the Greeks, the situation is much better now! Although the attitudes of the powers are different now, they still have the support of the Russians, the British and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in diplomacy; at the same time, there are two allies in the Balkans, Bulgaria and Mentegro. No matter how you look at the odds of winning Much bigger!

In history, because neither side was ready for war, they fought a bad war, but the Greeks were still worse, making this war a laughing stock in the history of modern warfare in Greece.

The Greeks took the initiative to provoke the war, but because the army was too wasteful, they were defeated in a mess. From the declaration of war to the signing of the peace treaty, it took only 30 days to get it done!

What's even more funny is that during these thirty days, less time was really spent on wars, and more than half of the time was spent on negotiating and wrangling!

This is the funny 30 Days War! The Greeks used practical actions to tell the world what it means to be self-sufficient!

This time and space is no exception. On April 15th, the Greek government issued an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire, asking the Ottoman Empire to recognize Greece’s annexation of Crete, apologize to the Greek people for the former colonial rule, and compensate the economic loss of 30 million pounds. !

At this moment, everyone knows that war is coming! The Greeks have no sincerity to negotiate at all, and their previous actions were nothing more than delaying time!

In the early morning of April 17, the Greek government officially submitted the war book to the Ottoman Empire; the Sudanese government was very efficient, and at noon, it also submitted the war book to the Greek government!

The Greek-Turkish War officially broke out!

Slightly different from history, the Greeks on this plane were more prepared. Before the outbreak of the war, the Greek government had completed nationwide mobilization, mobilizing more than 240,000 troops!

On the same day, the Greek army began to attack the Macedonia region, which opened the curtain of the Balkan War!

After receiving this news, Ferdinand finally let go of his dangling heart. History has turned an inflection point at this moment, where the future will go, everything has become confusing!

Ferdinand, who has nothing to do, is busy making villains in the palace. He has been married for more than three years and has no children. He can't help worrying about this.

You must know that Princess Xenia in history, but the mother of seven children, has absolutely no problem in this regard! Ferdinand in history also had several children, and he has never used contraception. It makes no sense that he has not had children for more than three years?

When Ferdinand was thinking about it, George I of Greece on the other side was not feeling well. At the beginning of the war, the performance of the Greek army could not be said to be outstanding, but it could also be regarded as quite satisfactory!

In the strategy of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, the focus of defense is on Bulgaria and Serbia.

Geographically, the Serbs threatened Kosovo and Albania, and the Bulgarians threatened Macedonia and Istanbul!

Now everything has changed, Bulgaria's military strength is still the strongest among the Balkan countries. But after the Bulgarian war ended, the Serbian threat no longer existed!

Therefore, the main enemy the Ottoman Empire is now guarding against is Bulgaria.

The main force is also concentrated on this territory!

Mente Negro was too small to enter the eyes of the Ottoman Empire at all; while Greece invested a lot of resources in the navy, the Ottoman Empire ignored the threat of the Greek army.

At the beginning of the war, the Ottoman Empire was not ready for war, and there were not many troops deployed on the Greek front. On the border line of seven or eight hundred kilometers, the Ottoman army has only more than 30,000 troops stationed!

There is no doubt that if the 30,000 defenders are concentrated, they will still have some fighting power, but if they are distributed on the boundary line of seven or eight hundred kilometers, there will be loopholes everywhere!

In fact, given the degree of decay of the Ottoman Empire, it is conceivable that the nominal 30,000 defenders can guarantee half of the full amount!

The result is self-evident. The Ottoman army on the Greek front has fallen, and the defense line in Thessaly has been broken in a single barrel. The Greek army should have been singing forward!

However, the poor logistics system of the Greek army was exposed. Due to the logistical drag, the Greek army did not seize the city of Trikala for the first time! Of course, the waste of time is not too long, at most one day!

It's a pity that time is often a race against time on the battlefield, and one day is enough to change the whole battle situation! From the outbreak of the war to the present, the Sudanese government has responded, and reinforcements from Macedonia are coming!

Trikala City, where the Ottoman Empire originally deployed the strength of two regiments, plus the troops retreating from the front line, theoretically already has the strength of one division, of course, the actual strength must be at least halved.

Trikala City is located on the east side of the Pindus Mountains. It goes westward through the Metsophon defile and can reach Alta on the west side of the mountain. Due to its unique geographical location, the Ottoman Empire could not continue to retreat, so it decided to hold on. This decision changed the direction of the Greek-Turkish war!

The high morale of the Greek Army has hit its first nail here! On the evening of April 18, 1897, an army of 88,000 Greek troops led by Prince Constantine arrived at Trikala.

Victory along the way, the Greek army has been carried away by the victory, and immediately launched a full-scale attack after reaching the city of Trikala! Of course, from a strategic point of view, it is right to attack immediately!

However, due to the tenacious pits of the Ottoman defenders, the Greek army responsible for the attack suffered more than 1,500 casualties in just over five hours. Prince Constantine suspended the attack in order to reduce losses!

It was not until April 20th, after the artillery arrived on the battlefield, that the Greek army launched the attack again, but this time, it was too late!

One day is enough to change a lot of things! The Ottoman army in the city, under the leadership of the commander Orich Pasha, has completed the internal integration, and the gathered troops have been reorganized.

If the enemy to face on April 19 is only the original defenders, with only more than 2,000 people, then the reorganized Ottoman defenders have exceeded 5,000 people!

It is almost impossible for more than 2,000 people to defend the city of Trikala, even if it is delayed for a day or two! In one full-scale attack by the Greeks alone, the defenders suffered more than 380 casualties.

It doesn't take much, if there are two or three more attacks like that, the city of Trikala will be broken due to the lack of troops!

It is a pity that there is no if, Prince Constantine did not know the situation in the city, and ordered to stop the attack in order to reduce the loss!

Of course, it is not ruled out that there is a reason for being arrogant and ignoring the Ottoman army, which creates opportunities for the defenders in the city!

On April 20th, the Greek army launched an attack again, and the tragic siege battle began. Due to the use of artillery, the casualties of the Greek army fell!

In one day, the Greek army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, and the defenders also suffered more than 1,700 casualties. The battle damage exchange ratio has changed from 4 to 1 at the beginning to 1.8 to 1 now!

The Ottoman Empire's defenses in Trikala were crumbling, and a third of its troops were lost in one day, enough to collapse an army!

If it weren't for the fact that the Sudanese government has issued a strict order, it must be defended, and the reinforcements from the Macedonian region have already arrived on the way, and now most of the defenders in the city have collapsed!

(Note: Casualties do not equal death. For example, the number of casualties in some countries in the World War exceeded the number of soldiers participating in the war! The main reason is that after the recovery, the lightly wounded can be put into the war again!)

On April 21, the brutal offensive and defensive battle continued. By the evening, the Ottoman defenders had lost almost all of their peripheral defense lines. Under the command of Orich Pasha, they had withdrawn from the defense line in an orderly manner and fought in the city. More bloody street fighting!

On the third day after the outbreak of the war, reinforcements from the Macedonian region also entered the Thessaly region. On the evening of April 21, the 100,000 Ottoman reinforcements led by Ed He Pasha were less than 15 years away from the city of Trikala. kilometers away!

The Greeks, who did not know that the reinforcements of the other side had arrived, launched a siege battle again on April 22, not a street battle!

Seeing that the Ottoman defenders were about to die, the scouts brought bad news to Prince Constantine - the Ottoman Empire reinforcements were about to arrive on the battlefield!

When Prince Constantine received this news, the reinforcements of the Ottoman Empire were already less than five kilometers away from him!

After receiving this news, Prince Constantine suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered to abandon the attack while actively deploying to defend against the possible attack of the Ottoman reinforcements!

At this time, the balance of forces between the two sides has undergone fundamental changes. The Greek warplanes have disappeared, and the city of Trikala has not been captured, which means that in future wars, Greece will be at a strategic disadvantage!

During the three-day siege, the Greek army also suffered heavy casualties, and now the morale has been greatly reduced. The bloody patriotism was still defeated by the cruelty on the battlefield!

Edhi Pasha came faster than the Greeks expected. After arriving at the front line, the Ottoman army did not make any repairs, and launched a full-scale attack directly on the Greek army's position!

All of a sudden, the Greeks were blinded. You must know that after the army has been marching for a long time, the physical strength has dropped very sharply. If there is not enough time for repairs, it would be good to be able to exert five or six points of ten ten strengths!

Prince Constantine planned to take advantage of the new arrival of the Ottoman army and launch a surprise attack on the precarious opportunity to defeat the Ottoman reinforcements in one fell swoop!

Then the two armies that were preparing to raid met unexpectedly on the way and started a desperate fight! Relying on the superiority in military strength, the Turks defeated the enemy in front of them in one fell swoop, and the Greek offensive was interrupted!

Moreover, due to the strategic mistakes of the Greeks, in order to defend the enemy outside the country, they did not concentrate their superior forces to attack in one direction!

At the same time, they attacked in the two directions of Thessaly and Epirus. After the Greek army in Thessaly was blocked from attacking the city of Trikala, it was forced to turn to local defense and wait for reinforcements!

It is a pity that Prince Constantine's decision did not take into account the actual situation of the Greek army. If this army is all standing troops, his decision is completely correct! With the corruption of the Ottoman Empire, the 100,000-strong army is absolutely indispensable, and the Greek army is completely capable of fighting!

After the nationwide mobilization of the Greek government, the Greek army began to expand dramatically, and the army under the command of Prince Constantine was no exception.

Due to the blind expansion of the army by the Greek government, a large number of poorly trained soldiers have been added to the army, and the combat effectiveness of the Greek army has fallen instead of rising!

If it's a fight against the wind, it's fine. After a few more fights, the recruits will become veterans, and the combat effectiveness of the army will naturally increase!

But before becoming a veteran, as soon as there are twists and turns in the war, something will happen! This time was no exception, and Prince Constantine was miserable.

Before the Ottoman army did not go all out, the attack was smooth sailing, but a tragic offensive and defensive battle broke out in the city of Trikala, and the Greek soldiers could not bear it!

As soon as the Ottoman reinforcements arrived, the morale of the Greek army dropped to a low point! As soon as Edhi Pasha attacked, the Greek army could no longer bear the pressure and collapsed!

Since the Ottoman army also arrived in a hurry, it was thrown into the war before it could be repaired.

This caused a misjudgment for Prince Constantine, and the Ottoman Empire army was just like that, and its combat effectiveness was not much higher than them!

His judgment is well-founded. The combat effectiveness of the Greek army and the Ottoman army is indeed half a catty! But this is the Greek Army before the expansion, and the combat effectiveness of the Greek Army after the expansion is far worse!

Prince Constantine's decision to defend on the spot is not a strategic mistake! Since it was the Greek army who had just lost the battle, the losses were not great.

Now he still has 70,000 troops in his hands, and the actual number of the Ottoman troops on the opposite side is only more than 100,000 troops.

After all, at the end of the 19th century, the power of wire mesh and trenches was still leveraged! Even if the Greek army lacks wire mesh, there is still no shortage of trenches!

This also starts with the strategy of Greece. Another Greek army led by Duke Carlos has now reached Ioannina.

If the city of Trikala is abandoned and continues to retreat to the rear, then the Greek army attacking the Epirus region is likely to be cut off by the Ottoman army, a consequence that the Greeks cannot bear no matter what!