Mediterranean Hegemony Road

When the Germans gave the ultimatum, European governments were busy, and the fateful moment had come!

Bulgaria is no exception. Ferdinand immediately convened a high-level enlarged meeting, and all who could come from the military and political circles came.

Of course, this is not a battle meeting. Ferdinand will not make a battle plan like in the TV series until the war is about to start!

As early as more than ten years ago, the staff had a plan, but it has been revised and improved, and now it is very detailed.

In fact, this is just a routine meeting before the war. The front-line officers who are really responsible for commanding the battle have already been on the front line. As long as Ferdinand gives an order, they can launch an attack immediately.

...

Ferdinand said calmly: Prime Minister, tell us about the stockpile situation first!

However, from the tone of voice, you can still tell the nervousness in his heart, the painstaking preparations for more than 20 years, just to break out overnight!

The World War is not so easy to fight. Participating in person is completely different from keyboard warriors. The strength gap between the Allies and the Entente is far less huge than people think in later generations. people's opinion!

In fact, the same is true, at least at the beginning of the war, both sides have an equal chance of winning! There is no doubt that the further back you drag on, the better the chances of winning for the resource-rich Allied nations!

Yes, Your Majesty! Constantine replied

So far, we have stockpiled 18.47 million tons of grain, more than 85 percent of which is rye, and some soybeans, corn, and potato flour.

Reserve 1.2 million tents; reserve 400,000 tons of various medicines, including some 'botanical medicines' (Chinese medicine); reserve 2 million tons of petroleum; reserve a total of 5.8 million tons of precious minerals...

Ferdinand smiled and nodded. In order to save as much food as possible, he ordered to replace all the wheat in the grain reserve with cheaper rye.

Anyway, the nutritional value of rye is higher. The staple food of Bulgarians at that time was rye buns, and white bread was a luxury that people above the middle class could enjoy, and there was no need to worry about the soldiers' opinions.

In fact, there are many strategic materials, but the Balkans have already produced enough to meet the needs of the war, so naturally they are not included in the reserve materials.

Ferdinand said routinely: Chief of the General Staff,

Talk about military preparations!

He knew the army's preparations and material reserves, but others didn't know it. Now is the time to give them a reassurance!

Okay, Your Majesty! replied Chief of General Staff Imya Dimitev.

Up to now, we have restored 700,000 retired officers and soldiers, and at the same time formed 60 mercenary divisions, which have initially formed combat effectiveness. Now our total force will exceed 2.3 million. The actual situation on the battlefield will determine whether further mobilization is needed!

Obviously, these armies have been trained in advance, otherwise these sixty cannon fodder divisions would not have become a combat force in just a few days.

As early as the end of 1913, Ferdinand amended the Military Service Act to allow the military to incorporate foreign workers into reserve training. These troops have essentially undergone at least half a year of training. Although they are not as good as the regular army, they are used for training. Being cannon fodder is enough!

Undoubtedly, the officers were all Bulgarian officers. However, in order to boost morale, they are also applicable to the military merit reward system of the Bulgarian regular army, with a series of benefits such as military salaries and casualty pensions.

Of course, these are just the cakes drawn by Ferdinand, and those who survived the war can indeed get all of this; but the unfortunate ones who died early are miserable. Their families are still in the Russian Empire and want to get these pensions. Immigrate first!

Well, there are still some idiots who choose to take rubles as military pay, and Ferdinand didn't interfere, so they can only be considered unlucky.

Anyway, in order to save money, there is only a small amount of cash for the military salaries, and the rest are directly paid to the soldier's bank account, and then used to buy government bonds, but these government bonds can also be used as currency. Exchange principal!

This series of dazzling operations has indeed fooled many ordinary people. In essence, the government wanted to use the additional currency to pay the army, and it was worried that the currency would depreciate, so it played a routine.

As long as these treasury bonds are not put out for circulation in large quantities, it is equivalent to this part of the funds sinking in the bank, and naturally there will be no inflation.

The unlucky ones who chose the ruble will deal with the ruble in the future, but they will be settled according to the interest of the current national debt. On the surface, it does protect the interests of the soldiers, and they get higher interest!

...

Compared with the Italians next door to Bulgaria, it is hard work. The Balkans is still rich in resources. Many strategic materials can be produced by themselves, and there is not much to reserve.

But Italy is the most miserable existence among the many powers in Europe, and any material reserves are clouds! Even the most basic coal, steel, and grain need to be imported. Now that the war is about to break out, the Italians' strategic material reserves can only support them for three months of war.

Of course, this is because European countries generally believe that this war will last for a short time, but everyone's strategic material reserves are basically prepared according to one or two years.

Obviously the Italians are not ready, but the current Italian Prime Minister Gioliti is a smart man (he is considered a pessimist by many later generations).

Gioliti has extreme distrust of the Italian army. He believes that the Italian army has no ability to protect the mainland. Once it joins this war, it will be disastrous for Italy!

Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the Allies did not make great efforts to win over the Italians, so now the power of the pro-Allied countries in Italy is not strong enough, but the pro-Allied countries have the upper hand.

Therefore, the Italians are currently quarreling fiercely, and it is estimated that there will be no results for a while.

...

The British continued to play with their diplomatic tactics. At the cabinet meeting, everyone still unanimously decided to be neutral, but the government was secretly preparing for this war. Even the ministers in the cabinet who were pro-Allied countries were concealed.

In order to convince the Germans of the neutral attitude of the British, two days ago, George V had a meeting with Prince Heinrich of Prussia (Wilhelm II's younger brother) to make a final effort for peace; the British Foreign Secretary also had a meeting with the German Prime Minister. Urgent consultations in an attempt to end the war.

However, Ferdinand knew that all of this was just a matter of concealment. The interests determined that there would be a war between Britain and Germany. If the Allies win this war, there will be nothing to do with the British Empire!

...

The atmosphere of the tsarist government in St. Petersburg is much better. Without so many explanations, it is just a word fight. Turning the Baltic Sea into an inland sea has been the dream of Russians for generations.

It's just that the countries along the Baltic Sea are not easy to provoke. First, the Danes created the Kalmar Union, and Mao Xiong was still a weak chicken at that time.

Then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden rose again. When they fell, the Germans broke out again. In short, no one is easy to mess with!

Forcing Mao Xiong to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Black Sea, unfortunately Mao Xiong at its peak was blocked by Britain and France, and suffered heavy losses and was forced to expand to the Far East.

The Russo-Japanese War failed again. After looking around for a week, it returned to the original point again. The Tsarist government found that the maritime strategy was more reliable than winning the Baltic Sea, and the battle of the two major alliances was their best chance!

...

The Vienna government is very embarrassed now. If it hadn't been tied to the ship, Franz Joseph I would never want to participate in this war. Unlike history, the military pressure on the Austria-Hungary Empire is now too great.

In the face of two big powers at the same time, Austria-Hungary is not a hairy bear, and it is not so thick-skinned; nor is it a German, and it is not as capable of fighting as the German army. Naturally, the old emperor does not want to fight this battle!

It's a pity that they can't help them now. Russia and Bulgaria are already eyeing them. Even if Austria-Hungary wants to be neutral, the Russians will not agree. Of course, Ferdinand doesn't mind the neutrality of the Austria-Hungary Empire!

Needless to say, the rest of the Germans have already issued the ultimatum for war. Are their attitudes still skeptical?

As a republic, France, in many cases, the position of the people is the position of the government! Is there any doubt about the position of the French folks now? Of course, it is about revenge, and seeing that their president was born in Lorraine, you will know the result!

...

In the early morning of the next day, the French government publicly rejected the Germans' request. The French foreign minister also clamored for the Germans to withdraw from Lorraine and Alsace within 24 hours, otherwise the French army will take extraordinary measures!

There is no doubt that the war has come. After receiving the reply from the French, William II exploded with anger. The French were provocative!

Tolerable or unbearable!

The angry Wilhelm II immediately ordered a declaration of war on the French. After receiving the German declaration of war, the French ambassador to Germany also took out the prepared war book and handed it to the Germans!

At the same time Germany and France declared war, Ferdinand did a shocking thing, declaring war on the Allies collectively on the same day on the grounds of the Quadruple Pact!

However, due to sharing the pressure, Ferdinand still pulled the Russians to act together. When Bulgaria declared war on the Allies, the Russians also declared war on the Allies collectively at almost the same time!

Bulgaria and Russia are both so active, the French have no reason to be shy, and naturally they followed the trend and declared war on the Allies collectively!

Everyone knows that the world war broke out in an all-round way, and the Italians who wanted to be neutral were stunned. Before they did anything, they had already been declared war!

It's a pity that they have grievances and they can't say it. From the outside world, the Italians are allied countries. The two alliances are going to go to war anyway. It's no big deal to declare war early or declare war late!

There is no way, no matter how reluctant everyone is to declare war, you can't pretend that you don't know anything, right? The Italians are still unable to do such a thing, and they have to bite the bullet and declare war on the three countries of Russia, France, and Bulgaria.

The Bulgarians and the Russians are nothing more than a little more active. These are all subsections. At least the French are still very moved. The money is not in vain, and the allies are still reliable at critical moments!

The world has its eyes set on the British Empire, and the London government is now busy finding a casus belli?