Chapter 136: Vol. 1 Chapter 136: The Armistice Talks

Franz Joseph I is in a good mood at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna!

The performance of the Bulgarian army still slightly surprised him. Although he knew that Serbia was bound to lose this war, he never thought it would be over so soon!

Of course, this is all a minor problem! The point is that Serbia has been taught a hard lesson and has once again yielded to Austria-Hungary!

The decision is again back in Vienna, and Franz Joseph loves the feeling that everything is under control!

Ferdinand knew the times, and he knew who was in charge in the Balkans now and was willing to go along with Austria-Hungary's decision on Serbia!

But with the cabinet meeting, his good mood was shattered! The reason is that they beat Serbia too badly. A rough estimate of Serbian casualties of no less than 200,000!

Serbia looked finished, and someone within Austria-Hungary had other ideas for him, annexing Serbia!

On the surface, it seems that now Serbia has lost so much that Austria-Hungary could easily annex it! Bulgaria, in this regard, has already indicated that they can support, in exchange for the territory of South Morava River in Serbia, the payment will be!

Throughout history, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Chief of General Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf, the leading member of the Austro-Hungarian elite, had advocated the annexation of Serbia!!!

Chief of General Staff Conrad even publicly declared that Austria-Hungary had to expand into the Adriatic, the Balkans, the eastern Mediterranean, and parts of North Africa!!!

By the end of 1907, the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lieschdl had suggested that Conrad to annex northeastern Serbia, including Belgrade, and give the rest of Serbia to Bulgaria.

At the same time, the militarists proposed reorganizing the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the 'Trinity', i.e., to create a new kingdom composed of South Slavs! The first step was the annexation of Serbia and Montenegro!

History proves that the 'Trinity' was only used to scare the Hungarians and that Austria-Hungary never really wanted to implement it!

However, the call for the annexation of Serbia has always been high! The central government, and the local Hungarian government, have plans to annex Serbia!

At the end of 1894, the domestic conflicts in Austria-Hungary had not yet heated up, and the militarists had not yet gained the upper hand!

The pro-war faction advocates a smooth division of Serbia, which is not much of a problem in terms of agreement! But on the issue of the treatment of Serbia, there is an intense clash of forces!

The Hungarians wanted to bring the Serbian region under the Kingdom of Hungary, which Austria rejected; the Hungarians strongly opposed Austria's proposal to create a direct province!

As the two sides disputed, Franz Joseph I hesitated whether it was necessary, in the end, to intensify domestic conflicts for the sake of a Serbia!

This time the shortcomings of the dual monarchy are exposed, and the conflict of interests of domestic parties has spread to the internal and foreign affairs!

Since there is no agreement on what to do with Serbia, annexation is out of the question!

Franz Joseph I's political maneuvering was remarkable. How could a man who could build an empire by diplomacy choose to inflame the conflict?

He just put the plan to annex Serbia on hold forever!

However, this does not mean that Serbia has made it. In fact, its miserable fate has just begun. There is another means of rule in the world called 'colonies'!

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At the end of 1894, after a strong Austro-Hungarian intervention, they called a truce between Bulgaria and Serbia!

By this time, however, all of Serbia's South Morava River region had fallen, and the vast areas of Leskovac, Kraljevo, Kragujevac, etc., were occupied by the Bulgarians!

Belgrade was also under siege, so to speak. Two-thirds of Serbian territory was already under Bulgarian control!

They chose the venue for the talks between the two sides in Vienna, but the protagonists of the negotiations were not Bulgaria and Serbia, which had lost everything and all their bargaining chips!

Without Austro-Hungarian intervention, Serbia would have been history in another half month at most!

This negotiation, too, attracted the attention of the Great Powers! The British, the French, the Germans, the Italians, and the Russians sent representatives to attend!

The negotiations on the bright side, the Bulgarian representatives, are arguing with the Serbian representatives, and the Great Powers are exerting their influence!

In secret, another Bulgarian delegation, which had long arrived secretly in Vienna, reached a preliminary agreement in advance!

Ferdinand took the financial offensive, but still very effective, on the premise of not harming the interests of the country, the interests, the group's, or their own interests. The Austro-Hungarian aristocrats still do not mind generating income for themselves!

And so the Serbs were betrayed, but of course, it was explicitly Austria-Hungary, still working to keep Serbia's interests!

The Great Powers do not care about what kind of spoils Bulgaria obtains! Anyway, Serbia is the implicit sphere of influence of Austria-Hungary. As long as it is not Austria-Hungary directly annexed Serbia, in essence, everyone is not concerned about the approach!

Of course, the picture is a different matter. The Russian delegates are clearly supporting Bulgaria! There is no doubt about it. Even if there is no Russian-Bulgarian alliance, St. Petersburg will do it just to give Austria-Hungary a hard time!

Because of the Franco-Russian Alliance, the French gave Russia a face and favored Bulgaria in their attitude!

The Germans, without a doubt, chose to align themselves with the Austro-Hungarian attitude and support Serbia.

The British attitude is very complex, sometimes in one moment to support Serbia on this issue, and then in another moment to support Bulgaria on that issue, so typical of a spoiler style, to plant nails everywhere!

The Italians are in charge of the drama. It's good to be present on the sidelines. The Balkans are not their turn to speak now!

The drama continues, but the Serbs can't stand it first! Within the siege of Belgrade, the Bulgarian army charged the people and materials going through a transit tax!

Now that winter has come, it is unfortunate that the supplies stored in Belgrade, which the Bulgarian army shells had previously visited, suffered heavy losses!

The basic livelihood of the people is not even secured now! They must purchase food, coal, and other necessities from outside!

It is a pity that all supplies passing in and out are subject to the Bulgarian army, which imposes a ninety-five percent transit tax and fifty pounds per trip for personnel who pass through!

Serbia had to ask Austria-Hungary for help, but this time the Bulgarian mission was firm and refused to budge at all!

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