Chapter 599 Welcome to the Balkans
On June 14, 1845, the British used the same excuse to lease most of southern Albania to the Ottoman Empire.
However, due to the tragic experience in Afghanistan, the former did not intend to go deep into the interior to fight with the Albanian army.
At the same time, because they had to pay an escrow fee of one million Ottoman liras to the Ottoman Empire, the British had already planned to plunder the Albanian plains.
The deal between the British and the Ottoman Empire spread immediately in Europe. Seeing that the former continued its blockade policy against the Austrian Empire, France, Prussia, and Russia all breathed a sigh of relief, and even Magid became more at ease. .
This time the British are in direct contact with the Austrians. Regardless of whether the two will clash with each other, internal friction in Albania is inevitable.
But there are also countries that are dissatisfied with this, and this is the British "little brother" the Kingdom of Greece.
The king of Greece at this time was Otto I, who was elected as the first king of the Kingdom of Greece in 1832.
Although the king was escorted to the throne by 3,500 Bavarian soldiers and the navies of Britain, France and Russia.
But he had extraordinary ambitions. At that time, Otto was crowned King of Greece, not King of the Greek people, which meant that millions of Greeks were still under Turkish rule.
This king wanted to change the status quo, and the ambition he showed to the Greeks was also called "the great ideal of the Greeks."
The "Great Ideal", irredentism, was the Greek dream of restoring the Byzantine Empire.
There were 2.5 million Greeks in the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks in Constantinople, Thessaloniki and Smyrna demanded unification. These places were also the centers of Greek merchant activities; Crete was always preparing for an uprising.
At that time, there were a large number of Greeks living in southern Albania, and Otto I took it for granted that this was also Greek territory.
Thanks to Otto I's long-term practice, that seemingly outrageous "great ideal" actually became the national ideal of the Greeks.
Even after Otto I was deposed, his "great ideals" were still affecting the nation.
The British behavior at this time undoubtedly slapped Otto I hard in the face and deeply hurt the national feelings of the Greeks.
Fall out with a British guy in front of him? It is not possible for a country that has just been independent for more than ten years, but it is still possible to secretly provide some support to the local Greek armed forces.
Otto I was born into the Würterbach family, the royal family of Bavaria. Although he was required not to merge with the Kingdom of Bavaria, this did not prevent him from visiting relatives.
The Wertbach family is prosperous, and naturally there are many "good relatives" who have both strength and financial resources, as well as compassion. For example, his aunt Madame Sophie and his cousin Franz.
Since the weapons and equipment of the Austrian Empire were updated very quickly, a lot of "knock-out products" would naturally be produced. These items were usually sent to the colonies or sold to countries in need such as Russia.
But since they are relatives, we can half sell and half give them away, or even arrange payment in installments or something.
So a small country with a population of only more than 800,000 actually asked Otto I to pull out a team of 40,000 people.
Of course, these 40,000 people are not professional soldiers. Most of them are soldiers similar to the Tang Dynasty. They are usually farmers and craftsmen, and they will only be drafted into the army during wars.
(At this time in history, the Greek military strength was only 8,000, including 3,000 praetorians guarding the palace.)
The Greek government at that time was very poor, so it was necessary to sell some weapons to maintain fiscal balance.
As a result, a large number of weapons from Greece suddenly appeared in the market in southern Albania. These weapons were cheaper than the standard weapons of the Ottoman Empire, and their performance was superior. The most important thing was that they appeared very timely.
After all, the British and Austrians both claimed to suppress the rebellion and separatist forces on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, and those "rebels" naturally could not sit still and wait to be killed.
In fact, Austria's actions in the mountains of northern Albania were rapid and bloody. Although they tried their best to block the news, it was impossible for the Albanians in the south not to know about it.
So when the British arrived, what they found were abandoned manors and heavily guarded fortresses.
Of course, the fortress that the Albanians thought was strong was no different from a house made of biscuits in the face of British firepower.
As a result, the British began to loot everywhere as usual, and the forts were easily pried open by the new artillery, but this also strengthened the determination of the locals to resist.
After all, the Greeks in the eastern mountains did not want to share their land with others, and the Albanians could only choose to stay in the plains and continue fighting with the British.
Fortunately, the number of British troops was not large, so they could not occupy too many places. In fact, the British had no plan to occupy the entire Albania. They just wanted to prevent the Austrians from rushing out of the Strait of Otranto.
There are less than 3,000 British troops scattered in large and small cities and ports, and the smallest outposts even have only a few British troops, which gives the Albanian rebels an opportunity to take advantage of.
The latter could mobilize a large number of troops in a short period of time to besiege a small group of British troops. This method of tactics made the British very unhappy.
But without sending out a small force, there was no way to collect taxes. Without taxes, there was no way to pay the one million Ottoman liras in custody fees, and there were not enough funds to maintain the occupation.
Due to the disagreement between Colonial and War Secretary William Gladstone and Admiralty Lord Haddington, Prime Minister Robert Peel finally decided to leave the matter to the Navy. After all, Southern Albania was not a British colony in name. .
Although the Marine Corps was well equipped to deal with the Albanians, it was not good at maintaining order in the occupied areas.
In fact, the British also want to use the old method used in other places, that is, to support a puppet regime. It's just that this trick doesn't seem to work well in Albania, that is, the puppet regime's rebellion speed is faster than their surrender speed.
Some guerrillas even took the initiative to surrender, and then took the opportunity to attack the British team that came to accept the surrender.
And the most terrible thing is that the British soon discovered that the weapons used by the guerrillas were no worse than them. And when the enemy is in darkness and we are in the clear, the former will obviously suffer greater losses.
To be honest, Franz still admires the British's courage to take the initiative to go through minefields. After all, the Balkans are notoriously vicious.
Of course, the British even dared to invade Afghanistan three times, and now the invasion of the Balkans seems to be a routine operation.
Franz knew very well that the British could not send too many troops to Albania, a remote country, because they would not be able to make ends meet.
However, if the number of troops sent is too small and it is impossible to establish a stable order locally, it will fall into an endless security war. Therefore, the Balkan problem is almost unsolvable for the United Kingdom.