Chapter 1123: Many heroes compete for supremacy or everyone pushes down the wall?

Chapter 1123: Many heroes compete for supremacy or everyone pushes down the wall?

The Ottomans were worthy of the name of the sick man of West Asia, and they suffered a series of defeats in the war with the Russians.

Especially on the eastern front, Trabzon and Erzurum fell one after another, and the Russian army was marching towards the Diyarbakir area.

Although the Ottoman Corps on the western front could only hide in several fortresses such as Varna and Sililats, it did indeed slow down the pace of the Russian army.

But behind the Ottomans, the Bulgarians broke out an unprecedented uprising, which forced the former to divide their troops to suppress the latter, which led to the crisis in the Dobruja region.

Dobruja is located on the border between Russia and Turkey, bordering Moldavia to the west and the Black Sea to the east. It is the front line of the Ottomans against Russia.

At the beginning of the ninth Russo-Turkish War, the Russians made great strides all the way, as if they were determined to win Constantinople.

However, Franz was not jealous of the Russians' achievements. The reason why he declared war on the Ottomans was mainly to force Britain to sign a peace agreement.

Although Austria had won consecutive victories against Britain before, and even won an epic victory, in fact, the pressure on the British government mainly came from internal factors, not from the war with Austria.

If multiple conflicts had not broken out at the same time, the British fleet would have entered the Mediterranean again.

Even so, the British, who were so powerful, could continue to consume, but Franz did not want to continue to consume. He needed a stable environment to slowly solve the Hungarians and those internal problems that might threaten Austria.

Austria and Russia were invincible in the Near East, even if the British tried their best. As for the British's original historical allies, the French and the Kingdom of Sardinia, one was still electing a president, and the other could not protect itself.

Instead, Franz brought in some helpers, first of all Greece. Otto I was Franz's cousin, and the two sides had a close relationship.

After the "Don Pacifico Incident", the relationship between Greece and Britain continued to deteriorate, and both the royal family, the government, and the people felt deeply humiliated.

It was out of this hatred that the Greeks on Crete chose to help Austria. Of course, it is unknown how much effort the Greek government put into this.

In short, after the island seizure incident, whether the Greeks admit it or not, they have already stood on the side of Austria.

Franz's act of returning the sovereignty of Crete to Greece won the favor of the entire country, and Austrian merchants and officials were far less arrogant than the British, which naturally made the Greeks like them more.

As a new country, Greece has always been threatened by the Ottoman Empire. If it wants to survive, it must have strong foreign aid. After falling out with Britain, they must find a new backer.

Then the Austrian Empire, which is closer to Greece and is a mortal enemy of the Ottoman Empire, is undoubtedly the best choice.

Otto I was a monarch who loved grand narratives very much, and his "great ideal" still influenced Greece even after his death.

Otto I's great ideal was to make Greece the heir of the Byzantine Empire and then take back everything that the Eastern Roman Empire had lost.

There were 2.5 million Greeks in the Ottoman Empire, three times the population of Greece, and most of them were dissatisfied with the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, Otto I was not crazy. He divided the whole plan into five steps. The first step was to take back Crete, the second step was to conquer Thessaly, the third step was to restore the territory of ancient Greece, the fourth step was to take Constantinople, and the fifth step was to rebuild the Byzantine Empire.

Although it sounds a bit illusory, it is indeed exciting. At the same time, because of the existence of this great ideal, Russia is very unwelcome to Greece.

At this time, Crete had been liberated with the help of Austria, so Otto I and the whole of Greece were looking forward to the next step.

Otto I himself was a synonym for militarism. In Greece, which had a population of only more than 800,000, he always maintained a force of 40,000.

This time, the whole country mobilized a total of 100,000 troops in one go, and Otto I personally served as the commander-in-chief and went to the front line.

Another helper was our old friend Muhammad Ali. This hero who unified Egypt once again showed his nature as a great hero after successfully quitting opium tincture.

Although Egypt was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties after its defeat, he took advantage of the contradictions between the powers to prevent most of the contents from taking shape, and even forced the British to bribe him and his eldest son to obtain the right to do business normally.

Of course, the Second Turkish-Egyptian War did seriously damage Egypt. Even though Muhammad Ali had been keeping a low profile and secretly accumulating strength over the years, Egypt could not recover to one-third of its original strength.

However, the reason why heroes are heroes is that they dare to think what ordinary people dare not think, dare to do what ordinary people dare not do, and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, without being bound by any rules and morals.

The first thing Muhammad Ali did before the war was to massacre several important cities in the country, first Cairo, then Alexandria, and then Said.

His primary purpose was to eliminate the forces and pro-British forces that opposed him, and secondly to plunder wealth to start a war.

There were less than 50,000 standing troops, which was nothing.

Muhammad Ali directly ordered a forced conscription and in less than a month, he assembled an army of 200,000 people. After Austria officially declared war on the Ottoman Empire, the army headed straight for Jordan.

For a time, war broke out all around the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Mejid had a splitting headache looking at the mountains of urgent reports and fainted on the spot.

But before he fainted, Magid gave his last order, which was to behead Viscount Stratford if the British could not give him an explanation.

This may be the toughest Magid had ever been to the British since he became the Ottoman Sultan. In fact, he still felt that if he had not stationed troops in the Balkans, perhaps today's situation would not have happened.

Viscount Stratford felt very wronged and wanted to meet with the Sultan, but unfortunately Magid had fainted.

The Ottoman court guards and eunuchs didn't care so much, after all, in their minds, Magid was the god.

Mustafa Reshid Pasha, who was appointed as the Grand Vizier again, was also at a loss. He could not think of any countermeasures, because the main forces of the Ottoman Empire were concentrated in the Balkans, which was undoubtedly a huge strategic mistake.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire had to face attacks from four countries from five directions, which was beyond the Ottoman Empire's tolerance.

Mustafa Reshid Pasha had begun to consider the details of the peace talks. How much benefit should be given up to save the empire?

What he didn't know was that the Ottoman Empire's ally, Grand Duke Milos of Serbia, had betrayed the alliance and launched an attack on the Ottoman Empire.

How could Milos Obrenovic, who was a hero like Muhammad Ali, miss this golden opportunity?