Re: Blood and Iron

154  The Bosnian Crisis Resolved

The Bosnian Crisis had begun almost immediately after the Ottoman Empire entered a state of revolution. Revolution that lasted less than thirty days, mind you, before the Sultan was forced to concede to the demands of the Young Turk Movement and allow for the restoration of the Empire's Constitution, and to an extent a new election for Parliament. As a result of this, the Balkans were thrown into turmoil, with several nations either directly under the control of other Ottoman Empire as imperial territories, or vassal states such as Bulgaria using this as a chance to gain their much-desired independence. And, of course, the Habsburgs used this as a reason to fully annex the region known as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had for the last few decades been under their indirect control. The moment the Austrian Army marched into the Balkans; things got chaotic very quickly. The Serbian King had been forced as a result of the pressure of international influences to agree with the annexation, at least publicly. But behind closed doors, Peter was conspiring with the Black Hand to turn it into a contested affair. The shadowy organization, whose goal was the independence of all Balkan states, and a nation for each ethnic identity in the region, had failed repeatedly to assassinate Bruno after he had revealed he knew of their existence and their crimes. As a result, they had ultimately decided that the cost of losing their members in these failed assassination attempts was simply no longer worth the effort. Bruno had appeared not to have revealed their identity to anyone, despite their multiple attacks on him. Because of this, they instead shifted their focus towards inciting revolt against the Habsburg's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meanwhile, the Ottomans who had already lost practical control over the region to the Austrians thirty years prior, were more outraged about Bulgaria's declaration of independence, not that they had the military capacity to exact force upon them. However, even so, the Ottoman Empire declared economic sanctions against the Austro-Hungarians for this perceived slight, even though it was quite honestly an inevitability ever since they gained administrative control over Bosnia and Herzegovina decades prior. Luckily for the world, the Black Hands attempts to incite a violent insurrection by Bosnian nationalists was stomped out before it could begin, because a diplomatic conference was called between the leaders of the Great Powers, firstly to discuss this annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Secondly, to address the matter of Bulgarian Independence. Both of these issues were blatant violations of the previously established Treaty of Berlin, and required international attention, lest they break out into a conflict of significant concern not only for Europe, but for the world altogether. Bruno was not privy to these discussions. In fact, he was merely enjoying the peaceful days at home with his loving family and close friends while he could take advantage of them. This was, of course, in between his duties at the Central Division of the German Army's High Command. As well as when he was not manipulating the world's economy or looking for land to purchase that had significant natural resource deposits within them that had yet to be noticed by the greater world. Either way, as always, Bruno was a busy man, so much so that getting involved with a diplomatic conference that was destined to settle itself in a way that favored his overall ambitions in life was simply an unnecessary use of his time. Nor was he exactly qualified to sit at the table with these emperors, kings, and other heads of state. That was, after all, one of the many powers granted to the Kaiser within the German Empire's constitution. Because of this, it was Wilhelm seated at a table with the likes of Franz Joseph I, Nicholas II, Armand Fallières who was the current President of France at this time, Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith of the British Empire, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Peter I of Serbia, among others. Frankly speaking, Bruno had already secured Russia's and Serbia's agreement to the annexation. And they had voiced their support of Austro-Hungary's actions. What was left to dispute were the nations of Great Britain, France, and Italy. All of which had different opinions on the matter. The reality was that this diplomatic conference did not occur in Bruno's past life. As the Germans, through rather cunning diplomatic maneuvering, kept postponing it until it was ultimately dropped altogether. Rather, the disputed topics had been solved via a series of consultation at various capitals. Ultimately agreeing to an amending of the Treaty of Berlin. But today, the conference was actually being held, perhaps because of all the changes Bruno had made to the timeline. And hence why all these world leaders were currently gathered in Berlin. While Serbia had shocked the entente by so easily conceding the issue. Russia was to be expected. After all, Italy had informed Britain and France of the secret alliance that was built between Germany, Austro-Hungary and Russia. However, Italy was still had yet to announce its departure from the "Triple Alliance" even though another alliance had been formed without them between the other powers. Because of this, King Victor Emmanuel III tried to swindle Austro-Hungary by demanding the agreed upon compensation that the Habsburgs had made when Italy first agreed to join the Triple Alliance several decades ago. In order to gain Italian support for their future annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy had demanded disputed territories which they claimed were theirs that Austro-Hungary now possessed. That came both in the alpine regions of lower Tyrol and Trento, as well as regions in the Balkans such as the Adriatic Littoral, and Dalmatia. Thus, when the Italian King so boldly asked for these reasons at the conference in the midst of a heated shouting match, everyone went silent. "Italy will agree to recognize Austro-Hungary's annexation of the disputed territories so long as they fulfil the promise, they made to us back in '89." Though Italy didn't outright say what this promise was, the members of the Imperial Powers were all too aware. Because of this, Tsar Nicholas II, Kaiser Franz Joseph I, and Kaiser Wilhelm II all looked at one another with concerned expressions. Basically, Italy was putting them on the spot as to whether or not they wanted the Italians to remain a member of their alliance. But at the same time, they had excluded the Italians from the formation of the League of the Four Emperors for a reason. And hence why the Austrian Kaiser eventually voiced his refusal to give up the land requested by him. "I'm afraid I have no idea what his highness is talking about…" This was not exactly something that shocked the Italian King, as he already expected this as the answer he would be given. But frankly speaking, he voiced it nonetheless, either using this as an excuse to officially exit the "military alliance" he had with the German and Austro-Hungarians, or simply scam them out of disputed territories. Either way, he planned to gain control over Tyrol, Trento, the Adriatic Littoral, and Dalmatia. Whether by peaceful means, or by outright conquest. Since he had his answer now, he would formally withdraw from the Triple Alliance shortly after this meeting. Meanwhile, the negotiations would continue for some time before ultimately enough concessions were made financially in order to ensure the Habsburgs were universally recognized by the Great Powers of Europe as the rightful rulers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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