Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 38: Diplomacy

During the summer and fall of 1887, Bismarck and Salisbury extended the Mediterranean Pact as far as the Balkans.

In December, the British, Italians, and Austrians renewed their agreements. They formed the Second Mediterranean Agreement and a coalition against the Russian issue in the Near East.

It was an adjustment of the alliance system made by Bismarck, which resulted in a pattern of mutual restraint between Britain, Italy, Austria, and France and Russia in the Near East while keeping France and Russia out of the alliance and ensuring Germany's position in the European continent.

From the late 1880s, the League of the Three Emperors broke down, but Germany established alliances with Russia and Austria. This period was the peak of Bismarck's foreign policy.

In March 1890, after the fall of Bismarck, his successor made a change in foreign policy, and the alliance went to an end.

One of the most important aspects of Germany's new foreign route is that the German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty is not being extended.

After Germany tore up the German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty, Russia's diplomatic situation became harder all the time. Russia was forced to draw closer to France. From 1891, the two countries opened talks on an alliance, which they did not formally establish until 1894 due to mutual distrust between France and Russia.

In July 1890, the British-German Treaty of Heligoland-Zanzibar was signed under the "New Course". It settled the dispute between the two countries over the colonies.

It was considered at the time to be a major concession on the part of Germany to draw Britain into the Triple Alliance.

Between 1890 and 1894, Germany pushed Britain to expand its position in the Mediterranean Agreement. It took German actions in the Mediterranean to demonstrate to the world the "Concert of Four" position.

In this context, Ferdinand sent Archbishop Kliment to Russia with the main purpose: First, to soothe the pro-Russian faction in the majority; Second, to improve Russian-Bulgarian relations to hold the major one without paying the price of a visit.

Time is running out. Bismarck will step down in a few months, and Germany will tear up the German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty. It would be logical for Russia to break the diplomatic blockade and bring Bulgaria on board.

In fact, since the founding of the League of the Three Emperors, there have been many conflicts. It is especially between Russia and Austria, which are difficult to reconcile.

In 1885, there was a revolt in Eastern Rumelia, when the public expelled the Turkish Ottoman officials from the country and declared a union with the Principality of Bulgaria. Knyaz Alexander was crowned as the monarch of the merged state.

What was meant to be only a move towards Bulgarian national independence, the crisis in Bulgaria, which lasted two years, was caused by the European powers' meddling to gain control of Bulgaria.

The Principality of Bulgaria was the main position in the Balkans after the Russo-Turkish War of 1878. The agreement on the unification of Bulgaria was made in 1881 in the League of the Three Emperors. Still, due to the changes in Russian-Bulgarian relations, Russia could not continue to control the Bulgarian puppet regime.

Knyaz Alexander, a descendent of the aristocracy of the small German state, was the nephew of the Empress of Russia and became the monarch of the Principality of Bulgaria in 1879 with the Tsar's support.

After his reign, Knyaz Alexander slowly expressed his complaints about the arrogance of Russian officials in Bulgaria with numerous fruitless talks between the two sides. Knyaz Alexander's anti-Russian action became obvious to get rid of Russian control.

Although Austria-Hungary was allied with Russia, they didn't want to see Russia's monopoly on Bulgaria. They started to lean on each other with Alexander in a bilateral manner.

After the breakdown of Russian-Bulgarian relations, Russia, seeing that it could not continue to control the Bulgarian government, began to hinder the unification of Bulgaria and threatened to withdraw its officers and dismantle its military forces.

At the same time, they asked the other great powers to put pressure on Bulgaria together and force the Knyaz Alexander to dissolve Bulgaria.

At the meeting of the Great Powers, Austria-Hungary sided with Russia under the influence of German mediation. Still, it was opposed by the British, as the German and Austrian positions were not firm.

They reached a compromise, and Knyaz Alexander became the governor of Eastern Rumelia, which completed the de facto unification of Bulgaria while Turkey retained its nominal sovereignty.

That's not all. The union of Bulgaria caused the prying eyes of small countries such as Greece and Serbia, hoping for territorial compensation.

The King Milan of Serbia visited Vienna in September, hoping that there would be support for the territory from Austria-Hungary. And when he saw that at the meeting of the great powers, he could not get support.

In November, Serbia invaded Bulgaria, but the end was a surprise. The Serbian army, which had absolute strength, was defeated by Bulgaria. The Bulgarian army took the chance to occupy some important Serbian towns and pushed to the capital.

Austria-Hungary intervened in the Bulgarian-Serbian War to preserve its interests in the Balkans. It forced Bulgaria to withdraw its troops but kept Russia out of the picture. At the same time, the defeat of Serbia led to the rise to power of the pro-Russian faction, which laid the basis for the Russian-Austrian conflict.

Russia, not willing to lose, planned a coup d'tat and overthrew the rule of Knyaz Alexander. However, due to the Anglo-Austrian intervention later, the situation was beyond Russia's control. Ferdinand was installed as the new Knyaz, and the Russian-Austrian relations worsened.

German-Russian relations were also not as good as expected, and a conflict broke out between the two sides over trade issues. The cheap Russian agricultural products entered the German market, which affected the interests of the Junker aristocracy. After their intervention, they imposed heavy taxes on Russian agricultural products. Russia also retaliated by imposing hefty tariffs on German industrial products, and German-Russian trade conflicts broke out.

In November 1887, the German market was closed to Russia when Germany banned Russian stocks of domestic banks, which prompted Russia to turn to France, and the German-Russian alliance came to an end.

At the end of November 1889, the Bulgarian diplomatic mission arrived in St. Petersburg. The following month, Alexander III received Archbishop Kliment, and the Bulgarian-Russian diplomatic deadlock, which had lasted for four years, began to lighten up.

At the same time, Ferdinand, who was familiar with the faces of the Great Powers, was forced to accept the signing of secret treaties with Great Britain and Austria-Hungary during the Stambolov government.

The British and Austrians gained special rights to Bulgaria's foreign trade. Both sides had to pay a very low tariff, which was unfair to Bulgaria, given the industrial gap.

At the same time, as a result of the mortgage of tariffs, the British and Austrian presence began a penetration into Bulgaria. After paying a heavy price, Ferdinand's government gained the support of the British and Austrians, and it further developed the relations between the two sides.

In the long run, the British and Austrians, with their industrial superiority, dominated trade with Bulgaria and hit the growth of the national capitalist of Bulgaria.

Fortunately, Ferdinand was prepared to develop state capitalism from the start under the bias in policy, integrated resources, and competition with the great powers. There is no plan to rely on capitalist power. Otherwise, Bulgaria will be difficult to develop.