Chapter 1171 New Dalmatian Kingdom

On the Serbian battlefield, the Neretva Army began to show its prowess. It was naturally impossible for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to turn a blind eye to the Neretva region with a population of more than 600,000.

This became a key recruiting area in the border areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A large number of Chinese and mixed-race people were incorporated into the army, and the latest Neretva Army was formed based on the original Neretva local army, which was different from other Bosnian armies. , was divided separately and participated in the Serbian battlefield.

This change also illustrates the improvement of the status of the Neretva region. After all, the original Neretva region belonged to the lower-level region of Bosnia State, mixed with part of the territory of southern Croatia.

Now due to the defeat on the front line, the Austro-Hungarian Empire made a major decision in order to win over the local government and civilians, that is, after the war, the region was incorporated into the Kingdom of New Dalmatia.

Mostar.

As the capital of the Neretva region, it has been upgraded to the temporary capital of the New Kingdom of Dalmatia. Now, the government of the New Kingdom is actively cooperating with the actions of the Austro-Hungarian government and conducting local recruitment activities.

Hipper: "The empire has spent a lot of money this time. If we can perform well on the battlefield, everyone will be a hero of the Kingdom of Dalmatia in the future. After the war, it will at least become an autonomous region like Croatia."

The Kingdom of Dalmatia was the Illyrian province of the French Empire before 1815. Later it fell into the hands of Austria and became its subordinate kingdom.

In order to win over the locals, the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepared to integrate the Neretva region into Dalmatia and separate it from the original Bosnian state to form a new Kingdom of Dalmatia.

Of course, this also means weakening Croatia. After all, Dalmatia was originally dominated by Croats, but since immigrants from the Far East were moved in, the local population has undergone major changes.

Although Croatia is a member of the empire, there are also people who support Serbia. Therefore, assigning the empire of the Kingdom of Dalmatia to the mixed-blood Germans can at least reduce the penetration of "Great Slavism" into the southern part of the empire.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire still exists after the war, but the empire's divided pie is still eaten by the Neretva regional government.

After all, the mixed-race Germans have always lacked legitimacy in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This can be seen from the residence of the mixed-race Germans alone, which spans the two imperial administrative regions of Bosnia and the Kingdom of Dalmatia.

Now, with the endorsement of the Austro-Hungarian government, the new Dalmatia, centered on Mostar, will become the land of mixed-race Germans "since ancient times."

After all, these lands have always been Habsburg territory. As long as new "claims" can be obtained from Habsburg, it will become an established fact.

Hipper, the former Speaker of the Mostar Parliament, has now been successfully promoted to Speaker of the Kingdom's Parliament, and his superior leadership has directly changed from Bosnia State to Vienna.

Hipper: "Since November last year, in just a few months, the empire has carried out extensive recruitment activities in the Neretva region. Now the number of military recruits in the Neretva region alone has reached more than 30,000. Greatly strengthened the empire's military personnel replenishment."

Mostar Mayor Raab said: "According to the requirements of the empire, we have to recruit at least 20,000 people to join the army. However, the total population of the entire kingdom is now close to more than 900,000, which is not a small matter for us. pressure.”

If the original Neretva region is not included, the total population of the original Kingdom of Dalmatia was only more than 200,000, and East Africa's penetration of the local population naturally made it impossible to let Dalmatia go. There are also more than 100,000 mixed-race Germans in the Wa area.

In other words, of the total population of 900,000 in the Kingdom of New Dalmatia, more than half are mixed Germans, while Croats have less than 200,000, making them a minority.

This is also supported by data supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire's integration of the New Dalmatian Kingdom. Mixed-blood Germans accounted for more than 70% of the local population and had formed a new national subject.

Of course, mixed-blood Germans are also Germans, so there is no need to engage in separatist activities in the name of a new nation.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire has given such huge benefits to the local mixed-blood Germans, so it naturally hopes that the local area will contribute more to the war. According to the requirements of the Austro-Hungarian Empire government, the Kingdom of New Dalmatia will recruit 50,000 soldiers to participate in the war. The war against Serbia.

Hipper said: "The remaining 20,000 people need to be recruited from the north. After all, it is impossible to rely entirely on us Germans to contribute. The Croats must also contribute some and integrate them into the army, which will be conducive to the subsequent rule of the kingdom."

Raab said: "There are a total of about 200,000 Croats in the Kingdom. According to our ratio, the Croats should recruit at least 10,000 people. In this way, Germany will be the main force and account for one-fifth of the local army of the Kingdom of Dalmatia. Fourth, it can effectively ensure our influence on the military.”

Hipper asked: "Will this lead to resistance from the Croats? After all, the establishment of the new Kingdom of Dalmatia has offended many people. I am afraid that if we make a slightly bigger move, it will easily ignite the emotions of the Croats." ”

The government of the original Kingdom of Dalmatia can be said to be dominated by the Croats, but the current Kingdom of New Dalmatia is naturally dominated by Germans. After all, Germans make up the majority in the kingdom.

The mixed-blood Germans in Dalmatia had the support of the former Neretva government, and their status quickly rose, which led to a relative decline in the status of the Croatians, so many Croatians were hostile to the new Dalmatian Kingdom government.

Apart from other things, the capital of Dalmatia was Zadar, and in the new kingdom, not to mention competing with Mostar, even the port of Ploce could not compare. Whether in terms of economy or population, the German-inhabited areas had an absolute advantage.

Of course, as the highest level, the Austro-Hungarian government finally chose to support the strong mixed-blood Germans. For the Austrian government, mixed-blood Germans were also Germans, and were always stronger than Croatia and other ethnic groups, while the Hungarian government wanted to take the opportunity to weaken other ethnic groups to avoid threatening Hungary's status.

After all, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria and Hungary were the ruling ethnic groups, while Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, and Serbia were all ruled ethnic groups.

Now Hungary does not want other nations to replicate Hungary's success. For example, Archduke Ferdinand in the previous life advocated a tripartite empire, which was not well received and strongly opposed by Hungarians. In this time and space, Archduke Ferdinand also advocated this, but he was not the crown prince, so his words had no influence.

Rab said: "Originally, when the new Kingdom of Dalmatia was established, many Croatians in Dalmatia were very dissatisfied. It was just right to use the conscription issue to let all opponents jump out. We will kill them all directly, so as to prevent future troubles."

As a German, Rab would naturally not take care of the Croatians, especially those who were unwilling to integrate into the new kingdom. If they were honest like the Croatians in the Neretva region, they would take the initiative to join the German family, then it would be easy to say, after all, the Croatians in the Neretva region have basically integrated into the mixed-blood German family.

But if they don't know the times, don't blame the new government for being rude. Although it was a war at this time, many of the armed forces of the new Kingdom of Dalmatia were still controlled by the Germans.

After all, East Africa had provided a lot of weapons to the Neretva region and carried out a lot of military training. Although the Neretva region has been separated from East Africa and a new interest group has been formed, it is still supported by the East African government. Therefore, before the establishment of the New Dalmatian Kingdom, the local German forces had the military force to deal with the unarmed Croatian opposition in the north.