Chapter 482 Bosnia

In March 1878.

While the Russo-Turkish War was still ongoing, the Austro-Hungarian Empire followed its previous agreement with Tsarist Russia. When the Ottoman Empire's rule in the Balkans was crumbling, the army marched into Sarajevo. This was Tsarist Russia's previous attempt to keep Austria-Hungary neutral in the war. chips.

Because of the disruption in East Africa, Tsarist Russia's expansion in the Central Asian steppes and West Asia did not go as smoothly as in history. Therefore, Tsarist Russia, which was worried about the sudden change of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had to use Bosnia to buy the Austro-Hungarian Empire in advance.

The Bosnia region, known as Bosnia and Herzegovina in its previous life, or Bosnia and Herzegovina for short, can be said to be one of the most turbulent regions in Europe in its previous life. The capital, Sarajevo, is especially famous and was the trigger for the outbreak of World War I.

In fact, Bosnia is not a good place in Ernst's opinion, but it is the intersection of civilization conflicts, the frontier of conflicts between Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Arabism. It can be said that it gathers turbulent cultural elements.

Even though Bosnia and Herzegovina was peaceful on the surface in its previous life in the 21st century, Ernst believed that as long as someone fanned the flames here, it would still fall into chaos at any time just like in history, because Bosnia and Herzegovina in its previous life was a dual system that was more powerful than the Austro-Hungarian Empire. An empire is also an abstract country. It has two regimes (Bosnia and Herzegovina), three presidents (one for each of the three major religious groups), and two capitals (Banja Luka, Sarajevo).

As the Austro-Hungarian Empire militarily occupied Bosnia, the Hechingen Consortium followed suit and encircled the area on a large scale.

During the Ottoman Empire, most of the land in Bosnia was in the hands of the Timar (equivalent to European feudal lords) class.

However, the Timar system was very different from the Western European fiefdom system. The Ottoman Empire was not as fragmented as Europe and was more centralized, so the power of the lords was also restricted by the central government.

Take land for example. The Ottoman Empire stipulated that except for a strictly specified small part of the territory, no territory could be hereditary. The lord should allocate most of the territory to farmers for hereditary cultivation and could not confiscate it at will; the land managed by the lord himself could not exceed the farmers' allotment. , while taxation was also supervised by the Ottoman Empire.

With the cessation of military expansion of the Ottoman Empire, the Timar class was unable to profit from wars, and the imperial ruling class became corrupt. The Timar class could only maintain its income by squeezing the people at the bottom, so the restrictive decrees and supervision systems for the Timar were reduced to It's a piece of paper.

In the second half of the 17th century, the process of real estate concentration accelerated. The Timar class expanded their land through various means, not limited to developing private lands. They also used various means to bankrupt the people at the bottom and reclaim the land at the bottom.

Therefore, the Hechingen Consortium's land acquisition operation in Bosnia went very smoothly. Thirty percent of the arable land in the entire Bosnia region was acquired by the Hechingen Consortium.

Of course, the disintegration of local rule by the Ottoman Empire was not the real reason why the Hechingen Consortium acted so smoothly, but rather that the Hechingen Consortium's competitors looked down upon the Bosnian region.

In Bosnia, mountains account for more than 40% of the country's area, hills account for about 20%, and plains account for only 5%. Among them, nearly 30% are karst landforms, so areas like Bosnia It is definitely a bad land in Europe, very similar to Guizhou in the Far East, but the Guizhou plain area accounts for about 7% of the province, not to mention the area of ​​Guizhou is more than three times that of Bosnia.

Therefore, after the Austro-Hungarian Empire military occupied this place, almost only the Hechingen Consortium was interested in this place among the business forces in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

By cooperating with the Austro-Hungarian military, the Hechingen Consortium easily purchased land from the Timar class at low prices, and in order to force the Timar class to make concessions, the Hechingen Consortium actively incited local chaos.

Various rumors spread that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was going to liquidate the upper echelons of the Arab religion and confiscate the land of the pagans. This was a hornet's nest, and a large number of Timarzhe (the name of the Lord Timar) began to sell off their land and return it to the Ottoman mainland.

As for resistance, that is impossible. Now the Ottomans are still fighting Tsarist Russia and have no energy to take care of them. Most of the territory of the Balkan Peninsula is cut off by Tsarist Russia and the Balkan countries. Bosnia is an isolated island and can only be slaughtered by others.

However, the Hechingen consortium's methods aroused dissatisfaction with the Austro-Hungarian military. Ronaldinho, the representative of the Austro-Hungarian military, quickly came over to accuse him: "Mr. Belk! Are your people spreading rumors in Bosnia?" What kind of liquidation? There were even more than thirty large-scale riots in the local area all because of this rumor, which caused us quite a lot of trouble!"

The liquidation must be liquidated, but according to the wishes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it must be carried out in a low-key manner. After all, it is too easy for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to occupy Bosnia, and the local forces are relatively strong, so it should be done step by step.

Belk pretended to be innocent and said: "General Ronaldinho, how is this possible? Our Bosnian Agricultural Development Company is a good company that abides by laws and regulations. How can we destroy local unity and peace?"

Ronaldinho: "Humph, don't think I'm easy to deceive. You must be doing this for land acquisition!"

Belk: "Your Majesty General, this is just your imagination. You must provide evidence when you speak. Although our Bosnian Agricultural Development Company is the beneficiary, there is no need to do this. Maybe it just happens that there are rebels in the Ottoman Empire who do not want Austria-Hungary to The empire liberated the local people, so it deliberately caused trouble and spread these words that were not conducive to unity."

As he spoke, Belk took out a letter and said: "Your Excellency General, this letter was sent to us by your father. You can make a conclusion after reading it."

The upright Ronaldinho took the letter, read it for a while, and as expected, changed his face and said: "Since they are enemies of the Ottomans, it makes sense to spread rumors. These heretics should indeed be punished." Crack down hard.”

Belk took advantage of the situation and said: "Not only that, for the benefit of the empire, we also need to transform the local people. We cannot let the Bosnian people unclear about their position. Do you think you are the general?"

Ronaldinho was a little confused as to what Belk's words meant: "Mr. Belk, who do you mean by this?"

Belk: "Of course it means we are all Germans. Don't you think the number of Germans in the empire is too small? This is very detrimental to the stability of the empire."

Ronaldinho: "Mr. Becker! Who is behind you?"

Becker: "General Ronaldinho, some words only represent my personal opinions. I am just speaking and do not represent anyone else. These words are only between you and me."

Of course, Ronaldinho didn't believe Becker's lies. Becker's Bosnian Agricultural Development Company definitely had a lot of background. After all, there were very few domestic forces that could enclose land on such a large scale in Bosnia, but what Becker said still made some sense. , the unstable factor of the empire is that there are too few Germans.

He asked: "Mr. Becker, what you said makes sense, but there are only Slavs in Bosnia, and the Germans cannot appear out of thin air..."

Becker: "Of course, but who said there are only Slavs in Bosnia? I have clearly seen many Germans who were forced to become Slavs by the Ottomans. As long as we help them restore their identities, they will naturally return to the German nation. The Bosnian region has been the land of the empire since ancient times, but the people have been deceived because foreigners have tampered with history."

Belk's words made Ronaldinho believe that Belk's identity is more than just a businessman.

In fact, behind Belk is the Hechingen Consortium, and the actions of the Hechingen Consortium in Bosnia are simply a foreshadowing of the attempt to Germanize Bosnia. As long as the local economic foundation is mastered, cultural changes are not impossible. Change.

For example, the Ottoman Empire's assimilation methods were very effective. Through taxation and other means, Arab believers now account for the majority in Bosnia.

This has to be mentioned that the Austro-Hungarian government’s response to nationalism is too limited. There is also Hungary in the government, so there are many things that the Austro-Hungarian government cannot do. Since the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot do it, it can only Let the civil forces do it.

The Bosnian region has a small population due to its poor economy and underdeveloped agriculture. This has also created conditions for the Hechingen Consortium to transform the area. As long as the East African method is applied to the Bosnian region, it will have a great impact on maintaining the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. benefit.

In the previous life, the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Bosnia militarily for more than 20 years, but in the end it gave Serbia the advantage. Ernst was very dissatisfied with this result. Of course, Ernst would not say that Franz was too incompetent. In his position, there are indeed too many constraints.