Chapter 409 The Fall of Constantinople

Although the Bulgarian people are brave and good at fighting, it does not mean that they are simple-minded idiots with well-developed limbs.

On the contrary, when the Allied troops were only a few kilometers away from Sofia, the Bulgarian people who were still angrily criticizing and blaming the Prime Minister finally began to panic. Suddenly, more people supported the Prime Minister.

Ferdinand became very smart at this time and did not participate in the current measures in Bulgaria. He seemed to be unconcerned and waited for the development of the situation in Bulgaria.

In fact, this is indeed the wisest choice. For the current Bulgaria, both the war faction and the peace faction are wrong. Only by escaping from the current abyss in Bulgaria can it be possible to protect oneself wisely and survive after the war.

Without Ferdinand in charge, the Bulgarian government seemed more chaotic. Due to the pressure brought by the army's invasion on the Bulgarian government and the quarrels between the war faction and the peace faction, Bulgaria missed the final opportunity to defend Sofia.

On June 14, 1915, the Bulgarian army, which had held on for a day, officially announced its surrender, and the Allied forces officially entered Sofia and took control of the city.

Almost at the same time, the Bulgarian government also announced its surrender and ordered Bulgarian troops across the country to cease resistance.

Without the resistance of the Bulgarian government and army, the takeover of all Bulgarian cities became very smooth.

All the Bulgarian troops had their weapons confiscated and were dispersed and guarded in different places to prevent these Bulgarian troops from accidents.

When the Balkan Front troops passed through Sofia with lights and decorations, the news of Bulgaria's formal surrender also spread to Europe and around the world.

For the Allied Powers, Bulgaria's surrender boosted the morale of the entire Allied Powers.

As a country that entered the war late in World War I, Bulgaria publicly announced its surrender in just a few months, without even waiting for support from Austria-Hungary and Germany.

This means one thing: Austria-Hungary and Germany have no time to take care of themselves, and the victory of the Allied Powers is imminent.

People always attach great importance to what they see for the first time. Although Bulgaria is not that important among the entire Allies, after all, it was the first Allied country to surrender. The news of Bulgaria's surrender was widely reported by the major media of the Allied Powers and became the biggest news in June.

After deploying nearly 100,000 troops from Serbia, Romania, Greece and Montenegro to control Bulgaria, Commander Martin took the remaining 400,000 troops from southern Bulgaria all the way to Constantinople.

The history of Constantinople can be traced back thousands of years, since the time of the Eastern Roman Empire, and it has been one of the strongest castles in the world.

Of course, with the rapid development of artillery of various calibers, Constantinople no longer seems so strong.

In order to conquer this strong fortress, Commander Martin mobilized a total of 2,000 artillery pieces with a caliber of 150 mm or more from the Balkan countries, Russia, and even Britain, France, and Italy to launch a large-scale bombing of Constantinople.

Of course, in addition to storming Constantinople, Division Commander Martin also decided to use part of the army to land on the Asia Minor Peninsula controlled by the Ottoman Empire and cut off all logistical supplies leading to Constantinople from the rear.

The glorious history of the Ottoman Empire dates back hundreds of years. It was once a powerful country spanning Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Of course, the current Ottoman Empire is not even considered a great power, nor is it very powerful among sub-powerful countries.

But at present, the territory of the Ottoman Empire is still huge. A small part of European territory, including Constantinople, and most of the Middle East are also under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, this is mainly because oil in the Middle East has not yet been discovered, and the role of oil is not as important as it will be in the future.

The Ottoman Empire did not know that there was a large amount of wealth in its own land, a wealth that could destroy the entire Ottoman Empire.

If nothing else, oil will definitely be one of the most important energy sources in the world for at least 150 years, and it is a resource that all major countries are competing for.

Australasia does not lack mineral resources, but Australasia does not have much oil resources, and it is nothing compared to the oil reserves in the entire Middle East.

According to later data, the oil reserves in the Middle East alone account for nearly 70% of the world's total oil reserves.

This also means that as long as we can control the Middle East, we can control oil prices throughout the world and check and balance all oil exporting countries, including Russia, which also has rich oil and natural gas reserves.

Therefore, previously occupying part of the Middle East and possessing at least part of the oil reserves is currently the most important thing for Australasia.

Fortunately, the only competitors in the Middle East are the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire. The only real competitor is the United Kingdom. It is no problem to obtain at least part of the region.

As for occupying more areas, the real decline of Britain may not occur until after World War II.

The reason why Division Commander Martin landed on the Asia Minor Peninsula was precisely to realize Arthur's strategy of occupying part of the Middle East.

After all, if the army does not land, occupying the area is nonsense.

It can be seen from the current situation in the Middle East that Kuwait, Oman, and Yemen are occupied by the British, and other areas are lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire or local indigenous people.

Saudi Arabia, an important oil-producing area in later generations, was still a barren desert with few people.

This also means that Australasia still has a lot of room for choice, choosing land that has relatively rich oil reserves and is easy to control.

On June 17, the Allied forces successfully landed on the Asia Minor Peninsula and soon launched a fierce attack.

Bulgaria, the closest country to the Ottoman Empire, has surrendered. The Ottoman Empire has become the worst country among the allies, with no allies to support it.

Of course, there are currently only three Allied countries left. Except for Germany, which still has certain combat capabilities, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire are already in a situation where they cannot protect themselves.

More importantly, there were more than 100,000 Ottoman troops located in Constantinople, guarding the capital of the empire.

This has resulted in the Ottoman Empire currently being at war on two fronts, the European battlefield and the Asian battlefield, making the Ottoman Empire, which was not strong enough, exhausted to deal with it.

If we go into detail, there are Russian cavalry troops hanging around from time to time on the border between the Ottoman Empire and Russia in the Caucasus region.

Although it did not launch an attack, the Ottoman Empire did not dare to gamble. The defenders in the border areas were waiting for battle, but what they were waiting for was nothing.

The areas in the south bordering the British colonies also faced attacks from the British army from time to time.

Although these attacking armies were all local aboriginals, their equipment was relatively advanced and they were far away from the Ottoman Empire's homeland. Logistics and transportation were very troublesome, which caused considerable trouble to the Ottoman Empire.

The Caucasus region and the southern border contained nearly 400,000 troops of the Ottoman Empire. Coupled with the more than 100,000 troops besieged in Constantinople, nearly half of the Ottoman Empire's total army of more than 1 million was contained, and only more than 500,000 troops were available.

In order to show support for the landing campaign on the Asia Minor Peninsula, at the request of Division Commander Martin, the British launched a feint attack against the Ottoman Empire from Egypt, Yemen, and Oman. The Russians also mobilized some troops in the Caucasus.

Although it is said to be a feint attack, the Suez Canal garrison plus Egypt's indigenous army also numbered nearly 300,000, far exceeding the more than 100,000 garrison troops deployed by the Ottoman Empire in this area.

Coupled with the sunshine from Oman and the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire was horrified to find that the empire was currently in a state of five-line combat, which was worse than the situation faced by Germany.

You know, in the first Balkan War, the Ottoman Empire did not even fight the Balkan Alliance.

Although restrained by the Italian army, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army lagged far behind that of the Australasian army.

At present, the Ottoman Empire is facing not only the Balkan League and Australasia, but also small armies from Russia and Britain.

This situation is not to mention the current Ottoman Empire. Even the Ottoman Empire, which is in a state of complete victory, must be determined to fight to the death to have a chance to win.

As for the current Ottoman Empire, Arthur can actually think of the final result with his eyes closed. The Ottoman Empire cannot even defeat Italy, let alone the nearly 500,000 troops on the Balkan front and the help of Britain and Russia.

In fact, Commander Martin originally only expected the Russians to contain the Ottoman Empire in the Caucasus.

However, there was a feud between Russia and the Ottomans. After the Ottoman Empire showed weakness, the Russian army attacked more fiercely, looking like it was opening up a Caucasus front.

From this point of view, the siege of Constantinople was the slowest. In just a few days, the Allied Powers achieved a huge victory in the Middle East. The Ottoman army was defeated and abandoned, and the Allied Powers marched dozens of kilometers in a few days.

The Ottoman Empire could no longer hold on at this time, but every area was very important to the Ottoman Empire. If it was given up easily, it might face more serious consequences.

Let’s not mention the Arabian Peninsula for the moment. Most of this area is desert and the population is not too large. The Ottoman Empire has strategically retreated and announced that it has given up.

But further north in Syria, the Ottoman Empire did not dare to give up. It is no exaggeration to say that if the Ottoman Empire dared to give up, the British army could control Syria at any time and establish a British Syrian colony.

In the Caucasus, the Russians' desire to fight is already very strong. Even if the Ottoman army surrenders now, I am afraid the Russians will still kill them.

The Iraqi region cannot be given up. It has a large population and materials. Once it is given up, only the Turkish part of the land controlled by the Ottoman Empire will be left, and even its second-strongest status will be lost.

As for the Asia Minor Peninsula, it was the most important area of ​​the Ottoman Empire outside of Europe. The Ottoman Empire deployed hundreds of thousands of heavy troops for defense here, but it still could not resist the Allied forces.

The Ottoman Empire was in worse shape than Russia at this time. Because various parts of the country have fallen, the Ottoman army not only lacks weapons and ammunition, but also lacks clothing and food, and needless to say, medical supplies.

Just a few days after the Allied forces launched their offensive, they caused more than 100,000 casualties to the Ottoman Empire, and the death toll had exceeded 20,000.

It doesn't look like much, but that's because the Allied forces haven't mobilized a lot of heavy weapons yet. When heavy weapons are transported to major battlefields, the number of casualties in the Ottoman Empire will only skyrocket.

The Ottoman Empire is in such difficulty, and the situation faced by the defenders of Constantinople can be imagined.

Although Constantinople reserves a large amount of supplies, in addition to more than 100,000 defenders, it also has a large population, and the speed of resource consumption is evident.

Currently, Constantinople is very short of food, weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies have also become very scarce. Some people even spend a lot of money to seek medicine, but they are nowhere to be found.

From June 17th to June 22nd, under the orders of Division Commander Martin, the Allied forces launched a six-day bombing campaign against Constantinople. A total of 2.2 million rounds of ammunition were consumed in six days, and the Balkans were also exhausted. The artillery reserves of the various countries and the entire Balkan front.

Of course, such a long-term bombing also achieved very good results. Many cracks had appeared in the solid Constantinople, and the bombing of artillery fire caused the death of a large number of Ottoman civilians and troops.

A real war would not be so merciful and would not stop attacking just because there were a large number of Ottoman civilians in Constantinople.

Of course, the major Allied powers did not take the casualties of these Ottoman civilians seriously. Although he would not actively massacre these Ottoman civilians, he would not care about their life or death.

It is worth mentioning that in this bombing, the Allied Powers not only used a large number of airships, but also used hundreds of aircraft for bombing.

Although aircraft had accompanied airships in many wars, the Battle of Constantinople was the first time that aircraft were considered a more important weapon than airships.

Although the development of aircraft in other Allied countries is very slow, it does not mean that other countries do not have aircraft.

Since the aircraft entered the war, it has also evolved into types such as reconnaissance aircraft, fighters and bombers.

Of course, the differences between the three are now very small. Even if they are the same aircraft, the difference in the number and type of weapons they carry leads to different classifications.

As the first country to possess militarized aircraft, Australasia naturally dispatched a large number of aircraft, but they were only the earliest first-generation military aircraft.

Compared with aircraft from other countries, Australasia's first-generation military aircraft still have considerable advantages in performance, which also means that Australasia has a huge lead over other countries in terms of aircraft.

Bombarded by massive bombs dropped from overhead, the Ottoman forces soon lost their hold.

In order to break through this strong city as soon as possible, Allied aircraft also dropped a large number of leaflets on Constantinople, claiming that after the surrender of the Ottoman Empire, the Allied forces would not harm Ottoman civilians.

This act was effective and largely undermined the determination of the Ottoman civilians to defend Constantinople.

On July 7, 1915, Constantinople, which had held on for more than half a month, finally fell. The Allies finally captured this famous city at the cost of 200,000 casualties and 3.5 million artillery shells.

In addition to the big news about the breach of Constantinople, Australasian military aircraft also attracted interest from other countries.

Compared with the slightly backward military aircraft of other countries, Australasia's military aircraft have obvious advantages in design and better performance.

Almost the day after Australasia dispatched military aircraft, Britain and France sent telegrams asking whether Australasian aircraft could sell their technology. At worst, hundreds of them would be sold to them.

The Russians were also very interested in Australasian aircraft technology. Nicholas II privately sent a telegram to Arthur, wanting to purchase military aircraft technology.

Arthur certainly welcomed this and agreed to sell military aircraft technology, but Britain, France and Russia could not transfer it to each other, nor could they sell aircraft technology to other countries within five years.

In order to obtain Australasia's advanced aircraft, Britain, France and Russia immediately agreed without thinking, and said they would send a team to negotiate the price with Australasia.

Arthur didn't need to think about their purpose. The current war consumes a lot of money for all countries. Britain, France and Russia just want to lower the selling price of technology and aircraft.

Arthur directly stated that Australasia spent a lot of money on aircraft research and spent a lot of research funds to develop the most powerful aircraft currently.

In view of the close alliance with Britain, France and Russia, we agreed to sell it to them and could not make too many concessions in terms of price.

The price offered by Arthur was 20,000 pounds for an aircraft, and a complete set of military aircraft technology including reconnaissance aircraft, fighters and bombers, priced at 20 million pounds.

For Britain and France, twenty million pounds is not an unacceptable figure. Compared with their huge military expenditure, if a large number of aircraft can be used to speed up the war, twenty million pounds will be a good deal.

For Russia, it is unrealistic for them to purchase aircraft and research technology on their own. Russia's scientific research technology does not support it, and Russia does not have time to wait for domestic experts to study aircraft technology.

Therefore, Britain, France and Russia all agreed to purchase aircraft technology. After a long period of haggling, it was finally agreed to purchase a set of technology for £18.5 million, with Australasia making a profit of £55.5 million.

Of course, it will take some time to master the technology and build the production line. Therefore, Britain, France and Russia also generously placed orders for 100 aircraft each from Australasia.

Based on the selling price of an aircraft of 20,000 pounds, with a total of 300 aircraft, Australasia can harvest a total of 6 million pounds of funds, of which the cost is about 3 million pounds, and the profit is similar to the cost.

Total revenue from the sale of aircraft and aircraft technology has exceeded £60 million. However, the cost of researching and manufacturing aircraft in Australasia does not exceed 10 million pounds at most, and this is still the cost of researching the most advanced fourth-generation military aircraft.

Using the backward technology of the first-generation military aircraft in exchange for an income of nearly 60 million pounds, Arthur smiled slightly and said that he made a lot of money.

Although 60 million pounds is not much for the European countries to spend on the war, it is a huge income for Australasia.

Even if super-dreadnoughts are built, this 60 million pounds is enough to build twenty ships, making Australasia's number of super-dreadnoughts the second largest in the world.

Of course, Arthur is not that crazy. But in any case, these 60 million pounds will be very beneficial to Australasia's future military expansion plan. To sum up in one sentence, there is money in the pocket and no panic in the heart.

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