Greece to roman road

In November 1897, German Emperor Wilhelm II came to Constantinople and visited the Ottoman Empire.

Not surprisingly, Germany did get the right to build the Asia Minor Railway in the Ottoman Empire.

Once Germany successfully builds such a strategic railway, Germany's influence in the Balkans will skyrocket.

Speaking of which, the Ottoman Empire was really lucky. First Britain and France, and then Germany, supported the Ottoman Empire out of strategic considerations.

The railways built by the Germans with the help of the Ottomans will strengthen the Ottomans' domestic territorial control and promote Ottoman economic growth.

This is undoubtedly bad news for Greece.

However, Greece could not stop the Germans. After all, Greece could not afford what the Ottoman Empire could give.

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After Greece's expansion in 1896, its territory reached nearly 100,000 square kilometers, but its population was only about 2.5 million.

Albania, which is now controlled by Greece, is not a densely populated place. There are only about 300,000 people in more than 20,000 square kilometers, which is considered a vast area and sparsely populated.

Moreover, among the three Balkan countries, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia, Bulgaria has the largest population, reaching 3.5 million.

Bulgaria's population is around 2.9 million.

Now, Greece's population problem has become a major obstacle to the country's development.

On November 9, Prime Minister Alexandros organized a cabinet meeting to discuss population issues, and Constantine attended instead of King George.

Prime Minister's residence, in the meeting hall.

"The main purpose of this meeting is to find a solution to Greece's sparse population," Prime Minister Alexandros, sitting opposite Constantine, said first.

"Greece's population was very tight before, and taxes were so high. The Greek people were under great pressure to survive. This led to thousands to tens of thousands of prime-age people in Greece immigrating to other countries every year," Administrative Minister Mavro Michalis complained.

The number of immigrants from several thousand to tens of thousands every year may not seem like a lot, but Greece has a total population of only 2.5 million, and this immigration rate is already ridiculously high.

“Actually, even when Albania was confiscated and recovered, the population of Greece was far from dense,” echoed the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Krygis.

"Although everyone says that arable land in Greece is scarce, it is indeed true, but this does not mean that the arable land in Greece has been fully developed and utilized."

“Until now, there are still large areas of wasteland in Thessaly that no one is cultivating.”

"I visited Thessaly before and saw that large tracts of arable land were abandoned, and some farmers were herding sheep there in order to increase their income." Krygis shook his head and sighed.

"What is this? The country imports a large amount of food every year (rice imported from Congo is also considered an import), but the land in the country is not cultivated."

In fact, this was one of the reasons why Constantine strongly supported reforms before.

Since Greece was previously an agricultural country, agricultural taxes were Greece's main fiscal revenue. While Greece had an army of 50,000 people, it also had to maintain a navy due to the special terrain of the peninsula, and the government's expenditures were high. No less, almost all the financial burden falls on the shoulders of farmers.

Greece is a country with scarce arable land. There are about 8,000 square kilometers of plains in Thessaly. There is still a considerable part of the land that is not cultivated. This is because the tax pressure is too great. The farmers who work hard to cultivate the land have only one year's harvest. After using it to pay taxes, who would be interested in farming if they could only afford food and clothing?

Greece is quite special. There are a large number of Greeks engaged in the shipping industry. They are well-informed and when the pressure is unbearable, they will choose to immigrate overseas, especially to North America.

This is one of the main reasons for Greece’s sluggish population growth.

"Although the tax system has been revised, the effect will not be seen in a short period of time," Alexandros said.

"In this case, the government should encourage people to cultivate farmland," Constantine said quickly.

"Generally speaking, the fertility rate of farmers is higher than that of workers."

"Also, I heard that there are many swamps in the coastal areas of Albania. According to the information fed back by the army, those swamps can be drained and become fertile farmland."

Under the notice of the Ottoman Empire, Albania was in poverty. The situation was very similar to Greece. There was not much arable land. Due to the high tax pressure, there was still a lot of arable land in a state of desolation.

"At the same time, in order to encourage fertility, we will give certain material rewards to Greek families who have given birth to multiple children."

"Greece currently has a large MSL population. The Greek government must pay attention to the population issue. No matter what, it must maintain the status of the Greeks as the dominant nation. This cannot be shaken at all."

If a country does not have a theme nation, it will easily fall into internal chaos and serious internal strife in Europe where nationalism was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at the end of the 19th century.

On this point, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has its own experience.

Population proportion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Germans - 24% Hungarians - 20% Czechs - 13% Poles - 10% Ukrainians - 8% Romanians - 6% Croatians - 5% Slovaks - 4% Serbs - 4% Slovenia - 3% Italians - 3%

In order to maintain the existence of the empire, a unique dual empire was formed. The two main ethnic groups, the Germans and the Magyars, could not exceed 50% in total, and they were constantly at odds with each other.

He gives the impression of a weak fat man.

With the expansion of Greece, the population problem has become more serious. There are 250,000 people in MSL in Albania alone.

As long as the majority status of Greeks can be maintained, no matter how many ethnic groups there are in Greece in the future, they will not be able to cause any trouble.

Just like the black problem in the United States, although it has always been a hidden concern, white Americans have always been the dominant ethnic group in the United States, accounting for more than 60%.

Even if black people continue to make trouble, as long as there is no problem with the number of white people, black people will not become a major trend.

The semi-Arkan Peninsula where Greece is located is a mixture of various ethnic groups. As long as Greece still has the idea of ​​​​expanding in the Balkan Peninsula, the number of ethnic groups in Greece will increase.

"In order to prevent Greece from developing the shortcomings of a multi-ethnic country like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the dominant position of Greeks must be maintained, and the proportion should not be less than 60%." Constantine said solemnly to the cabinet ministers.

"Once the number falls below this number, various ethnic problems will arise."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is right," Alexandros said.

"Therefore, in the future, fertility encouragement in Greece will mainly refer to Greeks."

Since the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1896, the Macedonian region has been in chaos, and the Ottoman Empire has simply been unable to effectively control the situation in Macedonia.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Ottoman was powerless to keep Macedonia.

However, this important city in Macedonia is also a city with a majority of non-Greeks - hundreds of thousands of Jews live there, making it the largest Jewish city in the world.

If Greece does not have an absolute majority of the dominant ethnic group, the pros and cons of annexing such a place are difficult to measure.