Romanian Eagle

The news that Bulgaria was seeking peace talks was sent back to their respective countries as soon as they contacted the British and French commercial agencies. And Romania, which is closely related to this, also received the news conveyed by Britain and France at the first time.

So that evening, when Prime Minister Bretianu brought the foreign minister to inform Edel of the news, he was having dinner with his family.

After putting down the tableware and taking the telegram, Eder felt his eyes a little wet when he looked at the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister who showed their joy on their faces. The short words of Bulgaria's request for peace mean that Romania is not fighting in the isolated Balkans. There are two concepts with reinforcements and no reinforcements.

After putting down the telegram, Edel calmed down and asked. "Is there any other news from England and France?"

Prime Minister Bretianu, who knew what Edel wanted to ask, spoke up. "The British and French ambassadors have informed us. Considering our country's interests in the Balkans, after drawing up the armistice agreement with Bulgaria, the terms will be sent to us first for review, and then to Bulgaria after there is no objection."

The Prime Minister's words made Eder very satisfied. This is the treatment won by the Romanian army on the battlefield. Taking Transylvania, flanking Bulgaria, and resisting the German attack, these battles made the combat effectiveness of the Romanian army manifest in front of the world.

Now Europe generally refers the Romanian army to the same level as Austria-Hungary. The main reason is that the Romanian reserve mobilization force seems a little weak, which drags down the amazing performance of the standing division in Transylvania.

As for Britain and France leading this negotiation, it is also right. As a camp leader, it would be good to take care of Romania's interests when negotiating.

The news brought by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister caused Eder to sleep well all night, and the next day he appeared in front of everyone with two panda eyes. Britain and France also knew the seriousness of the matter. When Bulgaria replaced the cabinet in the morning, the draft armistice agreement with it had been sent to Romania. And this time, Eder convened the military and political parties to discuss the terms together.

In this armistice agreement drafted by Britain and France overnight, it is mainly aimed at the occupied territories of Greece and Serbia, and the third and fifth articles are most closely related to Romania.

The third article is that Bulgaria must stabilize the local situation and not allow the former Allied camp to use its military facilities. The Allies also gave a helping hand clause here. If the Allies invaded Bulgarian territory, the Allies would give them military and material assistance. This is obviously aimed at the reinforcements before Germany and Austria and Turkey. Britain and France want to create some contradictions between Bulgaria and the original allies. Because the reinforcements from Turkey have entered the Bulgarian territory, if its commander is not clever, everyone is willing to see another battle between the Bulgarian and Turkish troops.

The fifth article is that Bulgaria must open its ports and gather its trains, ships and other means of transportation for the use of the Allied countries, for which the Allied countries will give rent. This article is the most helpful to Romania, which allows the troops and aid materials of the Allied countries to pass through Bulgaria and continuously supply Romania for use.

As for other terms, such as the Bulgarian army must not be withdrawn before the Allied countries take over, and Bulgaria must collect weapons and ammunition to be counted by the Allied countries, etc., are not the focus of Edel's negotiation.

In general, the armistice agreement drawn up by Britain and France fully took into account the actual situation in Romania. Knowing that they need the assistance of supplies and troops, many regulations have been made in express delivery to stabilize the situation in Bulgaria.

After studying the terms behind closed doors for a morning, Edel looked at the two rows of senior military and political officials and asked. "Everyone is all right."

"No problem at all."

"The agreement is very reasonable."

"no comment."

Seeing that everyone was satisfied with this, Eder said to Prime Minister Bretianu and Foreign Minister Barnosk on his left. "Inform Britain and France of our attitude."

After Romania agreed to the agreement,

Britain and France immediately passed the agreement through their Sofia agency to the Radical Democrats who had just taken office.

Faced with the conditions put forward by Britain and France, of course the Bulgarian side needs to bargain. The newly appointed Prime Minister Malinov informed the rioting soldiers outside the city of the government's decision to withdraw from the war. After appeasing them, he immediately drove to Thessaloniki. Because there is the plenipotentiary representative of the Allied Powers here, His Excellency Lieutenant General Esperet of France, the commander-in-chief of the Allied Powers in Greece, as the candidate for negotiating the armistice agreement, the opinions of the soldiers still need to be respected.

In order to show respect for the armistice negotiations, the Allies also stopped the fighting in Thessaloniki, and Bulgaria was most worried about the Romanian army led by Lieutenant General Fereit. .

Of course, in response to the goodwill of the Allies, Bulgaria also ceased all hostilities and ordered the Turkish army to withdraw from its own territory. General Otto Zanders, who commanded the Turkish Third Army, was of course moderate during the trial. When he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately took the Turkish troops back to the Dardanelles, which disappointed Britain and France, who hoped that something would happen to them. endlessly.

The German and Austrian troops that aided Bulgaria also stopped in Belgrade after seeing the situation changed greatly, waiting for the situation to become clear. However, I believe that it will not be long before they will drive to the Macedonian region to defend the free Allied attack.

Therefore, in Thessaloniki, where there is still a smell of gunpowder smoke, the two sides who fought to the death and the life before began to have a heated discussion on the topic of peace.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General, we still agree with the terms you gave. It's just that the rent in Article 5 is included in the future compensation, isn't it too harsh? We also need to resume production after the armistice, and we have given you all the means of transportation. , we have too much influence. And we still can't get the rent, which is very difficult for our country to accept, we must know that our treasury has been able to run mice, unless you are willing to paint us a batch of food to stabilize the situation. "

Faced with the objections of Bulgarian Prime Minister Malinov, Lieutenant General Espere, the main negotiator of the Entente, spoke up. "We have fully considered the difficulties you mentioned, but we are also short of funds now, so we can only rent first, and then we are thinking of ways to rent. As for the food, we can receive some in the market, but you know that due to the lack of funds, only You can figure it out for yourself."

In the face of Prime Minister Malinov's dissent, General Espere immediately dismissed him with no money. As for whether there is no money, the two parties did not care too much, but just tested each other's attitude.

In fact, the negotiations in Thessaloniki proceeded very fast. It took four days from the beginning of the negotiations on January 26 to negotiate the content of the two sides. According to the reason why their negotiations can be concluded quickly, both parties want to get out of this situation as soon as possible. The Allies needed Bulgaria to withdraw from the influence and practical interests of the war, and Bulgaria could also free up its hands to appease the discontent that was about to erupt at home. Therefore, when both parties have urgent needs, this negotiation can quickly reach a consensus.

On January 31, the two sides officially announced that they had signed an armistice, which announced Bulgaria's withdrawal from the war.

The armistice, known as Thessaloniki, stipulated that the Bulgarian army must withdraw immediately from its occupied Greek and Serbian territories. The Bulgarian army immediately prepared for demobilization, and all the weapons, ammunition and baggage of the demobilized troops were put into storage under the supervision of the Allied army. Bulgaria can only retain 30,000 troops for its own defense needs. The strategic locations such as Montana and Adrianople in Bulgaria were occupied by the Allied forces, and their ports also needed to be open to the Allied and neutral countries.

With the withdrawal of Bulgaria, the connection between Germany and Turkey can be said to be cut off, wool, cotton, dyes and minerals from the Middle East are blocked, and it is difficult for German weapons and mechanical products to reach Turkey. This has made the situation of the two sides even worse, and it has also given them a headache.