1885, I came to save Greece

Chapter 245 The President of Crete

Crete, outside Chania, the temporary headquarters of the insurgents.

The insurgents' first attack crashed into the fortified strongholds of Suda Bay, suffering heavy losses. Lacking effective suppressive fire, large numbers of charging soldiers fell. Venizelos watched this through his binoculars, his knuckles white from the strain. That night, in the command tent, morale plummeted to rock bottom. One commander even desperately suggested, "Mr. President (Venizelos's self-proclaimed title), let's retreat to the mountains and wage guerrilla warfare!"

The dimly lit tent was deathly silent. On the table in front of Venizelos lay two bullets of completely different calibers, as if silently mocking his predicament.

Venizelos remained silent, sitting alone in his tent all night. At dawn, his eyes, bloodshot yet unusually bright, shone. He summoned the artillery commander, pointed to the water tower on the map, and said in a hoarse voice, "We don't have enough bullets to kill them all, but we have enough shells to kill them with thirst."

A few hours later, the mountains of Crete were awakened by the sound of cannon fire.

The insurgents did not choose a full-scale assault. Instead, all their mountain howitzers, positioned in carefully calculated positions, were aimed at the same target.

Dozens of shells, like hammers with eyes, whistled across the rugged mountains and struck the water tower and command tower of the Suda Bay Fortress with pinpoint accuracy.

Amidst the deafening explosions, bricks and stones flew everywhere. The Ottoman defenders watched helplessly as their only source of water and the central command post were reduced to ruins after several rounds of shelling.

Immediately afterwards, Venizelos issued a second order.

He distributed all the rifles with incompatible ammunition, but they were issued blank rounds that had been prepared beforehand.

"Fire! Free fire! Create the illusion that we have a million men besieging us!"

In an instant, deafening gunfire erupted from all directions around the Suda Bay Fortress. Dense, yet harmless bullets swept across the fortress walls like a storm, producing a series of crackling sounds.

This terrifying firepower, which could only be heard but not seen, put immense psychological pressure on the Ottoman defenders who had been cut off from water and lost unified command.

Just then, the "German medical volunteers" fleet arranged by Sofia arrived at the Crete front.

Leading the group was Major Heinrich von Waldser of the German General Staff. He expected to witness a chaotic, peasant-style uprising.

But the scene before him shocked him.

He witnessed the rebel artillery completing its bombardment mission with unbelievable efficiency. He also witnessed the rebel infantry using psychological warfare and feints to trap an enemy force several times their size inside the fortress.

He recorded all of this in detail in his military notebook.

"Greek soldiers, equipped with extremely rudimentary and even partially flawed equipment, have demonstrated astonishing tactical flexibility and an iron will to fight. Their field commanders possess tactical thinking ahead of their time. The potential of this army far exceeds Berlin's assessment. Their rise is not merely a variable in the Balkans, but could become a key force influencing the entire Mediterranean landscape. I recommend that Berlin immediately elevate its strategic importance to the Kingdom of Greece."

This report, accompanied by precise ballistic data and tactical analysis, was sent to Berlin via the fastest channels. It would become Constantine's most powerful bargaining chip in the future, allowing him to extract more and more advanced "gifts" from his brother-in-law.

After several days of siege and psychological pressure.

Cut off from water and food, and with morale completely collapsed, the defenders of Suda Bay Fortress raised the white flag amidst the chaos.

The entire island of Crete was liberated.

Just when everyone thought Venizelos would immediately pledge allegiance to Athens and declare Crete annexed by Greece.

But he played a card that left the whole world speechless.

In his capacity as "President of the Provisional Government of Crete," he sent public telegrams to London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and all the capitals of the great powers.

In his telegram, he declared that Crete, effective immediately, was an "independent" sovereign entity, and requested that the European powers jointly protect its hard-won freedom and status.

This open and calculated move was like dropping a bomb on the chessboard of European diplomacy.

He snatched Crete, this hot potato, from the Ottoman Empire and then threw it directly into the center of the international game.

He turned the tables on Constantine.

In this way, he forced Constantine to clear the last and most difficult obstacle for him and for Crete on the diplomatic stage.

Larissa Command Center.

Constantine looked at the translated telegram from Venizelos that the attendant handed him.

The generals in the command post were all filled with righteous indignation.

"This is betrayal! He wants to be president himself!"

"Your Highness, we should immediately send troops to disarm him!"

Constantine waved his hand, signaling them to be quiet. Far from being angry, he smiled with appreciation.

A reckless brute who only knows how to charge into battle is not worthy of being his opponent.

An ally who knows how to use political maneuvering to maximize the spoils of victory is the one who deserves his respect.

He immediately seized the opportunity Venizelos had thrown him and began his charade.

He first issued a public statement to the newspapers, expressing his "full respect for the choice of the Cretan people" and "calling on" the European powers to jointly safeguard the peace and stability of Crete in the spirit of humanitarianism.

This statement instantly deprived the British, who were preparing to intervene, of their pretext.

Immediately afterwards, his secret envoys knocked on the doors of the Russian, German, and French embassies.

He told the Russians: An independent Crete could very well side with Britain and become another Malta for the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean.

He told the Germans: An independent Crete is fraught with uncertainty. Only in the hands of a pro-German Greece can the freedom of navigation for German merchant ships in the eastern Mediterranean be guaranteed.

He told the French that if the British were to control Crete, French interests in the Mediterranean would be greatly threatened.

A Crete incorporated into Greece would be the best option to ensure a balance of interests among all parties.

Ultimately, through Constantine's skillful diplomatic mediation, the beleaguered and self-serving powers reached a "consensus."

They accepted the least bad outcome of "temporarily placing Crete under the trusteeship of the Kingdom of Greece".

Constantine, without firing a shot, effectively incorporated Crete into the Greek sphere of influence.

He stood in front of that huge sand table.

Ioannina of Epirus, Crete in the Mediterranean, two blue and white flags, like two sharp knives, are fiercely stabbed into the map of the Ottoman Empire.

He used two seemingly unrelated wars to completely revitalize the deadlock in the entire Eastern Mediterranean.

His gaze swept across the turbulent Aegean Sea and over the scattered archipelagos.

Ultimately, the focus shifted to that one and only target that had been dormant for over four hundred years, guarding the vital passage between Eurasia.