Chapter 25 Another work from the Treaty of Versailles

The Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia is the official name of Yugoslavia.Serbs are the most important members of the three tribes of Yugoslavia (it is inappropriate to use the word "tribe", because it seems to be talking about African indigenous people, which will hurt their self-esteem). They live on the Sava River in the east, and the capital Belgrade is located in The confluence of the Sava River and the Danube; the Croats live between the Drava, another tributary of the Danube, and the Adriatic Sea; and the small triangle between the Drava, Istria, and Croatia The strip was occupied by the Slovenes.Modern Serbia also includes several sub-clans, Montenegro being one of them.Montenegro is a picturesque hill country, famous all over the world for fighting the Turkish invaders for 400 years. In addition, when we dance to the "Happy Widow" waltz, we will also sweetly remember this hill country .Bosnia and Herzegovina --- The famous legacy of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire has also been received by Serbia.This piece of land was taken back by the Austrians from the Turks, and it was originally Serbs. Therefore, there is a deep hatred between the Serbs and the Austrians. The heir, Archduke Ferdinand --- Translator's Note) was assassinated, which triggered a world war (of course, not the real source of the outbreak of the world war).

Serbia (I'm used to using the old name-actually the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) has been enslaved by Muslims for 500 years, so it is a Balkan country after all.After the World War, Yugoslavia gained the coastline of the Adriatic Sea, but before its mouth to the sea lay the Dirac Alps.Even with the ability to cross the mountains and build a railway (which would cost a lot of money), there is no other good port here except Raguza (now Dubrovnik).As one of the largest distribution centers for colonial commodities in the Middle Ages, Raguza was the only port in the Mediterranean world that refused to accept new routes from America and India.After the discovery of the new route, Raguza’s large merchant ships still stubbornly go to Calicut (a port city in southwestern India, a transportation and trade center, and an output place for copra, coffee, tea, spices, etc.——Translator’s Note ) and routes to Cuba.Until the end, they foolishly joined the doomed Armada, taking their last fleet as a funeral.

It is a pity that Dubrovnik still has no facilities for modern steamships.Fiume and Trieste are the other two ports here. Although they are the natural ports of Yugoslavia, one of them was given to Italy by the gentlemen of the Versailles Peace Conference, and the other was left by themselves. down.Although they didn't really need a port city rivaled only by Venice, Venice was eager to reclaim its former crown as "Queen of the Mediterranean."In this way, weeds grew wantonly on the docks of Trieste and Fiume, and Yugoslavia could only let it go, and could only transport its agricultural products abroad through three old routes.One of the deployment routes of these agricultural products is transported to the Black Sea along the Danube River, just like New York’s commodities are transported to London through Lake Eyre and the St. Lawrence River, which is really the opposite; the second route is upstream on the Danube River , to Vienna, and then across the mountains to Bremen, Hamburg or Rotterdam, this is undoubtedly a costly transport; in the end, these agricultural products may be transported to Fiume by train, but, in order to defeat their Yugoslav rivals, Italy Of course people will use all their skills.

In the past, due to the mischief of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Yugoslavia was turned into a landlocked country with no access to the sea. However, after the World War, it did not improve its living conditions because it got rid of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.Sadly, pigs turned out to be the main factor that caused the catastrophe.Since Yugoslavia's only major export product was pigs, the Austrians and Hungarians imposed heavy taxes on imported pigs in order to cut off Yugoslavia's only profitable livelihood.The assassination of the Archduke of Austria was nothing more than an excuse to mobilize the armed forces across Europe.Heavy taxes on pigs are the underlying source of tension among the ethnic groups in the northeast corner of the Balkans.

Speaking of pigs, I want to tell you that the reason why Yugoslav pigs can multiply rapidly is mainly due to the oak tree.In this triangle between the Adriatic Sea, the Danube and the Macedonian mountains, there are lush oak forests everywhere, so there are so many pigs here.If the Romans and Venetians hadn't cut down many trees on the mountain for building ships without considering the consequences, the forest here would be even more extensive today. For the 12 million people in Yugoslavia, besides pigs, are there other resources that can feed them? There are also coal and iron resources here, but now coal and iron resources are found everywhere in the world. The cost of transporting coal and iron to German ports by train is indeed too high, and as mentioned earlier, Yugoslavia itself does not have a decent port.

After the war, Yugoslavia acquired a large Hungarian plain, the Wojvodica Plain, which is very suitable for the development of agriculture.The Drava River and the Sava River valley produce corn and grains, so the residents on this plain can be self-sufficient. connected to the port of Thessaloniki.The Wojvodica Plain is also connected to the main European railway line, Nis (the birthplace of Constantine the Great), and on that unfortunate march to the "Holy Land", Kaiser "Red Beard" Frederick I also Once stayed here for a short time and received the warm hospitality of Serbian Prince Stephen) and Constantinople and Asia Minor were thus connected.

However, on the whole, it is unlikely that Yugoslavia will develop into a developed industrial country.Like Bulgaria, Yugoslavia would rather be a moderately prosperous Slavic agricultural country.Skopje and Mitrovica are full of peasants six feet tall, and Manchester and Sheffield are full of Cockney-like workers. If anyone compares the peasants with this worker, he will not be suspicious, so Is the fate of life really hopeless?Like Oslo or Bonn, Belgrade may always be content to be a gentle and lovely town, but, perhaps one day, it will really compete with Birmingham or Chicago in terms of size.The modern mind is unpredictable.Serbian peasants will never be the first to be seduced by Hollywood pseudo-culture to subvert the traditional values ​​of their ancestors.