The New Year (4)

Blue Palace, Cetinje, Principality of Montenegro

“Your Royal Highness, an urgent message from the Ottomans.”

A middle-aged man kneels in front of Prince-Bishop Danilo II, who is talking with Montenegro’s Prime Minister, Lazar Petrovic, and other important guests of the new year’s celebration in the Blue Palace. After hearing that the message comes from the Ottomans, he excused himself from the guests and immediately leaves the party and went somewhere more secure and secluded to check the contents of the message.

Prime Minister Lazar Petrovic is also ordered by the Prince-Bishop to follow him for counsel regarding the content of the message. The two followed by some important ministers and advisers walk towards a private room where they would check the content and make decisions if needed.

They arrived and the soldiers guarding the room saluted as they went in. As a small nation encircled by a huge empire that sent them the message, they need to take this seriously as their existence as a nation might hang in a balance. Prince-Bishop Danilo II sits first then the men who are following him follow suit.

Prince-Bishop opens the confidential message that is sent by the Ottomans to them. He then reads the content and as he continues reading, his face becomes graver, and the other people present notice the change. Especially the Prime Minister is starting to sweat as he looks at the expression of his liege, as the situation might be worse than they expected.

“Petrovic… here… read this.”

Prince-Bishop Danilo II gives the letter to Prime Minister Petrovic so that others can also read the content. Prime Minister Petrovic can helplessly get and read the content of the letter and he is shocked at the demands of the Ottomans on the Principality.

In regard to the attempted assassination of our Great Sultan last year, we would like to exercise our rights to exact justice against those perpetrators we deem that are hiding in your state and we request you approve our demands for the future and prosperity of our both nations.

- The Montenegrin government is requested to track and down and take legal proceedings against extremist secret organizations operating against the Ottoman Empire.

- Suppress and stop any anti-Ottoman propaganda in the press and media in the country and arrest and prosecute anyone who spreads propaganda and information against the Ottoman Empire.

- Remove from the military and civil government all officers who are guilty of carrying out propaganda against the Ottoman Empire, whose names the Ottoman Empire reserves the right to notify the Montenegrin government when presenting the material evidence to the Principality of Montenegro.

- Agree to let the judicial officials from the Ottoman Empire take part in the investigation into the assassination and in the hunting down and prosecution of the ring-leaders on Montenegrin territory.

- Agree to let Ottoman soldiers enter Montenegrin territory legally to enforce the investigation and prosecution of the ring-leaders and other members of the assassination plot.

- Without delay, inform the Ottoman Government of the execution of the foregoing points.

We hope that the Principality of Montenegro would accept our requests for continuing friendship between the two states.

The Ottomans want a reply to the demands on the 3rd day of January. They have barely enough time to decide whether to accept all the demands or not.  The demands sent by the Ottomans are all outrageous and humiliating to the Montenegrins and if known to the public would cause protests and riots in the entire principality.

Accepting these demands would mean they surrender their sovereignty to the Ottomans and that would cause outrage to the people as they have fought for decades to keep Montenegro independent and free from the Ottoman clutches. Giving up to the demands would betray the thing that their forefathers have fought.

“Everything here is unacceptable! We can’t accept this, Your Royal Highness.”

“Yes, this is outrageous Your Royal Highness.”

The other ministers and advisers express their fury and anger at what they had just read. No officials in their right mind would just accept these kinds of demands, it is like the Ottomans are trying to provoke them to be the ones who would start the war.

Both the Prince-Bishop and Prime Minister close their eyes and contemplates. They didn’t expect that this would happen in their time. The Ottoman Empire is now in its peak form and has hundreds of thousands of veteran soldiers from many battles. In the border alone, there are an estimated 400,000 Ottoman soldiers stationed facing and waiting for any order to invade the Principality. That is more than the total population of the Principality which is only more than 300,000.

That means, that even if they would be arming every man, woman, child, and elderly in the country, they are still outnumbered by the Ottoman soldiers. Whether they would accept or not, there would be grave consequences and they would pay the price of the decision they chose. Accept and face domestic chaos or reject and fight an imperial juggernaut.

“Prime Minister, what do you think?”

The Prince-Bishop helpless in deciding, ask his Prime Minister for counsel and advice on what would be the best course of action. The very existence of his crown and nation is threatened by a force much stronger than them for more than a hundredfold. He is already feeling the severity of the situation as it would be just the day after tomorrow that would be the deadline of the Ottoman demands.

“I’m not also sure Your Royal Highness.”

The Prime minister is also helpless and can’t give any concrete advice. As the Prime Minister, he should choose the best course of action for any decisions and policies that is involving the state, but the situation they are facing has no good solutions. Either way and they are screwed and anything that they choose would surely result in horrible results.

“Anyone here can give any ideas on what decision should we take? Is there anyone?”

All the ministers and advisers present can only cower their heads downward. They might be furious and speak angrily a while ago but no one dare to commit to what they had just said. They know that all options available are horrible and would result in a lot of deaths and consequences.

“Your Royal Highness, I think we should face them on the battlefield. We would rather die fighting than lose the freedom that our forefathers have fought for.”

The Prime Minister, after contemplating on whether to accept or not, speaks that they should reject the demands and prepare to fight against the Ottoman forces that would surely invade their country.

“We must make haste to coordinate with the Austrians and possibly the Russians to help us in the incoming debacle, Your Royal Highness. They are the only possible ones that could help us in case of any outbreak of hostilities Your Royal Highness.”

One of the ministers suggested that they could also ask any assistance from the Austrians and Russians who are both nations near them and also bordering the Ottoman Empire. Both these nations are also long-time enemies of the Ottoman Empire and the historical grudges between the two sides are deep, it is very possible that they would help them in case of a conflict.

“I’m not sure about the Austrians, they might be willing to help but they had just started remilitarization not so long time ago and they might not have enough men to fight. Even Russia just started remilitarizing their armed forces.”

Prime Minister Petrovic is having second thoughts about the readiness and capacity of both Russia and Austria to aid them politically and militarily in case of a direct conflict with the Ottomans. Austria which just restarted its military upgrade and expansion still needs a long time before it can catch up with the size and strength of the Ottoman Military. Russia has a large pool of military forces but it is thinly deployed over its long border and it has a lot of problems to tackle like the fight for dominance and influence in Central and East Asia, competing with the British, French, and Germans.

“Then Sir Petrovic, who can we ask for help?”

The minister who had just spoken about the suggestion of asking the Austrians and Russian, replies to the Prime Minister if there is another way for this predicament. The Prime Minister knows that it is highly unlikely that both countries are willing to join in the conflict for the sake of Montenegro, and instead would push Montenegro and Ottomans into a direct confrontation while they would observe for any possible opportunities. Also, if they would ask for help first instead of being offered any assistance from the two powers, would be a political disadvantage or worse a disaster as it would be the two who would have the initiative in writing the terms.

“It would be better to prepare first here in the country, mobilize the citizens and prepare all resources and fortifications for war, than asking help from the two powers directly as it would be disadvantageous to us in deciding the terms and demands. We should instead strengthen our ties and partnerships with the Italian states…” Prime Minister Petrovic added. “One way or another, the Russians and the Austrians would be involved in the conflict even if we don’t ask for any assistance. The only thing we could do is to prepare the fight and keep the Ottomans at our borders until other powers would intervene...”

After the lengthy suggestion of Prime Minister Petrovic, all the ministers present and Prince-Bishop Danillo II agrees with what he had said. The Principality has good geography suitable for defensive and irregular warfare, and the people for decades were preparing and training if the time comes when the Ottomans would invade the Principality again.

Then the meeting continues about what other things should they prepare, the mobilizing of the citizens and keeping the Adriatic sea open for supplies and aid that might come from other countries. Also, the generals and commanders that would lead the armies deployed in different areas and announce to the public the letter sent by the Ottomans.

“Then it is decided, we would not ask for any assistance and help from the Austrians and Russians for now, the option is still available and only if it is deemed necessary…” Prince-Bishop II said with conviction, and he added. “We must prepare to meet them in battle. If they dare to cross, we fight, Sir Petrovic, replied to them that our country is innocent and we don’t harbor such criminals inside our borders.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”