September 20, 1914, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey.

The former royal palace has long since become the Museum of Constantinople and attracts a large number of tourists from all over the world every year.

The large parade ground in front of the Royal Palace was renovated to welcome this historic day for the Democratic Republic of Turkey.

More than a dozen huge balloons floated over the square, and streamers dangling from beneath the balloons were waving in the wind.

Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered around the square since the morning, and they were whispering to each other, so that the entire parade ground was enveloped in a buzzing sound, like a huge vegetable market.

In the center of the parade ground, twenty huge and neat infantry phalanxes looked spectacular and solemn. Each phalanx consisted of 10,000 Turkish soldiers, all of them in high spirits, with their chests straight and looking straight ahead. The soldiers wore traditional Turkish domed cloth military caps, gray cloth uniforms similar to those of the German army, and rifles with bayonets were all carried on their shoulders, and the snow-white at the top of the phalanx was a bit dazzling.

The row of officers at the front of each phalanx stood out, as they all wore German-style pointed helmets on their heads. These people were pure German officers, some of them had been in Turkey since the time of the Oli mercenary group, and some of them had come here from Germany after retiring from the army, and they served as advisers or staff officers in the Turkish army, supporting a strong skeleton for the Turkish army, which made this Turkish army have many similarities with the German army in terms of combat methods and styles.

In front of the infantry phalanx were hundreds of guns of various sizes and many machine guns, most of which were produced by German arms dealers in the construction of munitions factories in Turkey. In recent years, the influx of German capital and machinery has led to a significant development of Turkey's already weak industry.

In front of the artillery and machine guns were dozens of planes lined up, their tails and wings painted with iron crosses, and in front of each plane was a small group of Turkish infantry with rifles on their backs.

At the front of the parade ground was a majestic cavalry unit, 20,000 cavalrymen dressed in traditional Turkish cavalry uniforms, with wide sabers hanging from the saddles and carriages with cannons on either side.

There are three rows of seats on the high viewing platform in front of the parade ground, the first row is basically all important generals wearing military uniforms, the second row is cabinet members and diplomatic envoys from Germany and Austria and other countries wearing ceremonial clothes, and the third row is a slightly lower rank of generals and other dignitaries.

At the front of the viewing platform, the staff is still nervously adjusting the amplification equipment. In the center of the first row, two people are talking intimately, and the man with a mustache, a young and handsome face, a large row of medals on his chest, and a generalissimo's military uniform is particularly eye-catching: Kemal, the 33-year-old president of the Democratic Republic of Turkey. It is hard to imagine anyone other than a hereditary emperor who could control a country of this size, such a large population, and build an army of such strength at this age.

Yet few people know how difficult the path this young leader has taken. At the beginning of the republic, Turkey's economy was backward, the people were poor, and the society was in turmoil, and the forces of the old king and the reactionaries were still hidden among the people and the army, and they were constantly accumulating forces and looking for plans to overthrow the nascent Turkish regime. In the government, the Young Turks are also coveting the dominance of the Kemal Democratic Party, and the army has become the focus of the struggle between the reactionaries, the Young Turks and the Democratic Party. Thus, Kemal, by the hands of the Germans, transformed the Turkish army into an army that obeyed only his orders and those of the German instructor corps, while at the same time handing over the actual command of the Turkish army to these German instructors. As the years passed, the situation in Turkey gradually stabilized, and Kemal tied his fate to the German Empire.

There are many parallels to this in the context of other-world history, where the Young Turks also handed over command of the army to the German-appointed commander of the German-Turkish forces. It's just that in that world, Turkey's entry into the war was very reluctant, and the reason for participating in the war was even a little funny, that is, the famous Geben incident in history - the German battlecruiser "Geben" and another cruiser were stranded in Constantinople at the beginning of the war, when Turkey, which was neutral but inclined to participate in the Central Powers, was forced to detain the two German battleships under British and Russian pressure, and the final result was that Turkey spent money to buy these two battleships from Germany, but the battleships were still controlled by German sailors who changed into Turkish naval uniforms, In order to force Turkey into the war, Germany secretly ordered the two warships to shell the Russian seaports in the Black Sea, and Turkey joined the Allies in the war.

In contrast, Kemal and his Turkish entry into the war was much more active.

The German general who was talking to Kemal also looked very young, he was Brigadier General Ollie, who was a year younger than Kemal, and the commander-in-chief of the German-Turkish army.

When the staff left the viewing platform one after another, Kemal straightened his military uniform and stood up calmly and firmly, knowing that what he was going to announce was a decision related to the fate of the country, and thousands of lives were in his hands.

"Citizens of the republic, soldiers of the republic, over the past hundred years we have been called the sick man of Europe by the enemy, our country has been humiliated by the enemy, our territory has been invaded by the enemy, our people have been oppressed by the enemy! Now, it's time to fight back! Let's each take up arms, we have the most loyal allies, we have the bravest warriors, we have the most advanced weapons, we are going to tear all the enemies apart! ”

The entire parade ground was boiling at once, the soldiers shouted slogans in unison, and the crowd began to cheer and cheer in this atmosphere.

"I declare that with immediate effect, the Democratic Republic of Turkey joins the Holy Alliance of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and other countries, and enters a state of war with our common enemies - Russia, Great Britain, France! Let's fight! Warriors of the Republic! ”

After the declaration of war, soldiers and the masses staged a grand parade in the streets of Istanbul, and the atmosphere of the fighting soon spread throughout Turkey, with people taking to the streets, many cities and villages even partying all night long, and the recruiting stations were quickly filled with people joining the army.

Soon, columns of troops marched to the front line, and the people were in the middle of the road to see them off......

Turkey's entry into the war was of great importance to both warring parties, and for the Central Powers, they added a powerful ally, and the fighting power of the Turkish army, which had been fully reorganized by German officers, was not to be underestimated, and the Germans were one step closer to their dream of going from Berlin to Baghdad; Turkey's entry into the war was a nightmare for the Entente and especially for the Tsarist Empire, which was a feud of Turkey, which had been spying on Istanbul for a thousand years, and had dreamed of turning the city at the mouth of the Black Sea into "Tsargrad". The famous narrow passage called the Dardanelles, which is only 80 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide at its widest, is the only outlet that Russia can use to the rest of the world throughout the year.

Although Kemal was young, his strategic vision was not short-sighted, and he did not declare war on Russia and Britain immediately after the start of the war, but actively prepared for the war, waiting for the best opportunity to enter the war. Despite the full support of Germany, his republic had only been established for a few years, and its economic and military strength was still gradually recovering; Geographically, Germany was far away, the military power of Russia and Britain was close at hand, and the naval power of the Allies in the Mediterranean was far above that of Turkey. It was not until Germany had gained great superiority on the Western Front and in naval battles, and the British and French fleets in the Mediterranean were hastily transferred back to the European theater that Kemal took action and seized the opportunity to drive the Turkish tanks into battle.

From the day Turkey joined the war, the Black Sea access to the Mediterranean Sea was blocked, and Russia had to rely on the frozen Arkhangel for half of the year and Vladivosk, which was more than 10,000 kilometers away from the front line. Russia's exports were reduced by 98 per cent, imports were reduced by 95 per cent, and the whole of Russia was almost cut off. The departure of the Anglo-French fleet made it utopian for the Entente to attack Turkey from the sea, and the Russians were far less powerful in the Black Sea than before, and their war potential was greatly constrained.

After the main forces of the Anglo-French Mediterranean Fleet were transferred back to the European theater, the maritime forces in the Mediterranean were mainly composed of the Italian Navy, the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Greek Navy, the Turkish Navy and a small number of British and French ships. The Austro-Hungarian Navy and the Italian Navy of the first tier each had about 10 dreadnought and pre-dreadnought battleships and nearly a hundred other small ships, but at the beginning of the war Austria-Hungary had only 6 submarines, while Italy had 25; The surface ships of the second tier of the Greek Navy and the Turkish Navy are also equally powerful, with both countries having four battleships and dozens of other small hulls, while the Greek Navy has only two submarines, while Turkey has 12 German submarines stationed and has a dedicated submarine repair dock.

On the surface, the naval power of the Allies in the Mediterranean had clearly surpassed that of the Allies after Turkey's entry into the war, but in fact there was a turbulent undercurrent under the calm waters.

After the outbreak of the war, the Italian government, led by the Liberal Party, declared its neutrality. Italy argued that Austria-Hungary had not consulted with it before going to war, which was a clear violation of the Triple Alliance Treaty. After the assassination in Sarajevo, Vienna had made Berlin aware of all its movements and plans, but Rome was unaware of it.

This rift is unavoidable, given that Austria and Italy have long had a bitter relationship and have hated each other for decades. At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich declared that Italy did not exist, which was nothing more than a "statement of geographical significance", and Garibaldi, the famous leader of the Italian national unity movement, had ordered his subordinates to shoot at the sight of the abominable Austrian "white shirt" in 1848.

Things have been getting worse lately, and Italy has even made friendly gestures towards Serbia, Austria-Hungary's arch-rival.

The Italian Liberal government and its opposition parties, including Catholics and **, as well as a large part of the Italian population, expressed their support for negotiated neutrality, but there were also some interventionists who fanned the flames of the war, urging the government to use the war as an opportunity to end the Italian Risorgimento and gain the unification of Italy by occupying the territories still under Austrian rule. These included nationalists, political extremists who had been exiled to Italy from Italian territories attached to Austria, and members of the trade union movement linked to the Social Democratic Party.

Moreover, interventionists were involved in the war from the very beginning. In August 1914, the nephew of the Italian hero Garibaldi, Peppino. Garibaldi founded the "Italian Legion" and 4,000 young volunteers signed up. They traveled to France to participate in the Battle of Argonne against the Germans, and Garibaldi's two children, Bruno and Codant, gave their lives in the battle in France.

The Italian Government, using strong political opportunism to control the growing nationalist demonstrations and its cautious attitude towards Austria-Hungary, convinced Vienna that Italy wanted mutual understanding with the Entente, but that it could also be kept out of the situation if Vienna returned to the Italian regions occupied by Austria, including the provinces of Trent, Udine, Friuli in the province of Gorizia, Trieste, Pola and the Venezio-Giulia region in the province of Rijeca. But Vienna's reply was resolute and brutal: "Don't think about these things, we will never return them." ”

At this time, nothing could stop Italy's friendly and cooperative attitude towards the Entente.

After the historic defeat of the British navy, Britain and France also stepped up their temptations to the Italian government. In mid-September, secret contacts began between the British, French, and Italian foreign ministers, and the British and French offered that in exchange for Italy's accession to the Entente, Rome would receive a series of returns, including territories recovered from Austria, plus Austrian South Tyrol to the Brenner Pass, the Istrian Peninsula in the Adriatic Basin, the Dalmatian region of Albania, and half of Germany's colonies in Africa.

Despite Germany's aggressive victories on all fronts, the Italian government was fascinated by the very tempting terms offered by Britain and France, especially after the Russian army had pinned down a large number of Austro-Hungarian troops in the Galician theater and achieved an initial victory.

Preparations for war were already in full swing in Italy, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that they had no intention of fulfilling their alliance with Germany and Austria, and that they would stab their so-called allies in the back if the opportunity arose.