Chapter 249: God Will Know His Own...
In Europe, there were more or less four regions that were majority Muslim. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was currently under Austro-Hungarian Control, Kosovo, which had been under Serbian Control until its occupation by Austro-Hungary and its eventual surrender a week or two prior to Bruno's arrival in Germany.
There was also the European parts of the Ottoman Empire, mainly eastern Thrace, that were currently a Muslim majority. And finally, there was the independent Principality of Albania. Which at this time was in a state of total anarchy after its German prince abdicated the throne upon the start of the war.
His reasons for doing so were simple. Surrounded on all sides by hostile powers, he felt it was better to flee with his life, then wait to be invaded. Because of this, Albania was now enduring a lawless chaos, with multiple factions fighting in all areas of the small Balkan country for control over the land.
So just another day in the Balkans, right? Ethnic and religious violence had been a part of the region since the Ottoman Turks first took over and began forcefully converting the natives or suppressing those who refused.
However, times were changing, and for the first time in nearly half a millennium, it was starting to look like the Muslims would once and for all be driven out of Europe or as it had been known in previous centuries, "Christendom."
Because of this, Christian Militias were engaging in all sorts of heinous acts against the Muslim Majority within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Albania. There was simply one objective, either their forceful relocation or their extermination.
And there were more than a few Christian powers in the regions with serious grudges against these Muslim populations, ones that had lasted for centuries. These nations were more than willing to arm, train, and provide safe houses for the ultra-Christian paramilitary organizations.
With every act of violence committed against the Muslims in these lands, there was, of course, retaliation. Sparking a large guerilla campaign between various factions. One that originated in Albania and quickly began to turn the entire region into a powder keg that was about to explode.
Bruno had at most two weeks with his family before being recalled to the Balkans, where he found an explosion had recently been detonated in Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo. The explosion was the result of ethnic violence between Bosnian-Serb Christians and Bosniak Muslims.
Both German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers rushed to the scene, engaging in a firefight with the paramilitary organization responsible for the attack, which this time around just so happened to the Bosniak Jihadists.