Chapter 284: Maximilian of Arabia
The Ottoman Army was in a sorry state by the summer of 1915… They had been taking repeated losses trying to hold the line against the Russians in the northeast of Anatolia. At the same time, Arab Rebels, led by the fearless leader Faisal I, had plunged the Levant and the surrounding regions into utter chaos.
Yet, Bulgaria, by sheer accident, had found itself entering the war, and the Allies quickly accepted them into their ranks. The hope was preventing the Central Powers from marching into Constantinople, via creating a front on Bulgaria’s western border with Greece.
This hope was quickly dashed before an army could even be properly raised. Eastern Thrace, where Constantinople lie, was the most fortified region of the Ottoman Empire. Nobody expected the Central Powers to threaten it so swiftly.
And because of this, troops had been diverted further eastward into Anatolia and the Levant to counter the other threats that were closing in on the Young Turks and their illegitimate regime as swift as the wind.
To say that the Ottoman Empire was in a horrid position when the German Army marched its way to their borders was an understatement. Especially when one considered there was quite the sizeable host of Orthodox militants from the Kingdom of Greece and the Russian Empire bearing the Chi Rho as a sign of unity as they stood a stone’s throw away from Constantinople.
Maximilian knew the time was ripe to make a major play, one which nobody would have expected, and was quick to consul Faisal on a course of action that would forever change the course of the war.
Faisal was sitting with his host just outside Jerusalem at a local oasis where he and his rebels were refreshing after having recently taken out the local railway, or at the very least put it in a state of urgent need of repairs before it could continue to transfer men and supplies from British Egypt.
The German Intelligence Agent was quick to kneel his head before the foreign noble and act with the utmost respect, as he had been by the man’s side as little more than an advisor for the course of the rebellion.
Despite this, he had gained much respect from the Arab leaders, especially the man who in Bruno’s past life was the first modern king of Iraq. Faisal very much valued Maximillian’s advice, and was quick to tell the man he need not make such a gesture.
"Please rise my friend… Tell me, what news do you have for me?"
Maximilian did as he said, the tenseness in his pose quickly vanishing as he took a more relaxed expression when speaking with the Arab royal scion.
"The Allies have begun to move troops from British occupied Egypt to Eastern Thrace. That mad man has actually knocked the Bulgarians out of the war in under 72 hours and now has his armies posed to make a run towards Constantinople.
This means the time is right for us to make a contribution to the war so great, nobody could ever deny the peace you have been promised once this war is concluded… Not even the most stubborn and devout of Christians will deny the peace treaty that my brother has proposed."