Chapter 1184: Chapter 193: New Dalmatia Kingdom
On the Serbian front, the Neretva Corps began to display remarkable prowess, and for the Neretva region with a population of more than six hundred thousand, Austria-Hungary naturally could not turn a blind eye.
This place became a key recruitment area on the imperial frontier. Large numbers of Chinese and mixed-blood people were drafted into the army, and using the original Neretva local forces as a framework, the newest Neretva Corps was formed. Unlike other Bosnian units, it was pulled out as a separate formation to fight on the Serbian front.
This change itself signaled the elevation of the Neretva region’s status. After all, the original Neretva area had been a subordinate district under Bosnia Province, mixed with part of southern Croatia’s territory.
Now, because of setbacks at the front, Austria-Hungary, in order to win over the local government and civilians, made a major decision: after the war, this region would be incorporated into the New Dalmatia Kingdom.
Mostar.
As the capital of the Neretva region, it had already been upgraded to the provisional capital of the New Dalmatia Kingdom. At present, the new Kingdom government was actively cooperating with the Imperial Government’s measures and conducting recruitment drives locally.
Heiper: "The Empire is really spending heavily this time. If we can perform well on the battlefield, in future we’ll all be founding heroes of the Dalmatian Kingdom, and after the war we should at least be on the level of Croatia with its autonomous status."
The Dalmatian Kingdom had been the Illyrian Province of the French Empire before 1815; later it fell into Austria’s hands and became one of its subject kingdoms.
And to win over the locals, Austria-Hungary planned to integrate the Neretva region into Dalmatia, separating it from the original Bosnia Province to form a new Dalmatian Kingdom.
Of course, this also served to weaken Croatia. Originally, Dalmatia was predominantly Croatians, but after the Far East immigrants were relocated here, the local demographic structure had undergone major change.
And although Croatia was formally part of the Empire, there was no shortage of people supporting Serbia among them. So by granting the Dalmatian Kingdom, this imperial subdivision, to the mixed-blood Germans, at the very least the penetration of "Great Slavism" into the Empire’s southern regions could be reduced.
Of course, all this was premised on Austria-Hungary still existing after the war. But the one to actually benefit from the Empire’s carving up of the pie was the Neretva regional government.
After all, mixed-blood Germans had always lacked legitimacy within Austria-Hungary. You could see it simply from the distribution of mixed-blood German settlements, which straddled the two imperial administrative zones of Bosnia Province and the Dalmatian Kingdom.
Now, with the backing of the Imperial Government, the new Dalmatia, centered on Mostar, would become the mixed-blood Germans’ "since ancient times" homeland.
After all, these lands had always been Habsburg territory; as long as they could secure new "claims" from the Habsburgs, they could create accomplished facts.
And Heiper, formerly speaker of the Mostar assembly, had now successfully been promoted to speaker of the Kingdom’s parliament, with his superior authority shifting directly from Bosnia Province to Vienna.
Heiper said, "Since last November, in just a few months, the Empire has carried out extensive recruitment in the Neretva region. Today, in the Neretva region alone there are more than thirty thousand men in service, which has greatly strengthened the Empire’s replenishment of military manpower."
Mostar City mayor Lapu said, "According to the Empire’s requirements, we still have to raise at least another twenty thousand men for the army. But the entire Kingdom’s population is only a bit over nine hundred thousand, so this is quite a burden for us."
Leaving aside the former Neretva region, the original Dalmatian Kingdom had a total population of just over two hundred thousand, and East Africa’s demographic penetration of the region naturally did not spare Dalmatia. In the non‑Neretva areas alone there were more than a hundred thousand mixed-blood Germans.
In other words, of the New Dalmatia Kingdom’s total population of nine hundred thousand, more than half were mixed-blood Germans, while Croatians numbered fewer than two hundred thousand and had instead become a minority.
This was also the statistical basis for Austria-Hungary’s integration of the New Dalmatia Kingdom: mixed-blood Germans accounted for over seventy percent of the local population and had already formed a new dominant nationality.
Of course, mixed-blood Germans are also Germans, so naturally there was no need to fly the banner of some "new nationality" and engage in separatist activities.
And Austria-Hungary had given the local mixed-blood Germans such huge benefits because it hoped the region would contribute more to the war effort. Under the Imperial Government’s directive, the New Dalmatia Kingdom was to conscript fifty thousand men to fight in the war against Serbia.
Heiper said, "For the remaining twenty thousand, we have to recruit part of them from the north. It’s impossible for us Germans to shoulder everything; Croatians must also provide a share. Incorporating them into the army will be beneficial for the Kingdom’s future rule."
Lapu said, "There are about two hundred thousand Croatians within the Kingdom. By our ratio, Croatians should provide at least around ten thousand men. That way, with Germans as the majority, we will hold four-fifths of the Dalmatian Kingdom’s local forces, which can effectively guarantee our influence over the army."
Heiper then asked, "Won’t this lead to Croatian resistance? After all, the establishment of the New Dalmatia Kingdom has already offended many people. I’m afraid that if we push a bit too hard, it will be easy to ignite Croatian emotions."
In the original Dalmatian Kingdom government, Croatians were overwhelmingly dominant, whereas the new Dalmatia Kingdom naturally centered on Germans, since Germans were now the majority within the Kingdom.
And the mixed-blood Germans who had previously lived in Dalmatia had, with the former Neretva government standing behind them, seen their status rise rapidly. This led to a relative decline in the Croatians’ position, so many Croatians were hostile to the New Dalmatia Kingdom government.
To say nothing else, the former capital of Dalmatia had been Zadar, and in the new Kingdom it could not even compete with Puloch port, let alone with Mostar. Whether in economic terms or population, the German settlement areas now held absolute superiority.
Of course, as the supreme authority, the Imperial Government of Austria-Hungary ultimately chose to support the forceful mixed-blood Germans. For the Austrian government, mixed-blood Germans were still Germans and preferable to Croatians and other nationalities, while the Hungarian government wanted to use this opportunity to weaken other ethnic groups and avoid any threat to Hungary’s status.
After all, within Austria-Hungary, Austria and Hungary were the ruling nations, while Croatia, the Czech lands, Italy, and Serbia were all subject nations.
Hungary now had no desire to see other peoples replicate Hungary’s own success. For example, in the previous timeline Archduke Ferdinand’s proposed "triune Empire" had been strongly disliked and fiercely opposed by Hungarians. In this timeline, Archduke Ferdinand naturally held the same views, but since he was not the Crown Prince, his statements carried little weight.
Lapu said, "When the New Dalmatia Kingdom was first founded, many of the original Dalmatian Croatians were very unhappy. We might as well use the conscription issue to draw out all the opponents and then wipe them out completely, so as to prevent any future trouble."
As a German, Lapu naturally did not intend to show consideration for the Croatians, especially those unwilling to integrate into the new Kingdom. If they, like the Croatians in the former Neretva region back then, had known which way the wind was blowing and voluntarily joined the German big family, then everything would have been negotiable. After all, the Croatians in the Neretva region had basically already merged into mixed-blood German households.
But if they refused to read the situation, then they could not blame the new government for being ruthless. Although this was wartime, a considerable portion of the New Dalmatia Kingdom’s armed forces was still in German hands.
Back then, East Africa had provided the Neretva region with substantial weapons and extensive military training. Although the Neretva region had now severed formal ties with East Africa and formed a new interest bloc, it still enjoyed support from the East African Government. Thus, even before the New Dalmatia Kingdom was established, the local German forces already controlled the means of violence, and dealing with the unarmed Croatian opposition groups in the north would be effortless.
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