In March 1878.
While the Russo-Turkish War was still underway, following its earlier agreement with Tsarist Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire sent troops into Sarajevo as Ottoman rule over the Balkan Peninsula teetered on the brink of collapse. This had been the bargaining chip Tsarist Russia offered to keep the Austro-Hungarian Empire neutral during the war.
Because of East Africa's interference, Tsarist Russia's expansion across the Central Asian steppes and West Asia had not gone as smoothly as it had in history. Fearing that the Austro-Hungarian Empire might suddenly change its mind, Tsarist Russia had no choice but to use Bosnia ahead of time to buy it off.
Bosnia, namely the Bosnia and Herzegovina of Ernst's previous life, or Bosnia and Herzegovina for short, could be called one of the most turbulent regions in Europe in his previous life. Its capital, Sarajevo, was especially famous as the fuse that ignited World War I.
In Ernst's eyes, Bosnia was not really a good place. But it was a crossroads of civilizational conflict, the frontline where Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Arab religion clashed. It had gathered every cultural ingredient needed for unrest.
Even in the twenty-first century of his previous life, although Bosnia and Herzegovina appeared peaceful on the surface, Ernst believed that as long as someone fanned the flames here, it could still descend into chaos at any moment, just as it had in history. Bosnia and Herzegovina in his previous life had been an even more absurd country than the Austro-Hungarian Empire's dual monarchy: two governments—Bosnia and Herzegovina—three presidents, one for each of the three major religious groups, and two capitals, Banja Luka and Sarajevo.
As the Austro-Hungarian Empire militarily occupied Bosnia, the Hohenzollern Conglomerate followed close behind and began enclosing land on a massive scale throughout the region.
During