War's destructiveness was innate. More than three months after the Balkan Wars ended, Ferdinand finally received a detailed report on the losses.
Naturally, this report covered only Bulgarian-held territory. The areas controlled by the Kingdom of Montenegro had merely been roughly estimated, while there were still no results from Greece.
Even so, the losses caused by the war were still shocking. In barely three months, the Balkans had suffered nearly two hundred thousand civilian casualties, while over a million people had been displaced and left homeless.
The direct economic losses had reached as high as 1 billion lev. The losses were especially severe in Istanbul, where the Ottomans had resisted most fiercely.
No matter whose responsibility it was, Ferdinand now had to swallow this bitter fruit. Economic development across the regions had regressed by at least thirty years.
This assessment was quite objective. After all, under Ottoman Empire rule, the Balkan region's economy had never amounted to much.
Data based on their standards had little reference value. According to the Cabinet's estimates, Kosovo, where the Ottoman army's resistance had been relatively weak, had not suffered much economic damage and could recover within one or two years.
As for Istanbul, the Ottomans' fierce resistance had caused immense economic devastation. It would take at least five years to recover its vitality.
Constantinople, meanwhile, had been reduced to ruins. It would take twenty or thirty years at the very least before it could recover.
Taken as a whole, over half of the Bulgarian government's efforts in the next five years would have to go toward postwar reconstruction, and more than half of government fiscal investment would have to be spent on these new territories.
As for the nearly one million displaced people, Ferdinand did not need to lose sleep over them. They had