Influenced by the Admiralty, Ferdinand's mind suddenly opened up. For Bulgaria, climbing the technology tree alone was simply too difficult!
Yet there were far too many countries like Bulgaria—countries that hoped to grow strong and prosperous but lacked the strength for independent research and development. Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and others were all in the same boat!
Taken separately, some lacked funds, some lacked technology. None of them were strong enough to compete with the great powers across every field.
Ferdinand believed that among these countries, there would always be some unwilling to go on like this, watching helplessly as the gap between themselves and the world powers grew ever wider. Joining forces and cooperating with one another thus became an option worth considering!
However, mutual trust was also a major problem. In the short term, integrating the technological strength of all these countries was unrealistic!
But for their shared interests, cooperation in specific fields was still feasible!
Once cooperation could be reached with Europe's smaller countries, Bulgaria could achieve independence and self-reliance in many fields, breaking free from its dependence on the great powers!
Perhaps surpassing the great powers was still impossible, but keeping pace with them and avoiding being left too far behind should still be achievable, shouldn't it?
History took another turn. The year 1903 became a new era in Bulgarian diplomacy. Ferdinand's original concept of "win-win cooperation, climbing the technology tree together" became the theme of European diplomacy in the mid-to-late twentieth century and laid the groundwork for the establishment of the European Union!
At Ferdinand's command, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry sprang into action, repeatedly extending goodwill to other nations on the diplomatic front. Domestic enterprises also began crossing national borders in search of partners everywhere.
Some of these collaborations succeeded,