The international situation was roiling like wind and clouds, yet Bulgaria stood firm as a mountain, methodically carrying out the "Ten-Year Plan." Ferdinand sat steady as an angler on his fishing platform.
"Your Majesty, the Baghdad Railway has been completed along its entire length!" Konstantin said excitedly.
"Good, good, good!" Ferdinand said "good" three times in a row.
The Baghdad Railway built by Bulgaria was not the same as the Baghdad Railway of history. Its eastern line extended directly to Kuwait Port on the Persian Gulf, where it connected with the Arabian Peninsula Ring Railway.
There were dozens of branch lines along the route. Among the better-known ones were the Baghdad-Amman Railway, linking Baghdad and Amman, and the Ankara-Yerevan Railway, running from Ankara to Yerevan.
Its total planned length reached 12,000 kilometers. However, the Germans had already built part of this railway, and the Ottoman Empire had built another part.
On that basis, Bulgaria tore down the original railways and rebuilt them.
There was no helping it. Everyone used different railway standards, making seamless connections impossible.
Bulgaria's earliest railways had been influenced by the Russians and used the 1,524 mm standard. After Ferdinand ascended the throne, financial constraints prevented him from changing them, and 1,524 mm subsequently became the unified standard for Bulgarian railways.
The Ottoman Empire's railways at the time, meanwhile, were a complete mess, with tracks of every conceivable standard: 1,000 mm, 1,050 mm, 1,067 mm, 1,435 mm...
Such a hodgepodge of tracks had to be unified, or transportation would suffer enormous inconvenience. In the end, Ferdinand decisively chose to demolish and rebuild them.
Fortunately, the Ottoman Empire did not have many railways. Otherwise, Ferdinand might not have been able to make up his mind. After all, this was all money!
The completion of the Baghdad Railway meant