War was not something that could be started on a whim. Even if they were prepared, as long as Bulgaria did not want to bear the charge of starting a war, it had to find a convincing reason.
Yet fabricating a reason that would convince most people was no easy task either.
Excuses like missing soldiers or a sunken ship had already been used to death and clearly could not be used again.
"Your Majesty, the pretext for war does not necessarily have to come from us. We could be dragged into it instead!" Foreign Minister Coleman suggested.
"How would we be dragged into it? Neither the Austro-Hungarian Empire nor West Russia wants war right now. They will not be the ones to start one!" Little Ferdinand said with a frown.
"Your Majesty, are there not the French? As long as we show an intention to ally with them, they will be more than happy to provide the one remaining pretext for war!" Coleman said with a smile.
Little Ferdinand nodded thoughtfully. It did not matter what the pretext was, so long as it had not been manufactured by Bulgarians.
If it was exposed in the future, someone else would take the blame anyway. The war would already have been fought; spilled water could not be gathered again. Other than wrangling for a while, everyone would simply go back to whatever they ought to be doing!
Paris
President Albert Lebrun breathed a sigh of relief. The Bulgarians were finally willing to make a move.
It was rather embarrassing when one thought about it. As the nominal world's foremost land power, France had actually failed to defeat Germany, which had only just risen again.
The French Army's tactical command capabilities had already fallen behind the times. Its understanding of armored