Besides aiding the Ottoman Empire, Britain was also trying to mend its relationship with Greece.
Although the impact of the Don Pacifico affair had been extremely vile, the threat from the Russians was very real. After considering it again and again, Otto I ultimately decided to permit British merchants to enter and establish trading posts in areas near the Russian border.
Everyone knew perfectly well what these so-called trading posts were really for. No one simply chose to expose it.
The Russians had a particularly nasty habit: they were always eating from their own bowl while eyeing the bowl beside them—and even wanted to throw the person next to them into the bowl and eat them too.
Otto I could barely tolerate the former, but the latter was utterly intolerable.
Though Otto I had lost an arm by this point and no longer dreamed of a Greater Greece, the flames of Greek nationalism had already been lit. The Greeks wanted a seat at the table too.
Yet when they eagerly picked up their knives and forks and sat down at the table, they discovered that nothing remained but scraps and cold leftovers. What angered them even more was that even those scraps bore labels forbidding anyone from touching them. The Greeks' fury was easy enough to imagine.
The Greeks still held their ally, the Austrian Empire, in high regard, so the only directions left for their expansion were Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
Greece at this time was clearly no match for either Russia or the Ottoman Empire. And if Russia gained the upper hand, it would certainly leave Greece without even the slightest opportunity.
On the other hand, if the Russians gave up the Balkan Peninsula, Greece might still have a chance.
Franz naturally knew all about these filthy