Though the gap between the two sides' terms was enormous, negotiations proceeded remarkably smoothly under mediation from all parties.
Compensation was impossible. Even if the Sultan Government were willing to pay, they could not come up with the money. This war had smashed their treasury to pieces.
The Ottoman Empire had now effectively gone bankrupt. Not only had it suspended payments on its foreign debts, it could not even pay the salaries of its domestic civil servants.
Austria had never launched this war to extort reparations. Though it had named an astronomical figure, that was merely asking a sky-high price.
If they had no money, then they could cede land. That was also common practice across the European Continent. There was really nothing to negotiate on that front—what had already been swallowed would never be spat back out.
Austria's demands were not excessive. Apart from the more than one hundred thousand square kilometers of occupied territory, it only wanted Jerusalem and the Arabian Peninsula added to the list.
The Ottoman Empire had long since lost actual control over the Arabian Peninsula. What Austria wanted was merely the legitimacy of nominally ruling the Arabian Peninsula.
What truly gave the Sultan Government a headache was Jerusalem. This was neither a strategic nor an economic issue. The declining Ottoman Empire was no longer qualified to speak of Middle East strategy; the real problem was religion.
Yet on this issue, none of the European nations supported them. Politicians were people too, with the same seven emotions and six desires. Containing Austria was certainly important, but it was not worth dragging themselves into it.
No one could bear the charge of selling out the Holy Land. If they supported the Ottoman Empire on this matter, the people's spittle alone would drown them.
Under normal circumstances,