Chapter 121: Disarmament
Chapter 120 Disarmament
With the cooperation of Pius IX, the Austrian government succeeded in convincing the bishops, and naturally one layer pressed the other next.
The law is not responsible for the people?
No, there were plenty of clergy who wanted to become bishops.
Even after losing most of the patrimony, the Church is still a wealthy unit with tons of public money available for them to spend and no overseers.
Franz had always practiced convincing people with reason, and this deal with the Church, that was also a fair deal, which was confirmed by Pope Pius IX himself.
For the clergy who do not understand naturally have to be good words, can not continue to do ideological work, stubborn elements will criticize and educate, and finally help them to change their bad habits.
After the dismissal of one archbishop, eighteen local bishops, auxiliary bishops, and more than a hundred priests who were not sufficiently devout in their beliefs, everyone cooperated with the government to complete the handover work very positively.
Under normal circumstances, when clergymen are recognized as impious, their fate is bound to be tragic.
However, this time, Franz interceded on their behalf. All they had to do was to prove that they were a devout believer in the next battle to recover the Papal States.
Being able to solve the Church’s problems without bloodshed. This made the Austrian government realize the importance of the Papal States, and the presence of a pro-Austrian Pope would help to help the Austrian government manage the clergy.
In simple terms, it means that if you see any bishop who is not happy, you can throw him into the papal state to serve God, for example, guarding the Holy Land is a very promising job.
Taking benefits naturally requires one to do the job, and Pope Pius IX has done what he had to do, and now it is the turn of the Austrian government to pay the rewards.
Franz, who abhorred unpaid wages, would naturally not turn out to be his most hated man.
“How is it going with Marshal Radetzky, do we need to redeploy troops from home?” Franz asked
“Your Majesty, the withdrawal from the Sardinian Kingdom will be completed soon, the military morale at the front line is high, and it’s perfectly fine to continue participating in this operation.
However, Marshal Radetsky suggests that these soldiers be allowed to return home and redeploy some of them to intervene in the Papal Kingdom.” replied the Minister of War, Prince Wendyschgretz.
Obviously, he was a bit dissatisfied with Marshal Radetsky’s suggestion, switching back and forth was easier said than done.
It was natural for morale to be high, the Sardinian army could only be considered soft, they had barely fought any hard battles and had pushed their way through flat out.
Troop casualties are not big, but the booty is very rich, even if it is sold at a discount, at least each soldier can be divided into a few hundred guilders, which can be equivalent to the income of ordinary people for several years.
(1 guilder is equivalent to 11.69 grams of silver)
In addition to this windfall, Franz’s promise of land was also about to be honored, so the soldiers were naturally willing to fight such a windy battle.
Thinking about Marshal Radetzky’s suggestion, Franz felt it was very necessary to let the new recruits in the country go on the battlefield for a while, there was no danger anyway, it was just like practicing.
The main thing is that Vienna’s city defense army they take the best weapons ready, because of the lack of combat experience, is likely to be the Austrian army in the bottom of the combat strength.
Franz found an excuse and said, “The soldiers on the front line have been fighting continuously for nearly half a year, it’s time for them to recuperate.
Let’s do as Marshal Radetzky suggested, take some of the recruits from the rear and replace them there, and send the Vienna City Defense Army for some real-world training as well.”
Purely from a military point of view, a troop fighting continuously for half a year, then even the most elite troop will feel tired.
This Austro-Saxon war was nominally fought for four or five months, but in reality the two sides really fought for less than a month before the Austrian army pushed back from Venice to Turin.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Prince Windischgraetz replied
These were minor issues, and naturally no one would refute Franz’s face.
Interfering with the Papal States was still more of a forceful deterrent, and the chances of a real major war breaking out were slim.
Despite the fact that the Revolutionary government was now in control, there was still a part of the army in the country that supported the Pope, and the indecisive bourgeois regime had not yet carried out a major purge of the army for fear of starting a civil war.
Prime Minister Felix spoke, “Your Majesty, the domestic situation has stabilized and the international environment is favorable to us.
Continuing to maintain such a large army puts a bit of financial pressure on the government, and the cabinet suggests demobilizing a portion of the officers and soldiers and investing the savings into restoring production and construction.”
Expansion of the army during wartime and disarmament at the end of the war would have been the norm.
Now the situation in Europe, although not very peaceful, that are the revolution to the mess, the contradiction between the countries has not yet broken out, in this context, the possibility of war between the big countries is almost zero.
“How much of the army is the government planning to lay off?” Franz asked with concern
Felix said chestily, “Considering, we will soon have to send troops to intervene in the Papal States, the government proposes to lay off 100,000 troops during the year, and then 130,000 large troops next year, our final total strength will be kept at around three hundred and fifty thousand.”
This disarmament was mainly of the regular army, and the troops temporarily recruited at the local level were repatriated one after another after the war was over.
Now many places are still doing the work of rehabilitation, which is also Franz’s first, before this Austria does not have the term of rehabilitation.
Now the government has a large number of industries in its hands, and under the planned economic system, there are naturally enough jobs to accommodate these people.
It is noteworthy that almost all the soldiers who received large land rewards chose to go home and farm.
Factories were not a good place to be in this day and age, and most people did not want to become a laborer if they had a choice.
The same was true of state-owned factories, only slightly more popular than privately-owned factories, where one didn’t have to worry about unpaid wages from the boss.
After all, from the very beginning, these state-owned factories were all piecework, more work, more pay, and there was no room for mucking about, so naturally, they were just as tiring.
At this time, Franz had to be glad that his mind was clear and did not blindly annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, or else he would now lay off a hairy army, or perhaps he would have to continue to expand the army.
More than 100,000 Austrian troops can destroy the Kingdom of Sardinia, but if you want to rule the Kingdom of Sardinia, 200,000 to 300,000 troops are not necessarily enough.
This was the aftermath of the nationalist awakening, and it was difficult to rule the place without a major purge. The best way is to send all the locals packing and the place is stabilized.
If it was in the twenty-first century, relocating five or six million people at once was nothing, it could be accomplished as long as one was willing to throw money at it.
But now is still the middle of the nineteenth century, even if the Austrian government does not do anything, every day on the special organization of ships to transport people, without five or six years, can not complete this task.
People are sent away, finally left a resource to no resources, to industry no industry of the white land, Franz used for what?
If he had that kind of effort, he might as well go to open up a colony, even if he only invested one percent of his financial resources, he could still harvest a land that was N times the size of the Sardinian Kingdom.
Prince Wendischgraetz objected: “Prime Minister, we are negotiating with the Russians, it will not take long to reach an agreement.
At that time, we will inevitably have to send troops to the Balkans, this time will not be too long, disarming now and expanding the army at that time, is it too late?
Once we can’t get a quick fix, and the Ottoman Empire is at a standstill, and Britain and France intervene, it will be difficult to protect our interests.”
For Austria, expanding into the Balkans now is indeed an opportunity.
Not long ago, the Austrian government made concessions to the British on the issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia and gained British support for Austrian expansion in the Balkans.
In order to provoke the Russian-Austrian conflict, the British are a rare generosity, to the Austrian interests in the Balkans demand, all recognized, the two countries also reached a memorandum of understanding.
Palmerston never dreamed that the Austrian government would make a deal with the Russians, after all, once the Russians occupied the Black Sea Straits, Austria’s interests in the Mediterranean Sea will have to be impacted.
If the Russians made it big in the Mediterranean, Austria would be trapped in the Adriatic Sea and lose the initiative strategically.
All these problems were feared by the higher echelons of the Austrian government, only in the end they were all convinced by Franz.
The reason was very simple: the Russians could not defeat the British at sea, and the British Mediterranean fleet could block the Russians in the Black Sea.
Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said: ”Who said that we have to join hands with the Russians to start a war now?
Austria just went through a civil unrest, the most important thing right now is to restore production, and the Russians to divide the Balkan Peninsula that is just a strategic need, the two sides in advance to delineate the interests, just to avoid conflict.
Turning the content of the treaty into reality, this is the future, a short period of time the Austrian government has no intention of provoking a war.
We have clearly told the Russians that Austria needs to recuperate and will not expand in the European region for at least ten years.
If they can’t help themselves they can do it earlier, Austria can support them in material but will not personally participate in the war.
This is a precondition for us to sign the alliance, so you can rest assured of disarmament, war will not break out in the short term.”
This explanation hurt Prince Windischgraetz. As the leader of the Near East faction, he had already started making preparations for war, only to be suddenly told now that the war would not be fought.
There is no way around it, the military has to serve politics.
Because of the Franz butterfly effect, the power of the Austrian military did not swell, and although it had a great deal of say in domestic and foreign affairs, it did not have the right to decide.
On this issue, Franz is in support of the government, Austria is now the most important thing is to recuperate and develop national strength. Expansion is still good to slow down first, and it is not too late to do it when the strength comes up.
(End of chapter)