Chapter 136: Fraud Gate
Chapter 134 – Fraud Gate
Between countries, interest is always the theme. While Franz was counting on the Russians, the Czarist government likewise counted on Austria again.
This reckoning had nothing to do with an alliance; everyone was playing within the rules. Until the interests outweighed the conflicts, the alliance between the two sides was still reliable.
After the establishment of the Russian-Austrian alliance, the Tsarist government relaxed its repression of Prussia.
Apparently, after the Austrian government revealed its ambitions for the South German region, the Tsarist government feared that Austria would unify the whole German region and threaten their continental hegemony, and was prepared to let the Prussians check Austria.
The most intuitive manifestation of this was that the diplomatic pressure exerted by Russia on the Kingdom of Prussia was not as strong as before.
In a way, Franz also inadvertently helped the Prussians. This help, of course, was not enough for the Russians to let the Prussian Kingdom annex the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
Denmark was a little brother that the Russians did not want to give up yet; the Tsarist government needed a stable Northern Europe, and the expansion of the Kingdom of Prussia had upset the balance of Northern Europe.
The Tsarist government was caught in a conflict. The best option was to let the Kingdom of Prussia move towards the center of Germany and delay Austria’s unification of the South German states.
But it could not allow the Kingdom of Prussia to unify the German region, which was not in line with the strategy of the Russians. In the opinion of the Tsarist government, Austria, an ally, was the best option.
It had some power and did not threaten Russia. The most important thing was that the Habsburg dynasty was very old, and it was very difficult for any old empire to be newborn.
In contrast, it is the newly rising young empire that is more scary. Young means still on the rise, with unlimited possibilities for the future, and unfortunately the Kingdom of Prussia is one that has the potential to become a young empire.
The Russians were very conflicted, on the one hand they wanted the Kingdom of Prussia to check Austria, on the other hand they were worried that Prussia would be drawn in by Britain and France and stab Russia or Austria in the back at the critical moment.
In Nicholas I’s opinion, the best option was to bring Prussia into the fold and return to the “Three Courts of the North”, or the “Three Emperors’ Alliance”.
Easier said than done.
The Russians could not afford to sacrifice the Danes for the time being, as this would have been a chilling effect on their allies.
Then the next step of having Prussia and Austria join forces to divide up the German regions would not be a good maneuver, and it was clear that a North German region would be hard to feed the Prussians.
If Prussia to the German region to reach out, not to mention Austria can not stand, even Nicholas I can not stand, he can not tolerate the birth of a German Empire out.
What is more serious is that after Austria and Prussia divided Germany, the Kingdom of Prussia would really become bigger, and the two countries joined hands to block their way to the west.
Maybe the future “Three Emperors Alliance” to defeat the enemy, is the Austro-Prussian alliance against Russia, to cultivate their own enemy feeling, always not a good feeling.
St. Petersburg
In order to solve this problem, Nicholas I convened a meeting of the Imperial Council.
The Prime Minister was the first to speak up, “Your Majesty, either we pull the Kingdom of Prussia together with all our might and continue the Berlin Pact, or we unite to put the Kingdom of Prussia down, so that they are incapable of causing trouble for us!”
This multiple choice question we all know, suppress the Kingdom of Prussia how to do, very simple as long as the joint Austrian hard to beat the hell out of him, custodial ten or twenty years Prussia can not turn over.
But the problem is to beat down Prussia, Austria’s goal may not be the annexation of the South German region, but to unify the entire German region.
Suppression is not feasible, then change to pull together Prussia. Pulling together is the need to pay a price, the price of the Russians will not come out, to cut their meat, is to take their lives again.
Foreign Minister Karl Worcelrod analyzed: “Your Majesty, the Prussians have a big appetite, now there are two kinds of unification ideas in the German region, one is the unification of the German region by Austria to establish the Greater German Empire, and the other is the unification of the German states other than Austria by the Prussians to establish the Lesser Germany.
The latter was pounded out by the Prussians, whose goal was very clear, that is, to unify Germany, and now they launched the Danish War.
If we are willing to support Prussia to unify the German region, they will definitely join the alliance, though the Austrian side will certainly not agree. It’s not likely that Prussia and Austria will fight before our strategy even begins.”
Nicholas I frowned and asked, “How is it that the North German states still can’t feed the Prussians?”
The Russians practiced the supremacy of strength, sharing as many benefits as they had, and right now the Kingdom of Prussia was the bottom of the list of powers, or just a quasi-power.
In later years, people have a high opinion of the Kingdom of Prussia, that is because they united Germany and established the bullish Second German Empire, it elevated their status.
It is not that now they, a medium-sized country with a population of 13 million, have the strength to compete with the major powers.
“Your Majesty, we can try to pull the Prussians in with the North German region, and if that doesn’t work then lure them into expanding into the Low Countries.” Foreign Minister Karl Worcelrod suggested.
The 19th century was an age of expansion, every country wanted to expand their power, not expanding in this age was chronic suicide.
Don’t look at the many countries of later times that have survived this era, in fact many have ignored the risks they have experienced.
Holland, Luxembourg, such a small country, not to mention, even Spain, such a big country, behind the people were all the way hanging.
Countries like Prussia and Austria with huge geographical pits would have been a tragedy if they hadn’t expanded and grown in strength, whether it was the Russians going west or the French going east.
Farming for development isn’t out of the question, but farming for development is too slow. Without enough markets, industrial raw materials, you work hard for twenty or thirty years, but still can’t match the results of others in two or three years.
“No, letting the Prussians annex the North German states is already dangerous. If they are allowed to gain Belgium and Holland again, then it will be another France.” The Prime Minister objected excitedly
“Your Excellency the Prime Minister, our path to westward expansion is already blocked, the Kingdom of Prussia cannot counterattack Russia even if it grows bigger, as long as we provoke the Prussian-Austrian conflict, the western front will be stabilized. Running the Mediterranean with all our might is our national policy.” Karl Worcelrod explained
……
The Russians’ internal squabbling eased the diplomatic pressure on Prussia, creating an illusion for the Prussians as if they would compromise as soon as they had subdued the Danes and created an established fact that the Russians would compromise.
Influenced by this, the Prussian army quickly defeated the Danes on the front line, and on April 9, 1849, the Prussian army once again entered the Jutland Peninsula.
Unlike the previous restraint, this time the Prussians, in order to force the Kingdom of Denmark to compromise, killed God and Buddha along the way, and half of the Jutland Peninsula fell before April had passed.
If it were not for the Danes having the foresight to establish their capital on the island of Zealand, and the Prussian navy being a weakling, it is estimated that the Prussian army would have had to go straight for the hills.
If you can’t top it, you go to the boss, and Nicholas I was enraged by what the Prussians were doing.
How about hitting a dog and looking for the boss? He had already called for a halt three times, and actually dared to continue to take military action, completely not putting him in his eyes.
The Russians took immediate action after their dignity had been provoked.
On May 7, 1849, two Russian infantry divisions landed on the Jutland Peninsula, blocking the path of the Prussian army.
Fighting was out of the question, Frederick William IV wimped out, and news from St. Petersburg showed that Russian tolerance had reached its limit.
It was easy to start a war, it was harder to end it. It was not to be seen that Frederick William IV had now suppressed the revolutionaries at home, but Prussia was still not in his hands alone.
It was not a good thing for the armies on the front to fight too well. Now that the public’s attention was diverted to the Prussian-Danish War, no one remembered their suppression of the revolution.
But the aftermath of burgeoning nationalism had come, and the population could not tolerate defeat, especially when the battlefield had been won and the government then made concessions.
An armistice was fine, giving up the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein was not; it was a matter of principle, and whoever dared to make concessions was a traitor.
Austria was not the only one who helped the Prussians to build up momentum, all the states in Germany contributed, including the North German states which favored the Prussians.
It can be said that now the whole German region, are in the spirit of support for Prussia, if the spirit of support can be turned into substantive support, then Frederick William IV do not need to go.
Vienna.
“Your Majesty, the Prussian ambassador in Vienna asked us for help, and after the Foreign Office refused, they offered to raise money for war military expenses in Austria.
According to the intelligence we have received, the Prussians have already initiated fundraising at home, and now they are targeting the entire German region, their finances should be on the verge of not being able to hold out.” Metternich said smilingly
A fundraiser for military expenses? This was a brilliant idea that Franz had helped the Prussian government come up with, the people’s money was not easy to come by.
If the money was taken and things didn’t get done in the end, how much enthusiasm these people had when they donated, how much resentment they would have in the future.
“In that case, we’ll just cooperate with them, the government sends people to help them with their fundraising, and have people create a momentum in the German region to magnify the actual amount of money collected by that little bit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Austrian government, donated ten million guilders to Prussia in support of their military campaign to recover the two duchies of Schleswig-Holstein for the German Confederation.
But there is no need to give them this money in haste; find any reason to delay it backward, and when it is too late, pay it in installments on the ground of financial difficulties.” Franz thought about it and said
Fraudulent donation door, to the 21st century there are people who dare to play, Franz naturally do not mind to follow suit.
No, he can’t count this as a fraudulent donation, it’s not like he’s really not paying.
As long as the Prussians can make these two German duchies, back into the arms of the German Confederation, the Austrian government will give money.
If the Prussians could not resist the pressure and gave up the Schleswig-Holstein duchy which was already in their hands, the money would naturally not have to be paid.
By the way, the people of the German states will have to be mobilized to protest in front of the Prussian embassy to get them to return their hard-earned money.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Metternich replied
I wonder how happy the Prussian representative will be after hearing this news, probably won’t die of excitement?
(End of chapter)