Chapter 139: Walking the Tightrope
Chapter 137: Walking the Tightrope
Everyone was in a difficult situation, Franz was relieved that the Pudan War wouldn’t be over anytime soon, which meant he had enough time to fill the holes.
Paper can’t hold fire, if he doesn’t fill the holes, even if he puts the shit on the head of the Prussians, it’s not reliable ah!
In case it wears out one day, does Franz the Great still want to lose face?
Misappropriation and embezzlement are two completely different concepts, the former can be explained that the bank’s normal capital operations, anyway, as long as the money out on schedule on the line, the latter is forever black history.
Prussian-Russian stalemate, the European powers have not been idle.
The French, in addition to occasionally expressing their views on international issues and swearing their presence, were mainly busy with internal struggles, and even overseas colonial expansion was affected.
The British were busy, stepping up their invasion of India on the one hand and colonial expansion in Southeast Asia on the other, while also launching an invasion of New Zealand ……
The colonial empire of the British was on the verge of taking shape, and except for the absence of the African continent, other regions had basically been incorporated, or were being incorporated, into the colonial empire of the British.
Everyone was busy, which created an opportunity for Austria.
While the eyes of the world were focused on the battlefields of Poutine, on April 15, 1849 Austria, along with the states of Naples, the Papal States, Tuscany, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, formed the Holy Roman Economic League in Rome.
European public opinion was in an uproar, and it was a good thing that Franz did not set up his headquarters in Vienna, or the resulting political impact would have been even greater.
The most violent reaction was that of Prussia, who, for the sake of German unity, had hardened themselves against the Russians at the front, and Austria actually came to the rescue.
Except for the Prussian kingdoms, all the major states in Germany joined the Austrian-led Holy Roman League, which meant that Prussia was kicked out of the right to speak in Germany.
Influenced by the establishment of the Holy Roman League, the idea of Greater Germany was once again on the rise, and in the opinion of many nationalists, economic solidarity would help the unification of the country.
Even within Prussia there were those who advocated joining the alliance established by Austria. As for the German Customs Union, the historical task had been accomplished and it could be allowed to go into the garbage heap.
This change gave Frederick William IV a big headache, nationalism was a double-edged sword, they were able to support the unification of Little Germany by Prussia and equally able to support the unification of Greater Germany by Austria.
As for adding the Italian regions to the mix, the nationalists didn’t care. In their view, as long as the German nation dominated, the bigger the empire built up, the better.
“Prime Minister, what kind of attitude does each country hold towards Austria’s wolfish ambitions?” Frederick William IV asked expectantly
Joseph von Radowitz thought for a moment before answering, “The British issued a diplomatic note to Austria, opposing Austria’s alliance action and strongly condemning Austria for breaking the principle of free trade.
The French government protested against Austria’s establishment of an economic alliance to the exclusion of third countries, and no further action has been taken yet.
The Spaniards have expressed a close interest in the subsequent development of events, most of the European countries are neutral, and the Russians have not yet taken a position.”
No doubt everyone is too busy to bother with Austria right now.
The British did not even intervene forcefully in the Poutine War, and likewise did not have the energy to intervene in Austria’s alliance actions, and without a European power as a punching bag, they had limited say on the continent.
The French waited until they had squared off the domestic factions, or else under the party dispute, in order to oppose for the sake of opposition, the French government can not do anything.
Frederick William IV was very depressed, in his opinion, the most capable of interfering with the Austrians, the Russians, happened to be held back by their help, the Tsarist government could not interfere with Prussia and Austria at the same time.
Without the threat of force, could Austria be overwhelmed by protest alone? Frederick William IV shook his head, Prussia faced more diplomatic pressure, not the same to withstand?
Austria established only an economic alliance, most of the European countries are not concerned about the matter, on the sidelines of the masses.
“Did the British take no action?” Frederick William IV asked with concern
……
London.
As the world’s number one shit-stirrer, how could the British watch Austria screw up an alliance?
You know the Holy Roman Economic Union, a monster of a small half of Germany + a large half of Italy + the Austrian Empire, which is the number one economy in Europe in terms of economic volume.
Even though most of these places were still semi-feudal, semi-capitalist systems with no weak industries of their own, the Brits didn’t have a big market share there, and they didn’t lack markets.
But the mosquito is also meat, give up for nothing is not John Bull’s style.
“Not right, how come the Russians are so slow to react this time?” Prime Minister John Russell asked suspiciously
Palmerston thought for a moment and said, “It may be hesitating, the Prussian-Danish war has already tied up a lot of their energies, and intervening in Austria at this time, it may not be possible that Prussia and Austria will have to join forces.
Nicholas I is not a fool, once it comes to that point, the ‘Nordic Three Courts’ system falls apart, as long as they don’t want to fall into isolation in Europe, they won’t take action against Austria.”
From the beginning of the Berlin Convention, the European continent entered the “Prussian-Austrian-Russian Triple Court Era”, where the three countries joined forces to maintain the Vienna system, and even the British were excluded from the European continent.
Now because of the Prussian-Russian War, the relationship between Prussia and Russia was cracked, the British naturally had to find a way to break up this alliance.
Whether it was to encourage Austria to expand into the Balkans, to support Austria in occupying the Danube Valley, or to indulge Prussia in launching a war against Denmark, it was all part of this plan.
It must be said that this time the Russians kept their secret so tightly that they fooled everyone, and everyone made up their own minds to think the wrong way.
“The Russians probably didn’t dream that the Prussians actually held out this time, and now they’re riding a tiger.
However, the Holy Roman League established by Austria is also a trouble, with this old fox Metternich in place, wanting to unite all countries together to apply pressure, I’m afraid that it will be difficult to make it work.” John Russell said with a frown
Palmerston smiled and said, “Why must we force the Austrians to dissolve the alliance? It’s not like we’re the ones who should be most anxious about the establishment of this alliance.
Russia, Prussia, France, which of them is not more anxious than us?
Especially the Prussians, they and the Russians are at a standstill, originally Austria is the best mediator, but now Austria has created this alliance, the Nordic Three Courts Alliance is afraid to come to an end.
Is it necessary for us to help them perpetuate this alliance?”
Prussia was in conflict with Russia and Austria at the same time, and naturally could not mix well in the three-court alliance.
In order to break up this alliance, the British had put in a lot of effort, and now that it was just a matter of a foot in the door, they naturally would not renew the alliance.
“It looks as if it is favorable to us, but we still need to be wary of Austria, that old fox Metternich is the best at balancing, and the influence of the Habsburg dynasty is deeply rooted.
We can’t let them take this economic alliance and turn it into an empire. Otherwise, our interests in the Mediterranean cannot be safeguarded.” John Russell said cautiously
This is not an unfounded concern, everyone knows that the Habsburg family is best at marriage, internal marriage in the structure of the alliance, after a few generations to merge into one family, the Austrian Empire is how it came about.
If Franz knew what the British were thinking, he would have wanted to laugh. It was fine to ally with the Italian states, but forget about annexing them, he didn’t want to ask for trouble.
“Don’t worry, Prime Minister. The Austrians won’t get that chance, as soon as they dare to take the first step, this alliance will fall apart.
On the contrary, the Prussian-Danish war is a trouble, the Prussian government is still holding out due to public opinion, and I’m worried that they’ll piss off the Russians, and war could break out between the two sides.
If the Prussian kingdom is crippled by the Russians, without an internal check, Austria might actually dare to unify the German region.” Palmerston thought for a moment and said
Imperial countries can’t be analyzed from the perspective of interests alone a lot of the time, in case the Tsar gets pissed off, there’s a real possibility of fighting a war without any consequences.
“Be prepared to mediate, once the situation gets out of hand, put pressure on the Prussian government and force them to compromise.” John Russell said fiercely
There was no way to put diplomatic pressure on the Russians, they didn’t give a damn about them, so they could only bully Prussia as a soft target.
Despite the good Anglo-Prussian relations, this is not able to make Britain support Prussia unconditionally. In front of the interests, and the British climbing relations that are bullshit.
……
Vienna
Since the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, Franz had not slept well for several days, and there was no way it was going too well to seem normal.
The Russians did not intervene that was natural, there was a secret pact between the two sides, if not for the sake of secrecy, the Russians were able to support Austria directly.
But the behavior of the other countries surprised Franz. Neutral small countries even if, they do not have the right to speak, originally is the soy sauce, now eat melon watching is a normal performance.
But the performance of Britain and France, it makes Franz feel strange.
The performance of the French government he can barely understand, the foreign must first security, Austria and did not invade France, want them to share the same enemy are difficult.
The British actually did nothing except protest. According to prior analysis, this time the British should pull the French, plus a bunch of little brothers over to Austria to pressure only right.
This kind of not following the script gave Franz a big headache. Metternich, the foreign minister, was still presiding in Rome, and the Foreign Office gave two answers:
1, The British were too busy with colonial expansion to care about Austria;
2, the British wanted to provoke Prussian-Austrian conflicts, Russian-Austrian conflicts, and break up the Prussian-Austrian-Russian triple alliance.
Except for a few cabinet members, others did not know the contents of the respective secret treaties between Austria and Britain, France and Russia, so naturally they could not make a comprehensive analysis.
At this time, Franz snapped to the realization that in just over a year’s time, Austria had actually signed so many secret agreements that it was simply unbelievable.
If not for Metternich the foreign minister presided over, Franz suspected that the Austrian government has long been playing the collapse.
Historically Austria also attempted to walk a tightrope in the middle of Britain, France and Russia, and finally did not grasp the balance, and turned all three countries that could be allies of Britain, France and Russia into enemies.
Thinking about it makes Franz shudder, do not look at the present Austria than the historical situation is much better, but once the diplomatic play collapsed, will instantly fall into isolation.
Consequences, still need to think about it?
Naturally, the tail is tucked between the people, peacefully nested in the family farm. Quietly watch Prussia unify the German region, and then join them in challenging the world order.
Theoretically, the Austrian Empire, which has completed its internal reforms, will be much stronger than the historical Austro-Hungarian Empire, and perhaps Germany and Austria can join forces for a comeback.
However, such a thing is obviously unlikely to happen, Franz has already prepared, in case the situation is out of control, then Russia and Austria to join forces to do battle with Britain, France and Prussia head on.
Simply from the military to analyze, the possibility of failure is unlikely, the most is to play a lose-lose, and when Russia and Austria have no money the war will be over.
Historically, the Russians lost the Crimean War against Britain and France, not because of military failure, but mainly because the government ran out of money, if they had money, they could have continued to fight.
Only losing 300,000 troops is a complete waste of money for the hairy bears, even if that number expanded tenfold, they would still have enough gray livestock.
(End of chapter)