Chapter 163: A Wonderful Misunderstanding
Chapter 160: A Wonderful Misunderstanding
Since receiving the news passed on by the Prussian government, the Austrian government’s top brass instantly felt bad.
Could the British do this thing? There was no doubt at all that John Bull’s modesty was only so high.
At the last Frankfurt Conference, the British had proposed to break up the German Confederation. Now they were exerting diplomatic pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia in order to carry out this plan, a completely normal operation.
Franz was also startled, really the British had every incentive to do this, it was dictated by their national policy, the European Balance Strategy.
According to this plan, the German Confederation became one large and two medium-sized states. It had some power to block the continued expansion of France and Russia into central Europe, but it had no possibility of getting bigger to threaten their position.
Such a European pattern is theoretically the most stable, no matter which country of France and Russia expands to Europe, it will be resisted by at least two of them, plus the support of the British that is proper.
Who wants to unify the German region, you must be ready to take on the major European powers, even if Austria has gained the support of the Russians, there is no possibility of success.
Not Franz underestimated himself, scattered German small states is a plate of scattered sand is not enough to worry about, but once they merge into a country, even if it is again scraps can pull out three hundred and forty thousand troops.
Together with the participation of Britain and France, unless Austria pulls the Kingdom of Prussia together to divide this newborn country, otherwise it is Russia and Austria vs. Britain, France and Prussia + German small states, and even the possibility of other European countries’ armies.
Franz had no doubt about the British means of pulling in allies. It is estimated that Belgium, Holland will join in to prevent the unification of the German region, and perhaps Switzerland will stab Austria’s knife.
Where were the chances of victory? Franz didn’t see it anyway. Unless the battlefield was placed within Russia, maybe the enemy could be frozen to death by winter.
Of course scruples aside, the Austrian government did not wimp out.
The Russian Empire is at least the hegemony of the European continent ah, in everyone’s mind the Russians in the land to single-handedly challenge the British and French no problem, Austria to level Prussia and the German state is also able to do.
In their view, the only trouble geographic location. I am afraid that the British and French put the Russians do not fight, just caught Austria to the death, that will be the end of the calf.
It is always good to have confidence, at least proved that the Austrian Empire has not fallen, the arrogance of the big country is still there, if you hear this news the government will be abashed, then Franz will really not be able to lead.
Metternich said angrily, “Your Majesty, the way things are looking now, it is necessary for us to pull the Kingdom of Prussia, as long as they hold out, the British’s sinister intentions will not be realized.”
Although he was also against the expansion into the German region before, but that was before, since the Russo-Austrian secret treaty had been signed, Metternich had slowly changed his stance.
He was clear that Austria could not go back, and had no choice but to expand its power abroad and grow its own strength as much as possible. Westward expansion into Germany was an essential part of this strategy.
Without the population of the South German region, Austria wants to expand externally, it is estimated that the implementation of the Balkan strategy alone, it will take 20 to 30 years of effort to be able to digest.
In such a long period of time, the strength of the countries did not know to what extent they had grown. In this age of the weak and the strong, once you fall out of line means that danger is about to come.
Prime Minister Felix thought for a moment and said: ”This news was put out by the Prussian government, and I’m afraid that they don’t want to compromise.
Mr. Metternich with your knowledge of the Prussian kingdom, if we now propose to join forces to divide the German region, what are the chances of him agreeing?”
Metternich analyzed, “That depends on how it is divided, but I estimate that it will be difficult to reach an agreement.
The Prussian military’s radical faction has been dealt a blow by the failure of the Prussian War, but they still have a lot of influence on the government.
According to the original plan we are going to annex the South German region, the North German region is as much as we can eat, even if we make concessions now, the most we can do is to give up the North German region.
These benefits may not be able to feed the radicals in the Prussian military, but many in the Prussian government should be satisfied, not everyone is so ambitious.
If the British put more pressure on them, it is not unlikely that someone in the Prussian government will force Frederick William IV to compromise with us.”
Now the relationship between Prussia and Austria will be OK, secretly we are playing blackmail with each other, but openly we have not torn our faces, and we are still cooperating with each other on many issues.
According to the British plan, the Kingdom of Prussia almost could not get a single hair, and was driven out of the German Confederation by others.
If you join hands with the Austrian government to divide up the German region, you can still get the rich North German region, and at the same time let the Kingdom of Prussia increase its population by half.
These gains could also allow the Kingdom of Prussia to go further and stand firm among the great powers, and not be so awkwardly out of reach as it is now.
Franz thought for a moment and said, “Then first contact the Prussian government in secret, the matter of the Russo-Austrian secret pact is not yet clear to them.
Even if the news of the division of the German region leaks out, as long as we are dead set on denying it, Britain and France are unlikely to do anything to us.”
Archduke Louis proposed, “Your Majesty, if we do something now and lend the British a hand to kick the Kingdom of Prussia out, would it be more favorable to us?”
Why take it out and divide it up when you can eat it alone?
If Britain and France join hands to force the issue, and Austria is playing dirty tricks, along with Bavaria as a two-bit player, it’s not likely that the Kingdom of Prussia will really not be able to withstand the pressure.
The Russians will not support Prussia this time, for no other reason than that His Majesty the Great Tsar holds a grudge.
With the shitty nature of Russian bureaucrats kissing ass, most likely they will get it done first and then report back to Nicholas I.
For specifics, see the last Christmas offering, where Russian representatives forced the Prussian government to withdraw its troops before Christmas.
It was naturally better to eat alone, only be prepared to be stabbed in the back by the Kingdom of Prussia. If you can put Prussia down, you can certainly do it.
As long as the Austrian Empire was that much stronger by a point or two, and the Russian Empire hadn’t really fallen, then Franz didn’t mind having a solo meal for once.
Franz shook his head and said, ”It’s not that easy, at such a critical moment, it’s better to have one more friend than one more enemy.
After Austria’s annexation of the South German region, our strategic purpose has been achieved, and the northern German states give up and give up.
It is easy to choke on too much greed. Our bottom card is the Russo-Austrian secret treaty, but the Russians may not be that reliable.
Just in case they come out of the woodwork when the time comes and fail to suppress the Kingdom of Prussia, we’ll have to fight on two fronts.”
Under normal circumstances, the Prussian government would not have agreed to the Austrian distribution plan, but once the news of the Russo-Austrian secret pact was brought to light, the Prussian government would definitely compromise.
This is the reality, that even if Britain and France make more promises, it will not be of any use.
Who let the Kingdom of Prussia and Russia and Austria are too close to each other? If they dared to get involved with Britain and France, it was estimated that they would have to fall early before they could wait for reinforcements from Britain and France.
Northern Europe three court alliance, in fact, is the geopolitical decision, Austria and Russia has joined forces, the Kingdom of Prussia do not want to fall into a dangerous situation, can only join this alliance.
Otherwise, after the conclusion of the Russian-Austrian secret treaty, Nicholas I’s first reaction would not be to pull the Kingdom of Prussia into the alliance, it is not that everyone’s relationship is good, but the Kingdom of Prussia to join the possibility of a great deal.
Because of the Prussian War, the Tsar’s government had to give up this tempting intention for the time being, and the Russians were still worried that the Prussian government would leak out the news.
If they could not take Britain and France by surprise, the Russians’ strategy would hardly succeed. If there was a blood transfusion from Britain and France, the fighting power that the Ottoman Empire could explode should not be underestimated.
This is also the key to the Austrian government’s westward strategy to be able to succeed, after all, they are following the Russians to do it, waiting for the British and French to team up to go over and start PK with the Russians, Austria will only act.
Benefiting from the Vienna system, the French military power was drastically weakened, and now they have a lot of troops, but the mobilization mechanism is broken.
In order to avoid the suppression of European countries, Emperor Philip put few troops on the mainland, not to mention stockpiling a large number of reserves.
The French have just over 300,000 active land forces, and once they send out a hundred thousand or so to do battle with the Russians, there are not many troops they can intervene in Austria.
Quantitative production causes qualitative change, Austria as long as enough preparation, mobilized enough troops, if the French intervention, directly beat back on the line.
French defeat once basically almost, by then Napoleon III in the country to put out the fire are too late, where still care about Austria?
As for the Kingdom of Prussia, Franz is ready to start the action, first put half a million troops on the Austro-Prussian border, and then tempt the Russians with strategic goods, and concentrate the troops on the Eastern Front to the Prussian-Russian border.
If Austria had eaten alone, there is no doubt that the Kingdom of Prussia would have taken a military adventure and made a break for it. But now that Franz also left them a share of the benefits, the Prussian government had no choice but to compromise.
Everyone has a family and a job, and the person in charge of the Prussian government is not a middle-aged teenager, so how can he or she blindly take risks?
Even the radicals would probably have to choose to eat the North German region first. As long as this bait is eaten, the Kingdom of Prussia will have to stop and digest the results of the war.
……
The Prussian government, which was already interested in joining forces with Austria, naturally would not refuse the olive branch thrown out by the Austrian government.
Facts have proved that the Austrian government’s judgment of the Kingdom of Prussia was wrong, after the failure of the Prussian War, many people within the Prussian government lost confidence in the strategy of unification of Germany.
This was the sadness of a small country, which could not afford to lose. After the defeat, everyone’s confidence was gone.
As soon as the armistice treaty between Prussia and Denmark was signed, the internal conflicts in the Kingdom of Prussia erupted, and the revolutionaries revolted again, only to be quickly suppressed by the army.
Against this background, Frederick William IV was too late to stabilize his power, and his strategic plan to unify the German region was long ago thrown out of the window.
Historically, the Kingdom of Prussia fell into a similar slump after its plans were thwarted. It was not until the Iron Chancellor came to power and won the Second Danish War through a series of mergers and acquisitions that morale was restored.
With Bismarck’s efforts, the Prussians again summoned up the courage to challenge Austria, and after winning the Austro-Prussian War, the Prussian army completed its metamorphosis.
Many experts and scholars believed that after Prussia won the war, the Prussian government spared Austria as a diplomatic layout to avoid Austria’s backstabbing in the future Franco-Prussian War.
As well, Bismarck feared that the annexation of Austria would lead to an increase in the number of Catholics in the newborn German Empire, thus triggering religious conflicts in the country.
Franz did not see it that way. Even if Austria could not be annexed, could it not be ceded?
In the Austro-Prussian War, Austria lost the war, but the main loss was political, and the actual price paid was not big.
Being in this era, Franz realized how bad the financial situation of the Kingdom of Prussia. Combined with the situation at the time, Austria was not without a fighting chance.
After the defeat in the decisive battle, the mobilization of the Austrian domestic reserves was almost completed, and if the Kingdom of Prussia did not see the good things, it would turn into a protracted war.
Bismarck, after looking at his shriveled wallet, naturally and decisively chose to take the good with the bad.
Benefits are earned by strength, and since Austria’s strength was still there, the price to be paid was naturally not too great.
If the Austrian government had broken the pot, and chose to fight with Prussia to the end, it might not have to pay anything, and when Prussia ran out of money, it would have retreated.
(End of chapter)