Chapter 200: Before the soldiers move, publicity comes first.

  Chapter 197: Before the Expedition, Propaganda Goes First

Winter Palace, St. Petersburg

The contract for the arms deal between Russia and Austria has appeared on the desk of Nicholas I. Together with it, the documents of the blocked loan and the Austrian government’s proposal for the issuance of the debt rolls were also delivered.

The purchase of weapons production lines, Nicholas I did not have a problem with it, directly on the document to make the approval.

The gap between the Russian Empire and the European countries in the field of military industry is huge, not in the short term can make up for it, the purchase of production lines is the only option to erase the gap in the short term.

Nicholas I asked, “Austria proposed to issue bonds, what do you think?”

Finance Minister Aristotelian Rhodes analyzed, “Your Majesty, I’m afraid this is very troublesome. It’s not that we haven’t issued bonds before, but all previous bonds have been cold on the capital market.

If we want to sell the bonds out now, in addition to the Austrian’s proposal to use collateral, the interest rate must also be high enough to gain the favor of capital.

This will greatly increase our financial costs. Previously, we received a loan from Austria at a monthly interest rate of only 0.2%, but I am afraid that it will have to be substantially higher if we issue bonds.

The military expenses of this war have far exceeded our projections, and if we were to raise our financial costs even more, the pressure on our finances in the future would be very great.”

The Tsarist government did not consider in advance that Britain and France would send troops directly, all the battle plans, and the Ottoman Empire alone.

According to the original plan, they have the Black Sea sea rights in, the Russian army can get supplies at sea, the logistical pressure is greatly reduced, the Russian army can put into the Balkan Peninsula of the force also greatly increased.

Theoretically, the Russian army with enough advantages could defeat the Ottoman Empire in 1852, and end the war in the Balkans in 1853, and then set out to attack Asia Minor in two ways.

As it turned out, the plan could not be changed fast enough, and the entry of Britain and France into the war disrupted their deployment. The war was out of control from the very beginning, and military expenses increased dramatically.

Nicholas I continued to ask: “Is it possible, to continue to obtain low-interest loans from the Austrian government?”

Foreign Minister Karl Worcel replied, “Your Majesty, there is no problem if it is a small loan, I am afraid it is impossible to get a one-time loan of 200 million rubles.

Although Austria didn’t reject our loan outright, they clearly stated that the amount of money is too large and beyond their capacity.

After our people analyzed it, the Austrian government has the ability to raise a huge sum of money, but it would affect their domestic development, and unless we pay a big price, it’s impossible.”

200 million rubles was an astronomical amount, which was equivalent to the Russian Empire’s financial income for a year. Under normal circumstances, the Austrian government did not have this financial power.

But the situation was different now, the Russians didn’t need to take real money for their loans, all the loans were used within Austria, the money didn’t leave the country.

Nor did the money flow into the market all at once, but first lay in the accounts of the Austrian banks, and slowly flowed into the market through the purchase of supplies.

Because of taxes, a large portion of this money flowed back to the Austrian government, which actually had to pay much less.

As an example, purchasing a million dollars of goods, the first round of transaction taxes, VAT, corporate taxes, customs duties, etc. add up, the government receives 200,000 to 300,000; the second round of raw material suppliers, but also to pay to pay the transaction tax, VAT, corporate taxes, etc., adding up to the estimated tens of thousands of dollars again.

Because of this business, and drive the development of transportation, the surrounding food and beverage industry, will also generate tax revenue. Capitalists make profits, workers get paid, and then have to spend, consumption and drive the development of other industries, these are taxes.

This is only the simplest circulation of goods, in fact, the industrial cycle system, much more complex than this. Few companies buy raw materials directly and can turn them into finished industrial products for sale.

Most industries have three or four or more cycles in which the money comes back into the government coffers through taxes. In fact this loan the Austrian government has to pay is only one-half or even less of that amount.

If there are no such advantages, relying solely on the interest rate of a few points, Britain and France, these powerful countries will not be keen on usury.

Further, through the loan to speed up the flow of goods between the two countries, gradually penetrate into all walks of life in a country, especially the financial industry is most likely to be penetrated.

Nicholas I thought for a moment and said, “Because of the interest? We can pay according to the international standard, even if it’s a little higher, it doesn’t matter, it won’t be as high as the bond interest anyway.”

Foreign Minister Karl Wasser replied, “I’m afraid it’s not the interest, Your Majesty. The Austrians have not asked for an increase in interest, so they should be having financial difficulties.

The Austrian government attaches great importance to domestic economic development and will not interrupt it for the sake of some interest. Unless we make substantial political concessions, they will not come up with the money.”

Nicholas I nodded, countries were very realistic with each other, even if they were allies it was impossible to sacrifice their own interests to help.

If just for a few points of interest, the economic development of the country had to be sacrificed, anyone would know what to choose.

“The Austrian loan cannot be given up, how much can be fought for counts. The Ministry of Finance to develop a set of plans to issue bonds, not only Austria, European countries can go to sales.

This war doesn’t know when it will end, now the government has to raise as much money as possible, a higher interest rate is acceptable.”

Nicholas I was smart enough not to continue to increase war taxes at home.

Historically the Russians were forced to raid the country because they were boycotted by the major European powers and were unable to raise funds from the international capital markets.

The consequences of raising taxes were also very serious, and after the defeat in the Crimean War the foundations of the Tsarist government were shaken.

After the war, Nicholas I, who was in good health, died suddenly, and most historians believe that he committed suicide by taking poison, assuming the responsibility for the failure of the war with his death, giving an explanation to the outside world, and stabilizing the rule of the Tsarist government.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The Minister of Finance replied

……

How exactly Nicholas I died, Franz couldn’t figure out, in any case, his death completely deteriorated Russian-Austrian relations.

Whether from personal feelings or national interests, Franz hoped that Nicholas I could live a long life.

Nicholas I was a good man, a good ally, and the Tsarist government he led was still credible.

And the longer he lived, the later the serfdom reform of the tsarist government would be and the more difficult it would be to reform.

An ally without threats is a good ally, recalling the historical information, Franz had to be glad to have caught up with the good times.

If nothing else, future generations of Russian tsars were relatively peaceful, which meant that Austria’s back was safe for decades to come.

The Russians were preparing to issue bonds, and so was Franz, and you can never have too much money. Especially in times of war, it was necessary to stockpile ammunition.

Unlike the Russians, who relied on high interest rates to attract capital, Franz was prepared to capitalize on the patriotism of the nation.

In order to support the Prussians to recover the two duchies in the north, people could donate tens of millions of guilders, and now for the unification of the German region, I think people would be even more active.

“Unification Bonds”, Franz did not add the word Germany in front of it, mainly to take care of the other nationalities in the country. If possible, he didn’t mind adding – Holy Roman Empire – in front of it.

This bond was still being kept secret, and would begin to be issued at the same time as the unification war was launched. Since it was for the unification of the country, it would be too vulgar to talk about benefits.

The interest rate of the “unification bond” was only 1% per annum, which could be said to be better than nothing. Even with such a low interest rate, Franz remained confident in the sale of the bonds.

Under his influence, the Austrian idea of Greater Germany still dominated the mainstream, and everyone was still very interested in the reconstruction of the Holy Roman Empire.

In order to build up public opinion, the Austrian government spent millions of guilders on propaganda for two consecutive years in 1851 and 1852.

Not only Austria, but also all the states in the German region were included in the propaganda.

The “re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire” became the hottest topic in Germany. Whether for or against, the concept was instilled in everyone’s mind.

University of Munich

A debate on the future of Germany began here.

Talk of German unity has been legitimized since the former King Ludwig I declared that the royal family would work for German unity.

The idea of Greater Germany, the idea of Lesser Germany, the partition of North and South Germany, the newly proposed re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, and so on, were all discussed in an honorable manner.

Not only the Kingdom of Bavaria, but also many German regional states, could discuss these issues. The government also had to show its support, which was an entitlement that the people of the 1848 Revolution had fought for and was politically correct.

In short, it meant that you could support any kind of German regional unification program, you just could not oppose German regional unification.

Supporter of the Shinra faction, Christian’s passionate speaker: “The German region has been divided for too long, and the development patterns of the states are all different, so it is very difficult to integrate these regions immediately and build a big empire.

In that case, why don’t we neutralize it? Rebuild the Holy Roman Empire first, and bring everyone together within the framework of a large unified empire.

For other issues, we can sit down and discuss them slowly. If one year is not enough, then two years, if ten years is not enough, then twenty years, and after a few decades the German region will become one.”

After the secret propaganda of the Austrian government, the number of people who supported the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire was very large, and even the rulers of certain small states, were supporters of this idea.

The Holy Roman Empire was not terrible, the empire was never really unified, the major states below it all did their own thing, the central government only existed in theory, and was hardly binding on the states.

If unification was truly inevitable, such a unification would maximize the protection of their own interests.

And then there are those who like to live in peace. Unifying the German region is easy to say, but actually doing it war is not far away.

Whether it is Greater Germany or Lesser Germany, the great cause of unification can only be accomplished after everyone has been subdued by the army.

Rebuilding Shinra would be much simpler, everyone would hold a meeting to vote and elect an emperor, and the German region would be unified.

Everyone’s interests were not much jeopardized, and the states still played their own game, except that they strengthened their economic exchanges and stood together in foreign affairs.

The German region was unified again, even in name, and the great empire was the most powerful in the world.

A young scholar objected: “Such unification is too slow, the European countries will not give us time to integrate the whole country. When a unified German Empire emerges, we will immediately have to be boycotted by all the countries.

We will even be besieged by various countries, only when the German region is completely unified and everyone becomes one whole will we be able to defeat our enemies and complete the great renaissance of Germany.”

As soon as the words fell, someone else objected, “Don’t forget Napoleon’s lesson, any country that presumes to confront the whole of Europe is taking its own life.

The current international situation simply does not allow us to complete the unification of the country in a step-by-step manner. Once the German region shows signs of unification, the countries of Europe are bound to intervene.

The British, the French, the Russians, the Spaniards …… will not look at the unification of the German region, and it is unwise to fight against the European continent with one’s own strength.

At this time, we have to learn to go step by step. Unify the small German region first, and when the integration is complete and we are strong, we will then go on to unify the entire German region.”

Another person objected, “Unify the Little German region? If that’s the case, we might as well have a partition of the North and South German regions.

Again, we can avoid the joint strikes of the great powers and build up our strength for the eventual unification of the whole country, so why do we have to go and look at the face of the Prussian exploders?”

“No, this is dividing the country, not unifying it. Whether it’s the creation of a Little Germany or the partition of North and South Germany, the end result is destroying the empire.

Is a Germany divided in two still our Germany? Re-establishing Shinra and creating a nominally unified empire is the key to our step-by-step approach.”

……

There is no doubt that Franz is to blame for the spread of these jumbled ideas. Many of the ideas here were tossed out by him personally.

If you want to achieve propaganda purposes, you certainly can’t just say: Austria wants to unify the German region, and everyone should unite under the banner of the Habsburgs.

If such a propaganda was made, it would probably have been suppressed by the governments of various countries just after it was started.

Now this is a messy unification program, all to throw out, it dilutes the figure of Austria, everyone will think it is the folk spontaneous.

In most people’s minds, the idea of Greater Germany, the theory of the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, all of these could have been supported by the Austrian government, and the latter could have been meant for the smaller German states.

The rest of the Lesser Germanic Ideas, the theory of the partition of North and South Germany, were clearly the work of the Prussians, and both of these ideas spread most and most widely in the Prussian region.

True or false, what were the real political claims of the Austrian government? Franz would say that the reality of what kind of political proposition is in Austria’s interest, the political proposition of the Austrian government is what it is.

In the face of interests, national strategies and political ideas can change. The reason why they haven’t changed yet is because the interests are not big enough.

(End of chapter)